[Logging "Find" and did not sign log]

Got a thorn in my side and need to vent. I'm sure this topic has been posted before, but I get no results in "search" because ya gotta use words with five letters or more. Anyway, seems to me one of the requirements of logging a find is YOU MUST SIGN THE LOG in order to claim it as a "find". I see too many logs that state "found cache, forgot pen, could not sign log." In my caching world, that is NOT a find, I did not complete requirements for a "find". If you can't retrieve the logbook because you need tweezers, is that a "find"? If you see the cache, but can't quite reach it, is that a "find"? If it's a submerged cache, but it's too cold and you don't want to get wet, but you see it down in the water, is that a "Find"? If you set out for a cache, but run out if gas before you get there, is that a "find" cause you meant to get it, and would have got it if you hadn't run out of gas? To me it is so simple. If I don't find the cache, AND SIGN THE LOG, I log a DNF or a NOTE. I have not deleted anybody's log that said they could not sign, YET, but it burns me up when I read their log! Anybody else feel the same way? Or, should I just get over it.

 

I agree with you about not having a pen. I disagree a little on some of the other scenarios. My take on it is if I as the cache seeker fulfill my side of the bargain but can't sign the log due to circumstances beyond my control, then I'll count it as a find. Specifically I'm talking about a missing log sheet or one that's so wet it can't be signed. The tweezers scenario can go either way. If the cache description says you need special equipment and you show up without it, then DNF. If the description mentions nothing about needing tweezers then I'll count it. The same for the cache being out of reach. If I can't reach it without special equipment and the description doesn't mention needing special equipment then I'll count it as a find if I'm 100% certain what I saw was the cache container.

[How did you serve?]

Just separated in February after 11 years in the USAF.

1999 - 2004 Gunter Annex, Maxwell AFB, AL

2004 - 2006 NATO Programming Centre, Glons, Belgium

2006 - 2008 AF ISR Agency, Lackland AFB, TX

2008 - 2009 FOB Finley-Shields, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan

2008 - 2010 AF ISR Agency, Lackland AFB, TX

 

A few other shorter trips were mixed in through the whole span. I'm already thinking about getting back in.

[my hides are generally easy because...]

 

"Nobody wants to find yet another bison tube under a lamp post cover in a random parking lot"

 

I think that the statistical facts prove that statement to be untrue.

 

I don't think that's the case. Just because people hide them and other people find them doesn't mean they're enjoying it. Speaking for myself I don't know it's another carbon copy cache until I get there unless somebody spills the beans in the logs. I still grab it and get the smiley since I'm there, but there's a pretty big sense of disappointment when I realize it's yet another one of the same.

 

What do you find enjoyable about those caches? The parking lots aren't interesting 99.9% of the time (still running at 100% for me, but I'm sure there's at least one interesting bison-tube-under-parking-lot-lamp-post-cover-cache somewhere). There's no challenge in searching for it because you know exactly where it's going to be the moment your GPS homes you in on a lamp post. All the ones I've seen have been log-only, so there's no opportunity to swap treasures. I really don't see what's attractive about these caches except they're easy for the cache owner to place, requiring little forethought or creativity.

[my hides are generally easy because...]

Some caches it's about the location, those can be easy finds, the reward is the location.

 

Other caches are about the hunt and the satisfaction of solving a puzzle.

 

Not every cache can be in a great location, there needs to be another "dimension". Nobody wants to find yet another bison tube under a lamp post cover in a random parking lot. But if it's a lamp post with a fake nut/bolt, that's a little more fun right? The "Aha!" moment when you grab that nut and it wiggles. If all the "run of the mill" locations for caches were easy finds, what's the reward for those?

 

Edited to add: Of course now that those magnetic bolts are mass produced and are showing up everywhere they're not as much fun as they used to be...