Crow-T-Robot

All good points. One thing that I can't quite grasp (and it may just be because I don't use or understand the technology at play here) but how would the logging page be able to verify the codeword that token generates is legitimate? If Groundspeak decided to use codewords/numbers for logging purposes, I assume that code would be generated at the time of the cache page creation and tied forever with that geocache, the same way the GC# is. With an offline token, that randomizes the codes, how would any online database be able to verify the code? This token would be spitting out random codes every time a button is pressed. I'm not sure how, when you typed one of those codes into a logging page field, that GC's database would be able to reach back and verify that, yes, this is the code that was generated when this cache was found.

Lists with codes for travelbugs/geocoins are passed around like candy at some events. There are websites and Facebook groups that are loaded with puzzle cache solutions/spoilers. If a codeword logging system were ever implemented (it won't be), the lists created for it would dwarf any travelbug or puzzle spoiler lists that already exist.

I visited Glacier Bay on an Alaskan cruise. The cruise ship had a day of scenic cruising at Margerie Glacier - Glacier Bay National Park Really beautiful. I would go back in a heartbeat.

The best advice I could give is to think like a CO when going to hunt a cache. If you are on a trail and still a good distance from the cache (more than a few hundred feet) and the arrow is pointing off into the brush, ask yourself if you were the CO and had to place/maintain this cache, would you go blundering through the branches, thorns, rocks, stumps to get to GZ...or would you try to find an easier route? Nine times out of ten, the trail you are on will bring you to a spot 20' from the cache. Cache owners normally don't want to swing on the vines like Tarzan to maintain their cache. Stay on the trail, it will usually bring you right near the cache. That being said, in the winter, when the undergrowth and foliage dies off, going native and cutting through the woods can shorten the distance to the cache considerably. I often cross-country it when caching in the winter.

What if you hid a container at the posted coordinates and in that container you gave out the coordinates (or clues) on where the reflector trail started? I would agree that it probably fits better as a Mystery cache in the "catch all" department but having a container at stage 1 and then following the "clues" to the final is very much in the spirit of a Multicache.

You should be able to use Google Voice to set up a new phone #. I've used Google Voice when I created a multicache and it worked well for this purpose and it was free.

You would need to contact the cache owner and they would have to start the adoption process. Groundspeak will not adopt the cache over to you. Only the current cache owner can do that. If the CO adopts the cache over to you, then it will be yours to do with what you wish.

I believe that if you create a list, you can click on that list in the app and there is a map icon. If you select the map icon, it will filter out any cache that is not on the list and just show the caches on your list on the map.

I'm not sure I understand this complaint. Did I miss something? Are you saying that because the CO initially stated there would be a long series of caches but then only placed the first three caches...that some kind of action needs to be taken? It's not against the guidelines, nor spirit, of geocaching to dream up ambitious cache ideas and then realize after starting that maybe the project was a little too ambitious and opt out of completing it. Are the caches that were placed in good shape and being taken care of? If that's the case, surely you aren't trying to hold this CO's feet to the fire because they decided not to finish placing the rest of the series, right?

There is nothing to review. Between the time that your cache might fall under the microscope of a reviewer and it being archived by a reviewer, you are given plenty of opportunity to either maintain the cache or submit a log explaining your plan to maintain it within a reasonable time frame. If you ignore that and the cache gets archived, that's your fault, not the "whim of a reviewer". Saying that the cache is in a remote area is not an excuse for the cache to not be archived. If you placed it, you agreed to maintain it. As long as there is communication from the CO, Groundspeak gives quite a bit of slack when it comes to caches that are disabled before they get archived but almost all of the caches that get archived by reviewers happen because the CO doesn't respond at all.

I think a good compromise (if permission is granted) would be to go and buy your own brick, one that is a different color than the wall, create your cache and place it in the wall if there is an opening. That way you're not damaging any existing property and when people come to look for it, the odd colored brick will stand out to them. I think that would make for a fun urban cache and as long as you have permission to place the cache, shouldn't ruffle any feathers.

If this isn't your wall, then you can't presume that "no one seems to care". Maybe no one would care that a geocache was hidden there but without seeking permission, you won't know that for sure. A bigger issue might be that when someone comes along to find the cache, they would have to remove the brick(s) to find the container. If the wall owner or maintenance person sees someone pulling bricks out of a wall that is already starting to fall down, do you think they would make the connection with geocaching? They would think that person is vandalizing the wall. You'd be putting finders in a bad spot and geocaching in a bad light.

I know that large power trails are often pointed at as an example of why there should be a placement limitation and that there are a multitude of hiders that would otherwise be able to place a cache if not for all these spots being taken by one hider, but that has always seemed like a dubious claim to me. Even in the most cache dense area's of the world (Seattle, Portland, Prague, etc) new geocaches are published daily/weekly. There ARE places to hide a cache no matter where you live. It may not be in the park down the street from you but finding a good location is all part of the process/challenge of being an owner. Saying that owners that hide a large number of caches is keeping other potential hiders from placing their own caches also ignores the bigger problem, which is that so many of these caches within a power trail or series should have been archived long ago. There are exceptions, but most big trail caches tend to be hundreds (or thousands) of crappy micro containers that simply will not survive in the wild for very long but instead of being archived when they go missing/break, someone will always come along and throw down another crappy container to keep it alive. This keeps sooo many caches alive in perpetuity (not just in trails or series but overall, everywhere) that otherwise would've rightfully been archived. If you live in a cache dense area and want more places to hide more caches, I'd start with changing the mentality that geocaches, particularly power trail hides or series, somehow need to live forever. They should be like any other geocache: if they go missing (or become a hopeless mess), log a Needs Archive and wait for the spot to open up again.

I am able to log in as of right now.

It's your opinion that this account is a bot. Groundspeak doesn't share that opinion. The logs you've posted in this thread points to mangled english translations and/or someone that has odd logging practices but none of what you've posted is proof that it's a bot account. I think you're falling into the confirmation bias trap.

I've used it and really like it. The pocket queries and lists download very quickly. I used it for one Wherigo and had no issues there. Probably my biggest complaint is that there isn't a way to access the compass once you go into the listing. If you click on the navigation option once in the listing, it will assume you're driving and open Google Maps. This can be changed in the setting to use a different navigation app but I didn't see an option to have it default to the compass. To use the compass, you click on the icon on the map and then the compass symbol on the same screen. It's not really that bad except when the first time you use the app and you're looking for the compass option in the listing and think you're going crazy not seeing it. Overall, I think it's a great app but I keep using the official app just because the official app has a better draft feature.

I would still consider posting an NA. There are going to be other cachers showing up after you and if the nearby property owner is already irate at one person, they are not going to be less irate with the next half-dozen. It may not be on that persons property but they've shown that they're willing to chase people away. With enough irritation, things may escalate and this is just a game.

I usually a casual enough user that most changes don't affect me enough to bother me, but this one...yikes. It does seem like at times, Groundspeak will send out a survey to 10,000 users and 5,000 of them will scream for X change, 4,000 want X, the other 1,000 don't respond and GS will implement something they assume the 1,000 non-responders must've wanted. Groundspeaks logic baffles me sometimes.

Wouldn't it be better for the game to reach out and teach them how to use the tools correctly than to take the tools away from them?

I had a multicache set up where WP1 would give you the phone # for a Google Voice account I set up. I used a free text-to-speech website to read back a voicemail greeting I wrote and in the greeting were the coordinates for the cache. I really liked the concept, but there were flaws that I couldn't quite resolve. Since I wanted to keep everything "free" on my end, the Google Voice account only allowed about 60 seconds for your voicemail greeting. I really like using humor when I can, so I wanted something more elaborate than a 60 second message but wasn't willing to pay out money to make that happen, so that was one limit. The other issue was that I Googled around for a good solution on how to get the text-to-speech audio recorded/transferred into my Google Voice greeting and there just didn't seem to be any good way. Maybe an inline microphone would've worked but I didn't have that on my computer, so I just ended up doing it the analog way...you know, by playing the file and recording it with my phone and then uploading it to Google Voice. The sound quality of the recording was...not great. It came out kind of garbled but it still worked well enough to glean the coordinates. I am still looking for good free/cheap solutions to this, as I'd love to create another cache like this.

Ah, I see. I was looking at the Hides link in my dashboard and it doesn't show up there.

It won't show in your profile as an owned cache. As far as I know, the only place that it shows you being the owner is in the Adventure Lab app or the lab creation page.

You are correct in that the aim to review caches is within seven days of being submitted, but that doesn't mean they'll be published within that time frame. Seven days is just the goal to have a reviewer take a look at the listing. If there is an issue with the listing or the listing warrants more scrutiny, those caches usually take longer to be published. A more complicated listing will get put off to the side so the reviewer can publish the submissions that are easy to push through (to help clear out the queue) and then circle back to your listing and give it more attention. Also, many people were able to come out from under stay at home orders in June, so your reviewer may be facing an onslaught of new submissions to work through.

Doing a little more investigating, it may not be a map bug more than an "Ignore List" bug. I just randomly looked at a map around Seattle and those Multi/LBX/EC, etc. icons all display fine, up to the closest zoom level. When I click on any of the icons that disappear in Wisconsin, those listings show as being on my ignore list. I just looked at my ignore list and there are a TON of caches on there that I never added to my ignore list. But that raises the question of why a cache on an ignore list would display at ANY zoom level on the map?

I've noticed that when I'm looking at the map(using the "Search Geocaches" option vs "Browse Geocaches" option), if I zoom in to the 1 mile (2 km) level (or closer), the multicache, letterbox hybrid, virtual and earthcache icons disappear. The other cache type icons are still visible. Zooming back out to the two mile (and further distance) and the icons reappear. I'm using whatever is the latest version of Chrome at home and at work and I've noticed the same issue on both computers. I just logged in using the Edge browser and I'm getting the same issue. I don't have Firefox installed at work, so I don't know if it happens with that browser.