Cedar Grove Seekers

The attribute you call "weight" is very important. If the weighting is given to level of difficulty, or terrain, then I'd say spend more time searching for the caches with higher difficulty or terrain ratings. If weight is given to something arbitrary like the colour of the cache container, then I'd say don't waste your time on the higher difficulty/terrain caches. Assuming all caches have an equal weight of one (as they do in real life), then I'd say DON'T look for Multi-caches (many stages) or Mystery caches (requires puzzle solving) as you will spend a lot of time on these. I would suggest you look on the map for clusters/pockets of many Traditional caches, and do all the easy difficulty/terrain ones.

We got drunk.

Why would anyone want to create a cache and not let people find and log it? The cache owners really should have thought this through before creating brand new caches.

We're not huge FTF hounds, but sometimes are in the mood to go for one at night. We find it somewhat invigorating. Once my wife and I were out at around 10:00PM and heard something running through the woods towards us - I shined my light on it, and it was deer charging us. I let out a scream (a manly scream) and it turned on a dime and ran away. It made it to within 30 feet of us, which was a bit of a rush.

First to sign the physical log.

Here are our reasons: 1) Excercise - gets us out hiking/walking 2) Social - we meet fellow cachers at events or while looking for caches, or develop friendships via e-mail 3) New Places - searching for caches takes us to places we probably would never see otherwise 4) Competition - this may not apply to many cachers, but for some there is a bit of competition involved (i.e. racing for a First-to-Find, comparing cache finds #s or found geocoin icons)

Don't be a hound, put back as found.

Many people care. Many different aspects of geocaching appeal to many different people. To some people racing against local cachers to be the FTF is one of the many things they enjoy about caching. Why do you care so much about what these people want to do?

I agree. After reading your cache it seems more like a request than a rule. Because it was for the FTF, I'd certainly expect some cachers not to respect your request (they want the FTF). Now that it's been found you probably won't have any issues with night cachers. I wouldn't delete the log either.

We once got an FTF at around 9:00PM and intentionally didn't log it until the next morning (we convinced ourselves we were too tired to log-on). The STF found it at 1:00AM (my brother-in-law) and was pretty mad when he found out we delayed the log. He returned the favour a few weeks later and we 'got a dose of our own medicine', and it didn't taste good. Since then we've always logged when we get the chance, but certainly don't race home to do so.

It sounds like you're a team to me. The word 'Team' is fine in your user name.

About 9 klicks (5.6 miles). About 75 caches within this radius we've found.

We only sign it once when we first find the cache. If we revisit (for a TB drop/pick-up, etc) then we merely log a note on-line. But, we wouldn't be upset if someone signed the log-book in one of our caches merely saying they dropped bye.

If we make it to the cache site (or stage in a multi) and can't find it we always log a DNF, even if we intend to come back later in the day. If we don't make it to the site for whatever reason, we don't log a DNF. I do know some cachers who just can't bring themselves to log a DNF (too much pride maybe?) In addition, we used to change our DNF logs to notes if it was determined that the cache had been muggled prior to us searching (i.e you can't find something that's not there). We realized that was us being a little too anal, and have stopped doing that.

That's good of you. We do the same, but if we have to wait too long we'll log it first and acknowledge the true FTF in our log.

It's not uncommon for cachers in our area to point out that even though they were first to log on line that they were not the FTF. They are just trying to be clear and give credit where credit is due-to the FTF. I don't see this as anything other than a courtesy. I agree, I don't think FTL is important either, but by logging it at least they're acknowledging that they are not FTF. Anyone reading the log will know to scroll up to see the true FTF (assuming they care).

I didn't realize the animosity existed. I'd assume that letterboxers then must hate geocaching's Letterbox-Hybrid type of cache?

I can't help on the formatting, but I love the idea. Good luck.

First of all, the District is incorrect, letterboxing is caching less the GPS, not less the cache. Why don't you place a letter-box hybrid associated with their event?

Through the responses to this thread I've seen some additional areas where 'first to sign the logbook is FTF' is the common practice, but nothing where it is common practice that 'first to log on-line is FTF'. I was assuming that the 'first to log on-line' supporters were so convinced because that is the practice in their areas, but am now not so convinced that practice even exists anywhere. Our area is clearly a 'first to sign the log-book' area, and I'm glad it is.

I was once FTF on a members only cache, that had been signed by a non-member first. I couldn't bring myself to claim the FTF as I knew I wasn't first. The true FTF then convinced the owner to change it to a non-PM cache and then logged the cache. My question is, how is a non-PM able to log a members-only cache? What's the point of having members-only caches if they can be logged by anyone? Although I'm a PM, I don't think I'd ever exclude anyone by placing a members only cache - it just seems to cause problems.

We are 36 and 35. I'll also respond on behalf of other family members (all married couples) with: 34 and 33 37 and 38 59 and 60

To anyone who feels that logging on-line determines FTF over someone who actually found the cache and signed the logbook first, I am curious what the practice is in your area? I am familiar with FTF races in a handful of areas, and in all of them the practice is the first to sign the logbook is FTF. Does anyone know of an area where the practice is clearly who logs on-line first?

I guess I wasn't as clear as I should have been. My example assumed a random discovery. I don't feel that someone given an unfair advantage should be the FTF. BTW Cedar Grove Seekers brings up another point. An FTF list is your list. It represents how you feel about your finds. If some disagrees with you, it is still your list. In re-reading your original response to mine, it seems clear that you meant random discovery, I just didn't read it that way at first. My apologies. I will also add that although it is my own list of FTFs that I maintain, I would probably be irked if I someone else illegitimately claimed my FTF. I'd probably kick their a** next time I ran into them

I agree with your first statement, but I do have some problem with the second and third comments. There are conditions where someone could find a cache and sign the log before it is published. It is a cache as soon as as it is hidden. It does not have to be published. If someone stumbles upon it and signs the log before it is published, it is still found-and presumably an FTF. It can't be logged online until published, but that doesn't mean it wasn't found. A cache owner can handle that situation anyway he or she likes. If it happened on one of my caches, it's an FTF. I could agree with you if the pre-finder found it as a fluke with no advance knowledge (I've seen it happen) - I know this contradicts what I've said above, but it's such an unlikely event it should be rewarded. I realize that many people don't care about FTFs, but for those that do, it's a race. Getting a head start seems unfair. If I was ever FTF on one of your caches, but you had given a pre-finder a heads-up and they found it prior to it being posted, I'd still claim the FTF. You could consider the pre-finder the FTF, but I'd put it my own list of FTFs and be happy with that. Most, if not all, of the FTF cachers in my area would quickly dismiss the pre-finder's claim as FTF.