Fingolfin_UK

Agree that the fixed width is a HORRIBLE backwards step. And, it makes the website unusable on a narrow screen like the iPhone Safari browser - scroll doesn't work on GC.com. Agree that a lot of things that previously worked really well were "fixed" and are now worse than before. Readability has gone DOWN - fonts are smaller, colours are less distinct, watermark background is crazily bad style. There were lots of things that could have been improved - that is, things that LOTS of users had been asking for, but it appears there were not looked at. Groundspeak needs to keep (start?) listening to their customers - it's us who pay you, remember! Beta maps are not up to scratch (ok, they're still beta, but they are now the default map page). That's my two pennyworth - overall rather disappointed with the output from a commercial, supposedly professional, organisation.

Very sad news. He was a lovely chap to talk to, even though I only met him a couple of times. He'll be sorely missed by all. Condolences to his family. May he rest in peace and rise in glory. David.

Not sure why the search function doesn't find any caches when you use "NCN" only - seems perverse! (but that appears to be what happens). I have renamed my caches with "NCN NRx" so that they are found by searching for "NCN NR".

I had thought I wasn't getting find notifications through from Groundspeak. When I logged on to my NTL email using their website, I found that NTL has been flagging all these emails are spam! They were all in the server's Spam folder - I've now retrieved them and marked as "Not Spam", so hopefully they will come through now. I think the change happened when NTL (VirginMedia) went over to using the Google interface for all their emails.

I've placed a number of caches along the NCN Route 6 (Derby to Nottingham section) which I've prefixed with "NCN6". I don't think you need to put both NCN and NR in the title - that's just using up more letters! - I think "NCNx" is fairly standard usage within Sustrans. I've also created a bookmark with all the caches that are on this section of the NCN - both my caches and others. My criteria was quite strict: on or very near (which means within a few metres) of the cycle route. I think we should try and set up as many bookmarks as possible with caches that are on the NCN all over the country - they need not be our own caches, as you can add anyone's cache to your own bookmark (which you can then make public+shared).

Many thanks for all the useful suggestions. It sounds like my "local reviewer" is the first point of call. The missing trackable is (unfortunately) logged in one of caches where the owner is "missing" as well! As regards the multi-cache belonging to the missing owner, I suppose it could be archived when necessary and re-created by a new owner in a nearby hide with similar clues. It's really good to know that there is such a great community of geocachers out there who happy to give us newbies a helping hand. It's been such good fun since late Dec '09 when I started geocaching (despite registering with Waymarking.com in Nov) - also good exercise, and my youngsters love looking for "treasure boxes" as well! David.

I wondered whether there was any way for someone else to take over abandoned caches to save them being archived. One of the caches in question is quite near to me; it's in good condition and is a nice multi-cache trail. It would be a shame to have to archive it if it got into a state that it needed serious maintenance. Just a thought. Also... I'm also wondering what to do about missing trackables where the owners also seem to have forgotten about them (i.e. not logged into geocaching.com for three years!). A cache inventory says this trackable should be in it, but it's been noted by several cachers (including me) to be missing from the container. I think the owner can usually flag it as missing under these circumstances (although I know missing trackables do sometimes turn up eventually). If the owner is no longer contactable (email not verified), is there a local admin who can mark it as missing and definitely NOT in the cache where it was logged? Thanks for the welcome!

There are four caches in the Derby area that are owned by a cacher who hasn't (according to geocaching.com) visited the site for about 18 months. Three of the caches are still in active use (although one needs maintenance), and one has been missing for 6 months. If the owners are really no longer caching, what happens to their caches? There seems to be no-one to take on the maintenance responsibilities, or check that the caches are ok. I'm fairly new to geocaching, and haven't found all the answers yet!!