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Green Toad
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Posts posted by Green Toad
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I like the idea and am willing to enter as well. Just some thoughts, I think that you should definitely set up some rules on how to determine the winner if no TB makes it to all 48 or 50 states (1- most states, 2-most or least caches, 3-most or least miles, etc). It should be stated up front that the winner must get the most or the least miles to win, so people can place that in the goals for their bugs. But, you can also create categories based on the most/least concept, that way if a person wasn't interested in winning the first prize, maybe they could win a category instead.
-stroh
-Technology...I have no idea what I would do without my GPSr, my TiVo, or my Computer with a DSL connection. I guess I would spend more time with my wife!
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I was wondering what people thought of adding goal cards to existing TBs. I have a couple TBs in my possession right now that don't have a goal card attached to them.
In order to help alleviate the number of MIA TBs I was thinking that I would copy the goal from the TB's webpage and put it on a card to be attached to the TB. Hopefully, this will help insure that at least the TBs that I come across in the future will be less likely to go MIA.
Would this be considered rude if I did that?
-stroh
-Technology...I have no idea what I would do without my GPSr, my TiVo, or my Computer with a DSL connection. I guess I would spend more time with my wife!
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Thanks alot for the advice. As soon as I get a chance I will try to see what I can come up with. If I need anymore help, I definitely know where to get it!
-stroh
-Technology...I have no idea what I would do without my GPSr, my TiVo, or my Computer with a DSL connection. I guess I would spend more time with my wife!
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John, I understand your point. I have a website of my own, granted no where near the size of gc.com, but I still hate to see wasted bandwidth. But, I don't charge for my site. You pay for a membership and I commend you for not running a PQ every day (in order to save gc.com's bandwidth), but at a minimum you should run a PQ every friday or thursday. That way you will still get your up to date caches.
From my limited experience, on the fly requests would seriously tax the servers. I have seen servers of some of my favorite sites go down under less pressure. Rather than have a PQ on a need only basis, set it up so that you will have up to date info when you will need it.
It seems from your comments that you only go caching on the weekends (or some weekends), but not during the week. The simple solution would be that you get a PQ for Friday, that way your info is up to date for your weekend caches.
I understand your desire to reduce gc.com bandwidth, but your request could actually result in more work for the gc.com administrators which may be worse than the bandwidth use!
-Technology...I have no idea what I would do without my GPSr, my TiVo, or my Computer with a DSL connection. I guess I would spend more time with my wife!
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Thanks for the response. I took your advice and created one. Hopefully, soon I will have the skills to complete a Lep cache in record time!
PS: just a personal Q, as an attorney (I'm currently an unemployed peer) how do have the time to geocache as much as you do AND have 1300+ posts on this site?
-Technology...I have no idea what I would do without my GPSr, my TiVo, or my Computer with a DSL connection. I guess I would spend more time with my wife!
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I've seen quite a few people who have printed stickers to place in log books. Additionally, I've seen that people have created unique items to place in caches which denote the number of caches that they have found. For instance, I recently saw posted on this site that someone had purchased dog tags that they printed with a phrase and had separate numbers on them to show how many caches they had found.
Is there any way to create a sticker on my computer, where I can print it out on my printer where each sticker has a number+1 to denot how many caches that I have found?
I hope I explained this well enough.
-stroh
-Technology...I have no idea what I would do without my GPSr, my TiVo, or my Computer with a DSL connection. I guess I would spend more time with my wife!
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As a new geocacher I think it would be nice to be able to search for caches based of their difficulty. It would be nice to hit the easy caches first to get the hang of things. This would definitely help when planning a day a caching, if I only pull up the easier caches rather than search through numerous difficult caches to find the needles in the haystack.
-stroh
-Technology...I have no idea what I would do without my GPSr, my TiVo, or my Computer with a DSL connection. I guess I would spend more time with my wife!
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Another thought, you could always use economics, if you have a clear goal over time. If the plastic bug and/or selling number works out, they will work out because people want them and they don't immediately dissapear. If they dissapear, noone will buy them.
-stroh
-Technology...I have no idea what I would do without my GPSr, my TiVo, or my Computer with a DSL connection. I guess I would spend more time with my wife!
