Star*Hopper

First off, I don't mean this to sound as unfriendly as it might appear - but, have you read the Guidelines? From appearances, you haven't. You need to. Reason(s): There is a Groundspeak requirement to read their Cache Listing Guidelines - and in fact when you submit a cache for listing, you must physically check a 'radio button' averring you HAVE both read, & understand them. To wit: [ ] "Yes. I have read and understand the guidelines for listing a cache. " And IF you had in fact read those guidelines, you should have remembered this l'l section: Cache Sizes Cache sizes for all caches that have a physical container. • Micro (35 mm film canister or smaller – less than approximately 3 ounces or .1 litres -- typically containing only a logbook) • Small (Sandwich-sized Tupperware-style container or similar -- less than approximately 1 quart or litre -- holds trade items as well as a logbook) • Regular (Tupperware-style container or ammo can) • Large (5 gallon/20 litre bucket or larger) -- which answers your question. Link to the Guidelines: http://www.geocaching.com/about/guidelines.aspx ~*

But....but....but.......... That would mean while you're sittin' around stabbing buttons on yer calculator, comparing profiles & trying to remember your calculus 101, somebody else is gonna beat you to the cache!! It all boils down to one immutable fact. If you ain't the lead dog, the view never changes. ~*

Only 2nd post, & it turned into a pissing match. Day-ummmm! ~*

Not mine! I got the Groundapeak letter from Jeremchub offering me ChubbChubb insurance....and I've dealt with the Mafi....err.....make that, "Neighborhood Peace Committee" before, so just paid right up! ~*

Despite the penchant for claiming "Geocaching's not a competitive game", FTF sure as heck is!! I used to kinda feel that way (as OP suggests), when I was first starting. It just amazed me how the same few always got them.....but then I learned a few tricks of the trade. More later....... Sparticus06: "...(and I know a few around here that get under my skin) that basically sit on their computer and wait like vultures." Not necessarily. Just to make sure you know, you can get e-mail on your cell phone these days. I know a guy who sleeps with his cell in his pocket, set on vibrate & ring to wake him up! And collectively -- team moxiepup: "Unless the FTF "Hounds" (as we call them 'round here) are deflating the tires on your cachemobile, or nailing your door shut so you can't get out, then they are doing nothing wrong." StarBrand: "As long as no one is injured and no animals are harmed and no laws are broken - the only way to be a FTF is to head out the door and get them..." Motorcycle_Mama: "It seems to me that that person who finds the cache first is the FTF. No restrictions. As for it being "poor sportsmanship", I fail to see how that would apply. ..." gstiglitz: "..Anyone who has the desire and ambition can be the FTF." Max and 99: "If someone doesn't like the fact that the same people are getting all the FTFs, then they need to learn the art of getting out of the house faster! " Mudfrog: "This topic has arisen in the forums a few times and it always amazes me that there are people out there who think it's unfair that others get most of the ftfs. " "...anyone can get a ftf,,, if they want it bad enough. They need to stop whining and put some effort into getting them. " One premise missing from all these 'conclusions'. I've told the tale in here before, so won't re-hash all the details, but basically I got to a cache site just after dawn & sat there 20-25 minutes waiting for the rain to slack off - and not another soul came into that empty lot - and trust me, I was watching, ready to spring out if anyone arrived, in full view 40' away from the only possible host object. Rain finally slacked, I got out & dashed straight to it, pulled out the log & saw it'd already been signed; time, 4 minutes prior to my find. Fast forward -- I later found out the logged "FTF" was the hider's brother. So......missing premise - and to all the "all's fair in love, war & FTF" claimants -- how're you & all your gumption & effort gonna beat out a stinkin' cheater? The experience, & seeing what some will do to make the claim turned me absolutely off about FTFs. Since then, I cache at my own pace....have actually gotten a few (without trying), but have never mentioned it in any logging -- and never will. ~*

I guess this counts as a 'Yes' -- I once handed my GPSr to a guy & let him find a cache I'd just placed & was as yet unpublished. I was on my way to meet a newspaper reporter doing an article on Geocaching & wanted to interview me. We only had a limited amount of time, so I didn't figure there'd be much harm in making it as convenient as possible. Besides, the only FTF hounds around here have hundreds already, & their goals aren't mine. (knowing flask is just gonna LUV that) *LOL* ~*

My first question would be, how can you possibly make that statement with any degree of assurance? Your 1,964 posts would seemingly indicate you've had at least some exposure to forum attitudes, & their propensity for finding the negative even in the best of intentions! \even if it means creating one ~*

yep My money's on, they just looked for your cache to add a number beside their name. And double-or-nothing on, if it hadn't been yours it would've been someone else's. ~*

Believe. "Go ahead and use the tracking number and "Descover" this coin." << Believe that too. The company has it posted right under the picture with the tracking number. ~*

OK, I'm moving these threads to the Off Topic forum. Oh......wait.......hmmmm......something isn't working here. Must be some kinda conservative agenda. <<< WINKY! MEANS JUST KIDDING! REALLY!!! ~*

Continuing OT but cain't help it. ahem - "just wanna ride my motor-sickle. I don't wanna die -" Aaaahh....another kindred spirit. Wey-ull.....you KNOW I know what comes next, but in the interest of not gettin' bonked...... Headin' down to Alice's. . . . . . . . . . WHERE you can get anything you want At Alice's Restaurant! ('cept Alice)

That's somethin' that always gets me too. Like, a tail-light bulb goes out & you gotta buy a package of 2 or 3. The really exasperating part is next time you need one, tryin' to find where you put those 'leftovers'!! As for yours, got a nearby Electrician's Museum or Hall Of Fame or somesuch? Needs a cache!! ~*

