Legochugglers
-
Posts
499 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by Legochugglers
-
-
Irrespective of the merits of your suggestion, I can't see Groundspeak paying to have it done unless they are unable to find sufficient unpaid volunteers.
Rgds, Andy
I agree. I understand that Groundspeak recruit volunteers by invitation from a 'pool' of cachers that offer their services. I wonder if anybody knows how extensive this 'pool' is?
-
I felt sick the other week so stayed at home and just had enough energy to look at a Cypher type puzzle cache that was near the top of my unfound list. I was quite surprised to find a solution and bit by bit I got some good co-ordinates that certainly made me feel better. In fact, I decided it may be helpful if i forced myself to get a bit of fresh air so went to look for the cache. This made me feel a lot better. After following the co-ords I was pleased to make a quick find which confirmed my decyphering skills and now I felt even better. It would appear I was actually cured by a Puzzle cache!!.
-
Have you spent a day of caching with other cachers even though you've already found all or most of the caches on their agenda?
If yes you might not be into numbers.
No, never, except when I was doing a maintenance circuit of some of our own caches with a friend who hadn't done them before.
Have you ever stopped in a parking lot or rest area and noticed a cache less than 200 feet away chose not to hunt it even though you were not pressed for time?
If yes you might not be into numbers.
No, I have always been drawn to have a look.
Have you ever accidentally walked right past a cache and decided not to go back for it even though it wasn't far?
If yes you might not be into numbers.
No, I believe I have always found a way to go back even if its later that day or a few days later.
Do you have one or more caches within a mile of your home that you have no desire to find?
If yes you might not be into numbers.
No again as I have been a dedicated 'slave to a radius' and enjoyed every minute of it.
Have you ever driven or walked up to within 100 feet of a cache and realized it was not the sort of cache you enjoy and continued on your way without making an attempt to find it?
If so you may not be into numbers.
Never, however I may include in my subsequent log why I may not have enjoyed that particular place.
Have you ever found just a few cache in a park but left the rest unfound because you had seen enough of the park?
If yes, you might not be into numbers.
I have to say that I will generally hunt till I drop.
When someone asks about your find count do you usually have to look at your profile because you don't remember it?
If yes you might not be into numbers.
I could tell you within about 20 so I guess this could be construed as a no.
Do "milestone" finds like 100th, 500th, 1,000th have no meaning to you?
If so you might not be into numbers.
I am a little bit competetive so I have to admit enjoying milestones and have teed up specific caches/walks as milestone finds. Although not really many milestones in our case.
Is finding 5-10 caches in a day your idea of "power caching"?
If yes then you might not be into numbers.
No, 5-10 is a good day out/nice walk with the family and dog or an explore of a new area to us.
Would you rather spend 5 hours hunting 1 cache than 1 hour finding 5 caches?
If yes, you might not be into numbers.
I will regularly do both of the above however I would maybe pick up a couple of 'cache and dash's' on the way to the 5 hour hunt!!
Do you enjoy multi caches and really don't think about only getting one find for multiple stages?
If yes you might not be into numbers.
Yipeee, Yes, I definately dont worry about no additional smilies for the multiple stages.
Have you ever been on a group hunt and not logged a find on a cache because you didn't feel that you contributed enough to the hunt?
If yes, you might not be into numbers.
Never really been part of a group hunt but would never decline to sign the log if I was.
Have you attended an event in a cache rich park, but left without single find because being off hunting caches would have interfered with socializing?
If you have you might not be into numbers.
I hope I would find a way to pick up as many caches and do plenty of socializing.
Have you done only 3-4 caches and called it a day on a 100+ cache power trail?
If you have you might not be into numbers.
We have never done a 'power trail' of that magnitude however I cant remember ever not completing a trail of 15/20 caches that we set off to do.
A lot of no's in my answers which would suggest I might be into numbers although I couldnt answer the question 'Do you know how many finds you have?'. Maybe I'm just too honest but as long as I'm having fun and not upsetting anybody else my question is DOES IT MATTER?. Of course not.
-
I think I must be pretty lucky in my general area as the 'community' seems to Police and work together pretty well in recording and reacting to NM and NA logs. It would appear that reviewer intervention and action is also timely and thorough. Sometimes it just needs a few experienced cachers to 'club' together to ensure regular offenders are gently advised of the requirements. As long as this is polite and informative then most people will react positively and the problems can be dealt with.
