JL_HSTRE

How much will this cube cost? Will it fit in a Micro? What if the cube goes missing or gets damaged? Is the cube set to read only so it can't be hacked with malware? What about fake cubes created with malware, with a nefarious person removing the real cube and replacing it with the fake?

Can a Basic member adopt a cache set to PMO or would that have to be disabled before adoption?

What is a "mob cache"?

We don't need to encourage more field logs. If anything we need to encourage more quality logs, which are usually written back home at the end of the day.

Giving a Virtual to anyone with 10+ years of Premium Membership that has not already received a Virtual seems reasonable. 2500 Favorite Points seems more arbitrary. Rewarding accounts that simply own a lot of caches would be rewarding quantity not quality. I'd rather reward someone with 5 caches that all have 10+ Favorites than someone who owns a 100-cache power trails that gets 100 Favorites on the first cache in the series. How would you define ten years as a cache owner? An active listing for ten years? Ten years with at least one active listing? I'm not sure any such things are easy for Groundspeak to query.

This assumes the AL description is written in the local language and that the AL seeker understands thar language. How about requiring the person creating the AL to specify what language the description is written in so there's no guesswork involved? This could also allow for a rough translation.

I'm not so sure about that. Given the plethora of geocaching sites during the first decade I think the hobby would have endured as extremely niche even if Groundspeak went out of business. Garmin's failed foray into geocaching suggests Groundspeak was simply too entrenched and they couldn't compete. The many other GPS games that came out after smartphones became popular also suggests that someone would have invented or reinvented geocaching later even if Dave Ulmer hadn't or his idea hadn't caught on in 2000. However, the geocachers of the first decade were mostly a different breed. Geocaching invented in 2010-2012 probably looks very different than the geocaching we have today. The hobby was extremely fortunate to go through its growing pains while still a fairly small hobby, and to grow along with the internet. Building the website, community, Guidelines, and Reviewer system over a decade of slow growth was much better than if had to be done from the ground up through amidst a year of explosive growth.

The FAQ suggested to me the regions were selected specific to this purpose, not existing definitions. Regional definitions can also vary. Not everyone in America agrees what constitutes "The South" for example.

It would have been helpful to link one in the FAQ because I have no idea where I should look to find out.

From the linked FAQ: "On Geocaching.com, assigned regions in the United Kingdom and Ireland follow non-political, geographical divisions: Regions in Great Britain are assigned geographical names like Southern Scotland or West Midlands. Similarly, regions in Ireland are assigned geographical names like Munster & Ulster." The FAQ doesn't specify what the regions are. From the examples given its more than just five with different names. In countries like the USA, the regional subdivisions Groundspeak uses are the states, which are a level of political subdivision, but to my knowledge no comparable level of political subdivision exists in the UK or Ireland. Hence it seems the geographical regions had to be invented by Groundspeak, or at least that's how I'm understanding the FAQ.

Am I understanding correctly that since Ireland and the UK do not have an equivalent to states/provinces (like the USA, Canada, or Australia) that Groundspeak defined "regions" for Souvenir purposes?

I question whether it is physically possible to do all 81 D/T ratings, if properly rated, in one day.

Charter Members are specifically got a Premium Membership the first year it was available and have never let that membership lapse. So there are people who are charter geocachers but not charter members. If I were to break early geocaching into categories for recognition I would use two milestones: 2005, when Locationless moved to Waymarking and further Virtuals and Webcams were prohibited. 2009, when the first geocaching smartphone app was released. If I were to recognize first year cachers I would make the cutoff the one year anniversary of the first geocache rather than calendar year 2000. However, I think the number of active accounts from the first year (especially still actively caching, not simply logging in occasionally to maintain an old cache listing) is such a small number that first year recognition isn't really worth it. Especially as the hobby was so obscure that even learning of its existence was essentially luck.

Block Parties are intended to be large events, not simply any event that celebrates 25 years of geocaching. You might as well ask the largest annual event in your country to be upgraded to Mega, even though the geocaching community is not yet large enough, because otherwise it is too hard to attend one. The reality of geocaching is that the vast majority of geocaches and geocachers are in North America and Europe, and Groundspeak operates accordingly.

Some people really need to stop and think about the lengths they go to chasing numbers.

The caches I've found usually use the no finds for a year definition. I think that provides a meaningful quantity and percentage of hides to be challenging yet meaningful. Six months isn't long enough. A long winter or long wet season can be enough to make a lot of caches lonely by that definition. A year means an entire caching season goes by with the cache unfound. Basing it on some kind of find rate was probably intended to decrease the chances someone goes for a lonely cache but someone else finds it first. It's also a matter of what is the purpose of lonely caches, besides an arbitrary challenge. A cache consistently found once per year might nor be getting the attention it deserves but it may be relied on. A cache that goes a year or several years without any logs enters the twilight zone. Is it still there? The longer time goes by the less cachers are willing to seek it at all because of the growing uncertainty about the real status. Giving cachers an incentive to seek these caches despite their lack of activity helps get these caches active again - either reassure the community they are viable or alert the CO and/or Reviewers to problems.

Only being able to opt into educational/informative emails if you also opt into promotional emails seems like a dishonest marketing strategy, albeit one by no means unique to Groundspeak.

To share photos of your caching experience other than the container and hiding spot.

Coordinates being off by over 100 ft is not acceptable.

Personally, I think all Night Caches should be Mystery/Unknown. With a blinking light, be mindful of the battery life and also that the light is placed somewhere unlikely to be noticed by muggles. A blinking light will attract more attention that reflectors.

Possibly because the whistle-blower expects retaliation from geocachers who care more about their idea of "fun" than about following the Guidelines.

Am I understanding correctly the intent is for someone who is new to geocaching (OP) is going conduct a workshop training teams of brand new geocachers to place multiple caches? And the caches are intended to be interconnected? It sounds like it would be a good idea to get some experienced geocachers involved so it's not the blind leading the blind. There needs to be a clear understanding about who on each team is responsible for maintaining the cache they've placed so they're not "place it and forget it" like many caches placed by scouts for merit badges. The underlying concept of a series of geocaches showing how the different ways geocaching can be a learning tool does sound like a good idea. The ph monitor could be incorporated into an Earthcache, assuming the monitor exists independently of the Earthcache. Other caches could take people to locations related to local legends (preferably while teaching the real history behind the myths) or historic sites in the area.

If I had a T3.5 cache that I needed to move 50 ft and change to T1.5 then I would archive the old listing and submit a new one. The container might be the same but the experience has changed such that it's nor really the same cache anymore.

Mint cans rust easily and are never waterproof. The lids close snuggly but the hinges leak. They're simply not intended for outdoor use. One of the worst containers.

Smartphones get their GPS signal from the same satellites as a Garmin. The difference is the quality of the receiver, which varies. Smartphones are much better than they used to be. Depending on your device and where you cache the difference might not be meaningful. If you go on long hikes in the woods you're more likely to notice the difference in accuracy, battery life, and durability.