catsnfish

Help those EarthCache developers who still have photo requirements not complying with the new guidelines to “get on board” with the changes. Very few of the total number frequent the forums, or earthcache.org, enough to be aware of these changes. Groundspeak has stated they will deal with these on a case by case basis and I can’t blame them, it would be quite a task to audit every pre-existing EarthCache for non compliant requests and deal with bringing all of them into compliance. The key is to address these with a minimum amount of frustration for you and not to go into it looking for a fight. Preface or end your logging email on those EC’s with a polite explanation and a link to the new guidelines, and then state that you’re not comfortable with your photo on the internet. Fulfill the logging requirements to the best of your ability and if you can, attach a photo of something at the site unique enough to be an alternate proof of visit. Save the sent email. Log the EC online as you would any other, without any mention of the guidelines or lack of photo. Some developers will thank you for bringing it to their attention; some will not reply but will not delete your log, some will make an issue of the photo. If they specifically make an issue of the photo, report it. Forward your sent email and the developers reply and let Groundspeak handle it, without any more correspondence from you to the developer about the photo issue. If at any time you feel it is too much of a hassle to pursue the smiley, then you have still visited a site and learned from it. You’ve gained an experience, don’t let it be cheapened by a fight over an emoticon. And don’t forego EarthCaches just to avoid a possibly difficult developer.

Here is what geoaware had to say on this subject in another thread.

Wyatt has to be one of the most photogenic dogs I have ever seen. He is a beautiful, expressive dog who can carry off so many "character" shots. My favorite is the geobandit "Sheriff Wyatt" photo. Could you post that again, so everyone can see what I'm talking about? oh a guess? ok 1723 great contest Laval K-9 and an extra smile 'cause Wyatt always brings one to me

I strongly disapprove of the "courtesy" context you insist on attaching to this. Earthcache developers put considerable time into their caches and have to take many different requirements into consideration in order to get them published. snip As I have stated, I am not demanding anything. If one is not predisposed to being courteous, then one need not consider it... or be considerate.

Your coin sure looks right! Well done and love the pun.

Turns out you're right we're caching crazy and it just might be this loon? a tick? we're looking for, you must be right, this coin could save me. I may be wrong for all I know but I may be right

In another thread a user asked EarthCachers to post the logging requirements up front because their paperless unit cuts off after so many characters. Here is that thread, you may notice it makes the statement that doing so is a courtesy easily extended. Paperless caching is a fact of life now and many cachers have never known another way to go about it. Why not let these cachers or cachers who are totally unfamiliar with EarthCaches know upfront that these are a different type of cache and have different requirements to log. Not everyone knows that preparation is needed for a visit to an EC. My intent with an EC is to teach a lesson, not to delete logs and alienate those who may be doing an EC for the first time. My first experience at an EC was not the best, although not the developers fault, because of confusion over the logging requirements and I could have easily never gone to visit another EC. If that had been the case I would have missed out on some wonderful sites and experiences and I would not have been able to share my lessons with other appreciative cachers. The word courtesy in that thread, after the initial use, was wrapped in quotes of sarcasm. That came off, to me at least, as being very elitist and controlling. Why should some one who develops an EarthCache be above courtesy to their visitors? There is nothing sancrosanct about an EarthCache writeup. Nothing that prevents helping those new to EC's know that they are different from geocaches. My latest EC I'm developing will have the following, upfront, before anything else on the page. "This is an EarthCache, a special category of caches developed by a partnership between the Geological Society of America and Groundspeak. They are intended to help educate geocachers about the earth processes of the world we live in. There is no container or log to be signed; however there are tasks that must be fulfilled to log this as a find online. Often a tool, such as a thermometer or camera, will be required as well. These tasks, and any tools needed, will be outlined on the cache page. Please be aware that if you cache paperless, this information may become truncated (cut short by device data restrictions.) To get the most from your visit, it is highly recommended that the entire cache page be read and printed prior to visiting EarthCache sites. Logs not meeting the requirements are subject to deletion." I will also add that to a few of my existing EC's that do not already have the logging requirements upfront already. I am not demanding that all EC developers do likewise to accommodate paperless cachers. All I have ever said was to consider extending that courtesy when writing up an EC. Paperless cachers are not a second class geocacher just cachers who use different devices. Those unfamiliar with EarthCaching would do better with some guidance rather than the slap of a log deletion. I see value in doing this, both for myself and other geocachers.

Yup, I'm liking this one!

What do Flamingo's know about caching we all should know?? A new video in The Online Geocacher magazine.

Yes, but now they have become your Missions possibly?

Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

Sounds good to me Nikos, would you like to start it off?

Congratulations GATOULIS !! Your stories and the history of Rhodes is fascinating

Congratulations JJg10101 ! Jayman11, thanks for a very generous cointest! great pics.

