Lovejoy and Tinker

Yes Yes

When you log a new find or post a note to a cache, that's when you drop the TB You will see on the cache logging page that your TB inventory is shown at the bottom - each item in your invetory listed by tracking #. Just select the TB you are dropping off and in the little drop down menu to the right select "dropped off" and then log your find or note. (It defaults to 'dropped off'and the only other option is for visiting which is when you want to dip a TB in a cache but keep it with you). That will put the TB into that cache. It's not done from the TB page Hope that helps

Now you have grabbed it, it is in your possession and in your inventory. The last log entries should be: In the hands of .... [the person who dropped but didn't log it and who you grabbed it from] (Grabbed by...you) Now: In the hands of .... [You] What you can do now is dip it in the cache where you found it. Just post a NOTE to the cache page, write something like "Dipping TB grabbed from cache to correct mileage" Then dip the TB in - log it as a 'visited' That will put the mileage correct as the TB has now visited that cache (and the last position on it's travel map will be the cache you got it from). You can then move it on to the next cache. Hope that all makes sense.

Any sport involves some kind of expense - equipment, travelling, membership of a club whatever. Obviously appreciate that distance is a bigger issue over there than it is over here. You've got me struggling with the difference between financially and monetarily Not sure what you mean by "Then to say you have to log online... ". But if your area is a 'dead zone' at the moment, and there are other cachers than yourself living in the area, then perhaps that's because no one wants to put any out? I mean, there are no such restrictions in place at the moment, anyone can place a cache, so if no one has placed any then it can only be because they don't want to. Will you or they suddenly want to IF restrictions are introduced? Oh I couldn't agree with you more. There are some near me that have just been abandoned by people with a large find count and have been members for a long while. All I am saying is a lot of the prematurely archived caches I have been noticing recently have been set by people who joined weeks or days ago (not months, not years) and have found less than 20 caches. Maybe it's not a trend and maybe it's not anything to be worried about. I don't think it is time right now to set any restrictions, what I am saying is if the sport starts to get spoiled then it may be necessary to act...

But in your case you had been a member for around 3 months before you placed your first cache? (And the ones you have placed look pretty well put together) I'm only suggesting something to prevent this "join on Thursday, throw a box in a tree on Monday" problem. Maybe it needs something that is a combination of finds, length of membership and quality of the cache page. But that would make the reviewers job very tricky As I say, it's not an original thought, I have seen it discussed plenty of times here, and there are clearly many sides to the argument. I don't know the answer as however it is controlled some genuine people are going to be delayed or prevented from placing their 1st cache and some of the 'idiots' are going to slip through the net. While the people who put no care or thought into their hides are in the tiny minority and we can just ignore those hides that's fine. But if it becomes endemic (is that the right word?) I can't help thinking it will spoil the sport for everyone and GS will be pressured to act. Maybe it's just because it's the Summer holidays and there are some kids getting bored. It's our first summer caching so maybe we just haven't seen this kind of activity before. I just remember being very apprehensive about our first hide and took a LOT of help and guidance from some more experienced cachers before placing it. They kindly put the box together for us and helped us a lot, as we were so keen that it should not be a rubbish cache. Am I proud of it now? Not really - the box is fine, the hide is good but the location is not great - nothing special. Will probably archive it and move it at the end of the Summer tourist season. Our next four hides (a small series and a puzzle) I am much happier with as they are in good locations, tell a bit of history of the place, have a bit of a running theme and are the sort of caches I would enjoy doing. But that's what time brings, a bit of experience and understanding as to what the game's all about. And it's not about chucking a box in a tree in a location where people might feel they shouldn't be just because you can. In my opinion. If we are ever down your way we'll come and find some of your caches, but that would have to be a VERY long weekend Cheers

You have found over 100 in 4 months, not bad going I would think a limit in the tens rather than the hundreds would be ok. Or a time period. I know this topic comes up frequently and is hotly debated. Just don't know what else can be done if the site does start to get 'polluted' with the kind of caches highlighted in this thread.

Uncanny, my thoughts exactly when I read the cache pages. Beginning to see similar things happen here in the UK, not necessarily kids but completely new people, been members for a week and put a couple of caches out. No point to the locations, sandwich boxes that aren't waterproof, one line cache descriptions, hides in dry stone walls, dodgy coordinates and thinly veiled complaints from the first few finders. Bet that they will have given up in a month or so and their 'caches' will be left to rot and become litter. Have even notices caches that are archived within a couple of weeks due to being placed in an 'illegal' location or muggled within a few days because they are just not hidden well enough. Easy to spot these when you update GSAK every week and skim out the archived caches, some that were only placed a few weeks ago. Reading the logs and notes often tells a very interesting, and sad story. I can only see things getting worse and GS may have to introduce some kind of control whereby people have to have found a number of caches before getting one published. I know people don't like that idea and it will never solve all the problems (there are caches out there not being maintained by cachers with several hundred finds to their names). But it might stop the problem of over enthusiastic noobs who get caught up in the inistial excitement and are keen to see people coming out to find THEIR cache without giving any consideration at all to location, container, contents or maintenance. Lovejoy [EDITED by moderator to remove potty language. Avoid potty language.]

