Pond Bird

That'd make Antarctica a tad difficult since there are no countries in that continent. "Antarctica" should be excluded in any challenge cache requirement in my opinion. What I'd like to do is a "Create your own challenge" cache. But I don't know how to do a Project-GC checker code. What are the rules for your Create Your Own Challenge? I was wondering that myself. I have no clue what that means.. Maybe it's something like you see in some fitness apps. Set a goal in your profile to work for, whether it's some Delorme idea, highest caches, fill the D/T grid. Nothing really stopping somebody from doing that sort of thing, and has been going on for years, but maybe they mean something a bit more formal, like get a certificate or medal at the end. It's kind of humorous regarding the Antarctica question, as this was previously answered with the Bi-Polar concept, which in essence was approved, merely for the lack of finding enough local Users that have achieved it (Item 8 in the Help Center article). I mean, if folks who spend a great deal of their time commenting in this thread can't keep things straight, I can only imagine how hard it is for the Reviewers I meant to say this was a "choose" your own challenge not create.

Sometimes accounts are for "Groups" and after a while, only one of the geocachers in the group actually maintains the caches so many of them get archived. What I would like to see done is reviewers monitoring who is in each group that submits cache listings if its not under a player account.

That'd make Antarctica a tad difficult since there are no countries in that continent. "Antarctica" should be excluded in any challenge cache requirement in my opinion. What I'd like to do is a "Create your own challenge" cache. But I don't know how to do a Project-GC checker code.

I posted an NM on this cache since they didn't actually "find it" and another posted a DNF, one posted a note doubting the cache was still there -- and it has been almost 5 years since an actual find on that cache!

I'm using the message center, but I sent a message and sometimes Its sending them and sometimes it's not. A few hours ago I got the "Communication Error" message a couple times. Now, some of my conversations have disappeared and another one is showing up and down even outside the outline. One of the cachers I'm messaging says that it's "Out of Whack" - the other is unable to respond.

I was asking about the online shopping sites. Sometimes it says a good price, but then come to find out its way more because of "shipping" and theres no option to do free shipping. I don't need the item in 2 days so I don't want to pay for shipping.

I'd like to buy some geocaching containers, but every site I've found doesn't seem to be trustworthy. Anybody know of a site that has good prices, free shipping options, and safe with my payment information?

It usually depends on how big the park is and how big the particular pavilion is that you plan on using. If you can find a phone number or email for the Town or village Parks Department that would be best. If not I would say just call town hall or something like that and ask if it's required for you to reserve it. You might not have to There is no "parks" department on either site so should I call the village clerk or mayor or town supervisor?

I decided to have the event at the park nearby. I can't seem to find information from the village or town sites on reserving the pavillion? Should I call the village clerk office to see if they have information on if I can/can't use either pavillion?

It depends on the location. If it is inside a restaurant or other business then yes you should contact the owner/manager for permission. If you are just having it outside at a park for instance you might not need permission, although if you plan on using a large pavilion at a park they do usually require to reserve and pay for the use of those. Like I said it really depends on the location. Should I call and ask if I can have a group in the restaurant for about an hour and only in the corner at lets say 7-8pm and purchasing items from the restaurant is optional.

Now, to find a location. Like hiding a cache, you need permission, do I call the location and ask if I can have an event there?

Why do you know that such caches are any more put out to get FPs than the caches you call innovative and fun? Where does extreme start for you? Personally I like hiking caches and have no interest into innovative caches at all. I'm not sure where extreme starts. But many people do like challenging hides, puzzles, etc. I know of a cacher who loves challenging puzzles and hides nice creative caches. While I don't understand why he hides fun caches but gives favorite points to challenging puzzle unfun caches, every cacher has their own viewpoint on favorites. I take the "favorite" literally and some thing its a "more thought out and challenging compared to others like it" circumstance. I'm saying there should be a limit on these because some people like to hide fun caches and if theres no where to put them then it doesn't get put out.

I'm thinking about getting a few "prizes" and maybe giving the first 2 people to arrive one and them, and everyone else can get any additional tickets for $2 each or 3 for $5. But it depends on how many "will attends" I get. Definitely going to bring some stuff....

You've been very good about maintaining the caches when theres an issue with a field puzzle, or a missing object, etc. I'm glad you're making a stamp and look forward to revisiting the cache location. I've learned that "puzzles" can be any shape or form. Sorry for any confusion towards the caches themselves past, present and future if new geocachers are trying to figure out things too.

Photo was from 2011. Log replaced a month later. But not the container. Many logs on the cache being bitten into. (But no NMs????) Wet log notes from 6/2015. Last NM was 6/2015. Five 'soggy log' logs since then. I posted my NA a month ago. Had found a cache in a similar situation, but the area itself was just as damaged as the container itself. I felt bad after I did it, but knowing theres other caches in poor condition without any owner maintaining them I feel a little better.

Some events I've been to people have raffle tickets to give to the people, some ask you to pay for a raffle ticket and some have given them to all the Geocachers that speak to and/or near one of the hosts. What kind of things can I bring to raffle off and what is the protocol whether to give them to all or have them pay for a raffle ticket?

