Sol seaker

So to reply to the original question: I found a little note of clarification here User Insights Forum Guidelines: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=321716 That is the page for rules posting in the forums for suggestions to the website,etc. Those rules say: "We recognize that not all players enjoy geocaching using our products. We know that there is valuable information in hearing about your experience on other websites or apps, so in the User Insights forum ONLY participants may constructively discuss their experience with other geocaching products and how they improve your geocaching experience." Bolding is not mine. This is some good clarification. I feel this is the sort of thing we need to know. Whether we agree with it or disagree with it isn't the issue, so much as we know what the rules are here.

I had a friend who needed the phone number to her ex's sister (for good purposes) and asked if I could get it off the web. I came back with her phone number, address, where she went to school, what she enjoys to do, and what kind of dog she has. My friend didn't even know she had a dog.

I've always just chosen a cache nearby. It's fun to pick a cache that's out in a lake, but there's not always that option. Those coords are just for you to be able to see a map of your area easily and also for a reviewer to be able to see that you live in the area when they review any caches you submit. It doesn't have to be your actual home. Even a mile away works fine. I appreciate you bringing this information to our attention though. It's good to be aware of. Thanks.

+1 I think what was missing in the rollout is instructions, just such as these. I hope they are linked into the site, so it can help everyone use the tool most effectively. +1 I think the page is great, so I think what must be missing is the instructions. For a lot of searches it seems pretty straightforward, but there are probably complications that are frustrating people. New stuff can be hard for people even when it's good.

Thanks A-Team!! Appreciate the work that went into this. I just used the search engine for the first time today. For what I wanted to do it was pretty simple (narrow a search by area and by cache name). It came up with great results. After reading over what that page can do I'm really happy about it. THANK YOU Groundspeak!!!! I've been wanting a new search page for a very long time, that I could search for both cache name and location in the same search. I'm very happy with it so far. I'm actually pretty impressed that they thought of things like searching for caches that have notes on them. Now I can find all the ones that I solved the puzzles to. I know there are a lot around that I've missed and would love to find. That is way cool!! thanks guys!

I had a security guard question me tonight. I had been standing staring at a sign in a high muggle area that is supposed to have a cache on it. We chatted a while, real friendly like. Then I asked him if he'd heard of geocaching. I wanted a hint and wanted to know if he knew where it was. We chatted a while about caching and his experiences with being a security guard in other places with geocaches. But, no, he didn't know where it was. He did say he had been wondering why so many people stood staring at that sign. Another time I was finding a cache that was on the other side of a very small street from a child care facility. A police car drove up and parked between me and the facility, but he wasn't looking at me. I stopped, knew I wasn't doing anything wrong, so went ahead and continued to sign the cache and then put it back under the lamp skirt. I looked up and he was doing paperwork and pretending to not be watching me at all. I gave a friendly wave and sauntered slowly back to my car, playing with my GPS along the way. I don't look terribly threatening (unless I want to). In general I look like the nice person I generally am. They don't bother me much. If they do, I strike up a conversation and make friends.

Actually it did work. It did lighten things up... for a bit. thanks for doing that. I like that kind of moderating: lighten it up, rather than make it heavier. I respond well to that sort of moderating.

Still reading this thread backwards: Okay, here ya go. Is everyone feeling better yet? Need more hugs? there were some great penguin ones in there. I love penguins.

We won't really know. The OP asked what others meant about a Pen. The others were hoping the OP would give more detail what they meant and what it related to. But the OP never responded back on the thread. You have to admit it was a pretty funny question that could have been a troll. It's kind of like asking what a baseball bat is for in the game, in a baseball forum. You're going to get some wise answers. It's just a funny question. In case it was indeed a real question it would have been good to move it to the newcomers thread immediately before it went far in the regular forums. In the regular forums it was kind of guaranteed to get a wise response. It actually could have been much worse. Edit: OOOPs. I just read back and saw that someone else already suggested the thread being moved. That's what I get for only reading the last couple of posts of a thread. This one had more excitement in it than I realized. If I had of realized things were so exciting here, I would have moved on and done something more productive, like find a cache or something.

Yes this is a very good question, thank you for asking it. As a customer of geocaching.com, while on the forums, I tend not to feel valued. I think I'm a pretty good customer and like to feel valued by the places that I give my business to, and refer a lot of other customers to.

Thank you so much for doing this, A-Team!! This is great. I haven't used the new search engine much, but I just did and was so happy to find I could search for a word in the title of the cache and for the state the cache was in at the same time. I am really, really happy about that!!!

I've had minor run-ins a few times. My attitude is that if they don't know what geocaching is, they should know. I'm always all ready to tell them about it. I tell them that they can get a free geocaching membership, and that they should do that (they get a free PM so they can make sure things called in as bombs aren't geocaches). I tell them about the game and tell them I am willing to go to their police department and teach a bunch of police about the game if they don't know about it, because it is something they all need to know about. I've never had any problems.

