VirusZero

I have seen the Omani articles, which is what spurred me to writing my post in the first place. I was under the impression that revealing more about the methods of caching or the locations of hides may ruin the secretive nature of the hobby. In retrospect it's really not that revealing if written in an article, but it would be if put in a TV show, so there has to be some way of circumventing that. I am planning on getting in touch with the Omani journalist for sure. I would like to get more feedback on this page, however, so that I may have something to show my superiors in terms of the support of the community towards a show like this. I was introduced to caching via a short film and a news story that I edited for Canadian TV in 2009, but to base a whole series around caching is an entirely different dimension.

gpsman77 and cincol, Thank you guys so much for your responses. Please take this forum post to all cachers around you in the Middle East and spread the word about its existence, I would love to get more feedback. The more feedback I get that encourages making an Arabic cache-related TV show, the more I can convince my channel that it can be made and be successful! Thanks again and much love to all! VZ

Thanks for your input Carbon Hunter. I've only been away from the UAE for 3 years, but I came back every now and then to take care of some things. As I said, I grew up there all the way from elementary school till I graduated high school then came back after university to work for a year or two before relocating to Toronto. Much has changed I'm sure, but hopefully not much since my 2009 trip. I also don't have to worry about the Canadian visa thing (trust me, it's been making news here too!) as I have dual citizenship with another Middle Eastern country. I'll be alright! :-) As for dates, I arrive on the 8th of February and will be busy for a few weeks as I sort out the logistics of my new job and some of the refurnishing of the family home at the Marina. I will definitely get in touch with some of the cachers you suggested, and thanks for the references indeed! I'd still like to hear others' opinions of a cache related TV program, too! Do others frequent the forums as much? Cheers! VZ

Hi fellow Middle East Cachers, My name is VirusZero, and I'm a cacher from Canada. I lived for 20 years in the UAE before relocating to Toronto and that's where I started on geocaching. I'll be returning to the UAE for work in a few weeks (in Dubai to be specific) and I wanted to introduce myself to Dubai cachers. I will be making my own hides around the city as well as finding some of the ones I haven't found on my last trip here (Christmas/New Year of 2009/10, one of which was the now-archived The Crescent, for which I was 2TF). I know the city pretty much like the back of my hand, and have noticed that there aren't many caches there, so I'm hoping to start a new caching revolution ;-) Now...2 things... 1) I won't have my own car when I return, and probably would not be able to afford one for quite a while. I see that most of the caches hidden in UAE are desert ones rather than urban ones, and I'd like to use every possible opportunity to find all possible caches in the UAE, as I'm almost at 300 finds. So I'm hoping that someone would help me get started with these cache finds in trips that we can hopefully organize over the weekends while the weather still allows it. I have already introduced a friend to the concept and she will be joining me for her Geocaching 101 as soon as I return, and so it would be nice to show her the full spectrum of the wonder of the hobby. If anyone's interested, please feel free to look at my profile and send me a message. 2) I'm a television producer and director, and very much like that article about caches in Oman, I'd like to develop a show that will be broadcast in Arabic on the satellite TV channel that I work for to explore the phenomenon of geocaching and to work on the challenges of some of the more illusive or difficult caches (The Desert Key Challenge, for example). I'm wondering what the caching community would feel about such a show. Keep in mind that, as the show's producer, I can guarantee that if it is accepted by the channel and scheduled to shoot, that it will have English subtitling allowing for more than just Arab viewers to enjoy it. I'd love to hear your thoughts on both those ideas, and hopefully upon my return and once I'm settled in my job, I can organize a caching event that can get most cachers in the area together and create a nice solid community. Cheers in advance! :-) VirusZero

This topic has probably been discussed before several times, but I reckon since this is the first time this has ever happened to me, that I would like to know what is done about it by those involved. Many caches these days claim on the website to contain one, two or several TBs and GCs to find/exchange, but upon arriving to the cache, one finds that none are there. Normally this wouldn't pose a problem when the TBs finder waits a few hours to get back to their place and logs the find/removal. Increasingly now, though, it's not happening, and a GC that I just purchased and placed in a cache in Vancouver (one that is quite popular and quite easy) was removed along with several others. It's been a week...and not one of the 20 or so finders over the past 7 days has logged anything other than "TNLN"...in some cases going as far as saying they've placed TBs and GCs of their own. Why are people not logging their finds in? Could it possibly also have something to do with the fact that no option exists for logging in trackables in the "found it" option for the iPhone application? People who find the caches seem to log them instantly, so it might be necessary to put in the trackable placement option into the iPhone application just as it is possible to do so on geocaching.com A cache I found today claimed to have 4 TBs in it, but upon finding it today, none were there. Again, nothing was mentioned on the cache's logs (which I'd been watching for a while) about anyone removing them. After several TBs were taken out of that cache in Vancouver I spoke of earlier, the cache owner himself had to report my GC and two others as missing. Would there possibly be a way to enforce more stringent controls on trackable movements? Just a suggestion. Thanks

The cache icons are also no longer showing up on the map.

