Talk:Where's George?

message: Hrm.... I don't like the word "Imitators". I feel it has a negative connotation. Certainly the other websites were inspired by WG, so I suppose I need a synonym for "inspire". UtherSRG 21:45, 7 Dec 2003 (UTC)
replies: text: How's this now?  "Influenced" seems to work well.
--Kyle 04:41, Feb 13, 2005 (UTC)
--I think 'imitate' is the perfect word. That is, after all, what these sites are doing Superstarwarsfan (talk) 23:23, 2 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Imitators? 

message: How does this compare with chain letters?  A-giau 22:23, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Quite different, it seems to me. -DavidWBrooks 01:00, 9 Mar 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Chain Letter? 

message: Perhaps a mention of the name (not necessarily the original idea) probably being influenced by the "Where's Waldo?" books that were so popular earlier in the decade? CFLeon 23:03, 25 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Sounds silly. And if anything, it'd be best to ask Hank before saying something like that. Search4Lancer 03:03, 27 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Name origin

message: This is linked to twice, once at the beginning of this article, and once at the end. This is redundant. -EdGl 19:55, 23 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Then fix it. I find it comical how people will moan about things in articles when they can easily edit things themselves. OsFan 20:32, 13 October 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: You mean, like you just did? - DavidWBrooks 20:49, 13 October 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I didn't even check to see if it had been fixed or not. Has it been almost six months? OsFan 00:48, 15 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  scienceblog.com research article link 

message: I think the wheresgeorge website has been disabled and is no more.
:No, it's still around. 68.54.163.153 20:51, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: See this message for some information about the problem: http://www.eurobilltrackerforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=545851#545851 Avij (talk) 18:47, 9 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Gone?

message: We need some additional links to establish notability. The website being told not to sell stamps by the government and some of its data being used in a study is really stretching the notability guidelines. Actual coverage of these events or other articles from a reliable source in which where's george is the main subject would be useful here. --Crossmr 16:39, 18 March 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: *Thank you for your suggestion. When you feel an article needs improvement, please feel free to make those changes.  Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone can edit almost any article by simply following the Edit this page link at the top. The Wikipedia community encourages you to be bold in updating pages. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes — they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. If you're not sure how editing works, check out how to edit a page, or use the sandbox to try out your editing skills.  New contributors are always welcome. You don't even need to log in (although there are many reasons why you might want to).   --Dystopos 17:02, 18 March 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm well aware of how to edit. I can point out a flaw in an article without being required to fix it. As it stands I don't really think this article meets the requirements, so rather than nominate it for AfD I've made a note so that an interested party can find the appropriate sources if they exist.--Crossmr 17:11, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

text: Since some of this is already in the article, I think your notability concerns are misplaced.  If you're looking for non-notable articles, wikipedia has about a bazillion to choose from. - DavidWBrooks 22:21, 21 March 2007 (UTC)
replies: text:  I was just responding to the comment "We need some additional links to establish notability" posed by Crossmr directly above. I believe it was a valid response to a direct query. Did I mis-understand the question or was he looking for something else? Henryhank 22:25, 21 March 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: No, sorry, I was unclear - I was responding to Crossmr; that is, I was agreeing with you that his objection was unsupported. - DavidWBrooks 23:23, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

text: None of those appear in the article currently. Hence why I asked for notability to be established. these should be included at the end of the article.--Crossmr 04:37, 23 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Notability 

