PlasteredDragon
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Everything posted by PlasteredDragon
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Cache Hide To Find Ratios
PlasteredDragon replied to BigCarbonFootprint's topic in General geocaching topics
The primary problem with the internet (actually, it's a problem with human nature) is that people will be extremely rude or condescending because they don't have to face the person they are talking to. You can pretty much expect it. A: What do you think about carrying a gun while caching? B: It's not something I would do, but if you're going to do it, you should inform those that cache with you that you are carrying. C: Obviously B is a terrorist-sympathizing liberal hiding a wolf's face under a sheep-like veil. B: ???? It's easy to become upset by that sort of cowardly rudeness, but try not to let it bother you. At least in the fora it's often best to let an insulting or ignorant response go unanswered. Or responded to in a trite way. All that said, I apologize to you if my earlier post came across as rude. Looks like you only got one answer you liked and it wasn't mine. Oh well. I meant no harm. -
Another "explosive" Cache Discovery
PlasteredDragon replied to DrMomentum's topic in General geocaching topics
I hope for his own sake that the cache owner has voluntarily come forward and talked to the police. -
Cache Hide To Find Ratios
PlasteredDragon replied to BigCarbonFootprint's topic in General geocaching topics
Yesssss. I was envious that you could knock off 14 caches in a day, then I noticed that you seem to live someplace where a 2 mile stretch of road will have 10 caches along it. WOW! Not that there's anything wrong with that. Where I live typically you drive somewhere, hike a half mile or more, find a cache, hike back to the car, and drive somewhere else (far away). So when I hear 14 caches I think like, wow, 10+ miles of hiking and a bunch of long trips in the car! I'm still impressed though... -
What Should Be Outlawed From A Cache?????
PlasteredDragon replied to KYHillbilly's topic in General geocaching topics
To which I say again, do you seriously believe this "list of items" is going to get turned into an actual set of laws which is enforced? I mean honestly, no offense to KYHillbilly, but who the heck is this guy? I'm sure even he doesn't imagine we're all going to suddenly adopt a list of banned items. Given that, I stand by my original interpretation of this thread as a harmless gripefest. Much like that guy what's his name who hates dimes and started a webpage calling for the abolishment of the US Dime (link). Or the guy who hates internet joke haiku and wrote a page calling for an end to the penning of joke haiku on the internet (link). I would urge you not to take such complaints seriously. If you think there's no point in complaining about it and you want to register that opinion I think that's great. I just have a problem with people being called whiners because they have opinions. Implied name calling is still name calling. A: I think we should do X. B: Eh, I'm with the quit-whining crowd. Doing X is playing cache cop. (implied assertions: A is a whiner. A is a cache cop.) An honorable debate is not one in which the insults switch from being explicit to implicit, as in this example: Don't condescend to me please. This conversation isn't exactly rocket science. Moving on. Try to keep up with me here because that's when I said... I added the emphasis to the first quote. So this guy is talking about removing from the cache what he sees as trash, and replacing it with other stuff. I'm sorry but isn't that basically trading? Isn't he doing the exact same thing I do when I remove the satanist bible and replace it with something I feel is more appropriate? Sounds to me like you're berating him anyway. Yes of course one man's trash is another man's treasure. And one man's treasure is another man's trash. If I look at the contents of a cache and say "this stuff is crap" and trade away all the "crap" items for good ones in my opinion, I once again assert that it is none of your business. It only becomes an issue if I remove the satanist bible or the religious pamphlets and put nothing in their place. And btw, that is at least one place where you implied someone was a "cache cop". Eh? You forgot my previous statement to keep what you quoted in context: No, I didn't forget your previous statement, which is why I said I assume that you aren't referring to the forbidden items. My point is that "truly socially offensive items" is fairly subjective. Personally, I would be as offended by religious pamphlets as porn. Falling back on common sense we can say "well porn is inappropriate for kids". Okay. And a christian themed children's storybook? I would be positively livid to find such an item in a cache. The religious education of my child is my business and nobody else's. Most people I know would be similarly offended. My point in stating all this that what "truly socially offensive items" really means in your statment above is the items that you think are socially offensive. Which means it's subjective and therefore a pointless distinction, which brings me back to my example about pornography. I'm going to use my common sense if I decide to trade something out for inappropriateness. Religious propaganda definitely qualifies. You disagree? Great! But don't call me a whiner for stating that I think it is inappropriate, or a cache cop for replacing it with something else. And with regard to the second portion of your statement "I could care less what you think sucks and doesn't suck", I find myself asking, why are you here then? I mean as this thread appears to be a forum for folks to gripe about what cache items they don't like, and you don't care what people don't like, why would you bother joining the discussion? I mean its fine for you to register your opinion that such discussions are pointless and to try and advise people that they're missing the point if they focus too intently on the contents of the cache. (And I agree with you wholeheartedly, btw.) But it seems to me you are instead passing judgement on the motivations behind the trades that people make, which by your own admission, are none of your business. In the end, you and I are largely in agreement I think, except that I think it's wrong to call people whiners and cache cops when they talk about replacing items they see as bad with items they see as good. Isn't that what "trading up" is all about? -
What Should Be Outlawed From A Cache?????
