Richard Lillis's dashboard

A comment on the problem "Undo venue merge - how?" in foursquare:

Here is what was said:
http://twitter.com/foursquare/status/...
"Hey all, we made BIG changes to the way we handle chains (esp the "putting you at the wrong place" part). Would love to hear your feedback!"

http://twitter.com/targeteer2k/status...
"@foursquare does this mean if I add my local Starbucks I can use the venue name "Starbucks" and it will still add?"

http://twitter.com/foursquare/status/...
"@targeteer2k Yup, venuenames no longer need to be unique. NYC already has 20 venues just called "Starbucks"" – Richard Lillis, on November 06, 2009 17:28

A comment on the idea "Allow venues to be flagged as/combined with duplicates" in foursquare:

merged – Richard Lillis, on November 06, 2009 00:57

Richard Lillis replied on November 05, 2009 20:46 to the problem "Naming pb" in foursquare:

typo fixed.

A comment on the idea "Make Foursquare more traveler-friendly" in foursquare:

That's because each city has its own set of badges/accomplishments; I have the overshare badge for Los Angeles and also got the overshare badge while in Vegas for a weekend. – Richard Lillis, on November 05, 2009 20:43

A comment on the problem "Undo venue merge - how?" in foursquare:

they announced a few days ago that venue names are no longer required to be unique. you should try again. – Richard Lillis, on November 05, 2009 17:33

Richard Lillis replied on November 05, 2009 05:48 to the question "I suspect I know of a cheater. What should I do about it?" in foursquare:

it's not hard to get mayorships if you live in an area with few players or just check into places no one else is checking into (i'm the mayor of the local Hallmark store! lol). I've had as many as 40 mayorships but now that more people are playing in my area those thinly held mayorships are being lost to the new players.

He could just be one of the early adopters and acquired these mayorships due to lack of competition and now that you are playing you'll grab a few of them.

Richard Lillis replied on November 05, 2009 05:33 to the problem "Undo venue merge - how?" in foursquare:

as far as I know there is no undo for merges; you'll have to recreate the venue.

Richard Lillis replied on November 03, 2009 15:24 to the question "Question about mayorship" in foursquare:

I've noticed that ties go to the newest checkin. so player B would have ousted player A on friday with 20 checkins. If player A has not checked in yet on Friday then he can checkin for 21 and oust B.

Dr. Barnabus Peddingferd's reply to "Get rid of the chains please" was just promoted to the most useful! Richard Lillis and 5 other people think it's one of the best replies.

A spot is something different to different people. The Starbuck's on 6th and Congress Ave. in Austin may be just another franchise to you, but it is where the opening scene to "Miss Congeniality" was filmed and one of the most popular downtown establishments in the city.

I suppose a more general method to "turn off" a particular spot from showing in your list might not be a bad idea, but a category-wide check to block any Coffee Shop with the name "Starbuck's" might be a bit much to ask.

Likewise for places that aren't unique to a city, just with unique names. A dance club or bar is pretty much the same in every town. Same with movie theaters. Alamo Drafthouse, while unique in its model, is becoming quite the chain in several cities now. Should we ban them as a result? I don't think so.

If anything, take the advice of Gowallite, Curtis Williams (@lenier): "Pro Tip #743 – If you’re going to tag a McDonald’s, at least include an interesting fact - The Spot." Make that spot more than just another chain business.

Ultimately, play by your own set of rules (there really aren't any) and only create spots you deem worthy of inclusion in the Gowalla catalogue. If you feel strongly against franchises, simply don't check into them.

Happy Gowall'ing!
Dr. Peddingferd

Richard Lillis marked one of Dennis Crowley's replies in foursquare as useful. Dennis Crowley replied to the question "Die, Foursquare, die".

Richard Lillis replied on November 02, 2009 03:53 to the problem "Locations to Merge" in foursquare:

merged

Richard Lillis replied on October 30, 2009 22:59 to the problem "Totally made up person in Chicago last week" in foursquare:

i just did a search for jason f and found just one in Chicago who has 111 checkins in 8 days. he's listed as Jason instead of Jason F but I still found him searching for jason f

this is a very fun game, don't let one incident ruin it for you. The game continues to improve and has been getting a lot more fun. plus the leaderboard is just for the week and then it resets. I don't even pay attention to it.

Richard Lillis replied on October 30, 2009 22:48 to the problem "Totally made up person in Chicago last week" in foursquare:

Jason F. can be from a different city visiting and it is very easy to score 300 points in one day if you are new to the city since all the venue checkins will be first time checkins which grant a bonus 5pts and each checkin for a day is worth the number of checkins that day (ex. 12th checkin is worth 12pts) so if he just checked in 20 times. that would be worth 320 points.

I did this when I went to Las Vegas a couple months ago. everywhere I went I checked in; I even added a bunch of places which got me even more points.

Richard Lillis replied on October 30, 2009 02:40 to the question "iPhone Places tab stopped working today - can't find anything nearby!" in foursquare:

I had the same problem at lunch today and had to search for the venue to checkin. I tried checking in about 20 mins ago and still got nothing on my "Places" screen.

I'm home now and loaded the app and am now seeing venues again. woohoo!

Richard Lillis started following the idea "Badges for the rest of us" in foursquare.

Richard Lillis marked one of PDelahanty's replies in foursquare as useful. PDelahanty replied to the question "Combine Repeat Locations".

A comment on the question "Criteria for Douchebag tags?" in foursquare:

I've seen the same thing and have removed inappropriate tags as well.

I think it might be a good idea if there are 2 levels of tags;
(1) search level which would be tags added by anyone for the purpose of helping people find places.
(2) badge level which would be search level tags that are promoted by a superuser to qualify for badges.

might be to much overhead so just an idea; it would be nice if there was a better way to qualify venues for badges so that the badge system is not abused. – Richard Lillis, on October 28, 2009 19:12

Richard Lillis replied on October 28, 2009 18:18 to the question "Criteria for Douchebag tags?" in foursquare:

I agree with Mike.

someone can go on a tagging spree and add the douchebag tag to a lot of venues just to get people badged as a douchebag.

Richard Lillis replied on October 28, 2009 18:13 to the problem "Duplicate Venue Deletion Request" in foursquare:

I merged it with the other metromix

Richard Lillis replied on October 28, 2009 06:06 to the problem "Merge to venues please" in foursquare:

merged :)