RocTheCacheBox

Statistics can be used prove that the average person has 1 testicle and 1 breast. I only found 3 caches in 2020. Not because of the pandemic. I just had other things I preferred to do. (Including post here!) I'm staying out of the "what your definition of is is" discussion for once.

There is hardly any unowned or unmanaged land left on this planet. Geocaching requires permission for placement of a cache. (Regardless of how many be placed outside of those guidelines.) Only a small fraction of that land is covered in Regional Geocaching Policies Wiki. But that is made available for you to use and follow up with to make sure the information current. The few volunteer reviewers that there are do plenty of work, for millions of cachers, for no pay as it is. The fact that the onus is on YOU, not the reviewers, to use existing resources and guidelines (https://www.geocaching.com/play/guidelines#permission), to get required permission for a cache or assure cache placement is permitted based on up to date information.

Not all things in life can be defined to absolute clarity. (Beauty for instance.) Some, in fact many things, require things like intuition, experience, judgement and reasoning.

I've been caching about a year less then you have and have about 1/10 the finds as you. Its an activity that I get much enjoyment from. So I hope I can help clear up your perplexation. I like to cache but I also like to do other things. Sometimes I incorporate caching into other things I do. Sometimes I chose not to. I work full time. I like to fish, I like camping, I like hiking, I like genealogy, I like to read, I like to cook, I like to sleep late on Sunday, I like astronomy, I like visiting all kinds of museums, I like woodworking, I like watching movies. I have a house, yard and 3 vehicles to maintain, The last year or so, I've hardly cached at all because I have a new granddaughter. She was born last year and I LOVE spending time with her. As she grows I will take her caching with me. I have many things I like to do and many things that I HAVE to do. What I am doing with any free time depends on my mood and what Mrs. Roc wants to do.

Grandchildren.

(Bangs head on desk) Ok, I copied from the wrong post AND lost all sense of comprehension. Looks like I picked the wrong day to quit drinking.

I would love to find one for that price. I've been looking for one for my RV and here in the states a 10 foot goes anywhere from 80 - 120 USD

I tend to treat jerks the way they treat me +1 because they deserve it. I wouldn't care about him deleting my past stats. (but that's me) Nor would I do anything outside of guidelines. I'd actually make a point of finding every cache of his I could. Take photo proof of all that you log. Report any deleted logs that don't deserve deletion. Put a NM or NA on any caches that even slightly qualify under guidelines and ignore any attempted contacts from the jerk. But that's me. More of a grumpy old man than a good example. You do what YOU think is right.

Used to be people wrote creative and entertaining logs because - that's just what people did. Now we're discussing whether or not to "reward" what used to be a normal part of the activity.

I should have used the the term "affect my statistics". My statistics say I have 703 finds. My statistics also say I have 1 T5. The physical effort required to retrieve GCZH69 on a slow river in Ohio is not even REMOTELY in the "general nature " of "the physical effort required" climbing a 15,000 foot mountain. No way you convince me otherwise. The loophole used here is that "special equipment" loophole. A loophole defined by Groundspeak. That definition is accepted even although some of us see a problem with it. But I've gotten off topic. Sorry

And some paddle caches get 5 terrain rating! The fact that that I can float down a river in 80 degree weather in my shorts, in an canoe, drunk. Row up to an island in the river and grab a T5 cache from a branch hanging over said river without getting out and earn the same as terrain rating as someone at over 15,000 feet, climbing towards the summit of Mont Blanc (GC2BVRY) is ridiculous. But that's the way it is because "special equipment"

If you like the anticipation of the monthly geo-box to open, the fun associated with opening it and seeing what goodies you got, then try it out. If you like it keep doing it! Some people find a monthly subscription box may be more expensive than just going to buy the items inside. Others don't mind because its fun and convenient. You will get all sorts of opinions. In the end you're the one that has to determine if its worth your money, based on how much you enjoy it.

The real Roberts has been retired fifteen years and living like a king in Patagonia.

Accepting your limitations in one area knowing that that you have advantages in others? How logical of you.

OOOOPPPPPS. Nope, not a newbie, No app back then either. I didn't get all my facts before that post!

I don't know why that deserves a surprise emoji. This is what the app has done for geocaching. Many newbies, through no real fault of their own, never see or learn about NA or NM. It simply doesn't come up as a logging option. All they see is Found, DNF, or Write note. I'm actually surprised the cacher the OP referenced found the NA to use.

