sbell111

But there IS an official unofficial FTF! Violate those (IMO) clear-cut community standards and you'll be viewed in the community as a charlatan, phony and perhaps a head case. It just ain't as subjective and fuzzy as some people want to make it out to be. Yeah, there are going to be a few borderline cases - about .001% of the time. The preprinted log sheets have a blank space for the FTF, marked "FTF." I have a few photos with my name in that spot. No one debated that I was, in fact, the first to find. The cache was placed, I found it, I logged it by signing, I was the first person to do so, and I was FTF. As I said, the fact that there may be a very few genuinely debatable cases doesn't change the clearly-understood rules. Yes. You are absolutely correct that those obvious, black-and-white cases of FTF are indisputable. No one is saying that if a person gets a notification of a new cache, finds it, and signs the logbook before anyone else, that he's not FTF. The question is about those times when something else happens.

IMHO, that is like saying watching a recording of a great game is the same experience as when you watched it live, without knowing the outcome. The excitement of anticipation of what the outcome will be is missing in the re-run. While I agree that a nice walk with a scenic view is a good each time you take it, but the final search and find of a new listing could be a rewarding addition making the walk even better. I'm not seeing how the search experience is any different whether the old listing is used or a new one created. If someone just gave you the coordinates (plus size, D/T and hint) and you didn't ever see the cache page, would the search experience be any different? According to the OP the cache would be a new container and new camouflage, making it a different searching experience. Also, my experience has been that most cache placements tend to migrate a bit around GZ and a find that I make may not be where the cache was originally. Therefore, the search, most likely, would be different than the first time I went to seek the cache. You might want to reread the posts that you are responding to. The issue was whether it would be the same search experience to find the altered cache using the old cache page or a new cache page. Either way, you are searching for the new container with new camo. The only difference really is the GC#.

He reported that in post #11.

The day shown is the date that you earned the souvi. In other words, it is the date that you logged the qualifying finds, not the dates that you actually made the finds.

IMHO, that is like saying watching a recording of a great game is the same experience as when you watched it live, without knowing the outcome. The excitement of anticipation of what the outcome will be is missing in the re-run. While I agree that a nice walk with a scenic view is a good each time you take it, but the final search and find of a new listing could be a rewarding addition making the walk even better. I'm not seeing how the search experience is any different whether the old listing is used or a new one created. If someone just gave you the coordinates (plus size, D/T and hint) and you didn't ever see the cache page, would the search experience be any different?

That's quite a bit compared to the amounts recorded from the last few days. I suspect that this means that tptb is querying the database to assign any missing 7th souvis.

The "Trophy Case" was a huge box in the top center of your profile. No need for the (later, "hey you're running outta time" maybe) email link. - Was there the entire month... Edited to add (and forget...) I thought the directions were pretty straight-forward. Many people don't receive those emails and don't typically visit their profiles (or even log onto GC.com. If they don't log into the site or receive emails, then it's likely they aren't even bothering to pursue souvenirs and probably don't even know about the 'Seven Souvenirs of August' promotion anyway. Also, if they don't receive emails...well then we get into the whole issue of email validation that generally is a whole other issue. It seems that you are working from a misconception that everyone who doesn't regularly sign onto GC.com is an unvalidated noob who isn't very serious about the game. It should be noted that plenty of long-time players almost never sign onto gc.com. Between the app and PQs, I almost never have need to go to the site. I suspect that many others are just like me. Further, it should be noted that there is a difference between someone who doesn't have an active, validated email address and someone who has opted to not receive 'newsletter' emails. Finally, lots of people likely found out about 7SoA through other means than the newsletter or the link on the website. I found out about it via facebook. Well then I'll refer you back to the post immediately before yours. Seriously...if people aren't on the website or social media, they can hardly expect to stay current on everything GC.com related. I'm honestly trying to figure out why that would matter that much in the context of my earlier post. It seems that TPTB would want to have the backup plan of running the query globally to catch those missing 7th souvis given that they are well aware that many people don't regularly go to the site and don't receive the newsletter. The mere fact that these people might not be on the cutting edge of all news from the frog gives the tptb incentive to do this. It doesn't remove that incentive.