Well, regarding 3 and 4, I guess it was a bit idealistic of me to think that geocaching is devoid of its spoilsports. :-P Thanks for the explanation, though. Rather helpful.

Here's a question for more experienced cachers and admins: While performing maintenance on one of my caches I found that some finders log their visits only on the logbook but never get to doing it online. I realize that some people cache in bulk then go home to log their finds in bulk too, but I have seen incidents when the cache log is signed only at the logbook, but never online, with some cachers having not logged any successful visits for months online, but having recent logs in logbooks. Is this normal procedure or can it be considered against a certain rule of the activity? Just wondering. Thanks!

Thanks for the welcome Col. Flagg. I don't wish to immerse myself too much in the forums. I prefer the personal touch in communication because it makes for better communication without too many cooks spoiling the broth...plus for the past ten years I've been a forum moderator elsewhere and I know the sort of arguments and attitudes that develop from hiding behind that line of defense. I don't plan on spending too much time on here. Like I said, I do my cache searches on the main page, look for the cache, then come back to log it. It would have been nice to receive personal messages about people's complaints, it would have made for perhaps a chance to know someone better and be acquainted with them, even become friends in real life. For a newb, having someone ridicule you or complain about you behind your back doesn't make for a very good first impression. I'm sure you agree. I mean I understand how people get passionate and competitive with these things, but give a guy a break, y'know? To use your Col. Flagg name as an ice-breaker now, for example, I was actually going to refer to the way people are thinking of me as a control freak in my first posting by comparing myself to Frank Burns, but I didn't cause I wasn't sure how many people would get the reference right away. You understand what I mean ;-) Thanks again.

Good afternoon folks, VirusZero the CO here. I've just been alerted by the cache's volunteer moderator to the fact that they originally should have explained the "no rules" policy on the placement of caches or any finds/leaves within them. The moderator has asked me to edit the cache setting and I've done so with no hesitation or arguments. I don't log on to the forums at all, I just search for my caches in the areas that I go to, do my caching and leave. I'm sure my records indicate that I'm a newbie. Some of those who share the approximate neighborhood in which I live (hello, frinklabs) have already pointed it out. So when I was told about the forum topic being up for a few days, well needless to say curiosity took the better part of me. Having read the discussion, I'd just like to point out a few things: 1) I'm not an authoritative newb, nor am I indifferent to providing a writing utensil. I'm just a newb. The "very important rules" comment (TheWhiteUrkel) isn't of any significance to the authoritativeness of my personality or the enforcement of self-appointed GC rules. As I'd said before, this is my first full sized cache container and anyone who's just started the game is bound to trip and fall on the little things. 2) I'm also aware of the fact that some caches out in the GTA are have been "coin banks" or "bug prisons" in the past...none of these have I explored or wish to do so. As I explained to someone who had logged in a complaint, my initial completely innocent suggestion was to make this a travel "terminal" where GCs and TBs can easily be retrieved and taken off on their journey to their destination. If this irks fellow cachers, then the least I can do is leave as polite an apology/comment as I can and work according to the community's rules. I just find it rather disheartening, though, that a community that prides itself on being one of the most friendly in the world could get into such mean spirits on a forum! I mean honestly, you see the guy's a newb...if you're more experienced and have done this for several hundred cache finds/hides, wouldn't a simple private message have done the trick? Instead a week in I find a moderator telling me that he should have noticed the error and that he's been getting private mail complaints about the hide with a forum topic having been started. Granted, It's rather obvious now that direct contact wasn't established because analyses of me being a supposed control freak might have made other geocachers feel intimidated about talking to me about it. Well I'm here to say this now: I'm here to enjoy the sport just as much as you do...and if geocaching is as good a combination of the spirits of both teamwork and competition as everyone (including myself) markets it out to be, then the very least that could have been done was one of the more experienced geocachers who have seen and logged their complaints to have initially come to the proverbial wetness behind my ears with a kleenex and say: "This is how you do it." then hand me the kleenex so I can do it myself, rather than continue to have others have a go at me. I'm not here to make caching enemies, folks. I'm just here to enjoy my hobby with other like-minded individuals, maybe even make a few good friends in the process. Have a nice day.