HistDrew

Add to that the ability to mark caches as "Needs Maintenance" from the app.

Things to think about when updating: 1. Ability to put this on an iPad. 2. Ability to see all the photos from one button, rather than having to scroll through each and every log. 3. Ability to write draft logs for expansion and uploading later, all at once. These are three features I used regularly on the old app. It would be great if they could be brought back.

Not the cache, but I think Street View caught some cachers. I was bookmarking http://coord.info/GC19GDF to get during my trip and went to street view to make sure I'd recognize the area. I'm pretty sure that if you look at the spot in front of the barn, then turn right so the barn is on your left, and then "walk" backwards away from it, you'll see a couple of people in a car just sitting in front of the spot. The car is in the same spot for an awfully long time. I'd bet that the google car caught a couple of geocachers trying to solve the first stage of the cache. Pretty cool.

The ALR ban applies only to physical geocaches. It does not apply to grandfathered virtual caches or webcam caches, and it does not apply to EarthCaches. Yes, I know. I was giving an example of something grandfathered in. Plenty of ECs still have a photo requirement listed, even though that's not allowed. Nobody's made them change the wording of the EC. Likely the same thing as the cache I saw. Nobody made the CO change the description.

I've probably seen one that was grandfathered in, same as older Earthcaches that still claim a photo requirement.

Once upon a time, that was true. Cache owners could require logs containing at least a full sentence, or logs in limerick form, or logs with a photo of the finder wearing a funny hat, or anything else. But these "Additional Logging Requirements" are no longer allowed. From the guidelines: "For physical caches all logging requirements beyond finding the cache and signing the log are considered additional logging requirements (ALRs) and must be optional. Cache finders can choose whether or not to attempt or accomplish such tasks. This is a guideline change that applies to all logs written since April 4, 2009." True, yes. But that speaks to signing the log, not logging online. No?

I seem to recall once seeing a cache page that said "write something more than 'TFTC' or I will delete your log." Are such warnings fair? It seems to me that the CO sets the conditions of what constitutes a smiley. So if the CO wants more than just a short "thanks" s/he could make that a condition of the find, no?

Yeah, excellent point about the app being something that makes it more difficult to bring those people into the fold. And, to bring it back on topic--but refrain from too much app-bashing--it isn't as easy to write longer logs with the app. I sometimes log via my phone, and will sometimes use the voice-to-text component to write the kinds of logs I like. I like my logs to tell a bit of the story of that cache. When I do power trails I usually cut-and-paste some portion of it and then try to customize it to each cache, if possible. That's harder to do on the phone.

Sounds like a great opportunity to welcome them to the community--both the local and the bigger ones--and help them with a bit of socialization. When I started caching I had two locals contact me to say "welcome to the game," which I thought was very nice. Now I do the same, and usually include a sentences about local practices, local gatherings, and a few other things.

The last several logs from a virtual, for which the answers have been covered up since before the first person in this series (at the bottom) logged it. One of the "finders" has more than 50k finds, another has more than 20k. Tsk tsk. ---- Found this neat old virtual while caching around the area this morning with ****. Thanks **** for bringing me here. E-mail is on it's way. TFTV --- [Posted Note] The plates with the answers are currently covered up, so it's not possible to log this right now. --- We visited this area with lots of workers around putting up more and more Christmas lights. We dodged the equipment and went inside and got what we could. All of the information signs were covered up with cloths and children's Christmas ornaments. ****** even went down the stairs to see if she could find someone who knew the answers. Thanks for this cache. ---- Woohoooo!!! ---- I thought ***** was such a nice place. They already had most of the Christmas decorations outside which I'm sure will be pretty at night. On the inside they were still working so it was like an extra hard scavenger hunt for the answers today. TFTV & history! ---- Visiting *** today with ****. The *** is very scenic here. I hike alot at **** which is a different river. They had the Christmas Decorations out in the building today which made it more difficult to locate the answers but we got it done.

Yeah but . . . . really? Deleting the log of someone who's completely innocent in all of this? That seems a bit excessive to me. What difference does it really make if someone, in all innocence, found the wrong container. There are two other guilty parties here, and neither of them are the subsequent finder. Don't take this the wrong way, I don't mean it to be snarky, but it seems to me that in the case of the subsequent loggers the person at fault is you. If someone threw down a log, then it's up to the CO to go out and fix things ASAP. If someone gets to the cache before the CO can fix things, they can hardly be blamed that A. someone threw down, and B. the CO couldn't get out quickly enough to fix things. Just my $.02.

I agree, we do need to take care of our local area as much as possible. You have to know the area, and know the cachers. My brother has a cache with 20+ DNFs and two finds [two people working together, logged it at the same time] in the middle of the DNFs. The cache has been there the whole time, and it's a 5-star difficulty for a reason. He told me how he hid it, and I think I'd still have trouble finding it. After the first dozen DNFs one might be tempted to armchair NM or NA it. Unless you know him and the area. Checking to see when the CO logged in last is a big part of it. As for reviewers, you have to know the reviewer, too. When I lived in England I posted a NA on a cache with a string of DNFs and the CO hadn't been on in over a year. The reviewer archived it the next day, no warning time. Not a big deal in this case, but I learned that the local caching culture there was a bit different than where I had lived before.

