Auld Pharrrt
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Posts posted by Auld Pharrrt
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I simply deleted all the visit logs and marked the coin as missing, edited the title page to include kidnapped and, so far, there's been nbothing else logged on it. In about a year's time I'll release a proxy version if the real thing hasn't re-surfaced before then.
I haven't deleted logs on mine, but I usually wait about a year before reviving a TB. If it's shown in the hands of a cacher (or if it's listed in a cache with no info about whether the item is in there), I don't officially Mark It Missing til I'm ready to revive the new one. But I have added [MISSING] to the end of a TB name or two, with the idea that the appendage appears in any Inventory list. What you did, adding the word "Kidnapped", I would have assumed that's a term from a book or something, that it's the actual name of the coin. Since you've already marked it Missing, it won't show in an Inventory at all. And if the holder gets a wild hair to place and log the coin, there's an additional hurdle now that it's marked Missing; it must first be Grabbed, then Dropped.
Grounspeak for some weird reason says to place a TB "within two weeks". Cachers have this official info that they are to hold it for "Two Weeks", which means of course that can keep it for another two weeks. And another. Actually, as long as they like, as far as we know. Therefore, nobody can tell them otherwise. So everyone hangs on to the TBs until TBs are lost. One of many things the company does on purpose that gets TBs gone. Thanks a heap, Groundspeak!
It would have been great to read "Before you take any item from a cache, be sure to do it fairly and properly. Trade for Swag "Up or Even" or do not take any. TBs are not Swag and therefore never require a "trade", but do not take any unless you know you will properly log it and place it into a cache promptly, and if there is any issue, type a Note log on the TB page. When you take it, you log it and provide appropriate updates, no exceptions. Absolutely never make a TB Owner guess what your intention is, or what happened to the TB." Make it clear that there is NO TWO-WEEK WAITING PERIOD, for example. But that ship has sailed.
Anyway, marking a coin "Missing" after 6o days, was way too soon.
Yes, I agree that two months wouldn't normally be enough time, but ... och, it's a loooong story and not worth going into it all again, but I have tried a variety of ways to get this coin on the move, including offering to meet the woman in a place of her choice for coffee etc. (bearing in mind it was my first ever TB and geocoin) she even offered to post it to me by snail mail, but it never appeared despite me giving her my address, although she did claim that she drove by my house one afternoon and, to be honest, after several promises to release it "the next time I'm out caching" it never has happened. I have resigned myself to the fact it's a goner. Hence the mark-up as "missing" and "kidnapped," this way I won't have to keep deleting visit logs unless she grabs it from me again.
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Just my two cents:
Keep in mind, trackable owners: if someone does not care about what he does with carried trackables - he really does not. Writing such a person in an insulting or rude way may end in your trackable being throwed to a dust bin and with a fake log about putting it to a random geocache.
Yes, I accept that the chances are I'll never see it on the road again, but if I can at least see it logged as out of their hands then I can (eventually) release a proxy to revive the opportunity for the coin to travel and see the world.
In the end I simply deleted all the visit logs and marked the coin as missing, edited the title page to include kidnapped and, so far, there's been nbothing else logged on it. In about a year's time I'll release a proxy version if the real thing hasn't re-surfaced before then.
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Is there an easier way to find your discovery date on trackables other than searching the logs?
If you go to the page that maps the TBs path, then all the logs are listed on one page, so at least you don't have to search the pages one-by-one.
It seems obvious that several features standard to caches, such as showing that the viewer has found the cache and providing a link to their log, would be equally useful for TBs. I've seen people ask for that feature a few times, but nothing's been provided.
Once you get to that page (if using windows) hold CTRL and press F ... this will open a "find" pop-up window ... type in your username and your entry will be highlighted
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OK, this is a bit long-winded and it's been a while since I used it, but if I'm specifically targeting TB's here goes.
I generate a PQ listing all the caches with trackables listed in their inventory in the area/route I'm interested in.
I put the resulting PQ into GSAK and remove my own "FOUND" logs (if there are any.)
I run a macro (I found in GSAK forums,) called DELETEMISSINGTRACKABLES.GSK which will remove any TB's that are listed as missing (I keep a list of known missing TB's in Excel which can be copied and pasted into the macro.)
I set the search filter in GSAK to TB - YES and save the resulting list of caches with TB's ... (save current subset) ... into a blank database in GSAK (I call this database TB-CHECK).
