bumblingbs

Sorry, but are you saying that racial / ethnic / gender slurs are wrong, so we have to keep using them to remind ourselves how wrong we are?

I've seen some rather phallic landmarks, and somehow they don't seem to get crude, male genitalia inspired names.

I'm offended for myself. I can't address Squaw from a personal viewpoint, but I can address the word tits, and I don't think we need it in TB names.

My caches are pretty kid-centric; partly because I have a kid, and partly because it's a lot easier to find cool dollar store items for kids than it is to find cool dollar store items for adults. Sure, I could get little screwdriver kits, but if you really need screwdrivers, do you really want a cheapo dollar store set? I did have a lot of geocaching buttons from bumblebuttons, and they were popular.

Ive got to agree, this is offensive. What, did Mel Gibson name it?

I was FTF on a cache published naming someone else, but only after a conversation with the intended finder. Pretty small community here, though. Dedicated caches don't always work out. There was one with my name on it. I woke on a cold, cold windy morning, hoping to sit in front of the fire reading a book, only to check the caches and find this one. Drat! Felt obligated to go out. Inadvertantly returned the favor by hiding one for my geo-friend that he loathed. Just his least favorite kind of cache hunt. Was all well meant.....

And, no, I agree, do not delete your DNF after you've found it. DNF's are badges of honor, just a different kind. And part of your history and the cache history. Besides, it shows fortitude, that you got skunked, but were game enough to come back for another try. Edited because Mrs B should look up big words before she uses them.

Oh, yes, please do log DNF's! I had a cache go missing - I checked it after two DNF's, one on the cache page and the other a personal e-mail. After I wrote that the cache was indeed gone, a bunch of pre-dated DNF's came in. Made me look like an idiot for waiting through so many DNF's before checking the cache. Could have saved some people some fruitless searches if I had known earlier.

Life is funny, isn't it? I've been FTF on a couple of caches where the owner taunted seekers about their ability to find it. I've also DNF'd 1/1 caches that everyone and their 18 month old and their dog have found. Go figure.

I'm sorry, but your post is a bit hard to follow. I think the cache idea is fine. You leave photos of places or people that are meaningful to you, and seekers trade with pictures that have sentimental or historical value to them. I would ask that each finder include the story that goes with the picture they left. Then you would indeed have a cache full of memories. Sweet!

Animals? Yeah. I'm a Bumbling B for a reason, and what I should be worried about is tripping, and falling down and breaking or straining something. But somehow the idea of a 200 + pound predator launching itself at my back is more notable to my brain. That being said, I think about the worst I've been hurt caching is the day I figured out what stinging nettles look like. A sea of stinging nettles. (ouch!)

What they said. For cougars. A big honkin' can of pepper spray. Do not surprise me in the woods.

Let me add this about co-FTF. My rules for myself, only. Normally, if I was at ground zero looking for a cache, and there was another cacher there looking as well, and they found it first, I would not claim FTF, even if they offered. On the other hand, I went on an 18 mile roundtrip hike with a friend to find a mountain cache. We agreed in advance to share FTF, regardless of who found it. For both of us, it was a tough hike that pushed our abilities, and after spending hours together on the trail, we didn't want to turn against each other in a FTF competition. Turns out we only got within 1/4 mile of the cache, it was snowed in and too dangerous to get to. If we had gotten there, and she had found it first, I probably wouldn't have claimed FTF anyway, but somehow the idea of sharing it took the pressure off, and pressure was not what we were looking for. To have one of us go all that way and be a "winner" and one a "loser" was unpalatable. Actually, it was a wonderful hike with gorgeous views and good company, and, while it was a disappointment at the time, I don't much mind that we didn't find the cache at all.

How do you share a FTF? The second group of people to find it cannot possibly be the first to find. I really don't get this idea of awarding FTFs, particularly to people who are not the first to find a cache. Well, you do make co-FTF sound kind of silly. Technically, of course, it can't be done. It's kind of a case of going a bit out of bounds of the rules, but on the nice side--they were all hunting together, and the true FTF offered co-status as a gesture of camaraderie. Most people don't mind rule bending or breaking when it's done in the spirit of friendship, as opposed to the nose-thumbing or pump-up-your-own-numbers vein. Again, I didn't realize that I was operating by regional standards, but FTF on a cache that has not been published for all to see is simply not considered appropriate here. Also, I'm somewhat familiar with Navicaching, and have caches listed with Terracaching, but I have yet to see duplicate cache listings with this site. I suppose if that were common around here, the ones eager to have FTF would learn where to look for earliest cache publication, and it would even out the playing field again. I live in a pretty small pond, though, and the competition for FTF is hardly cut-throat.

