ChrisCindy

I am an officer in the RBFC which is,our local blacksmithing group and making an "official" group is a little work. If we don't take money , dues, then we can operate anyway we see fit. I was thinking more of a way to organize monthly get togethers like they do in Nashville. Setting up a Saturday or weeknight event like BL did on a monthly basis is about all I could see at first. Eveyone would pay their own way, if costs were involved, so dues won't be needed. Saturday picnic, or what have you. Set up our own weekend caches. A few donated door prizes. Strippers... you know a normal Saturday in the park. (ok I was just joking about the door prizes) There would have to be some folks in charge, just to organize things, not to think of themselves as god. (sorry, rant from another post) Something simple. Later we can take up arms and invade a park, take it over and set up a caching commune but that can be discussed at the second meeting. When in doubt...hit it with a big hammer.

So did INS get the last Buddahs? If you need my help busting them out of jail let me know. When in doubt...hit it with a big hammer.

I was going to use BlodlizrdsAdork. JK When in doubt...hit it with a big hammer.

I am sure the triangle has been hit already. Shame too. When in doubt...hit it with a big hammer.

What was the topic? When in doubt...hit it with a big hammer.

I would have said that anyway. It sucks as I can't drink anymore so I have to go at it sober. When in doubt...hit it with a big hammer.

quote:Originally posted by Cruzin!:About forty minutes ago, I posted a reply to this thread. It was put on hold because of a "trigger word." I checked over the post and tested the two words I thought might be the trigger, to find that "Na/icache" (be creative) was the trigger. The very fact that you can't even mention a competitor's site in these forums underscores the point concerning customer service that was in my post. Here's the post, with the trigger word modified. ---------------- This will be my only post in this thread, as I feel that there are those that "get it" about how customer relationships work and there are those that don't. I don't expect anyone that doesn't already get it to have an epiphany because of a forum post. quote:El Diablo:Where were you 2 years ago when there was no membership fee or merchandise to pay for this site? Just to clue you in...it was doing great! So your thoughts that if you the paying member wasn't here, then neither would be this site nor Jeremy is totally wrong. Not necessarily. You're forgetting that the userbase has grown consideribly in that time. I don't know by how much, exactly, but I'm sure that it's at least a factor of two or three, probably higher. Just look at the explosion of new cache placements - they weren't all placed by cachers who were around two years ago, and not every cacher is placing caches. Bandwidth costs (a lot of) money. Servers cost money. Software costs money - especially all the M$ stuff they're using. Windows Server 2003, MS SQL Server and MapPoint server are all expensive products. Then, of course, Jeremy et al have to eat and pay the rent... I understand (I could be wrong, I'm sure I'll be corrected if that's the case) that Jeremy still had a regular job in the early days, and running this site was secondary. I'm glad for everyone involved that he's able to devote his entire work day to it now. It means that he's doing well enough with it to be able to support himself and we (the visitors) get a better site. I think that saying that the site would be doing just as well without the paying members is just nuts, especially considering the added costs of higher bandwidth usage, hardware, electricity, etc., and the lack of income from a "regular" job. It may have been true when Jeremy first started asking for donations, but those days are long gone. quote:RobertM:If you go to Walmart and you often buy goods there does that give you some right to act like an @$$ in their store because if it wasn't for you they wouldn't be in business? I don't think so. Of course not - you should always treat people decently unless they've given you a reason not to. I'm glad you used Wal-Mart as an example, because they're a company that understands that superior customer service can make or break a company. Have you ever noticed that whenever you walk into a Wal-Mart, someone is there to greet you? Having a price that's fifty cents less than your competitor isn't enough to retain a customer - it takes good customer service to keep them coming back. That, I believe, is the problem. Groundspeak effectively has a monopoly on geocaching. Don't believe me? Try to find a news article that lists N@v1cache as the "home page" for the sport of geocaching. Groundspeak doesn't _need_ to provide a high level of customer service when their customers don't have a viable alternative. During the many years that I worked in retail, I had a few jobs where there was just as much heavy lifting - literally - as there was serving customers on the sales floor. I worked my butt off in the stock rooms and then walked onto the sales floor to help customers. Were they aware of how hard I was working in the back room? Probably not, but I never thought that my breaking my back earned me the right to ignore them, treat them poorly or tell them that the story about their granddaughter didn't pertain to the products they were looking at, so they had to stop telling it. I've noticed a lot of people on every side of this subject putting their emotions into their arguments. I've been just as guilty at times. Some people view their membership as a donation because they appreciate what Groundspeak's doing, others view it as a business arrangement. Everyone's right. If you're in the former category, you're probably not expecting anything other than the listings, and you're probably ok with it when the site goes down or is unusable for hours at a time. If you're in the latter category, you're probably expecting to be treated with the same level of respect and appreciation that you're used to receiving in your other business relationships, and you expect the service you're paying for to be reasonably reliable. There's nothing wrong with either position. People shell out the money for different reasons and are naturally going to have different expectations. -- Pehmva! Random quote: http://sthomas.net/sigimage.php Worded better then I said it. When in doubt...hit it with a big hammer.

