Auld Pharrrt
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Posts posted by Auld Pharrrt
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So I found 2 TBs they're both really beat up I can't get a read on the barcode or read the tracking numbers on one of them is there any way to get them replaced and sent back into the world?
Not really as they belong to someone ... I'd suggest contacting the owners and asking them if they would mind if you "tidied" them up a little. A laminated tag with the correct details would be easiest ... that's what I do.
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Yep, the OP's suggestion gets my vote too ...+1
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Hi,
I would love it if someone from India would be willing to become a Trackable Dropper for me in India. I would be willing to do the same for you her in the US.
I've done it with friends in Denmark and it worked perfectly.
We exchange email and physical addresses and send each other the Trackable. You drop mine, and I drop yours. Simple as that.
Please email me at Danieljrichards@me.com if interested.
Kind regards,
Dan
Try looking for a STARGATE cache near you. I.E. GC2500J
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Bump
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A lock, interesting, I did not know it was there. Thanks, though I am not sure I could use it. I would like to see a button on your travel bug page to HIDE the discovered logs, and another option to HIDE the "Took it to" logs. I think this would solve many TB owners issues with these logs. Thanks again.
Gets my vote.
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Alright, thanks. Along with a note, I also PMed the CO and the TB owner. 1 CO replied and fixed it, but on the other 1, I never heard back. Thanks again for all the help.
If you are specifically looking for TB's then it is worth looking at the date the TB was dropped into the cache inventory ... some have been missing in action for many months, or even years. Either the cache owners or TB owners are reluctant to mark them as missing ... As a newbie I found this ruddy annoying, but to be honest I now like to see which caches have been "muggled" in the past, I make sure I don't leave TB's there.
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We released our first bug a month ago, after dutifully logging many others and sending them traveling, including taking one to its destination, 2000km away.....
Our bug was picked up 24hr after we dropped it off, and the person who has it (30 finds) has been caching on and off since, with no mention of the TB - today I note she just found a TB hotel - still no mention of our bug!
When we have someone's TB, we treat it like gold, try and remember some photos, and at least visit it at every cache we take it to.
Rant over......
In good TB news, one of the others we released in NZ was picked up by an experienced cacher, and is on its way to The Netherlands..... there is hope for us yet!
Lee
My own personal experience with my very first geocoin was similar to your's. I now have almost 50 TB's and coins to my name and almost all of them are either released and on the road or ready to be released very soon. The best advice I can offer is to NOT MAKE THEM LOOK PRETTY! Apparently, the uglier the better.
As for Geocoins, No way will I ever release another original, I make a laminated proxy and send it out in the place of the coin, so far no-one has objected to this, but if any go missing, I will wait 12 months then release a replacement copy. The person who picked mine up, sadly moves TB's with a philosophy I have never heard of before ... she claims that when she finds a TB she emails the owner to let them know then ... wait for it ... DROPS THEM OFF ANYWHERE WITHOUT LOGGING IT SO NO-ONE CAN GO HUNTING FOR THEM DELIBERATELY.
I did try to explain the rules, not mine, GC's, but she wasn't interested.
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I think if it's clearly legible and you put all the info that's on the tag onto the chess piece it'll work. What I did recently for a trackable is put the code onto the trackable via engraving AND attached the trackable metal piece to it.
Yep, I agree with Zaise ... I recently picked up a very small champagne cork shaped piece of wood with a tracking number on it ... it was about 2cm long and about the thickness of a ball point pen at it's widest point, very easily overlooked as a TB ... after contacting the owner I attached a laminated tag to the TB and sent it on it's way, far more visible.
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Here's a scenario for you all: a newbie cacher has reached out on FB for help. She has located a TB that had gone missing in 2012. A proxy had been sent out in its place and is still live. For this reason she can't really release the original.
She emailed the owner BUT... it's a Jeep TB, the 'owner' isn't a geocache as such as these TBs were part of a competition (the profile shows the owner last logged on in 2004).
