Team_Epitome

quote:Originally posted by malak:Take the example of the maintenance personnel, who apparently stumbled upon it. Or the local ne'erdowells who go out "spliffing" and consider the neat hiding place around your cache to be neat for their purposes as well. Or in general, the cache that is placed (inadvertantly) 30 metres off the trail?) Or the off-trailers who stumble upon it? Too many caches that I've placed and found could be discovered that way. This issue bothers me too, but there isn't much we can do. Unfortunately, in the case of our caches, they were not accidentally wandered upon, they were targeted, and stolen. I agree with you that the coordinates are not the problem, the problem is that some poeple shouldnt breed. I have come to realize that there may not be anything we can do to replace our cache that was recently stolen...there is just no way to ensure that it will ever stay put, unless we redo the entire thing in a new location and only give the coordinates and clues to people we know...which kinda defeats the whole purpose of doing this in the first place. I have emailed Jeremy regarding my concerns on this issue, but unfortunately there is just nothing that can be done to stop determined criminals intent on stealing what doesnt belong to them. I dont mean to complain, but when I first got involved in geocaching, there were far fewer people who even knew about it....I think I prefered it then...the caches were higher quality, the forums were friendlier, and caches were seldom ripped off. My experience last year sadly will not be my experience this year. I have met many nice people, and shared emails with even more from around the country, but if I cant even place a cache without it getting stolen, I see no point in continuing. It is a very real possibility that the team will just disband and we will go back to our individual accounts, and only log finds from this point forward. When our first cache was ripped off, we bounced back quickly and replaced it, but after the second one turned up missing, well, it definitely took my heart out of it. such a shame that a few jerks can ruin the fun for so many others

The only thing I can come up with is to not post teh real coordinates on the cache page....people will have to email us for them, and then we would only give them out to established cachers that we know either from the forums or from reputation. That really sucks because it excludes a lot of good people, but what other option do we have? We cant keep spending money placing complicated caches only to have them get stolen. If we ever do combo rock again, it will be a MOC, and possibly only open to people with an established reputation. I hate that, but I cant think of any other way to keep our caches alive...if they are available to everyone, they are just going to dissappear again. Any other thoughts on what you would do in the same situation? We really want to offer this cache again, but are not taking chances...this one was simply too much effort, time, and $.

Not sure what gives....we got hit again. Our second cache got nailed after only a few weeks of existing. What I wonder is, why do people do this? Is it a enviro-nazi thing were some people cant handle not natural things hidden in the woods? Is it personal, and these folks need to destroy someone elses hard work to prove a point? This last one that turned up missing would have required to thief to hike several miles, uphill....some one actually did this for no other purpose but to steal a cache...that has little intrinsic value at all...so why all the effort? Just to make us mad? To prove you can? I dont think I will ever understand what drives some people. All our efforts wasted, and we dont even have the comfort of knowing what they were wasted for. I think for the time being...we give up...you win whoever you are....it isnt worth replacing the things everytime this jerk gets bored and goes out and steals our caches. Hope you're happy.

Not sure what gives....we got hit again. Our second cache got nailed after only a few weeks of existing. What I wonder is, why do people do this? Is it a enviro-nazi thing were some people cant handle not natural things hidden in the woods? Is it personal, and these folks need to destroy someone elses hard work to prove a point? This last one that turned up missing would have required to thief to hike several miles, uphill....some one actually did this for no other purpose but to steal a cache...that has little intrinsic value at all...so why all the effort? Just to make us mad? To prove you can? I dont think I will ever understand what drives some people. All our efforts wasted, and we dont even have the comfort of knowing what they were wasted for. I think for the time being...we give up...you win whoever you are....it isnt worth replacing the things everytime this jerk gets bored and goes out and steals our caches. Hope you're happy.

This may answer some of your questions...Happened to us a few days ago

quote:Originally posted by el10t: There seem to be some logs missing from the page. I just checked...SON OF A *&@!%#*^#!!!!!! What el10t was referring to was a find, and then a complaint that was logged by a new geocacher named "spookymike". The story goes like this....we put a surprise in the cache last month for the next finder...a $20 bill....some guy named spookymike found the cache, but didnt see the envelope, logged a find, and all was well. Then, later the same day another person found the cache (as of now his posts are still on the cache page) and he DID find the envelope, as you can read about in his find log. After this, spookymike posted a note saying how displeased he was that he didn't find the money, and that apparently he was offended that the next person celebrated when they did. Within a few days my cache turns up missing...and now so do the two logs from "spookymike". What a great example to set for others....not happy with the actions of other people that found a cache that you found, so you take it out on someone that had nothing to do with any of it...and then try to cover your tracks and dissapear. There are at least 15 people with this cache on thier watch list...they were all emailed when the two "now missing" posts were made......this whole thing stinks...and it is becoming pretty clear what the smell is!

quote:Originally posted by el10t: There seem to be some logs missing from the page. I just checked...SON OF A *&@!%#*^#!!!!!! What el10t was referring to was a find, and then a complaint that was logged by a new geocacher named "spookymike". The story goes like this....we put a surprise in the cache last month for the next finder...a $20 bill....some guy named spookymike found the cache, but didnt see the envelope, logged a find, and all was well. Then, later the same day another person found the cache (as of now his posts are still on the cache page) and he DID find the envelope, as you can read about in his find log. After this, spookymike posted a note saying how displeased he was that he didn't find the money, and that apparently he was offended that the next person celebrated when they did. Within a few days my cache turns up missing...and now so do the two logs from "spookymike". What a great example to set for others....not happy with the actions of other people that found a cache that you found, so you take it out on someone that had nothing to do with any of it...and then try to cover your tracks and dissapear. There are at least 15 people with this cache on thier watch list...they were all emailed when the two "now missing" posts were made......this whole thing stinks...and it is becoming pretty clear what the smell is!

If you are one of the many that have been waiting for a chance to hunt for Alluvial Material, you may be waiting a long time. Please read our post on the cache page here As we state on the cache page, we don't know what we are going to do with this cache, it may be replaced, it may not. As much as I want to run out tomorrow with a new ammo can, I just dont see the point in rehiding it in the same location, only to probably have it dissapear again! Once we decide what to do about it, we will post a note to the cache page. If any of you have ideas about replacing a stolen cache, let us know. Your input is always appreciated. Thanks, Team_Epitome

If you are one of the many that have been waiting for a chance to hunt for Alluvial Material, you may be waiting a long time. Please read our post on the cache page here As we state on the cache page, we don't know what we are going to do with this cache, it may be replaced, it may not. As much as I want to run out tomorrow with a new ammo can, I just dont see the point in rehiding it in the same location, only to probably have it dissapear again! Once we decide what to do about it, we will post a note to the cache page. If any of you have ideas about replacing a stolen cache, let us know. Your input is always appreciated. Thanks, Team_Epitome