Ed_S

Can I leave swag or expect to find any? No? Then it's a micro. Might go with "other" to explain the larger container the micro is inside.

If it's that buggy to begin with, maybe it needs to be scrapped and re-thought.

Here's one limitation - you want to contact a couple of cachers you met at a meet-and-greet to see if you all want to plan a caching trip. But you don't have their emails, because most people don't walk up to someone and say "Hi, I cache as XX but my real name is ZZZ and my email is aaa@bbb.ccc - what's yours?" Now I know you're going to jump on that, because I used the example of new acquaintances, who would logically not be on your Friends List. But you can't include multiple recipients sending any messaging that goes through GC.

If one is looking for something specific, like aggression, one can find it anywhere. In this case, I initially interpreted your reply to my post as snarky, and was going to reply in kind, until I decided to sit on it a bit. I'm still not sure if your post was sarcastic or something else negative, but in the end I replied without the vitriol I could have used. Not sure how to reply to that without sounding "aggressive" to someone who's all primed to spot aggression everywhere. How do I say "Excuse me for not researching everything you've written for hints on how to interpret your current posts" without sounding aggressive? But wait - you're in Noo Yawk. Isn't everyone aggressive-sounding there? And in Joisey, too? Wow, that's some tiny print! Yes, I'm Ed. I started doing this when you could still get your name as your cache handle. I used to be a lot closer to you - we moved here to Texas last Fall, coming from Youngstown Ohio. I see it happening, too, and I don't like it. Children who were still in diapers when I started caching are now dictating policy and telling me how caching works. (that's only a little bit hyperbolic) Geocaching started out to be about the experience of seeking and finding the cache. I'm not a Luddite, but I like change that results in progress, not change for the sake of change, or change to allow the dilution of the hobby (how's that for a term?). Lamp posts in a parking lot, you know what you're going to get. Well, maybe you don't know about the wasp nest or whatever, but you'll find out about them soon enough. Micros in the woods, now. . . . I frequently say Any putz can hide a micro, or even a nano in the woods that's hard to find. You want to impress me? Hide an ammo can that's tough to find. Really? It's been a while since I've hidden any, and now that we're settled here in Texas, I'm thinking about what I can put where. I might not conform to their wishes - I'm just not much for doing things I don't see the sense in doing. I always thought that they discouraged that because it's hard to tell the CO his Altoids tin is full of water without telling other cachers they're looking for an Altoids tin. Of course, I've been known to email the CO directly (assuming they're still active) and tell them exactly what I found, where I found it, and so on. That way they know, but the other cachers still don't get any extra clues. Oh, but emailing the reviewer who enabled the cache in the first place to let them know the cache is compromised and the owner last logged in in 2005 is remarkably ineffective. At least around here, reviewers ONLY react to Needs Archived posts. Anything less, they ignore. As long as possible, I'll cache my way, and write things up my way. If the day comes when I can't do it the way I want to do it, I'll just stop. No harm, no foul, fun while it lasted.

It's a Message Center - its ostensible purpose is to send and receive messages. Not to "have a social time" or even to "have a group chat." If I want to send a message to one cacher, it's all good. If I want to attach a second recipient, oh HECK no!! As I've repeatedly said, I find that odd. I highly doubt there are "server people" at GS. More likely, an IT person sets things up and they run on their own. Ah, now we come to the crux of the situation - you're against change that you don't like. I respect your opinion, but it's just an opinion, and it's just yours. Here's mine: these forums aren't in any danger of becoming anything like Facebook or any of the other social media. Upvoting and all the rest? If you don't like it, don't do it. I rarely engage in any of that myself - I just don't care about how many "likes" I or anyone got. Since we have to see them, I would like to see who gave the "like" and so on, because I'm curious to see who agrees with me. But it's not even enough of an issue for me to bring it up for discussion anywhere. "Why don't we ...?" topics are how improvements are made, and how people who are perhaps getting fed up with things being retained as cachers. Besides, the time to prevent changes for the sake of change is long gone. Again, my opinion - when they started allowing micros in the woods, in places where you could hide a much larger cache, wouldn't be the annoyance they are if we didn't allow changes. That happened back in the early days, although I remember when hiders were asked why they were putting a micro out there in the woods. And caching used to be about hiking to a specific location, to see something. It wasn't about hiding a magnetic hide-a-key beside a garbage dumpster or sticking a micro under a light post skirt in the middle of a parking lot. The "change genie" is long out of the bottle, and there's no putting it back. Either accept that change in inevitable, or be miserable.

