Touchstone
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Posts posted by Touchstone
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4 hours ago, justintim1999 said:
I'd like to place another cache in the same general area and I wanted to know if new cache submissions are being processed. I
From the wiki should answer your question...
QuoteWe will not be publishing any new caches at this time. We will, however, continue to review caches, and put them on hold until things get settled and life begins to return to normal.
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1 hour ago, ecanderson said:
That said, I could sure use a haircut. Looks like THAT will be a while coming.
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On 4/16/2020 at 2:20 AM, on4bam said:
BTW, language in the forums is English except for the country/region specific sub-forums.
This is incorrect. As everyone is aware, Klingon is the official language of the general Forum. Handy translator available for those not fluent:
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A pity yes, but not impossible. You'll need to contact the Reviewer that Archived your Listing for a final resolution. Failing that, you would need to contact HQ for a final ruling, but my sense is that a 5 year old Archived Listing will not be granted special dispensation. In other words, I would not set my optimism too high for success.
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I think all versions of what you suggest would require some sort of human (or dog, as the case may be) intervention of some sort. It would either require someone to type in this hypothetical SIP expiration order (we've had 2 extensions in my area, so it's quite a moving target), or to manually be there to Publish the Listing, failing the software end of things not working that you suggest (which is more than likely).
Given that SIP orders come in a variety of flavors (e.g. City Governement, County/Parrish, and State Level), this sounds like a pretty impossible set of circumstances to keep track of for man/woman or machine.
I think the best course of action is to merely keep tuned in to local and State offices of emergency services, where most of these sorts of orders originate, with also one ear to the local Public Health Department chatter, to see when the SIP order might be lifted. I think in a general sense, this is going to be impossible to predict, as the dates get pushed further and further out on an almost weekly basis.
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Looking at the Listing page, it appears to have been Archived by your local Reviewer 5 Years Ago. On that fact alone, my guess is that the answer is going to be No, but the second strike against Unarchival is the Policy that Listing pages will no longer be Unarchived when they have been Archived for unresponsiveness of the Cache Owner.
QuoteIf a cache is archived by a reviewer or staff for lack of maintenance, it will not be unarchived.
Link for reference:
https://www.geocaching.com/help/index.php?pg=kb.chapter&id=38&pgid=56
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18 minutes ago, niraD said:
I don't see anything in the Terms of Use that relates to bumping threads (providently or improvidently).
The Forum Guidelines might be slightly more relevant, but didn't see anything regarding bumping old threads specifically, although it depends on how you interpret #17 and what you think an "abuse" of the Forum means:
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1 hour ago, Max and 99 said:
When were checkers first used?
The earliest mention of a checker that I can find on the Forum was a mention of the old eVince website back in 2006. I want to say maybe 2004 or 2005 was probably the advent of some of these tools. Some older timers than me might remember better.
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Based on the CDC announcement on March 28, the answer will more that likely be a No on new submissions getting Published. You might be able to get a saturation check and a first look to see if there are any other issues that need to be addressed. Link for reference:
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/s038-travel-advisory.html
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A brief, vague mention of the Community Celebrations was made in the Official Blog:
https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2020/03/community-first/
The announcement made on currently Published CCE's, can be seen on one of our local gatherings that is scheduled in June:
https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC8K0MC
Other than that, I think the operative phrase for a situation like we are in is, "stay tuned"....
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Sounds like they were Unpublished Listing pages, that were subsequently Archived. You would not be able to access those pages without some higher Admin Privileges, such as those that a Lackey or Reviewer have.
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2 hours ago, rustynails. said:
If you want to find them that's your choice.
If you don't want to find them that's your choice .
No one is forcing anyone to cache. If your that fearful of getting a virus from touching a cache, stay home.
I don't think the OP's statement has much to do with fear, as it does with whether Publishing of new caches is consistent with State ordered mandates. I do, however, sense some confusion on the OP's part regarding what many States (save for a small handful), have actually ordered, which is a "Shelter in Place" order and NOT a Quarantine. These are two distinctly different terms. Shelter in Place orders are voluntary in nature. Quarantine's can be either voluntary, or imposed by law. In my home State, we've had a SIP order from the Governor for few weeks now. While the vast majority of people seem to be willing to comply, there are a few that do not. We have had a few Quarantine Orders in my State, which are usually administered by the Department of Public Health (the folks that decide who should be isolated), and enforced by Local/State LEO's. One recent Quarantine Order in my State that most people have heard about, was the Grand Princess Cruise ship that docked in Oakland, CA. Many of the passengers that were allowed to disembark from the ship were immediately Quarantined on a nearby Air Force Base, under guard. A small handful of the passengers, exhibiting symptoms were Quarantined in my home town at a State Park facility. They were also under guard by Federal U.S. Marshals for the duration of there stay, and they were not even allowed to leave their rooms while here (although one passenger was transported to our local hospital for a non COVID-19 issue and had a brief stay as an inpatient).
Perhaps the OP is under a Quarantine Order and I'm just not understanding their personal situation. I, on the other hand, like many of my neighbors, are on a Shelter in Place order, which allows for some limited recreational activity, like bike rides and walks, and maybe snag a couple of caches along the way (with appropriate PPE's of course).
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6 hours ago, MamaBe said:
Has there been an announcement telling geocachers whether it is advisable to or not to Geocache right now.
I had a new Geocacher visit one of my geocaches today. I thought that was not a good idea.I suggested they make some Geocaches while staying at home.
