Seth!

Hi! I'm going to be in the Tucson area this weekend and early next week. I'll be bringing a few Travel Bugs. I would love to swap TBs while I am there. So if you have one just hanging around and want to drop it into a Tucson area geocache, that would be great. Here is a list of geocaches that I'll be hunting. I don't know that I'll get to all of them, but as many as I can. Feel free to comment on any particularly nice hunts, by the way. See you soon! Seth!

quote:Originally posted by Lazyboy & Mitey Mite:If you are going to drop them then do you have any suggestions where us locationless lovers can go? Lazyboy, are you sleeping in class again? They'll be reincarnated on a different site or something. Like the benchmarks. They aren't getting dropped altogether. You'll still get to post them and find them. It just might not be until spring. This is what I am gathering from Jeremy's posts anyway. [This message was edited by Seth! on February 12, 2003 at 08:32 AM.]

Gee, a poll. Nice idea. Wish I'd thought of it.

Ah, I missed the part about the GENERAL forums. The post I deleted was about the ADMIN forums. Sorry, Lazyboy. (I posted the same poll there, the admins voted to suspend LC's, Jeremy effectively said our opinions don't count and that LCs would stay. Now HE's posted the poll and he'll look like a hero.) [This message was edited by Seth! on February 11, 2003 at 08:07 AM.]

By the way, there is a HUGE difference between LC's and all of the other categories you mention. In geocaching, whether VC, multi, micro, or regular, you are given COORDINATES for something and have to find it. With locationless, you are given a description of a (usually lame) thing that you are supposed to find WITHOUT A GPSr and then record the coordinates. That's not geocaching. Your reference to benchmarks is also without merit because the HAVE been spun off to their own 'site'. Seth!

Deleted. [This message was edited by Seth! on February 11, 2003 at 08:03 AM.]

Mr. Snazz, I know what you mean. But my bugs have a big ole' Travel Bug Information Sheet with them. So there really is not excuse. I feel kinda bad posting a lost TB in the forums, but if I try to send an e-mail or two and get no repsonse, well... By the way, does anyone from the Bellevue area know cachingham? He did some geocaching VERY briefly about a year ago. In fact, he only found three geocaches, but that was enough to get one of my Travel Bugs and keep it. - Seth!

I didn't know there was a MobiPocket fiasco, but I'm finding it pretty useful. I haven't tried the GPX stuff but I've heard there are some nifty apps for using the data it provides. (Within the terms of service, I believe. I hope.) I just like the idea of using less paper and having a lot of cache info literally in my pocket. I guess I'm not sure what the original question was. Were you asking if Groundpeak was going to have some kind of open-source code for geocache data? While I'm sure that you would use it thoughtfully, there might be others who would take advantage of it. I doubt that Groundspeak wants to run that risk. I guess I'm saying that I think I am getting my money's worth from the features.

quote:Originally posted by BletchleyPark:Correct me if I'm wrong, here. Okay. Yes, it is the radius. But 20' still means 20' away, not 40'. However, here's the reality: IF the person posted the genuine, honest-to-goodness 100% accurate coordinates and IF your accuracy (or EPE) was really and truly 20', then when your GPSr showed "zero feet", you could be sure that you were within 20 feet of the cache. BUT the person who posted the cache ALSO had an EPE (or accuracy) of X. So let's say her or his EPE was also 20'. Now you may assume that you are within 40' of the cache. (e.g. the posted coords were 20' east of the actual spot and your GPSr has you 20' east of the posted coordinates.) How's that for confusion? I'd say that if your GPSr says "zero", you'd better stop looking at the GPSr and start looking for the cache! - Seth!

Yeah, it was a letterbox and this has been discussed at length in these forums. Try doing a search (I'm not going to try to Markwell it for ya.) Seth!

Hey folks, a user named "pinecones" has had my Agent Ninja Turtle Travel Bug since July. It was a brand new bug and had only been in one cache for one day! It's long story, but it's a special bug of mine that I have never even seen! I want it! I've written to pinecones more than once and they won't reply. If you know this person, will give them a good shake for me? They are somewhere in OR, I believe. Thanks, Seth!

quote:Originally posted by bigeddy:A strong incentive would be not getting the cache approved. I'd much rather see some slowdown in approvals to catch bad locations during screening rather than after the fact. Here on planet Earth, the admins aren't psychic. We really on the cache descriptions, maps, and basic knowledge of the region to determine if a location is suitable. If you are done badgering the admins, I think we have a cache or two to review...

quote:Originally posted by mattb5:The coords for that one put you somewhere in the ocean between NY & Connecticut. N41 W73 (at least it allowed me to find this little bugger on lostoutdoors.com 40.99344 -72.996749) These commercials tick me off. Even if they don't put the real place it was filmed (which is probably just a back lot in Hollywood) at least make it some real site Keep in mind, they rounded the coords off to the nearest degree. So the bookstore could be anywhere within 30-35 miles of the spot in the water--easily on dry land.

quote:Originally posted by mattb5:The coords for that one put you somewhere in the ocean between NY & Connecticut. N41 W73 (at least it allowed me to find this little bugger on lostoutdoors.com 40.99344 -72.996749) These commercials tick me off. Even if they don't put the real place it was filmed (which is probably just a back lot in Hollywood) at least make it some real site Keep in mind, they rounded the coords off to the nearest degree. So the bookstore could be anywhere within 30-35 miles of the spot in the water--easily on dry land.

