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Aquacache

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Posts posted by Aquacache

  1. 33 minutes ago, Team Hugs said:

    While as a CO, I'm sympathetic to this opinion ... as a finder, I'm less sympathetic.  Wait, let me explain.

    On those occasions where I plan out a "big day" of caching in a new area, I load up my handheld GPSr with my latest pocket query, head out, enjoy my day making 15-20 finds, come home, download my finds from my GPSr to log my finds ... and then have problems making up wonderfully unique things to say about "Rails To Trails #43" that are different from what I logged at "Rails To Trails #42".   My GPSr doesn't make it convenient to record detailed notes on the find, and my memory isn't that outstanding, so ... a copy-and-paste log is about all I can manage at that point.   Maybe the name of the cache or the description or the hint will trigger a specific memory that I can add, but ... for a lot of those finds, I've got a lot of nothing.

    Other than taking along a log book and composing an essay on the spot which I'll have to type in later, I'm not sure what else I should be doing.

    I try my best to avoid any sort of power trail. The only time I've done even a couple dozen caches on these trails was when my friends wanted to get them (usually due to some in the group not being hikers). For trails such as this, I typically use my smartphone and type a short log onsite. Something like, "Nice view of the river from this one." or "Team Hugs made the find while the rest of us were looking on the wrong side of the trail." And if I don't want to type that much on my smartphone, I'll make it a short reminder in a field note draft so I can type more when I get home on a computer. My logs on power trails will be much shorter than other caches, but still not cut and paste.

    As far as what I'd like to see in a log, I wouldn't mind seeing a similar effort, but I know that cachers are way too busy for that. Guess that I feel "entitled" too. :blink:

    • Upvote 1
  2. On 11/28/2012 at 2:29 PM, Mr.Yuck said:

     

    Oh, I agree with you 100%!! You Pre-date Challenges (August 2011), but not Waymarking (August 2005). See a trend there? I predict in August 2017, they will allow Virtuals. :lol:

     

    Sorry, I just had to bring this old thread back to say that Mr.Yuck needs to buy a lottery ticket!

    • Upvote 5
  3. Yes, the dates for logging your finds on caches to earn the souvenirs were known in advance, giving you up to 11 days to find and log them for each souvenir. I don't know if anyone was made aware of the hidden word that could be submitted prior to August 16th. You then had just 4 days to submit this word. And again, I don't know if anyone had advanced notice that they would only have 4 days to submit this code word. But then again, I don't spend much time on these forums, nor reading the blog comments. There were far too many other things to be done over the last month; such as, planning and preparing for a 10 day vacation (kayaked 4 of the 5 Great Lakes, along with some whitewater. Awesome trip!).

    Nonetheless, I posed the question to Groundspeak directly and given my circumstances, they were very prompt and considerate enough to allow me submit the form. So all is good. :)

  4. I was on vacation over the last week, camping outside of reliable Internet access, and just returned late last night. It was very disappointing to read my e-mails this morning to find out, after making sure that I received all 4 souvenirs before leaving on vacation, that I missed out on the final part of this because they only allowed you 4 days to submit the hidden word.

    It's sad that you're apparently not allowed to take a vacation during the summer, at least not a whole week, when these promotions are going on. Otherwise, the work you put into the initial segments of the promotion will be for naught.

  5. You didn't check the link I gave you in my post. Why not? Try it and you got more than one state.

    Hans

    I did click on that link and originally, I only saw caches that are in Pennsylvania. But now that I scroll way down on the list, I also see that there are caches in Maryland. However I still don't see any that are in my home state of West Virginia. Maybe it's working differently for you than it is for me.

  6. [...] However, I live less than 50 miles from 3 other states and I'd like my searches to not be limited by state at all. [...]

     

    Hi,

    use your Special New Search.

    Hit Change Filters, do your settings (but leave the "Limit Search to ..." box alone)

     

    Frohes Jagen

    Hans

    Hi Hans,

     

    Sorry I didn't reply sooner to your post. I apparently didn't subscribe to this thread.

     

    With the new search, you either have to enter a "region" by using the Limit Search To ... box which then only shows results within one state (here in the US), or you can leave that box empty and select a location on the main search screen before going to change the filters. This option then limits the search radius to no more than 30 miles. Unfortunately, I find neither of these two options acceptable and therefore, rarely use this new "advanced" search.

