Crow T Robot

Congratulations, 9Key! A well written essay and a generous offer to donate your prize for another worthy cause. It's nice to know that we are appreciated - sometimes more than everyone realizes. Thanks again to El Diablo and everyone else who joined in.

If a cache is recommended for archival, one of the admins will attempt to contact the owner and evaluate the circumstances before taking any action. It is very helpful for cache owners to add notes to the cache logs every time they check on the cache so people will know it's still there. If a cache hasn't been found in a long time or has been disabled for more than 3 or 4 months, we'll try to ascertain it's condition. However, those are often the ones destined for archival - particularly when the cache owner hasn't logged in to the site in a long, long time and the logs indicate that the cache has been destroyed.

The word from Rothstafari (Groundspeak Lackey) is that Yahoo has an occasional problem with the format of the pocket queries. He has checked the files which were tagged by Yahoo as being infected and found no problems.

This cache has been archived. Cache owners are no longer able to change the cache type, specifically to prevent this from happening. As mtn-man said, this bypasses the approval process and the approvers have been told to immediately archive a cache when this happens. If the cache can meet the virtual guidelines it can be unarchived. Otherwise, the container should be replaced.

Done.

The first geocache in Florida was the Point Washington cache. It was hidden on 9/24/00 and was archived on 2/18/02. The oldest active cache in Florida is the Christmas Cache hidden on 12/25/00.

Scout Master, send me an email and give me some more details; I'll see what's going on.

The limit on moving a cache is 0.1 mile. This should allow you a little tweaking but not the ability to put the listing in a whole new area. There shouldn't be a problem changing a traditional cache to a multi-cache, but you'll have to work with the approver to make it happen. These changes came about after too many people created virtual caches after their containers were stolen and the sites weren't really valid as virtual caches. We also saw people submitting innocuous cache locations that were changed to questionable sites after approval. It's still possible to make a lot of changes to your cache, but you'll need some admin intervention at this point.

Is the cache listing archived or is it temporarily disabled? I find that many cachers don't fully understand the distinction but it makes a difference in how we deal with the situtation. If the cache is archived, you are free to submit a new cache request with or without the previous hider's permission. I would presume that the cache would not be replaced because it's been archived. If it is disabled, we treat the cache as still being active but in the process of being fixed. In that case, you should ask the owner if they plan to replace it or you should ask one of the admins to contact the owner and find out their intention. If the owner plans to replace it at some point, we'll prod them to make it happen sooner than later if there are people waiting in line to use the site.

Some of the approvers are chosen because a particular state or region needs a local person to deal with specific circumstances. That's the case in Florida, Colorado, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Illiois, Michigan, and a few other states. Some approvers just seem to have been around forever - they were the only ones willing to step in and take a thankless job from the outset. Some of us volunteer, some are invited. Some (like me) operate anonymously. This thread has some additional information on the subject, as does this one.

Florida has FloridaCachers, although it isn't especially active. There is also the Northeast Florida Geocachers Association and the Northwest Florida Geocaching group on Yahoo.

Here is the profile page for mtn-man. Here is the profile page for ~erik~. You can email them directly from those pages and they will be happy to assist.

I checked the approval queue and your cache is not among the many, many caches that were submitted over the weekend. Since your profile doesn't show your cache and you probably didn't receive the verification email when you submitted it, I'll bet the email SNAFU prevented it from reaching us. I'm sorry for the problem and I think you'll need to submit it again. We'll keep an eye out for it. Thanks for checking.

From your initial description, it sounds like it might be possible. I'll contact you directly to get more information. Thanks.

Also keep in mind that there are more approvers for the US than the UK. I can see your cache submission in the approval queue but I'm not sure who is reviewing it. Stand by.

I guess I've spoiled everyone with my lightning-fast responses! I was out of town for 2 days and the other approvers left the Florida caches until my return. Things are back to normal and I promise I'll never go away again.

As long as you give us enough information in the very beginning, this situation shouldn't be a problem. The problem occurs when the cache page doesn't mention the need to stay off the adjacent private property and people's logs all include a reference to the "No Trespassing" signs. At the very least, those logs will lead to the cache being disabled and a lengthy email exchange to figure out what's going on. We've seen this set of circumstances before and it underlines the need to provide the admins with as much information about the cache as is possible, and then more if it might be viewed as questionable.

Bumping this one back up because I don't have a definite volunteer yet. Thanks.

No word yet on Merritt Island. No one wants to issue an opinion. I think that I just haven't talked to the right person yet. I'm not sure if this is a regional issue or an issue with this specific NWR. I'll let you know as soon as something happens - hopefully I will be telling you to go hide a new one! Thanks for remembering.

I received this email from a city employee in WPB: We are a Nature Preserve in the City of West Palm Beach, Florida. We would like to find someone that would be able to set up a demonstration of Geocaching for our "Dragonfly Summer" Program on August 15th. Can you give me a local contact? Are there any south Florida cachers that might be able to help her out? If so, contact me at crow@geocachingadmin.com and I'll give you more details. Thanks.

Thanks for the offer, Hammack. Looks like this one is yours. Lil Otter is making the request to HQ and you should own it soon. Thanks again.

Thank you. We get used to taking abuse in the forums but it's a breath of fresh air to get a compliment. I have a good relationship with most of the cachers in Florida and I appreciate all their feedback; it's what helps us to keep improving. I always appreciate their emails and notes. Thanks again.

This is the Lake Mills cache. Sorry the link didn't work.

This cache in Seminole County needs a new owner. Please contact me at crow@geocachingadmin.com if you are interested in adopting it. Thanks.