Spire67

Those of you who are in favour of flash mob events. I would love to hear what your definition of geocaching is? Then tell me how a flash mob event fits that definition. If its to allow geocachers to gather and talk about caching then it aint a flash mob as I understand them. Really hope that they roll out the trial to allow events for cachers to meet and go caching. After all that is what we all enjoy doing. Seems mad to exclude this activity from events. When I held a launch event for a new series I had to do it by pretending it wasnt (even though it was) to just meet up and do the new series. It was a great event which was a great success. Not my view just the feedback from those attending it.

Firstly how would you define geocaching? To me it is a hobby that involves the use of a gps device to search for and hopefully find a hidden container. What is a flash mob? To me it is a group of people who arrive at a pre arranged venue at an agreed time. Materialise out of the general crowd. Perform the specified activity. Then immediately disperse into the crowd. If you have a similar view of geocaching and flash mobs why are flash mob events organised through GC.com? I understand why we have events so geocachers can meet other geocachers and chat about their shared interest. But flash mobs if performed as they are intended do not even give the opportunity to chat about caching. It baffles me why groundpeak seem to encourage this type of event but do not allow events to be organise that purely involve going out geocaching. Surely this is very strange?

I am from a geocaching background and today I did my first Wherigo. I really enjoyed it and so want to create my own cartridge for others to play. I have only done one cartridge so dont really know what you can do with a cartridge. The one I did was in Leicester which was the nearest one to me but still 20 miles away. So its not really practical for me to try lots of cartridges to build up experience and ideas. The one I played took me on a historical tour of the city and had me picking up items as I went. I suspect that Wherigo can be much more creative than this. So I would love to hear of other things that can be done and whether it is practical for a newbie to be undertakingbuilding them. I want to create a good experience for the end user but I dont want to make it too difficult for me to create. Many thanks for any suggestions and guidance. Neil Spire67

His contribution to geocaching will be missed. He placed some great caches that had many favourites awarded them. His videos although not welcomed by all were interesting, inspiring and entertaining. They brought many new geocachers to this hobby that we all enjoy. He also made great videos of motorcycling, the other common interest I had with him. I only had the pleasure of meeting him once. A very sad loss to geocaching but a terrible loss for his partner and children. My thoughts go out to them. RIP Steve

Pharisee perhaps you as CO would email them and inform them that what they did is not acceptable and that they have to find and sign the log to claim a find. Also delete their log on the listing as it is not a find. I dont think it matters if they get the hump. Geocaching does not need people with that approach.

I am in the process of building a hydro cache which is 40mm drain pipe (the type used on sinks). There are 4x90 degree bends in it and 6 metres of pipe. It will be placed on an old railway embankment at a bridge. In the tube is the plastic egg from a kinder surprise, which contains the log. The cacher has to flush the egg through the pipework from the top of the embankment and then go under the bridge to retrieve the egg. Then log their find and drop the egg back into the top. The cache is not intended to be particulerly challenging but just different and a bit of fun.

He is banned for 1 month. No he cannot log on to maintain his own caches. He had already downloaded around 500 geocaches. So he can continue geocaching during his ban. The only losers are us as his caches are not being maintained. Nothing to stop him creating a new user id anyway to carry on caching and then log them all when his ban is lifted. Maybe he already has another user id. I know I would. Clearly he could take his caches elsewhere. Doubt Groundspeak would miss him. However we as cachers would be the losers. 35mm film cannisters at the base of trees are ten a penny. There are not many cache creators that are as innovative and diversified as Sven. Perhaps he needs to tread carefully but so do Groundspeak.

I am the cache owner of Wilford Willow http://coord.info/GC34WPX. I find it an honour that Sven and Cup deem my cache good enough to feature it in one of their videos. Just for the record I hereby publicly give Sven & Cup permission to feature my caches in their videos. I do not believe that the videos break any geocaching.com or Groundspeak rules. However I do believe it is common courtesy to remove any videos where the CO has requested that they do so. However I think the 1 month ban applied to Sven & Cup unnecessary and is just a big brother bully tactic. I appreciate the geocache spoiler videos. I have used them as inspiration. If you don't want to spoil the hunt for caches dont watch them. Come on Groundspeak you are doing yourselves no favours by getting out the banning big stick in this instance. I know you wont rescind the ban as you would lose face to do so. But be very careful before you decide to extend the ban or take any further action. If I were Sven or Cup and you did I would be instructing my solicitor to sue you. Just my humble opinion.