L0ne.R

Some people in the forums have said, never remove a geocache. Personally, I think the responsible thing to do is remove the container, and if you happen to find the owner, then arrange to have the owner get the container from you. Since it's extremely unlikely that that particular container is still in play, or that the owner (if they are still active 15 years later -- statistically there's a small chance) will want that container, it will remain in the swamp as litter and won't be properly disposed of if you don't remove of it.

Once, someone found a cache of mine that swept away in a flood. He found it months after the flood (and after I replaced the cache). It was about a kilometer downstream. I had contact information in the cache so it ended up returned to me.

I'm doomed. That's some serious sanitizing.

This week, a guy in my area has disabled his 1800 hides.

No publishing on Ontario due to quarantine. See this recent announcement https://wiki.Groundspeak.com/display/GEO/Ontario

Thumbs up to our Ontario reviewers. The Maintenance section of the announcement is thoughtful, helpful, and well-written. I especially think the section that begins... "positive aspects of cache maintenance that can be performed, without leaving the house." It is an informative reminder of ways to maintain a cache listing, and how to properly log an OM.

Perhaps you missed this part: After a while folks start reporting problems with the cache (wet, moldy, disgusting). Finally someone logs an NM which gets ignored. Six months later a conscientious cacher (not me) finds the totally disgusting cache and removes it writing a detailed log explaining why they removed the cache.

Can a reviewer make up his own rules? Can s/he decide that a cache that has been removed is still in play. Shouldn't it be reviewer disabled?

But isn't an NA log pinging the reviewer? You can't necessarily contact the publishing reviewer, they may have retired as a reviewer, given up the game, or otherwise be unavailable. Posting an NA pings whoever is currently the reviewer for that area Yes. And it’s more transparent. But there are community advantages to not publicly posting an NA.

That’s interesting. Thanks for the link. You would also need to have read the yahoo group messages between the Letterboxing group founders and Jeremy Irish in that time period, to get a fuller picture of intent.

Why not make them Mystery/Puzzle caches instead of "Letterbox"? What do you intend to use as a stamp? Something one-of-a-kind custom-made? If not, it supports my statement that it's about the icon, not the original intent of letterboxing. The original intent on the GC site was to attract and provide a database for letterboxers, before letterboxers had a database (they were using Yahoo groups). Back in the early days Groundspeak even had a link to letterboxing.org in their "letterbox hybrid" definition. And the definition was simple: the cache had a stamp inside. The stamp plays an integral part and needs to be unique. Letterboxers historically used a custom-made (Dartmoor stamps) or handcarved stamp (North America) to create a unique indentifier that was collected and proof that a letterbox was found and visited.

It's the number one reason I cared about Letterboxing. On the GC site it was the distinguishing feature. Otherwise a cache with directions to follow falls under the Mystery/Puzzle category. But people like collecting icons so the appeal on the GC site is the icon, not a unique custom-made stamp image to collect. I feel that letterboxes should be grandfathered, they should be under the Mystery/Puzzle umbrella, perhaps an attribute for a stamp would suffice. Though I doubt an attribute is necessary. Very few cachers care about the stamp. However, Groundspeak would get an angry earful from all the icon collectors if they grandfathered the Letterbox icon.

Just be aware though, if s/he enjoys letterboxing for the unique carved stamp images, it is unlikely they will find handcarved stamps in a GC letterbox hybrid. Here are some examples of what I have found in my area when I searched for letterboxes via the AQ site: Here's what I find in my area when I find letterboxes via the geocaching site:

I'm not sure if we can name letterboxing sites. Do a google search for: letterboxing sites. Statistically letterboxing peaked in 2008 and has been on a steady decline, but some areas are still relatively active. Events are still popular in my area.

This is why it irks me when people say that what they like about geocaching is that 'everyone can play the game their own way', as if it has no negative repercussive effect.

People keep quoting the first sentence without the rest of the statement.

Try logging out and then logging in again.

Went geocaching today. Got 3 DNFs. Saw this OM log that reminded me of GW's irk. Wet log reports for 1 year. 11/25/2018 ...the log is very wet, and likely to freeze solid soon 12/02/2018 ... Log is quite wet. 12/28/2018 Logsheet is completely soaked. 08/16/2019 ... there were many ripped up papers in here that were damp so I removed them. 10/17/2019 This one was very wet. I dumped out the water Finally an NM on 10/21/2019 could not sign it - too wet so will not log a FOUND- rules say one has to SIGN it ! Followed by this OM in Nov 2019 Most people would simply replace the log. I've done just that. This one has a nice new dry log. The old one wasn't all that bad, but we replaced it anyway!

I should add that the point isn't so much the months as it is being able to filter for caches with OMs. However, being able to also choose within x-number of months would be important because an OM 2 years ago doesn't help much.

It's about checking to see if maybe it needs maintenance. I can vouch that GH uses great containers that rarely need fixing. But every 4 months it's a good idea to have a look. Where I live it's a good idea to check after the winter thaw. As you've experienced, sometimes the cache is not where it's supposed to be, or not covered up like it should be. I've had the experience of finding my cache contents in rough shape and no mention of the condition in online logs. A couple of times after bubble containers burst, a few times after someone decided my logbook needed to be wrapped in a baggie that was too big for the container and ended up compromising the Lock&Lock seal--everything was soaked including the logbook. One time the hanging device on one of my caches had broken. And most often the inside of the cache could use a wipe down and junk removed. It's nice to see an OM that confirms the cache is in good shape. And I'd like to spend my time and money on those types of cache experiences, so a way to find them would be nice.

I would love it if there were a way to filter for OMs in the last 4 months. I know most will be non-OMs--the owner didn't actually do maintenance, but some might be the G***H*** type. I might consider a geovacation again if I could find places with (non-micro) caches that have recently been maintained by owners like this.

Definitely right handed outnumber left handed doors. Here's one that's left-handed: A few where the doors drop forward, hinge along the bottom. Or you have to lift the door, hinge along the top (my least favourite because it awkward holding the door up and pulling out books to look through). And quite a few double doors that open from the middle.

Owner Maintenance 01/05/2020 I spent this afternoon hiking Section 1 of the SR Trail and checking up on my geocaches. I confirmed they were present, checked coordinates, checked the container, cleaned out any junk, and added new swag if appropriate. This cache is in good shape and ready to be found. ….G***H***

But you may end up wasting your time, energy and money because of the foolish and selfish things some cachers do. It may not matter to you. You may have time, energy and money to burn.But many of us don't have that luxury. It's important that we can rely on a predictable activity where owners and players honour the terms they agreed to, and use the tools (ratings, attributes, logs) as intended in the spirit of the pastime, to benefit the community as a whole.

Motivation=Leaderboards In this case, often the added motivation is to qualify for challenges.