honeychile

I've notified the appropriate Groundspeak staff member about this situation since this isn't something reviewers or moderators can do. Jaybee's suggestion is interesting, although I'm afraid I'd get hurt trying to remove the blade!

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I had a very interesting experience with one of my travelbugs which resulted in a happy, though tearful ending. I've hesitated to share it with you because it sounds a little bit like PAX TV. In order to tell you the story, I will need to refer to God and faith in Him. I hope this will not offend you. I believe and earnestly hope that freedom of speech is still alive and well in the forums and so I share with you the story of Dotty Bear. In June of 2002, I released a travel bug called “Dotty Bear.” She was a stuffed, beanie-type bear made by Avon and was a "breast cancer crusade" product because a portion of her cost helped fund breast cancer research. I dedicated this bug to my Aunt Dot because of her victory over cancer. The bug’s mission was to find and comfort another cancer victim. Until that final owner was found, her mission was just to hop from cache to cache like any other travelbug. Unlike some of my other bugs, she didn’t travel very fast or far, but I got the most wonderful email from those who came into contact with her. One fellow wrote me to say that he almost took Dotty for a male friend with cancer, but since his friend was doing better, he decided to let her keep going. We exchanged several emails. In one, he said: Wow – I began to think there was something really special about this travel bug. Dotty Bear went missing for quite a while in the possession of someone called “dadgum Yankee” (which is a hoot for a travelbug "living" in the South) but she finally turned up again and I got this email message: Hmmm…another nice penpal due to Dotty. Then Dotty’s travels seemed to stall again. I wrote the person who picked her up to see if maybe she had found her final home. Here’s the response from –believe it or not – another Dotty and Jim (my Aunt Dotty's husband's name is also Jim): Wow. At this point, I’m thinking it can’t get much better. But later I got this email: My ministry? This was a ministry? Wow, and I just thought it was a travel bug – this has to be a “God thing” because I never dreamed that a little beanie bear could be “a tangible sign of God’s presence and love.” Isn’t God good to let us know how He can use anything to touch hearts and lives, even a little stuffed bear? And that is the "happiest ending" that any of my bugs have enjoyed. *+.,_,.+*'`'*+.,_ honeychile_,.+*'`'*+.,_,.+*'`

After being moderator in this forum for several months, I see that most questions have been asked (and answered) many times. Sometimes inquiries do not get a good response because the feeling is that the forum should've been searched before posting. I agree that it gets boring to see the same old questions and answers. What I'd like to do is to post a list of common questions and their answers. I'm depending on you to help me make this list. Instead of posting to this thread, please email me at honeychile@geocachingadmin.com with your proposed question and answer. I will compile a list and give credit to the person who (first) sent me a common question and correct answer. My plan is to pin this thread by itself at the top of the forum, so if there are questions/answers in the other pinned topics, feel free to remind me of those. Thank you for your help ! *+.,_,.+*'`'*+.,_ honeychile_,.+*'`'*+.,_,.+*'` (geocaching.com forum moderator) email: honeychile@geocachingadmin.com

Your token may also be a non geocaching.com token. There is a website called http://geotoken.com which supports the tracking of tokens on its own website.

This forum is for travel bug discussions only. Thread closed. *+.,_,.+*'`'*+.,_ honeychile_,.+*'`'*+.,_,.+*'` (geocaching.com forum moderator) email: honeychile@geocachingadmin.com

"Discrete" refers to unconnected, distinct parts. But it's actually "discreet" if you're talking about being cautious while seeking or rehiding the cache ("marked by, exercising, or showing prudence and wise self-restraint in speech and behavior; circumspect. Free from ostentation or pretension; modest.") That means not shouting, "EUREKA! I FOUND THE TREASURE!" at the cache site and refraining from the victory dance at the crowded park. But to get back on topic, another form of geocaching discretion is refraining from posturing in the forums. You quickly reach a point of diminishing returns in geocaching. The number of finds doesn't relate to experience unless one allows himself to continue to learn. When a new resource is discounted out of hand, unread, it's more revealing about the banty rooster doing the crowing than the resource being discussed.

It is great big giant fun. Even after 2 years, I'm still excited everytime we go caching. In fact, my son is taking me on a Mother's Day caching weekend...whoo hoo! I think it's cool that you've made a family affair out of the sport, too. I hope you have a wonderful time with it. Please feel free to ask questions -- lots of good help in the forums.

