ScottJ

I posted on this forum some time ago asking about geocaching organizations in eastern North Carolina. Apparently, there are none, because I heard nothing. The Down East Geocachers were apparently a non-starter; their web site hasn't been updated since 2008. Other NC organizations seem to be centered in Charlotte and the mountains, both far from us here in the east. So, let me change my approach. Anyone who would be interested in forming a geocaching organization in the apparently unserved eastern third of North Carolina, please contact me and let's discuss getting something started. Scott

Hi. Max. Yes, I'm aware that it's best to search before posting, and I had already read that entire thread. That's how I found the one (apparently defunct) organization I mentioned. I'm posting here because my search was unproductive, and because I'm hoping someone here might be in my area and know something. Thanks!

I've just moved from the Atlanta region, where you can't get from your office to your car without tripping over three Geocaches, to New Bern, North Carolina, where Geocaching feels almost the way it did when I first started in 2001. I'm kind of excited about getting back into the sport, but fewer caches means there are fewer cachers, too. I looked up an organization called Down East Geocachers, but it appears that the organization never went anywhere; their web sites haven't been updated since 2008. Does anyone know of a Geocaching organization in or near Eastern North Carolina? I'm thinking folks in Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro, and Charlotte are not getting to this area very often, so it would be nice to have a local club. If there isn't one, I'm willing to help start one! Any thoughts or ideas, anyone? Cities I'm near include Havelock, Greenville, Kinston, Jacksonville, Morehead City, James City, Bridgeton, Fairfield Harbour, Vanceboro, Dover, Pollocksville, Grantsboro, and Bayboro.

Michael, Thank you very much for this unexpected but most welcome consideration. I am extremely grateful. Thank you also for clarifying the policy with respect to lapses and renewals. I have set myself up for auto-renewal and will be doubly careful to prevent any future lapses. Thanks also to everyone who has spoken up in support of my admittedly shaky position, and to those who participated in the policy discussion. This is indeed a community to which I can be proud to belong. Scott

That was my impression too. Since there aren't actually any privileges associated with being a Charter Member, nor did I ever want any, I guess I'm having trouble understanding why that small point of pride, the one that said I'd been around since the very early days, needed to be revoked. I haven't heard from Jeremy at all nor do I know how to reach him anymore. The person who denied my request is a guy named "Eric."

Well, I'll THINK of myself that way for life, regardless.

Awww. Someone remembered. Thanks, Allen.

I have always paid yearly. It's set up for yearly recurring now with PayPal.

Hiya, Rebel! Last time I saw you, you were riding around on a 4-wheeler setting out event caches! It apparently expired in late November. I did a few searches in the forums and found places where people had gotten their status reset after being expired for "a few months," so I didn't expect a problem.

Upon returning to Geocaching after something of a long break, I recently discovered that my premium membership had expired. I renewed it. As had happened once before, I was a "Charter Member" before renewal, and afterward I was a "Premium Member" again. When this happened before, I'd written to Jeremy and he'd simply reset me. No problem. I was relieved at that, because I am rather proud to have been around since the very early days. I was glad my inattention to things in the short term hadn't erased my history. When I sent a support query today asking for my charter membership to be reset, I was flatly told no. At first there was no explanation at all. When I asked for elaboration, I was told that charter status now can only be reset if payment has been made "promptly." I guess I have no standing to argue. It's their web site. I must have missed the memo on this change in policy, though. I would have been happy for my payment to have been applied as of the date I expired, if that meant keeping my status the same and my membership uninterrupted. I even selected the "recurring" payment option this time so that I wouldn't forget again, but it seems the damage is done.

Pardon me if this question is redundant. I did a reasonable amount of searching before asking it, but it's a tough search. There are a lot of ways to describe this. I'm wondering if anyone's developed a tool or method for locating caches near a route, or even minimally near a line between two points. This has come up several times, mainly during road trips. More recently, I've been looking for a way to list caches that are near the Silver Comet Trail, a rails-to-trails project in northwest Georgia. A series of small-radius pocket queries, merged and de-duplicated, would work. However, that would be very cumbersome, inelegant, and inefficient. If anyone's come up with a nifty way to do this, or if there's already a facility out there for doing it, I'd love to know. Go ahead--make me feel stupid! Thanks.