PlasteredDragon replied to KYHillbilly's topic in General geocaching topics
I don't think anyone has a need to tell you these things. Why do you? This thread wasn't started, near as I can tell, as a "Tell TotemLake What's Offensive" thread. I took it as a "gripe about the things you hate to find in caches thread". Admittedly, the thread title uses strong language "outlawed" and "banned" but does anyone honestly think this thread is going to be turned into a set of laws? That will be enforced? Personally I think you're reading a little too much into it, and this epithet "cache cop" that you keep tossing about is a clear indicator of that. (With all due respect to your desire to see less name calling, "whiner" and "cache cop" are also insulting terms.) I assume you are not referring to items which are clearly forbidden (such as food, alcohol, firearms, tobacco) etc. What about, say, pornography? Are you telling me that since it isn't on the forbidden list, and I crack open a cache frequented by families with small children to find it contains porn, I *shouldn't* remove it? To be blunt, if I traded that stuff out with items of equal value in my estimation, it's really none of your business what my motivations were. If I open a cache and find a satanic bible in it, I'm going to trade for it and remove it. My reasons for doing this might be because I'm a satanist and I want the thing, or it might be because I'm a christian and I don't want a kid to find the thing, or it might be because I believe caches shouldn't contain religious items out of respect for the diverse theologies of geocachers. In any of these cases, as long as I traded for it, I'm not overstepping anything. Even if I then contact the person who put it there and say "what the heck were you thinking?" On these points we are in complete agreement. -
Cache Hide To Find Ratios
PlasteredDragon replied to BigCarbonFootprint's topic in General geocaching topics
I don't think the ratio matters all that much. My advice would be (1) don't hide anything until you've made at least 10 finds or so... seeing how other caches have been placed/described is your best source of of what to do and not to do when hiding caches and (2) don't hide more caches than you can adequately mantain. If after 10 finds you decide you are bored with finding and are never going to want to go looking again, then I suppose you have a lot of time on your hands to maintain hides. Right now I've got 5 hides and that's plenty. Maybe it will go as high as 10 some day, but the maintenance sounds daunting. Especially since all my hides require a decent hike to get to them. -
What Should Be Outlawed From A Cache?????