This could easily be one of the lamest posts I've ever seen here in the forums. We have a plethora of posts in how noobies place LAME caches and now if they don't hide a cache they're leaches? Which is it? It's time for some of you to go get a different hobby. I'm just guessing that somebody didn't read through the entire three pages of the thread before declaring it to be among the lamest posts ever in the forum. The above have already been asked and answered, several times over in this thread. I also learned from this thread the differences in usage of commas and periods between the US imperial system and the European metric system. I agree. There are far more lamer posts in this thread than that one. Many of these were posted by me.

The "Trophy Case" was a huge box in the top center of your profile. No need for the (later, "hey you're running outta time" maybe) email link. - Was there the entire month... Edited to add (and forget...) I thought the directions were pretty straight-forward. Many people don't receive those emails and don't typically visit their profiles (or even log onto GC.com. If they don't log into the site or receive emails, then it's likely they aren't even bothering to pursue souvenirs and probably don't even know about the 'Seven Souvenirs of August' promotion anyway. Also, if they don't receive emails...well then we get into the whole issue of email validation that generally is a whole other issue. It seems that you are working from a misconception that everyone who doesn't regularly sign onto GC.com is an unvalidated noob who isn't very serious about the game. It should be noted that plenty of long-time players almost never sign onto gc.com. Between the app and PQs, I almost never have need to go to the site. I suspect that many others are just like me. Further, it should be noted that there is a difference between someone who doesn't have an active, validated email address and someone who has opted to not receive 'newsletter' emails. Finally, lots of people likely found out about 7SoA through other means than the newsletter or the link on the website. I found out about it via facebook.

The bolded part of your post explains why trading is a 'side game'. The core of the game is hiding and finding geocaches. Well if you start stripping away what geocaching is, then some would say the core of the game is going to interesting locations (thus the bring-back-virtuals discussions). Those people would be wrong as the core of the game has never been 'lets go to interesting locations'. It might help to remember that the very first cache wasn't in some awesome location. The interest in finding that cache had nothing to do with that. It was about hiding something and having strangers find it using coordinates. That is the game's core and always has been.

The bolded part of your post explains why trading is a 'side game'. The core of the game is hiding and finding geocaches.

That would be terrific, as I had the other six effective Aug. 22 but didn't get access to click the link for the Achiever Souvenir until Sept. 2. Thanks for the reply! However, what sbell11 reports was based on a guess and not on actual knowledge that Groundspeak will run such a query. You might be better off by asking them and then posting the reply you got in this thread so that others in the same situation will know what to expect. +1 Seems to defeat the "will only be issued...during the month of August" part. - Guess it's kinda like giving all the teams a trophy... I agree if you didn't get the six in August, however, if you did that legitimately, and they were all logged prior to Aug. 31 then the Acheiver should be granted automatically....It was the only one that required an extra step to get (ie: going onto your e-mail account and then clicking a link)! The "Trophy Case" was a huge box in the top center of your profile. No need for the (later, "hey you're running outta time" maybe) email link. - Was there the entire month... Edited to add (and forget...) I thought the directions were pretty straight-forward. Many people don't receive those emails and don't typically visit their profiles (or even log onto GC.com.

Someone posted that tptb will run a query at some point to award the achiever souvi to those who neglected to click the link. I don't know if this has been done yet, or not.

Am I the only one who calculated that out to a bit under five miles?... Also between metric and imperial system. We use , for decimals and . for thousands... Just saying! I knew that. I was just having fun. That being said, how do you know whether that period is a spaceholder for thousands, or not. For instance, how do you know that 4.999 is a bit less than 5000 or a bit less than 5?In the context of this thread someone saying "the reviewers are 8.000km away" probably means eight thousand as opposed to precisely eight. It's extremely unlikely anyone would quote a distance to the nearest metre, and equally unlikely that 8km would represent a barrier to talking to someone over a beer. If it's truly unclear what is meant you can always ask if it's important. Yeah. Did you see in my post where I typed "I knew that. I was just having fun."?Yeah, it was right next to the bit that said "how do you know that..."Yup. That's where I transitioned from joking about the decimal point to asking a serious question to satisfy my curiosity. <This part of "Let's dissect every typed word rather than just having a simple conversation" is brought to you by the period and the comma. Come back next week when we will discuss the ellipsis.>

It should be noted that some people have laid out very good arguments for 'averaging' to not be the magic solution that people want it to be. A search will no doubt turn up these discussions.

