The Green Bugs

Thank you to all who have commented on this post. I think from reading the posts that I have basically two options, 1) put the coin in the flow as is and hope for the best, 2) attach alot of deterant and make it unappealing to collectors. Being a naieve newbie and somewhat lazy I'm going to attempt option 1 for my first foray into tracking items. I hope that alot of geocachers read posts like this one and decide on the true meaning of coins and move them along so that I and others are not discouraged from this side of the activity. This raises another question, what would a person do if he aquired a coin from a trade or purchase that ended up being a valid coin or even one that was assigned to the grave yard? I guess there are ways to reinitiate them somehow? I have read that you could contact the owners?

Thank You Riffster Here is where I got the ideas I mentioned earlier. You make very good sense, if only everyone would try to understand the game. Always asking, always learning! 8. How do I get a Geocoin to travel through caches? One of the original intents of a geocoin is to move like a travelbug from cache to cache. The problem is that a coin is highly collectable and can be easily taken out of a cache and into someone's collection. A way to keep your coin traveling is to mark it with a scratch or drill a hole in it to add a tag.Trackable coins have the benefit of a tracking number, but it still doesn't stop unscrupulous collectors from stealing it from a cache. When you come across a coin in a cache, it's best to assume that it is meant to travel, and look it up on its tracking website. If you have found a unregistered coin, or it doesn't have a tag included, review the logs for the cache you found it in. It may have been placed as a gift for the next cacher, or it may have been placed to travel. The person that placed the coin in the cache will usually leave a note in the log.

I have been Geocaching for a couple of years and really enjoy it as it gets me out and off the couch once in a while. I have just purchased a Geocoin and a Travel Bug. I am just now seeing all the collector sites for Geocoins and if I send my coin whats to stop it from ending up in a collection the first time it is found? I read that you should scratch them or attach a travel bug to it. This seems somewhat expensive just to be able to follow it's progress. Can the coins be marked with the tracking number for travel and without for collecting? Maybe this is how it is done and I've missed it! Maybe collector coins can have a different type of code assigned so that people can definitly tell whether it a traveller or collector. This has probably been asked a thousand times already. Thanks for your input. The Green Bugs