Geo-Sarge
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Posts posted by Geo-Sarge
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29 minutes ago, ecanderson said:
You haven't got or don't supply us with all of the pertinent facts for this 'other' account that you say got the short end of the stick, so there is absolutely no way to compare the two instances that you find in conflict in your earlier posts that complain of a double standard by gc.com. Unless you intend to have the guidelines changed, the account that Keystone has addressed seems very odd, but well within the guidelines.
So if you are prepared to explain fully what historical details got the bee in your bonnet regarding the 'banished' account, fine. If not, the merits of the original comparison you have been trying to draw are something only you can determine for yourself, and soliciting help here isn't going to prove very practical. We don't have those details. Are you hoping that we'll start some sort of email campaign to gc.com on your behalf? If not, I would suggest you take your issues directly to them. The rest of us have no clue what really transpired with regard to the banished account, so why are you using this forum to argue the point?
As I noted earlier, it seems Dr. Alien's caches, whatever their merit (or lack) as caches, are being maintained a hell of a lot better than many of the true 'vacation caches' I often complain about here whose purpose appears to be only to try to get another country souvenir for finders in difficult areas of the world where caches just don't easily work. Properly placed and maintained caches are the basis for your issue. Improperly placed and maintained caches are the basis for mine. Frankly, I'd rather talk about my issue.
19 minutes ago, Dame Deco said:I do believe he told you that it was Team Sagebrushers. Don't bother using the site search--just google geocaching and Team Sagebrushers. They had 24,000 caches in Nevada and other parts west. I'm not sure I agree that it's the same situation. But I really hate a 1000-cache series that's only growing and spreading with fake D/T ratings.
Here is the link to Team SageBrushers old GC profile for comparison https://www.geocaching.com/profile/Default.aspx?guid=67d1c7e2-94ab-48a4-a8aa-6815697f369a
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46 minutes ago, Max and 99 said:
You missed my state: OK.
Sorry Max and 99, you are correct, there is one in Okaholma. When I was running thru the account for the numbers I was afraid I would miss one. I corrected the list in the post adding your state to the list. Thanks for catching it
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Not sour grape. An issue that has needed to be addressed for sometime
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Keystone, do what you will. I welcome more input from any other reviewer on this. Actually I would be interested to know as you stated earlier that Groundspeak is fully aware of the account, who I can communicate with at Groundspeak about the standard used for the publishing of this account.
Keystone wrote earlier
I can only speak for the Doctor Alien caches that I've personally reviewed and published, but the local hiders/caretakers have terrific reputations as cache hiders and cache maintainers in their local area. My guess is you review for at least Ohio and Pennsylvania. Totals for those two states are OH - 395 and PA - 32. Based on those two numbers alone I would say your statement is a reach. How were these people selected? Was there help provided by local reviewers in the area where the caches are placed?
I’ve been doing this hobby since 04/25/2003. When I started you had to live within 25 miles of your cache placements.
As I said earlier, I am not against the people that make up the DoctorAlien account. I am however against a double standard when it comes to fairness to all people hiding caches.
Below is the information I found on the GC website referencing cache placement. True these are not vacation caches, however, it is the same concept.
From the guidelines for placing a cache on the GC website
Don't hide caches far from home.
Vacation/holiday caches are usually not published because they are difficult to maintain. It's best to place physical caches in your area so you can respond quickly to maintenance needs. In rare circumstances, a vacation cache with an acceptable maintenance plan might be published.
From the link for Maintenance Plan on the GC website
Section 5.6. - Can I hide a cache while on vacation?It’s not recommended
We recommend that you do not hide a geocache while traveling. Vacation/holiday caches are usually not published.Geocache owners must visit their caches to maintain them. Logbooks fill up, cache contents get wet, or the cache can disappear. If you live far away from your cache, timely maintenance is impossible. It’s best to place physical caches in your usual caching area.