What does she do with the original TB?
I've about run out of ideas.
You mention that the TB was marked as missing in 2012, but the owner last logged on in 2004. So, it appears that there is a way to mark a TB as missing, yet not log on. This points out one the current 'holes' in the system. Not all geocaching activities require logging on, therefore looking at just the date last logged on is not a reliable indicator of whether or not a cacher is still active. You may want to look at the statistics for the owner, or look at their list of found geocaches to get a more accurate indication of whether they are still active.I would suggest sending an e-mail (don't use the message center, I believe that currently requires a person to log in to read), you might get lucky and get a reply.
Skye.
Sorry Skye, but there is more than one way to mark a TB as missing ... the TB owner can do it OR the cache owner it was last logged into. If said TB has gone missing from a cache, responsible cache owners check the cache physically to make sure it is not there then can mark it as missing (unknown location) therefore, the owner, who might not have logged on for years maybe knows nothing about it.
Personally, if it was me that found the original when a proxy copy is live I would add an NOTE to the TB's page telling everyone interested that this was the case. Then, if the owner is interested they can respond, OR if the next person to find the proxy agrees, they could destroy the proxy thereby allowing the original to go back into circulation.
More sensible answers might be forthcoming if we knew what the logs were prior to the original being found ... let us know which TB we are talking about.
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Lol. I found a ton of acronyms. Just none that seemed 100% likely.
I mean. Who signs... Well off old fart?! Besides maybe a dog? lol
Erm, me?but i'd need to spell it woap
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Sorry, can't help with that one, but what if you include the GC number when taking the photograph?
Either a small piece of paper (maybe take a second picture to include the paper) or include your GPS display?
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I'm bookmarking this thread for sure! What a great idea. I may use your services in the future
You will be very welcome.
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And hopefully GS strips off all the extraneous markup that Word adds when you do that. Word is notorious for adding tons of html markup to text cut-n-pasted out of Word. On one of the applications I work on there is a "Job Title" form element. Someone copy-n-pasted a 20 character job title out of work and it created almost 1000 characters of text.
Checkout one of the many offline html editing applications available. They work well for formatting a cache page and markup the text with standard and a minimum amount of HTML *and*, if you choose it's easier to understand the html tags it's adding if you want to learn how to edit html manually.
Never found it to be a problem to be honest ... I copy and paste the plain text from word to the listing, then switch to html version to see the listing with the html code, edit anything I want then copy and paste it back to word for future reference with all the html visible for playing around with.
Certainly works for me.
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Thank you for the kind words ... but I'm not the first to do this, but I enjoy helping others and the game in general.
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I have an unpublished cache with posted coordinates out in the middle of the San Francisco bay. There aren't many caches out there, so it doesn't conflict with any existing caches, and it doesn't get in the way of the volunteer reviewers when they review new caches.
You must be in the North bay. Last time i was down there there were at least a hundredvin the bay around San Mateo and Hayward
Usually I write it all up in Word Then copy and paste it over when I'm ready.
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Let's give this little fellow (TB46YRG) a new start in the UK.
On it! ... picture for approval on it's way soon.
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I'm not seeing all of the problems listed by others, but I'm seeing some of my own.
Problems reported by others:
- The links on my profile do work for me, but they open the destination page within the frame, which is useless.
- At least for my profile, the fonts are the same as they used to be. I'm not familiar enough with anyone else's profile to know what has and hasn't changed as far as fonts go.
Problem I'm seeing:
- The frame resizes to fit what's being displayed inside it, but misses it by a bit. This means you get vertical and horizontal scroll bars for about a line's-width in both directions. Other users who don't use FindStatGen stats seem to just have the vertical scroll bar, so the horizontal bar may be caused by 750 pixels of width used by the FindStatGen stats (which was fine before) being too wide. Since I haven't made any changes to my profile content since Sunday, it seems like the frame has been narrowed to less than 750 pixels (a change which doesn't seem to have any identifiable security benefit).
