Request New Stat: Monthly Hide Streak (with option to exclude events)

Question

Request A New Stat: Monthly Hide Streak (with option to exclude events)

This would report the number of consecutive months the user has hidden a cache (based on date hidden field).    An option would exclude all event types.     This would be patterned after the Monthly FTF Streak stat with similar options for country/state filters and the current vs broken streaks indication.

Answer 1

I don't think such stats are a good idea. That would provoke many people to hide un-thought-through caches.

Comments

I might agree on a Daily streak.   But a Monthly streak gives plenty of time to scout a location, ask permission, Hide the cache and write listings, etc.      Besides, this may encourage hides during winter months when new hides get scarce.   Any hide is better than no new hides in areas that hides are infrequent.

Answer 2

I can see several problems with this. For example, I might physically place a cache in March, leave it till the end of April before submitting, and then it actually gets published in May. Which is the actual hide date? The default is the date when the cacher created the hide page, but some cachers may change this to the date they physically placed the cache, whereas others, like myself, change the date to the date it's published. Also some cachers may change the date to something completely different, for puzzle purposes.

Comments

I Agree with Optimist.  This could be troublesome.

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Yes the Hidden date is chosen by the owner (based on whatever criteria they choose).   However, that is the official hide date for all the other hide related stats.     Also, using that date would also not necessarily be impacted by issues  beyond the owners control such as unusually long delays in publishing.    Yes, some cachers might game the stats by back dating a hide date to a month they missed.   But you know that also happens with the daily find streaks where people fudge a find date.    At least this would still encourage at least 12 new caches per owner per year.    If the owner puts out a puzzle with a fake date (which I hate as it messes with so many other stats), they would also have to put out another cache with the proper month in order for the stat to continue.  Also, if that is a major concern, logic could be added that states the Hidden date can't be more than a couple months from the Publish date in order to be in the stat.