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I just found my first TB two days ago. I like the metal TB's, but I must agree that they don't immediately look like a hitch-hiker. The instructions do not give enough detail. I feel that if I had not researched TBs and specifically searched this particular TB out I'm not sure that I would have realized that I needed to place it in another cache.
*My suggestion on instructions: Make them explicitly clear that this is a hitch-hiker to be placed in another cache because it has a goal.
*On alternate tags: I've come into this discussion late, so it seems that purchasing a number is a given. I would stay with the metal tag and the purchase a number method then. Metal tags, plastic tags, and numbers are just too much. I think adding numbers are too much, but that has been discussed.
I truly think that the biggest problem with lost TBs is the included instructions (with exception of those who actively steal TBs) because they are vague. I recently graduated from law school (but not a practicing lawyer) and two of the things that I was taught was: 1) write to cover every scenario (in legal situations) and 2) to write/orally describe in the completly/most layman terms that I could come up with. On number 2, we were told "if someone with an 85 IQ cannot understand what you are telling them you are not doing your job!" The instructions need to follow rule #2. If they are not blindly apparent, TBs will be lost.
I like the metal TBs because they could look official, but their 'officialness' requires looking professional (i.e. somewhate expensive) and they clearly describe their purpose. The current TB meets about 75% of the first part and about 13% of the second part. The TB could look a little more official, but the instructions really suck. Get better instructions and make it look for official and they will be excellent. I think plastic TBs will look less official than the current metal TBs and that will hurt their ultimate purpose. (I think selling numbers defeats both purposes, but I understand economics and the need to keep this site viable, so I would accept it even if I didn't like it. Especially for the continued viability of this site.)
-stroh
-Technology...I have no idea what I would do without my GPSr, my TiVo, or my Computer with a DSL connection. I guess I would spend more time with my wife!
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I apologize if this has been asked and answered, but, as a guy, this is question that I have no answer to.
What do people do pre- or post-caching to take care of the skin on their legs? Many of the caches that I have recently visted have many sticker bushes resulting in many scratches. Especially since I do not like to wear long pants, I always wear shorts if I can get away with it! My wife told me to use Vitamin-E lotion on my legs for my scratches/cuts/etc. What do other cachers do to protect their skin? Other than obviously wear long pants?
-Stroh
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Just had another thought. I have visited this site pretty thoroughly and I haven't seen a printable instruction sheet to be included in new caches. I would recommend that all new caches (except micro-caches) have a picture of tavel bug placed in the instructions and have it taped to the top of the lid to the cache. Of course, this would require some help by the creators of new caches, but if a link to this instruction sheet was placed prominently on the front page to alert people to its existence it may help.
Just a thought.
-stroh
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I had this idea today after I read that Jeremy has stated that changing the code to the TB pages is a low priority. Why not has a new option on the chache page where if the page says that there is currently a bug in the cache, when one logs a cache find they can state 1) yes, the bug was there, 2) no, the bug was not there, or 3) I didn't look to see if a bug was there. After 3, 4, or 5 "no's", then a new icon would replace the travelbug icon for the cache page; some like a no smoking sign, but with a TB icon in the picture instead of a cigarette.
That way, when someone visits the cache page, the bug will show up, but as missing in action. Hopefully, this solution would be able to fit in with Jeremy's priority of working on the cache pages currently, and a better solution can come up when he has the time to work on the code for the TB pages.
-stroh
Southwest Pa. Geocaching
in Northeast
Posted
I'd like to go to an event myself. One in the Laurel Highlands sounds interesting! I'd like to go to the one on August 16th, but I think my parents will be in town that weekend. If they aren't though, I will definitely be there.
I have a web page that I set up to keep in touch with old high school buddies, but have been considering changing it to a geocaching website because it doesn't get much traffic. I'd be happy to set it up as a SWPA geocaching site instead if anyone is interested (assuming it doesn't get a serious surge in traffic soon) the link is Green Toad dot Org I was also considering changing my gc.com alias to Green Toad.
-Technology...I have no idea what I would do without my GPSr, my TiVo, or my Computer with a DSL connection. I guess I would spend more time with my wife!![icon_smile.gif](http://ubbx.groundspeak.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif)