Alice Band

bump Won't let me log in - says the java is unsecure and untrusted

A manky former tictac container under a park bench where the local tramp normally lives...experienced this in London I must admit containers such as those are a peeve of mine - have found several now, that or breath strip containers, split and leaking take-away containers full of water and snails, and people who put a tiny container inside a large binbag then hide it in a wood...WHY??!

Well, for the record I still like urban caching, and so does my son. In fact, its more fun with kids who can retrieve it for you without people getting suspicious - just tell them where you think its lurking and send them in I've cached alone to grab some pretty muggle-heavy caches in London, Oxford and Manchester too, and briefly in Berlin amongst others. Its all part of the game - if you're shy or nervous hook up with some experienced cachers for the day and see how they do it. I like the idea of a cache event in her cafe, but reading her views on caching I'm actually wondering if she would let you! If you do, then get the local press involved as a 'damage limitation exercise', and of course to spread the word about our hobby that is Geocaching. If it wasn't so far away from me I would attend...

Love it! that really made me giggle!! But I hope that when they find them, they dont squirt water at them all, cos the logs will be all wet! You may laugh at the thought, but I do know two policemen who now cache during their breaks after I introduced them to caching

I'm ex MoD and worked in counter-terrorism (but I can't go into details or I will have to kill you all ) Being in the UK we are faced with a unique problem - it wasn't that long ago we had problems with the dissident IRA, and unfortunately their bombs were often in a sandwich box left hidden or placed under things - they used other devices larger and smaller but the tupperware box was the most popular. Secondly we are also dealing with 'stupid' public. They see the TV/Hollywood portrayals of cliche bombs which are often black with wires sticking out. In reality they rarely look like this, but the law of sod is often in operation and the public will react only naturally to what they perceive to be a suspicious device. I have also watched urban cachers in action - not all are discrete or careful, and I've seen two retrieving a cache with reckless abandon seemingly blissfully unaware that passers by have actually noticed what they are doing - with humans being nosey so and so they just can't resist returning to the spot later to see what you have re-hidden. Now our terror alert is on high due to a new threat from Islamists. Although their methods differ to the IRA, the police and terrorist forces cannot take a chance and must respond to every phonecall a member of the public makes, no matter how trivial. If they don't and it turns out to be genuine...well... So, what way forward? I can't place or get out to cache as much as I would like, but I do have an urban cache placed in a very busy spot in my local city. I actually like urban caches as they present an additional challenge and make a dull trip into a town or city more interesting. I don't think we should stop, instead people should stop and think before placing a new cache. Does the spot offer something interesting in its past/to look at? Is it very busy during opening hours? Can cars park nearby without raising the suspicions of the local police? Naturally the old hands to caching know this, but it seems a lot of recent newbies are so keen to place their own they often overlook these basic details. I spent ages looking for one cache that turned out was placed by a nursery, who rang the police because I was 'lurking'. The Reviewers don't know the area so its common courtesy to help them out by applying your common sense. I can't offer concrete advice, but I do think in the case of urban caches we should not place anything bigger than a micro or a nano. If its in a park which you can visit during quiet times then yes, place something bigger. If its outside a shop or cafe pop in and ask if they are fine with it, emphasising the boost to their custom from cachers. I did this with one of mine and the people have told me they have seen an increase in visitors. Show them the container too - then they can reassure any nervous muggles who may have spotted any odd behavior. I've also met a cacher who had a high-vis top made with 'Geocacher' written on the back. He said he found it made people less nervous when he wandered around with a GPS. I'm thinking of getting one for myself for the same reason as I cache via motorbike. I do think we should encourage every localised policeforce to open an account with Groundspeak - this way should they receive the dreaded phonecall they can quickly pull up the local map and rule out any caches. Also perhaps printing off one of the Groundspeak leaflets and leaving it with your local station might be handy in lieu to what happened in Yorkshire. I can't comment on how they responded in this case, but I have a feeling that 'nothing much else exciting happens' and they got a little excited... Hope I didn't bore you with my penny's worth *plink*

Yep - I send the cacher a message explaining why. But its so 'ingrained' in this region I sometimes wonder why I bother. And these logs are even coming from cachers with four figures under their belt. Have people become lazy and lost the whole point of caching?