To my somewhat untrained eye, all of the problems reported so far could have been discovered with 30 seconds of browsing a few random profile pages during testing. This makes me wonder whether any testing was done at all. It might be a good idea to roll back until these changes have been tested thoroughly and the problems resolved.
Even more mysterious ... when I mouseover your horizontal slide bar, I get the whole page as it is supposed to be ... sugests maybe browser dependant and/or cache needing refreshed?
- The links on my profile do work for me, but they open the destination page within the frame, which is useless.
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If you want help in replacing it, check out my profile on geocaching.com.
There are plastic(?) cards with the Geocaching logo on those. Do you make the cards? Is there other text on them?
Someone showed me a TB at an Event. The number was tough to read, but he had attached a copper gardening tag, and punched the Reference Number on it. That looked pretty cool, and I might try that if I get the proper punches (I only have letters). The problem with the one I was given is, the Tracking Number is what he should have stamped, not the Reference Number
. So I could only log a Note.No, the plastic tags are my own TB's, they are only there to give an idea of what the laminated tag I make is like ... the plastic TB's are supplied by a seller here in the UK ... LINK
I have a full set of alpha numeric metal punches for stamping, but I prefer to engrave dog tags as the punches tend to distort them quite badly and it's not so easy to get it neat.
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Now, THERE'S a good bit of advice if ever I saw one ... Thanks Jellis, I'll be adopting this technique for future use, not that it bothered me to post NM or NA messages, but this sounds better.
Please reconsider. The rest of us would like to know there's a problem, too. And I really don't like the idea of making the reviewer the bad guy. I'd rather valid criticism come from within the community, and all the more so if the CO is prone to react negatively.
Most of "the rest of us" would find the info in the previous logs anyway ... which would include mine, but with the help of the local reviewer the cache might get some TLC sooner rather than later/never, besides, our local reviewer is also part of the community under a different username and she is very well respected in my opinion, rather than being seen as the bad gal she's seen as caring about the game.
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Try a direct click, rather than open-in-new-tab.
It wasn't until I actually saw it for myself that I understood what you're saying. The difference between "open" and "open in a new tab" should be local to the browser. I didn't know the web server could control that, let alone make the first fail while the second succeeds. (Well, "fail" is being too kind: left clicking on the link just doesn't do anything, as if the click never happened.)
Another interesting bug: the last line of my profile isn't being displayed. I'm guessing that's because I didn't include a blank line at the end.
type this at the end of your profile to show the last lines <br><br> That will solve it.
I haven't found a workaround for the broken link problem other than to right click and select "open in new tab"
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The only negative thing I can say that I have become aware of about geocaching is the number of trackables that seem to go missing in action for whatever reason and I have decided to look into making basic replacements, completely free of charge, for anyone who wants one to replace their own TB's that have gone missing in action.
The replacement tag will take the form of a laminated printed paper or thin card which will include the tracking number and, where possible, a photograph of the original TB as it was released by the owner. I will attach this copy to a small trinket of some sort I usually trawl charity shops for trinkets.
To make and release a copy I will need to know the Tracking Code so that I can "grab" the TB from it's present location and also the tracking number MUST be included on the replacement tag.
Although not necessary, if the owner wants me to attach a specific trinket (nothing too large) as a travelling companion then they can supply it and I will attach it to the replacement tag, otherwise I will attach any small trinket that comes to hand (I buy most of them from charity shops.)
The replacement tag will be placed in a cache somewhere here in Scotland, most likely one of my own caches, but if the owner would prefer I will post it to them via snail mail if they pay the cost of P&P in advance.
If you would like my help on getting a missing TB resurrected and back on the road, then please feel free to contact me via private message or email from the links on my GEOCACHING.COM profile, either for help to do it yourself or for me to do it for you.
I ONLY MAKE COPIES IF ASKED BY THE REGISTERED OWNER ON GEOCACHING.COM.
