L0ne.R

Project-GC agrees: https://project-gc.com/w/The_Author The Author The original intent when implementing this Badge was obviously to make Geocachers write better/longer logs. Sadly some Geocachers instead chose to write long irrelevant logs, or even pasting texts which doesn't even have to do with Geocaching. Due to these reasons the possibility to loop this Badge was removed with the 4.x release.

As a hider would you put yourself in the category of hiders that consider the cache container and log essential important parts of the pastime? Do you hide good quality caches, with logbooks instead of a little scroll or bit of paper? Then monitor and maintain those caches? Have you ignored rows of DNF reports and allowed reviewers to archive your caches?

True, but most hiders and finders have turned a blind eye to containers and logbooks. They are for the most part items that are forced upon hiders in order to list a cache. So most hiders look for minimum cost and effort to comply. Something free or cheap (under a dollar) that almost always isn’t suitable for outdoor use. Most use scraps of paper and when they get full finders replace or add more scraps of paper. They never go back to monitor and maintain the container. When some finders place NMs or NAs on these caches they are called cache cops. It seems that most don’t care about the container or log. So the argument that geocaching is about the container and log doesn’t hold water, unlike most containers these days.

Not to be cynical forget the woods. Most people want to do roadside caches these days.

Fantastic caches! I looked at the Jack cache listing. 3 finders going for FTF on the first day (the 25th) of publication, then nothing. But I was really happy to see that one finder left a photo of himself holding the logbook with an old-fashioned full page log note, plus a really nice signature stamp.

To me, this is equivalent to the power trail school of thought. Points for the least amount of effort. Unfortunately it has infected ALs too. Not surprising though. I've found a couple of very well done ALs that were far better then finding the nearby button nano caches.

It's been devalued for years. Ever since the tools of the site became a score instead of a way to find caches that match our needs and likes. Now it's all about scoring. Perhaps you mean the it devalues the game/scoring/sport aspect of what the pastime/hobby/recreational-activity has become.

And a good thing IMO. It's good for the pastime when owners are active, check their listings and caches, and respond to issues in a timely fashion.

It's more about a deteriorated cache and how triple-digit FPs are meaningless.

There is a chance of getting hantavirus from deer mice droppings. A very remote chance, but it's a respiratory disease that can kill within hours.

It's a real mouse. All that fluff in the photo is nesting made by mice. The mice have chewed the clothes off of the doll. Reports about mice nesting in the box go back more than a year to August 2019. Example of a log: "Found this cache. Needs clean up. Infested with mice. It freaked me the heck out." There are 3 NMs posted this year, 1 NM posted in 2019. It also irks me that this year the owner has posted over 150 caches in 2020 but has not found time to maintain this cache or disable the listing. Maybe he doesn't want to disable because of the triple digit FP rating.

It irks me that a cache with 157 FPs, looks like this:

I get the feeling that some COs don't like being told. I noticed one CO deliberately not enabling his caches "because of COVID" yet he has been logging finds on caches since March. When prompted by a reviewer he replies that he wants to get an official word from GCHQ. Guess he's got a beef with the reviewer. Another CO was quick to disable dozens of his caches because of COVID but went silent when he got the reviewer note. He's letting them all slowly become reviewer archived, about half of them are at this point. It seems on the face of it that the CO got his nose out of joint.

Without controls and enforcement by TPTB the tools on this site usually end up being used as self-interest rather than community-interest. Filtering cannot be used even somewhat reliably to help find caches we prefer to find. For example, most "small" size caches are actually micros; a cache listed as a T2 but turns out to be a tree climb, according to the owner the "easy" 10 foot climb up a tree doesn't earn a T4 score; a double-digit FP cache that turns out to be a broken 10-year-old wooden box, bolted with lag bolts to a tree, abandoned 5 years ago, now the home of mice.

This irks me. When I log an NA for a neglected cache, explaining "No response to September's NM, December's NM and April's NM". Here's what the cache looked like: Then the next person to visit leaves a throwdown. (I hope they cut off the zip tie that's girdling the tree). 3 months later the owner posts an OM (probably because they got a health notice). The CO's OM log says: "Everyone seems to be finding this one, so no idea where there is a NA. Maybe the n"geo-police" should relax a little... or at least actually visit the cache before logging a NA."

Tagging on to this irk. Loggers who won't note in their log that the small size cache is really a micro. It comes across as not caring about other finders, and not caring about using the tools of the site appropriately to benefit all players.

I did an AL where the bonus North coord was written in a journal entry, the West coordinate in another journal entry.

I found this information interesting: Congress has passed a law banning the mutilation of coins to discourage people from melting down large quantities of coins for their metal value. However Congress debased coinage long ago. Dimes and quarters (and the new copper-manganese dollar) are worth 1/7 of their face value in metal. No one will want to melt those things down. But the law will remain on the books, even though no one is willing to enforce it; unless truckloads of coins are being melted for profit.

I was going to say that the other problem is BadgeGen (Project-GC) but then I found this: https://project-gc.com/w/The_Author The original intent when implementing this Badge was obviously to make Geocachers write better/longer logs. Sadly some Geocachers instead chose to write long irrelevant logs, or even pasting texts which doesn't even have to do with Geocaching. Due to these reasons the possibility to loop this Badge was removed with the 4.x release.

Just an example, not mine. Painting the GC logo might be fun.

Looks like you know about the Archive option for owners. Both of your caches have been self-archived (not archived by a reviewer). You archived them on 09/30/2011 and 11/15/2015.

Good point about cars. There was this from one of the cut n paste logs from one of the team members: "I met up with the group to hike the trail and after leaving some vehicles at the end trail, a few drove to the start of the trail to begin our day." I expect that cars were shared to facilitate this.

A different group in my area, went out at the end of September.... 09/2020 "We walked 8 hours ...visiting a number of caches both within the valley and around the neighbood streets. 14 of us enjoyed the day caching here today."

The pandemic isn't over. The number of cases are rising. Yet group caching is starting up again in my area. "Today the xxxx group had their 2nd trip to [this city] in the past month. <List of 8 individual (old timer) cachers> made for a great team"