Janomi

Logging your funds online is normal practice that is “encouraged” by Groundspeak. I’ve never heard of anywhere that is is general practice to delay logging a find. Where is that normal? I’m not disagreeing, just stating that I’ve never heard of it and have always heard quite the opposite. Yes, in the Midlands. It started around Northampton and spread from there. I assume they’d still go find the geocache. I would not assume that they’d go in the middle of the night or make a specific trip just for that cache, maybe they’d find it next time they’re already in the area. Sound like someone else who lacks manners. ////////////// ////////////// I agree with everyone who says that someone should not claim a FTF if they aren’t the first person to sign the log. I stated that in both of my posted. ^ The thing that both vignettes have in common is that these individuals are acting the way they are from a place of malice. I don’t understand why someone would act in a way that purposely makes the game less fun for others. Why participate at all if that’s the case.

I agree. I wouldn’t either. On the most recent log, I wrote, “I see that +++++ was the first to find this one. In line with his modus operandi, he signed the physical log, but not the digital log.” A lot of the locals are just fed up with his trolling and I they’ve simply pretend that he doesn’t exist. I think this response just fuels his antics. It all seems petty to me. I wrote this post because I was curious how others have dealt with (or would deal with) similar situations.

It’s semantics, but Oxford dictionary defines sportsmanship as “fair or generous behavior or treatment of others, especially in a sports contest.” This definition isn’t exclusive to only “sports contests.” I don’t know anyone what would consider geocaching a sport, but some people certainly consider aspects of it competitive. In the case of this individual intentionally taking competitive action (rushing to be FTF) and then taunting other geocachers, I think my usage of the term sportsmanship works just fine to get my point across.

I’ve been geocaching since 2004. During that time, I’ve come across two types of geocaching trolls. I’d like to know your thoughts on these two and if you’ve had similar or other trolling experiences. Vignette #1. In England from 2008-2010, we had a small group of individuals that would go find geocaches, throw them away, then post a log stating that geocaching is littering and that they will continue to get rid of them as quickly as we replace them. Their group had a catchy name, but it escapes me at the moment. We even started making all of our caches Premium caches, but they just signed up for accounts and kept doing it. We contacted our local reviewer and the Geocaching HQ about it and they deleted their accounts, but the “activist” just created new ones, thus went on for almost two years until they eventually just stopped. Vignette #2. This is a current example. I moved to the DC area about a year ago. There’s a man here who actively goes after FTFs, but does not post digital logs for them. He’s built quite a reputation among other geocachers for his antics and I’ve been told that he’s gotten quite nasty with some geocachers. I’ve only had two personal experiences with him, but I’ve also seen his snarky comments that he’s posted on his geocaching.com profile and on logs. Our first interaction happened a few months ago when I saw 5-6 geocaches published at a location that I happened to be about 30 minutes away from and driving toward with my wife. When we arrived at the first geocaches, we were the FTF. After signing the logs (physical and digital), we moved on to the second cache. When we got there, we saw someone standing with the cache container in hand and we’re going to walk up and chat with them. Instead, the guy jumped in his car and drove off, taking the cache container with him. We thought maybe we were mistaken, so we looked for a moment and then decided to move on to the next cache. When we arrived at each of the next ones, we found that some were missing and the others had thus guy’s geocache handle written on them (no date). We waited with a few other geocachers who had arrived by this point and and watched as he returned to each location and replaced the cache containers one-by-one. This is when they other geocachers told me about his antics. They told me that he does this often. This is the only time I’ve seen it with my own eyes, but it was a shocking display of poor sportsmanship and poor manners. When we posted what we saw in our logs, he messaged me stating that everything we posted was untrue, but “Keep in mind that all FTF seekers take a chance of being something other than the FTFer when attempting to be the first finder on a new cache. Don't take things so seriously.” I’ve since arrived at a couple of other recently published geocaches that have had his signature on the physical log, but no digital log. I just log it (without mention of FTF) and move on, but many others in the area just claim the FTF since he doesn’t do a digital log. It’s obvious that he does this just to troll other geocachers. I find this very rude, especially considering that some geocachers travel great distances and spend a lot of time and effort in an attempt to get a FTF and would choose to spent their time differently if they knew that the geocache had already been found. I know Groundspeak doesn’t acknowledge FTFs as an official statistic, but should a log be considered a “find” if the individual doesn’t complete the log process by submitting a digital log? What your thoughts are on either of these?

I have a BlackBerry Storm and it works great! It has both BlackBerry and Google maps, plus with unlimited G3 internet connection, I get service just about anywhere. In the past month, I have used it to find caches in the UK and in Malta. I am taking it to Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria and Slovakia next week. I'll let you know how it works there.