message: Do Georgers support moving US $1 bill production to Tyvek, Guardian, or another polymer to print $1 bills? (See the Wikipedia article on Polymer banknotes.) A George'd bill would last a lot longer in circulation! Xenophon777 01:36, 5 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: At the time of my earlier post, the powers that be were griping about how quickly the dollar bill has to be replaced, and about the cost of doing it. Some countries do, indeed, use polymer blend "paper" for high-circulation notes. (See Wikipedia articles on the same.) They do save money, as the bills last a very long time. In any event, I also wrote to, I forget, the treasury, or whoever receives such suggestions, suggesting the use of Tyvek or another blended material. The answer I received in writing flabbergasted me. They do NOT WANT longer-lasting bills, they say, because the quick turnover discourages counterfeiting etc. Huh? Well, those were their words.  So I give up. Dollar coins: I love 'em, but I feel rather lonely in that regard. $2's, also, I love, though I encounter a lot of (welcome) resistance from retailers. When retailers refuse my $2's (it does happen, though not often) I note the when, the where, etc., and write a complaint to the highest level of corporate management that I can find. I always get a nice apology and some freebies. I know that a well-worded communiqué also goes to the local retail establishment to educate them. As to pennies (and, as far as I'm concerned, nickels, too), the sooner they're abolished the better, though I'm not holding my breath. "If I were king", we'd get rid of denominations referring to amounts below 10¢. That is, we'd have only dimes and halves. All change would be rounded to the nearest 10¢. However, I did not consider a move to a polymer based material for dollar bills to be silly. Silly me, I'd thought that a longer-lasting dollar bill would be in the national interest. Ah, well. Xenophon777 (talk) 18:50, 29 December 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: That's silly to hold the position that shorter lasting bills discourages counterfeiting. A $100 bill at most even on world class presses and best paper and inks couldn't cost more then say, lets throw out the insane $1 per bill cost. Thats $99 profit. I don't see how the counterfeiter cares how long that bill circulates once he gets his $99 or even if he sells it for say $50 for a $100 bill, thats $49 profit. How would he care if it doesn't last as long? A counterfeiter is only concerned about the inital point of "sale" of the bill, what happens after it isn't of concern. The response you got was probably from some low-grade temp worker who miss-read your letter and sent you the wrong form letter reply.. lol. Raeky (talk) 19:03, 29 December 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: In my opinion, it certainly does matter how long a bill is in circulation.  The concept is, you print a dollar bill that costs 10 cents to manufacture (just throwing a number out there.  I don't know how much it costs to actually manufacture a dollar bill).  Everytime that dollar changes hands in a transaction, it earns the state a .07 cent profit (or whatever your state sales tax may be).  So suppose I was Mr. Government and I manufactured a dollar bill.  If that dollar bill lasts 1 year, it might encounter 10,000 transactions, and thus earn the state a $700 "profit".  The fewer times I have to re-manufacture that dollar, the less my cost.  If I had a dollar bill that cost me ten cents to manufacture, but it would last 10 years, that dollar might encounter 10 million transactions, and thus earn the state a $700,000 dollar profit. You might say the federal gov't doesn't care how much "profit" the state earns, but the fact is the state receives federal funding for various expenses such as building roads, schools, welfare, etc.  So more "profitable" states would require less federal funding to meet their needs.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.74.223.213 (talk) 05:59, 4 June 2014 (UTC)
thread_title: Tyvek or Guardian?

message: The article states, "Although there is a scoring system, the website makes it clear it is not intended to be a contest."   I would appreciate clarification on this.   Can you show me any quote or reference to back up this claim?   It seems there is extreme competition amongst Georgers to get a higher george score, and there is even a seperate webstite called bankoffrank.com that has a spy tool that Georgers can use to estimate when they will overtake another user.
Obviously, the primary purpose of Wheresgeorge is to track the natural circulation of currency.   However, the answer to the first FAQ as to why the site exists is "For fun and because it had not been done yet."   Thus, it has become a contest for MANY users.  Georegers, in addition to desiring a higher George score, also have goals of reaching certain Bingos, such as a hit from every state.   Yes, there are user guidelines and no prizes.   But where does the claim that it is not INTENDED to be a contest come from?   Is there a quote from Hank?
: From the FAQ, discussing George Score points: "They aren't worth anything, and you won't get any prizes. It is solely for the enjoyment by some users that like to compare themselves with each other." That sounds pretty un-contest-ish to me - it might be competitive among users but there's no contest (that is, official competition overseen by the site). Perhaps that distinction needs to be made clearer. - DavidWBrooks 23:49, 2 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Not a contest? 

message: WheresGeorge would be recognized by a percentage of the population throughout the United States and the world. It has inspired similar sites to track Canadian currency (WheresWilly), the Euro (EuroTracker), and others. It has appeared in articles in Inc, Fortune, and Forbes. I'm a bit bewildered by the notability suggestion... particularly as I'd thought that this question had been laid to rest back in March. (See the "Notability" discussion above.) Xenophon777 15:08, 13 August 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Not Notable? Really?

