seneca

If you have good reason to believe that, then I truly feel sorry for you. What a pathetic society you must live in.

Actually, its not really a debate. Its just another demonstration of how its no fun to carry a concealed people killer if you can't go around and tell everybody about it. Its an ego thing. Everytime the topic "what do you take when you go geocaching", comes up, it provides a great opportunity to brag about the size of your cannon (and its attachments). Apparently its a compensation for being small in other areas.

WIBeanzPeople, if you want the history on the "moratorium", check out this thread from February of last year.

Don't worry about the math - just accept it and be sure to make friends with Jeremy!

I have just pinned this thread to my Geoaching Favorites for quick reference. Thanks.

Well take your country: The U.S. has 3,537,438 total square miles - the rules allow 100 caches per square mile so you could have 353,743,800 caches. Sounds like a lot. But if geocaching became so popular that 15% of the people in the U.S. took it up, and over time hid 8 caches each - then all of the allowable space would be used up. (by the way - if half of those players became premium members Jeremy would have annual revenues of more than 1.2 billion dollars. He's such a nice guy, isn't he. )

I’d like to do something that doesn’t require me to do anything - like being the designer for a separate section of the site devoted to virtual caching. (oh come on, of course I know that’s a low blow - I’m just joking - OK....)

I always pack my General Dynamics M1 Abrams with 120mm M256 smooth bore and M828 KE Tactical rounds.

The problem with a site search is that this site contains quite a few pages - say you want to know where virtual caches are discussed on the site. You do the google search: site:geocaching.com Virtual - and get 4130 responses! (including all of the virtual caches that have been posted). Is there anyway to do a google search that would filter out all of the cache pages?

Lesenergy, it can't be done. Unless you hide the cache yourself, you can never be certain that the hider had obtained permission to hide it. There are a lot of people out there who lie - even land managers (they can be bribed). Simply put, by your definition, you cannot go Geocaching. I respect your morals, and suggest that you live with your definition, and accept that you will need to find something else to do with your GPS. At least it will come in handy if anyone insists that you get lost.

Whether or not a cache is "commercial" is something that I really leave up to Geocaching.com to decide. So far they have done a good job in this regard. In the past they have been quite cautious and have tended to not allow any cache if it appears to have a commercial intent - including the intent of simply promoting a business, even if no money is required to be spent. I for one think this is the right approach. It does not appear to me that this "hotel" cache has any commercial intent and the fact that you have to enter a hotel is just ancilliary to your intentions. I think it passes the "if it walks like a duck" test, and if it were up to me I would allow it. I would not be at all perturbed though, if it was dissallowed. I might have a little more problem with the "Ice Cream" shop cache mentioned above though - particularly if it were placed there by the owner of the shop.

Criminal, you could set up a website where you list geocaches and then charge a 1000 people $30 each for a premium membership. All you would have to give them back is pocket queries..... Mmm ....nah, forget it.... it would never work.....

If that is true, and your injury resolves without significant permanent effects (like most cuts and bruises do) then I think you should just follow the advice given by most on this thread. I practice personal injury law, and many of these types of cases (in my jurisdiction anyways) are driven by the degree of damage caused. If the incident caused you to lose an eye, or caused a permanent crippling leg injury, then of course talking to a lawyer would be a prudent thing to do. In my jurisdiction, land owners are obligated to take reasonable steps to minimize unusual or unreasonable hazards on property and face liability for injuries if they don't. However, what is considered unusual/unreasonable in a child's daycare facility is quite different than what is considered unusual/unreasonable in a wooded park. Persons are also presumed to be able to see what is there to be seen, and many of these types of cases that go to court often find that the injured party was contributorily negligent (substantially reducing any award of damages). From your description of what happened, I would just chalk it up as a nasty "boo boo". If I brought it to the attention of the land manager (which I think is a good idea), I would not go out of my way to say I was Geocaching (it being irrelevant for the purpose of bringing the incident to their attention), but I would certainly not make any attempt to conceal what I was doing, and would probably tell them if asked. I would probably just write them a quick note advising them of the hazard and the location (maybe it would be best not to give them the exact cooridinates! .

