Semper Questio

I'm just gonna step in to say that when I had puzzle caches out there I did not care one whit if finders solved the puzzle or not. My caches, other than my 2 challenges, are there to be found by whomever may find them however they get there. If they solve the puzzle, great. If they tag along with someone else who has, that's OK, too. If someone just gavce them the final, I can live with it. It's just a game and I would rather they had fun than got all angsty about solving a puzzle and I am certainly not going to lose a bit of sleep over it. My 2 challenges, on the other hand, were put out for that very thing. To present a challenge. We have very goal-oriented cachers around here and my calendar challenge was for them. My other was to encourage new cachers to expand their horizons, go beyond their comfort zone, venture out into the woods, and experience what caching was like before the micro explosion and, perhaps, just perhaps, encourage them to find and place more "old-school" caches.

Yeah, I don't ever see the emails either and I would turn them off if given the option. This may be a good was for GS to address a bit more of their email volume issues.

Do most folks actually use those things in your area? They are generally useless as any kind of selection criteria around here.

Not only would I like to see challenges and puzzles split out, I'd also like to see puzzles split between field puzzles and "desk" puzzles.

And if you archive them, be sure to ask someone to go pick them up so they aren't left out there as geo-litter.

And why is this person sitting in a Webber grill?

Who hacked into my webcam!?

I'm on the 'cool with the change' bandwagon as well. I've not used the email attachment in ages. Shoot, I never even see the emails! I kick off my PQs when I want them, wait a few minutes, then use GSAK to pull them down. The only time I would be interested in an email is if I have any PQs in the queue and the PQ servers were down or, if they had been down, when they are back up.

If there's a specific problem it may be that someone has contacted the reviewer privately to let them know about it, rather than post an NA log that might draw the wrath of the self-appointed cache police. Reviewers are NOT Self-appointed. They are Recommended by the community to uphold the Standards set forth By the community. If a cache recieves more than 2 DNFs in a row, then the 3rd Should be a Mx Request. If the Same cache recieves 2 more, then the cache Shold be Disabled... If it is Disabled with NO intervention/ note by the CO, then a Archive request should be sent... Another Month goes by and the Reviewer Archives the cache to prevent the cache from being attempted. In other words: DNF, DNF, MX, DNF, DNF, DISABLED, ARCHIVED. Do realize that a FIND, or Owner Mx would Reset the cycle. The ONLY Exception is IF the CO is no longer Active, AND the cache is Older than 6 years. IF that is the case, then the reviewer should try to contact a cacher that is Local to there that HAS found the cache, and ask IF they would like to Adopt this Older cache, and post a note on the page to see IF someone wants to adopt... Team Tisri did not say reviewers were self-appointed. TT was referring to cachers that appoint themselves as cache police (not the same thing). You say you don't want automatic actions by a reviewer, but then you go on to say what should and should not happen based solely on DNF counts and that GS should get involved under conditions you state. What gives you the insight to determine this that a reviewer does not have? Of course, this is all based on your original, I believe faulty, premise that this disablements are somehow automatic. While reviewers have various tools at their disposal, they do not, as far as I know, have any automated process for dealing with cache issues. They are handled on a case-by-case basis as they are informed of issues by emails, NA logs, or when they do their own maintenance check sweeps. Perhaps a reviewer could correct or verify this for us. It is a now long-standing policy, and rightly so, that Groundspeak does not initiate adoptions nor do they forcibly adopt caches to others. What may be an inactive and, seemingly, defunct cache on GC.com may be a modified cache listing on another site. This leaves, ultimately, archival as the only option for a dead GC.com listing by an inactive CO. This, in turn, opens the area for a GC.com-active cacher to hide a new cache there if they wish. The key here is that GC.com maintains the listing, NOT the cache.

Find interesting or scenic places for the waypoints with safe places to park. Use different kinds of steps along the way for variety and added interest and challenge.

Looks to me like something else creeping in to cater to newer players of a different demographic than the older set. I would not be surprised to see this, and other changes like it, start rippling through the system.

I don't recall many complaints from such folks. IIRC, the complaints were from people (like me) who wanted them either to count fully in the stats, or to not count at all in the stats. The objection was to the confusion caused by lab caches counting for some stats but not for others. And now that's been resolved! Aww, it was more of a joking commentary on how the threads usually run around here and how responses to GS's efforts tend to go. They seem to get whacked no matter which way they go.

Cue the complaints from folks that DON'T want lab caches included in the stats. As for me...Thanks, Lackeys!

In Texas a fence IS a no trespassing sign. So is a band of purple paint on a fence post (also often seen on trees or other objects).

It goes in the whereyougo folder, not the cache folder. If you did that and it did not recognize it, then something was probably wonky with the download. For instance, did you download it via your phone or via a PC? If you downloaded via the android default browser on your phone, it won't work. There are other ways to get it via phone, but I don't know them. I download on my PC and then get the file to my phone.