message: Does the article really need to have my photo on the page? I don't see the need or the relevance.  Henryhank 22:17, 23 September 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: It seems encyclopedic to have a photo of the website's founder on an article about the website. Videmus Omnia  Talk  22:33, 23 September 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: That doesn't seem to be the consensus among Wikipedia.  None of the following website articles have photos of their founders:  Bookcrossing, Geocaching, Google, Amazon, AOL, Ebay, YouTube, Craigslist, Digg, Apple, NetFlix, Go Daddy, Match.com, Napster, and heck, even Wikipedia's own entry doesn't have a photo of Jimmy Wales.  I don't see why Where's George? is different or important enough to have my photo.  It needs to be removed. Henryhank 11:54, 24 September 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Most of the founders of the above websites have their own biographical articles...however, I requested an outside opinion on the issue here, and will be happy to go along with whatever consensus is at that discussion. Videmus Omnia  Talk  12:32, 24 September 2007 (UTC)
replies: text:  Can you also remove my image from wikimedia and wikipedia as indicated here: . Thanks. Henryhank 20:23, 24 September 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Photo needed? 

message: It seems to me not necessarily notable that there are disagreements about whether or not certain entries are removed in the website.  The website, after all, is one fellow's site sharing information with others.  In general, internet common law seems to recognize that one may police one's site as one sees fit, and if the owner is capricious, the offended party may avoid the site.  I recommend that the weaseling about arbitrariness be removed, as it is not in the interests of the reader.
--Steve (talk) 17:04, 1 February 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: You're right: it was a load of vague, opinionated hooey. I have trimmed that section way down and also put in a couple of "fact" tags. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 18:26, 1 February 2008 (UTC)
replies: text:  Just to let you know, the user who originally wrote that section with all the Weasel words was recently terminated for "dumping" bills in banks. It was pure vengeance/retaliation they added that section. Thanks for editing it.  Henryhank (talk) 00:28, 4 February 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Is there a citation we can add to the comments? Any notation or official comment on the Website about accounts being terminated for this? - DavidWBrooks (talk) 21:18, 4 February 2008 (UTC)
replies: text:  It's all in the User Guidelines: http://www.wheresgeorge.com/rules.php#7 (see #7) Henryhank (talk) 14:05, 12 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  On Weasel Words 

message: I just added a paragraph noting that the www.wheresgeorge.com web server serves blank documents, instead of the real pages, to some browsers.  I have a formal source for this, but it's difficult to cite, so I'm putting it here.  Having received blank pages when attempting to view the website in Lynx, I sent a message to the website admins via the site's contact form:
:When I attempt to view the www.wheresgeorge.com website using the Lynx browser, I get only a blank page.  This happens not only for the front page but also for every other page that I've tried (such as /contact_us.php).  I've experimentally determined that this is determined by the User-Agent: header.  If I use lwp-request to send an HTTP request with no User-Agent: header, then I get a sensible HTML document as a response (which Lynx can then render suitably from a local file).  If I send a similar request using lwp-request, differing only in the addition of the header "User-Agent: libwww-FM/2.14", then I get a response with a blank body.  Please fix.
I then got a reply by email:
:The website blocks certain user-agents due to abuse in the past from crackers/hackers, spammers, bots, and scripts.  Yes, I know it's not a perfect solution, but it stops the script kiddies and spammers.
:--Hank
For this dialogue I used a throwaway mailinator.com email address, so for the next couple of hours the reply will be accessible at .  mailinator.com expires messages really fast.  195.167.186.2 (talk) 18:27, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Website discriminates against some browsers 

message: There are many good threads already about this on the Where's George forums and other websites. This is not the place to debate about opinions of the wordings of laws, please take these discussions elsewhere. Superstarwarsfan (talk) 03:39, 10 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: No problem, so long as the article itself does not come out and flat out say there's no whiff of illegality in the marking of bills--even when that marking does not rise to the level of defacement (which is another issue). If the article says nothing at all about the legality of marking bills, I've no problem. However, please note that the prior edit not only claimed that marking bills is okay (pursuant to a compromise of last year), but went on to give a rationale for the assertion. I pointed out that not only does the law state that it's illegal (even if no one's enforcing it), but -- here avoiding original research -- also provided a link to a statement by a Secret Service spokesperson in print to that effect. Okay, I'm getting long-winded. If the article refrains from positively stating that marking bills is legal, then I'll be in agreement with you. Zajacd01 (talk) 20:48, 10 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  This is not the place to endlessly debate about wether or not Wheres George is legal. 

