acachebox

THANKS

How do i bring up a list of the TB I have dropped and have on my watch list?

Looks like removing the I Phone program and reinstalling may be the answer to the slowness. I did it and first attempt worked fine.

It is insanely slow. I thought it was a Verizon issue till others started reporting slow reactions.

Good Point Thanks

Yes it is Super Slow. Almost as bad as if no internet bars were displayed on the phone. As for adding Favorites points on the Post As Log page it is not on my phone. As I said above not on my Phone. There is no favorites option once you have logged Found It

Yes it is Super Slow. Almost as bad as if no internet bars were displayed on the phone. As for adding Favorites points on the Post As Log page it is not on my phone.

I am trying to update a Geo Mate JR. I follow the description and download the set up kit but when I attempt to download the update I keep getting sent back the download the set up kit when using Fire Fox If I use Internet Exp I get a little further into the process but sill can't update.

Go to this site http://www.geocaching.com/track/default.aspx Look at the forth item on center group. That will give you complete instructions on logging a TB

The vast majority of missing Trackables happened in the hands of signed-up members. Whatever your easier plan is, make it available to Cachers, too, because even they can't log Trackables. I completely agree with your statement that even Members have trouble logging a TB. I have to rethink the system every time I log a TB. Groundspeak has succeeded in providing one of the most complicated web sites I have ever encountered. However once one has figured it out it is extremely complete in detail and depth of data but it is not user friendly. It is that issue presented to a none user that I opened this thread.

As an outsider, I would read the instructions on the Travel Bug dog tag, which tell me to visit www.Groundspeak.com/. I would then go to that page and see the prominent blue-shaded box at the top right, prompting me to enter the tracking number. This would take me to the trackable item's page. I could also click on the link to the Trackables homepage, also viewable without opening a Geocaching.com account. To shorten this discussion I would again ask you to hand a TB to a none cacher and one see if they can or are willing to follow the current route. You clearly bring subconscious information to this task and I suggest that information is not available to an outsider and those a simpler system needs to be available if we expect results. The above mentioned addition to the home page with the single link taking an outsider to a page asking for simple information would be a path of far less resistance. "KISS" is the system that works for others let it work here.

That's a good idea. Maybe I'll add some kind of contact info to the TB info tag itself, while I wait. All they need is to find a Geocacher, such as an active local group member. Directing people to an upcoming Event might be good, too. Don't confuse the issue. A FINDER is already directed to Geocaching.com. The problem is there are no instructions on the page for someone not in the system. That is the area that needs to be corrected in a way that a FINDER will use. Make it more confusing and the TB ends up in a desk drawer forever.

On further thought this will not work because Geochacing is an international system. That would require setting up a system in ever country. Not possible. What I think could work is to add a line above the Geocaching title on the home page. This line could read. If you have found a TB and not a Geocacher please click here______. That would link to a page that asks a finder to submit their contact information and the TB number. Once submitted that TB number would forward that information to the TB owner via e mail and the owner could take what ever action he desired to, get it back, remove it from any cache it still appears in, or remove it from the system.

I had forgotten to mention a thought in my earlier post. The US Post Office offers a service through postage due that provides for lost items to be sent to a central postal box. If TB were imprinted with instruction to use that service it could not get much simpler. Drop in a postal box. Yes there is a cost but a few cent increase in the original cost of thousands of TB would clearly cover that. We are probably dealing with 3 condition here. Muggles who have grabbed a TB. They most likely will not return it. Cachers who have grabbed a TB and are keeping them in their collection. They will not return them Cachers who have lost interest. They might return it. On balance it doesn't look good but any TB returned to circulation is one more than the current system provides for.

From there there can not be an improvement. If you have set a course that has a major road block, logging in as a member, in it how do you expect an outsider with the best of intentions to even consider going any further. To retain the security of TB in general it might require changing the notification on future TB to directing a none member to contact another site set up to deal only with lost TB or a central e mail address. Directing an outsider to the current dead end may not work to the extent intended. While this may not be the prevalent reason for so many TB going lost it is at least one that can be improved upon and hopefully improve results.

So have I. Would you like to offer something that builds to a solution? We could have this discussion on infinite-um, but to shorten that period I would ask you do do as noted above. Hand someone, a none cacher, a TB and ask them to log it. First off anyone that does make it to the home page has to sign in as a member before they can do anything let along find any instruction on that page available to someone attempting to log a TB. Lets get real hear. Most of us reading here can or at least could figure out how to log a TB but I does not look good for an outsider.

Well I have got to say I have been caching for over a year and even after several questions on the forum I am not comfortable with administering a TB. Given that I looked at one of the TB I currently have in inventory to see what instruction a novice would see if they discovered a TB. The instruction say go to Geocaching .com come and inter the code number. Clear instruction, yes, but once on Geocaching.com there is no apparent place to enter that number. Now yes those of us that have been dealing with this for some time would fathom through it but if asked could I give someone clear instructions as to what to do. NO. How them would someone not dedicated to caching even bother to go any further? If you tell someone to go somewhere you should have instruction for them when the get there. I learned many years ago that you never have someone who understands a system write the instructions for that system. They leave out the need to know items because they already know them as instinctive. Thus leaving the novice at a dead end. Try it. Hand someone, a none cacher, a TB and ask them to log it.

Interesting thing is businesses that refuse to acknowledge the problems of their business don't seam to remain in business long. This problem could be so easily solved with a few lines of code. In the absence of that why would I ever consider buying a TB? They are fun but and I will continue to grab those that I come across but as a new cacher I will never place one as long as this problem exists.

An excellent idea. The cache that prompted this question had had only 2 geocacher member cachers visit the cache from the time a TB was dropped till the time the TB was noted as gone by a third cacher. I found it hard to believe that the 2 cachers failed to record a grab if either of them had grabbed the TB. This cache is located in a Public Preserve that may in fact have a Jr. caching program run by the Preserve. I can't get the answer to that question today as the Preserve is closed on Mondays. If that is the case none member cachers may also be frequenting the area and not aware of the protocols relating to TBs. I originally took note of this problem when I crossed a cache that had 6 TBs listed as being in the cache. None were in it when I opened the cache clearly indicating that someone other than a member cacher had frequented the cache. How do we partition Groundspeak to allow a TB owner to add your notation to a given cache

An interesting approach but had no results. I am beginning to think it was the serial number typed on a TB I dropped that day but the TB reference number listed on line is not the number typed on the bug. Is there a way to search for the actual number on the bug?

All right I accept that but how do I look up items that do not start with GC? IE travel bugs, coins, and cards. I think I have figured out my note. I dropped a TB on that day and noted the bug's number for posting later. Still would like to know how to search an item by it's number.

That field will not take a GZ number. I have had this problem searching for other items like those with GW numbers.

GZGZ isn't a valid identifier for a cache. All Geocaching.com cache identifiers start with "GC". I tried looking up "GCGZ", but it doesn't exist. I tried "GCGZGZ", but it's in Montana, and it doesn't look like you were anywhere near there around that date. Do you remember where it was? You could look on the map to find it. Other than that, I have no idea what the GZGZ might refer to. Was it shorthand for the cache name, maybe? I purposely did not complete the full number of the cache, note the 2 -- at the end, If you were able to look up several cache numbers that is what I asking. How do I look up a given cache by just it's number.

I have a note in my file of something I did on Jan 28. It refers to an cache GZGZ-- How can I look up this cache by it's number?

How can the current holder get an e mail when there is NO RECORD as to who the current holder is. My question is why are so many TB going missing? Who is removing them? Are they cachers that are not aware that they should log them or have others found the cache and just removed them as souvenirs