I ONLY MAKE COPIES IF THE ORIGINAL HAS BEEN MISSING FOR AT LEAST 12 MONTHS.
I ONLY MAKE COPIES IF I AM PROVIDED WITH THE TRACKING CODE.
Check out some samples in my online album at www.clanforbes.co.uk The pictures which include a white plastic rectangular travel bug are only there to give you an idea of what the laminated tag looks like
Finally, in the highly unlikely event that anyone has lost interest in the game but doesn't know what to do with their TB's, I would suggest offering to transfer ownership to a friend or family member. However, I'm very willing to accept and adopt any/all TB's (active or MIA) if you just want to get rid of them ... Thank you for taking the time to read all this ... AP. (AKA Ron)
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What can I do when a member holds my TB for almost a year? I have sent 2 messages with no reply.
Firefeather
Write it off as gone ... after a reasonable length of time (most people suggest 12 months minimum) make a copy using the same tracking number etc. and send it on it's way.
Nobody get more annoyed about TB's going MIA more than I do, I particularly enjoy that side of the game, but I own 47 trackables and have released the majority of them already, the rest will be going into the game soon also ... My very first geocoin was stolen/lost/kidnapped by the very first person who found it! I'll release a copy of this one soon as I know it's never going to see the light of day (or dark of cache) again.
It's annoying, aggravating and down-right pig ignorant when this happens, but bear in mind that there might be a genuine reason, said person might have had an accident, maybe some hugely traumatic personal difficulty in their lives, or maybe they simply lost it or haven't realised they had a non-swap item in the first place. Whatever reason, don't let it spoil the game for you, look at it this way, if you lost 5 units of your currency where ever you are in the world, even though you know someone probably found it, you wouldn't get overly upset about it, you'd probably just shrug it off and think nothing much more about it ... adopt a similar attitude towards your TB's and you'll live a happier life.
If you want help in replacing it, check out my profile on geocaching.com.
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I'm in your area. Power caching is becoming a real problem. Lots of throw downs. It's really bothering me too. I'm certain I have a bad reputation because I'm quick to post NMs, then NAs. I try to be quick before the power cachers come along and replace the mouldy log in the leaky or replace the missing container (with another carpy container), then abandon what they've thrown down. Please please help clean up the mess and send a message that caches are long term commitments and responsible cache ownership is important for a quality game that satisfies not just the people who only want another smiley. Also quality caches matter. I know that you set a good example.
I wish more people would.Thanks!
Please keep using NM and NA...HATE it when I see repeated "found it" logs stating logbook is soaked and container cracked but not a single NM. As an owner a NM really jumps at me but if I get 30 "found its" over the weekend I may not read them all. But oddly some (although rarely) of the replacements are actually GOOD containers. (which baffles me for other reasons)
If you don't want to get burned up do what I do. Contact the nearest reviewer or the one who published the caches directly and you won't get torched.
Now, THERE'S a good bit of advice if ever I saw one ... Thanks Jellis, I'll be adopting this technique for future use, not that it bothered me to post NM or NA messages, but this sounds better.
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If you have TB's that are long lost, have you ever considered re-releasing a copy?
I knew I saw that tagline somewhere but couldn't remember who it was.
Email me if you would please.
Email sent.
. So I could only log a Note.
Free Replacements for TB's
in Trackables
Posted
2 other takers so far ... total revived 17 ... 3 TB's, 2 TT's and 12 Geocoins, not including one of my own geocoins!
One sadly went missing as soon as I put in a cache, but I have a copy made and ready to go in 6 months time if the other doesn't resurface.
I admit I am surprised that few people have taken the opportunity to get MIA trackables revived, there are sooo many missing out there. I guess it's just a matter of getting the word out to people. One person contacted me but didn't follow up on his 12 trackables that are missing in action. He asked how much I charged for this and never replied when I told him it was completely free.