palmetto

I wonder if there are regional differences on the use of them? I'd say they're under-used around here. Most cachers with + 1 year experience don't even bother with, "the log is damp/ the log is wet" in the found it note, let along a needs maintenance log. They either carry something to sign wet logs or they replace it. I've put them on my own caches to remind myself to do something. A log comes in, "O-ring torn, log wet" - I know I'll forget if I don't get to it pronto. So I log Needs Maintenance. (I still forget) Your last paragraph is a whole different issue. Geocaching is a game you play with your friends, some as yet unmet; tracks in cyberspace. A different perspective and one that applies to the phone a friend part of caching. The cache as excuse to call a friend! hey that's kinda nice isn't it? Fair? Work or play, most of us rely upon a social network. Caching can expand that network considerably.

The Groundspeak Lackey coin is for Lackeys (paid labor). The volunteer coin is for reviewers (slave labor). My favorite coin continues to be Geowoodstock 3.

Hi piratetreasure, there are 2 cachers in your area already working with Lee County Parks on geocaching policy. You might send them an email about your meeting. Doc-Dean and (as part of an Eagle Scout project) LeHigh Mafia. I've sent Dean Traiger a list of park (especially county park) policies in Florida. There's a Park Management thread on www.floridacaching.com (the website of the Florida Geocaching Association) where the Florida reviewers and users keep current policies updated. Perhaps you'd post there whenever you've had your meeting. Florida Caching Land manager thread Thanks Rather than re-post the whole Florida County park policy thread here, I'll hunt the email I've already sent Doc-Dean and send it to you through your GC.com profile.

As of my last gpx. of finds that proportion is 87%.

A cacher in my area always logs with a single identical sentence. One day he came through and hit a number of my caches. All logs were the identical sentence except one; which was Standard Sentence + GREAT CACHE! Worth paragraghs, from that particular cacher.

conspiracy theory; the sophistication of the ignorant

I'd suggest a post to the Florida Geocaching Association website, either general geocaching topics, or the East Central Region

Some issues - your final cache will presumably, like all puzzle caches have bogus coords. Those coords will need to be within 2 miles of the actual cache, per the listing guidelines. This makes the cache invisible to all but those people who live near it. Hard to keep it out in front of a national audience, which it needs. You can keep talking about it here, of course and in regional forums. That helps. Here are some links - the first to the first DeLorme Challenge. Note that specific caches are not required, just caches within the bounds of the DeLorme Maps California DeLorme Challenge. And then there's the Florida Challenge Series. Again, specific caches are not used, just one cache per county: South Florida Challenge Quest, North Florida Challenge Quest, and Florida Challenge Quest Final. I'd suggest that the "any cache within the state" idea is more workable than the "it has to be THIS cache" idea. Though you might get that one to work too. Makes the issue of the reliability of each individual cache owner more critical. That's likely to be measured in longevity in the sport - my guess only. I'll mention that the "email me for coords" that you see here requires Groundspeak permission (yeah, even for reviewers, we asked for that special permission).

Like The Alabama Rambler, I'm going to assume that your rant refers to TB Hotels that have trading requirements on the Travel Bugs. When I review such caches I add a reviewer note explaining that the cache meets listing guidelines and that I am going to go ahead and publish it, but querying them about adding restrictions to the free travel of the TBs. I explain that the TBs in the cache do not become their property, and that I've never seen a TB with the goal of hanging out in TB hotels. I'm careful to add that this is a personal view, and doesn't affect the listing of their cache. This generally gets me into an email exchange with the cache placer. Two of the last three TB hotels I listed have removed the trade requirement, and asked for a trade instead. And, of course, you can simply ignore the trading requirement and move any bug that you can help. The worst that can happen is that the hotel owner will delete your find log. You've still had the experience and fun of the cache, and you've moved the bugs too. Not all bad.

In the last three months I've reviewed something between 1300~1400 cache submissions. Published over 1000 of them. I've seen the issue you raise exactly twice. Now, if that box had to be checked, I would have heard at least a 100 times from cachers, "why hasn't my cache been listed?" Believe me, a significant percentage of cache placers are placing their first cache, and many of them don't know that they can look at the cache page. Explaining that they can view listing from the upper left corner of the cache edit page, and from there use the map links to see if their coordinates seem to be correctly oriented on a map using a link, or that they can "check for nearest" to avoid placing a cache too near another is something I do often. So they aren't seeing the page, with its warning about enabling the listing.

You'd then have the opposite problem of cachers contacting reviewers asking why their cache (the one with the box UNCHECKED by default) hadn't been reviewed yet!

If any cache owner deletes a log your count has to alter. This makes retaining the count as you go rather difficult. I do see cachers keep a running count in their logs.

Reviewing caches in Florida I see many vacation caches. I quote the listing guidelines vacation section and ask for their maintenance plan. I really want them to post something about their ability to maintain the cache directly to the cache page. I often quote this from the guidelines, "For example, if you have made arrangements with a local geocacher to watch over your distant cache for you, that geocacher’s name should be mentioned on your cache page." Something about having it right on the page helps remind them that they have maintenance responsibilities, and it cuts down the "omigod why did you list another VACATION cache?!?!" sent email to me. Believe me, the reviewers are aware that the locals (everywhere) don't like seeing new caches from folks with home coords 1120 miles away.

Post it and they will come, and nothing will endear you to your local community more than hosting an event.

Most of the virtuals around the Mall in Washington D.C. have 500 to 600 finds or more.