The Birches Head Hunters

A fantastic achievement - numbers we could only dream about...! Congratulations to the face known to cache owners everywhere!:- And not forgetting Isaac, Freya and the rest of the team...

Online log quality has definitely declined over the years, not just in terms of honest feedback to the cache owner. I have just picked a random cache (placed in 2001 and still going strong), and here are some interesting stats:- Ten online logs from 2002 - average word count = 74.6 words per log Ten online logs from 2008 - average word count = 30.6 words per log And the 2008 stats above have been boosted by one longer than than usual log. If I take that one out (101 words), then the 2008 online logs average at 22.7 words per log. Obviously word count doesn't always indicate word quality, but aren't you fed-up of reading logs like "Found OK. No swaps, sorry. TFTC". Hardly worth the effort of the writer or the reader. There are some important points here. If someone (new or old) puts out a low quality cache, and loads of people visit and thank them for it, then their next cache might be of a similar quality. If on the other hand people use a bit of honesty in their log (without being rude), then perhaps the next cache this person hides will have a bit more thought, be bigger, have better contents, have an interesting story, etc.. One thing that sometimes irritates me is the poor quality of the online logs that some cachers (new and old) leave after they've found a cache. I get quite excited when I see a GC.com e-mail to say someone has found one of our caches, so I load it up, have a read, and then wish I hadn't.

I wonder what words of wisdom MrsB will give for her 2,000th posting?

I wonder if any of these new users are new to geocaching as a result of recent geocoin promotions...

The reporter from the radio has kindly logged his find on the geocache:- GC1927Z

Snippet 4 - 01:41:35 - 01:46:00 My favourite quote - "The co-ordinates are very good for this one" - Thanks Annie! I found it all an interesting listen, apart from the indoor presenter using the french pronunciation of cache! caché... Well Done Mark and Annie!!

Oh, and apparently Annie's favourite geocache is one at Monk's Cave in Scotland (as mentioned in Snippet 2).

We've been beaten to it!! The man from Stoke Radio must have contacted a few of the local cache owners to see who would reply first. We've just had a geocaching e-mail regarding a note being posted on one of our caches:- GC1927Z:- "September 4 by cannonedwards (735 found) This was the cache Radio Stoke were talking about when they interviewed us yesterday on the breakfast show, and then went to find. Hopefully we gave a good account of geocaching. Mark & Annie" I don't think Mark and Annie use the forums, so they obviously missed the original posting, but I do think it's a bit rude of the radio to ignore the 2 e-mail replies I sent over the previous 2 evenings (not even a 'thanks but no thanks!' ). I've found the radio show online. It was the 7am to 10am breakfast show on Wednesday 4th September. I'm not sure how to provide a link directly to the radio show, but here's a link to the main radio page:- http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/mainframe.s...aod/stoke.shtml You'll then need to click 'Breakfast', and then 'Wednesday'. Perhaps someone more technically-inclined will be able to post a direct (and more permanent) link? It seems they've done the geocaching feature in snippets on the show. I've found the following so far:- Snippet 1 - 00:21:45 - 00:22:10 Snippet 2 - 00:38:50 - 00:45:00 Snippet 3 - 01:08:30 - 01:10:20 However I'm getting a bit bored listening to the whole 3 hours, so haven't found any more yet! In snippet 3 the reporter says he found a 'Nano', but I'd call GC1927Z a large micro!

I agree, this seems like a solution. If the GC.com UK forum isn't really delivering what the UK caching community wants, then perhaps we should use a UK based forum for all our UK discussions? Makes perfect sense. I do feel very sorry for Mandy. I don't come into these forums as regularly as other people, but I have seen some of the comments in the past month or two regarding bans etc.. As others have pointed out, Mandy has done something charitable, for no personal self gain. Very commendable. (Mandy - give yourself a big pat on the back <insert back-patting smilie>). I know this has also been said before, but perhaps TPTB might sit up and take notice of the UK community's unique needs if suddenly less of us were members? For them, it's all about the numbers money. We could divert the subscription fees to a needy UK charity (charity not named here for fear of a ban).

Double post

Many thanks to JeremyR, Bear and Ragged, Simply Paul & sTeamTraen for the helpful advice, and to rutson for the words of wisdom. I have offered my services on Friday - if anything comes of it, I'll keep you updated!

After trying Blacks and Millets in four different counties, we managed to get hold of 4 of the 5 coins:- GC1FT4X We'd still like a Big Ben coin though!

I have today received the following e-mail through our geocaching profile:- xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2008 11:42 AM Subject: [GEO] DavidGrundy79 contacting The Birches Head Hunters from Geocaching.com Hi there, I'm a journalist at BBC Radio Stoke - and am trying to do a piece for the Pete Morgan Breakfast Show on Geocaching - and am hoping you'll be able to help me! Would you be able to give me a call please on 01782 221 265 - or email me directly - david.grundy@bbc.co.uk Cheers David User's Profile: http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=67...46-0619281bfac0 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I have just repled to 'David' with a holding e-mail to say I'll reply fully tomorrow night. My first thought on reading the e-mail was to gather some opinions from the UK geocaching community. Could I have some thoughts on:- 1 - Should we do this? I'm always a bit dubious about open promotion of the 'sport', as this could attract the wrong sorts. 2 - What kind of things should we say in such an interview, and what things are definitely to be avoided (land-owner permission springs to mind). 3 - Any other (general) comments? I intend to reply to him more fully in approx 24 hours (8pm Wednesday night), so I'll be back to check all your lovely comments when I get home tomorrow evening! Many Thanks Damien - of The Birches Head Hunters

Love the t-shirt SP - where can I get one?!

