another possible change to course search enginge

Sounds like an interesting and helpful idea. I think we'd want to use it sparingly-- not use it to clarify information that we perhaps should have worked harder to include on the map.

A comment field, associated with a course certification, could be used by measurers and others to help identify course updates or problems. For example, I just visited a few, active, local calibration courses that I had measured a few years ago. I located the nails and refreshed the paint. If there was a comment field, I would say something like PK nails located and marked with blue paint. Aug, 16, 2012 jkuo.

It may also be used by measurers and others to indicate the nails are missing, the road was repaved or construction changed the course. That could help the measurer decide if a course should be deleted and remeasured.

It may be a good idea to allow the comment field to be accessed by just the course registrar and a few selected individuals. Or, perhaps anyone with an active USATF number could enter a comment. Those comments would need to be approved by the course registrar before they became visible.

Thank you. -- Justin

Justin,
The registrar would be the only one allowed to enter the comments. To allow others access would be a situation that couldn't be controlled.

I agree with Bob that comments would have to be made to the registrar and not often used.

See my earlier post about the location of the "Record Eligible" field. I'd be in favor of adding a "Comments" field as long as it was one of the last fields in the search engine database.