This has apparently been in the works for about a year and a half now. If there are firm plans for this site to create a separate game involving virtuals, then I think it would be helpful if a detailed statement of these plans were posted here along with an approximate launch date. That would probably shut me up (for a little while anyways )

It certainly is an issue that won't go away. Perhaps it should be addressed. Just an idea.

In a community game such as Geocaching, tact and diplomacy are good skills to have. Obviously some people don’t have such skills, and they will not win many friends by publicly making disparaging remarks on the cache pages. It is difficult to criticize a cache in a diplomatic way that doesn’t hurt feelings. I try to avoid making such criticisms, unless I feel that it is really necessary. Private e-mails are usually the best way to go about dealing with a problem with a cache.

Testing my GPS accuracy

There are a number of perils faced by all geocaches: Plundering (which is common) ; destruction by fire / flood/ bad weather ; removal by authorities; destruction by animals etc... etc... We have to accept those perils as part of the game. Subigo is clearly a jerk and his dishonest, mean spirited antics should be despised by all geoacachers, . but ultimately, his actions and those of others like him are just another minor peril that caches are subject to. There are too many caches out there, and too many good members of this sport, for his actions to have any real impact. I agree with BrianSnat on this one - just ignore him and treat his actions as any other unfortunate peril that caches face.

No. I never cross-check the logbook with the online logs. I trust that players will not cheat (and don't really care if they do). For me, playing policeman is not part of the game. If I did come across an obviously bogus find (hasn't happened yet) I guess I would delete it. I do not believe I am contravening any guidelines, which simply advise me the quality control of my caches are my responsibility, as opposed to the resp/h1>bility of Geocaching.com.

I never thought for a moment that his goal was anything other than to maliciously cause mischief.

It is unfortunate, but for quite some time now, whenever I see a new player start posting on the same day he/she registered, it doesn't take much for me to suspect their sincerity. Of course this is not fair to all those genuine new players who are simply really keen and want to jump right into the fray (and I have no problem with those type). I would however strongly suggest to any tadpole, that they spend their first week having a really good look at the forums, without participating. Learn how to use all of the features, in particular the search features. Spend a lot of time reviewing the topics on the Getting Started forum and post your initial questions and inquiries there. If you don't take this route, and instead jump in and naively make a few goofy posts, there is a liklihood that a lot of people will question your credibility - and perhaps even suspect you of being a dreaded TROLL! I think that a rule restricting posts to the Getting Started section for the first week, would probably be an act of kindness to many new, gung-ho, players.

I think the logbook is one of the defining elements of a physical cache, and should be absolutely required. Container + logbook + location = geocache. I am not too concerned about "verification", but notionally the logbook is the physical evidence of the hider to cache to finder linkage. I want creativity and freedom from restrictive rules, but still strongly believe that there should be some elemental consistency -and a logbook requirement is just that. To me, allowing a physical cache not to have a logbook, would be akin to a Haiku poetry club allowing 6 lines in a Haiku, or an Origami club allowing the use of staples!

I love the English countryside, and actually dream of geocaching there! I often look at the UK cache map to see if there are new caches in the areas of England that I am familiar with (south around Portsmouth and northwest in Cheshire). There are such great public right-of-way paths through farms, and so many quaint villages, and ancient antiquities to see. The last time I was in England was in October 2001, just a couple of months before I started Geocaching. I'm really looking forward to going back again and finding my first cache there (perhaps this summer). (by the way - this is a great topic)

Gorak, if I have somehow offended you by saying some not so nice things about Subigo the Sockpuppet, then I apologize.

I thought there was an unwritten guideline that the rules against personal attacks didn't apply to obvious trolls (particularly when the troll allegation is confirmed by TPTB)! I hope I don't get my first warning meter indication.