Maintenance plan.If you do place a geocache while traveling, you must have a maintenance plan. For example, a local geocacher agrees to maintain the cache in your absence. When you submit your cache, document your plan in a Reviewer Note. Include the local geocacher’s username, contact information, and written consent. Information in Reviewer Notes will auto-archive on publication and will not be available to other players.
I honestly believe that these guidelines were not followed or were bent to allow publication of the listings. I base this belief on the number of people that are involved in placing these caches.
Looking at the account, this is what I see. All cache pages clearly read - “This cache placed for Midwest Geobash 2020 (GC88QKK)”. This is a Mega event in western Ohio. Based on that information one would believe that the organizing committee are the people that are behind the Dr Alien account. And as stated by Keystone in an earlier post, there is a reviewer on the Mega event organizing committee. This Mega Event event did not take place this year due to the pandemic and was canceled for 2020. Looking at the locations, how can these be event related?
Looking at the account I found
Locations with active/available caches
Australia - 5
Canada - 7
Norway - 9
Portugal - 25
United Kingdon - 2CA - 371
FL - 23
IA - 10
IL - 7
IN - 18
KY - 1
ME - 4
MI - 52
NE - 2
NY - 5
OH - 395OK - 1
PA - 32
TN - 6
TX - 10
UT - 3
WA - 5
WV - 5Total’s
Available 982
Unavailable 3
Archived 13So with all that being said.
Why is a group of cachers all located in Ohio allowed to have the guidelines bent to allow the publishing of these caches.
And again I will say, this is not an attack on the members of Dr Alien, or the reviewers. It is a question on guideline interpretation by the reviewers. If this is permitted for one then I or any other cacher can do the exact same thing to have cache placements pubished anywhere in the world.
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I not against the DoctorAlien account. TeamSagebrush did this and had their account revoked, Doctor Alien is alive and well.
So let me get this straight. If I decide to contact cachers all over the country and in other countries to hide caches and also maintain those caches for me so that my account has 1,000 hides as long as I have an approved maintenance plan it would be permitted?
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On 7/19/2020 at 1:42 PM, Keystone said:
1. There is a grand total of one Community Volunteer Reviewer on the organizing committee for Midwest Geobash. That person has not hidden any of the Doctor Alien caches.
2. I can only speak for the Doctor Alien caches that I've personally reviewed and published, but the local hiders/caretakers have terrific reputations as cache hiders and cache maintainers in their local area.
3. Geocaching HQ is well aware of the Doctor Alien account and their hiding plan. This topic has been discussed in our Reviewers' forum.
4. The person/persons behind the Doctor Alien account have not done anything to violate the website terms of use such that the account would be in danger of suspension, either temporarily or permanently. I personally enjoy a positive, transparent relationship with the person/persons behind the Doctor Alien account. I have never felt abused, lied to or threatened.
My next question is, how did the DoctorAlien account holders locate these, in Keystone's words, "local hiders/caretakers have terrific reputations as cache hiders and cache maintainers in their local area" get selected.
Was there involvement by the reviewers to locate these cachers? This is an obvious question based on the worldwide placement of these caches as well as the language issues between DortorAlien and the people in other countries.
If there was active involvement by reviewers thru their private reviewers forum to locate all the people world wide that placed these caches then we have a clear conflict of interest and is preferential treatment for the people behind the DoctorAlien account.
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So I guess the question of Team Sagebrush vs DoctorAlien will remain unaswered. No surprize there
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I have never said any reviewer was threatened or abused to have caches published by the MWGB organizing committee.
The lead organizer of MWGB is DoctorAlien, there is a reviewer on the same commetee, since MWGB is a Mega Event and Groundspeak is considered a major sponsor of MWGB there is clearly a conflict if interest here.
As stated in a previous post on the thread, this is clearly an abuse of a policy that was intended to be used for the right reason.
Just because you can does not mean you should.
I still have not gotten a explanation to why Team Sagebrush was held to a different standard.