Ah, yes. True.

Yabbut . . . . I know this area of my state *very* well. And there have been more than a few times that I have DNFd a cache where the CO hasn't logged on in a long time (>1 year), or where I know the CO isn't an active cacher any more. So I put the cache on a watchlist. After a few more DNFs, if nobody else has, I'll put a NM on it without another visit. And then an NA. But that's only if I'm certain of the situation. Out of my area, though, never. Add to "irks," newbies who put a NA on a virtual that can still be logged. Saw that, where the newbie noticed the CO hadn't logged on for several years and the virtual had some nearby construction that made it temporarily unavailable.

Ah, OK. This makes sense. I own a couple of mystery caches, but I don't know if anyone's ever used that tool on the page for mine. In this case I've solved about a dozen or so from one CO, and he doesn't use a link to a geochecker. So, I sent a message with all the solutions asking for confirmation. He was very helpful. But it's also nice to simply be able to download them straight into the GPS instead of doing manual changes. Andrew

Thanks, all! I wasn't worried about actually changing the coordinates on the page, of course. I just wanted to make sure the CO didn't get some kind of confusing alert. Again, thanks. Cheers!

Sorry, I'm slow today. Does this mean that it changes the coordinates for me, and if I then download them as part of a PQ it'll show up with the new coordinates? And no hassle for the CO?

Sure, of course. But I was worried that by filling in that change portion it was going to send a note to the CO that the coordinates needed to be changed. Any idea of the answer?

Newbie question here. I'm just now getting into finding more puzzle/mystery caches. I have a run of about 20 that I've solved and am trying to figure an easier way to change the coordinates than by doing it manually in my GPS. On each cache page there is a section, of course, near the top that shows the coordinates. There's also a pencil icon that allows a user to change the coordinates. If I use the pencil and enter new coordinates, does it change it just for me, or does it send an alert to the CO? I don't want to mess with this if it's going to screw things up for the page or the CO, but it would be wondrous if it would change the coordinates just for me. Advice and help appreciated.

Why? Do people not try to kill other in the UK? Are there not things people want to hide? I don't care where you are, but doing anything that might make a cop think you have a weapon is a bad idea. So is making any movement that looks like you are trying to run. Because police in the US are far more quick to pull out a taser, baton, pepper spray, or a gun and then use it than in Europe or the UK. Sorry to say it, but that's from lots of experience living and traveling abroad. I've sat in a car in Peru watching a companion berate a police officer for pulling us over for an inspection. Screaming, shouting, cursing and the cop, who just watched, waited, and walked away. I was terrified. You'd never get away with that in the US. It was hard to explain to the Peruvian, afterwards, what freedom of speech means in the US. When geocaching, calmly explain things and tell the truth. If you aren't trespassing you've got nothing to worry about.

True story. I was caching in Tennessee and stopped to grab what I thought would be a quick one. It had been a long day, and I had nearly fallen off a 70+ foot cliff trying to get to a nearby cache. So, I was tired and ready to be done. As I got out of my car, which I parked in an odd place, a police officer pulled up and asked what I was doing. He seemed pissed to me. I said "geocaching," and gave him my standard boilerplate explanation. He gruffly said something about parking near heavy traffic, and being careful, etc. I apologized and started to get back in to my car. He said "Well, hurry up and go get it. It's on the telephone pole, 3 feet up, on the other side. It's a micro." Then he laughed, told me to have fun, and drove away. Honesty is always the best policy.

Maybe your son can explain the difference between finding something and not actually finding something.

Keep in mind you can gain or lose "immunity" to urushiol. Also, simply brushing by the leaf doesn't necessarily mean you've been exposed to the oil...I believe the leaf/stem needs to be damaged or crush to bring that to the surface for exposure. I've walked through PI numerous times in my searches, brushing by it without any effect. Any time I accidentally touch it with my hands, of course I wipe them well with some hand wipes I have in my car and then follow that up with a good hand washing with cold water as soon as possible. I have yet to get the rash, though...but I don't assume I'm immune and I know repeated exposure increases the possibility I will suffer for it. Yeah, I've been warned about all this. I've brushed by the stuff, trampled and kicked it in bare feet, used the vines as handholds when climbing--just about everything short of eating or smoking it. I'm one of the very lucky few. My wife is not. She's very sensitive to it and has gotten it from touching my clothing. It's funny, though, because when I was young I was sensitive to it. That sensitivity seems to have gone away. I've read that while people can become sensitive to it, people can also lose sensitivity as well. I'm sure one day I'll wake up covered in it again. Circle of life.

This isn't particularly irksome to me personally (I'm immune to poison ivy and oftentimes don't realize it's there until someone else points it out), but I do find this puzzling. We have a local who seems to find it amusing to bury the container in a patch of poison ivy and thorns, and sees it as kind of a "signature." It's as if the person is saying "Finding it isn't enough, I wasn't you to get injured retrieving it."

And you're absolutely sure it was a cut and paste thing? I'd reply by writing "Usually when someone sends in their answers I reply with all the correct answers in a list. You seem to have copied that list from someone else. Can you give me an idea of why they are identical?" And see what s/he writes back.