I do not see the above as bullying but simply trying to keep your geographical caching area a positive experience for new and visiting cachers alike.
-
This discussion brings to mind an old proverb (amended slightly) that I often repeat to my children.
"For When the One Great Cacher
comes to 'log' against your name,
He writes – not that you Won or Lost
but How You Played the Game."
-
Coming from Dartmoor, I'm aware that some things hide. Pixies, for example. You can sometimes catch them out of the corner of your eye, but look directly in their direction and they fade out of view.
I believe the same is true of Geocaches. They're wily, wild and cunning creatures that deserve respect. This is not just a case of stumbling over Tupperware, it's a battle of wits between man and cache. Sometimes it's easy, the nesting geocache covering itself with a layer of perfectly aligned sticks, or crawling into the only cache-sized hole in the area, but sometimes the cache is wise and careful.
I have developed some tricks to hunting wild geocaches that I thought I might share in the hope others would share their tricks with me...
- Close your eyes and slowly open them, allowing them to fall naturally on the cache's location.
- Turning your back to the cache area, then suddenly turning around and pointing an accusing finger out whilst shouting "Hah!", the cache will be surprised and forget to conceal itself.
- Say loudly "Oh well, another DNF. I suppose I'll have to give up now", then walking away around the corner. The cache will relax and lower its guard. If you suddenly rush back, you will spot it immediately.
- Sit back against a tree and pretend to go to sleep. A geocache cannot resist the temptation to creep up on sleeping cachers and check out the contents of their caching bag. Listen for the rustling and then pounce!
How do you uncover your prey?
Its amazing how many times you can walk away from GZ and then , just go back for 'one more look' and there it is! Now I know why, it relaxed and let its guard down.
- Close your eyes and slowly open them, allowing them to fall naturally on the cache's location.
-
It's that rancid rainwater that runs out of the folds in the plastic bag down your coat sleeves when you are opening it that is really unpleasant. (Well I hope it's rainwater!).
Often the bags have actually acted as a collector of rain water anyway and the bottom of the bag is wetter than if the container had just been left out in the open.
-
It seems that the game is controlled by a company, Groundspeak, who act along the lines of a dictatorship rather than a democracy.
That's not quite true. Groundspeak operate one website where geocaches are listed (geocaching.com), there are several other sites that also list geocaches (although they are all much smaller than geocaching.com), and there's nothing to stop anyone else creating another listing site if they wish.
As Groundspeak own geocaching.com it's reasonable that they controll how geocaching.com is run, but they can't control how the game operates on other listing sites. As for running geocaching.com democratically, you wouldn't expect Barclays Bank to operate democratically so why should Groundspeak be any different?
The choice is, if you don't like the way Groundspeak do it you can use one of the other listing sites instead (as many people in the past have done).
I was not aware that there were other geocache listing sites. Can you be more specific? Is Barclays Bank into any sort of sport? I suppose RBS does support rugby but I don't think they have any say in how the game is played. Are there any other games/sports that are owned by a company?
The problem is that if you don't like the way Groundspeak do things you can't change it. I suppose GAGB is the closest thing we have to a local "Geocaching Committee" but as someone said earlier in this discussion anything GAGB says does not apply to the Groundspeak game.
What can you do about a poor quality cache? There is a cache in my area which is at a T junction on narrow roads. There is no parking close to the cache and at the cache site you can only get your car half way off the road. Unless you have an interest in T junctions there is no reason I can see for placing the cache at this spot except for a place to put a cache. I don't know what Groundspeak's opinion of such caches are. I suspect they just don't know about them, but even if they did know, would they do anything? These poor quality caches are being placed every day and I think if allowed to continue will bring down the standard of the game.
I share your views about the percieved 'lack of quality' with some cache types/placements however little is going to change if cache finders do not log honest and constructive feedback regarding the cache placement.
You don't seem to be logging any of your finds so your argument seems rather hypocrytical.
Of course, this could be a 'sockpuppet' account so I fear that many of your previous forum questions you probably know the answer to anyway.
-
Co-ordinates should be spot on. No exceptions.
If you are taking people to a lovely spot/view etc then it shouldnt really matter to the CO so they should simply publish the most accurate co-ordinates possible.