message: In the following:
The Where's George? site says it "prohibits trading or exchanging bills with friends, family or anyone known to the bill distributor for the purpose of re-entry". This rule is to encourage 'natural circulation' of the currency, and to prevent multiple 'fake hits' from happening on any bill." As a result, all bills containing the word "geocache" or "cache" are tagged as a geocache bill. The site has also dropped a separate listing of "Top 10 Geocache bills" and is cautioning that if geocache sites are used too often, "all Geocache bills will be removed from this site."
There the doublequote in 'happening on any bill."' seems unmatched. I dunno where its partner ought to be inserted though or whether it is extraneous, so cannot fix it myself.
Knotwork (talk) 14:59, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I edited the page. Is that what you meant? Superstarwarsfan (talk) 02:41, 20 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Mismatched Doublequotes 

message: I would like to request the other editors of this page that we remove the "Site Policing" section of the article.
It was originally written by a disgruntled WG user in retaliation for having their account disabled due to clear rule violations.
This section really doesn't add to the article, and it gives off a negative overall "vibe".
To avoid controversy, I am requesting discussion here, rather than just editing it myself. thanks.
Henryhank (talk) 15:17, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I still don't like the overall tone.  Most (if not all) websites have some level of *internal* policy enforcement... I don't see the need to make this public and give people the idea that this is a big problem they might run into.  Like I said, the *only* reason this section exists is because of a disgruntled user who didn't like my policies. Henryhank (talk) 18:04, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I see your point. Could this be integrated into the George Score section? Calebrw (talk) 18:37, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Remove "Site Policing" 

message: The title deserves to be changed. To what, I'm not sure.
Below is an example:
==== Regulation ====
In accordance with site policies, Where's George? is regulated so that certain activities do not adversely affect users and the site in general. One prohibited action is dumping: depositing a large amount of bills at one time into a financial organization. The site deems "dumping" an unnatural form of circulation and reserves the right to remove bills from the the database.User Guidelines/Terms of Service/Rules, no. 4 User Guidelines/Terms of Service/Rules, no. 7
Calebrw (talk) 15:51, 28 May 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I still don't like the overall tone.  Most (if not all) websites have some level of *internal* policy enforcement... I don't see the need to make this public and give people the idea that this is a big problem they might run into.  Like I said, the *only* reason this section exists is because of a disgruntled user who didn't like my policies. Henryhank (talk) 18:04, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I see your point. Could this be integrated into the George Score section? Calebrw (talk) 18:37, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Maybe 

message: In accordance with site policies, Where's George? is regulated so that certain activities do not adversely affect users and the site in general. One prohibited action is dumping: depositing a large amount of bills at one time into a financial organization. The site deems "dumping" an unnatural form of circulation and reserves the right to remove bills from the the database.User Guidelines/Terms of Service/Rules, no. 4 User Guidelines/Terms of Service/Rules, no. 7
Calebrw (talk) 15:51, 28 May 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I still don't like the overall tone.  Most (if not all) websites have some level of *internal* policy enforcement... I don't see the need to make this public and give people the idea that this is a big problem they might run into.  Like I said, the *only* reason this section exists is because of a disgruntled user who didn't like my policies. Henryhank (talk) 18:04, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I see your point. Could this be integrated into the George Score section? Calebrw (talk) 18:37, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Regulation 

