RoadRoach58

I've received a notice that my subscription will expire. I want to renew, regardless of Auto Renewal blah blah blah. I'm good with cancelling auto renewal if I have to. But, all I get when I click the link is a page that tells me to sign up or sign in. Ok, sign up takes me to the home page, and sign in takes me to a summary page of the last caches I did. Alrighty then. I know I'm still a premium member, at least until 02/13. HOW do I renew? All I seem to be able to do is follow links in circles. Did read a few threads where folks were blasting Groundspeak for the auto-renewal thing, but I just don't want all my PQ's to disappear next week if I can't renew by then. Was a PITA to set those up. Any suggestions?

Unfortunately, the Bluetooth pairing on the Nuvi series appears to only be a means of "hands-free" use of the phone. While useful in older vehicles without Bluetooth support for phones, it's rather redundant in vehicles with Bluetooth pairing. I had hopes of pairing my Nuvi with my F-150's SYNC system so that it would automatically drop stereo volume and play the driving instructions through the stereo, but turns out, nope, no can do. Nuvi will not pair with SYNC. Not compatible. Since my IPhone is already paired SYNC for hands-free phone use, there's not much point in pairing it with the Nuvi. There is a lot of hype about the Bluetooth capabilities of the Nuvi, but it's just hype. No real usefulness that I can find. If you're using the phone in map mode, it will also send messages to the GPS to play, but again, I find very little usefulness for this in the more advanced Nuvi models that provide that function. So, unfortunately, you're stuck with transferring the files to the PC, then to the Nuvi via BaseCamp. There is no file transfer protocol in the Bluetooth interface. I too was hoping for a wireless means of putting data in the Nuvi. Not happening. Well, not unless someone else had found a way to unlock the Bluetooth restrictions in the Nuvi. Still banging my head against that wall, and removing unwanted waypoints (for caching, of course) when I'm done with a trip without having to use the menus on the unit (BaseCamp will very happily write to the unit, but won't delete anything). I'm also trying to figure out how to change the waypoint symbol files to something besides the pitiful green and white things that come in the Nuvi. Not everything saved as a waypoint is loved that much that it needs a heart on it, and something different might just be a little more informative. After all, if it's capable of displaying Exxon signs ......

This is one I would love to do. Then phone service isn't required, just a QR app. Lots of caches around here don't list what special tools are needed, and many are listed as traditionals, but have an offset when you get there, or worse yet, just loose coordinates to make them a lot harder. Your question implies you have some sort of QR code generator? If so, do you recommend it?

Try it. Depends on your reviewer. If not, then, change the challenge or convert to traditional.

Is that even possible? If so, then play the way you see fit. There aren't any rules, just GUIDELINES.

Here's a novel idea. Why not use automation to handle the disabling and archiving of caches? Easy to do.

That experience rates right up there with the carpet bomber loggers. They pick up ONE cache in an area, then log every one. I have a string of 9 within a 1 mile stretch, all fairly easy to find. One cacher found the first one, but logged ALL of them. I know, because I check my caches quarterly if possible, maximum of 4 months between visits. Then, when I delete the 'non-finder' logs, I'm the bad guy? Then, when I try to contact them about why I did it, the e-mail goes to a bit-bucket bogus e-mail account, and it becomes an open war on twitface.

