Sludge_Shoveler
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Posts posted by Sludge_Shoveler
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Thank you, Bill93, that's helpful.
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I found this while geocaching. Is it something, or nothing?
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I made a mistake and logged a Travel Bug into a cache without leaving the Travel Bug. Now, GC.com won't let me retrieve the Travel Bug again. How do I get it back into my inventory so I can properly drop it in a cache?
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Where are souvenirs announced? Thats what I'm asking.
Usually in the Geocaching Blog, and/or in the weekly newsletter.
The Blog/newsletter is used for announcing most of the promotional souvenirs that are often based on a specific date (or date range, as was the case for the souvenir a day in August a couple of years ago.) The blog/newsletter and even forum posts were used to announce that last batch of country/region based souvenirs. However, there is *usually* a souvenir available for Mega/Giga events and those are listed on A-Team's souvenir page.
This is from the last newsletter:
Celebrate Get Outdoors Day with Geocaching
This Saturday is Get Outdoors Day. You probably know what that means… It’s time to get out geocaching! By finding a geocache or attending an event on June 11, you’ll even earn a new souvenir for your profile.
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I got a Souvenir for attending a flash mob event in 2013 & 2014 on World Wide Flash Mob day. I didn't (yet) get one for attending a World Wide Flash Mob event this year (6-4-16). Is Groundspeak no longer awarding souvenirs for WWFMs?
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I like receiving the Groundspeak Weekly Newsletter. I'd like to suggest an improvement. The Newsletter announces Upcoming Events and Recent Geocaches in my area. That's great, but why not present the same information in a table format that can be sorted by any column. That way the list could be sorted by Name, event (or posted) date, distance from home, or cache owner. The most useful of these are distance and date, but why not do all of them?
It seems like that should be relatively easy and it would make the information a whole lot easier to use.
Thanks.
============== Sludge_Shoveler
Geocache Quality
in User Insights
Posted · Edited by Sludge_Shoveler
had another idea I forgot to include
Others have described high quality caches quite well. But there are more than just High Quality and Low Quality. Some caches are just OK. If we only had High Quality caches, then we wouldn't have very many caches. There is something to be said for Park & Grabs and Power Trails. Personally I have never done a Power Trail as that does not appeal to me, but I understand their appeal to others. That's OK. Sometimes I like Park & Grabs; sometimes not. That's OK. I'm not "All About Numbers" but I do care about them. I've found caches in all 50 states and some were just P&Gs. For me, that made them quality caches.
Again others have defined this pretty well. Poor coordinates are my biggest peeve.
Help out cache owners with dry logs, baggies, or even fresh containers. Post good coordinates when posted coordinates are poor. Sometimes caches are where caches should not be, e.g. causes erosion or other environmental damage. These should be noted in the log. Depending on the seriousness, a Needs Maintenance or Needs Archive log should be posted.
I'm in Michigan and the Michigan reviewers are great. This may not be the case everywhere. Good reviewers could be given more authority to disable/archive caches. An additional kind of volunteer might be recruited from the very experienced ranks of cachers. These volunteers could be called upon to check on caches that are questionable. Sometimes multiple DNFs only means the difficulty rating should be higher; other times the cache should be archived. The volunteer could make that recommendation to the reviewer.
The Geocache Health Score appears to have been an attempt to improve cache quality. But the algorithm appears to be secret. Why? I own about 100 active caches and I don't know the Geocache Health Score for any of them. Why? Let me see the score so I can take action before the reviewer has to get involved.
Newbies should not place caches. Require 100 finds before approving a new cache owner (reviewers may grant exceptions). An example of an exception: the wife is an avid cacher with thousands of finds and the husband only has a dozen. But the husband is a tinker and creates great gadget caches. He should be able to place caches.
If the cache description does not describe the cache container, then the reviewer should be allowed to ask for additional information. A ziplock bag in the crotch of a tree is NOT a geocache.
In addition to awarding Fav Points, allow cachers to rate the quality of description (including puzzle or challenge), container, placement, coordinates, and log.