No problem. Be sure to set up the notifications you want for each type of cache. They are all done independently. And be prepared to have that moment, late in the evening, when a cache is published 5 miles down the road, but you're tired and sleepy, just finished supper, and you think to yourself "I want to...but I don't want to"

As a premium member go to the Member Features page (linked along the top of your profile page) and scroll down to "Instant Log Notification Feature" where you can choose to be notified of certain events on caches, including publication within a certain radius of your home. As for sorting by date placed, on the right hand menu there is a link to "List Newest in...[your area]". This produces a list with the newest placed at the top. Hope that helps

One of us has been drinking. Up until 2 minutes ago I would have sworn it wasn't me.

It's going to be inside a cache box, which I imagine will be suitably identified as such with all the stickers and notices. And the lights will only come on when someone plugs a battery into it. The guy's doing ok. In my opinion.

Two people found your existing cache GC2BWKD (July 17th and July 30th - so 20 and 9 days ago respectively) and reported the coordinates need looking at and updating. But you haven't changed them yet. I would imagine the folks looking for your cache could get frustrated too, just like you are. Reviewing a new cache takes a lot longer than updating the coordinates on an existing one, so if you haven't had chance yet to review and update your existing cache then surely you can understand that the reviewer may not have had time to look at your new one yet?

Go to your profile page (there is a link on left side of each gc page). Click on the link along the top which says "Your Account Details" Scroll down to "Your Avatar and Photo" Click on "Change" and go from there. Hope that helps.

That could be more frustrating than satisfying With all the possible combinations of 3 switches each having 6 possible positions the task could be complex enough without having to remember which position was which number. Just my opinion.

I'm with you now.

You lost me a bit with the area codes part, but it is early and I haven't had a coffee yet. To avoid complete confusion, I would label the switches with letters and give the missing coordinates letters. So you would give: N50 AB.C23 and then label the switches A, B & C then W004 CA.B45 That would still take a lot of working out - long enough to sit and have a sandwich - as there are lots of combinations! Does that make sense (apart from the N50 and W004 bit, which are the northings and westings where I live ) Like I said, it is early here!

Might be worth having a word with your local trophy engraver (sports shop?) and explaining what it is all about. Sometimes people can be quite helpful when they are presented with something a bit different to their normal mundane day to day work. And sometimes they might do you a good deal if they are interested in what you are doing and want to be a small part of it. No harm in asking

I think some basic indication of what the device is, but maybe keep it a little cryptic. For me, full instructions would spoil things a bit. I'd quite like to be faced with the 'black box of mystery' and have to work out for myself what I had to do with it to get the coordinates I needed. Sometimes it is nice to be faced with a challenge 'in the field' rather than one to sort out in the comfort of your armchair. One of the most rewarding puzzles I have done is one that the cache page was just a QR code (I had never even seen one before). Once I worked out what todo with it I was really pleased to get a set of coordinates. Went to find the cache and it was exactly where the coords said it would be. When I opened the pot to sign the log I found....a laminated QR code. Nothing else. Of course I knew what it was by now but there I was in the middle of the moors. It was great fun working out that by taking a photo of the code with my digital camera, then going back to the van and using my laptop to upload the image to a web based QR code decoder I could get the next set of coordinates there and then without having to go home. There was no hint in the cache description that there was another bit of decoding to do before the final cache. First reaction when I found the 2nd code : *%$@@ ! Reaction when I had sorted it all out : Brilliant fun ! So my vote would be to keep the information and instructions to a minimum and let people work it out for themselves. After all, you can always add hints later on. Keep going with this one, it's coming together really well !