DNF's have little to do with a cache's viability or merit. Some are just very hard to find. Others, not so hard, and genuinely missing. But how do I know it's missing if I haven't found it before, and I still can't find it? Someone that's found it before can probably tell me, and I can't count the number of times I have seen replacement notes after I log a DNF on an active owner's hide. CO presence and accountability has EVERYTHING to do with cache quality. If a CO is not held directly responsible for the quality of their placements, it encourages throw-downs, poor cache quality/placement, and long time missing caches that cannot be replaced because of theme or content that cannot be duplicated easily. Containers that were never meant to be left out in the weather start to deteriorate and things inside get nasty. REAL nasty sometimes. Things like butane lighters, live shotgun shells, cigarette butts, and rocks get left in caches for exchange with whom for what? GC.COM should fix the API to update the Last Visit Date any time an account is accessed for any reason if they expect us to police ourselves and each other. It makes using the NA flag a lot easier based on REAL information. The ONLY time I will use the NA flag is if I believe the CO is inactive based on the facts I have available, whether that's the sock puppet owner, or the real owner. Doesn't matter which, really. If an owner isn't going to at least log on every 3 months or so and take a peek at the stuff they put out, then the cache should be removed. Even if they want to depend on others to maintain it, or if others are doing so, and the CO isn't making a presence, does the cache really belong to them any more? Two DNF's on one of mine will trigger me to go out and check on it. I have one that squirrels seem to like to keep moving between finds. Who knew? To me, hanging the NM flag on one that can't be found doesn't quite fit either. Needs Maintenance to me says I held it in my hand, and this thing needs help. Broken/cracked pill bottles, bison tubes with stripped threads, Ziploc sandwich bags and plastic ware are all too often the norm now. Even duct tape covers on the Ziploc bags with magnets taped in. Can't get much cheaper than that, and the game suffers for it. All this said, reviewers have enough to do exploring maps and checking proximity to things and checking on permits, etc etc WITHOUT having to make judgment calls on archiving caches. Sometimes they simply get it wrong. A proscribed visitation schedule along with a proscribed Maintenance Note schedule could resolve some of the issues that are degrading the game. Lack of maintenance, suspend the cache. Suspend it long enough, archive it. Don't show up, archive it. I make no pretense to say how long one should wait for these steps to occur, but most of it could be run from triggers that are reset by a CO's diligence. That way, the CO is responsible for their cache, not us. I say this, because I have been personally (verbally) attacked in open forum by a CO for not performing maintenance on a small powertrail as I did it. Me, being the noob at the time, made the mistake of defending myself for peeing on his majesty's fire hydrant. Pandemonium ensued, and I came away the bad guy, for saying NM as a fact. Pardon me? I went out there to find it, not to repair it. Then, I find the name the caches are registered to is NOT the same name I got the messages from. THAT part would go away. NM breeds contempt from CO's that use sock puppet accounts for large numbers of hides, even when properly used, particularly on hides that are being neglected because of the sheer work to go out and take care of them. NA infuriates that type of CO as well. I know it's work to support caches. I have 22 of them, which is not a lot. But, I keep them up, and still have plenty time to cache. Figure that one out. Another option, automatically set the NM flag every 6 months or so. If the CO does not reset that with a Maintenance Note within the next month, set the NA flag automatically. If that doesn't get corrected within a month, then nuke it. All that said, put a small bounty on removal of archived caches, say a path-tag coin or something inexpensive, but a reward for the CITO effort which won't qualify as an event. Just don't leave the geolitter in place. After archival, and proof of removal, THEN remove it's listing. If the CO is genuinely in restoring the status of the cache, then photographic evidence (with geotagged photos) of going to the site and repairing whatever was wrong should be ample penance and proof that they care when submitted to a reviewer. Much like getting it approved to start with, but with additional requirements of proof. Wow, that almost sounded like an ALR. This is just a suggestion, and an idea, not telling anyone else they're wrong. We all deal with the fact our cars run out of gasoline if we as owners don't fill them up regularly. If used more, then they have to be filled more often, right? Same with a cache. The more hits it gets, the more help it will need. I don't know of many people that will fill up my car for me. Or paint my house. Or mow my lawn. You know, all those things that come with ownership of something. Most times, in real life, the things we neglect often have very serious repercussions for both neglector and neglectee. Why should the game be any different?

