SylvrStorm

Thanks for the info. Thanks - I missed that one as I scanned the list of caches looking for terrain 3 or higher. Definitely interested, just don't know if I can do it. I was very jealous of the group you took up in September. It's hard for me to get a whole day for caching though. Usually the most I can arrange is 4-5 hours in a day. I'll keep it in mind though, and if I ever get a chance I'll drop you a line. Thanks, SylvrStorm

Hey - perfect time for this topic to come up. I'm nearing my 100th find and looking for a quality cache to do for it - something more than a park & grab. This past summer I did Eagle Ridge, enjoyed it very much, and would like to do something similar for my 100th. Problem is I don't want to deal with deep snow. I've already emailed AlsidPrime about the snow conditions around his new cache, but I suspect that by the time I go for my 100th (probably between Christmas & New Years) there'll be too much snow there. So today I've been looking at some of the other Greater Vancouver area caches that involve a decent hike, and what do you know - Old Tales of a Lumberjack is on my short list. So is the Spy-glass / Blood Beach pair of caches, land route (figured if I do one I'd do both). Does anyone know what the winter conditions of these are like? Or any other good cache hikes in the 2-4 hour round trip range? Thanks, SylvrStorm

Headline: Geocacher Neglects CITO, Tree Exacts Revenge SylvrStorm

First off, a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to Adam, for providing this tool. As a software developer I can well imagine the effort that must have gone into creating it. You da man! I don't think it would go on the "Geocaching Software" page, as that seems to be for software you actually download and install to run locally. However, I do think it would be a great idea for it to be listed on the Useful Links page, either under "Geocaching Resources & Tools" or "General Resources". There are some other links that should (IMHO) be there too, like Markwell's FAQ. Does anyone know if these ideas have been formally suggested to TPTB and been rejected? Or is it simply that nobody has yet bothered? SylvrStorm

Thanks a lot cache-advance. GPSVisualizer is perfect! I'm sure it pales in comparison to commercial software, but for a free utility it really rocks! It's great for what I needed, and makes it a lot easier to plan my cache outings. SylvrStorm

This may have been discussed before, but I can't find it in my forum searches. I'm looking for some free software that will let me see the contents of .loc (or .gpx) files graphically. I don't need or expect anything fancy - in fact, even if it only showed the waypoints relative to each other that would be sufficient. I just want a way to find clusters of caches so I can decide which area to target for a cache outing. Even something as basic as the maps available here on gc.com, with no roads or anything (for Canada), would be good. But I need a way to filter out caches I've already found, I've placed, or I'm not interested in finding. I know I can do this with a premium membership, and may do that eventually, but for now I'm looking for free options. Thanks, SylvrStorm

quote:Originally posted by Jay Millington:My wife and I are willing to give a ride to some adventurous TB's in January, on our way to Thailand, where we plan to set up at least one cache on a little island we are staying at. I don't know if there are extenuating circumstances in your case, but note that "vacation caches" are generally frowned upon and not approved. The reason for this is the inability to maintain the cache. If you travel there very frequently, or have arranged with someone local to maintain the cache for you, then it may be acceptable. Just thought I should mention it before you go hide a cache that would eventually become geo-litter. SylvrStorm *** Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry, and they laugh at you. ***

I'm not into the whole mapping software side of this (just use the basic yellow etrex, no bells or whistles), but I know some of you are. I was in Costco yesterday and saw MS Streets & Trips 2004 for $55. Don't know if it's any good, or if it's a good price, but thought I'd mention it. SylvrStorm *** Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry, and they laugh at you. ***

Never mind. I just read Jeremy's announcement about the maps and he mentions this. SylvrStorm *** Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry, and they laugh at you. ***

The new maps look really cool. Does anybody know if there are plans to have the Canadian maps show streets, like the US ones? SylvrStorm *** Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry, and they laugh at you. ***

OUCH!!! Man, that's harsh. Thanks for posting links to the pics though. Fires in the west, hurricane in the east ... what next? Blizzards in central Canada? I sure hope not. SylvrStorm