message: The comment added about Japan not being able to access Where's George? is totally inaccurate and not factual.  Certain ISPs in Japan known to host spammers and web form attackers have been blocked from accessing the site.  Not all of Japan is blocked.   The original comment was added by a disgruntled user who is/was a user of one of these ISPs.  Since I do not publish or disclose which ISPs or subnets are currently blocked (it changes over time, none of this can possibly be factual.  I suggest the entire line (and any subsequent comments like it) be removed. Henryhank (talk) 19:12, 16 September 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Based on this evidence, and who else would no best, I believe that the line should be removed. If there is not dissent within 3 days, I will remove this content. Calebrw (talk) 22:51, 16 September 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: If it's BS, its BS and it's now gone.  No need to get consensus for unsourced crap left behind by someone with an axe to grind.Montco (talk) 23:53, 16 September 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Japan 

message: This article is basically a wheres george praise page. There are a lot of people who feel that this is illegal. I myself do not but that is besides the point. Other points of view need to be added. Joey Skywalker (talk) 19:04, 9 February 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Please review the last paragraph of the "Hits" section. The question of the legality of WG is dealt with there with text which has been delicately balanced over time between the views of different editors. Incidentally, there isn't actually a controversy over whether marking the bills constitues defacement, which it clearly isn't, but whether it separately violates a separate prohibition cited in that paragraph. The new "legality" section should accordingly be removed. Xenophon777 (talk) 23:58, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

text: It does sound a bit better, but you need a citation for   I left your edits in their own controversy section and added .  As this subject seems to have been discussed several times on this talk page (3, 4, 15, 19), additional editors likely have an opinion as to whether controversy/legality deserves its own section. —Ost (talk) 18:19, 19 February 2009 (UTC)
replies: text:  The statement  has absolutely no basis in fact. I have never received one complaint or comment from anyone concerning the "cost" of users marking their currency. I move to have this false statement removed. Henryhank (talk) 03:12, 5 March 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  There needs to be something about the legality of it 

message: Since people don't like it too much when I edit the WG article, I would like to suggest the top image of the home page be updated to the current (new) home page as of October 10, 2010 when WG 2.4 was released.  I can supply this image to anyone who wants to make this change. Thanks. Henryhank (talk) 02:38, 25 February 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Home page screen cap 

message: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/2013/03/tracing-1-bills-across-the-united-states-is-a-surprisingly-useful-hobby/
Not sure if it's worth inclusion or not, but thought I'd post it here so editors can decide. — raekyt 17:10, 31 March 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Smithsonian article 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: The whole thing is a bit overdetailed and primary-linked to my taste, but the real problem is this:
:: Gary has entered over 2,197,536 bills.[19]
Yes, the reference matches (and shows others around the 800,000 mark), but I see absolutely no legitimate way that a human had millions of entries.
One second per entry is probably a minimum (even if there are bundle-submission forms, you still have to enter a serial number). Two millions of seconds is a little more than 23 days (of 24h each).
Moreover, he would need to have physically handled millions of (I assume) $1 bills which is dubious (CEOs do not get paid in cash). If you try to get as many serials as you can, you can always travel around US towns with 1000 bills of $1 and try to exchange them all at shops etc. but assuming can exchange 3000 bills a day (which sounds very optimistic to me) it means a full year of travelling around and trading bills 7/7 to have made a million exchanges (and it does not even mean you will have seen a million different bills).
Now it is possible that a bored millionnaire took a 2+-year vacation to exchange bills at day and submit them on the website at night but it does not look very credible. Per WP:EXCEPTIONAL, I see no reason to take the website counter's at face value. (Having "made" via bot millions of bogus submissions looks possible, though.)
TigraanClick here to contact me 12:23, 24 May 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: It does look a little dubious, but we can take the journalists' way out: Instead of stating it as a fact, state the fact that he makes the claim. "Gary claims to have entered XXXXX. .."- DavidWBrooks (talk) 20:02, 21 August 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: That sounds reasonable to me. If I had to speculate on how Gary achieved this feat if it wasn't really done by one person, my guess would be that "Gary" is just a username shared by several people. But of course that's just my own original theory and it's safest to just parrot back what the sources say like a journalist. -Thibbs (talk) 00:40, 22 August 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: Since nobody seems to care much, I've vague-ified it with "claim" and removed that hatnote. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 17:17, 27 February 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Disputed 

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thread_title:  External links modified