Okay, I used the new search engine and it worked quite well. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like there is a great list of challenge caches in CA. Perhaps you might make one. All you need to do is go to the new search engine and use the filters and type in California and "Challenge" and it gets you a great list. You can also start with this: http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.aspx?guid=0a3e1a81-39d8-45c9-bfb3-7fe026bf883d Which is challenges in the US, including some in California.

I'm really crappy at finding threads too, so I'm not much help with that. However, there are a few things you can do to find caches in your area. If you know of one challenge cache you can check the bookmark list on it to see if there is a list of challenges in California (since that's where you are). You can also do a search of caches around you, looking for the word "challenge" in the description. Here in Washington there are a number of great lists of challenge caches. All I've got to do is find one that's been around a short while and then I can check the bookmark list to find the lists of challenges. I'll check and see if I can do this for you.

Geocaching.com is a for-profit business, as has been mentioned. They are not even obligated to give anyone a free membership, but they do. When I started geocaching I was in tough economic times. Things were really bad there for a while, but I did manage to get a membership fee together. It wasn't easy, but it's all a matter of priorities. Do you have cable TV? I didn't. I didn't have any TV. You can easily pay for a geocaching membership off of what you pay for half a month of TV. I never went to movies, EVER. I never bought food at a restaurant, EVER. I never bought a cup of coffee out even. I couldn't afford those things and more, but I managed to come up with $30 bucks a year. It's all a matter of prioritizing what one feels is really important. Geocaching has really helped me get through some pretty rough times, so it's a priority to me. If it's not to you, that's okay. But just know it's a choice.

Yes, I will reply, because I think it's important that people always know what's going on. Some call it transparency. Some call it fairness. I guess there's been more angst here than usual, and this has been responded to by the permanent banning of a few members. No one has an exact count. I know of the names of three cachers who have been around in these forums a very long time and none whom I would consider the instigators of the most angst here, but that's just my opinion. They were permanently banned from the forums. So the problem to me, is that they weren't given warnings or reasons for the banning at that time. They had some history in the past with warnings or small bannings, and instead of being told, "This is your last warning and this is why. After this you will be permanently banned," they just got a note out of the blue that they were permanently banned with no explanation or warning. I would at least want to know why myself, and I would want the kindness and dignity of having a discussion about it. So now a lot of people are wondering if it will happen to them out of the blue with no warning and they'll never know what hit them. There are a lot of "unwritten" forum rules that seem to be part of the issue here. People are trying to figure those out because we like posting here. We like having a geocaching community online to talk to and to ask questions of and feel a part of something big. Most of us want this to be a fair and kind place. Most of us have fair and kind intentions. We all want to be heard, whether it be our opinion about the latest website update or about how we are treated in the forums, or about the latest really cool geocache that we found. That's what forums are about. Or usually are. Or something.

Thanks for your valuable contribution to the community.

Just for the record, I've never been banned here. I always watch how people around me are treated in all situations though. If a business treats others badly I figure my time will come around where they'll treat me badly too, so I don't go there.

My mind was wandering just now when posting in another thread, and I realized that post was off-topic there and really belongs here. (sometimes I do write without thinking) It was about what I learned in one place I worked at when I was 20. I saw the people dealing with the public there being really rude to the customers. If I were one of those customers I would have raised holy... well you get it. Then I watched how the management treated the people working there. I paid attention to stores where they treated the customers really well and asked them about their management. I came to realize that a lot gets passed down. People treated well are more likely to treat others well. People treated badly are more likely to treat others badly. The fact that the angst in these forums was bad a couple of years ago when I quit posting much, and it seems to have gotten a lot worse sense then. The management team of these forums have gotten harsher and harsher and the forums keep getting worse and worse. Perhaps the "fighting fire with fire" method is not working out so well. I heard recently about some other forums where when people were out-of-line they were given clear notices about WHY they were out-of-line, and they were given a clear message about how many other notices they would get and then what consequences would happen from that. That is clear messages that would have someone see that they are causing a problem. When someone is blindsided out-of-the-blue with a notice and no warning, and no indication of what the problem might be, it creates a bad atmosphere that spreads. That person runs to others and says, "What happened?" and others can also get disgruntled. A kind, polite forum management, who does not engage in snarky remarks, therefore encouraging the same, with clear messages and warnings with clear consequences tends to encourage the same. Also, a forum management team that listens to the complaints and suggestion of it's forum members, also creates a kind environment where everyone feels valued. The people in these forums are the people who pay for geocaching.com. I think they have important insights and suggestions that need to be considered. The best managers I've ever had are those who listen to those that work for them. The best companies I've frequented are those who ask for "suggestions and complaints" of the people who frequent their businesses. I always go to businesses that treat their customers well. I always go to businesses that care if a customer feels they not been treated well.