Means you've logged a cache more than once... DOH!!! Have all the scripts suggested, knew there were problems with some of the logs (internet lost while logging in Oz a couple times), AND had it backward about which one counts what. I feel like such a noob. I called myself checking (albeit manually) for duplicate logs, and I did indeed take care of three dupes. Must have missed one and was determined it was an anomaly in the space-time continuum which I would be forever stuck in. Thanks for the sharp stick in the eye folks! Sometimes, you CAN make that horse drink if you stick his head under water. I display the FCount column in GSAK, and find it easier to just find them by sorting on that value (descending, of course). Still have to do the corrections manually as the scripts only show you which ones, and I can set a filter as fast as that script can. I actually have a filter configured for that very purpose. Somehow, I was just too convinced I'd cleared up the dupes. Guess I was duped. (Pun intended). Don't drink RedBull, but coffee is good. Coffee, the beverage that helps you do stupid things faster! Thanks for all the help folks, even though I actually overcame my stupidity all by myself. I got my new Oz Finds PQ in this morning and saw the FCount of 2 on the cache mentioned above. I ran that before I came back in here to cry some more, and lo and behold, there was my glaring brain fart. All fixed up now, and GSAK and gc.com agree once again.

Umm, nope, gc.com doesn't count two finds on the same cache, at least it didn't used to. Might have to give that a spin on one and see what happens now, but I'm thinking it counts only unique finds. GSAK will count duplicate logs stats, but not gc.com. I pulled a My Finds query to make sure, and yes, I DID have two duplicate logs (trapped this with GSAK) but it was not showing an offset before today. Normally, when viewing a PQ online, gc.com will paginate the list 20 caches per page. I find nothing to explain why I would have one page in the middle with 19 caches. I'm waiting for Midnight on the west coast for my PQ's to run again, so I can see what happens when that query runs and I import it with GSAK again. Pretty sure I remedied my duplicate logs. I had some logging issues while in Australia with very poor internet access. These ranged from losing connection while uploading logs to long timeout errors, and generally a very frustrating situation. I use FindCount in GSAK to show me when I've accidentally double-logged something. All are showing 1 in FindCount right now. Normally, the find count is higher in GSAK than on gc.com. This still doesn't explain one webpage out of 25 having only 19 caches listed on it. Something weird there.

I just got back from caching in a foreign country, so it was pretty easy to isolate my finds in that country. However, when I looked at my total finds in GSAK and then on GC.Com, GC.com is reporting one more find in Australia than I can come up with in GSAK. I banged my head against the wall wondering what I missed, ran a My Finds Query, did another pocket query for everything I've ever found in Oz, and low and behold, my count is right, GC's is wrong. GC.Com is reporting 506 finds where I actually have 505. I went through EACH FIND one by one comparing the website info with what I have in GSAK to make sure I wasn't missing something. TWICE. Then, I just ran the PQ, and counted the finds. GC.Com reports 26 pages with 506 finds. Ok,so that's 25 x 20 + 6 on the last page (26), right? Turns out, the last page has 6 on it. But the 7th page has only 19. Go figger. I counted them, page by page, TWICE, using the check boxes to make sure I wasn't miscounting. Anyone else noticed this error?I've often had to correct extra logs in GSAK, but don't remember ever having more logs on GC.COM than I have in GSAK, especially after a My Finds query. Oh, BTW, I manually loaded each page from the query, 20 caches at a time, by using the Check All button and Download Waypoints buttons at the bottom of each screen, and loaded all the data into a blank db in GSAK. I got 505 caches from the pages reporting 506 total finds. So, me and GSAK can count. Some kinda new math going on at GC.Com, though.

Yeah, a blue frownie would be cool. Not the first time this has actually been suggested, IIRC. I think I've seen it suggested somewhere along the line. After all, the system is intelligent enough to know the ones I did find, why not the ones I didn't? And, while we're at it, it wouldn't hurt my feelings to see where the archived caches were too. Those don't show up on the map at all, yet they're still part of the DB. But, since I can manipulate the data in a lot more ways in GSAK, I don't let this limitation stop me on Groundspeak.