PlasteredDragon replied to KYHillbilly's topic in General geocaching topics
By this argument as long as you derived pleasure from it and it is in good condition and you don't stuff the cache with several copies then a satanic bible, political bumpersticker, sex-ed pamphlet, or nazi propaganda are also acceptable. Okay obviously I'm being facetious, clearly NONE of these items are appropriate... including the dog turd (sorry guys... you're just going to have to stick with cat poo--according to my dog it tastes better anyway). The most important point raised on all the geocaching.com pages that discuss this (that I've seen) is to use your common sense. Caching is supposed to be a good time, it's supposed to be fun, and it's not supposed to be a vehicle for politics, philosophy, advertising, religious idealogy, or anything else. A guy goes off into the woods to get away from life for awhile and just enjoy the outdoors and in the height of his elation he cracks open the cache he just found to see a big fat bumpersticker that says "Democrat = Terrorist" or "The Religious Right is NEITHER". How about it--is he having a good time now? Or is there a fairly decent chance that now he's ticked off because he came all the way out here precisely to forget about all that stuff for awhile? I've been trying to keep a lighthearted tone to this conversation but ultimately just use your common sense. Nobody is looking to be a cache cop, but clearly there are people out there who either don't know any better or aren't using their common sense. Naturally that's going to upset some people and they're going to gripe about it. I don't think they should be made to feel bad for griping by being tarred with the epithet "whiner". That's completely unconstructive--I mean if you think people are overreacting and you want to point that out to them use YOUR common sense. You aren't going to convince anyone by insulting them. How about: All sorts of people cache, and some are newbies, some are children. That broken toy may be something the child who placed it there played with anyway. To him it might be a treasure. Sure sitckers peel, golf balls may be dirty, but the point is to have fun finding the cache IMHO... what is actually inside is less important, and in any event it's not supposed to be items of great value. My advice would be not to approach a cache with any expectations other than it will contain a logbook, then you won't be disappointed. Ultimately, my advice is not to let it bother you, and if you can't, consider what Ghandi said: You possess the power to be the change you would like to see in the world. Put into caches the sort of things you would like to see in there and teach by example. Sure it's easier to say "Who are you to say what should go in a cache? Quit being a whiner." but it isn't going to make the other person see your point of view. It's just going to make them think you are not a nice person. In all likelihood it's going to make them stick to their own point of view all that much more strongly. -
What Should Be Outlawed From A Cache?????
PlasteredDragon replied to KYHillbilly's topic in General geocaching topics
Now see, what was I just saying about dog feces!? Even a small dog is going to have to go sometime! -
Carry a loaded whoopee cushion in your pocket and give it a squeeze if anyone approaches. Chances are they'll remember something else they urgently have to attend to. Helps if you grimace and groan when you do this.
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Logging Your Own Caches As Finds
PlasteredDragon replied to Zekester & Simon's topic in General geocaching topics
Ermmm. No. Seems awfully tacky. Hey look! I just found what I hid here two seconds ago! -
Another "explosive" Cache Discovery
PlasteredDragon replied to DrMomentum's topic in General geocaching topics
The primary complaint by the officer in this story was not that the cache was an ammocan, but that it was unmarked. So, since nobody answered before, I'm going to ask again: Suppose you find a cache and the cache container is completely unmarked. If you have a permanent marker, should *you* mark the container? Y'know, considering it to be doing your part for the geocaching community? -
Another "explosive" Cache Discovery
PlasteredDragon replied to DrMomentum's topic in General geocaching topics
Umm, no on all counts. I've asked permission on all my hides and I think those that don't are asking for trouble. If one's sole reason for not asking permission is "I think they'll probably say NO." then IMHO you believe you don't have permission and you shouldn't place the cache unless you are prepared to accept the consequences of that action. This is a public park. All towns and cities have park boards. You contact a representative of the park board. It takes all of 10 minutes to find out whom you should talk to. When the irate police seargent finally catches up with the cache owner to ask who said he could place a suspicious looking box under the steps of the bandstand in the town park, you can bet your bottom dollar that the cacher will be a lot better off if he can say "Joe Jones, the chairman of the park board." At least then the cop has another place to vent his anger. My first three caches were placed in a wooded public park not far from where I live. I contacted the local recreation director for my town, at his urging drafted a formal letter, and got myself added to the agenda of the next meeting of the town park board. I went to the meeting with a GPS