Sure I do - but you'll also have to admit that the phones are the tool of choice for the younger set, right? In other words, dinosaurs like myself (and apparently you) are losing ground in the "phones to GPSr" ratio.

I wasn't referring to any spam - I get practically zero spam from anywhere, and that's fine with me. I was simply replying to others on here who referenced receiving spam as a reason to not permit any additional recipients to one's message from the message center to a fellow cacher. One recipient = good. Two or more recipients = can't be done, and your wheels will fall off if you try!

With all the IT nerds Groundspeak employs, nobody has come up with a spam filter that works reasonably well? I accept that the reason for not allowing multi-person communication in the geo sites is to control spam or other garbage, but isn't that a little 1990s? I mean, if that's truly a concern, then let's go back to hand-held GPS and stop using the spam-collecting phones, instead of pushing the GPS devices to the back of the shelf. Nobody ever spammed my Garmin eTrex. Again, I accept that this is the way it is, but I think it's unnecessarily restrictive and ill-thought in today's world.

Yes, I know I can communicate with my friends via many different forms of communication. I simply wondered why it was possible to send a message to one geo-friend, but not two (or more). One can't even add a second recipient to a discussion between two individuals. For example: "Hey, let's go caching this weekend!" "Great - and so-and-so wants to go, too. I'll include so-and-so in this message so we can all be on the same page." Nope - can't do it. You have to stop your discussion and start it again on a different medium. I find that puzzling in its lack of utility, given the technology we have available today. At least I now know why it's like that.

I can start a conversation with one other friend on my geo-list, so why can't I add another friend or two to that conversation? It seems to me that this would be a common sense use for one's friend list. I'm told it's not possible to include more than one recipient to a message when messaging friends. If that's true, may I suggest Groundspeak consider adding this function?

Well that's annoying. Why have a list of geo-friends if you can't contact more than one of them at a time? (rhetorical question).

Like the title says - I'd like to start a discussion between myself and a few of my geo-friends. I don't see any way to start the conversation, but I know there must be a way. What am I missing?

At a minimum I bring my Swiss Army Knife and a mirror-on-a-stick (if I'll be looking for urban micros).

Yes, it does. I haven't had a go at it, and I don't plan to. I like to be able to walk, instead of roll, away from the dinner table! I'm always up for a good steak, though.

I think it can be a game or a hobby, depending on what you want to get out of it. To me it's a hobby. Your mileage may vary.

That's caching the way you (and I) cache. But you know there are cachers out there to whom the stats/numbers are all-important. Are they doing it wrong?

Good points. Me too. But I started thinking about what constitutes a "game" versus a "hobby." There are different types of geocachers, who cache for different reasons. We all know "stats people" for whom it's all about the numbers. And we all know people who don't give a flying freep about the numbers, they're in it for the experience of finding a cache, whether it involves a hike or just pulling up to a lamp post. It gives them pleasure to make the find. They're the hobbyists. The people who are about the numbers are the gamers. These are, of course, only generalities. Your mileage may vary.

Someone mentioned in a discussion that the geo-website refers to geocaching as a game. I prefer to think of it as a hobby, and would urge the Powers That Be™ to change the site's description to that, too. Here's why: in a game, one competes against others, and teams compete against other teams. Keeping statistics is important, and "winning" is paramount. With a hobby, though, people are in it for the enjoyment of the activity. They want to share their experiences with others, and cooperate with others who also enjoy the hobby. Let's be a hobby instead of a game.

At the risk of touching off another tempest-in-a-teapot, that's how I cache. I'm on the lookout for other cachers, and if I see someone else in the act of caching, I go introduce myself. I think it's sad when people on here report having been caching for years, but only know a handful of other cachers. As for what the website calls it, maybe they'll change it. But at the end of the day, it's we geocachers who determine how things are, not some keyboard cruncher.

A passing thought: "Games" are about teams and stats and competition. "Hobbies" are about enjoyment and sharing it with others.

One thing I discovered early on - an adult male lurking in the bushes near a playground full of little kids arouses suspicion. An adult male WITH A DOG lurking in the bushes near a playground full of kids does not. I even got my dog a basic account of her own.

Thanks for the provenance, my fellow old-timer.

"Yinz" get all the good stuff!

NE Ohio area.

There was a time when they were called "approvers" - whether that was their official title or not. In many circles, the terms are still used interchangably. I would argue that they do more than just review - they do have the power to deny publication of caches that fail to meet their (sometimes arbitrary) criteria.