geoawareUSA9

@Geocaching HQ Admin will periodically sweep for unpublished listings and archive them after an extended period of inactivity (around 10 months). If a conflict comes up, and it's clear that an unpublished listing is taking up space but is not going to turn into an actual geocache, a reviewer might archive the listing prior to that. So, to answer your question (which you appear to have re-asked in another thread but perhaps meant to post here): Proper etiquette is that a cacher should not "reserve" a spot with an unpublished listing for more than three months. If a cacher forgets, the listing is normally archived automatically after ten months of inactivity. (Since these two threads have now been confused, I'm going to go ahead and merge this one into that one.)

I agree with you both that my initial comment was overly broad, and there are some situations in which a couch OM log would be apropos. I went back and edited it: I think that's a more accurate statement and addresses the situations you both brought up.

I got some results from searching Google for "who wants to be a supercacher" (in quotes). Initial results: Signal Bouncer DNF Duo Phantom Logger

It might also help your chances if you edit the cache descriptions, and/or put a note on the cache pages, letting folks know these are up for adoption. The regional forums don't get as much traffic as they used to.

Good luck with the move, and I hope you are successful in adopting out your caches. If you don't hear from anyone who wants to adopt these, I'd ask on behalf of the Texas reviewer team (of which I am now part) that you please pick up your cache containers and archive your listings before you move. That would be infinitely preferable to leaving the containers in place and forcing the reviewers to eventually archive the abandoned caches due to lack of owner maintenance. Thanks!

The regional forums don't get as much traffic as they used to. However, since you did find some information: it's helpful to include that website for others. https://mogageo.com/

Yep. This has been a bug for a while, I keep forgetting to bring it up. It only affects the email preview when emailing from the site. I sent this test message, with umlauts, quotes, and an ampersand, from my player account to my reviewer account: In both the copy the site sent to my Yahoo email client, and the email that was sent to my gmail account, the characters all display as they should:

Regarding the language, clearly there is some history here that I'm not going to dig into. But as a reviewer, it bothers me when someone posts an "owner maintenance" log without actually, physically determining whether their cache needs maintenance. This log should not be used simply to clear a red wrench (unless it is absolutely clear that no maintenance is required) or to respond to a particular log (whether snidely or politely). This log should normally only be used when the CO has actually removed their fourth point of contact from the couch and inspected their cache.

Given your recent finds have all been in Scotland, I presume this is a UK cache. I recommend you post a GC code, though. Moving to UK forum.

It may help if you post additional details. Android or iOS? What version operating system, and what version of the app?

Let's please focus on the topic of this thread, which is the geocaching aspect of visiting different countries. If there are practical aspects of visiting a country to find geocaches there, that's fine. But I can foresee the current discussion derailing into a discussion on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Let's please not. Thanks!

Yes - when, if at all, the existing caches are archived. A disabled cache still exists for purposes of the 161 meter / 528 foot / 0.1 mile proximity rule.

P.S. I know at least one earthcache near Bergen that has both an English description and Norwegian description, because it's mine.

Perhaps, but it is your best option. I started geocaching in 2007, when I was stationed in Germany. I did not speak much German. I spoke no Norwegian, Greek, Estonian, Finnish, Italian, Maltese, Czech, Ukrainian, Polish... etc. This did not stop me from caching in over 20 countries in Europe. What it meant was that I had to plan ahead and translate caches ahead of time (I believe my machine translator of choice back then was Altavista's Babelfish) and either edit the cache descriptions in GSAK before uploading them to my GPSr, or keep a small notebook with a small translation of what I needed. (I also carried a pocket German dictionary with me to help with multis.) So, while Google translate might be clunky, I cached for years without it, and that was much clunkier. Our family returned to Europe in 2018, and that tour was.much easier due to smart phones. All I had to do was install the Google Translate app on my phone and copy and paste. I cache with an Android phone, so from the Geocaching app, I could just open the cache descriptions in Chrome and use Chrome's native Google translate function.

Moved to Spain forum.

You can use the trackable code and log it as "Grabbed from somewhere else." If it is currently listed.in someone's inventory, they may just be a little behind in logging. It's OK to hang onto the bug for a while and give them a chance to log it as well.

I'll not belabor the points made by any of the other reviewers made in this thread. However, putting on my forum moderator hat for a moment, I'd like to point out that this thread provides some fine examples of how not to behave in the forums. Let's all try to make better mistakes tomorrow.

In fact, they posted their first Needs Maintenance log when they had less than 200 finds! 😱😱😱 How naughty. I'd better flag it for Needs Delete. I'm not saying Groundspeak asked me to be a forum moderator because of my psychic powers, but...

I just hope I don't find any "needs maintenance" logs you posted before you had 1,000 finds, because by your.own argument, they should never have been posted...

Since this is a public forum, I edited out the coordinates you posted, in case you did not wish the internet to know where you live. I would recommend you edit your profile to remove the coordinates - most people just go with a general location, such as city, state/province/Bundesland, or even just their home country. You don't have to list your home coordinates publicly. As far as the home coordinates that you set in your personal settings, those are simply for calculating how far your home is from a given geocache. So while it's helpful to be precise, it's OK to be close enough.

Groundspeak announced this decision in October 2022, and while you may have missed your full opportunity to voice your opinion before benchmarks were removed, you've now had your chance. This post is also neither a bug report, nor a feature request. Closing thread.

I have posted in this thread already from my personal geocaching profile, and I try not to mix in my reviewer role when I do that. But I did want to clarify this for anyone who finds this thread in the future. That's correct, it would not qualify as an earthcache. Earthcaches, like any other non-event cache type, are subject to the guideline on cache permanence: Event caches normally come in two flavors, normal events and Cache In Trash Out (CITO). There is no Earthcache Event type. While it is certainly permissible to have an event cache that is themed around earth science or earthcaches, such a themed event would still be an event cache and not be an earthcache.

It certainly comes across as an indication that Groundspeak as a whole no longer wants to hear about the issue(s) raised therein. In that case, it's hard to imagine that Groundspeak engineers are investing much effort in said issue(s). Thank you for your input. I'll leave it to @Bl4ckH4wkGER or another Lackey to clarify whether Groundspeak engineers use the status of a particular forum post to signify the priority of a given issue. (As a forum moderator, I can certainly verify that I've never been told that anything I do to close or merge threads has any affect on what the engineers are up to. But, again, that's not my department, so I can't and won't speak for Groundspeak on that.) Meanwhile, let's please return to the topic at hand, which is about external links.

The purpose of release notes posts like this one is to give geocachers a chance to ask questions about new features or the effects of any changes caused by said release. This discussion has consisted almost entirely of complaints about the decision to remove benchmarks from geocaching. Given how long benchmarks have been a feature on geocaching.com, this was not unexpected, and a wide degree of latitude has been afforded. Despite that, and despite more than one reminder to stay on topic, the discussion has inevitably returned to complaints. Whatever questions have been raised by this change have been addressed. I am therefore closing this thread.

Merging duplicate posts (and a related topic). @Valentijn77, two notes: First, the closure of a forum topic is not an indication that Groundspeak engineers have ceased working on an issue raised therein. Second, in the future, please refrain from creating multiple posts on the exact same topic.