Sssshhhhhh, Sioneva left her diary unlocked... pass it around!

today's vote has been cast

Harry Dolphin, I hope you feel encouraged to develop your EarthCache, it's a beautiful place that I would love to visit and learn about. 1. How many EarthCaches have you developed? What types? 6; 2 sedimentary, 2 river feature, 1 comparing soil types and 1 water table. 2. Do you feel the guidelines for submission are clearly stated? Are you aware of the recent changes? Yes. 3. What is your primary reason for developing an EC? (Master’s requirements, great site you wanted to share, other?) My first one was to qualify for the Silver Master and was a revival of an archived EC. My next 3 were to highlight features that Lewis and Clark wrote of in their journals. The fifth to highlight features at another historical location and my latest was an onsite example for a class I was giving on EarthCaching. 4. Roughly how much time did you put into research? A few hours each. 5. Did you research online or in a library? Consult an expert? Online research. 6. How much time did it take to write the page? Usually less than an hour. 7. Have you had to jump through hoops* to get permission? (*Being sent from person to person, major delays or requests for impact statements, etc. not just a delay in receiving permission.) No, generally asking permission is the last thing I do, so that I can send a formatted presentation of my page and get input from the land manager. That coupled with a good explanation of what EarthCaching is seems to have helped the permission process along for me. 8. Did you submit at EarthCache .org or on geocaching.com? All of mine were submitted through EarthCache .org 9. Did you find the submission process or forms to be difficult to use? No, but I am looking forward to using geocaching.com, especially once they have the wysiwyg editors. 10. Have you had a submission returned, requesting more information? Yes my second sedimentary EC needed more geology. My research had already been done; I just needed to add more of it to my descriptions. 11. Did you feel help was available from the EC (forum or local) community if needed? Yes, for the most part, I feel good suggestions are made and posters are friendly. 12. How would you rate the overall difficulty of developing your EarthCache(s)? Please explain your reasons. Low difficulty, I find the process of research and writing the page to be very enjoyable, good logging tasks can present a challenge to developing an EC but once those are decided upon the rest goes quickly.

another vote from me!

Voted- cute fella, hope you win!

I am going to try and "weasel in" on an existing local 10-10-10 Event, GC2CXM1. My thinking here is to create an actual "walk though" on setting up an EC, only to have it ready to go on the day of the event. I'm hoping that by actually showing how to do one this would cut down on the intimidation factor, and by announcing they have just done one show them how easy it is to complete one... Since there is a stream running through the park I thought using the Wentworth Scale [grain size] this should be simple enough. Just a little basic sedimentology. I'm also planning to run this past a prof down at Cal U [CUP] and see if this might help intrtoduce EC's to the university's geology club. I did something similar at an annual event our state group holds. It worked out quite well, Borrow Pits was published 2 days before the event and helped highlight both the process of writing an EC and how to log for those new to EC's. This story gives a little more background on the event and the EarthCache. I'm all for cutting down the intimidation factor as well as helping those new to EarthCaching. Please let us know how it turns out!

1. How many EarthCaches have you developed? What types? (fossil, sedimentary, etc) 2. Do you feel the guidelines for submission are clearly stated? Are you aware of the recent changes? 3. What is your primary reason for developing an EC? (Master’s requirements, great site you wanted to share, other?) 4. Roughly how much time did you put into research? 5. Did you research online or in a library? Consult an expert? 6. How much time did it take to write the page? 7. Have you had to jump through hoops* to get permission? (*Being sent from person to person, major delays or requests for impact statements etc, not just a delay in receiving permission.) 8. Did you submit at EarthCache .org or on geocaching.com? 9. Did you find the submission process or forms to be difficult to use? 10. Have you had a submission returned, requesting more information? 11. Did you feel help was available from the EC (forum or local) community if needed? 12. How would you rate the overall difficulty you had in developing your EarthCache(s)? Please explain your reasons. You may, of course, post to any or all of these questions and if desired provide a link to your EC. Edited to add numbering, thanks KK&M. Edited again to clarify questions 1 and 12.

You could explain the process of fossilization and have comparisons photos of stromatolites fossils. Possibly compare or contrast the geologic neighborhood with sites where stromatolites are found. Good luck with this one, it sounds like it could be a very interesting site.

Manville Possum Hunters, could you clarify your statements in this post. With no sarcasm or derision intended, I do not understand the point you’re trying to make. If you are referring to a specific previous post, could you include that also? When you submit an EC for review, it has to be sent in an educational format about Earth science. I just think that a reviewer would not publish an EC with the logging requirements posted at the front of a cache page. I may be wrong. As far as flow, I mean that when reading the cache page, some of the answers are in the discription. As far as a past post, no. Point, EC's are tough and reviewers are strict. And that is the way I like it. There is no required format that an Earthcache page must be in. They must have Earth science lessons and be educational in content, not format. This EarthCache not only lists a shortened version of the logging requirements directly after the title, it also details local history before discussing the geological lessons at the site, as do many of my EC's. The only difficulty with publishing this was geoaware contacting me to ensure there was adequate permission for the sampling task. The only reason he did that was that I had forgotten to attach that permission when I submitted the cache. It was published very quickly after I forwarded the express permission. This cache description has 6497 characters including the citations. A Garmin Oregon truncates at 8192 characters, I don't know the truncation limits of other devices, but as you see you can pass along alot of information in those 8192 characters. There are other local EC's where the developer has written the pages in the manner of an assignment for 'Mission Impossible', as they contained the necessary geologic information and lessons, they were quickly published. There was no problem with the manner they were written in. Once again there are no required formats, but there is required content. As to the point that you make, yes reviewers are strict, but it need not be difficult to develop an EarthCache. The Fort Lisa's Loess Bluffs EC took a few hours of research and less than 20 minutes to write, all of which was quite pleasurable. in fact, it took me much longer to create the title graphic. Permission was received from the land manager within a day. The only part I found to be tough was getting the html the way I wanted it. I'm not saying it isn't tough for some to write an EC page in the manner they want, but for me the whole process is enjoyable and not difficult at all. And that is the way that I like it. (no sarcasm or derision intended)

Manville Possum Hunters, could you clarify your statements in this post. With no sarcasm or derision intended, I do not understand the point you’re trying to make. If you are referring to a specific previous post, could you include that also?

Well done and a nicely presented page!! Congratulations!