You say this is not a topic about stats. Yet at least 5 times you've mentioned how AL's affect stats and once how it would be more "acceptable" if it only counted as one find. “why a completed step of an Adventure Lab should count as a found geocache. “ “So I can't understand why you can find a geocache playing an Adventure Lab” “And I couldn't help but wondering why every step of an Adventure Lab, that I can't see on the Geocaching map, and to play which I have to open another app, should count as a found geocache.” “I simply think it's illogical to make every step count as a found geocache.” “the majority of us would have accepted it if every AL have counted as a found, and not five. It's a really illogical inflation,” Since you've stated that “the majority of us would have accepted it if every AL have counted as a found, and not five” I would have to assume (perhaps erroneously) that, because of that statement, you are part of that majority and you would accept Al's IF they only counted as one point. That being the case, I fail to see how this Isn't about stats. It would seem the crux of the post is how many points AL,s should be worth. I fully agree with you that if its going to count, it should count as one find. I think that's a valid point. We don't count each stage of a multi as a find so why each stage of an AL? I also agree that if it can be done, then it should be part of the geocaching app (though I seldom use the app) But don't really care. When I look at my stats page I see 20 cache types that can add finds to my stats and I've only found 6 of the types available. I have the ability to choose my geocaching experience from any or all of them. As eluded to in my previews post in this thread. The activity of geocaching (Its not a game or a competition) started as finding a container, in the woods, with swag and a log inside. Now its called a traditional, its the original cache type and 19 more have come along since then. People have debated against quite a few of them over the years. Putting the genie back in the bottle can be tough. Good luck in your endeavor!

Mocopulence - https://coord.info/GCQ03E Also known as "The Temple of Tolerance" in Wapakoneta, Ohio. featured in in Atlas Obscura and Roadside America One of Ohio's most favorited caches. One of Americas lesser known quirky attractions. A mystery cache that takes you on about a two hour tour of a mans sprawling backyard finding clues. Sprawling because he bought his neighbors properties. A man with a mission to teach tolerance. A man with tons upon tons of rocks making up sculptures and temples. A man with oddities, antiques, imagination, patience and a barrel shaped house in his backyard. A man with a bank counter that John Dillinger once jumped over. Just a small fraction of the complex.

Let's say there are three friends, Me and Ted and Ben. Ben would NEVER use a cell phone to cache. He insists that if your not using a handheld GPS'r, printing cache information to take with you and looking for 5 gallon buckets that are burred in the woods and contain software, canned food and books to trade, along with a spiral notebook to write about your caching experience and log your visit, then your NOT ACTUALLY geocaching. Ted geocaches for numbers. Runs power trails, Competes with others for FTFs. Brags about how many caches he's found of each different type and loves any cache that will run up his numbers. Ted talks about how he's traveled the world and how many countries he's found caches in. Proudly displays and goes after as many of those little digital souvenirs he can get. Logs each cache with a TFTC! because he's in such a hurry to get to the next one. I go geocaching for fun and don't care about how many I've found. I may find 100 one year and 5 the next. Out of interest I occasional look at my stats to see how many caches I've found, where or how far away they are. But I don't care in the least how my finds compare to Teds or Ben's or what they consider to be “Geocaching” Who's right?

Geocaching is an activity. Not a game. Never was intended to be anything else. Feel free to score yourself and others however you want and allow others to be left out of a scoring system if they want. The more people have tried to keep track of "scores" the more the quality of this activity has eroded.

I enjoy a good, well written original log. But I hate popcorn.

Not one that irks me THE MOST. But sill Irks me. Found it logs like this...... "So, I will apologize right now, because everything from here on is here solely for the purpose of increasing my word count average. There are caching stat challenges & stat pages that use the word count averages in our “Found It” logs. So, now for today's trivia ... Today is: NAT'L POPCORN DAY On January 19th, Nat'l Popcorn Day pops onto the............. " Continues on and on for 11 paragraphs about popcorn day.

When I was a teenager (a LONG time ago) I took up magic. Got pretty good at it. But it didn't attract the chicks so I took up guitar. (RIP EVH) Today anyone with the internet can find the secret to any magic trick ever performed if a person has the desire to. It may ruin the entertainment value of the trick for that person. But it doesn't completely ruin magic. Most people are still thoroughly entertained by it and never bother to find out the secrets. Unfortunately along with freedom of speech comes the freedom to act like an idiot and ruin things for others. If they will pay attention to you. I don't think that geocaching (or magic) is any where near important enough to contemplate infringing on that right. Although Facebook, not being a government entity, If free to infringe as much or as little as they choose.

My first cache 10 years ago was done with an eXplorist GC and my last one was done with the same one I bought a decade ago. I use my phone from time to time but I prefer my GPSr. I purchase a premium membership yearly and that's it. I quickly learned how to do pocket queries and I find geocaching no less accessible or difficult to do than it was 10 years ago. In fact the phone app gives more more flexibility because I can decide to fill some time caching even if I don't have my GPSr. So in fact, I find geocaching easier than ever.

I've been getting e-mails from "pay- pal" every day for for the past two weeks saying my account has been compromised. It hasn't. You may want to educate yourself on phishing scams and learn how to identify and properly deal with them if you are going to have an e-mail account before you fall victim to one or several.