     

    And I can't use the "Start With the Most Popular Searches" since I'm not part of "...the majority of people...", as mentioned in one of the previous posts.

  7. Aquacache, it is easy to manually create (and bookmark, if necessary) the featured searches using your home coordinates instead of your IP-reported location. Below I have links that will give you the results you want for each. If you check the filters that are set when you click the links, you'll understand how to set them up yourself.

     

    Thanks for the links. They do show some of the abilities of the search function that I hadn't seen before.

     

    However, I live less than 50 miles from 3 other states and I'd like my searches to not be limited by state at all. But that then limits me to the max of a 30 mile radius. I've already found most of the caches within that radius (the ones I'm interested in, anyway), so the 30 mile limit is very ... well, limiting.

  8. It's the ip location based service used by Groundspeak. I live across the sound from the lily pad and my location is reported any where from Hood River, OR to Beaverton, OR. My URL says origin is Oregon. For some reason my ISP gives me an IP that maps to the Portland area. My home coordinates are set, Groundspeak just chooses to ignore them. Isn't technology wonderful?

     

    For the featured searches, the team chose to make the results variable depending on the user's location rather than always based on the user's home location. This way, if you are traveling, you will see, for example, events in your current area. It works properly for the majority of people when they are at home as well, although there are those like you who have inaccurate locations reported for your IP.

     

    Yes, for those in that have this issue it will take a little more effort than a simple one-click search to mimic the featured search results. For events near you, for example, you will have to select "Use My Home Collection", then use the filters to specify events only.

    The "featured searches" return caches in another state for me as well. The fact that there is no option to have these search by my home coordinates, especially since I'm using my home computer, is completely ridiculous. Or as mentioned previously, "pure insanity". I can understand the idea behind wanting to use the location returned by the IP address. But why restrict the results to only those in the state returned by the ISP?

     

    "... a little more effort", as you put it is also not an option, since the advanced search filters only allow searching out to 30 miles max, while the "featured searches" cover an entire state. Albeit, the wrong state.

     

    Apparently, the people out west don't understand that many of the states back east are fairly small, comparatively speaking, and cachers back here often live very close to more than one state line. So the chances of the IP address showing up as being from another state is highly probable.

  9. There still seems to be an issue with the "Last Found" column on certain cache listings. When looking at a list of nearby caches or of my own finds, the column seems to be displayed and sorts as expected.

     

    However, when I look at a list of caches found by another cacher, the date the other cacher found the cache isn't shown; only the date that I found it (if I found it) and the last date that ANY cacher found the cache. There is no way to see when the other cacher found the cache without going to the cache page and searching for their log. This was not the case previously and I can only assume that this recent "update" has caused this.

     

    Are there any plans to correct this situation? Or did anybody else even know it existed?

     

    Yep, I noticed that last night - haven't used that function for a while so I don't know when it started.

    It started at the time of the site "update". I can't imagine why anyone would want to look at a specific cacher's finds and see the date that some other cacher last found a cache, so it had to be an unintentional side effect of the new site layout. But then again, logic doesn't always play into the plans of some. :D

  10. There still seems to be an issue with the "Last Found" column on certain cache listings. When looking at a list of nearby caches or of my own finds, the column seems to be displayed and sorts as expected.

     

    However, when I look at a list of caches found by another cacher, the date the other cacher found the cache isn't shown; only the date that I found it (if I found it) and the last date that ANY cacher found the cache. There is no way to see when the other cacher found the cache without going to the cache page and searching for their log. This was not the case previously and I can only assume that this recent "update" has caused this.

     

    Are there any plans to correct this situation? Or did anybody else even know it existed?

  11. Personally I do not believe any of these justify 5 stars though...if you have the equipment, its easy, unless they put an extra trick or made it a very hard hide.

    If you have a boat, a cache on an island is easy. So using your logic, it shouldn't be rated a T5.

     

    Remember the whole forum argument a couple of weeks ago as to whether or not chirp violates the guidelines. The people that were against it said that only some people could find it.

     

    By that logic Wherigo caches shouldn't be allowed.