Or, if you have already posted a note, you can click on the trash can icon to delete the log. Once it is changed or deleted it will no longer count as a find. Not true. Did exactly that, and it still shows as a find. Gonna have to change the log type. Not sure that can be done after deleting (archiving) the log. About to try, though. Accidentally poked a find on one too, and trying to undo it. BEFORE you delete the log, change it to DNF or a note, and let it sit for a day, THEN delete it. I can't seem to get one changed now that I've already deleted the log. Not sure how to handle this one, because the offset between GSAK and Groundspeak annoys me. Gonna have to see what I can do with the CO.

Or, if you have already posted a note, you can click on the trash can icon to delete the log. Once it is changed or deleted it will no longer count as a find. Not true. Did exactly that, and it still shows as a find. Gonna have to change the log type. Not sure that can be done after deleting (archiving) the log. About to try, though. Accidentally poked a find on one too, and trying to undo it.

Definitions 1,2 and 3 make all caches void. We are not allowed to put food or ammunition in a cache. By definition 4, micros are indeed caches. Did the container size somehow change how much you enjoyed the puzzle? Isn't it more of a challenge to find the micro than an ammo box under a pile of sticks or in a hollow log you can spot 75 yards out? Would a small cache diminish the experience somehow or possibly a regular cache 25 feet up in a tree? well to me i did all that work of figuring out a puzzle or all that time to do a multi and when i get there its just a tube with a log book it makes me sad its still a geocache none the less and ill take the smiley but it does suck for me:( id rather see at the end of a puzzle a cache i can sit enjoy look at swag after all that hard work:) +1 I don't need a bunch of cheap toys at the end of a good puzzle, but a pill bottle or bison tube after wracking my brain or toturing my body is a bit disappointing. Even if it has very little swag, a well crafted and MAINTAINED container will keep the smile on my face.

Unique is great. Even with as few hides as I have, unique is a hard concept though. Bison tubes are flexible, but they do have some limitations. Some suggestions: 1. Keep it off the dirt. Dirt kills the threads of the tube. If you put it in a hollow tree, they're full of dirt. If you put it in a stump, it's full of dirt. If at all possible, make sure it's hanging somewhere so that water runs off it and does not stand around it. 2. Use some paraffin based wax on the threads. That lubricates them, and helps keep some moisture out by sealing the threads. Paraffin won't get hard in the elements. ChapStick works well if you're the one finding it. Keep one with you. 3. Plan on maintaining it. SOMEONE WILL use a multi-tool on the tube and crush it or damage the threads because SOMEONE ELSE over tightens the cap. Even if they manage to get the cap back on, it's going to take on water if it gets the slightest defect in the threads or cylinder. The logs don't hold many sigs either. 4. Micros in the woods are not a good idea if you don't plan on spending time to maintain them. I recommend quarterly visits. That cuts into caching time, but if you put it out, you should take care of it. They're a great idea if you're looking for difficulty and plan to keep them well maintained, especially if they're going to see a lot of traffic. 5. If you're going to paint it to hide it, sandblast it first to etch the anodizing and provide a rough surface for the paint to stick to. Otherwise, the paint will come off by the time it's opened the 3rd time making it stand out like a sore thumb, especially if it's one of the brighter colors. Paint does NOT stick to anodized aluminum.

+1. The biggest day I've had caching was 62, it was also the worse day I had caching, bored to death and my partner had the worse headache ever. The best day I found 1, but it was a great cache, that I've gone back and visited twice since. So, the real question is? are you enjoying what you are doing? If so refer to Rule #1. If you really must up your daily rate try a power trail, some love them I don't but to each his own. Accept the fact that some have been doing this a LOT longer than you, have more time for the hobby, and point blank, are more experienced. Have fun at the game, whatever makes you have fun with it, and NEVER EVER worry about how many someone else has.

And the other half that "found" it probably went to the coordinates listed and threw one down because the original was missing.