It looks like they've locked it down.

What I don't understand is that you went to this guy's profile page to do all kinds of research on him, but you didn't bother to hit the 'send a message' link.

First, the last visit displayed on the web page does not count in visits via mobile phones and GSAK. People can even log caches months after the date of the last shown visit. Second, answers are sent to the e-mail address of the owner. There is no need to log into the site to reply to e-mails at least not if the sender is reasonably polite and transmits his e-mail address. Those who don't, do not deserve a reply anyhow. I know of cachers who have not been active for a long time, but still take care of their caches and react if it is required. Of course there are EC-owners that do not reply, but in my experience this is not any more common among those whose last visit displayed on the site is not quite recent than among those with a recent last login date. Some cache owners only reply if some of the answers are wrong and they have objections or additional explanations. Some answer also if everything is alright. OK, so what if the user is banned from owning EC's under another account then just falls off of the radar? Which appears to be the case here. Post a NA, if you think that it's appropriate. That being said, if you are going to log a find on a cache, then you should satisfy the requirements of doing so. By your logic, I could run a report of all caches owned by AWOL cache owners and log finds on them. After all, what's the point of needing to actually go find the cache and sign the logbook when the CO is no longer active? I photo log my finds to prove I was there, and Earthcaches don't have log books. Photologging that you were at ground zero at an earthcache doesn't necessarily prove that you learned the required lessen and it isn't a proper alternative to the logging requirement.

First, the last visit displayed on the web page does not count in visits via mobile phones and GSAK. People can even log caches months after the date of the last shown visit. Second, answers are sent to the e-mail address of the owner. There is no need to log into the site to reply to e-mails at least not if the sender is reasonably polite and transmits his e-mail address. Those who don't, do not deserve a reply anyhow. I know of cachers who have not been active for a long time, but still take care of their caches and react if it is required. Of course there are EC-owners that do not reply, but in my experience this is not any more common among those whose last visit displayed on the site is not quite recent than among those with a recent last login date. Some cache owners only reply if some of the answers are wrong and they have objections or additional explanations. Some answer also if everything is alright. OK, so what if the user is banned from owning EC's under another account then just falls off of the radar? Which appears to be the case here. Post a NA, if you think that it's appropriate. That being said, if you are going to log a find on a cache, then you should satisfy the requirements of doing so. By your logic, I could run a report of all caches owned by AWOL cache owners and log finds on them. After all, what's the point of needing to actually go find the cache and sign the logbook when the CO is no longer active?

Isn't that equally true if you find an ammo can chock full of useless junk?

I am of the belief that the size indicator should describe the thing that I am looking for, not the interior dimensions of the container.

I would think that the point of doing it is that it is a requirement of logging an earthcache. (Where's that geocaching is full of cheaters guy?)

Silly and stupid. Of course, I would call it that even if they had been in the military.

Is it possible that they attended and simply didn't meet you? Could they have met someone else and thought that it was you? Could they have been using the word "you" more like people around here would use "Y'all"? Possible, but highly unlikely. I have accounted for every actual attendee and asked them about it. None of them seem to have met that particular cacher that day. I think that perhaps you have gone a bit beyond.

The reviewers are 8.000km away, remember? Am I the only one who calculated that out to a bit under five miles? Google seems to disagree with you by a few miles - about 4,965 There's a difference betwenn a comma and a period. Just sayin'. Also between metric and imperial system. We use , for decimals and . for thousands... Just saying! I knew that. I was just having fun. That being said, how do you know whether that period is a spaceholder for thousands, or not. For instance, how do you know that 4.999 is a bit less than 5000 or a bit less than 5? In the context of this thread someone saying "the reviewers are 8.000km away" probably means eight thousand as opposed to precisely eight. It's extremely unlikely anyone would quote a distance to the nearest metre, and equally unlikely that 8km would represent a barrier to talking to someone over a beer. If it's truly unclear what is meant you can always ask if it's important. Yeah. Did you see in my post where I typed "I knew that. I was just having fun."?