unit, and an ammo box containing an example cache, printouts from geocaching.com showing other caches nearby, and stood in front of the park board and told them all about it. They were all ordinary people just like you and me who (surprise, surprise) like to do outdoor activities... that's why they're on the park board. I was able to allay any concerns they had and it's a good thing I did talk to them. It turned out that a section of the park in question was used for paintball activities. I had no idea. It would have really sucked if some cachers got shot with paintballs because I didn't know about that at the time I placed the caches. By working with the park board I was able to select the hides with the least possible impact to the other activities that take place in the park. Was it fun to get permission? Ermm. Well I guess not, I was pretty nervous because I didn't know what to expect, and I was afraid they would just say "no" out of hand. Then I was self conscious standing in front of an official looking board of officials with an audience behind me. But a lot of good things came out of it. Watching the board members smile when I showed them the cute toys in the cache, watching them (and members of the audience) get turned on by the idea, having a guy come up to me after the meeting and say "That sounds like a lot of fun! What was that website again?" And finally the immense satisfaction that I was in a room with everyone even remotely associated with parks in my town, from the guys who sweep up the trash to the guys who set the rules. Now they ALL know me, and they know about geocaching. In a large way I think I've made the way easier for myself and other cachers to place caches around town in the future. People occasionally write in my cache logs that they bumped into park board members while looking for the caches, and the park board members recognize the GPS unit and know what they are doing, say hello, and talk to the geocachers in the field. This reassures those officials that we're not a bunch of whackos or yahoos tearing up public places or otherwise getting up to mischief in their park. Giving the board members the URL for those specific caches allows them to see just how carefully park rules are explained, and all the great photos and comments that people post: "I'm coming back to this park." "This is a beautiful place!" "I've lived here for 10 years and I didn't even know this park was here." I can't imagine how this could be anything but pleasing and positive for our cherished hobby, and it never would have happened if I didn't seek permission. The alternative could have been someone may have just found a military style metal box hidden under a rock in the park, got nervy and called the cops, and the next thing you know, geocaching is strictly forbidden in my community's public parks, and gets a negative image for those officials who may someday move on to higher office or offices in other towns. I wrote about getting permission to place those caches on my blog, and I include there the letter I wrote to the recreation director. Some of you may have read it before, but just in case if anyone is curious--I think it is a nice story: Homes for Dragons On the matter of asking permission, I say ask. Yes they could say no. It's a big world, there will be other places for you to hide a cache... and you could still use your cherished location for an offset cache as long as there is no physical container hidden there. -
Another "explosive" Cache Discovery
PlasteredDragon replied to DrMomentum's topic in General geocaching topics
I'm thinking of your last spray painting experience and trying ot square that with the word "easy." I can see I'm not going to live that down anytime soon. Whaddya want? PlasteredDragon's specialties are drinking massive quantities of pink champagne, scaring off the bad guys, belching, and passing out at parties without squishing any of the partygoers. Spraypainting just isn't on the list. Back on topic, I really like ammo cans, but I understand the desire to move away from them. But they are so darn sturdy! On the matter of marking a cache, let me ask a question. Suppose you find a cache and the cache container is completely unmarked. If you have a permanent marker, should *you* mark the container? Y'know, considering it to be doing your part for the geocaching community? -
Another "explosive" Cache Discovery
PlasteredDragon replied to DrMomentum's topic in General geocaching topics
I agree, agree, and agree. I think the police did the right thing. Caches should be clearly marked as such, they should have, at an absolute minimum: THIS IS A GEOCACHE www.geocaching.com (waypoint code) (coordinates) Contact: (placer's name) (placer's email) (placer's cell phone number) And if you got permission to place the thing, it probably wouldn't hurt to write "This container placed with the permission of (whatever)." in multiple places on the container. Oh boy. I wouldn't want to be THAT guy. -
Another "explosive" Cache Discovery
PlasteredDragon replied to DrMomentum's topic in General geocaching topics
Yeah, it's easy to paint over that, or just plain stick a big fat geocaching sticker over that. -
What Should Be Outlawed From A Cache?????
PlasteredDragon replied to KYHillbilly's topic in General geocaching topics
Agreed. Just wait until the dog feces collectors start showing up. We'll never hear the end of it. I can hear it now... "Cat feces won't cut it!" *sigh* -
What Should Be Outlawed From A Cache?????
