memefactory

I have also noticed the poor quality of swag and have started leaving some good gets as well - a mini-tape measure/key chain, a small bag that folds up into less than a square cm, a combo bottle/tin opener for camping, a sleeping mask.....the little plastic junk from cereal boxes isn't really appealing....

Bad Duck and a few others have hit the mark - I meant bad translations into English. As for "which English", I meant Standard English - both American and British being fine (though not mixed in a single entry). I also appreciate the clarification as to the tenor of some of the responses - and to clarify myself: NO, I did NOT mean correcting native speakers; I must ask who would ever even think such a thing? Anyway, I have already corrected a few for people and been warmly thanked for my efforts and, since I really like those caches, I am also happy. Everybody wins. I would also like to thank the smart-a** who sent me an anonymous email correcting some of the typos on my own cache listing - I actually hadn't noticed them so now it is all good.

@GeoGeeBee - ah yes, you're right....heh heh....

Wow - a lot of hostile responses...no, I mean things like this: "And finally a day succeeded to make a no favorable contract for being able itself to free of they. But hardly they tried to move the bags….outside mouses from all the angles that seemed cats… were quite an army." - I really liked the cache and thought it was a shame that the story was so garbled. As for not appreciating the effort made by non-native speakers, quite the opposite, yet if I were writing in another language I'd appreciate some help. Writing in another language can be difficult, especially if you are trying to sound conversational. English is a rich language with the largest vocabulary in the world and most people who learn it like playing around with and exploring it's vastness - yet the word order often throws them and idioms can be a nightmare. In addition, I thought of this because I have been approached a few times now (privately) by cachers who have asked me to help clean up their English listings and been happy to do so. No one is suggesting doing anything publicly, ridiculing anyone or demanding anything - simply helping clean up and clarify. Finally, I don't see how many finds I have or how long I have been a member is relevant to language issues. That all said, I like the idea of attending events and putting something on my profile. Thanks for the advice. And yes, I DO correct people's English at parties, so mynahhh ; the only people who get pissy about it are Americans. @Doug 7rxc - yes, "affect" is the verb. FYI - "is" is the correct form with the singular subject "community". Just sayin'....

What is the community's thoughts on offering to correct and/or emailing corrected versions of English language cache descriptions to COs? Would it piss them off?

Hmmm, lots of food for thought....I have found a little trick, however - use Google Translate (which does a pretty fair job most of the time, I've found), the paste the translation BACK into GT and render it once again into English, then compare the original to the translated translation. Helped me find a few tiny faults with GT's work (for example, Czechs use the word "keš" for "cache", but some are being clever and spell in with a k instead, so "kache" - but GT thinks they might mean "kachna", which means "duck", so you get translations about water fowl instead of people. I have also noticed that idiomatic language escapes the program almost entirely.) Not a perfect system, but at least it's something....

The consensus seems to be - DON'T DO IT and fair enough. The only reason it occurred to me was that i sometimes come across a fantastic spot on holiday and would love it if others could see it as well, so I thought "Why not a cache to this location?" But, yes, Waymarking seems like a lot less hassle and litter....Thanks for the responses!

What do you all think about placing a cache somewhere you don't live and may never again visit? Would you just let the log fill up and then hope someone in the area will take it over, let the log fill up and then deactivate the cache (sort of a TAZ cache, make it a virtual, or not do it at all? Plus, how would one go about getting that distant cache approved and published while, say, on holiday?

I'm fairly new to geocaching, but so far the ones I have loved have been: 1) my first one, 2) ones that that teach me something I didn't know about, 3) ones in muggle-filled areas, so it's a bit like being ion on a secret, and 4) ones that take me to a spot I would NEVER have gone to were I not looking for a cache. Also - clever containers also thrill me.

I am an Amercian living in Prague, with...okay, Czech skills but not really good enough to write in the language. Question: should I write my GC entries in English and people can just use Google Translate to see what I have written (like I do with Czech-only cache listings) or should I go ahead and cut-and-paste in a Google Translation, even though the Czech will probably have some errors that I will not be able to catch. Thoughts?

I, of course, meant "caches"....

A surprise, those results - I'd've thought that this was more of a 20-something thing to do.....

Going to Milan and Florence, and possible Pisa and Bologna, in March. Any CAN'T MISS aches in those towns?

Great - thanks for the replies...Contacting the cache owners seems to be the polite thing to do. I cannot imagine anyone would say "no" to be included on a list. And if a particular perosn doesn't respond to my query, I can stick them on anyway and remove them later if they complain.

I am new to geocaching but love it and want to start leaving some of my own caches around Prague, where I live. I am planning on doing various themed series of caches - like "Cubism in Prague" or "Prague Breweries." My question is this: sometimes there is already a good cache near or at or themed to the location I am thinking of, so would it be cool to simply include these caches by other people in my themed series list? Should I ask each person or simply go ahead and add them to the list (and save myself trying to find a cache hiding place in the process)?