Benchmark Blasterz

It is NOT cheating to use all available information to find a cache. I also bet that the waymark was placed BEFORE the cache - but even if not, as long as everyone is playing by the rules OF THEIR PARTICULAR GAME (geocaching or Waymarking), then no harm no foul. Once many years ago I created a waymark from vacation that inspired a local cacher to put a cache there. They emailed me -> telling <- me to take down the waymark. When I refused, they wrote back (surprised that I would say NO) and asked me to at least remove all photos from my waymark because it spoiled their cache. I again said no. They said they would report me to Groundspeak for spoiling their cache and not acting in the spirit of the game. I never heard from GS, but my premium GC membership was not disturbed, and neither was my WM. Not sure what happened to the cache, but all these years later, I know for sure the waymark is still there --

I don’t think that’s entirely true. Times and cultures and people change. Change is the one constant. If we don’t want Waymarking to get the benchmarking treatment from TPTB, we need new blood, new ideas, new categories that are congruent with the baseline values of Waymarking, Worldwide, Stand out, Prevalence, not Redundant. I DO wish that Groundspeak would update the New Category creation page to advertise this forum, so new categories would have to come here for discussion before going straight to Peer Review. Would make for a smoother process, that’s for sure.

I believe that Silhouette Public Sculptures has been updated today - take a look

If this category passes peer review, I might have one in mind -

Anyone who is a Premium member of Geocaching can vote for or against a Waymarking category in peer review. It has always been this way. Some waymarkers get annoyed when geocachers with no Waymarking finds come here to vote on WM categories, but them's the rules. I think gatekeeping Waymarking will kill it - in my opinion Waymarking is way more fun than chasing nanos under bus stop benches. We need to bring more cachers into Waymarking, also IMO.

Yes, and I would ask you if you would also accept widely-known common nicknames for cities, such as Philly for Philadelphia, or Big D for Dallas. Also - some cities make these displays interactive, where a person is asked to make a missing letter. Will those be ok here too? Sorry I've been away from the forum this week - I had a sick kiddo home to take care of. Sí, y le preguntaría si también aceptaría apodos comunes ampliamente conocidos para ciudades, como Philly para Filadelfia o Big D para Dallas. Además, algunas ciudades hacen que estas pantallas sean interactivas, donde se le pide a una persona que haga una letra que falta. ¿Estarán bien aquí también? Lo siento, he estado fuera del foro esta semana, tenía un niño enfermo en casa que cuidar.

Welcome to the club, my friend! Its a lot of work, but very worthwhile

Well -- If he's not responding, not much else to do. Thanks Alfouine for trying buddy

Now that the category has presumably been denied, can someone here who speaks French reach out to these folks and bring them here or help get them involved in the community? Let’s bring them into the hobby - the more the merrier

I wonder of there is a language issue? Could any French-speaking waymarkers reach out the the category-proposers and see? I also was unclear on what would be waymarked here.

Just an FYI that this category showed up today. I came here to see if it had been discussed, and I don't see that it has. Not sure it would be viable since we already have Ginormous Everyday Objects, but see what y'all think.

For me the issue is overprevalence - there are sooooo many pub quizzes in Dallas. And they are not permament by nature - either the quiz, or the establishment. If this category passes, I'd so one, but then most likely I would be done. That statement does NOT mean I would vote in favor, sorry, darlin'. https://www.dallasobserver.com/arts/the-best-trivia-nights-in-dallas-13536946 They seem to be weekly -

Hi chapterbook. Just saw this thread - we (benchmark blasterz) have 3238 finds. Don’t know if you were able to archive ours, but if so, we’d love to download them ourselves. We will keep tracking our finds with GSAK and keep all our photos separately as it is. Thanks.

I think a Nordic Heritage category would be awesome -- will it also encompass monuments or registered heritage properties in places outside of those countries, as long as those places and registered properties reflect Nordic culture from immigration, for example?

We have this cat tree for the Beeper, and she does the same dance with squirrels - although they don't get as close as that deer did!