As the guidelines say: "The region in which a cacher is considered able to maintain caches responsibly will vary from person to person. A cacher who has previously logged caches within a wide range of their home may be considered able to maintain a geocache 200 miles (322 km) away. However, someone whose geocaching activities have primarily been within 25 miles (40 km) of home may not be able to maintain a geocache this far from home. This factor is determined at the discretion of the cache reviewer or Groundspeak." The same goes for the number of geocaches which a cacher is considered able to maintain responsibly. For some, even 1 cache is too many. Others can maintain dozens, or even hundreds, especially if they've figured out how to hide caches in a way that reduces the maintenance demands. And as a practical matter, if there is a hard limit on the number of caches a given account can own, then people will just create more than one account. I'm sure there are a few cachers that can maintain many caches but I still think it's not fair to the others in the community to control a particular geographical area. It's like the kid that empties the candy bowl that says take one and he has little or no though for others that will follow. In my experience the CO's we are talking about aren't well know for the quality of their caches. Yeah I hate people putting out a bunch of new caches just to get favorite points when there could be caches more innovative and fun instead of the challenging circumstances. Although some do love extreme terrain/difficulty most feel there should be a limit on those in my area. So I can understand people trying to prevent saturation where a majority of the caches are owned by the same person(s). In most cases, there are over 200 caches. I, myself cannot handle twice as much as I already have so I will never get to that many hides but some do and eventually some caches go missing, user gets too many emails, etc.

Actually, I feel exactly the opposite: in most cases, there's no reason TO visit a cache in such dire straits that it needs archived. It's very, very rare that a visit to GZ has anything to do with why I'm posting the NA. I'd go so far as to say it never happens in the cases we're talking about where the cache has fallen into disrepair and an NM's been posted and ignored. What would visiting GZ tell you that the NM didn't already tell you? Waste your time if you want to, I'm just going to post the NA from home and then go caching somewhere where there's a cache. Thanks for that comment. Sometimes I feel bad posting an NA on caches MIA that I do not search for.

Under normal circumstances, there is NO reason to post an NA on a cache you haven't visited. So I should physical visit every cache that is missing?

You seem to have a Draconian attitude to situations that don't meet every minute detail of the Guidelines. Maybe it was an oversight by the CO not putting a stamp in it, but unilaterally deciding it Needs Maintenance / Archive is a little severe. And trying to drum up support for your view point isn't constructive. There are individuals who have built up such a reputation that any reports they make on caches are largely ignored. Sometimes new people do post NM logs on caches where there is no Maintenance needed instead of a Did Not Find log. Other times people think there's a problem because they didn't find it but somebody before (And after) them have found the cache in perfect condition and the owner doesn't post an Owner Maintenance log because there is no maintenance done by him/her. As a cache owner, if anybody believes any of my caches to be missing or in need of maintenance of some sort, I encourage a log letting me know. Some owners ignore NM logs and eventually if the cache is not being maintained at all, then the listing gets archived especially if it has muggled. In this case, it appears the only thing missing is the stamp, the cache appears to be listed in the correct category given that there "was" a stamp in it.

Does that mean you are going to go through all the caches that are flagged with a Needs Maintenance, whether you found them or not, count exactly 30 days and post a Needs Archive? I didn't interpret that from Pond Bird's replies but even if s/he did, it might be a valuable service to those of us who don't like the Geojunk or SetEm-ForgetEm game. For those who play the GeoSmiley game there are still a ton of other caches to get your point count up. Let the geojunk go. No I'm not going to mark every cache with a "needs maintenance" as an NA if I didn't search for them, unless there is reason to believe the cache is no longer in place or being maintained. I've seen several caches with NMs only because the log book was "Full" - doesn't mean it needs archived, the COs put more paper the logbook and didn't post an Owner Maintenance log so the attribute doesn't clear. I was only asking about NAs on caches I come across in the future with an NM posted and its MIA.

You seem to have a Draconian attitude to situations that don't meet every minute detail of the Guidelines. Maybe it was an oversight by the CO not putting a stamp in it, but unilaterally deciding it Needs Maintenance / Archive is a little severe. And trying to drum up support for your view point isn't constructive. Needs Maintenance is not severe. It's a useful tool. As a cache owner I value the NM feature and wish others would stop discouraging the use of it. It's a good alert system. Yes it lets people know, including the CO, that there may be a problem with the cache and they believe the cache can be Checked on/Fixed by the CO.

You seem to have a Draconian attitude to situations that don't meet every minute detail of the Guidelines. Maybe it was an oversight by the CO not putting a stamp in it, but unilaterally deciding it Needs Maintenance / Archive is a little severe. And trying to drum up support for your view point isn't constructive. I'm not saying it needs archived. I don't know what "Draconian" is a reference to and I was asking about if I should post a Needs Maintenance since it appears to be a stampless "letterbox" cache. And earlier in this thread you accused the reviewer and cache owner of publishing caches that were incorrectly classified. Maybe a little extra reading on your part then asking a question about why they are traditional caches instead of implying incorrect handling would be a better approach. Where does it say Field Puzzles have to be listed as traditional caches? Why are you saying that field puzzles should be listed as Traditional even though they have puzzle elements? They can be. It isn't necessarily best practice but it's permitted. Perhaps you should trust reviewers to make the proper judgment calls on other people's caches instead of hounding cache owners over every minor detail. I'm not hounding caches owners over every minor detail. I think I'll post a Needs Maintenance but don't know how to word it.

If the cache is MIA and somebody posted an NA how long should you wait? If someone posted an NA, there is no need to post another one. I meant to say if somebody posted an NM hold log should you wait to post a NA. Although that would seem to be the same question I've already, and I've gotten my answer. 30 days.

Yes Project-GC updates every week. So your stats should be refreshed in a week.