One is marked "copy" -- that's your little memento to keep after your bug has been released. You could also use this one to send out a clone if -- heaven forbid! -- your bug disappears... *+.,_,.+*'`'*+.,_ honeychile_,.+*'`'*+.,_,.+*'` (geocaching.com forum moderator) email: honeychile@geocachingadmin.com

Travel bugs are made to travel, not to be "arrested" or held, although putting a bug in a difficult cache might have that effect. Evilcacher, you are free to pick up bugs as anyone else is, but I hope you will do nothing to impede their travels. I had thought to close this thread, but rethought and am leaving it open for what I hope will be useful discussion, not "oh yeah? take this!" kind of exchanges. *+.,_,.+*'`'*+.,_ honeychile_,.+*'`'*+.,_,.+*'` (geocaching.com volunteer forum moderator) email: honeychile@geocachingadmin.com

I agree it's inappropriate. I've alerted Groundspeak staff about this issue.

This feature is "in the works" but is not yet available despite the FAQ. I'll remind the appropriate staff member at Groundspeak how nice this would be.

I did a similar thing with the Golden travel bug. It is being tracked by a class of third-graders and I was afraid it might disappear, so I offered a free button for anyone who retrieved it and moved it along.

I've caught some flack about this, but I think it's a great idea. The notice isn't ugly, judgmental, or accusatory. There are no flashing lights or sirens. More of a gentle nudge. It's just a reminder that you've held onto a bug for over 2 weeks. Some folks think that 2 weeks is premature, but I think it's about right. If you haven't been caching in 2 weeks and you get the notice, it might take you a couple of weeks to plan another caching adventure. By that time, you've held onto the bug for a month and that's certainly enough time to be moving it along, barring extraordinary circumstances. And now...I need to go write to the owner of the bug that I've held onto for more than 14 days!

Choose "view map" and then on the next page choose "old map" and you'll be able to see the big picture.

Yeah -- what he said -- weird? Most letterboxes DO have a logbook which is stamped and signed. Letterboxing is the precursor of our sport in many ways. I enjoy geocaching and letterboxing, too, although there are not many letterboxes in our area. I've put out half a dozen letterbox hybrid caches to expand/include the letterboxing flavor of fun in geocaching. I'm interested in what you don't say in your post. How do you know the guy's a letterboxer and how did you determine the "within hours" part and is there a letterbox nearby? Inquiring minds want to know

Please contact support@Groundspeak.com to discuss this further. Since there's nothing anyone on the forums can do to assist you, this thread is closed. *+.,_,.+*'`'*+.,_ honeychile_,.+*'`'*+.,_,.+*'` (geocaching.com forum moderator) email: honeychile@geocachingadmin.com

I imagine the size of it would make it difficult to put into many containers, too. It would be cute to take a film canister and make it look like a can of beans by scanning the label and printing it on a sticker or something. That might be an alternative for the owner.

As requested by the person who started the topic, it is now closed.

Generally a bug hotel/motel is just a geocache set up at a place that makes it easier for bugs to travel -- near a major highway or near an airport (but never on airport property, of course -- just in a park nearby). All regular guidelines apply to the placement of bug motels, too, so be sure to read over the guidelines before establishing your bug motel geocache. Here are a few suggestions that come to mind and I'm sure folks will chime in with others. Make the container large enough to house several bugs at a time and waterproof -- an ammo can would be a good choice Decide what "rules" you think are appropriate. Some people make it a rule that you cannot take a bug without leaving one, but this seems to defeat the purpose of the free travel of the bugs. Look at some other bug motels to get ideas. Make sure the hiding place is extremely secure and unlikely to be found by non-geocachers. This is not only safeguarding your own cache, but all of the bugs who might be passing through as well If a bug in languishing in your motel for an extended period of time, you might consider helping it to move along yourself when you're conducting maintenance on the cache You may consider having regular trading items along with the bugs; this would encourage people to visit even if they don't have a bug or are unable to move one along Good luck!

Moving caches are not permitted, so your travel bug could not be a cache as well as a travel bug. You could, however, have a bug with a compartment of things that could be traded. Just make sure it will fit in most caches, though, or it won't be able to move much. I had one similar to this that has gone MIA in a plundered cache. It's called the thing your aunt gave you. It was just a simple, zip up, see-through, zippered bag. Whatever was inside was yours if you wanted it in trade for anything you chose to put in there.

Sheesh. Gimme a break. It occasionally takes me more than 24 hours to respond. This kind of forum post is inappropriate and unappreciated. This topic is closed. honeychile

Yes, these two can be combined. But only by someone who has moderator access on both forums (I'm moderator on TB forum only). I'll pass this along to someone who can do it. honeychile

I feel your pain. Mine, too, because I have missing bug allegedly in one of my caches. I can't explain the statement in the FAQ, but have brought it to the attention of those who can make these kinds of changes.

Volunteer reviewers can handle the issue if it's on the cache page. If you don't know who handles cache review in your area, email me (honeychile@geocachingadmin.com) and I'll be happy to help you out.