Each of us has the power to contribute quality (or not) waymarks to a category. The naysayers that predicted Bicycle Tenders would be filled with mundane, run-of-the-mill waymarks have been some of the very people that fulfilled that prophecy by contributing those run-of-the-mill, mundane waymarks. Hey, folks, I understand you want your smiley (or medal or whatever it is) and want to be able to fill that grid, but Waymarking isn't going to end soon. There's plenty of time. Plenty of places to go. Plenty of waymarking opportunities. Why not wait and keep a lookout for that special, non-traditional, artistic bicycle 'tender' and then waymark IT in that category. (The same can be said for the Barns category.)
All the obtuse comments that were left in Peer Review were from anonymous sources. In fact, I don't think even one person was proud enough of their comment to attach their name to it. So it would be difficult to attribute the 'naysayer' label to anyone in particular but you know who you are. Are you the very people that are 'littering' the category with the very types of waymarks that you predicted and, because of, voted against the category? Are you doing this intentionally to prove your point? (that self-fulfilling prophecy). Or are you angry because the category passed Peer Review in spite of your negativity? Do you honestly feel there are no quality Bicycle Tenders within your 'sphere' and so you are compelled to grab the first bicycle tender, be it quality or not, and waymark it?
Ok, come and grab your smileys. Line up and post your mundane waymarks and be done with you. Hopefully these waymarks will be buried beneath the many quality waymarks that are yet to come. Hopefully someday you will find that 'quality' bicycle tender and surprise yourself, realizing it was a pretty cool category, regardless of the fact that the real quality tenders that we are seeking might be few and far between. Maybe you will be shrouded in embarassment for your original traditional, mundane, run-of-the-mill waymark, even archiving it in exchange for the new, artistic, quality tender that you discover? Maybe you will reconsider the upcoming category proposals that you once would have shook a finger or two at saying: too many, too mundane, no wow factor. When, in reality, a quality waymark might just be too few, too out-of-the-ordinary and - when you find it - WOW!
Name calling. Idea bashing. Naysaying. It's ugly, folks. Cut it out.
I will continue to Waymark. I do it for my own pleasure. It doesn't make me feel superior to judge and criticize others. I don't feel inferior because I have fewer waymarks or less grids filled than another Waymarker. I love to travel, see new places and things. Everything interests me - I'm not obsessed with anything in particular. I have always photo-journaled my adventures, places I've been, people I've met, ever since I bought my first SLR back in 1981. I love to look back at these photographs and smell the ocean in Hawaii, see the fall colors in New England, and - of course - remember all those sweet memories of my friends and family camping, fishing, traveling, you name it! Now I have my waymarks to look back at and reminisce, each one being a special place I've been, intentionally looking for or unintentionally stumbling upon - some thing or place that fits in a particular 'category' where I can share it with others and keep it for posterity. I'm not in this for any particular challenge (although I must say at one point I looked high and low to find a 'gargoyle' to log) and by creating a category I was merely trying to find a place to put something that interested me and I thought might interest others.