I run a second macro (also found on GSAK forums,) called ListDatesOfTBsInCache.gsk on this new database which will check the Geocaching.com's API's - this process takes quite a long time, so be patient. This macro returns the dates the trackables were logged into the cache, and the dates of recent logs etc. I copy and paste the results into Excel.
In Excel I have a few simple formulae which compare the current date to the TB's log date and the cache's last log date.
If the dates fall into the category where I think the TB might be there then they get highlighted in one colour.
If the dates fall into the category where I think they are probably missing in action they get highlighted in a different colour.
If the dates fall into a grey area where I think it's 50/50 the trackable gets highlighted in another colour and flagged for me to check and decide.
The resulting Excel list I then re-load into the first macro and re-run this to remove any newly missing TB's from the GSAK database.
Then I rebuild the final database in GSAK to include up to 2,000 caches for my GPS and export it etc. or if I'm simply targeting TB's I export the TB-CHECK database only.
I then delete all the caches in my databases that I no longer need and leave them empty for the next time, but the latest list of known missing TB's will remain in the macro for the next time ... this is why I run it twice ... the first time removes known MIA TB's from the previous session. Then, after going through the processes above, when I copy and paste the new list into the macro for the 2nd run the latest mia tb's are removed from the listings in GSAK and this latest list is kept in the macro when I'm finished so it becomes the base list for my next session. I hope that makes sense.
I should add that the list of known missing TB's I keep only covers the caches which are reasonably local to my home (up to about 50 miles) I originally started doing this as a newbie cacher to collect TB's as I was going on holiday and wanted to take some TB's with me and I was getting really fed up driving for miles to caches which didn't have TB's (it was before I knew to research the inventory, I was a real newbie.) Now I kinda try to keep an eye on local caches as I am aware of a couple which seem to have a history of TB's going missing and I'd rather get to it before a muggler does so I can move it onto a safer cache.
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I wish there was an option that visiting could be turned off.
I kinda disagree ... I usually take all TB's with me where-ever I go and I dip them into all the caches I visit, but I don't keep people's treasured possessions for more than a few days if possible, though real life does sometimes prevent me from dropping into a new cache for the next person to find.
When I first joined the game as a newbie, I had a road trip planned with my daughter from our home in Perthshire to John O'Groats and back via the west coast of Scotland. I deliberately went out looking for TB's to take with us and as a result I held onto a few for anything up to three or four weeks, but every time I logged one as found, I mentioned that I was deliberately collecting as many as I could to take with me ... one owner even messaged me and asked me to pick his up to take with me, which I did, (it had only travelled 7 miles since release, by the time I dropped it, it had clocked up an extra 650 miles) and I finally dropped it in a cache called the road to Applecross.
One of the geocoins I found was owned by an elderly person (it was an anniversary or birthday coin) who had released it over 5 years ago but wanted it to travel back to Cornwall ... When I read it's webpage, I sent the owner a message asking if he wanted me to post it by snail mail to his home. He was extremely grateful as both he and his partner had physical problems and could no longer go caching, therefore if it got to Cornwall, they wouldn't be able to go fetch it anyway.
There's good and bad to every walk of life ... I try to be one of the goodies and will help anyone in anyway I can, within reason. I don't mind if my TB's get dipped in and out of a few caches by the finder, but I do object a bit when (as is the case at the moment) one cacher (non-premium) has my coin and has now had it for just over 6 weeks (at time of writing.) I've tried offering to meet her for a coffee several times and she agrees, but when it gets to the arranging time and place, she doesn't respond. She offered to pop it in the snail mail and I sent her an address but it never appeared. She even came caching within 1 mile of my home and claimed she drove down my street, but still I can't get the coin out of her hands, last time I mentioned that it wasn't clocking up any mileage and feigned a loss of interest in it by asking her to drop just it anywhere she wanted, which she agreed to, then suddenly it started going visiting lots of caches.
I've given up contacting her in the hope that she gets fed up taunting me and drops it somewhere. Though I have noticed that she has held onto a few other people's TB's for a long time then suddenly posts a log saying she dropped in this or that cache several weeks ago ... I suspect owners have moaned at her and she claims do have done so ... Never thought to see if the tb moved on from where she said she dropped it, until now.
My personal theory is that when she finds a TB she keeps it, maybe hoping that if the TBO has lost interest or forgotten about it then ... well I'm not one to make unproven accusations, but a lot of people do like to collect TB's, especially Geocoins.