PlasteredDragon replied to KYHillbilly's topic in General geocaching topics
Stickers are probably okay when someone isn't so thrifty as to open the sealed package they come in and leave one sheet at every cache. The sticker pack cost like 2 bucks tops... just put the whole thing in there in it's original plastic wrap. As far as what should be outlawed? Dog feces, I'd say. No more dog feces in caches. I know that's going to be a real bummer for the dog feces collectors, and a pain in the butt for feces rights activists, but it's the way I feel. -
What About F.t.f. Prize
PlasteredDragon replied to Wildhorse folks's topic in General geocaching topics
I leave finders buttons. They are unique and have the cache name on them and some of my meagre artwork. People seem to like those. I leave about a dozen in my new caches... gives people something to remember the cache by later. On each of my last two caches I spent about $100 in prizes for the early finders. Click here to see some of the finder buttons. Here's some others I've done. -
Geocaching.com Cache Disclaimer
PlasteredDragon replied to jblane's topic in General geocaching topics
You don't HAVE to buy the stickers. They're just a good idea because they are easily recognizable. As far as the document goes, there's a link to it... hang on I'll get it. From the Hide A Cache page: -
Other Hobbies That Are Caching Compatible
PlasteredDragon replied to DaveA's topic in General geocaching topics
01001001011001100010000001111001011011110111010100100000011001110110100101110110 01100101001000000110111001101111011101000110100001101001011011100110011100100000 01100010011000010110001101101011001011000010000001111001011011110111010100100000 01110111011010010110110001101100001000000111001101101111011011110110111000100000 01100100011001010111000001101100011001010111010001100101001000000111010001101000 0110010100100000011000110110000101100011011010000110010100100001 01010100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01110100 01110010 01110101 01100101 00101100 00100000 01101001 01101110 01100100 01100101 01100101 01100100 00100001 The Sonoran Pirate amassed great finery, For he was quite handy with sabres and guns, To his trusted mates he spoke only binary, For he was equally fascile with zeros and ones. He kept his dagger at hand and his blunderbuss loaded, And put those he mistrusted to the plank or the lash, And kept the map to his treasure all ascii encoded, So that none would plunder his personal cache. -
Er. No. Unless you count "freakin' thing" as a name. On the other hand I did name my automobile (and write love poetry about it) so perhaps I've got no call thinking someone naming their GPS unit is weird.
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Snide Remarkes About Your Cache
PlasteredDragon replied to Wildhorse folks's topic in General geocaching topics
Which does not bother me at all because people say it is true, but I think I only deserved a rating of one "evil". Some people even give me a rating of zero "evil", and skip directly to the "bastard". Anyone is welcome to flatter me all they want. YES! That, dear sir, is AWESOME. -
Signal/satellite Inaccuracy
PlasteredDragon replied to GRANPA ALEX's topic in General geocaching topics
Right, so those of us who think there just isn't enough time in the day need only wait 333,333,333 days (913,242+ years) to get an extra second. See you then! -
Other Hobbies That Are Caching Compatible
PlasteredDragon replied to DaveA's topic in General geocaching topics
01001001011001100010000001111001011011110111010100100000011001110110100101110110 01100101001000000110111001101111011101000110100001101001011011100110011100100000 01100010011000010110001101101011001011000010000001111001011011110111010100100000 01110111011010010110110001101100001000000111001101101111011011110110111000100000 01100100011001010111000001101100011001010111010001100101001000000111010001101000 0110010100100000011000110110000101100011011010000110010100100001 -
Why No Good Trade Items?
PlasteredDragon replied to derekdoubleut's topic in General geocaching topics
I have to second that. Experienced cachers can be as thoughtless as anyone else. On day one of one of my new caches being listed, a very experienced cacher showed up and took a where's george dollar, and a custom finder's button that I designed and manufactured at my own expense. His trade item? A travel bug. At the time it didn't bother me (I was just happy someone found the cache) and it still doesn't, but one of my caching buddies was irate. "The nerve of that guy! Took: something cool. Left: zilch." he said. Eh. People are people. I'm not going to worry about it. But I agree... it's not fair to blame newbies out of hand.