DeRock & The Psychic Cacher

I would hazard a guess that given the lack of response from TPTB that most who expressed an interest in a forum for earthcaching are done pushing. Might I suggest an email campaign to influence Geoaware to excerpt some pressure on TPTB for a earthcache forum on GC.com. That might carry more weight than the requests of the members that have responded so far. It's a shame that there isn't a forum already. This is the only kind of cache that we can't ask our reviewers about. Given the obvious interest by TPTB in earthcaches by allowing them in the first place and then spinning the reviewing of them off to Geoaware - it seems a forum would be a no brainer. As I recall it didn't take very much interest to create Hiking and Backpacking forum, which to me is more of a stretch than an earthcache forum (not that I don't enjoy the hiking and backpacking forum - which I do). For those that aren't aware (no pun intended, but I'll take it) of how to contact Geoaware you may do so via his profile. Deane AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

I'd like to see this happen too! Deane AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

Glad to see this issue was resolved without having to appeal to the reviewer. Eliminating the problem is always preferable to asking for an exception to a guideline in my opinion. Although I have no personal knowledge of the specifics in the OP's case I do have some limited knowledge of the general guideline in question you may (or may not) find interesting. To the best of my knowledge the guideline in question is applied universally with each reviewer having some lattitude in enforcement and interpretation. Something I have found through experience about the proximity guideline (528 ft or .10 mile) is this: Proximity is measured in a straight line. Under most circumstances the reviewer will not have personal knowledge of the location and any extenuating situations. Under certain circumstances an exception to the proximity guideline may be granted if the route from the new cache to the existing cache is longer than 528 ft. This might include circumstances like: 1. The two caches in question are separated by a river, train track, or limited access highway that would require the cacher to walk a greater distance via a bridge (or other similar object like a tunnel) to gain access to the other cache. 2. The two caches in question are separated by a building (like a mall in the States) or not easily crossable terrain (like a canyon, swamp, bog) that would require the cacher to walk a greater distance on a trail or route to gain access to the other cache. These exceptions may be held invalid if there is a issue with the land owner involving cache saturation in the area. You may be asked to document your request for an exception with pictures and/or Google earth shots of the area in question and a detailed explaination (including the walking/driving route distance). As always, these are my personal observations and your milage may vary depending on your circumstances. Deane AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI USA

Whois.net domain name lookup returns: (Removed per request.) They look to be an autorized reseller of Groundspeak Deane AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

So let me get this right - They aren't unwritten, just not spelled out? Thanks for the clarification! Deane AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

My input would be that everyone in the UK should ignore your post at this time since it represents your personal opinion and is not applicable to the questions in this topic. Considering your derogatory comments, it should be painfully obvious that they are not representative opinions from Groundspeak. There are no "unwritten" guidelines being applied here. I would ask that you stay out of the topic and let the local cachers discuss the issues. Let me say that I am sorry if I have stuck my nose in where it didn't belong. I meant no harm or disrespect to anybody or entity, only to share my experiences. Although some may not like the way I said it, I stand by my post and believe everything to be true. If anyone would like to contact me off list I invite them to do so. Now I'm going to go work in the garden for a couple of hours - spring is finally here! Good luck everyone, Deane AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

Geetings from the USA- I've been following this thread with great interest. We recently (about 5 months ago) experienced the same thing you are now going through. I don't know why TPTB won't just come out and explain the "commercial" event guidelines. It appears thay have imposed strict control over what the reviewers and moderators can say about it. Instead, they require all event caches that violate the "unwritten" guidelines to be refered to Groundspeak. The reviewer isn't allowed to comment or coach the event hider in any way. Go figure! Here is what has been gleaned by Michigan cachers from their contact with Groundspeak on the subject of events and how to avoid bumping up against the "commercial" guidelines. This is by no means an official list, just our experiences. Your experiences may vary: 1. Keep your event page simple. Place a link on the event page to an off-site page for more information. 2. It is always OK to mention the event location by name and address. They allow this so that the cacher can find the location. 3. Sponsors can be named on the cache page SOMETIMES but can not be a clickable link. 4. What is not allowed is promoting the business with multiple mentions and discussions about how great they are and menus & pricing, store promotions, etc. on the cache page. 5. All commercial information like menus, sales, lodging, etc. must be placed on a separate page (off GC.com) and linked to the event page with a generic link like "Click here for more information". On that page you can place almost anything that pertains to the event and is of a commercial basis. This insures that the cache page will not bump up against the commercial guidelines and allows the cachers to get the information they need. 6. Any mention of auctions or raffles is forbidden on the GC.com page. 7. Any mention of sales of event geocoins is forbidden on the GC.com page. 8. Talking about door prizes is OK. Here is a link to an event that follows the evolving unwritten commercial event guidelines: 3rd Annual SW Michigan Chili Cook Off Now of course you can ask permission from Groundspeak to violate these "rules" but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for approval. Mtn-man - you input on this interpretation (if you're allowed to) would be appreciated. Deane AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

Hey ec3forme, send me your name and address. I'll use that as the return address for the galvanized pipe geocache I'm sending to President Bush. Then we'll see! Deane AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

Excellent point! I don't know what motivates this "agenda" and "commercial" guideline enforcement lately. Sometimes I wonder if the head knows what the middle finger is doing ... or even cares. Don't blame the reviewer. He is just enforcing the guideline "flavor of the month". He is an unpaid volunteer who often gets the short end of the stick in these situations. My bet is that if you kick this upstairs for a review with TPTB that you won't get any further than you did with your reviewer. Your solution will be to follow the lead of event listings lately. Put a link on the cache page to an off site webpage where you can talk about it all you like. Google will let you do this free with Google Page Creator. Deane AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