First, you can't delete posts in these forums. Second, you have to put the downloaded file into the whereyougo folder on your phone. This can be done any number of ways, depending on the type of phone you have and, possibly, what apps you have.

Just for giggles, I looked up my oldest cache - Packrat Stash - which was placed on 12/20/2001 and I adopted on 10/15/2008. It has 649 finds to date. The first TNLN appeared on 3/29/2002 The first TFTC appeared on 4/29/2004 The first TFTH appeared on 1/31/2005 The first TFTF appeared on 2/17/2005 The first completely solo TFTC appeared on 3/28/2009. (There were a few logs not long before this that had TFTC accompanied by a another word or two or a pic.)

This had been brought up before. It should be available on all cache types.

The extr 50 bucks for the camera and topo maps would not be worth it to me since I have little to no use for them. What are those extra features worth to you? But if you can't find the $199 price on the s model, why pay $100 more for fewer features?

Assuming you are asking for help on a puzzle, doing so on the forums is considered to be "bad form". Your first resource for help on a puzzle would be the cache owner. If you get no help there, then ask previous finders or other local cachers, especially any you know. But doing so on a public forum - ANY public forum, including Yahoo! Answers, etc. - is not a great idea. Good luck.

Perhaps a hybrid? Automaticaly disable an event the day after the event date, then automatically archive the event a month or two later?

How did you decide on a coordinates? Did you just average the two? If you use 1 GPS, you are never lost. More than that, you never know where you are.

Yeah, y'all are right. I misread that. It shows as still in Baxter929's hands. He picked it up at our Texas Challenge event in March. He's been online since taking the TB to an event in mid-April but has not logged any finds since then. Under these circumstances, and since Baxter929's last activity with this TB has been just over a couple of weeks, I think I'd give it a few more days. If nothing happened by Saturday or so I'd drop him a polite message to see what's happening. For the OP, the basic log actions, generally speaking, are... 1. "Retrieve" a TB from a cache. 2. "Grab" a TB from a cacher. 3. "Discover" a TB you find but are not going to move. 4. "Drop Off" a TB when you leave it in a cache or event. 5. "Visit" a TB when you take it to a cache or event but do not leave it there. 6. "Write Note" when none of the other types apply, such as when you want to add photos or info not related to a cache visit. The rule of thumb is to not hold on to a traveler for long. A couple of weeks at most. Some TB owners don't like a lot of "visits" while others, like me, like them. At least it shows the TB is moving. What I don't like, however, is when a person holds on to it seemingly forever, taking it to cache after cache and neer letting it move on. Also, when you grab a traveler, be sure to note the tracking number and where you got it so if you drop it before you get home, you can still log its movements correctly. Many TBs have goals. Some have the goals written on, or attached to, the traveler. If they do, please try to help them towards their goals. For instance, if it is in Ohio and trying to get to Oregon, don't grab it and haul it to Maine. If the TB does not have the goal on it, look online for the goal and, if you can, help it towards its goal when you drop it off. In the previous example, you may pick it up in a remote cache and then drop it off in a TB hotel near an airport so someone traveling may grab it and take it somewhere out west to get it closer to its goal.

It appears someone picked it up at an event and never logged it properly from there. No big dela. Happens all the time. I see you have already grabbed it, and that's fine. At this point I would log a visit to the cache you found it in and then move it along. Alternatively you could drop it in that cache and retrieve it again. Which method you use is entirely up to you, but either way it will log as having been to that cache and will register the miles. And yes, please remove the tracking number from your initial post so others will not use it to hijack the number and log false discovers or grab it from you. Yeah, it happens.

Well, that all depends on several factors. Experience and preferences of the searcher being the main one. Just get the best coords you can. Between different devices and different experience levels, what you get will not be the same as what someone else gets anyway. And the bushwhacking may or may not be a factor at all. I know several cachers who only go after bushwhacking-required caches and only do so with no more than the coordinates and they do just fine. But that's their thing. And 300' is not "deep" into the woods for folks that like that sort of thing. In fact, it is barely entering the woods at all to them. On the other end of the spectrum, you have cachers who need their hand held every step of the way, stepping off a paved trail is what they would consider a wilderness adventure, and if there is not a neon sign pointing to the cache, they think it is too hard to find. No matter what you do, you will not create a cache that will make every cacher happy. Another factor is the hide itself. Is this a nano glued to a rock placed under a log somewhere or is it a large bright red tupperware container just sitting next to a tree? All I'm saying is that some caches warrant more consideration for clues than others. Ultimately, the best advice is to hide the kinds of caches you enjoy finding and take care to make the cache and its listing provide the kind of experience you enjoy and want to share with other cachers. If you want to make it a D1 find and provide detailed instructions and/or hints to find it, go for it. If you enjoy and want to place something more difficult, leaving some element of challenge and not be nearly so specific, feel free.