Nothing to add to the previous post regarding why your coordinates might be showing incorrect distances, but it's almost certainly not the fault of your unit. The Etrex Legend may be entry level and may now be discontinued (gosh is it really, only bought one new 6 months ago), but it is a fine unit capable of very accurate directions, great battery life, can be linked up to a PC and can store in excess of 20,000 waypoints (in Garmin custom POI mode). There's many a GPS that can't do all or some of those things. It may not be able to handle the detailed maps that some units can or give you true paperless caching, but it is more than capable of finding those boxes So don't be thinking you have an inferior GPS Just get it working properly and you will be as pleased as punch with it. For what it is worth, my vote is that you either have the coordinate format set incorrectly (as per previous post) OR when you select the cache to aim for from the menu you are selecting either the wrong cache completely (one with a similar name that is shortened and looks like the one you are after) or are aiming for an additional waypoint such as a recommended parking area. Hope you get it sorted

haha...yes i have...and i have come to the conclusion that this container will be in another completely waterproof container and close to the house so i may provide maintenance if need be...however i am working on getting permission to place this on a building outside a masonic lodge nearby...we have another cache in town that's at another masonic lodge and the masons actually keep routine maintenance on it....quite nice of them if you ask me VERY COOL Had a read through this thread when it first popped up but didn't get involved because this kind of thing is way beyond my level of competence (most things are). Assumed it was one of those ideas that would never be put into practice (sorry I doubted you ). But suddenly the thread comes back up and look what you have made! In such a short time! How cool is that! You WERE serious! I would love to find that device to play with in a cache and it's great when someone puts real effort into creating something new and different basically for the entertainment of others. Can't help you with construction ideas but just wanted to add my words of encouragement and ask you keep us posted with pics as the project goes on, as I'll never be able to come and hunt for it in real life. Only one thought - to do it justice, could you find an engraver who could engrave the labels on for you with a white infill? Something like they do on those pet ID discs whch are usually engraved black on a brass disc. If you could find someone who could do the same but in white it would look really smart and wouldn't wear off. Just an idea. Good luck with the rest of the project - I'll be watching with interest.

Ticking them on the list will give you a loc file, not what you want. I get the list then scroll through it (or display the map and click on each cache icon) and add each cache to a bookmark list. You have to set up a blank book mark list first - go to "Manage Bookmarks" link, it's very quick and easy. When my bookmark list is complete I click the link on the bookmark page to generate a Pocket Query from the bookmark. Then check today's date on the PQ, and a GPX file of all the selected caches is delivered by email within a few minutes. Unless it is more than 500 caches, in which case it is available for download from the Pocket Queries download page. Hope that helps, others may be able to explain it better

LOL. I have done that so many times. And still do it after 660 finds. "Follow the arrow" is what they say but sometimes you have to look where the arrow is taking you and see if there is a path to folllow, like you say, that may take you in the wrong direction at first but will get you to where the arrow is pointing without you having to swim a rivver or cross a canyon Always look at the distance as well as the direction. If the arrow is pointing directly to your right, and to your right is heavy plant cover, then look at the distance indicated. If it says 10 feet, chances are you have to delve into the shrubs. If the distance says 0.2 miles then chances are there is a route that will get you to the other side of the bushes, river or whatever is in your way. Walk on a bit and see if the path takes a turn round to the right a little further on. Will you still have times when you 'can't even find a way in'? Probably. It's frustrating, but it happens, but you get better at it with time. Welcome to the mad world.

Now you come to mention it, I would probably have to think twice about going to a soccer match. Certainly I would not be as comfortable doing that as I would be going out caching in the dark on my own. Which brings us back to perception again, as I know (with my logical hat on) that the situation at football matches is a far cry from what it was in the '70s and 80's and you rarely hear of soccer riots these days, whereas once it was commonplace. But it is probably in the subconscious now that a soccer match could be a dangerous place to be. Besides, I don't like crowds much - get anxiety - which is perhaps why I lake caching on the moors, wide open spaces, very few people. The only time I have felt scared, and I mean really scared, is during a trip to Belfast in the early 80's, when there were soldiers on the streets and at checkpoints carrying guns. But I came to no harm in a week spent there. I did come to harm when working at a 24hr petrol station a few years later when an armed robber raided the station at 2am. I was shot with a 12 bore. Thankfully superficial wounds and only 10 pellets left in my arm as a reminder. Wasn't expecting that. So perhaps it is more about perception than reality and we are actually much more likely to face real danger in the most unlikely of circumstances and when we least expect it. On that basis the OP should be okay, as she is anticipating danger and therefore will naturally look after herself as she is aware of the dangers. And as someone else has said, the danger is most likely to come from the least expected source (tripping and falling) and least likely to come from the most expected source (human attack). An interesting discussion, thanks everyone.

Yes, I liked that one too

Tis a shame that the media builds this fear up within is all - Danger, debt, illness, crime, bombarding us all the time. Puts the fear of god into us. Seems we should feel guilty if we've nothing to worry about. Yes, thank you very much. We're in the height of our Summer tourist season here in the South West with three sweet (candy ) shops (stores ) going mad. Cheers