Sorry, I'll get off my soap box now.
Summerwinter, please forgive my presumptuousness ... to use this multi-quote feature do this:-
1 Click on MULTIQUOTE
2 Click on REPLY
3 Start typing in the box preferably at the bottom of the pasted in multiquote text..
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Looks like the "Dipper" has just decided to keep my trackable and refuses to answer my mails now.
The "Nice" me wants to just smile and get on with it, maybe sending out a copy (Of the copy), the "Not Nice" me wants to go to their cache and spread it around the field and laugh in his face about it.
I think the "Nice" me will win this time.
I know that feeling well ... My kidnapper claimed to have recently dropped 4 TB's in a multi-cache bonus box and I went looking for it as 1 of the TB's was her own ... needless to say, I had to visit 6 feeder boxes to get the co-ords for the final and I found her signature in only 2 of them ... I knew I was gonna find a box with no TB's in it (I've long suspected that she "finds" caches without leaving her couch) ... I was rewarded in the end by finding the bonus box with NONE of the 4 TB's she alledgedly dropped there ... so I let the owners all know ... including her! I'm hoping this will embarrass her into dropping my TP3 coin (the one I got from your cache at Cargill's Leap) ... I doubt it very much tho.
Part of the problem is we can't even grab them virtually from these people and prevent them from dipping it anywhere 'coz they just grab it back.
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I recently picked up a TB (TB4Y1NJ) from a cache in the Scottish Highlands ... It wasn't meant to leave Melbourne, Australia so I'm about to put it into the snail mail system to get it back to the owner.
Also, the TBO of one of the very first TB's (TB37XEF) I ever found wanted it returned to them as (due to ill health) they could no longer go caching, it went into the snail mail system too.
Finally, I have just replaced a TB (TB70GFK) into a cache (GCJPYV) in Scotland which a couple of members had accidentally taken to Kansas, they sent it to me by snail mail and I made a point of returning it to the cache they found it in.
Neither of these stories are fantastic, but I hope they might qualify as vaguely interesting to some.
R.
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Nice idea lee
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I kinda agree with both of you in parts ... There are a few caches near my home which have "ghost" TB's logged as present, but in reality they went MIA a long time ago ... one was over 4½ years ago. This gave me a few different trains of thought ... At first I was frustrated by the missing TB's listed in an empty cache. Next I realised that there is ONE advantage to it ... if I'm putting out any of my TB's, I don't want to put them into a cache which has a history of TB's going MIA, so its nice to know which cache has a poor record. Then I discovered the fact that as TB owners, we can resurrect them by releasing a proxy if an original goes MIA ... by reading the forum, I know some cachers don't like proxies, but, on the other hand, some owners only release proxies. So I decided to contact the TBO's of some of the long term MIA's near my home and offer to adopt the TB if they no longer wanted it as I was working on a project to try and revive missing TB's ... understandably, most owners who replied said they wanted to keep the number but one owner happily transferred ownership to me (he has no further interest in caching or the 1 TB he had released.) Realising, that many people don't know about resurrecting a MIA TB my new plan is to offer to resurrect the MIA TB for free by making a simple proxy and sending it on it's way, preferably from the cache it went missing in.
I've yet to offer this suggestion as real life has kinda gotten in the way of my caching adventures lately, but I will get on it sometime soonish.
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If you need an address to post it by snail mail, let me know by messaging me through geocaching.com, I'd happily get it back on track for you and the TO.
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When I first started caching, I came across this phenomenon of virtual discoveries ... yes, I succumbed to the temptation and googled TB's ... I logged about a dozen but realised there was no sense of achievement from this and gave up on the idea ... each and every one I logged was logged with a message similar to "Kinda cheating a bit but ..."
I don't do it now, but it wouldn't bother me if someone virtually discovered any of TB's. I guess its all just a matter of opinion, and we are all entitled to our own opinions, even if I don't agree with your's, I'd respect and defend your right to hold that opinion.
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I wish there was an option that visiting could be turned off.
I kinda disagree ... I usually take all TB's with me where-ever I go and I dip them into all the caches I visit, but I don't keep people's treasured possessions for more than a few days if possible, though real life does sometimes prevent me from dropping into a new cache for the next person to find.