If you are creating a more sneaky cache then, my view is that, the more accurate the co-ordinates but searchers still struggle to find the cache then the better cache they appear to have created. When a finder states that they looked and looked and then they saw it in exactly where the arrow pointed then I feel pleased with the hide that I have created and vice versa if I am the seeker.
-
Wellies, Aldi £7.99.
Had them 7 years and have never got my feet wet.
-
My first forum post and it's unfortunate that it has to be on this subject. The acronym MYOB comes to mind here. If it is not you armchair logging or it isn't your cache its being done to what business is it of yours? It seems to me that if you have that much extra time to police other people's activities, you have too much time on your hands. Remember that when you point the finger at others, there are usually 3 of them pointing back at you. That includes me with this post, so on that note, I'll go back to minding my own business and leave you guys to yours.
Peace to all of you and best of everything in all of your endeavours whatever they may be. Remember that this is a light and fun activity. Anyone who is angry is obviously not having fun and should really look at changing the way they are doing things or quit caching altogether. This is just my humble opinion.
Peace and love to you as well. I would be interested to hear your views on why you think armchair logging is acceptable? Additionally, I would like to hear why you think that discussing a practice that appears to contravene the spirit of a game we enjoy isn't any of our business.
Ps- I work really hard to make sure I have plenty of time on my hands.
-
Don't forget that changes in D/T ratings can work both ways in that you may have a gap on a certain combination and then a CO amendment could occur and fill that gap.
I guess its the chance you take when you play this sort of 'Game in a Game'. Additionally, if a gap suddenly appears on your grid surely it means you can then continue the game and hunt out another cache to fill the gap or you could just make sure that you have done at least 2 of each D/T combination of the grid. Now that would be a real achievement?
-
And yet it is so easy to accommodate both requirements: simply list Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Scotland & Wales. That there is such opposition to this by both Irish cachers and by Groundspeak gives a strong implication that the decision has more to do with politics than geography.
Hardly practical though, is it? If you're caching on the border of the ROI and NI you're unlikely to care much about the boundary as far as finding caches is concerned, and having two separate "countries" there would be inconvenient. The same for England and Wales or Scotland.
Yet if you're on the island of Ireland you're not likely to be at all interested in a Manx or Scottish cache even though there could be several within 40 miles or so. It seems logical to use physical geography in this case, as it is for the IOM.
I seem to recall that the caching State/Province of South-West England was the subject of a similar discussion, as we wanted to bring this in and eliminate caches in Wales that are irrelevant due to the Bristol Channel. Previous to the State/Province upgrade, cachers in Weston-Super-Mare were wasting much of their local PQ with lists of caches in South Wales that were 70 miles away by road.
Gibraltar seem more of an anomaly to me, as it's regarded as a separate country even though for caching purposes it's part of Spain. I guess it's because you have to wait at a border there and produce a passport so it's nice not to be fooled into thinking that these caches are as accessible as the ones just over the Spanish border.
Perhaps the whole argument could be bypassed by calling the list "regions" (or something) instead of "countries".
Perhaps the whole argument could be bypassed by calling the list "regions" (or something) instead of "countries".
Totally agree with HH here. The proverbial 'storm in a tea cup'. 'Countries', 'Regions', 'Districts' 'Georepublics', what ever you want to call them is irrelevant to Geocaching in my opinion. At the ned of the day we are playing a game looking for plastic containers which is surely far more important.
-
-
If it is enforced on GC then it's a gc rule. As I'm not a gagb member, therefore not bound by their rules, does that mean I can list a cache on GC ignoring this rule?
If the answer is no please don't treat us as idiots.
Do you have a cache to place/list that may contravene this guideline/rule? If you do then no doubt the reviewers will interpret each case on its merits and do the best to accomodate your requirements.
If it is in a position that is overlooked by a home/business to the extent that it could cause problems etc for those home/business owners and the cachers hunting for it I hope it is disallowed because I think that there are so many better places to hide a cache for everyones enjoyment.
No one will treat you like an idiot as long as you dont act like one.
-
Definately countryside for me as well. However, I will not ignore the urban caches and will tend to check the listing and try and determine what is involved with each cache.
A nano on someones fence has no appeal whatsoever, however a multi/puzzle cache taking me around a town/historic area can often be excellent entertainment.
-
Hi there. I already own a few caches but trying to work out where the devil i get the magnetic ones from. When i look online as soon as the word GEO is mentioned the price seems to double. Any one know where i can buy them at a decent price or what other items work well.