I don't bring my dog caching, but here's a dog-themed cache I've done: Doggone Beach SylvrStorm *** Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry, and they laugh at you. ***

Easy to do with a few lines of client-side java script. Problem is, as Renegade Knight pointed out, that makes it relatively easy to bypass the puzzle and dig the coords out of the page itself. To prevent that you'd need the verification on the server side, and it becomes non-trivial, and more importantly, something Groundspeak would have to do for you. Your best bet is probably something like the checksum RJFerret suggested. A match doesn't guarantee they've got it right, but it's pretty likely. If you want something that will actually compare the values directly, yet doesn't expose the values unnecessarily, you're probably looking at hosting your own server-side logic elsewhere and having your cache page point to it. This is also probably your only option if you want something like you suggested where if they get "close enough" you'd like to give them the answer. Sounds like a lot of work for little benefit if you ask me. I'd go with the checksum. One other idea just occurred to me. You could have two separate ways to calculate the coords, and if they get the same answer twice, they know they're right. SylvrStorm *** Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry, and they laugh at you. ***

quote:Originally posted by Team GPSaxophone:Then why are squid made of meat? They're not - they're made of rubber. quote:Seriously, squid is really good on pizzaMaybe once in a while, but only when you're not planning to actually eat it. SylvrStorm *** Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry, and they laugh at you. ***

quote:Originally posted by Doc-Dean:Briansnat - That avatar is just gross, looks like you are eating worms! Worms, squid ... when you get right down to it is there really a significant difference? SylvrStorm *** Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry, and they laugh at you. ***

quote:Originally posted by Kealia:Ok, I'm not opposed to bringing him back if I get a response that people miss him. Bring him back - I miss him. No - not the same way clearpath does. But I did like the old avatar better. SylvrStorm *** Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry, and they laugh at you. ***

I think parking/trailhead coords are good in some cases, not so much in others. Just thought I'd throw in a different example of a time I was happy to have parking coords. There's a local cache that's in an area with plenty of available parking, but it's all pay parking for several blocks. The cache hider was nice enough to mention the coords of one little spot that had free parking. Never would have found it otherwise; probably wouldn't have even looked, and just paid for parking. Not a really big deal, but it was a nice gesture, and didn't affect the cache hunt itself. SylvrStorm *** Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry, and they laugh at you. ***

(sigh) I'm glad this thread generated some good discussion on some possible variations. I'm also glad that at least a few people realized that those of us discussing it rationally are not pirates ourselves, and were not trying to justify any pirate actions, but were rather simply looking for ways of making geocaching even more fun. But the signal:noise ratio is getting too low. The topic is drifting to statistics and other side issues, and little is being said about making the 'good pirate' concept work. I'm tired of defending the appropriateness of the variation, or the thread itself, or the use of the word 'pirate' (especially since I've said multiple times that I know it's an issue and I'm open to other suggestions). You know what? This isn't even my issue. I don't want to be a "good pirate". I started this thread simply because I thought it would be cool to find a cache one day, and be surprised by a bonus addition with a pirate's treasure map. So that's it for me. Thank you to everyone who read this thread and really got what I was trying to get at. If any of you want to start a private thread to discuss it further, please invite me as I'd be happy to take part. But I'm not going to do it myself. I'm just too tired of it all. SylvrStorm

quote:Originally posted by 2oldfarts (the rockhounders):What good ideas are you offering that I missed? Fair enough. Maybe none. But if that's the case, why is everybody getting so bent out of shape? Just because of the word 'pirate'? You're right - what is being proposed, when you look at it objectively, is not so different from what can already be done according to the rules. But because there is such a huge outcry over it, it seems a good idea to open it for discussion, and air out any issues. Seems to me, there aren't many. I'd re-iterate them, but they're in a previous post of mine, on page 2 I think, and I have other, non-caching things to attend to right now. I'll check in on this discussion again tomorrow. SylvrStorm

