woodsters

I agree and don't like cheaters. But there is nothing you can do about it. It's going to be up to the cache owner to do that. Just the same as caches like virtuals and ones that are not allowed anymore (codewords), half the time the cache owners don't even respond or remove cheaters from the finds. Or just like people who don't sign log books, but claim them online. Cache owners aren't checking the logs to verify them. Only cache owners can keep their caches and their logs (both online and on paper) straight. How about when someone posts something that may contain a spoiler that you let the cache owner know? Or if someone like this keeps doing the same thing over an over, then email them and ask them not to do that. Chances are you aren't going to have any luck. Work on where a difference can be made, the cache owner. It's a lot easier to control a cache owners listing on the site than it is to try and control the many cheaters out there.

No...NOT EVERYONE has sock puppet accounts. People with sock puppet accounts are hiding from something.

I think with as big of a users database that this site generates, that they should "prune" every so often. There should be a pruning of usernames for those who are not active within a period of time, say a year. When I say active, I mean they have no finds or cache placements at all and have not logged in for a year. If there is a find or placement associated with the name, then by all means leave it. At least for the time being. Usernames should be validated upon registration. I think that after a period of time, that an email should be sent to the inactive user requesting that they respond to the email to maintain their username. A revalidation basically. If they don't after a certain time period, then the username is removed. This will also make sure or at least encourage people to maintain a correct email address here. Some will make an email account for the sake of making up an account and never use or access the email account again. Also didn't I read that a cache owner must log in every so often or that their cache(s) could be disabled or archived?

Hey wimsey, I just moved to NC (Charlotte) and even posted a question in the Southeast section here about rules for the area. Honeychile posted some things about the NC State Parks. Please keep me abreast of whatever happens. I will try to keep an eye out here, but don't want to miss anything!

As others have stated to include an approver, there's no problem. But seeing it is private property you definitely need to ask the owners first. I can imagine that they would probably not have a problem with it as it could generate business to them. You might ask them on suggestions of where to put one as well. Keep them happy and they will probably keep an eye out on the cache.

Actually I think someone would start manufacturing geocaching specific products. Such as containers of all sizes made of something like an ammo box (but doesn't look like one) with a special area for the finders page and place specifically that a log book, which they would sell, would slide into. Then you will have trays that would slide in and stack for the different things and so forth. Then you might see some of it show up in a store somewhere. But not an aisles worth. I think you would be talking many years down the road.

I would say a link is harmless. But, it should be up to the cache owner as to what should be posted on their cache page as far as that info goes. You can't control what other people are going to post and only the cache owner can remove info from the page besides the poster. Some owners don't give a rats butt about keeping things honest. Heck if you emailed them, they might not even reply to it. Just like people saying others would share "lidcodes", people do this same sort of thing on regular caches.

i wouldn't know, I haven't claimed it...

I think part of the problem and someone else touched a little on this, is the fact that people are in such a hurry to place a cache. I can understand people wanting to hide their first cache. We can expect that for the most part that a persons first cache may not be as great. Not always true, but it seems like an epidemic. I've yet to come across a view anywhere near the caches I've found like in the pics Ce'Nedra posted. Someone in the Charlotte NC area/Upstate SC area point me to a cache with views like those along the way!

This thread went downhill fast....so does anyone know if the article is available online?

Yeah the medallions are neat. They are even cheaper on the website than where I bought mine. This was the first time I had seen the medallions being sold in a shop. I think I paid like $3.98+tax for the medallion and he sells them on the site for $3.45 and that includes shipping. Once I get a staff made and some moeny, I will probably purchase some others from him through his website at www.hike-america.com .

Crayon would probably melt... lol

Some of the caches I've found have offered somewhat of a view. Nothing fantastic that comes to mind. Out of over 100, only a handful would fall into the category of a view. Actually I can off hand remember 2 that offered a view and that piqued my interest. Both of them were virtuals and in Concord, MA. Other caches were not of interest to me and were basically all the same to me, just another number. Which is fine. That's what I'm out to do. Get out, get a little excercise, see something or an area that I didn't know about and log a find. I don't expect anymore out of them. If I'm out by myself, I'm trying to find as many as I can or get certain ones within a certain period of time.

Do what you said you were going to do. Log one and make notes of the others. It's one cache. It would be the same as me going to the local Jeep dealership that has 10 yellow jeeps and logging each one of them and then going to another and doing the same. It's your numbers do what you want. But don't be surprised if a cache owner deletes some.

My concern would be what type of people frequent the area. It may be hunters drinking, which is not a good idea. Or it may be kids or others just partying. I would warn others about that area on the cache page. You can CITO the beer bottles and cans if you think they were old and people don't frequent it. If it is an active area for these type of things, then it is not a good location for a cache.

Exactly! Ask someone who has lost their home and their possessions in a fire because of someone else. I can imagine that their viewpoint would be not to leave matches where an idiot or a juvenile delinquent could get a hold of.

