Ike 13

Realize that other people have different views and for them having fun means different things. For me I do many different things in Geocaching and have fun with all of them. FTFs are fun and exhilarating and a different type of fun than a standard daily cache. They are much more like a race. My favorite FTFs are extreme FTFs whether it's a night cache 40 miles away or a challenge cache that requires driving all across North Carolina. To some people that would not be fun and that's fine, but to me it is and there should not be anything wrong about that. I also enjoy taking time and doing quality caches. I enjoy caching in the middle of nowhere. I've enjoyed nearly every day I've cached and it's the variety that has kept it entertaining for me.

Yea a whole 7% of PM give it a favorite point. That's real popular

It's probably the most viewed page (other than facebook) that I have. It has all the links. I'm not saying it's a horrible feature, but that the placement is bad and I personally have no use for it.

Yeah, the dude they hired to bring community feedback to the development team and to test the new features is such a lightweight. Hiring Moun10Bike is a huge step in that direction.

My thoughts exactly. The development seems very random sometimes. GS needs to get some true diehard cachers on their development team. People who live, breath, eat, sleep, bleed Geocaching. People who cache every chance they get. Or maybe I just have to accept that I may be the 1%. For anyone who uses GSAK or any other offline DB this is really pointless. I guess if I rarely cached or had very poor memory this would come in handy. I instantly added it to ABP hopefully it just becomes a tab in the future.

Either set up in front of the store or just take to the cookies to an established event you're not hosting. Placing an event just to sale cookies is definitely a no-no. But I have faith that if you show up at the next event and just say BTW I have a trunk load of Thin Mints $5 a box you'll probably unload them all. And I don't think there is a thing as too many Girl Scout cookies.

You are boring? Sounds like a personal problem. I kid I kid. SOP is to post the updates right before the sight goes back up. Until then we just read about murderers and mingo or go to a different site for a few minutes.

Between hiding and publication. We have blanket permission for local parks so I found a good spot and put a cache there. 3 days later it was published and the FTF sent pictures of ground zero. Turns out that park was marked for MAJOR remodel. They bulldozed everything including the trees where my cache was located. Another cache similar story. It was a lot longer between placing and publishing because it was part of a series. I went out to check it before I hit publish and found a mound of sand covering the log pile my cache was at.

This came up on a trip this weekend. Would it not be nice to not only see the map of where it has been and how far it has gone, but also how many people have discovered your bug as it has gone on its journey.

Based only on forum reports of news stories I have not seen a huge increase. Also being a veteran of similar threads I have learned that once the bomb squad is in motion it will be blown up no matter how small, clear and well labeled the container is. I don't think this spells an end to anything.

Yes rappelling can be dangerous (even for experienced climbers). Yes this is a family sport. But I don't think you'll see any parent throwing little Johnny over the side of a cliff attached just to a rope from their backyard. There are those who feel they need to do most every cache in the area, but this is their conscious decision. I would want to do that cache as well, but I would not go do it until I had the proper equipment, training, and help from experienced climbers. I love that Geocaching has expanded my horizons and given me encouragement to kayak and in the future maybe rock climb. We all take risks everyday and must assess what we are and are not willing to do. If GS ever started deciding on safety then all caches would need to be archived because any cache CAN be dangerous. The main issue with the cache Willi died at was that it was in an illegal location that could only be accessed at night. Let's try to fix that issue first.

Awesome I obtained some scratches yesterday from a bush hide, there were no warnings on the cache page that this could happen. How much do you think I can get? Can you at least tell us how this guy hurt himself?

1) NA logs should become anonymous. It is apparent that in some areas the local community is very abusive and maybe even threatening to people who post legitimate NA logs 2) NA logs should not be able to be deleted by the CO. Let the reviewers have the ability and if the log is truly bogus it can be deleted afterwards. 3) If the local reviewers are too afraid of opinion to do their job and archive caches that are illegal then GS needs to find new reviewers. Groundspeak guidelines do NOT address safety. They however do address trespassing. There is a huge difference of not getting explicit permission to place a simple straight forward cache in a park and this one that looks to be placed in a spot that no one (outside the employees) should go. I have done extreme caches, but I would never do something like this by myself at night and in a spot that is clearly off limits to anyone. It's sad that 30+ finders did nothing and that speaks to a larger local problem.

Make the name/description fit with the area. For the Italian store it can be a cache called Mama Mia! That's a Spicy Meatball! Or something like that. Having the cache at the business or in sight of the business will allow people to see and then make the decision whether to shop there. I know there is a series in the Upstate of SC about great local food establishments. None use the name but the coordinates will get you there.