When I first joined the game as a newbie, I had a road trip planned with my daughter from our home in Perthshire to John O'Groats and back via the west coast of Scotland. I deliberately went out looking for TB's to take with us and as a result I held onto a few for anything up to three or four weeks, but every time I logged one as found, I mentioned that I was deliberately collecting as many as I could to take with me ... one owner even messaged me and asked me to pick his up to take with me, which I did, (it had only travelled 7 miles since release, by the time I dropped it, it had clocked up an extra 650 miles) and I finally dropped it in a cache called the road to Applecross.
One of the geocoins I found was owned by an elderly person (it was an anniversary or birthday coin) who had released it over 5 years ago but wanted it to travel back to Cornwall ... When I read it's webpage, I sent the owner a message asking if he wanted me to post it by snail mail to his home. He was extremely grateful as both he and his partner had physical problems and could no longer go caching, therefore if it got to Cornwall, they wouldn't be able to go fetch it anyway.
There's good and bad to every walk of life ... I try to be one of the goodies and will help anyone in anyway I can, within reason. I don't mind if my TB's get dipped in and out of a few caches by the finder, but I do object a bit when (as is the case at the moment) one cacher (non-premium) has my coin and has now had it for just over 6 weeks (at time of writing.) I've tried offering to meet her for a coffee several times and she agrees, but when it gets to the arranging time and place, she doesn't respond. She offered to pop it in the snail mail and I sent her an address but it never appeared. She even came caching within 1 mile of my home and claimed she drove down my street, but still I can't get the coin out of her hands, last time I mentioned that it wasn't clocking up any mileage and feigned a loss of interest in it by asking her to drop just it anywhere she wanted, which she agreed to, then suddenly it started going visiting lots of caches.
I've given up contacting her in the hope that she gets fed up taunting me and drops it somewhere. Though I have noticed that she has held onto a few other people's TB's for a long time then suddenly posts a log saying she dropped in this or that cache several weeks ago ... I suspect owners have moaned at her and she claims do have done so ... Never thought to see if the tb moved on from where she said she dropped it, until now.
My personal theory is that when she finds a TB she keeps it, maybe hoping that if the TBO has lost interest or forgotten about it then ... well I'm not one to make unproven accusations, but a lot of people do like to collect TB's, especially Geocoins.
Sorry, I'll get off my soap box now.
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Hi LL ...
I've just started releasing some new TB's I bought and I have quite a few more on order. So far I have only put 2 out there, both originals, but its scarey to see this sort of thing happening so much. Strangely, the very first TB I got (TP3 coin) from your cache has kinda gone the same way as your's ... Much two way dialog seemed to work, but never did the coffee meets come to fruition ... in the end I gave up trying to get it moving by feigning lack of interest and magically it was on it's way ... only getting dipped here and there, but at least it's clocking up some mileage. I'm about to release a proxy for a TB that has been missing for 4 years and the previous owner had lost interest in it, I hope it fares a little better. I hope you manage to locate your missing TB's, but you can always take comfort in knowing that you can re-release a proxy if need be.
Take care.
Ron.
Having read this topic, I'm off to edit my TB's pages to make it clear I want them moving from cache to cahe and not being endlessly dipped by one cacher.
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Interesting ... I'll keep an eye on this topic.
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Interesting idea this ... there are a few TB's allegedly sitting in caches near my home area and I find it annoying that some have allegedly been there for years (4½) in one case. Isn't there some way to have the cache inventory cleared when it's been reported missing? Or is it intentional to leave them in the inventory as a warning that this cache is vulnerable? ... I know I won't be putting any trackables in it and I have it on my watchlist so if anyone does, maybe I can get there first to move it on, just in case.
I'm very new to geocaching and only on my 3rd week (my daughter's 2nd) did we pull up at a roadside cache and found a geocoin lying in the grass ... we promptly logged it as grabbed (it wasn't logged to the nearby cache) and took it on it's way. Both the owner and previous holder messaged their thanks to my daughter almost within minutes of her logging the "find."
Me personally? If I had possession of anyone's tb I would freely admit I'd done a booboo by losing it. Anything else just wouldn't be worth considering.
Ron
P.S. One of the very 1st geocoins I found I posted via snail mail to the owners as they had said they wanted it returned after 5 years of going walkabout. They were very grateful and, as I requested , logged it as grabbed from me etc. I noticed someone mentioned the costs of posted ... well, to buy a small padded envelope at the post office, and send it recorded delivery was a mere pittance (£2.40 ish) compared to the value of the coin.
Has a long lost travel bug shown back up ?
in How do I...?
Posted
I would also hide the tracking code number which is clearly visible in the photograph!