I would not disagree with most of what you say here. My "general" statement was more along the lines of those that I can be guaranteed to find here on ANY random or arbitrary day. Perhaps we should limit forum post count to not exceed find count? << that was a joke.. It's actually true that I was trying to keep my forum count no higher than my find count for a long time. Now I'm not on the forums as much. There has always been grumpy people on the forums, but it seems to have escalated in recent times. I always think when helpers in a store are unfriendly that it comes down from the top. I've worked at places where that is very true. Generally people treated well in a business treat others well. In forums I think the same thing can happen. I think moderators can create a harsh atmosphere by treating people harshly. I don't see it working. Things seem to have gotten worse in here. So I haven't been on the forums as much, and my forum count has dropped way below my find count. Does this mean I have work to do?

If you're a dinosaur at 6 years than I must be an ammonite crawling out of the sea or something at 11 years. I agree in principle that old timers bring wisdom to the game and at times hold it together. But I disagree that ALL regulars here in the forums are good for the forums. Particularly the ones that sit here day after day, page after page, and do nothing but respond to posts rather an actually going out to geocache. I come and go periodically here in the forums because I despise the nitpicking, pouncing, holier than thou attitudes that some of the regulars espouse. If they geocached as much as they posted, Alamogal might be given a run for his money. I welcome responses even from ammonites in this thread, no matter where you crawl out of. Yes, there have been some "pouncing" and very judgmental responses here. You know one cool thing about these forums is that geocachers can come here to post instead of geocaching when the snow is too deep, when it is raining too hard, when it is dark and they don't like caching in the dark. It is also good for disabled cachers who have a limited number of caches they can find and aren't able to cache as much as they are able to sit at their computer. It's also good for moments between work for some who sit at a desk. The forums have historically been a good place to connect with geocaching when one can't get out and geocache. It's great people are so involved in caching they like to connect with others about it when they can't cache every second of the day.

Actually, the OP started from the "rage-politics" angle, and has confirmed it a couple posts below yours. He posted a similar post in a thread that had turned from some other topic to discussing banned members before posting this thread: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=330334&view=findpost&p=5484385 So, no - there was no turn. So do you assume that every time someone starts a new thread it's about the latest threads they've posted in? I've also posted about flashlights and tent hammocks recently. Perhaps this thread is really about that. There is no rage and there is no politics in my opening post. I am not a rageful person; I am not an angry person. I'm really pretty darn nice if you get to know me. I must say however, that the responses I've gotten in this thread have ranged from argument, to anger, to confusion to some really great responses to my question. It's amazing what people are reading into what I thought was a simple question. I appreciate all the simple responses to my simple question. There have been some great responses here. The rest I must say, have me baffled.

Yeah, that's why I was trying to avoid the question of who is an old timer and who is not. We don't want anyone to feel insulted or left out. Anyone can be an old timer or a newcomer. I don't think it matters, and certainly not for this thread. The point is that those who have been around a while have a lot to offer the community. They have VALUE in being here. They have a lot to share. I love learning from the experience of others. That's one of the most fun parts of going to events. It's great to talk to people and hear the best caches to find and the latest tools or whatever. People who have been playing the game for a while used to be all over these forums answering questions the rest of us didn't know. I've learned so much from these forums. when I was a really new cacher I was asked once how I had been caching for such a short time yet knew so much about geocaching. It was because I hung out on the forums and learned. Because of all I learned I gave a geocaching class (free) and turned a lot of people onto all the great stuff I learned in here. We need people who have been around a while. The forums belong to everyone. Or at least they should.

IMHO you are throwing around very relative and subjective terms...I have been using portable GPS units since 1997, long before I started geocaching in 2001...I might consider you a "newbie"... Who is "us" as you say? Not sure where you get your classifications on what is and what isn't a newbie. We have been caching since 04. We still use a GPS and our number of finds is not important. We enjoy it for what it is. Who is "us"? I think people can call themselves whatever they like, and whatever they feel they are. However, it does seem important to people here to have a definition, so I will say, I consider someone a "newbie" if they've been caching under a year with less than 300 finds. Now if you ask 100 cachers you will get 100 answers to that question. There is no real definition. I don't want titles to get in the way of the question here.

Thank you very much Geobain, for having the courage to start this topic. It is a question a lot of us have wanted to ask, but been afraid to ask. I don't want to show up in a space where I'm afraid to voice my opinion for fear of saying something wrong and being banished, when I had no idea it was the wrong thing to say. And Knowschad, You are correct in saying Groundspeak has no need to fear for competition. What is it now? 3 million geocachers cannot be wrong. We all love geocaching, the vast majority of us love Groundspeak. It is getting more and more common for people to know what geocaching is, and it really is true that geocaching and Groundspeak are becoming synonymous. Heck, just look at a geocaching map. No one can catch up to that. No one. There are more than a few dedicated geocachers around that create more dedicated geocachers. This thing is still spreading. Heck, even the Pizza place where we held a recent event, the woman behind the counter was asking us to bring her the log book. She was all excited about us being there. It is important to keep a positive outlook in the forums, but in order to do that one must keep a positive outlook. You can't create positive with negative. It just doesn't work.