quote:Originally posted by 2oldfarts (the rockhounders):My question for the so-called pirates is pretty simple really. If you don't like the way Jeremy runs Geocaching then why not buy him out and set up your own rules. As long as Jeremy owns it I suggest you play by his rules I'm not a pirate, I do like the way Jeremy runs Geocaching.com, and I do play by his rules. As far as I know, no pirates have posted to this thread, though I admit I have no way of knowing. In any case, I believe there is always room to evolve, expand, and improve. If we stuck to the original, going way, way back 3 years or so, we'd all be hiding/hunting buckets in holes. We now have multi, micro, theme, puzzle, virtual, locationless, and event caches. Not every cacher enjoys every new idea, but many do. I've read Jeremy's posts regarding pirating. I'm of the impression that he abhors the name 'pirating' because of what it has meant to geocaching in the past. I don't believe he's against any possibility of deriving a new variant, providing he approves of it. If he tells me to stop discussing ways of making variants that are acceptable, I will. Until then, I'll feel free to discuss it here. SylvrStorm

quote:Originally posted by Marky:You must not have tried to modify any of your caches recently, such as changing the coordinates to a new spot, or changing the cache type. Doing so will cause the cache to be archived and will require reapproval to get it active again. This is already in place. Thank you very much Marky for pointing this out. You're right - the only thing I've ever changed about one of my caches, other than temporarily disabling them, is the wording of the description, and even that was a while ago now. I wasn't aware of this re-approval process. quote:The "bonus" "stealth" cache, or what ever you want to call it needs to go through the same approval, or it shouldn't officially be a part of this game (as an approved variant). I'd still like to get opinions from a few admins on this. In the FAQ it says: quote:That little logbook may have a hundred dollar bill in it or a map to greater treasure. It could even contain clues or riddles to solve that may lead to other caches.Does this mean that such bonus caches/treasures, whether part of the original or added later, must be approved by an admin? I didn't think that was the case, and (I could be wrong) I don't think that's happening. Is this saying I'd be breaking rules if I put a note in one of my caches with instructions to find a bonus cache, but didn't report it to gc.com? Not trying to instigate arguments or go way off topic, but this reflects on a key element of what we're discussing. It really would be great to get some admin input on this. SylvrStorm

To add one further comment to my above post... I believe the person who originally made this statement did so with a certain predisposed mindset, understandable based on recent geocaching-related events. Those that come to this poll with the same mindset will doubtless agree with the statement. My hope is that this poll/discussion will help more people get past preconceptions and realize that there are many points of view here, and that the other discussion will yield caching practices that can be applied with acceptance. *** Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry, and they laugh at you. ***

I'm not voting on this poll. I'm hoping the point of this poll is not to gather real statistics, but to illustrate how meaningless such a poll would be. First, there's the statistics behind the number of people who will actually vote as compared to the number of cachers registered (and the counter arguments about how 'real life' elections are decided by a small percentage of eligible voters). But even more humourous is the way the question (statement) is so open to interpretation. Without elaboration, references like "piracy of any kind" and "childish and stupid" are going to be interpreted differently be everyone who reads them. The phrase "of any kind" sounds like it's being specific and all-inclusive, but the word "piracy" is so loaded with baggage, especially around these forums these days, that there's no hope of a consistent result. So no, I'm not going to bother voting. But at least this thread might draw the debate on statistics away from the other discussion. SylvrStorm *** Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry, and they laugh at you. ***

quote:Originally posted by ju66l3r:That's awesome...getting multiple permissions (even if it's to single caches from each hider) maintains an element of surprise that would be lost otherwise. Very cool, Sylver, very cool. Thanks ju66l3r, but I can't take credit for that idea. It came from a pirate when I was discussing the asking of permission over on their site. That's what I mean though, about working towards a form of 'pirating' that suits both us and at least some of them. SylvrStorm

quote:Originally posted by Team Lightfoot:Then who needs 'em. When somebody does something that's not acceptable to society, there are a few choices: 1) Punish them (beyond our ability in this case) 2) Ignore them (which does nothing to stop the problem from recurring) 3) Rehabilitate them (which makes the 'us' side bigger, and the 'them' side smaller) I think option 3 sounds good. And since we don't know who these people are, about the best we can do is set a good example of how some of their ideas can fit into our game. SylvrStorm