Well Dorsetgal, I met you a couple of years ago and I've placed caches designed to be wheelchair friendly but I am a touch disappointed that the Trail of Heroes setters appear to have assumed that all cachers and potential new cachers are not disabled in any way. Like some others I was baffled by the anger shown by members of the community, but now I've read up on what's going on and have been gently nudged further via PM's on Facebook I can understand why people feel that way. Messages explaining the whole thing/launching the campaign would have been useful - I had no idea this was launched till I saw links to angry posts appearing elsewhere

There seems to be an outbreak of those logs in my region. I recently deleted one such log because they logged it as a find even though they just said 'We think we know where it is but couldn't retrieve it at this time'. They got very upset and had a go at me, so I sent them a copy of the Groundspeak guidelines on the aspect of logging caches as a find. I've noticed a lot of new cachers are allowing such logging, so I'm wondering if Groundspeak should perhaps issue a brief reminder of this most basic of rules as part of the game on their homepage?

I've had no response from Anthea, even though they are still publishing local caches... Having just come back from a months Volunteering Holiday to India, she's probably still catching up on a months worth of emails. However I've pointed out this topic to her Deci Cheers! Got an email so hopefully those cachers who need to grab this one for the series can go to it now

Tee hee hee - this thread made me laugh, especially as the OP is known to me as a local cacher - Andy, you need to cast your net out wider and leave the confines of Coventry Edited to remove miserable bit of my post!

I've had no response from Anthea, even though they are still publishing local caches...

In my region someone logs caches with just:

I've been forced to move a cache after the original cache was muggled and then the replacement was stolen before I even had a chance for it to make it go live I've moved it a little further in the same area (essentially its still in the same field), but the system says its moved a lot more. I can't contact the original person who approved the cache as he has retired and the system says I need to contact Groundspeak direct about this. Can a Groundspeak Lacky/Reviewer PM me about this so I can get it resolved - I have a large amount of cachers chomping at the bit waiting to find and log it

Ah, you listened to my plea - and guess what - somewhere near one of your caches lies a set of keys PM me, and I can talk you through it - I could adopt from you but I may live just that little bit too far East from you?

Was chatting to Alibags the other day discussing this very thing and she quite rightly suggested that by not replacing the cache and talking about it on the forums probably plays right into the vindictive person's hands. Perhaps we can eventually catch these 'Cachetrolls' in the act? I'm going to place a test cache to replace one of mine - one that Seacarrot wanted to bag - and see how long it lasts. Sadly I'm not a mad inventor so I can't place traps all around it

Well, its been a while since I've posted on this forum but tonight I was forced to close down one of my most popular cache because someone clearly targeted it and basically left something rather disgusting and depraved in it, even bragging about it in the log with the ominous words "...strikes again." Another cacher found it like this and kindly PM'd me the details and dealt with the contents (brave man). Seacarrot is local to me *waves from across town* - I'm concerned as this vindictive person has been doing the rounds around Leicester and other EM areas. I have lost two of my large containers (both popular too) recently, by people who would have needed insider information to find it, and this has happened after I deleted a dodgy and suspect log. I am angry that a game that regularly has children participating is being ruined by children of an adult nature. Its really putting me off from replacing or placing caches

Doesnt matter what it says at the room end, at my end it said I was 'booted' out before my screen filled with a Ping search results about every person in the room, their source IP and some other details, and whether or not they were in PM mode. All I did was nip to the kitchen to get a coffee! I love technology, its so reliable. However, I now feel like this:

Edited from original post.... I was booted out!!

Am currently in the middle of the English channel and popped into chat to see if anyone was alive. Can't get it to work here - the ship's WIFI can't cope with your system

Quick update - my son's troop are *finally* waking up to the concept of Geocaching and will be taking the boys out for a treasure hunt next month in the local area. It took a copy of your factsheet to do it. But they are still treating it like a suspicious yokel scared of modern technology.

If you are up for it would you be willing to help organise the usual geo-raffle at the event to help raise money for the local Scouts? Everything else - we are just awaiting some date confirmations and when its all going ahead we will put a notice here. As the majority of Leicestershire cachers live in the North and West of the county and in the city itself the first event will take this into consideration. Follow-up events can naturally move around the county so have a recce of decent pubs in your area. Set your notifications on stun

Behind the scenes organisation is afoot

A cache has just been approved in Leicester where the owner expected any visiting cacher to put the logbook in for him. He simply placed a scrap piece of paper in it and wrote in the cache description that we are to replace it with a logbook, not him, transcribing over any visitors He's a total newbie with less than 10 caches but still... I was under the impression that the basic rules consist of a proper logbook and a cache container, swaps being incidental. Am I right to be unimpressed or should I just quietly fume?

You have a PM

I'm visiting Oudenaarde as part of the organisers of the Oudenaarde historical celebrations More details here and would like to grab some caches inbetween my events. I won't have time to do all the Multies around the town as our car will not be in use all weekend, so can anyone recommend the best cache to do? I can read Flemish (I grew up in St-Niklaas) so that side isnt a problem Any suggestions welcome (Ook in Vlaams!)