Ragnemalm

I have a few of these. All are multis, since clever electronic lock mechanisms are hard to build and easy to break. I use sensors, LEDs, 7-segment displays, LED displays... but no motors or solenoids. Sorry, one with a motor, but not for opening a hatch but for lowering a bison tube down a pipe. Also, I always use small, cheap Arduinos or ATinys, not full size Arduinos.

I suppose a spoiler photo is a kind of hint, maybe. But quite a bit off the topic of strange usage of hints.

This is way off topic, but I avoid NM or DNF on any cache where I know or suspect that the CO is inactive. This is particularly true for good or very old caches. Most caches from the early years, say 2000-2005, have inactive COs. Some can still be contacted, some may post OM if you fix the problem for them, but many don't reply or even turn off the possibility to send them messages. If I want these caches to remain, I need to maintain them myself and never, ever post DNF or NM on them. Caches with active COs, or filler caches like PTs, are a totally different matter.

This was definitely one thing that got me going on this. If reviewers reject me for a hint not being a clear hint, why are others accepted when their hints are not hints at all? But live and let live... Let them have their fun confusing us.

My goals are pretty clear: Make a decent contribution for the Mega event in september that I am involved in. Primarily electronic lab caches. Fill a few empty spaces in my D/T "placed" matrix. But that is getting hard. Archive about 50 caches in order to keep the maintenance reasonable. That includes removing all parts. And related to the previous, not having any caches archived by reviewers but maintaining or archiving myself. Organize a new T4.5 bathing event. Find some caches, primarily ones far out in the woods so I get some exercise, and some that sound particularly good, plus bunch of decent ones (no PTs!) to get FPs for the good ones.

As everybody else say, permission, state clearly in the description that you have permission, and provide the reviewer with the address to your contact person. I think it is perfectly fine to state that one partial goal with the caches is to activate children at the hospital. And, again, to avoid the "commerical content" problem I would not mention the name of the hospital. I don't know how far you can say that it is a hospital. I have two caches near a restaurant, and I set the "food" attribute but I don't mention the restaurant explicitly. Finally, I would make sure that the area you are placing in is fully "safe", publicly accessible with no risk of being sensitive for the patients.

Well, hiding the solution in a strange place is fine for a high-D mystery, but both cases of "required hint" are low D, D2 and D1.5. I must say that that adds to my feeling of a misused hint.

But you have seen some? So this seems to be accepted by reviewers? I find that pretty odd.

Isn't it is significant difference between "suspicious pile of branches" and "enter the code 12345 to start the Wherigo"? In the first case, you can try searching without the hint. In the other case, you can't do anything without the hint! In my book, a vital instruction is not a "hint".

Is there anything in the rules about what a hint should be? There are some sweeping ideas here: https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2013/10/tips-on-geocache-hints/ but these are not rules, only "tips". Still, I have been denied publising a cache since the hint was vague. But, there is another kind that are accepted: Caches where you must read the hint to find the cache! I am not talking about a cleverly hidden trad, but the code for accessing/starting a Wherigo or the actual problem for a mystery. If you don't read the hint, it is literally impossible to solve it! IMHO this should be against the rules, since it is downright counter-intuitive, a clear case of reading the COs mind. Any normal person tried without the hint, since a hint is a hint! It is like placing the actual coordinates in the hint. Do you find this OK? Is there anything in the rules or guidelines that oppose this kind of false hints?

I have 162 active caches, and that is too much. I have my own "Deadpool" of caches (which obviously means "good odds to get killed") that I can archive on any opportunity. These are typically caches that have been around for some time without collecting many FPs. (I don't care about number of logs, easy and boring caches get many logs but nobody think they are fun.) I take some away once in a while, archive+remove. I strongly consider working myself down to under 100. The cache saturation is a problem though. I know that it is hard to get a new place, and that makes me hesitate to archive a half-decent cache, knowing that it is likely to be replaced by a 1.5/1.5 petling. Archiving "so someone can make something better here" never works.

Oh yes there is! You get 5100 film canisters or petlings! (Or, if you are unlucky, pastilles boxes). ...but what would I do with 5100 petlings? I bought 100 and regretted it. I don't log nor make power trails or any other mass logging caches so I only use one now and then.

Abandoned caches is definitely a problem, but if we honor ownership of an abandoned cache, should we honor ownership of a McDonalds bag by the side of the road instead? Litter is litter and should be taken care of! When I archive caches, I always remove them! I am more selective when taking away other CO's archived caches. I do that when: it is hopelessly broken it can be confused with an active cache it is in a location where it can cause disturbances it is likely to drop into some place where it will definitely turn into litter In the picture, we see one that fulfilled #1 and #4. It was destroyed by the sun and pieces were dropping into a lake in a nature reserve, a sensitive place. We salvaged every piece that we could find! Otherwise, I note its location and put it on my list of "archived caches that I monitor", making myself a kind of maintainer of them. Logging archived caches is a fun little bonus sometimes, if the cache is not in a totally awful shape. Also, I make a point in always removing significantly more litter from nature than my caches can ever become. I have carried at least four bags of litter out of a forest in the same day, and I didn't bring a single bag but collected all litter in bags that I found!