Power trails can be time consuming to log, sure, but if you can't muster 1 full sentence for each, individually, what's the point other than numbers? I like reading logs on caches for many reasons. One of them is the stories you can read. Powertrails are no exception, as some of the stories you can put together are pretty enjoyable. The trip itself is surely a tough prospect on some of the bigger ones, but when people take the time to say something about the cache, the day, or the fact that someone slipped on the way to the cache and laughed so hard they nearly split their sides makes for some fun narratives when you start reading through the logs. Logging might take days to complete while balancing other obligations, but the value of the longer logs is invaluable when it comes to the oral history of the game. What's the point of ANY powertrail other than numbers? GSAK is a great way to do offline logging and can even do a default log for finds if that's what you want to do. I use this capability if I do a power trail, but otherwise, use it solely to document find order and benchmarks. Not that I'm a supercachinexpertfindingfreakofthegps cacher, but more one that likes to keep the data in order. I don't even know why, because they all count 1. You can also edit the sequence the logs are entered in GSAK. I use the calendar feature in my 60CSX to keep track of the finds, then make sure GSAK is going to load them in the correct order. All in all, a LOT faster than logging online. I too find it challenging to keep writing something different on a string of 100 pill bottles laying by a tree with a rock on them. Just remembering any particular experience on a mind numbing trail of 100 caches with a 1/1 D/T rating is a challenge. On the other hand, if I did 8 caches in a day where the average D/T rating was 3.5/3.5, oh yeah, I remember those, and they get logged accordingly. The longer I do this, the harder it is to WOW me. I find it extremely difficult to sit composing an individual log for 5 minutes on a cache that took the better part of 5 seconds to find.

So, you want to stalk someone because you think they are doing something wrong? Two wrongs don't make a right. But, two rights do make a left! If the reviewer sees a pattern (and they will) they will deal with it appropriately. I don't think it's stalking if one is researching public information. If that were a problem, I don't think the ability to find every post by a particular user of this forum would be allowed. Or did I miss something? How else would I get the benefit of a particular user's experience level?

Not always http://seattletimes....1882_dog30.html The writer of that article is a moron. There was no electricity left inside that dog. Electricity doesn't stay anywhere, except in batteries or in a capacitor, and then, it better be DC. A dog is neither battery nor capacitor, and most street lighting operates on 277 or 480 Volts AC. If the would-be rescuers of the dog received electrical shock by touching the animal, it was quite clearly still in contact with the junction box in the sidewalk. It's very possible the box in the sidewalk was plastic, but had a metal (usually brass) cover, and it also quite possibly filled with water which could have possibly caused the cover to become energized, but may not have tripped a ground-fault device, which all lighting exposed to public areas SHOULD be equipped with. However, when the dog came in contact with the cover and received the shock, IF there were a GFCI, it should have operated before electrocuting the dog. Even though the enclosure was mounted in a concrete sidewalk, the voltage on the cover should have been relatively insignificant with respect to ground unless it was incredibly dry weather. One part of the article talks about the cover on the sidewalk, the next talks about a nearby lamp post. What did they do, prop the dog against the post while trying to resuscitate him? Something VERY fishy with this, and sounds to me like a moron told another moron something, and it got REALLY screwed up by the time it hit the papers. The point that "electrical devices installed by qualified professionals are quite safe to the general public" is a generically good statement, and we in the electrical industry would like to believe that, too. However, I must point out there are varying degrees of professionalism, experience, and quality of installation, all of which could have resulted in that dog storing electricity. Other factors will include quality of the devices and wiring. ANYTHING can fail to operate. I don't buy all I read in that article. I would point very squarely back at the city for taking ownership of the lighting system without first inspecting it, 100%, especially in a place where public exposure to it would increase the city's liability risk. By the way, I'm an electrical engineer with well over 30 years experience in industrial services including power generation/distribution. If that dog was storing electricity, I want a whole pack of 'em to connect between my meter and distribution panel. I've never seen electric dogs. Eels, yes, dogs, no. Then again, it could have been RoboDog, or perhaps the T4000 version of the Terminator. Doginator. Not trying to make light of the girl's loss of her dog, but definitely taking a poke at a stupid reporter.

