CBT69

I know the shell isn't real. I was just kidding about that. The cake is awesome! (I also just noticed the travel bug. Her attention to detail is just awesome!) Heh. I should make my "signature item" a fired 12 ga shot-shell with my name on it. GREAT CAKE! That ROCKS!

Hey, This guy's problem goes far beyond his attitude and language. Check out all of the trackables in TheManInStripes unpublished cache. The name of the cache says it ALL. I doubt those bugs and coins will ever be released. Game over for this guy. Looks like he finally fouled out! Not only that, but take a look at his FTF logs. Looks like he's not exactly in hot competition with anyone.. he gets it in an hour.. next log is over a month later, on the several I looked at. There's "hobby" then there's "obsession"...

Agreed. And people wonder why Geocachers get bad names!

Then the owner gets rewarded with a log that states "5th FTF today. Took prize." And that's fine too. I think each person who puts out the cache makes their own decision. And we get about one new cache every two weeks or so, so it's not quite _that_ rampant.

Forum burped.. mods, please delete me?

So, a number of local folks have "signature items" that you see in every cache. A nut with a name on it, etc etc. What's the protocol on taking them? Do you (you, the person reading this), leave them as a "marker" that someone was there? There's several teams/people with well over 1 or 2K caches in the area, who seem to leave something in every cache.. a nut, a cork, whatever it may be. Now, when you find one they placed, there are often several in the bag with the log, but as far as in a cache they have logged? What say you? (It would be cool to have a collection of "signature items" that reflect the local regulars, you know?)

I don't think it has anything to goad people _into_ finding caches. I think it's from the other side of the equation. I don't know about your area, but we have some SERIOUS FTF hounds out here. When you place a cache around here you KNOW it will be hit. The only question is whether it's within minutes, or hours, of it being published. I think most of the people who put FTF rewards in em just do it as a "giveback" to the community, and I don't really see a problem with that. It's not required, it's not even suggested, it's just a nice gesture by the people who spent the time to stake out, figure out, hide, publish, and monitor the cache to the people who make that effort mean something. Just my take on it.

de gustibus non est disputandum No one is forcing you to search for "lame" caches. No one is forcing you to hide "lame" caches. Regardless of what you think a "lame" cache is. Bravo! I have a 1/1 front yard hide. And as it says in the description, it's good for kids to find. Give them the name, and point them in the right direction, and they might find it! I have gotten _1_ negative comment, something like "Drove up, saw it, left, not my type of cache" in the log. Great. Have fun with "your type". But one more 3 hour puzzle cache in tick infested multi-flora-rose beds, and I'm about ready for some quick, easy, "from the car" types. Some days I'd rather die than do a micro, and some, I'd far rather be hiking in the woods than looking for magnetic stuff. To each their own. It disheartens me to see the world "lame" used as a judgement. Fine. Not your type? Cool. But don't call em "lame" caches, cause someone is just as proud of that "lame" cache as you are of your 97 stage, 38 mile cache that requires complete knowledge of sartre, the DaVinci Code, and the Necronomicon Ex Mortis, including punctuation.

I suspect this is a result of the angst that a few "purist" backpackers have shown toward our game. Head over to a backpacker's forum to see what a vocal minority has to say about us. Geocaching has inundated "their" woods with "couch potatoes and geeks who have no true love of nature". These elitists have been sniping at us since our game started. Perhaps a sniper finally made in into a position high enough to spread his/her vitriol? As much that, as with people who are stupid in hiding caches, other people who are stupid in finding caches, people who take a "bull in a china shop" mentality and cache with machetes, etc etc. There _must_ be a happy medium. BIsons hidden within feet of the trail, or micros on trail signs is one way to do it, but currently it appears there is no "middle ground". Though, apparently, according to someone I know who works in the NPS, they are (theoretically) working on planned, sanctioned caches on NPS lands. Their goal is "take only pictures leave only footprints" and even too many footprints they are at odds with. I can _kind_ of understand that. But if they are THAT worried, they should put up lucite walls two feet off the trail in either direction, just to keep nature "safe" from us evil cachers!

"most people" really need to learn, then, to check the logs just prior to leaving. That's akin to saying people should disable their cache if the co-ords change since it was initially placed. change the terrain difficulty up, so that it's noted that special equipment (canoe, kayak, etc) are currently necessary, and make sure it's clearly noted in the log.

Yep. That's just a FTF prize. You can _encourage_ they place a new hide somewhere with it, but you, apparently, can not make it a condition of the find. There are a few like that around here, a Mother and Babies setup, where the original M.O.A.C. had like.. 40 or so minis set up, ready to go within, and people just picked them up and rehid them all over the place. Kinda fun to find them all, as they scattered pretty widely over the last couple years.

