dorqie
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Posts posted by dorqie
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I'm getting ready to release an unknown/mystery cache that I have been working on for several weeks. This should be a good challenge and will require a good deal of research as well as some advanced field calculations. It very well could take several hours or days of research and multiple trips to more than one location to figure it all out but I think finders will enjoy it. I already have my cache page set up and all of my waypoints accounted for and I'm down to just putting the cache itself onsite.
This is where I need some opinions. I originally had a medium size L&L loaded with quality SWAG that I was going to use. But I've since come up with an idea for a different container that might be more fitting for the area and ties in with the theme of the mystery but it could only contain a log book and possibly some coins.
My question is if you spent days doing research (not all of it possible by internet), had to determine and find specific locations and/or objects without the use of a GPS, maybe had to learn some new techniques to figure out coords, and had to make multiple trips to figure everything out, would you be disappointed or feel cheated if the cache only contained a log book when you finally found it?
not if it was listed as a micro
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Nothing new here. This stuff has been going on as long as people have had a map and compass to follow.
Really? People have been following bad GPS directions as long as they have had maps and compasses? Go figure.
This one was funny.
"The 3 girls blamed a bad GPS"
Not their inability to have a rational thought "keep going through the water were in a SUV"
go go gadget boat?
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*sigh* while not geocaching, I might as well have been... the other day I was doing the "smart phone shuffle" and smacked into a lamp post.
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I am torn.
One one side i see the value of keeping up spots for the 'finder' community. Finding caches is easy with respect to the amount of time required to find a location, place, and maintain a cache, yet alone do it 10's of times.
Not all cachers want the burnden of placing caches, and I would say a majority of cachers are finders rather than placers. Prolonging the life of caches beyond the wishes of the CO or perhaps putting up for adoption keeps the finder community alive and not allowing it to ebb as the OP may be concerned about.
That is my 45% of agreement.
Overall I have to disagree. Caches carry the personality of the placer. Certain people of certain quirks or schticks that go along with the cache which transforms it from a hidden ammo box to really something special. As an example I point to X Marks the Spot. This cache is a signature item for this placer and for it to be adopted by anyone else would be a dis-service to the spirt of how it was placed. If this cacher were to leave the game, I would expect the spot to be surrendered, thus allowing another placer to put something there.
That makes no sense. If your goal is to provide caches for those who only want to find them how does not replacing an old cache with a new one near by accomplish that goal? I'd think it would be better to "rotate the stock", so to speak.
I also don't understand what you meant by that. Could you clarify?
If someone else places a cache in a spot where an archived cache used to be, there's still a cache for the "finder" community.
I'm also not sure I make the same distinction between hiders and finders that you have here. I'd call them both geocachers.
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I have no idea what those arrangements with groudspeak are, or why they have been made. I'm simply commenting on the caches themselves.
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I'm planning on caching near my doctor's office later today. I have time to kill before picking up my wife at the airport afterwards.
If you are talking about PHX, I'd need to cache to prepare to go to that place as well!
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Recently I received some bad news regarding my health.
Instead of going home, I decided to go caching and to try and cheer myself up.
I know what you're thinking, why wouldn't a scenic hike cheer anyone up?
Ha! I wish I could have gone on a scenic hike. I don't hike alone due to health concerns, and I don't have a car, so when I'm by myself I'm limited to places easy to get to by bus.
I decided that I didn't want to use a bus ticket if I didn't have to, so I cached in the area of my doctors office.
I really enjoyed it, but I bet I looked rather strange staring at a gps with tears in my eyes to anyone that passed me while I was on the sidewalk.
Back to the point, I have a geocaching addiction. It's so bad that I can't calm myself down without a hit of caching. Am I alone?
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depends on the age. I saw a link to a 2005 cache here. I would not be that concerned about that one historically, but if it was a 2000 year cache, those are so few and far between, I would hate to see any of them go unless they had to go.
I'd also take location into account. Some places don't allow new cache placements, but the existing ones are allowed to stay.
my thoughts as well, and a couple of their caches were as such.
But hundreds of them were just like this.
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Ok, I didn't make this point clear enough.
My community considers these caches sacred, just because of the "age" and proliferation of the hider.
here is an example
Dare I say, this cache page sucks. The cache itself is a good quality lock and lock on a great trail, but it's nothing "special" anyone could have hidden it and there are thousands of others like it.
