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shan

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Everything posted by shan

  1. This is true, and I have done this as well. I suppose it is worth mentioning, however, that in the brief (but strident) email(s) I got from the fellow in question, he wrote: So... although I am trying to find a way to be generous in my attribution of this fellow's motivation, I come up with nothing more charitable than that he just couldn't be bothered to play fair. Anyway-- it matters little in the grand scheme. Thanks again all for the thoughtful comments.
  2. ...And, I would like to add that while this is true to an extent, one mustn't discount as a factor preventing people from getting started the overwhelming predominance of micros out there.
  3. I know what you mean, although I don't find it shocking. I don't think they're exactly trying to drive folks away (although, I admit, it surely must have that effect for some!) as much as trying a different tack towards monetizing the geocaching experience. (I'm glad I have an earlier .apk [v3.1, I think...?] saved so that I can just ignore and uninstall the newest version.) I know nothing of Groundspeak's financials, but I suspect that they are finding themselves in a bit of a tight spot, insofar as they rely on user-generated content for a part of their revenue. Compounding this is the "Tragedy of the Commons" (depletion or degradation of a shared resource) aspect to whatever proportion of Groundspeak's revenue comes from PMO stuff... and it begins to make sense that they'd almost *have* to make such a ham-handed grab at folks' wallets. (Oh, and add to all of this the popularity of "Ingress", which is, in the opinion of some, a better version of what geocaching has lately become) I think this greasy, newer app will cause some backlash, and the unfortunate thing for Groundspeak is that folks DON'T NEED their app when there are others out there like c:geo.
  4. You know, that is a fantastic idea! I mean, the cache to which all this applies will keep its name ("Π Filling", for reasons that become evident if you visit the listing), but another similarly placed cache would be well-served by the name (or something similar to it) you suggest!
  5. Aye, but this was not 'Murphy', this was a guy who couldn't be bothered to play fair. Maybe in the end, it's all the same, eh?
  6. Indeed!! And that, by the way, was intentional; this one was meant to be one that took a little more time and thought than your typical park & grab micro... I guess geocachers of late are less inclined towards the enjoyment of "solving" (for lack of a better way of putting it) these kinds of finds and more inclined towards adding as many finds as fast as possible. [not judging, by the way; just calling'em like I see'em]
  7. 'TOTT note'... I get the sense of what you mean by it, but the acronym itself is unfamiliar to me.
  8. One of those negatives doesn't belong, right? Naw, seriously, though: I hear you guys. I've been out of geocaching for a few years (kids, job, etc.) and my expectations of others' diligence has not kept pace with reality. Lesson learned. (see also: "the Tragedy of the Commons")
  9. I get it, and I can honestly say I anticipated some degree of "uh-oh, something's missing"... But what has got me Irish up is the total DGAF attitude of the cacher... The fellow didn't read (or read and disregarded, 'coz after all, he's 'premium' dontcha know) the cache attributes, and for that he's tried blaming me, the weather, and even a mysterious "someone else" for the loss of the cache. Pfft, replacing the cache is no big deal- heck, I like the idea of building a better one or one more deviously hidden/attached. That's all cool by me. But this guy... he's been aggressively verbally abusive- typical "angry young male" type behavior. Anyway-- I thank you all for your input- you've helped lower the temperature, so to speak.
  10. [begging your pardon if this is better addressed in another thread...] I would like to know your thoughts on a situation in which I find myself at present. I have (had?) a tricky little log-only cache hidden under a bridge- very tricky to retrieve and trickier, in a way, to put back. See, the container was a PET pre-form with a magnetic lid; it was stuck to the bottom of the bridge and the way to get it down (and put it back) was to get a length (about 9-10') of 1 1/2" PVC into which the thing would fit -not snugly, but well enough to let you pull it off (or reattach it to) the understructure. Yes, it's a pain in the rear -but that's kinda the point, I don't mind saying! The cache listing even says that special tools are needed and "don't remove it until you're sure you can put it back", etc. Several folks were up to the challenge, though, and everyone had done a fine job of putting the thing back as it was originally placed. I know this for a positive fact, 'coz I always went to check after each "found it" log. Well, just this week a fellow logs it and I go to check on my cache and... where is it? Not there. Oh, and by the way, the guy never emailed me to say "hey, I didn't put it back where it's supposed to be" or anything like that. So, having done my usual checking in after a "found it" log, and having found nothing there, I contact the guy to say "hey, where's my cache?" and the guy says he put it back "near" where he found it. So I go back and look, closely and carefully and find nothing. The guy says he just threw some rocks at it to get it down (how's that for "special equipment"?!), and says that to replace it, he lobbed it up onto -get this!- about a 3" ledge of an I-beam from about 10' away. Even if he did manage to pull that off (unlikely!), the bridge *can* vibrate a little bit (but, apparently enough) when large trucks pass over. Charitable interpretation is that the thing wasn't put back securely at all, and it went into the drink and is now bound for the Gulf of Mexico. Now: I won't ask if this sort of thing has happened to any of you before (because, construed broadly enough, "this sort of thing" can include all manner of chicanery, most of which I'm sure has happened at one time or another); I'm curious how Geocaching.com/Groundspeak has handled cases like this in the past. I'm plenty steamed about this, but I don't know what to expect of the powers that be -do they sanction abusive cachers like this, or do they just say "meh, get over it, lol"?
  11. Hi- I want to propose a subcategory to "Plants and Trees": Baobabs. I know of a half-dozen baobab (Adansonia sp.) trees in North America, but I suspect there may be many more, and I'd love for folks to be able to see these trees, especially the old ones. The criteria for a waymark entry would be simple: coordinates, picture and species identification if possible. Additional info (such as estimated age of the specimen) would be optional. shan
  12. I reckon, as happened recentlly to one of my caches, if the looted remains of the cache are found, I suppose I could see crediting the geocacher who locates those remains with a find, albeit an unfortunate one.
  13. I put put a cache a little less than a year ago, the theme of which was foreign currency. I had some coins and a few bills from various countries -none of it worth much monetarily. What I found was that folks would drop by and leave Canadian coins. Now, I realize that Canada is a foreign country and all, but there's nothing really interesting about it- we've all seen it! All the cool coins, and the paper money from Korea and Papua New Guinea were gone in a flash. And after a while of downtrading, someone came by and looted the whole thing. Cripes, man... maybe it was poorly hidden (my fault, if true), or maybe it was just a bad location altogether (also my fault, if true). Anyway, after this experience, I was determined to try to find items that would be of interest, but not especially of real objective value. As for items in caches being geared towards the 6-year old, I'd say I have to agree... geo-trashing might be a better, more descriptive term for some of these. But hey: I ain't in this looking for gold dubloons or anything. I'm pleased to get out in the woods and have a nice walk and a bit of a challenge. If someone leaves a Rolex for me to find, all the better (but not expected).
  14. I agree with bigredmed- this TIPS thing ain't so scary at all, and that our "community" of geocachers can offer a unique service. And let's face it-- bushbashing is very likely the last place one might encounter terrorist ne'er-do-wells just my $.02 shan
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