FT Rummager

[ Being a newbie at this, I didn't even know that TFTC was considered rude. If there's other activity around, there might be limited time for writing a longer message. In the future, I'll endeavor to be more verbose.... I believe you can just sign your geocaching name on the physical log sheet at the cache, along with the date? But this thread has been about writing a bit more on the "Found It" logs here on Geocaching.com. I had imagined a CO with a hundred caches hidden. They might recieve 10 e-mails a day during the week from Geocaching.com saying so-and-so found your cache, and could recieve hundreds of e-mails over a busy weekend. I thought the CO might not always have the time to read about what I had for lunch, or my adventures finding the cache. Certainly cache condition updates would be of benefit, but if I had nothing interesting to add, then a polite, quick, thank you would be in order. The logs previously written on the caches I am finding are often TFTC, or a cut-n-paste "I found it on the way to some really cool event I actually care about, but since I was in the area I picked up this one for the numbers" sort of sounding post. Personally, I would be a bit peeved to read that on a handful of my caches! I did not know the history of logging, or that CO's might find a quickie log rude. I will endeavor to find something unique to say! This sort of information is helpful for a newbie, so we can step on fewer toes. Thanks!

I enjoyed reading your blog, and have added it to my favorites. Congratulations on 500!

I logged my first FTF a few days ago. I really liked it! I looked in the forums here, there is an area for "regions", and it lists individual states. I click on my state, and it has new caches listed. Before I found this page, I was just cruising the caches closest to my house by scrolling through the pages of caches called up by my "hide and seek cache" request, looking for the word "New". So, you don't have to have a premium membership. (my daughter just treated me to a 3 month premium membership for only $10.00...she's a sweetie ). I suppose alerts to cell phones might be quicker...but it can be done without a cell phone. I also do not own a GPS device yet. I sure am looking at them a lot. I am geocaching based on descriptions and maps. I probably spend more time per cache than some folks, and I have a high DNF ratio. But, until I can get my hands on a GPS, I will continue to play the game. My daughter has an Android, and it works really well. It's fun when I get to go caching with her. I am antsy-pants, and can't wait for her to find GZ. Often, we are at the same spot at the same time. I'm not sure why I posted. I just read 5 pages of sturm und drang, and felt like singing I guess. My local group of cachers don't seem to speedy. My FTF sat for nearly a day, idle. I was watching, because I didn't know the protocol...kids first? do we have racers? was it placed for a particular individual to find? It just sat there, and once I decided to go for it, it was a heart pounding, anxiety ridden rush to see if I could get to it first. It was also silly to see myself all a twitter, over a race where I might be the only runner I do understand other communities are different. Other terrains are different. Other levels of opportunity are different. I have one FTF experience. This was it ...and I liked it! I hope to find more, and good luck to all who are out caching