Yeah, well I wish you'd stop frowning at me like that!

Well let me qualify my statement. If a cache owner only intends to publish his caches on GC.COM and always gives a geo-friend the coordinates just so he can get a jump on the locals, I'd say that is pretty low. And if that geo-freind brags, gloats or otherwise brings his FTFs to the attention of the locals, I'd say he is a cheeseball of the first order. Still, its the owner's cache and he is free to do whatever he wants with it (until it is listed here, in which case it must conform to the guidelines). Well, yes, I think that was along the lines of the original question. The FTF was given the coordinates to a cache by the cache owner, who they knew, and they "claimed" FTF. There was no gloating, but nonetheless, the coordinates were available only to one person. The alternate listing question is out of my realm of knowledge. Although I'm a GC girl, I have several caches listed with another service; only because of problems fitting into the guidelines here. Mostly the .1 mile rule. I have not seen any caches there that are the same as caches here, and their site asks that you not duplicate in that manner. So, I'm feeling a bit naive, and maybe not understanding the big picture. At any rate, thank you for the respectful discussion.

Wow. I learn new things all the time. I guess the playing field in my neck of the woods IS level, and that pleases me.

Dang, Briansnat, I said I'd go away, but it's kind of compelling to see where a discussion you are involved in goes. Guess I'm thinking of what one other cacher referred to as "Gentleman's Rules". It would seem ridiculous to me if I gave the coordinates of my new caches to my local geo-friend, and he claimed FTF on all of them. Well, he pretty much does, anyway, but he gets the coordinates the same time everybody else does. I'm not trying to be difficult, but I can't seem to separate this from some of the other questionable practices that have been discussed at length in the forums lately. Not sure how I managed to make my neck of the woods sound backwards, either. That's just me, not my local pals!

Please slow down. You like getting a FTF, or having a beta-tester get the FTF, specifically in order to frustrate your fellow local cacher, whose only intent in having a FTF is to prove that they're better than you? I obviously need a break from the forums. I get to go caching Thursday! Yipee!

I'm surprised that the sort of "ethical caching" code that has been promoted in other threads doesn't seem to be getting the same support here. To some people, going for a FTF gives the same sort of adreneline rush that, say, finding a lot of caches in one day does. Not everybody cares, but some do. And for those that do, why shouldn't it be a level playing field? Claiming a FTF when nobody else has even been told it's there would not fly in my neck of the woods.

I'm going to have to agree with those that don't think this is right. FTF is meaningless, if you're the only one who has been told where it is..... I'm taking this as a general question, without taking into consideration any local dynamics, of which I have no knowledge.

I thought I gave a cute clue, but apparently people didn't get it. I'm getting too old! The cache was in an old coastal military base that has been converted to a state park. I didn't want people trampling, I wanted them to go the right way. The clue was 'Archie'. The cache was not in the wood just to one side of the search zone, it was attached to the Bunker on the other. Oh, well...

Precisely. I think that most cachers would be appreciative of a record that fits within their own experience of caching. For a lot of us, that pretty much means that, with no more help than the cache page itself gives you, you go find the cache and sign the log. If there's a bunch of you, you all go find it and sign the log. No single member of this team signed all the logs. One team member has been in this forum expecting to have his record recognized, even though he admittedly didn't get out of the car and find any caches at all. Well, you can claim any record you wish. In fact, you do have the record for most caches found in a 24 hour period within the parameters that you chose for yourself. Whether you can make this record be meaningful to the cache community at large is not something you can dictate.

As far as I can see, we could have infinite variations of the record. Most caches by a team of 8, who split up within a half mile and had at least one team member sign the outside of the log. Most caches by a team of 8, who split up within half a mile and had at least one team member sign the outside of the log, and didn't ask anyone for helpful hints beforehand. Most caches by a team of 10, who split up in a .473 mile distance and required two team members to sign each log. Most caches by a team of 10, who split up in a .473 mile distance and required two people to sign the log, but did it in the rain in December when the days are shorter. By Your Rules, you have the record. But there could be so many sets of rules. Why should the one that this team decided on be the benchmark for others?

Speaking of the Brownie Hot Fudge Sundae Event, I'll add that Belleterre went up the ladder with a pack that must have weighed 50 pounds; with brownies, ice cream, fudge, spoons and bowls, dry ice, whipped cream, and a folding table with tablecloth. Tough woman, that one. The scared and the brave went up, each being cheered at the top and bottom. I represented myself by leaving a rubber chicken in the cache. Goodbye, beloved cache.