That was a new kind for me! I have not seen it in any retailers here. PS: I searched an I think I found it. But I kind of wonder if I should like the idea of producing things from stone.

I have one of those too, in a cave. It had only four online logs in over a year, for something this nice. When visiting it, I found over 30 names in the log book! It was being treated as a kind of guest book. Fine with me! Speaking if log book materials, there are three kinds that I know: Paper. Works if the container is really safe, like a petling, but it is enough that it hangs upside down and it will take in water. Once a paper log is wet, it will soon turn to pulp. Cheap, works well as long as you maintain it well. RITR. This works very well even when wet, but will turn dark, grey-brown, if it is too wet. Synthetic paper. This is the most expensive solution, and hardest to find, but it will last. Maybe too good, since it is not degradable, it will eventually turn into microplastics, like most containers. Hard to write on with pencil.

How about "throwdown logs" or logging in the wrong place when you don't find the log? That has happened to me and several COs that I know. Didn't find the log, put in a replacement. Didn't find the log, logged on the paper that stated that you should search some more. Found an irrelevant piece of paper on the ground, logged on that. Yes, in all cases there was a log. They just didn't find it.

OK, thanks. Not quite as common as the traffic sign caches IMHO (do they have an abbreviation too?) but yes, they are standard solutions. Preferrable for mystery or multi in my book. Not interesting enough for a trad. My favorite abbreviation is FTFTF. That's when someone gets their first FTF on one of my hides.

I think you need to clarify LPC and GRC to me. I never heard those abbrevations before (despite being in the hobby for 9 years). There are many abbreviations in this hobby.

I think one reason is the poor organization. If I am in a group. I get everything in a jumbled flow. If I want to discuss something that is a niche thing in the group, 90% of the members are not in the niche, and some of them take offense because they are not interested in the topic. So I need to make another group for that particular niche! There is almost no structure in that, just "global" or "group". In a forum like this, there is a solid organization on sub-topics, in multiple layers. This is far superior. The sections that don't interest me, I skip. Threads that don't sound interesting, I only see the title from. Nobody needs to get angry because someone makes more than one post (or even thread) about a subject thet feel is relevant. I think that could be a reason why FB works so badly. But why are then everybody there...? Yes I am longing for the old days but it is not just nostalgia.

Is it really? On Facebook, and most likely Twitter and similar, you are thoroughly analyzed and your behavior is up for sale for directed advertizing. And the are ads everywhere, even scams masquerading as "news", everywhere in the flow, not to mention cherry-picked "news" posted as political propaganda. I can't see this as a "good thing". Maybe the limited traffic here is why the tone seems much nicer than in Facebook, but I don't really think so. I have been forced to go "lurker" in major Facebook geocaching forums because people seem to take offense to anything but "look at the Petling I found on Gran Canaria". As soon as you want to discuss anything, people get offended. That happened in the good old forums as well but why does that seem worse at Facebook?

I agree with you, but it does widen the question of "equipment". What is T5 equipment, and what is not? It is clear that a boat or climbing gear is T5. No question about that, and the tweezers, as well as a flashlight, a piece of wire or a magnet are not insignificant "equipment". For the latter, I say that they are ordinary things that fit in your pocket. But how about a ladder, or a long rod? They are big, but rather ordinary, not "specialized equipment". Both are rated about T4 here (T3 for shorter rods and possibly for climbs when a short ladder works). This is not very obvious. Also, a long ladder (sa 10 meter or more) can be quite hard to bring and is more dangerous to use than climbing with climbing gear. I am not stating right or wrong, just mentioning the gray area. Speaking of boats, I only rate a T5 when it is too long to swim, or swimming is dangeous in other ways at the location, or the cache can't be reached without the boat. If swimming is clearly an option, it is a T4.5. That's my grading. And then we have tree climbing. I can say a lot about that... some other time.

It is bad enough to hide something close to an electrical box, especially if it is easy to open. That is dangerous.

Correct! However, there are some caches that you can't adopt, most notably virtuals. But ordinary caches, trads, mysts and multis, etc, can be adopted. Really nice and popular caches are good candidates for adoption. Also, caches in areas with few caches. Ordinary caches in saturated areas, I would just archive and bring in, leaving the location for someone who can use it better than me. You decide. I have adopted something like three caches (plus two that I made for a mega event that was really made by me in the first place so the adoption was planned beforehand). Apart from the mega caches, I can't say I am very happy about doing so. Yes, I do maintain them, but if they are not popular, they feel like a burden (should I waste time on maintaining a cache that isn't popular?), and since they are not made by me, I am not likely to prioritize them.

If the equipment is provided, it doesn't count to T. It is not a T5. If you go by a boat that regularly visits an island, it is not a T5, but if you must bring your own, it is. Then, using the equipment may drive up the T, but not to 5. The issue of D or T is subject for much discussion. Is it T3/T4 or D3/D4 to pick down a cache hanging high using a rod? It can be physically demanding, and may require you to bring equipment, but your feet don't move much when handling it. Spotting it is often easy. In my area, it raises the T, but I don't claim that that is necessarily correct.

Get premium. You already have that. Go into "Member features" Check out "Instant Log Notification Feature" Create a new notification and configure it for where and what.