erik88l-r

Rather than throw out AVG try: Tools -> Advanced settings -> E-mail scanner -> Check incoming e-mail = checked -> Certify e-mail = unchecked. Edited to add: see http://beyondteck.blogspot.com/2006/05/bla...-microsoft.html ~erik~

I turned off the e-mail scanner part of the program and all is well again for me. ~erik~

None taken. In fact we in the UK celebrate July 4th as our Thanksgiving Day. Very Good! LOL ~erik~

Let me know which that is so I might learn from my error. If it is GC1D6C7 the cache owner did supply the final waypoint, but of course hid it from view. As the other waypoints were all virtual they do not enter into the proximity calculations, so I did not want to delay the publication of the cache by holding it up for something I would not use. You may want to ask the cache owner to post them though, for the benefit of those who can download them electronically. Cheers, ~erik~ PS Hey, I've got partying to do... In the United States, Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. No offense intended.

I am having similar problems. Do you have AVG Anti Virus? I have my suspicions that the free version I have is giving me less than my money's worth. The message on the base of e-mails that certifies that it has been scanned has turned to gibberish too. ~erik~

Being able to do Pocket Queries is one great reason. ~erik~

Woof, woof! ~erik~

Congrats, Stephen. We have the utmost faith in your abilities, and besides, you'll work for free. hehe. Thanks for helping out, though I know the SA geocachers are not a rowdy bunch and shouldn't need much moderating. Except for Fish Eagle perhaps. Much success! ~erik~

or.... 5. Initiate the cache page, but uncheck the box that says it's ready for review. That'll generate the GC????? number to put on the container. Then you can go back and complete the submission when you have the coords and text added. ~erik~

That's very nice. You've wife deserves a hug for feeding your addiction. What happened to the top candle? You're not supposed to eat those, you know. ~erik~

It works very nicely. Thanks for providing this. It is so much better than the default maps on the site. ~erik~

As a reviewer, if I'm asked I'll generally say "clear" if it is, but if it isn't I'll tell people which way and how far to move their proposed cache location in very general terms. There should be no reason for someone to have to ask a second time, and there should not be enough info in my anwer to reverse it and find someone else's cache. I guess it's possible, but so far no one has been silly enough to submit multiple caches in my area around where they think someone's mystery cache might be, and use the rejections to triangulate to that cache. [The cache reviewers could also have a "watch list", and it's not necessarily caches that they'd be watching. ] ~erik~

I was very sorry to hear of Dave and Peter's departure. I found out the hard way via a phone call from Seattle asking if I could please assist Deceangi for a short while. So please don't freak out if you see my geonick in a review note or publish note on a UK cache. I'll assist Dave/Deceangi as needed, but second his desire to have additional UK based reviewers as quickly as possible. Hey, at least I drive a British car and make a living working for a British company. Cheers, ~erik~

QFC wrote: Well, if the event is solely to get people together to do a group hunt of existing caches you're quite right. However, in the case of many challenge events new caches are put out for the event and the hunt is not a group hunt, but a competition wherein geocachers or geocacher teams hunt individually. For non-challenge events, caches may also be put out just as a training exercise or a fun activity at the event. If the new caches are to remain after the event they have to meet all the geocaching.com guidelines for the event. If they're temporary caches just placed for the even they would not be listed on geocaching.com and would not have to meet the guidelines for distance between caches, etc. I suppose caches placed for an event could also be a combination of the two: some permanent, some temporary. What we don't want are caches listed in good faith on geocaching.com but archived after an event has ended, such that only attendees can get a "smilie". Can't say that I've seen that happen though, which is good. Hope that explanation helps. ~erik~

Andy wrote: I think "special dispensation" might be a more appropriate term. Seriously, I'm very pleased that things could be worked out with a win-win ending. ~erik~

DavidMac, you'll have a great time in South Africa. I returned just two weeks ago from a two week vacation and wish I were still there. The scenery is superb, the people are wonderful, the food is great, the caches are first rate: I have nothing but positive things to say about the country and it's geocachers. I probably didn't meet anyone who wasn't a geocacher, so my visit perhaps wasn't an ordinary one. It was certainly an extraordinary one though! Have fun and do try to hook up with some of the local geocachers or at least get their recommendations for caches to hunt. Or look at my geocaching finds in South Africa and Swaziland as I had some excellent geocaching guides select them. The only thing I seemed to miss out on was dining on mopane worms, so be sure to do that for me. Enjoy! ~erik~

Sorry to reply in English. I can comprehend cache pages in French well enough to review them, but English is a better language for me to try to communicate in. What Riviouveur had posted agrees fully with the geocaching.com guidelines and with what all reviewers have been asking of our "customers" in other parts of the world. I'm sure anyone can find where exceptions have been made by accident or on purpose, but please consider Riviouveur as not just speaking for Riviouveur on these matters. Regards, ~erik~

A bit of input from the cache reviewer who published the listing in question... I originally had some concerns as well, asked the following of Crystal Fairy: The reply (with unrelated "stuff" edited out) satisfied me: So please approach it with an open mind, but let your new reviewer, Fish Eagle, know if the old one screwed up. Cheers, ~erik~