The event is up but it probably should have a modification. I suggest one of two things: Add an event after the group hunt, i.e. a geocacher get-together. Then it could be logged as a legititmate Event Cache. Or disallow logging the event as a 'find'--making it a 'post a note' cache only. Otherwise it's just 'log an extra smilie for doing two geocaches with your buddies'. That's going to annoy more people than it will please. - Seth!

I think that the discussion here (as it has evolved) is about at very unlikely scenario. "Ten Travel Bugs in a difficult, seldom visited cache" is not really worth the discussion. What is, I believe, more common is the "three Travel Bugs in an oft used or new geocache." In this case, I think taking all of the bugs is not very polite. I, for one, really enjoy finding Travel Bugs and if the previous finder cleaned out more than one and didn't leave any, I'm bummed. But if it that unlikely 5/5 volcano island cache and there are 10 TB's in it, then I guess I might take them all. MY pet peeve is TB's that get taken but not logged out of the geocache for days and days (or simply never). If a TB shows up as being in a cache, and it's not there when I go to find it, I'm very annoyed. Unless it was just grabbed that day, then it's just disappointing. Seth!

quote:Originally posted by bigeddy:It's hard to explain the guidelines to new geocachers when the application of them is so inconsistent. I don't think that one example is really "so inconistent." We are approving hundreds of geocaches every week and mistakes may occur. I was not the admin who approved the one bigeddy mentions, so I can't really tell you what happened there. The answer to the original question is clear: Do your homework first. If you aren't able to do that, then don't place a geocache. It would be easy enough to do a pocket query for Bend, OR and ask for the 500 nearest geocaches. Load these into your GPS. Then, if you think you've found a neato spot for a geocache, just look at your GPS for nearest geocaches. As it was pointed out earlier, if it says less than .5 miles, maybe a new spot would be appropriate. If it says under .1 mile, there is a 99.7% chance that it won't get approved. Here's another solution for those who don't want to do their homework: Mark the waypoint, then get on your cell phone. Call a friend and ask him or her to do a search for nearest geocaches to those coordinates. Really, it works. (If you don't have a friend, send me an e-mail off the forums and I'll give you MY phone number. ) Oh, syn, just FYI "moderators" and "admins" are not the same thing. I got to approve or archive Rooster's geocaches because I'm an admin. I'm only a moderator for the "GPS in Education" forum. - Seth!

Gosh, poor Bill can't even spell "peep hole" correctly. Just for fun, do a Google search on "it's people like you that ruin". Oregone has a lot of company! Everything is being ruined by someone! - Seth! "Ruining days, one life at a time."

Wow. That's a list of bogus finds if ever there was one. I suspect that ROCKETMANDANE changed the icon to 'virtual' after it was approved. It would not be approved in its present form. It is a micro cache and if you don't find it, you shouldn't be logging it! This one will be archived if the owner cannot be reached.

quote:Originally posted by DenaliNW:And to dad too - he's got shoes on. That __is__ an even greater accomplishment. Man, the things we never live down...

Some of you know that little red-headed kid of mine. Well, he found his 100th geocache today! It was Promontory Point in Seattle. We went with Moun10Bike and one of Kodak's4. Adrian had a good time. Geocaching with a five-year-old is always an interesting experience. Believe me; I've done it a hundred times. We originally did not log Adrian's finds separately, but now we are since he has so many. So his profile only shows seven. A complete list of his finds can be found at www.adrianleary.com. If you get the urge to send him a note, he can be reached at adrian@adrianleary.com. - Seth!

Howdy, howdy, howdy! The first WSGA snowshoe outing was a lot of fun. It was sponsored by the Puget Sound Chapter and The Outing Club. You can see photos at the WSGA snowshoe web page. We're thinking of doing another one. It will either be in Stevens Pass or Snoqualmie Pass. You don't have to be a WSGA member to come. I need some ideas for dates. If you think you might be interested, please vote for a date. You might also post a reply with other good days or bad days. - Seth!

Yeah, I was sorry that I wasn't home to try to get #50k. It would have been nice if the person who got it had at least made a special 50K celebration cache instead of part five of a poker game. c'est la vie. I do want to take this opportunity to point out that the admins approved geocache number 30,000 less than six months ago. That means that we have reviewed 20,000 geocache submissions in under six months. So if you are wondering why we appreciate it when people take the time to submit a well-planned geocache, that's why. I may post a thread on this in the general forums. Hmmm.. - Seth!

quote:Originally posted by cdsjerry:I had this exact same problem and just last week found the solution. There is a cache where you can place a lost TB or you can place him until someone else actually places the bug. Sort of a virtual cache if you will. It's waypoint GC4DED. Well, this would throw off the mileage count. The previous solution works well: The person can just log it and it will disappear from your inventory and will land in his/her inventory. I have a geocache right by my house, so if people bring a TB to me, we log it in/out of that geocache. This records the actual miles travelled. Seth!

The Washington State Geocaching Association is developing chapters. This allows us to have a statewide organization (strength in numbers) and still provide meetings and other opportunities throughout the state. It's all still new, but I'm optimistic. I'd suggest a similar path for Oregon. Seth! President, WSGA