Xyq

One thing I haven't seen mentioned in here (pardon me if I missed it) is the aspect of competition, which Groundspeak apparently does not like (and I am okay with that by the way). When you are going for favs, the problem is that you are going for a limited resource, since we all have only 1 in 10 to give. While I would agree that this does not matter too much in theory, this could backfire in practice. To earn your 50 you would have to make some quality caches (which is good) but you also would have to outdo your neighbors, which I think is bad, because Geocaching should be an experience for each on his own, which also holds for placing caches.

Translation to English: "My girlfriend has an account of her own, I wanted to ask whether we could combine our two separate accounts to a single one or connect them so that one's finds will show up on the other's account". AFAIK that is not possible, but maybe somebody can correct me? Ich denke, das ist so nicht möglich.

That's why I separated it by differing levels - and maybe I am underestimating the value of "irking". But if in two years and 1500+ caches you can name 9 things only, I think you're well off. About living longer I probably should give up moderating an online forum, though OTOH, if you are irked by puzzles, you would have deterioring health in central to western Europe

Also there are some caches you cannot log alone but will need a team effort. And for some of the more dangerous ones it may even be wise to bring along somebody who does not partake so that help can be organized just in case something happens. I do most of my caching alone but when I go out with friends, it's about spending time together as a team. Yes, I could set up a team account for them, but then the overview of which caches I found would fall apart or I would have to maintain extensive lists. And since my statistics are interesting to only one person in the world (me), I think I can safely log them without annoying too many. I see where you're coming from, since I myself do not understand how sending out three teams and everybody logs for everybody else, so I can log caches I've never been closer to than 2 miles would count as a log for me, but despite the fact that many statistics are assembled and compared by various third party sites, how you compete is up to you.

There are some third party sites which allow you to compare your finds to those of friends. You will need the computer, but you can easily find what you are looking for. I don't know the guidelines about linking to third party sites, though.

Oh, lest I forget (the "should not be done" category): Inappropriate swag. I personally do not care about it at all and it seems generally less common over here to trade it, but some caches do have som stuff inside. Unfortunately sometimes it's food, alcohol, fire crackers...

I think I should differentiate between different levels of irkyness. What annoys me: - my own stupidity. Not being able to spot many easy caches is but the least of it. My main issue with myself is that I am not able to keep a good record of multi-step stations which I did not find and solved puzzles. Well, nobody can change that but me. - too many similar caches too close together. As we say in Germany, our great Lord, he has a large zoological garden with very different animals. And everybody can enjoy caching the way (s)he likes. Some love puzzles (I do) others don't (look at this thread), some love the physical challenges of climbind trees, others don't. Some like the easy daily find of a magnetic film container, others are bored. But if one area is filled with trails or difficult or boring puzzles or T5 climbing gear caches, you just block the whole area for others. (Re: film containers, a hint to Americans going to central Europe: "LPC" means something entirely different around here, namely "Lost Place Cache", a cache in or around an abandoned structure. These usually are of a somewhat higher quality if you are interested in them. It doesn't mean "lamp post" at all) - drawing pictures on the map. Cute, you made an "M" for the name of your city with Unknowns. I think it's more silly than cute. Also, in my experience, these often tend to be "caches for the sake of placing a cache", i. e. not interesting at all. What irks me: - some types of logs. I do not expect everybody to write a long story for every find, and when I started I did not know what to write, what would be interesting or important. But especially rambling c&p logs which you find on all caches in your area, with hundreds (literally!) of smilies and overly abitious wording, which does not change in the least whatever you log (we have one cacher in the area who apparently "had in the end found this nice but doable hide, signed the logbook and moved on happily" even on earthcaches. Also people who only log about themselves "CoolGuy was here, yeah! You've been found by the greatest". - too many people not logging DNFs. True, more often than not it's just me really being blind, but if they pile up, that could be an indication that something is amiss. Nothing as fun as looking for a 1/1 in an obvious location with an obvious hint, finding nothing, and later realizing that this cache used to be found almost daily until it stopped and nobody found it during six weeks - a timespan in which some must have tried it. - strange owner reactions to DNF logs. I had two of them. In one I simply logged a DNF along the lines of "did not find it but had not too much time on my hands, will be back", getting a response "if you won't take the time don't play this game - you should only log DNF if you're sure it isn't there". The other was "I never had a DNF on this cache, you're ruining my statistics, I will delete it" (which did not happen btw). What really shouldn't happen: - blatant disregard of your environs. It's not only the 150 yards off the tracks in a protected area (which would be forbidden), it's drilling holes in perfectly healthy trees, it's finding a lot of rubbish in a place where most of it must come from fellow cachers, it's destruction of constructions to get to the cache, it's so much - cheating. True, you're only cheating yourself when you log that one you did not find but were in the general area, but you also give a wrong feedback to the owner. I've seen too many found logs in places where there definitely wasn't a cache anymore. Also, somebody used a sockpuppet in the area to give himself a full matrix - I noticed a new 4.5/4.5 in the area, decided on a nice day to try it and have fun, and found a standard tube thrown behind the bushes in an area where you'd have been pressed hard to even see something approaching 4.5 terrain. That's when cheating starts to affect me. - wrong assignments even of the most clear ratings, especially terrain 1. I've had half a mile of steep gravel paths rated as 1 - "well, you're in the mountains, we do it all the time". The worst offender was a T1, even with the "wheelchair accessible" tag, 10 feet into the woods more than 2 meters up a fence on an abandoned structure. I posted a "NM" log, asking to reassign the rating and remove the tag - the owner immediately responded with an "owner maintenance" to the effect of "well, if somebody else does not find this okay, (s)he can place it in a different site". I wrote to the owner and asked for the reason - "Well, Rollis (slightly derogatory term for wheelchair users in Germany) never go on a hunt alone anyway, so a friend can pick it and they can move up to 10 feet, so they're basically with the others." - hiding important information in the "hints" section. I usually start with the challenge without a hint but am not above using it before frustration kicks in. Imagine the joy when you finally look at the hint after 30 minutes of searching and finding "Don't forget an UV lamp/2 meters of string" or "This cache is not available on weekends" or stuff like that. In my opinion that belongs in the cache description.

Thanks for the reply. I wrote to the reviewer, the cache is less than a year old so I am optimistic that he/she can still be active. And indeed, I did not want this to be a public accusation, so I did not want to mention the cache in question.

Hi, I just stumbled across a listing which most probably violates Groundspeak guidelines (though I cannot exactly put my finger on the precise rule). So I'd like to report it to a reviewer to check whether everything is all right with the cache. Additional problem: it is in a different country (UK) from me (Germany), so my knowledge of local reviewers does not help me - I've got no clue whom to contact over there. (And yes, it is still affecting me and causing trouble despite of this, complicated story, but it's not "rules for the sake of rules". I can explain to any reviewer in detail). Greets and a happy new year Xyq