Yeah, I totally missed that. thanks Keith 😘

As a benchmark hunter who is One of THOSE kinds of hunters, I also rain on a lot of Found it! Cachers who did not find a benchmark because it’s gone. The infamous “Note to All “Finders” log happens A LOT from us. That having been said: we have also Found marked others had marked destroyed - usually benchmarks set in footings of municipal tanks where the tank is gone but the footings remain. we always report those to the NGS. We also delight in finding benchmarks that the US Power Squadron couldn’t find - a USGS pipe cap at the McLennan county courthouse comes to mind, as does a chiseled square on the highway bridge over the Nolan River in Johnson County. 😇

Sorry - I agree that this is over prevalent and redundant. If I can waymark every Texas flag I find in Texas - that’s WAYYYY too over prevalent. In Texas, it’s a thang to have our flag EVERYWHERE.

I am absolutely sick about this. Benchmarking got us into Geocaching, and into Waymarking as well. My husband is a civil engineer, and in the years when we had little bitties who were not reliably on the potty, we could not do a whole lot of geocaching because he preferred interesting caches you had to hike way out in the woods for. Little bitties do not travel light, do not deal with mosquitoes well, do not enjoy being hot and sticky, do not understand why they can't have everything in the cache, do not keep the things we did let them have from the cache out of their mouths etc. So for us, benchmark hunting was something that we could do in the city, and that little bitties could manage and have fun doing, because finding a benchmark cemented on the courthouse that you can't take with you eliminates ALL the frustration from leaving behind the moldy toys in an ammo can. My avatar is of the very first benchmark we found: CS1784 M 246 Reset. It's attached to the old Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad depot subway that was filled in 50 years ago, but its purpose and history is preserved on the data sheet that we found ourselves using the NGS website. That started us on a super fun exploration hobby that has not waned over time. https://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=CS1784 I am deeply disappointed that HQ is going to do away with all the logs posted by benchmark hunters -- all the photos and all the stories of the finds. I remember finding a benchmark on the top of a hill on the campus of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville in March. The benchmark was under heavy iron cover and we flipped it over, the smallest black widow I've ever seen came flying over with it. I, of course, had a cow. That is been a funny family story for 15 years now. https://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=HW3334 On another trip I talked my way onto a secure chemical facility (with an escort) to look for Mason-Dixon stones, all of them NGS benchmarks. https://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=JU3851 But I think what hurts the most is that geocaching HQ seems to not understand the value of all the work that benchmark hunters have done on this database since 2005. As one of the few benchmarkers who actually reports the finds to the NGS, Deb Brown mentioned that the NGS frequently uses geocacher reports and geocaching's BM database for pictures of marks and other information, since many of these marks were monumented in the 1930s and had not been seen for the next 70+ years. I'll always have my memories, but geocaching is losing so much knowledge about our world with this decision. I hope at least the benchmarking forum will remain. There is so much amazing wisdom there from wonderful benchmark hunters who have sadly passed on. You can't recapture that once a Groundspeak lackey hits DELETE. Until then -- I invite all benchmark hunters to come see us over at Waymarking.com. It's a different game, but if you like finding benchmarks you can put all your finds in our US benchmark category. We also have categories for different countries benchmarks and a worldwide benchmarks category catch everything else. So we're ready for you, and we welcome you. Ernmark, I love you man - but I am not going to hit you with 5000 new waymarks of all my finds since 2005.

FYI Shirley - when we went to Hoover Dam, we used John's logs to find some of the harder-to-locate marks, and now that tours don't operate like they used to, y'all may be the only ones to find the BMs inside the dam.

We are absolutely crushed. Benchmarking for us has always been more fun than geocaching, and we faithfully report our BM finds to the NGS. When I was in contact with Deb Brown at the NGS, she told me she looked at the Geocaching website as she updated the NGS mark database. The logs on the GC website are extremely useful. We frequently use a benchmark we find in an area to locate nearby geocaches. Not sure what we will do, frankly. Will keep Waymarking and benchmark hunting, but caching has really dropped way off for us.

Andreas, you have been so kind to me over the many MANY years I have been Waymarking. Words cannot express my debt of gratitude to you for your wisdom, guidance, help and support - not to mention ALL YOUR HEAVY LIFTING for this community!

So glad you have some caching opportunities along the way I'll write up my part is this story today Would you mind writing up something about your adventure to add to the waymark? I can't wait to see your photos!

No worries - the earth isn’t going anywhere