I haven't installed the new player yet and I'm interested if anyone is using it successfully on any PPC. Deane AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

Look where Signal popped up. Well, maybe I shouldn't say "popped up". I don't know if this thong is for a male or female Actually, Signal is all over lots of merchandise from Groundspeak at CafePress. Deane AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

Hi Fishdirt, You will find that many more Michigan cachers will see your question and answer if you hop on over to the Michigan Geocaching Organization (MiGO) website and ask that same question in the forums there. You must join to post, but it's free. Good luck, sounds like fun! Deane AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

From the HP page for the HP211 ----------- Display 4" transflective TFT 65K color 480 x 640 pixel (VGA) touch panel display with LED backlight ----------- The Wherigo player currently is not supporting VGA displays. It only displays half of the text and graphics on VGA displays. The top half. So ... the answer to your question is - currently no, the HP 211 would not be a good choice. Wherigo is in its earliest development stages. If you are looking buy a new handheld PPC device to play it I would wait. Deane AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

After experiencing the poor display results everyone else was reporting on their Dell Axims (my x50v in particlular) I decided to try my Verizon XV6700 phone purchased in '06. It's running Windows Mobile 5.0 and is sporting a QVGA 240x320 display, 416 MHr processor and 64 MB of Ram. Everything but an internal GPS of course. I am reporting success! After some small but exasperating issues everything is running fairly smoothly. I had to uninstall the .NET software first from my laptop. I installed it originally to update my Axim with it. But when I went to update my 6700 it wouldn't do it. Seems once it installs the update via ActiveSync it won't do another unit unless you uninstall it and do a reinstall. Once I did that it went smoothly. Got the player installed without a hitch. Getting the 6700 to recognize the Global Sat BT GPS was another issue. Of course, it is a borrowed unit and the owner gave me the wrong passkey. The right passkey makes all the difference The player doesn't want to recognize the BT GPS at start up, but as soon as I do a search (not with auto-detect but with exactly the same settings as at startup) it finds it and we are golden. I started up a cartridge and went outside. Geez, that poor small red arrow all but disappeared in the sunlight. I reset the brightness with just the smallest improvement. I'm going to have to wear the 6700 on my head, in front of one eye, to see anything in daylight. If you're a Trekkie - think Borg look-a-like! Maybe I'll just have to do all Wherigo caches in the dark. Of course I'll be investigating the cost of back up batteries. It never had great battery life to start with. Deane AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

Same thing can happen when you leave some units without batteries in them for an extended time period. Deane AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

Got everything working first time with my axim x50v and a Global Sat BT338. But I'm running Windows Mobile 2003 and I'm getting the chopped off text too. Checked out the QVGA option, but I would need to download a 22 MB file from Dell. It looks like a real pain, they recommend you back up everything and you may have to re-install programs too. This is too much BS for me. Is anyone running Windows Mobile 6 on a Dell Axim x50v? I see it supports 320x320 and 800x480 (WVGA) screen resolution. I'm wondering how 320x320 looks with the player? Deane AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

Ah, maybe that's how you do things in Texas, but up here in Michigan we prefer to spend our nights with someone that can keep us warm and has something much more "inviting" than a USB port to plug our "data cable" into. Deane AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

Please excuse me if this has been discussed before. I'm not seeing where it is a requirement of logging a find on a Wherigo cache to have to upload a completed cartridge. This would appear to be an ALR (additional logging requirement) that would bump it to the mystery/puzzle cache category. From the Cache Listing Requirements/Guidelines. WherigoTM Caches A Wherigo geocache uses your Wherigo cartridge to lead you ultimately to the physical geocache location. The cartridges must reside at Wherigo.com. If a cartridge is used as a requirement to find a geocache, it is considered a Wherigo cache, regardless of whether it may also have a puzzle or multi-cache component. Cache saturation applies only to physical containers, and not virtual elements. Standard geocaching guidelines apply. A device that can play Wherigo is not considered special equipment. and on ALRs: Mystery or Puzzle Caches Caches with mandatory requirements in addition to signing the logbook should be listed as mystery caches. Examples include sending the cache owner a verification codeword found inside the logbook, performing some task at the cache location and taking a photograph, or writing the online log in a format or with content that satisfies the cache requirements. The mystery cache designation assists finders in identifying that something extra is required in order to log a find. ---------------- Now I'm sure TPTB could change this if they thought it was a good idea. Personally, I think everyone is way to stressed out about armchair caching a find or hacking the code. Wherigo is in its infancy. Give it a chance to grow up and mature. Enjoy the fact that you are given the chance to be part of it. And that cachers want the smiley and the icon so bad they will do anything to get it. Deane AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

It's not going to be that easy my friend to get a Wherigo icon (and they really are my friends!) Not all Wherigo cartridges are Wherigo caches. And with the ones that are, there is a physical container and a log book you must sign. On a related note: I've noticed that when you are on the Wherigo site that there isn't a link on a cartridge page to the coresponding cache page (when one exists). Deane AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

Sure, download the builder ( and assoicated software). Then download a cartridge and use the emulator (contained in the builder) to view it. Deane AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

Nice going Ben! That was very resourceful of you. Along with Google the Internet Archive Wayback Machine can be very useful. Deane AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

And ....

The Cache Listing Requirements/Guidelines were updated February 20th (seems like that might have been a nice thing to hear about in the Geocaching Announcements forum, but that's a different topic). Can you find the changes? Deane AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

Must be downloading and installing .NET choked my computer because when I rebooted it the website came right up. Sorry for the false alarm! Deane AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

I'm finally getting ready to get up to speed with Wherigo and the website is unavailable for me. Just axed me off in the middle of a download and I can't get any part of it to load now. Time is 4:30 EST. Deane AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI