mapchasers

I'm a newbie with very few finds. I have met a couple of very nice groups, while caching. It is my belief that this hobby/sport lends itself to attracting people who are generally 'good' people. If I feel compelled to give an opinion on a subject, I will do so respectfully. If others choose to wiegh my opinion based on my find count, so be it. I trust they have thier reasons for doing so. Either way it has no effect on me or my enjoyment of this hobby. If I log a DNF and they choose to wait for a more experienced cacher to have trouble, before they check on it, again, so be it. It has no effect on me or my enjoyment of this hobby. If I place a hide people choose not to search for it based on my numbers, so be it. It has no effect on me or my participation in this hobby. If you let someone esle's basically irrelevant actions take the fun out of a hobby you enjoy, you have no one to blame but yourself.

Your cited example could very easily be interpreted as having the opposite effect. Shortening the newbie term to noob it itself could be easily seen as condescending. Couple that with proposing a requirement for said noob, and now you could easily be asking for anymosity. By this statement I was thinking more along the lines of politely notifying a fellow cacher (new or old) of a possible mistake, and humbly letting them know that you have been doing this a while and would help them in any way you could in the future, IF they want any advice or would like any suggestions. I realize a persons intent is often hard to read with written text since there is no body language or facial expressions or tones. And sometimes a person has to be extra nicey nicey with words and come off looking wimpy in order to assure the other party doesn't mis interpret your intent. Some people just won't bring themselves to do that, some people can do it more effectively than others. I've seen it thousands of times on every forum I've ever seen on many topics. People with good intentions being misunderstood, resulting in new members feeling alienated by someone who they think act like they were born with 1823 posts and an instant expert at the topic.

After reading this thread I thought I might share another "Newbie" perspective. I just recently got started geocaching and became addicted for many reasons. One of the reasons was, it has been my experience that the majority of the people who truly enjoy the great outdoors tend to be good people. Helpful people. Parts of this thread have enforced that experience. (THANK YOU) However there does seem to be some cynacism towards "newbies". At least it seems that way from a newbie perspective. It may or may not be intentional, and newbies may be more sensative to it, maybe even overly sensative. While I understand that when someone gains experiences, often they become cynical about people who could potentially damage the reputation of a hobby that the feel they've worked hard to promote responsibly. Though I also believe a more proactive helpful approach may bring better results. Criticism or even perceived criticism will only breed anymosity. I feel a successful ambassador is one who first befriends those who he is trying to help. Just another "newbie" perspective.