Global Rat wrote: Was this the park you took Carol and I too that had the concert going on while we were there? It seemed safe enough to me at the time. I can't say I've heard of a geocacher being accosted in my part of the US, but several have returned from a hike to find their car broken into at a trailhead. A hiker (not a geocacher) was recently murdered not far from a geocache in our north Georgia mountains, but that's a very rare occurance. It was apparently a serial killer too, suspected for doing the same thing in two other states. I walked 21 miles (about 33 km) around downtown Los Angeles in the course of a week last November hunting caches in the mornings before a work assignment there. There were a lot of "urban outdoorsman" there, but no one bothered me. It might be different after dark though. Don't know what can be done to prevent this sort of thing, but it's certainly sad to hear it happen. Glad no one was hurt. ~erik~

Thanks for all the kind words directed at me, and the words of encouragement for Fish Eagle. Have a great Easter weekend! ~erik~

Hi folks, I've just returned from a fantastic two week visit to South Africa. I was honored to meet many of you, and truly enjoyed touring much of the country and seeing the many great things your country has to offer. It was very gratifying to be invited to spend the night at the homes of Fish Eagle, Global Rat, and Vic and Gill of the Trickies. I traveled with all three, found some 70 caches, and was deeply touched to be able to participate in events hosted by Noddy, Global Rat, and the Trickies. It was a great trip, and I'm only sorry that now I'm back home and back to my ten hour work days, rather than days of geocaching and seeing the sights. In a way I feel guilty in having to now tell you that in a way my visit was a farewell tour. You all thanked me for my years of work, but the assumption was there that I'd be continuing in that role. Unfortunately my work load means I have to do like your Eskom - shed some of the load. The positive, though, is that geocaching has grown to the point in South Africa that you really should have a dedicated local reviewer. In the events I attended in SA I was often asked how I started as a reviewer, and what areas I covered. I was honest in telling everyone that I started by covering every state and country in the world, but handed off most of them over the years to local geocachers to review as the sport grew. I kept waiting for someone to ask me when that would occur for South Africa, but out of politeness (I suppose) you folks never asked that logical question. I'd started looking for someone to hand over the responsibilities for South African cache reviews some six months ago. My first choice turned me down, which in retrospect isn't a bad thing, as we're generally suspicious of anyone eager or dumb enough to really want to do the job. I kept after him though, and eventually he gave in. Fish Eagle / Andy Maclaurin impressed me greatly with his tenacity in getting the South African provinces added to the geocaching.com website, and then spearheading adding them to the existing cache pages. There are several other South African geocachers who I know would also do a great job as a reviewer, and we may call upon them to help Andy as volumes continue to increase. As Andy does not work full time and is very organized in tracking caches and travel bugs/geocoins he seems like a natural at this time as the first South African based reviewer. He's also got access to SA maps on his PC that I don't have, and has the benefit of operating in the same time zone as his customers, so should be able to better serve you than I can. In many areas local reviewers have become a necessity due to local restrictions on our sport. That hasn't happened in SA yet, but Andy and I suspect it will only be a matter of time in places like KNP. As Andy lives nearby, and had many caches in Kruger, he would be good person to handle negotiations with parks like Kruger should it become necessary. That is something I'd have no way of doing from the US. I nominated Fish Eagle to geocaching.com and to the other cache reviewers for their feedback about a month ago. They carefully looked at his forum postings, his cache hides and finds, his work with the SA provinces, his experience, etc., and unanimously agreed with my recommendation. I've spent my time with Andy in the past weeks downloading the needed reviewer tools to his laptop, and showing him the ropes. He's been able to publish caches for two weeks now, but deferred to me until I thought it a good time to hand the reins to him. That time is now. I'll still be available to fill in when Fish Eagle is on holiday or if Eskom really starts picking on Nelspruit in it's load shedding, but starting Wednesday, 19 March please look to Andy to be your primary contact for cache reviews, coordinate updates, and the like. I've very much enjoyed working with you over the years, and Carol and I again thank you for your friendship and enthusiastic welcome on our holiday in South Africa. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me directly. Please give Andy a warm welcome and your full support! All the best, ~erik~

Aren't you glad your cache reviewer takes the initiative to correct the spelling errors he sees? I'm all the time fixing colour to make it color, and all those coastal caches are now near harbors, not harbours. Sorry if I do miss some, but my spell czecher isn't perfect. ~erik~

I try to be agreeable, so I'll agree. ~erik~

Keep in mind that geocaching, be it a game or a sport, is not a competitive one like cricket or football, and so there is no "rule book" as such that all must adhere to or be penalized. The guidelines evolve over time and are subject to some flexibility and interpretation. As Michael wrote, the cache reviewers are human and you will find some differences between them. There are also regional differences. In my area "should" is pronounced as "oughta". In Scotland it might be "thou shalt" or something stronger. ~erik~

The OP asked, Michael did a great job of explaining, but to elaborate slightly - you'll find the majority of the guidelines have the word "may" or "should" in them. Only a small number have the stronger "must" or even "are not permitted". Obviously the second category is open to less interpretation and flexibility than the first, which are true guidelines. Having said that, even a guideline is meant to be adhered to, or it ceases to have any value in guiding people. They're not just suggestions on how the sport or game should be played, they've evolved over time to satisfy the needs of all involved in the game, and will continue to evolve. ~erik~