I notice that each time I try to display a geocache map, I get back a "Server Error" that says, basically, that we don't have a valid license for the AltaMap software anymore. Did someone forget to pay the bill? I was going to e-mail this in as a problem report, but posts on another thread seem to indicate that this doesn't work. Indeed, I sent in a report about a problem on the cache pages over a month ago and still haven't heard anything in response, so the point seems valid. Scott -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

Uhm ... I know this seems way too simple and all, but ... those folks who don't have an opinion either way ... they could just not vote, right? -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

Geocaching: You ARE the flame engine. -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

Wow, the word made it through unscathed! Someone must have come to his or her senses. Bravo, admins. Thanks. -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

Well, I'm glad someone mentioned thinging. I am having a ball with it. Thanks to that site, I just finished eating my first bag of "Prawn Cocktail Flavour" snacks, and I have a jar of a noxious-looking substance called "Marmite" on my desk that I'm working up my courage to try! -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

I found one in North Georgia about 2 weeks ago and still haven't gotten a reply. I finally logged it after 3 days. I think maybe some hiders don't bother replying if the answers are correct. (The reply is "virtual" too.) -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

quote:Originally posted by Renegade Knight:What's Superman got that I don't? Margot Kidder, last time I looked -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

quote:Originally posted by mufasa1023:ScottJ has missed the point entirely...or has not read the posts up until now..... "This should not be construed to mean that OBJECTIONABLE material (pornography, guns, drugs, etc.) should not be dealt with immediately" I think most of us are pretty clear on the distinction between guns and religious literature. Objectionable might have been the wrong word ... "prohibited" might have been better, since all the things I mentioned are also mentioned specifically in the guidelines. -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

A woman walks into a pharmacy. She asks the pharmacist for some arsenic. The pharmacist asks her what she wants it for, and she replies that she's going to use it to poison her husband. The pharmacist says, "Sorry, maam, there's just no way I can dispense arsenic to you if I know you're going to use it to kill someone!" At that, the woman hands over the counter a photograph of her husband in bed with the pharmacist's wife! The pharmacist says, "Well, now! Why didn't you tell me you had a PRESCRIPTION!" -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

quote:Originally posted by Mr. Snazz:In your opinion, is it appropriate for a cacher who is acquainted with an approver to ask the approver to "fast track" the approval of their cache? No. I think in light of all the paranoia lately, it's important for the approvers to take the high road and not show the slightest hint of favoritism or bias toward any one cacher or any group of cachers. -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

quote:Originally posted by umc:It is but I think its more so when its personal private property. A walmart parking lot is open to the public right? We really shouldn't, in my opinion, ASSUME that our activities are OK with the property owner. A lot of store parking lots now have signs up, describing the exact legal circumstances under which you're allowed to be there, quoting local ordinances chapter and verse. Some have video surveillance, too. I'd say better safe than sorry. -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

Nah. A Ka-Bar knife and a thong. Think light. -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

Kill them, dismember them, and leave the parts for the next guy to trade a WG$ for. This is Geocaching. No mercy. -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

quote:Originally posted by Keystone Approver:The approvers ordinarily do NOT quiz cache hiders about whether they received permission from Wal-Mart or Target to hide a cache in the parking lot. Obtaining permission is the responsibility of the cache owner. Interesting. I would have thought "Did you get permission?" would be the first question when an approver learned a cache was on private property. In fact: quote:Note to Reviewer In order to expedite your new cache approval, please provide any details for the cache listing, such as final coordinates for a MultiCache, whether you received permission, or a description of the item for a virtual cache. The reviewer will delete this note before approving your listing. I'm not being argumentative, just pointing out that it's not a bad thing to ask, since we're assuming it already ... not everyone reads the guidelines so carefully, and by asking, you might remind someone who hadn't thought of getting permission. When one property owner gets hacked off about a cache on his property that he didn't know about, it reflects on all of us. Which brings us back to the topic at hand -- I'd say that if the cache was placed in a supermarket parking lot or on otherwise private property, without the property owner or manager's permission, then yes, that's irresponsible. -- Scott Johnson (ScottJ)