You may not, but would you be more apt to give the stranger the allen wrench set or a knife, not knowing who he is? Plainly put, if you don't want a juvenile delinquent to get ahold of something that you left for anyone to get, then don't. People can make a bunch of excuses of it won't happen, well things do happen. The common sense part comes into play that others have mentioned. Is it something that could be used to cause harm, destruction, or death? If so, don't leave it. Of course they can get things otherways. But you can be held responsible. Ask parents who leave alcohol unlocked and unattended and their child or friend gets into it. Ask someone who has a gun in their house loaded that a child gets ahold of. People are charged with these things everyday. They have good intentions and think they are safe with it, but they aren't. Knives are cutting instruments. Matches and lighters are for lighting things (fire). And so on. While used properly, these things are great tools, but if not used properly, they can cause bodily injury, property destruction and up to death. escouts mention of the fires is a good example. Some of those fires were intentionally set, some were accidents. Anything can happen. We just had a home burn down here that started when someone was jumpstarting their car in the garage. I'm sure they didn't expect that. We can get all technical about it if we want. Use common sense. We too remove these type of things in caches. Sometimes we will write it down, sometimes we won't.

It's available to premium members, via pocket queries...lmao

Depends on the staff...many that I have seen that you buy are decorated of some sort and there is not a lot of space to put the medallions. As Old Joe Clark mentioned, making my own is possible and I agree a natural looking stick gives more character. I was thinking of a dowel type thing because of cost of buying a hikin stick/stacff.

Thanks for the class CacheCreatures, but that is not what they are talking about. It would be nice to be able to do a pq of benchmarks from this site. Whether they are seperate or another box to select would be nice. At least the option of it. From here and not having to go to another site to download something and then to another program to try and incorporate it with other pq's. I don't use spinner. I have a pocket pc that has GPXview on it. All I have to do is put the emailed PQ that is sent to me in GPX format there and read it. Same as my GPS. All I need to do is to upload the PQ in GPX format to my GPS via EasyGPS. I would be nice to do a PQ here of benchmarks, like we do the caches.

It would be nice....

I'm sure if it was on the prompter that Frank will quickly point the finger. Let them figure out who is responsible. We don't know who is. All we know is that Frank said it. He's the face and voice of the broadcast and represents them.

It would be one thing bons if people left those things in only remote areas. But I know on hand 5-10 caches that we have seen knives themselves left in them. None of the caches I have found were considered remote. The furthest one in was 1 mile. One cache that I owned that is top on a big hill at a park (and a neighborhood at the bottom of the otherside) had a knife left in it. As soon as I saw it posted on the log, I went to retrieve it out. We have found other caches along greenways and in parks with knives left in them. I don't remember any matches or lighters. We ould of removed them probably as well. One cache had a couple of box cutters in them! Not knew in a sealed package either. But remember that many cache owners have a relationship with the land manager and leaving these things that can be construed in a negative light, does not help out those relationships. And then heven forbid that these items happened to fall in the wrong hands and something happened and they were trailed back to whoever left them there, it would be something I wouldn't want to deal with. And then the negative light it would leave. Geocaching is a sport and a game. We say it all the time. It's not caches hidden for survival. If you want to do those then that is fine. Make a survival cache and hide it somewhere in a remote area that generally only those that are hikers/backpackers will find. I'm not sure if there is a site that lists such things or not. I wouldn't be against listing them on my website for those people.

This past weekend, my family and I drove up to Blowing Rock, NC and that area and I saw those hiking medallions that others have talked about. This was the first time I had seen them in person and I bought one. I don't have a hiking stick to put it on yet. I would like to start collecting them, but I don't want to put them on a hiking stick that I would use. Mainly just someway to display them. Does anybody do this already? If so, how. (post pictures if you have them). Any ideas? I've thought of going to somewhere like Lowes and getting a dowel rod or broom handle type of thing. Staining it and then place them on it. Then I thought about perhaps making a stand of some sort that would hold the rod straight up as well. Perhaps as a I collect more, I can build stands that will hold all of the multiple dowel rods. It might look good on a hiking stick as well. I know hte same place that makes the medallions (www.hike-america.com) sells hiking sticks for around $20 each, as well as others that make and sell them. So give me some ideas here...

First of all, he should of been prepared and then he probably shouldn't of been caching. Secondly the common sense thing that has been said throughout this thread should be used before treking out. If you are going to go caching, hiking or whatever, go prepared. That's why you should make a checklist of what you are going to need (and hopefully not need). All you avid hikers and backpackers know this. Can a kid go and buy matches in a store? I'm not sure. The only lighters we ever bought were the big aim-a-flames for the BBQ or fireplace. My 13 yr old never bought them. On the note of knives, can a kid go and buy one in the store? I know my wife had to fill out paperwork back in November when buying my son a BB gun at Walmart in Massachusetts. I'm sure different places/areas have different rules. As far as knives go, the rules here at geocaching.com say no knives. I have not seen anywhere that they say no lighters or matches. Personally I don't think they are a good idea. We all get discouraged with the bad press we get from time to time. Caches are getting found daily by muggles. Sometimes those muggles are nice, sign the log and let it be. Sometimes they take up the sport. Many other times they steal the cache or tear it up. A lot of what ifs could happen. But it would definitely be more bad press if soemone (not necessarily a child) took the matches and started a fire that went out of control. Let the investigation lead back to the cache and who left an ignition source in a cache like that. Then you also have to think about hte land managers who do check on these things and the agreements that some cache placers reach with land managers about dangerous things such as weapons and and etc not being left in caches. They probably won't think too highly of lighters and matches as well. As a general rule of thumb, don't leave anything that you would not give a complete stranger you see on the side of the road, no matter of age. Because that is basically what you are doing. You know that anyone can come upon that cache. Whether a responsible cacher or not.