High quality caches to me are those which put a smile on my dial when I find it - it could be an interesting location, it could be an interesting container, it could even be an interesting story - I once found one which was just a preform in a tree but the story in the cache description made it worth a favourite point. I also like a worthwhile hint. Don't use the hint field to inform your finders of something the ought to be in the description field eg keep it covered. I'd prefer no hint rather than a totally useless hint,
Low quality is an interesting question. I am sure the majority of us look back at our first and second hides and cringe. Locations that make you think 'what the!', containers which are unsuitable for the locations, or simple poor or no maintenance. Throwdowns are a definite no-no.
But then I see logs from people who are all about the numbers - they don't seem to care if the cache is a mint container in a guard rail or stuck on the back of a toilet wall, its just another smilie.
What should the community do, for a start keep an eye on the caches in your own area - perhaps within proximity of where you live or regularly hunt. Check the cache pages of fellow CO hides particularly if they are newbies. Follow up if there are a string of DNFs - is the cache owner still playing; easy enough to see when they last logged in, when was their last find. Make a judgement call on whether you want to go and check on the cache (assuming you have previously found it), is it worth helping maintain, or place a needs maintenance and if this is not addressed within a reasonable time frame, update to a needs archiving.
What steps can Geocaching HQ take to improve geocache quality? I like some of the ideas already posted - being able to rate a cache but be positive " this cache is ok, this cache is good, this cache is excellent" and have an averaged rating. Maybe stick a link under the rating stars to a page on "what makes a great cache". Change the cache creation page to encourage hiders to describe the location and the container a little better.
Geocache Quality
in User Insights
Posted
High quality caches to me are those which put a smile on my dial when I find it - it could be an interesting location, it could be an interesting container, it could even be an interesting story - I once found one which was just a preform in a tree but the story in the cache description made it worth a favourite point. I also like a worthwhile hint. Don't use the hint field to inform your finders of something the ought to be in the description field eg keep it covered. I'd prefer no hint rather than a totally useless hint,
Low quality is an interesting question. I am sure the majority of us look back at our first and second hides and cringe. Locations that make you think 'what the!', containers which are unsuitable for the locations, or simple poor or no maintenance. Throwdowns are a definite no-no.
But then I see logs from people who are all about the numbers - they don't seem to care if the cache is a mint container in a guard rail or stuck on the back of a toilet wall, its just another smilie.
What should the community do, for a start keep an eye on the caches in your own area - perhaps within proximity of where you live or regularly hunt. Check the cache pages of fellow CO hides particularly if they are newbies. Follow up if there are a string of DNFs - is the cache owner still playing; easy enough to see when they last logged in, when was their last find. Make a judgement call on whether you want to go and check on the cache (assuming you have previously found it), is it worth helping maintain, or place a needs maintenance and if this is not addressed within a reasonable time frame, update to a needs archiving.
What steps can Geocaching HQ take to improve geocache quality? I like some of the ideas already posted - being able to rate a cache but be positive " this cache is ok, this cache is good, this cache is excellent" and have an averaged rating. Maybe stick a link under the rating stars to a page on "what makes a great cache". Change the cache creation page to encourage hiders to describe the location and the container a little better.