Dude your challenge was hard enough as is. There is no need to make it harder with all those stipulations. Now you're just drawing attention to yourself and who knows what the reviewer will think about these new and changing requirements.

I know a cacher who has finished Delorme and county for the South East (6 states) and RI. And according to this list (http://brassyblue.com/DeLormeChallenges/@DeLormeChampionsByFinds.html) there are others who have done double digit Delorme (and probably county)

Better information would be available at the GSAK site and on their forums. I learned 90% of what I know about GSAK from their site, forums, and just playing around with it. My last presentation I gave I used this wonderful powerpoint developed by GeocacheAlaska: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CDMQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geocachealaska.org%2Feducation%2FGSAKFUN1%2FGSAKFUN1master.pdf&ei=Ul7lToKeH8K4tgf0x9DvBA&usg=AFQjCNHTqvzj29zxReAZWYGaDq2uDDJOMA&sig2=n9xN66ivImLj3CI2rw11Hw I'm sure a simple google search will turn up other GSAK 101 documents

What do I expect: Accurate coordinates Accurate D/T ratings (a 1/1 should not be a difficult find) If there is no parking readily available then I need parking coordinates and or the trail head. This mainly comes from my experience caching in other areas. It is frustrating driving around a neighborhood for 30 minutes trying to find a legal way to access a greenway/trail. As a CO what do I provide: All of that, plus attributes, and a good description of what container to look for (I don't have any CCCs yet). I try to give a good hint on medium caches.

I've not had any paranormal experiences while Geocaching. I did have a creepy feeling at this cache http://coord.info/GC1BHVG but that probably came from the story and being their at night on Friday the 13th. I have had paranormal experiences in previous homes. The house I lived in high school was haunted. The VCR would turn on (even unplugged), creepy feelings especially around my room. I once saw a full bodied apparition in the hall go from the bathroom to the bedroom. It was just like you described. Darker then the darkness in the hallway, human silhouette, no features, and it floated/glided more than walked. After college I lived in an apartment, I had never had an experience or felt a spirit presence. But one night I woke up and there was a man standing at the foot of my bed. It was dark but I could see details of overalls, a plaid shirt, and some facial details. I grabbed the lamp near me bad and pulled it towards me. I did this so hard the shade broke. By the time I swung back around and turned the lamp on he was gone. After calming down and thinking I realized it looked a lot like my grandfather when he was younger.

It's normal. Sometimes someone just picks it up and is on vacation so they don't log it right away. Sometimes it's someone new who doesn't know how to log it. Sometimes it's a thief. Sometimes it's someone who thinks it is just swag so they trade for it and keep it.

Wait so you have monthly events with custom Geocoins. The only events I've seen with coins around these parts are mega events (and the 10/10/10 11/11/11 which I don't really count). I'm sure some people would love to have the problem of living in such an active geocaching community. As for me I'm one of a few in my area that gets around to various groups events. The notification radius is usually to small so I have to rely on the newsletter/newest in each state to scout out potential events.

Would it be great if every cache ever placed was fantastic? Yes. But that is not the case, you have little to no control over what others do. Right now you are letting it bother you and it is effecting your happiness. If you continue on this path you will quit. You have the option of doing research and not searching for any cache that may be below your standards (elminate all parking lots, micros, etc). You have the option of trying to encourage the local community by placing unique creative caches yourself. Once people see there is a better alternative they may start placing better caches as well. I have been trying to encourage this practice in my local community and I've seen a lot more fun caches placed in the past year. Could it be better, yes (but my view is skewed since I have cached in areas with multiple COs who place fantastic cache after fantastic cache). You have the option of not letting it bother you. I do occasionally complain to friends about lackluster COs, but overall I try to avoid those caches at all costs and stick to finding fun caches.

No avatar pixelation fix :-(

Then your results and experiences are very narrow. If I was limited to my lunch break I would have 0 finds. If I was limited to a 5 mile radius I would have quit a month in. There are truly great caches out there (and yes some in parking lots) but they are maybe 5% of the population. Then there are a lot of good caches, and as you have seen there are even crappy caches. It sounds like you are unfortunately in an area of poor cache quality. It may take some research and making some time after work or on days off to get out of that area and get over to Stone Mountain or a nice park, but I guarantee once you find an incredible cache it will be well worth whatever you had to do to get to it (and I speak from experience)