My opinion, I know, subjective.
The CO's shut them down. Who are you people to start them back up?
I dunno. I don't even know why they shut them down, I was out of the country at the time, and was rather surprised to see them gone on my return.
The CO's shut them down. Who are you people to start them back up?
edited to fix my formatting issue :S
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Another disclaimer
I'd rather see the majority of the community happy than grumpy old me. I didn't post this to try and change events, but in hopes of finding I wasn't alone in my thinking.
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I think it's a terrible idea and I really don't see the point. That and they are not the reviewer's caches to adopt out.
I was living in the states when the arrangements were made (after starting my caching career in this community)
So I missed the part where permission to adopt was or wasn't handed over.
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Ok, I didn't make this point clear enough.
My community considers these caches sacred, just because of the "age" and proliferation of the hider.
here is an example
Dare I say, this cache page sucks. The cache itself is a good quality lock and lock on a great trail, but it's nothing "special" anyone could have hidden it and there are thousands of others like it.
My opinion, I know, subjective.
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In my area recently, a team with a couple hundred caches that had been caching since the dawn of time as far as I'm concerned, suddenly dissolved, archiving all of their caches, regardless of whether or not they were in good shape, and fit the guidlines.
This caused a shock in our caching community, to have some of our very first finds suddenly archived.
Out reviewer, bless her, stepped up to the plate and took on a project that is above and beyond the call of duty, buy keeping a list of these (over 100) archived caches on her blog, and adopting them out to appropriate owners to keep the caches alive.
Locals have been adopting the caches, and heading out and replacing containers in need of tlc, and keeping the "team caches" as they are known viable for future finders.
This has done wonders for community pride and spirit, don't get me wrong, but I just want opinions on this aspect...
Some of these hides have been really interesting puzzles, or in interesting locations, but the vast majority are lock and locks hidden in stumps on hiking trails.
We have lots of lock and locks on hiking trails in the area, and other than the fact that the cache is old, there's nothing remarkable about most of them. (When I say cache, I mean listing, the containers are mostly replacements)
There's usually no interesting story on the cache page, it's just a description of the container and it's original contents *yawn* after 100 of those, I don't really care what CD's the original owner stocked the cache with.
Some in my community would crucify me for saying this, but I can't hold it in any longer...
I would not have missed most of the team caches.
Disclaimer:
*I'm glad that the community rallied for a cause, and I'm glad we have a wonderful reviewer who obviously cares about the community she is charged with.*
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I think "evil" has become a generic term for caches that are tricky. To me, evil is a micro disguised as a rock in a boulder field.
+1
it's not an insult, it's a description of the hide.
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Jesus ... Some people must be really bored ... I haven´t had this kind of problem, but another thing that annoyes me is, when people place objects like branches or piles of stones on or around the hideout ... What do they think? Go out and hide your own ...
What brings me to an idea. Maybe every member should be "forced" to hide at least one cache themselfs after a particular number of finds. Just to get to know, how it feels as a cacheowner ... Maybe this would cause a little bit more appreciation by one or another ...
IMO this isn't simply and issue of inexperience, it sounds like inexperience combined with lack of common sense.
Most newbies would be able to figure out that this move would be a bad idea without having had something similar happen to themselves.
"hmm, how did I find the cahce? I went to the co-ordinates and looked there. So if I moved the cache from the co-ordinates, people would have trouble finding it." A simple equation most would figure out regardless of how many caches they have found or owned.
The thing with common sense, it's not necessarily common.
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Considering my local cops didn't even care when someone tried to steal my car, I don't think they will care that someone stole, what to them, is a piece of garbage.
Best bet, don't feed the troll. If I was the one to discover the theift, I wouldn't even post a log on the cache page, just a private note to the CO.
Edit: As for the OP question about a "Theif in area" warning system, that would likely only make things worse by feeding the trolls to the point of turning it into a game.
Our local cops didn't really care about the tbs/caches, they cared that this particular maggot was phoning/emailing people to harass them and demand ransom.
I've never heard of another geo-troll with that much time on their hands though.