Like a train hitting a water buffalo. Ok not derailed I guess but very messy. When in doubt...hit it with a big hammer.

quote:Originally posted by Moun10Bike:Just as it is the mantra of the restaurant business, so should it be the mantra of the cache hider: _Location, Location, Location!_ A so-so hide in a cool location still makes for a good cache; a good hide in a crummy location can still be a very bad experience. A good hide in a good location, well that's what sets the great ones apart. http://geocachingwa.org It's hard to find a good location in Memphis if the view is what people want as there is urban or trees. We have no hills or such so there are no grand vistas and such. Just trees or buildings. (Waiting for the desert folks to get wound up or the great plains folks too I guess) When in doubt...hit it with a big hammer.

Also use a good container as it sucks to get there and find a water logged cache. When in doubt...hit it with a big hammer.

quote:Originally posted by GeoFool:This is one sick puppy! GF Only when we feed her Taco Bell. When in doubt...hit it with a big hammer.

quote:Originally posted by Renegade Knight:I swear when the threads get interesting they get the kiss. I agree When in doubt...hit it with a big hammer.

quote:Originally posted by Renegade Knight:I love the irony of life. I can just see the NPS praising this person as what a great hiker should be even as he does everything geocaching is banned for. Nice point. When in doubt...hit it with a big hammer.

Ok, if it makes you mad then C2 (hehehehe) if not then C1. But realy I, C1, do all the posting. She just goes caching and says ohhh that would make a good trade item while we shop. She has no interest in the forums. When in doubt...hit it with a big hammer.

quote:Originally posted by Chris&Cindy:got the ax blah blahhhh When in doubt...hit it with a big hammer. Note: can you feel the sarcasim (sp?) When in doubt...hit it with a big hammer.

got the ax blah blahhhh When in doubt...hit it with a big hammer.

then all the others that When in doubt...hit it with a big hammer.

It is sooooooo much better When in doubt...hit it with a big hammer.

Ok, what about us on the west side :throws up a west side gang sign: We have the people to form an official group so why don't we? When in doubt...hit it with a big hammer.

quote:Originally posted by Criminal: quote:Thats just wrong on so many levels. What type of candy? Uh oh........do I know you? http://fp1.centurytel.net/Criminal_Page/ No I wanted to know what worked best. When in doubt...hit it with a big hammer.

quote:Originally posted by canadazuuk:_HOW TO CREATE A GREAT CACHE EXPERIENCE_ Stay out of the forums. Is it 00:01 yet? Still just kidding When in doubt...hit it with a big hammer.

quote:Originally posted by Criminal:I used to distribute small candy items to the little girls I encountered along the trail or in the parks. Sometimes they would do me “favors” as a demonstration of their gratitude. Sadly, some people questioned my motives and I had to cease the candy distribution. Oh well, there’s a lot of budding little girls out there who will have to go without. http://fp1.centurytel.net/Criminal_Page/ Thats just wrong on so many levels. What type of candy? When in doubt...hit it with a big hammer.

thread blah blah blah...$10. When in doubt...hit it with a big hammer.

yeah this is a worthy When in doubt...hit it with a big hammer.

to get our posts count When in doubt...hit it with a big hammer.