I don't know about leaving junk in the cache, but there are a type of cacher that will completely disregard the wishes of the land owner and do as they please. I've had folks go around a locked fence when the description clearly stated not to and folks go into a park without paying. ...then put in their logs! Is it kosher to put one in a place that requires an entry fee? I thought that fell under the "no business required" type of cache? (I might be wrong, though.)

a friend and I both cache. I tend to follow the trails, knowing they will get me there, eventually, based on who placed the caches, in most cases. He, on the other hand, is Mr STraight Line Guy. Up mountains, across rivers, you name it.. (this has led to some interesting escapades). Now, in _theory_ that should be preventable by putting "STAY ON THE TRAILS!, no need to leave the trail to find the stages" in the listing, but yeah.. some people simply won't pay any attention to that, and "do it their way" anyway. I'm pretty convinced they are the same people who fill caches with mcdonalds wrappers, broken sunglasses, etc, and leave water bottles right at GZ when they are done, too.

hey.. try it on a mountain, and around a mountain, that is one of the larger magnetite deposits in the state. That adds all kinds of spinning compass, whacked out GPS fun to the hunt!

I don't know of anyone who does it intentionally. But, there are a lot of cachers, with a lot of different GPS systems, some older, some newer. I know when comparing my Son's old garmin with my GPSmap 60csx, mine was consistantly "closer" on the co-ords than his. Some people also only do a "mark" when the drop the cache, and then publish that. others spend an hour averaging, walking back and forth, etc etc. And, truth told, if you are in the woods and there's nothing for 30 feet except a huge upturned tree, and you _know_ you are looking for an ammo can, it's pretty obvious even without "perfect" co-ords. A nano in the woods.. now that's a different story, obviously. I've also noticed quite a few people who pay no attention to that little "+/-" widget, and don't seem to realize they are getting an _average_ and that the big friendly red arrow may not point right at the cache itself, but more likely at a circle the +/- difference within which it may be.

I'm looking for a trackable that is a dolphin, specifically a coin. Can't find em anywhere else, they are all sold out, (the few that were produced). My wife has an affinity for the friendly fish, and want's it as her "personal" coin. ANyone?

Yeah, I didn't know you could have it sent to your phone. Now i'm REALLY sailing the 7 caches seas! AAAAARRRR MATEY! (and a wink out of the eye without the eyepatch) Not even that, just an email. I had just gotten in from caching with my Daughter around lunchtime, and the email popped up. I yelled to my wife, who was working from home, and she said "Let's GO!" and we went.

Ironically, after reading this thread and setting up the email notification discussed slightly earlier, I got notified of a hide, and got FTF on it this evening within an hour and a half of it being published. Don't know if I'm addicted, but it's definately a thrill!

And since everyones ideas of what is fun, difficult, etc. varies, it will be about as useless as the rating systems on Amazon, ebay, etc. (edited for errant comma) A Solution is to use a netflix style system. Then you can see what your expected rating would be based on the ratings of other folks who rate (and like) caches similar to you. That would be handy. A simple "best of" (or "one of my favorites") rating would also work. However what it would do is make the caches that have universal appeal (some do) stand out. Then you would see those caches that for whatever reason stand head and shoulders above the others. I know I would be thrilled to know what my expected rating should be. Oh, wait. No I wouldn't. I guess you can tell I don't use Netflix. I am not in favor of a cache rating system simply because there are not enough finders of any given cache to make it valid. And then there is the whole concept of rating the reviewers. Messy, meesy, messy. I read the logs and the cache description, then I form my own preconceived notion about the cache. If and when I hunt for the cache I offer up my own opinion about it. So far this system has worked for me. No. I meant "anonymous" in that you cannot see who voted what number of stars directly. Obviously, if there's only one log, it's not "anonymous". But once you get in the 10 or more log range, you are now dealing with an average. "* 1 cacher. *** 5 cachers ***** 4 cachers" That's the most it would break down to. Anyone who wants to be vindictive is going to do it in the log, anyway, I would imagine.

Well, you could note in the log that it's _REALLY_ Difficult, then put a motion detector paintball machine gun out there, and comment that "hints will be added later" and see how many "DNF"'s you get in the first couple of hours.. then reveal it.

How recently did the rules change? When I first started doing this, I could _swear_ there was no mention of the online component as "required", it was merely a suggestion. The primary goal was, find thing, sign log. Which I do, whenever possible. And I usually log them as soon as I get home, on GS, both Finds and DNF. I'm _SURE_ there are one or two that have slipped my mind. When you go to 10 or 15 nearly identical green bison tubes in a pine tree in one day, you can get them confused. In any case, it's not an act of malice. At least not on my part.

Everybody has their own thing. Take a look at "Algernon's Revenge" for an example of a puzzle cache around here. Not my cup of tea, but apparently a lot of people enjoy them. I'll get there, eventually, when I've run out of other things to do.

heck yeah! Pick it up, log it out of the cache, and "drop" it in a new cache that actually sees some action. It's your coin! Paint it pink and staple it to your forehead, if you want. Or pick it up and move it.. or anything in between.

Isn't that cheating themselves out of a find in their numbers when they're entitled to it Don't you mean logging the find online, but never having signed the logbook? no, read the thread. People have knotted knickers over that, too.