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Looking at all the hides on this account one can not actually believe that there will be cachers to take proper care of these caches. The Ohio cacher that is posting new caches under the name DoctorAlien is the lead person on the committee that hosts the MidWest Geobash (MWGB). And if I dig deap enough we will probably find that reviewers are also in the same group of people that organize and host MWGB. This would mean that the MWGB organizers are publishing theses caches worldwide without actually following this questionable quideline of an "arranged maintenance plan". That guide line was probably put into place so a cacher could have a hide in a location where a friend or family member would actually maintain the cache. I do not believe it was put into place so an event organizer for an Ohio event (MWGB) could have 995 caches worldwide. Reading the cache description these were all placed for the MWGB. Looking at the placed dates and published dates also leads you to believe that something is going on other than other cachers across the world have all decided that out of the goodness of their heart they are going to maintain caches for someone they don't know. The Doctor Alien account really needs to be looked at closely by Groundspeak, and by Groundspeak I do not mean the local reviewers. This account is clearly abusing an exception to the hiding guidelines and is being permitted by the local reviewers, some of which are in the MWGB planning committee.
I still would like to know the difference between this and what Team Sagebrush did that caused Team Sagebrush to have his account removed. This is far more.
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3 hours ago, Keystone said:
Each of the caches in this series is hidden by a local geocacher on behalf of the Dr. Alien account. The identity of the local hider/maintainer is disclosed privately to the reviewer prior to publication. When a cache has an adequate maintenance plan, it's published.
I'm going to have to still believe that this is nothing more than a pad the numbers gimmic. The standard Team Sagebrush was held to is clearly a different standard than being used for this account. The cache page clearly reads "This cahe was placed for Midwest Geobash 2020" How does a cache placed under this account in Leiria, Portugal have any remote connection to a an event held in Fulton County Ohio?
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I have a question on the policy for a Geocacher listing caches on his profile that was clearly not hidden by the individual. The individual lives in Ohio and he is actively soliciting other cachers to place a container and email him the coordinates and then submitting the cache under his profile. You will find his cache hides listed in several states and several countries. There is clearly no way for these caches to be properly maintained. The cacher, "DoctorAlien" has 995 hides showing on his profile.
This is from the guidelines for hiding a container
Maintain geocache container
To keep the geocache in proper working order, the cache owner must
- Visit the geocache regularly.
- Fix reported problems (such as replace full or wet logbook, replace broken or missing container).
- Make sure the location is appropriate and change it if necessary.
- Remove the geocache container and any physical stages within 60 days after the cache page is archived.
Cache owners who do not maintain their existing caches in a timely manner may temporarily or permanently lose the right to list new caches on Geocaching.com.
How is it even possible for DoctorAlien to follow these guidelines
My question is why is this permitted? This cacher lives in Ohio clearly can not maintain these caches and he has clearly not traveled to these other countries
A cacher from Team Sagebrush did the exact samething and his account was revoked by Groundspeak.
So my questioon is simple, why is this being allowed by Groundspeak and why are the reviewers allowing these to be published? It looks as if the rewuewers are giving this cacher preferential treatment becaue they are friends. If that is what is happenng then perhaps the reviewers need to be revaluated for suitablty to be a reviewer
Below from his profile is a sample of those caches and the counties where they are hidden
Dr. Alien's Most Awesome Caches of All Time #958
by DoctorAlien | GC8VN86 | CaliforniaDr. Alien's Most Awesome Caches of All Time #819
by Dr. Alien | GC8TQR2 | OhioDr. Alien's Most Awesome Caches of All Time #841
by Dr. Alien | GC8VGG0 | FloridaDr. Alien's Most Awesome Caches of All Time #835
by Dr. Alien | GC8V5F4 | MichiganDr. Alien's Most Awesome Caches of All Time #834
by Dr. Alien | GC8TQV1 | Southern England, United KingdomDr. Alien's Most Awesome Caches of All Time #826
by Dr. Alien | GC8TQT9 | MaineDr. Alien's Most Awesome Caches of All Time #830
by Dr. Alien | GC8TQTQ | Ontario, CanadaDr. Alien's Most Awesome Caches of All Time #826
by Dr. Alien | GC8TQT9 | MaineDr. Alien's Most Awesome Caches of All Time #823
by Dr. Alien | GC8TQRK | PennsylvaniaDr. Alien's Most Awesome Caches of All Time #811
by Dr. Alien | GC8TCVF | Oslo, NorwayDr. Alien's Most Awesome Caches of All Time #801
by Dr. Alien | GC8T07V | Washingtonr. Alien's Most Awesome Caches of All Time #768
by Dr. Alien | GC8RXY7 | TexasDr. Alien's Most Awesome Caches of All Time #754
by Dr. Alien | GC8RNP5 | Leiria, PortugalDr. Alien's Most Awesome Caches of All Time #702
by Dr. Alien | GC8RFEN | UtahDr. Alien's Most Awesome Caches of All Time #697
by Dr. Alien | GC8RE54 | IowaDr. Alien's Most Awesome Caches of All Time #680
by Dr. Alien | GC8RC3F | West VirginiaDr. Alien's Most Awesome Caches of All Time #670
by Dr. Alien | GC8RA68 | New South Wales, Australia-
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According to Moun10Bike, "I've been told that if the community demands [the separate count for distinct caches found], we will bring it back."