And a pat on the back of MartyBartfast for trying... No wonder she closed the thread quickly!

This is a great thread, and it got me thinking about caching globally. I've chosen some random locations in the middle(ish) of the following countries, so see what kind of cache density there is. I then asked for the number of caches hidden within 1000 miles of these locations:- Bangui, Africa - 25 caches Lanzhou, China - 84 caches Bhopal, India - 118 caches Ar Riyad, Saudia Arabia - 979 caches Marple, England - 168,753 caches Minneapolis, USA - 223,440 caches I'm not clever enough to apply any reasonable thoughts to the above data or explain how it relates to the original posting; but I find it quite interesting all the same!

I don't think I ever walk in trousers - always shorts (preferably no shorter than knee length). Legs are waterproof, easy to wash (and dry), and they mend themselves if ripped or torn. Even in cold weather, if you're walking (and not stopping for a break too often), you'll be warm enough in shorts.

We fall into the "technically challenged but probably quick learners if given the chance" category. Reading some of the comments above I can see we really need to consider something where we could carry all UK caches around with us. We're still using a handheld GPSr, with a limit of 500 waypoints (which is great for a day out, but if you're on holiday for two weeks, in a cache-rich area, and you like spontaneity, you need more than 500). Does anyone mind clarifying for our category of cacher:- - Can an in-car SatNav device also be carried outside and still achieve the accuracy of a handheld GPSr ? - Same accuracy question for a 'PDA' .... - What's the cheapest way to have one decent handheld device that can be used for caching and can hold an unlimited number of waypoints (or points if interest), and the related hints, etc....? Are we talking expensive PDA if we want all these functions wrapped into one device?

That's a great idea. And if Garmin don't want to repeat so soon, we could try Magellan, and point to the current Garmin promotion as a precedent (they might just want to go one better! )

It was a very interesting episode of Panorama. Full of 'rubbish' (couldn't resist! ) facts about our streets and countryside. For example:- It costs 3 pence to buy a stick of gum, but 10 pence of taxpayers money to have it jet washed off the pavement. It costs £millions (can't remember the figure) of taxpayers money to clear the UK streets and countryside each year (of rubbish left by the UK taxpayer). You can receive an instant on the spot fine for dropping litter, but this law is only enforced in a few areas of the country, so people carry on dropping litter. One council up north somewhere has proved that there is a link between crime levels and the level of litter on the street (reduce litter = reduce crime). Some very sad facts, and a shame it takes an American to point them out to us. Well Done Bill !!

There was an issue a few years back where I work, where the system would throw up a warning to the system administrator everytime you mentioned Scunthorpe in an e-mail. I'll let you work out why....

A big thanks to whoever had the idea to create the welcome packs. Inspirational! We didn't have time to complete the Dingbats during the afternoon - we finally picked it up and had a proper go on Sunday night while relaxing at our host's house in Yorkshire. Didn't finish them all yet, but I couldn't help laughing out loud when I finally solved this one:- Pot00000000

Mine's 2.74 (always wondered what that was!).This made me curious. So I checked my caches (including some that I've adopted and have co-ownership of, so I can't take full credit) -it took a while- and found they've been found/attended a total of 8359 times, giving me a 'Karma Ratio' (against my 1777 finds/attendeds) of 4.7:1. And to think, I had to become a premium member for some people to believe I was making a positive contribution to the game Well I do like this idea and its exactly what I was trying to get at in the original post... Mine seem to work out at 5788 finds on caches I own / maintain and 3336 found = 1.74.... I feel total Karma Looks like ours is just over 3.5! But I'll happily admit that a couple of our caches were trashy for a while, when we were still on a learning curve (not that long ago! ). We have since improved them with new (more appropriate) containers etc.. and all the new caches we hide we try to make them special, different, clever etc.. There's only one (older) cache I'm not happy with at the moment, and hopefully we'll be visiting that soon to make a decision on its future.

Mrs BHH popped into town today. The staff in Millets thought she was mad, but she found someone in Blacks who knew about the promotion, and she was advised that they were expecting a delivery of coins 'next week'. Note - the Blacks in our local town is NOT on the list of participating stores, so if you do live near a 'non-participating' store, give it a try, you never know!

Thanks for the replies so far. I had read the original quote above, but this didn't make it clear if there would be a distinction at the event between swappable items (ones you could take away with you) and discovery-only items (ones you look at and then replace). With so many trackables already dropped into the event pot, I can see this is going to be very interesting! I might follow the advice of Dorsetgal and keep a hold of our non-swappable coins. See you all on Sunday . . . .