I gotta go with the disagreement with them, albeit it's just my opinion. I'm an electrical engineer, and if you've never seen NFPA-70E training videos, you should. Those are definitely not recommended for young audiences. As for a magnetic container stuck on the side of a steel post, I have no issue with that, so long is that it is placed where nothing else can be opened with bare hands that may contain energized conductors. The LPC caches are easy enough to determine if they're safe. Simplly look up and see if the lights are on. Most parking lot lighting is 277V or 480V, and is operated by contactors inside the nearby buildings. Lights off, contactor's dropped out. That said, though, the contactor could close at any time, and if there's a chafed wire under that lampskirt, you may have just put your life on the line. Is a film can under a lampskirt worth it? Worse yet, though, IMHO, and at the risk of hijacking, but along the same lines, guard rail hides on busy roads are perhaps the most dangerous hides. A shock from most commercial or residential distribution voltage levels MIGHT kill you if you touch a bare conductor. A cement truck running 55 mph WILL kill you if it touches you. We all assume risks when hunting geocaches. The best advice is don't hunt "over your head". I know nothing about rappelling, and there are three caches that require that activity within 3 miles of my house. I love difficult caches, but I know my limits and won't attempt anything I have no training for the activities required, especially not alone. Fake covers on distribution panels bother me a lot less than LPC's because most of the time, if those are outside, the panels are normally are locked shut or have enough protective covers in place to protect unqualified persons from injuring themselves. Older applications may not be as good as newer stuff, but, finder beware. I would have even less problem with one of the fake bolt hides on a 115KV distribution line tower, unless someone climbed part way up to increase the terrain rating. There's a reason that line is hung that high. A cache with an electrical fixture camouflage bothers me a lot less if it was hidden by someone with an electrical background. It's the fake outlet covers available for anyone to hide, and placed by unqualified persons that scare me. There are lots of different hides that are dangerous, in different ways. Some innocuous hides get extremely dangerous when stinging insects build nearby and get territorial, or when Mr. NoShoulders decides to den next to the cache. The main thing is BE AWARE of where you are at all times, and while you're thinking outside the box, make sure you're thinking about staying out of a box too. Bottom line, THINK before you touch. Treat EVERY LPC as if it's got a giant wasp nest under it and your life depends on not being stung. NEVER open any electrical panel that you cannot determine if energized conductors are present. If it's that important to find, make sure you have someone qualified with you while you search to keep you alive.

Or unsuitable owner. I read the rules before I placed mine, and intend to keep them maintained. If I don't, I expect the complaint (needs maintenance) to be logged to let me know I'm not doing so good at ownership. I prefer to be a good owner than slow down cachers with the maintenance of my caches. If I have a repeat problem with a container, I re-evaluate the hide and try to change the container to meet the demands of the hide or change the hide to meet the demands of the container. I live in the south, where in the winter, one day it's 70 degrees and sunny, the next day, it's 35 degrees and raining. As you can imagine, most anything here will take on water if left in the elements. In most cases, containers here need another container to keep the weather off, that is actually ventilated so that it just acts as an umbrella to keep the free water off the cache container. The exceptions, of course, are containers designed for humid weather, and even immersion (military ammo cans). When I go caching, I go to FIND caches, not to maintain them. That is what ownership is supposed to take care of. Like others, though, if I know the owner, and know that owner normally puts in the efforts to take care of his stuff, yep, I'll change the log and tell him I did. I won't put a NM on one that I maintain. What's the point? I just did the maintenance. But I do note that activity in the find log. If I'm in a different state, or see a pattern of poor maintenance, then I log the NM and never look back. The guidelines are VERY clear to me about what to do with an unsuitable cache. That said, though, be ready to be called out by a cache owner if you run a series they've neglected, and find 11 out of 12 caches that you have to stop and dry the log to ink it for the find. Owners with high find counts tend to be the touchiest about their hides and use the excuse they're out findng more instead of maintaining the one ones they hide, or that they have too many hides to maintain all of them. NONE seem to understand that they're already admitting to the real problem. I'm more subject to photographing a soggy log for the proof I found it an attach that to a found log. That also depends on the nature or quality of the hide. It isn't my fault if the cache is in pitiful condition when I find it (unless it's mine) and if I find it, I'm logging a find whether I can sign the log or not. I photographed as many as 9 on a series in a remote area in a national forest that had a control burn done for underbrush. Many caches in that series did not fare well, and in many cases, the container was melted shut and the log inaccessible, therefore, unsignable. I found them, though, and I claimed the finds. I could not replace them, because they were a themed series, with special log sheets used for the series. I found several throw-downs in that series as well, which seriously detracted from the whole intent of the series. HOWEVER, I NEVER log a find if I don't find it, I NEVER log a NM on a cache I do not find, and ALWAYS log a DNF on one I cannot find with reasonable effort for the difficulty level. I NEVER assume one is missing or needs maintenance if I can't find it, but more often than not, we have several cachers in our area that are too willing to throw down a replacement for a find. That is cheating in it's simplest form. I won't cheat at a hobby. Not much point in having a hobby I have to be dishonest about.