MMMMM.... I thought you 'did' own a few caches but had disabled/archived them when you 'threw your teddy out' the other day?
You are obviously determined to set caches and I applaud you for that but instead of flooding the area with magnetic Nanos why not turn your attention to 2 or 3 really good traditional caches in your favourite area with a well designed listing page encouraging visitors to come and share your enthusiasm for where they are placed.
-
I disagree that all places in a town will almost certainly be overlooked - there are plenty of places that aren't, and they are usually nicer places with better hiding places too.
I take your point Andy, you are quite right. However I still think this new guideline takes something away from the game. Perhaps if I start caching again I'll stick to countryside caches.
Hi Newbie
You could take in a countryside 'Power Trail'. Most CO's set them on good rural walks with plenty to entertain walkers, families etc and there are often a variety of different containers and types of hides. Check out one of them and then report back whether you think they are a good development or a bad one.
-
Seasons greetings and welcome to geocaching. I have heard you have some great caching territory down in Cornwall so I am sure you cant wait to get out and do some searching.
Maybe you could post back on to this thread when you have found your first one and tell us how you got on. Warning- it can be addictive.
Good luck.
-
I have always found that my local reviewers have acted with common sense and provided sensible advice and explanation where disputes have arisen. I Suggest you consider working with your reviewer by asking them for help and guidance rather then berating them in the forums.
-
The NM, NA process can take years before it is finally archived by the reviewer.
We are lucky here in Arizona in that this process rarely takes more than three months.
Of course that does little to remedy the low-quality containers full of soggy paper that get left behind.
NOW... all we need to do is agree on the difference between a good cache and a bad cache?
I can tolerate nearly any cache with a dry log having space for me to sign and I didn't have to dodge the property owner to make the find.
Naturally, there is a whole lot of room for improvement beyond those minimums.
But surely that is where the geocaching community starts to see problems eg where we start to 'TOLERATE' the layby cache, the guardrail cache, the roadside hedge cache just because it has a dry log. Maybe we should be a little more vociferous about pointing out some failings to educate future finders who will subsequently become future placers.
We will continue to see poor hides if finders do not record their true experiences when finding a cache.
-
I think you will always come across good caches and poor caches and whilst generally more experienced cachers will set better hides this is not always the case.
Education is in my opinion the best way to deal with this issue.
It doesn't matter who it is, if it is a poor hide then place an honest but polite view of your experience when you log your find. If everybody does this then the cache will either be ignored or the CO will soon realise that their cache isn't very good and will hopefully change/archive it. This will help other new cachers see that poor caches will not be tolerated and good caches will recieve nice, positive comments.
NOW... all we need to do is agree on the difference between a good cache and a bad cache?
-
Definately Stile.
Stiles I have come across and stepped over on many occasions.
Styles I have avoided like the plague.
-
A lot of over complication here in my opinion.
FTF is the ........First to find the cache and sign the log. Simples.
If you dont sign the log you cant confirm you're first to find
Alas, it really isn't as simple as it might first seem. First, just because you cannot confirm that you were the first to find doesn't necessarily mean that you weren't the first to find. Second, couldn't you confirm that you were the first to find by photographing the empty log -- even if you didn't sign it? Third... Fourth... Fifth...
Sorry, I cant accept that. You find a cache that has just been published, you open it, there is a log book to log your find. If nobody has signed it than you sign it as the FTF. Timing of internet logs, taking pictures etc etc means nothing. There is only one rule for FTF ie you are FTF and sign the log.
But it's not a rule. It's more of an accepted community norm.
Aesthetic amendment for the sake of clarity for some;
There is only one community norm for a FTF ie you are FTF and sign the log.
How did these get approval?
in United Kingdom and Ireland
Posted
I feel that there is a significant difference between a North American power trail and a circular walk in the British countryside. Only time will tell but I'm a great believer in actually doing a cache or series and then providing my views rather than exporting criticism from another continent.
I am also a great believer in that any game/pastime that gets people/families out walking in the countryside together, having fun is absolutley essential and should never be criticised.
I do agree, however that even in a large series each cache ought to have some form of information regarding the area even if it is only an abbreviated/slightly amended copy of the first page. I also hope that the CO has factored in the level of commitment and time that this sort of trail will need, again, only time will tell.