Cynsayshi

Obviously, I'm never going to change lazy people's minds on this. I was warned (after the fact) that the GS forum community was too close-minded. I guess they were right. I'm done.

Believe it or not, some of us are involved with the Geocaching Community all the time, and the the only smiley that we get is on the faces of our friends. I could care less what the guidelines are. I have the mentality that I don't need to find every cache, and if a challenge is too great because I have already found the requisite caches, and they don't count, oh well. What bothers me is that you seem to want to create a challenge that excludes, or makes it extremely hard for the long time cachers to complete. You want to disregard their past accomplishments and the very fact that they built the Geocaching Community that you say that you want to support. I don't think you read my original post. I am not the one creating this challenge, nor do I intend to. I was talking about an annual challenge that is very popular and highly supported in our area, but that got archived for the 2013 year because of a lot of issues involving someone coming in and logging a find before anyone participating in the SPIRIT OF THE CHALLENGE could have logged it. Our long-time cachers do participate and have a good time doing it as well. You might take a look at the cache I'm talking about (GC432W3) before saying that it would have been too hard for you to accomplish without dipping into past finds.

I can see the point on some challenge caches for removing the date requirements - things like having to find certain milestones, or specific caches. However, there is also a certain element of laziness I'm seeing in these responses for the type of cache I'm talking about. It's not a past-date requirement - having to find caches in 2010, which means someone who just started 3 days ago will never qualify. It's an encouragement to get out and get involved with the geocaching community each year. But it sounds like some of you just don't get that. How sad.

Frankly, there are plenty of challenge caches around that do allow previous finds. I own 2 myself. But what is wrong with putting out a yearly challenge cache that encourages locals and out-of-towners to plan for finding caches, attending events (which requires people therefore to hold events for everyone to attend), find a variety of terrain ratings, etc. in the current calendar year? One of our local cachers puts out a highly anticipated challenge cache each year. It's something to look forward to at a more dreary part of the year. There's a lot of groups getting together to make caching runs to nearby counties and state parks. There are plenty of events held, partly for the fun of getting together, but also to help meet the events requirement. There is much anticipation and much cheering on the local FaceBook groups when the first groups announce they've made the find - and yes, there are often several finds near one another. Far from mean-spirited, the challenge is a boost for local cachers. Both types should be allowed.

We are having this discussion locally due to the archiving of this year's Geocachers To Do List challenge cache in the north Texas area. I've read both sides of the argument and I have some comments. So, the date rule (yea or nay) is going to be unfair to either newbies, who don't have a bunch of caches under their belts to choose from, or veteran cachers, who may have to travel a long distance to get new caches to meet the requirements of a date challenge. I'm sorry, but the decision to coddle the veterans rather than help out the newbies is pretty selfish. The current rule is like holding a golfing competition, but telling people that they can post their score from any previous round on that course, regardless of year. Pretty pointless competition, if you ask me. And honestly, are there really areas that are SO SATURATED that no one is ever putting out new caches? Maybe some of those veterans need to be putting out a few more for each other, or encouraging local newer players to do so, rather than complaining that they have to travel too far.

They are starting to appear here and there. One of the many vehicle TBs I discovered last weekend at the Texas Challenge had both a traditional and a QR code. I scanned the QR code, but it was just the trackable number, not the GC page. Plus, not everyone with smartphones for caching uses the "official" app, so taking them to the page may not be as helpful as you think.

Pardon my confusion, as I haven't spent much time on this forum. If a coin is listed in the inventory of a cache, that means it's been sent out into the world by its owner, right? What do you mean by going up to the cache hoping to add it to your collection? Do you mean adding its icon to your trackables page by logging it? Or by literally adding it to your collection? If you mean the former, you might want to clarify. If you mean the latter, that sounds like exactly the problem that's being described. I've sent out a number of trackables and coins, mostly micro coins. I've had a number of both disappear, which is disappointing but I've accepted that as a risk of sending them into the world. I've just obtained a new coin from the Texas Challenge Mega Event, though, and I'm seriously considering holding onto it and sending out a proxy instead.

Bad link now. Is there an updated link?

We are also new to geocaching. Just started last weekend with the Magellan eXplorist GC I bought my husband for Father's Day, as I wanted to get him something that would help us get out and about as a family. We have 2 small boys who are just thrilled with the whole idea of treasure hunting. I will check the texasgeocaching site as well.