     

    As long as GPS is involved, it's fair game. Just rate it appropriately, especially with attributes.

    The Wherigo cache is a completely separate type of cache with it's own icon. It doesn't require someone to remember to set the attribute for it in order for it to be ignored. It's unchecked in all of my PQ's.

     

    The Chirp cache, however, uses the "standard" cache types which could -- up until now -- be found with *ANY* GPS-enabled device that can have waypoints added to it. These now require special equipment. Albeit, equipment that more and more cachers are acquiring.

  12. I've met lots of others while out caching -- as recently as yesterday ... and before that, Saturday night -- and we always join forces to look for the cache. There is no way for the recently arriving cacher to know that you are new if you don't mention that early on. If you have a problem caching with others, you need to mention that early on, as well.

     

    All of (well, almost all of) the cachers I've met over the years are extremely friendly people that love caching with others -- whether they know them or not -- and I couldn't imagine any of them ever getting upset by someone else coming in and finding a cache first. In fact, I personally welcome it. Makes it easier on me! :)

     

    If there are young kids involved, I will usually say, "Try looking over there." ... the same thing I do if they are part of my group.

  13. I just got the same one about a half hour ago ... and I live in WV. :):)

     

    I also get the error when trying to view it. I suspect it will be taken away shortly. :D Unless it's for finding a cache in DE, which I have.

  14. This is exactly what I was looking to ask about.

     

    I've asked this very thing every year since I joined 3.5 years ago.I've always been told that such a search is 'Not A Location Based Search', so it makes no sense for them to calculate distances.

    But honestly I think they can't spend the processor cycles, a few milliseconds times millions, for this.

     

    I would love to be able to click on the link for the newest caches in my state and see the distance from home. Does this not make sense? With all of the other "Location Based Searches", I can't imagine that doing this will add that much to the processing time.

  15. All that you're talking about is adopting someone else's caches; this happens all the time. In your case, Owner A adopts cache B and Owner B adopts cache A.

     

    But if you're just doing it so you can get another smilie, why not just log a find on your own cache? I don't agree with it either, but it wouldn't be the first time I've seen that done. If you just want a reason to go back to the same place you've already been, how about doing a maintenance run on your caches and/or going to read the log book in other's caches. I like reading what other people write in the book.

     

    For me, if the area isn't worth going back to just to be there, then it probably wasn't worth having a cache there in the first place.

  16. I put out a cache that was pretty easy and was hidden behind/under a rock. The hint was "It ain't that hard." I thought it was a pretty good double meaning hint. The reviewer didn't get it, recommended I not use the hint because it "didn't mean anything".

    I wish all reviewers were more active when it comes to the hints. I realize that this would add yet another aspect of the cache they'd have to worry about and it also wouldn't keep the twits that love useless hints from adding them after the cache was published. But it may help with the "none needed" hints.

  17. i have a cache at my house that has a useless hint the cache is a diff. 4.5 ter1. the hint tells you to look on the grill but the grill is on the deck. the grill in question is not handicap accesable. the cache is. my cache page also says that the hint is a lie. many people do not read the cache pages, just download the cords and hints and go. sorry about their luck.oh the cache is a nanno. i will give hints in person when people are looking for it.

    I'm one of the people that reads the descriptions and if I saw something that said that the hint is a lie, I'd probably just keep driving. Of course, I'm also not a big fan of micro's and whenever I see a 4.5D micro, I just keep driving without even reading the description.

     

    But, everybody is different. :lol:

  18. How about this one...

     

    After you log a DNF, just e-mail me and I'll send you a hint. ;)

     

    We were over 2000 miles from home, and will probably not be back in this lifetime. :blink:

     

    Yep, just had that tonight.:

     

    If you're ready to go back for the third time email me.

     

    Go back? I went there once! Thanks for nothing!

    You guys weren't in Orlando, were you? I just had that one too! ... and I'm 800 miles from home also! Sorry, got better things to do than go back after that one.

    But better yet ... I just saw a hint with corrected coordinates in it!!! :unsure: Fortunately for me, I saw the owner's name and just blew right past that one without even stopping ... but not before reading the hint to see what he came up with that time. Could you imagine searching for a half hour (or more) before reading that hint?!? :D

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