Rebecca Mitchell
aka MamaBe
Yes, California Governor Newsom issues a Shelter in Place order back in March with the following guidance regarding outdoor activities, of which geocaching would be included:
QuoteCan I still exercise? Take my kids to the park for fresh air? Take a walk around the block?
Yes. So long as you are maintaining a safe social distance of six feet from people who aren’t part of your household, it is ok to go outside for exercise, a walk or fresh air. Gyms are closed.
The User that found your cache yesterday, also found another cache that was within a couple of city blocks from your cache, which seems to fit within the spirit of the guidance given by the Governor.
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In contrast, local Public Health Department officials were consulted in regards to closing open spaces in my area, and they asked that they remain open. However, we've seen steps taken to limit access and closing of parking areas that tend to encourage congregation of large groups, out of an abundance of caution.
On a more positive note, preliminary studies suggest that as warmer weather approaches, we might get a slight break from the pandemic, but all in all, I think this issue is going to be with us for quite some time.
I think a more reasonable solution would be to actively discourage FTF races, by randomly picking someone in the first 20 Finds for the honor and giving them a souvenir. If the side game is randomized in some fashion, it seem likely that it would effectively kill it for good.
Another positive step would be to ask project-GC to remove the FTF tracking feature from their website. That would be the responsible thing to do after all.
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I think that Groundspeak (aka HQ) made a wise decision in not supporting the FTF aspect of the game, or include it anywhere in the statistics. Competition makes some people do stupid things.
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10 minutes ago, Lynx Humble said:
I am in my 30s so I have around 99.9% survival rates.
But wouldn't be better not to get the virus in the first place. That's a fundamental problem with statistics. They don't address YOUR chances of survival. Case in point is a youngish State Representative (not California) got infected. Waited and waited and waited, until it became an acute and life threatening issue and an ambulance was summoned to finally take him to the hospital. He died within about 6 hours. Seemingly fit guy who had few risk factors other than apparent denial. Don't rely on statistics for your safety.
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1 hour ago, Lynx Humble said:
Hum I was alone bushwalking in the woods and most of them weren't found this year so I don't understand your point.
My issue with new caches is multiple people will come the same day and some of them won't even be local people.
Sounds like you have a lot of fear and uncertainty regarding our current pandemic. When I'm faced with a new situation like we have now, I tend to look for online resources that can give me reliable information. I found this really great website full of useful easy to understand guidance that you might find helpful and help allay your fears:
https://www.halifax.ca/fire-police/fire/emergency-management/corona-virus-disease-covid-19
Keep in mind, we are in a very dynamic situation right now. Information is constantly being updated as scientists and medical professionals continue to learn and apply best practices.
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5 hours ago, Lynx Humble said:
With more than 6000 cases in California you can still publish caches???????
Isn't that dangerous to spread it even more?
Actually 5763 is the official tally from the California Department of Public Health (I'll dispense with the dramatic 7 question marks).
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1 hour ago, Sol seaker said:
Would you accept this at this time?
Personally, no. Not to belittle the problem, but with the proper PPE's, this shouldn't be any bigger issue than going to the produce aisle at the store and picking up fruits and vegatables that possibly dozen of other people have touched, or handling the gas pump handle at the station that 20-30 people have touched before you. This is not a unique situation to geocaching. We must all take additional precautions in our daily routine these days.
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If you know which Archived Listing you want to add, it's the same process as an active Listing:
https://www.geocaching.com/help/index.php?pg=kb.chapter&id=7&pgid=283
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51 minutes ago, Mausebiber said:
In Germany:
For comparison: around 3,500 people die each year in road traffic accidents - while around 8,000 people lose their lives in the household every year. According to the Robert Koch Institute, 2.8 million Germans suffer an accident in the household every year.
A rather false comparison IMO. The main difference being that not all those people are seeking medical attention of one sort or another in the space of a week or two, and the rest of the year is idle. The compressed nature of this pandemic is the real issue, not that it's any worse than any other accident or malady that afflicts us.
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It would be nice if HQ facilitated such online gatherings in partnership with some video conferencing website or something similar, but I think it should be distinct and separate from the existing formats currently available, and not count towards the User statistics that are location based.
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You could always log a Note with the intention of logging a legitimate Find after signing the Log. Hard to see how HQ would have an issue with a generic Note.
Since my experience informs me that HQ usually only gets wind of these things when another User complains, maybe you should invite the person/people in your area that appear to have an issue with this practice to a video chat to talk it over and find some sort of solution. Zoom Happy Hours are becoming quite the thing in my area.
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11 hours ago, Viajero Perdido said:
I'm betting on herd immunity. This story today out of the UK suggests it's more contagious than previously thought, but that half the population already contracted it, and is herd-immune.
An interesting read, but difficult to verify his hypothesis without a sensitive and reliable antibody test to actually see how many people have actually mounted an immune response. The one negative against his argument, which doesn't support the Herd Immunity hypothesis that was stated in the article, is the fact that a significant number of people still testing positive for the PCR test (which measures the specific targets on the virus itself) that have apparently recovered from COVID-19 in China. Similar numbers in the UK don't seem to support his theory very well at this point.
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Filling In Gaps
in General geocaching topics
Posted
Yep! I tend to stay in my own lane and not tell people how to play the game, as long as the Listings are compliant with the Guidelines, which act as sort of a guardrail, so things don't veer off and go plunging off a cliff.