Why should any limitation be placed on a lifetime membership? At $25/year, it would take a minimum of 10 years for anyone to become a 'freeloader' on the system if a lifetime fee was set at $250. In essence, their membership is paid up in advance for 10 years. Chances are, someone like me may not be able in 10 years to get out and cache, so the site loses NOTHING by granting me a "lifetime" membership. If a 10 year old kid saves up his grass-cutting money, and pays a lifetime fee, well, yeah, there's a possibility the site would lose a little money. I don't know what possible "perks" could be offered to those that qualify under other conditions, but my $250 is certainly as good as anyone else's, and should buy the same thing for me. Prorating that or in any way offering based on a find count or hide count is elitist and snobby. Some of us still have real jobs and lifestyles that command a lot of our time, making caching a hobby, as it is intended to be. Adding ANY competitive measure to qualifying for a lifetime membership is just plain wrong. Groundspeak's stand was, is, and hopefully always will be that numbers don't matter and this isn't a contest. It's an adventure, plain and simple. Who is to say geocaching will even be around in 10 years? At one time, it was a secretive hobby, fun, and the caches were primarily "quality' caches that were fun to find. Now, most of them are mindless pill bottles scattered on the road side and sorely neglected. I think it's a matter of time before roadside hides will be banished in some way because of obvious safety reasons. I can hope, anyway. No offense to the numbers hounds that like the mindless park and grabs and compete to have the most finds on the planet. That's just not my way to wiggle. Chances are, many would pay the lifetime fee, and will perhaps fizzle out on the game long before it becomes a cost to Groundspeak for their membership. I know it takes some pretty spiffy equipment to manage all the data, and some pretty hefty salaries to pay the IT talent to keep it running, but, I also know there are a LOT of folks paying annual memberships, and not just in this country. I don't understand the part about forgetting to pay the annual fee, either. I get a notification when my fee is due. Hard to forget that. Sure, offer a lifetime membership, but let's not make it class based in any way form or fashion. That's just bigotry in it's simplest form.

If going west and particularly to those states doesn't conflict with the bug's objectives, GO FOR IT. No rules I know about that say you can't move a bug on from your own cache, and if it doesn't conflict with the owner's objectives, it would be downright courteous of you to move them since no one else is doing so. Just need to make sure to log them out of your caches accordingly and into the new locations. I learned my lesson already from impatient owners, as well as had my first lost the day I released it, so I don't move bugs at all other than the one I keep on me. I discover plenty, but that's it. There are lots of folks that don't mind doing the discovery thing, I've actually found a couple that were presumed lost and did a grab on them to get them back into circulation. If you like moving the bugs, DO it. Might wanna touch bases with the owners first, though.