So, does anyone support the idea of bringing back the separate count for distinct caches found?
Personally, I liked it, because it was an easy way to verify that I hadn't inadvertently double-logged a find (e.g., by clicking the submit button an extra time).
Yes, please bring back this useful feature. It was a quick way for me to know if I logged a cache more than once. And when looking at another players stats it was a way to know if they have been padding their numbers. By this I mean logging of bonus smileys on the same cache for doing something or answering a question as well as logging temp caches at events. Temp caches are those placed by the event host that do not have GC codes because they do not meet the separation guidelines. They are logged on the event page as an additional "attended". So if the event host places 200 "temp caches" the people attending are allowed to find those and post an additional "attended" log on the event page. So the event plus 200 temp caches logged as "attended" gives the player 201 attended events when they in fact attended only one event. Before this feature was taken away I was able to tell that a player with 10,147 finds on 8,639 distinct caches. That's a whooping difference of 1,508.
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I download the iPhone app for this today. At the final I received the "Thank you screen" for playing the cartridge and it also reminded me to upload the results to the site. It seems the iPhone app did not create the required file for uploading. Any suggestions?
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eXplorist GC is the first GPS device 100% dedicated to geocaching.
Wouldn't that be the GeoMate Jr?
Other interesting points:
- Pre-loaded with the most popular geocaches in the world.
- SiRFstarIII
- Up to 10,000 geocaches
- Sunlight readable 2.2" screen
- Free 30 day premium membership at geocaching.com
- On-unit filtering of geocaches
- Send to GPS and Field Notes
Negatives:
- No compass / barometer
- No expansion memory (at least, none mentioned)
You do not need the electronic compass. A geocache location is marked by lat/long coordinates beamed to the receiver by radio signals sent from the GPS satellite system. The eXplorist 200, 300 and 400 never had a electronic compass. My Triton 400 does not have an electronic compass. I have found hundreds of caches with my eXplorist 400. All with out a compass. I also own and use a the top of the line Garmin GPSMap 60 Csx. When I use it for Geocaching I turn off the electronic compass.
Leaving it on causes the electronic compass to fight with the GPS receiver when standing still. When you hear people say that the "compass" starts to spin when standing still it is being caused by the electronic compass trying to point north and the satellite receiver trying to point to the cache. They both share the same indicator on the screen.
As far as a barometer, it's not needed for Geocaching.
As far as expansion memory, it already holds 10,000 caches. A Garmin holds 1,000. It has a worldwide base map down to street level. How much more memory do you really need?
Your Geocaching, not back country orienteering in the middle of no where.
- Pre-loaded with the most popular geocaches in the world.
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Event show will attend after log deleted
in Website
Posted
I have deleted my will attend for GC9WDWW. Looking at the event listing it still shows as a will attend. And I'm still getting emails for attendees reference the event