So what you're sayin' is you tryin' to archive Vinny?!? Gonna have to think on that one for awhile. (Dunno whether to file it under alien abductions, doin' the needed, or doin' the needy.) ~*

"The ignominy of age is decrepitude -- the ignominy of youth is ignorance. If you prefer agility and ignorance to decrepitude and wisdom you sentence yourself to misery half your life." ~Ed Whitney ~*

Eureka! - I just came up with my own personal sig item!! I'm gonna start dropping in the leftovers from the 500 new business cards from my ex-employer that I received about 2 weeks before getting laid off after 19 years of faithful service, in a "sure,-you-saved-us-4-million-dollars-last-quarter,-but-what-have-you-done-for-us-lately" downsizing stratagem. Would everyone please just remember to hate them, & not me? (They deserve all the mold & slime the cards can collect, far's I'm concerned.) ~*

Cool! What do you do with it when it isnt posing for pictures? i keep it strewn about the house. or if i'm up-to-date, on display in the trophy room. (Strewn bein' the operative word. When the trophy room's caught up.....ain't enough room t' swing a cat in there!) ~*

agreed. I'd prefer the '?' stay with the 'Unknown' category, for the 'Mystery' connotation; & they break out the true puzzle caches, & maybe use one of those li'l jigsaw pieces, like or sump'n. Heck, that's just an icon selection, & no big brains needed to do that. The real bugaboo is about changing all those already published -- I wish they'd done it long ago. ~*

Y'know, there is this one li'l trick I learned..... It might not help YOU, THIS time but if you start doing it & word can get around & your locals start doing it too, maybe it'll be of some help. Basically, just fold the bottom end of the logstrip across itself so there's a li'l 'flag' sticking up..... Made a quick sketch: .....and roll it from that end up to the top before inserting in the nano-container. The 'flag' just squooshes down flat when you screw the container-halves back together, so doesn't become any kind've obstruction. Then, finders can easily 'pinch' the flag between thumb & forefingernails - pull on it slightly & the center portion of the rolled-up strip 'cones' outward, reducing its diameter a bit, & the whole log comes out with practically no resistance. I do that to all my nano's before I ever place 'em. It works! Biggest hurdle, of course, is the practice becoming 'common knowledge' & folks using it. ~*

"I rarely read cache descriptions so would you delete my log if I found the cache but did not read all the requirements??" 1- Did you meet the cache's logging requirements? If no, then yes. PERIOD. "Also, a requirement for a 25 word log is silly. I would likely be irritated and post "Found it" over and over again." 2- Fine. If, in the spirit of the game and the fun the cache tries to bring, someone wants to leave a written record showing what a jerk they are, I won't stop 'em! (That's 33 words, by the way - and only one 'u'.) ~*

Of the few I've seen at events & a couple in online 'collection' photos, folks seem to favor 3-ring binders with those pages of 'pockets' like for collecting sports trading cards, also for photographic slide-holders for smaller items like coins, stamps & wooden nickels, etc. I think the 'card pockets' version is so popular because they're so readily available, eg at WalMarts everywhere. For the 'old salts' who've been at it for years, some of the collections can be quite impressive - almost make ya wish you had one too! But it must've been a lot more popular some time ago - I honestly can't recall seeing more'n 2 or 3 real 'SIG Items' in caches I've visited around here. ~*

ABOUT PICKING THE WRONG BIRDHOUSE - Dedicated to bahama97 & "Thanks For Thinking Of Me!" I remember the first cache I ever tried to find - I didn't have my GPSr yet but figured I could find it from the cache's description, logs & map image. I saw all kinds of comments about the 'unique container', and also about various signs on trees, etc. (it was on a Nature Trail in a county park). Found one VERY obvious sign that'd been prominently mentioned - it was nearly torn off the tree from people looking behind it - and near it, a bird house. Obviously real, since there were several other identical ones (construction, age of wood etc) along the trail. Of COURSE I had to check it out since I knew it was the closest one to the cache GZ! Got up on tiptoe & reached up to the flat top....felt something and GRABBED IT!! Not the cache it turned out.....but a big handful of bird dook! The birds' revenge! ~*

Hey, Thx for the bigger picture, Urk! I tried, but when I zoomed out just one more notch, my browser kept bogging down & just sat there grindin' for like 10 minutes before bombing. In addition to GS's sluggishness of late, my ISP's having thruput problems. You da man!! ~*

Well in that case, somebody would have some REAL 'splainin' to do, Lucy! That's just police brutality! ~*

....With circles and arrows explaining the situation on the back of each one! Alice's Restaurant reference?? HOPED some would "get that"! APPROVES! \"...don't wan-n-nt a pickle........." ~*

I like finding anything in a cache that ain't mushy or moldy, these days....ever-increasingly rare around these parts! As well expressed above, some folks leave 'em - some folks collect 'em....why deny either their pleasure?! I don't think they should be considered a trade item, per se....it's as titled, a 'signature item'...a representation you've been to that cache. I even tend to think of 'em as a token left for the cache owner; and secondarily, anyone else who does want 'em. Which, incidentally, I do NOT consider the dropping of a 'sig item' as qualifying, technically, as a signature in the cache log, which I believe is a Guidelined requirement. "Easy Steps to Geocaching #7 - Sign the logbook and return the geocache to its original location. " (not the best example, but there it is) And finally if ya don't like 'em, nothing says you have to look thru 'em! (& I'm fairly sure there aren't so many as to block the gold nuggets!) ~*