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on a semi-related note, I saw a cute video on youtube called "to whome it may concern" in which a muggle assumes TFTC stands for Time For The Calamity.
I read it this way now, and every time I see it in a log I chuckle. Makes it enjoyable, rather than annoying.
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I met a donkey in the woods. (see most recent log for details)
AHH AZ, I remember it well... run from the truck to fry's, then from fry's to the truck. Strategy to minimize time spent without a/c
I miss it there, but I do not miss being a melty Canadian.
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Im tired of people leaving just TFTC logs on my caches. So i was thinking of maybe doing an essay themed cache. In order to be able to log it as a find, you have to write at least, oh i dunno lets say a 500 word log. If you dont, i delete your log. ok well i wouldnt actually count to make sure its 500 words, just as long as its descriptive and not just TNLN, SLTFTC... In the description i would explain why its nice to leave good logs. so what ya think, bad idea or has any seen this befor
edit: oh i forgot to add that i would make sure that it was a good hide, worthy of nothing but great logs. I'll be the first one to agree that some hides aren't worth great logs but we all should still try to write a decent log just to lead by example.
I creeped on your profile. I looked at your caches. You seem to place thoughtful, creative caches that get great logs. I didn't see many tftc's at all.
Everyone is going to get some of them, no matter what. Some people are unaware that this is taken badly by some CO's.
My general feeling on the short/nonspecific log issue is that 95% of the time it's because the finder doesn't know any better, not because they are trying to be rude.
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I was told that "GeoTroll" has become part of the cacher's vocabulary list as I was discussing an active cache thief in the area with a friend. Here in Gilbert, AZ we have an active thief. So far this week I have come across three of his signature yellow stickers that he leaves at GZ to let cachers know he has stolen the cache and it's contents. Some of these caches were were found only a few days before I went to GZ to be disappointed by his prominent yellow sticker affixed to a rock, wall or tree; which in my opinion constitutes trash in the environment more than a compliant geocache.
I know that there is little to be done about preventing this looser from stealing the caches and their contents and that the subject comes up regularly. However it occurs to me that it may be worthwhile if there is clearly a thief working an area to let the caching community of that area know. It seems prudent to be aware that there may be somebody lurking around or watching cache sights. This awareness isn't to encourage confrontation, instead it should encourage caution. Thieves are not likely to react well or reasonably when confronted and an accidental encounter could have very unhappy results too.
I wouldn't want to give them any more attention than necessary and raise the question to see if the forums find merit. It may even be something that isn't handled here at all and may be better handled by the state caching associations and their forums.
Please weigh in, and leave your 2 cents.
They are probably not lurking around the corner watching gz, like geocache peepers. They are probably using a geocaching account to get co-ords and then are stealing the cache.
We had one in my area, he would spray paint his name on cache sites, and then he would upload videos of him destroying tbs to youtube. He would contacts TB owners and COs and demand ransom for the safe return of their items. The guy needed to get a life.
Someone actually did call the cops, and there was a PI hired to get information about him, I know the PI and he was one of the first people to introduce me to geocaching, he found out about it from his involvement in this case. So, it's not just a sob story.
Back to the OP, there's nothing you can do about it except what's already been stated "Don't feed the trolls" Don't give them any attention, replace stolen caches, chances are low that they will go back and re-steal them. They will get bored and find something else to do.
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I'd email the CO and ask what they think. Some really want you to sign the log book, some are happy to take your word for it.
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I'd try posting this in a local forum, and with any local caching association.
You might also try placing a note on the cache page in hopes a finder will read it.
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If the map was so accurate it gave the cache away, it was probably a really easy hide.
Knowing the spot in the park where gz is and knowing where the cache is are two different things.
Perhaps you would prefer looking for caches with a higher "d" rating.
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As the thread starter, let me say that [Coldgears was] not the person I was thinking of when I started this thread.
Did the person you were thinking of tell a newbie to quit on a thread where the OP was asking what to do? Thats who I was thinking of...
He said he was thinking of quitting! I was just helping him along...
While this post in question would have been rotf funny if it had been one of the regulars, it's not when it's a newbie. They have no way of knowing the "inside" jokes. In such cases we are laughing at them, not with them.
Saving old caches because they are old
in General geocaching topics
Posted
please don't make this about the ape cache. that has it's own thread.