VegasCacheHounds

And two of my most severe physical beatings came in desert canyon conditions, in California and Arizona, whereas I am totally comfortable in the Pennsylvania woods with their ticks, snakes, bears and other "hazards." I think that Vinny's observation about how geocaching motivates previously sedentary people to get outdoors is quite astute. This was confirmed by Dan&Chris's post. It is also one of the fundamental beliefs of the folks at Groundspeak. All the search tools, pocket queries and other site developments are designed to get people OUT from behind their computers and into the outdoors. As more and more people do that, we get the somewhat impersonal group mentality that ju66l3r described very well in his OP. Yes, it is different than it was when I discovered the game four years ago. But I think the game is better off for having attracted so many people like Dan&Chris. And they are better off too. If geocaching attracts more of a cross-section of society, we will see more of society reflected in geocaching. Fortunately the number of good people who write nice logs and hide nice caches continues to increase as part of that growth. Oh, I knew what Vinnie's point was, just adding a funny personal spin to it. Gotta have Topic Drift, ya know.

I will say that I do agree with the statement that the majority of caching angst is solely related to the forums, but I alos agree with part of what the OP says. I've noticed, not only in others logs but my own, that the logs left on caches are no longer the nice tale of the cache hunt that they used to be. I blame this largely on what some have called Micro Spew. The reason in my head isn't totoally the lack of a memorable experience with some of these caches, but also the lack of logbook space. I used to sit down and write about my cAche hunt in the logbook, then read through some of the others. Now, on the rare occation that I find a cache large enough to have a real logbook in it, I am so used to writing the date and VCH that I forget that I have the room to write more, and looking thorugh the other entries it looks like this has effected others too. That also seems to bleed over into my online logs. Of course, I could be wrong.

Well, I've logged DNFs or notes about aborting a cache hunt due to Poison Ivy, and have had fears about ticks, but that was back when I first moved here to the Dallas area. Now, after caching for a bit over a year in this area, I've learned how to spot PI and take bugspray with me, but I grew up out in the desert, so all of my outdoors experience didn't do me much good here

Wow, the Inner Circle of Cachers! One would think those that participate in such circles would be more involved in the topics out here! Oh, wait, we're hiding from the BP&Ming that permeates evry thread out here

Since there is no charge for keeping an account open, there is no way of 'closing' an account, jkust stop logging into it.

Well, having the acronym CRR for [Cheers Cache Run makes about as much sense as anything else they're doing! At least on the Dallas Record Run we got the DRR right! Sure, take the word of someone out here.....you can't believe anything in a thread out here.....

Geez, next thing you know someone is going to start up a thread asking about cryptic messages in sig lines or odd avatars....

looks to me like you had an "energy burst". was it good for you?

Wait, hold on, I miss read this first post and didn't realize it was from Jeremy, so it must be the Gospel! Good thing I have sat on top of a mountain, cache in hand, and yes, I did enjoy the view. Whew, I;m a cacher! Must suck for anyone around where I live now, theres not a mountain in sight Butt-head: Beavis, I have seen the top of the mountain. And it is good.

Holy Carp! Is that what those bursts of light are? My pants are possessed!

Wait, hold on, I miss read this first post and didn't realize it was from Jeremy, so it must be the Gospel! Good thing I have sat on top of a mountain, cache in hand, and yes, I did enjoy the view. Whew, I;m a cacher! Must suck for anyone around where I live now, theres not a mountain in sight

You're not a geocacher unless you've had fun in the attempt of finding a cache, in my opinion.

Do you feel logging event caches and/or pocket caches is a correct thing to do? Sure, I think it is the perfect thing to do. Every cache found should be logged on its cache page on whatever site it is listed on. Now, if a cache isn't listed on a particular website, I think it is quite silly to log a find on a different cache's page. Do you feel the record set at Geowoodstock should stand as legit? Sure, they legitimately found more cache containers than anyone else within 24 hours. Since this is not some sort of officially recognized thing, and there are no set rules, let them have whatever record they choose to break. Do you feel that the record found caches in a 24 hour period should allow the finder to set their own rules? Sure. Once again, until this becomes something official or sanctioned, what does it matter? If I want to claim I've found more caches than anyone else while hopping on one foot why should anyone else care if I swaped feet halfway? Its all quite silly. now, other practices such as signing the container are a bit less silly, but that horse has been beaten already.

Okay, let me address this subject with what I feel: Some Virtual caches were good, some were lame, same with Locationless caches. Either way, they caused problems, many problems, for the people who run this website (who, BTW, run it free of charge for those that don't wish to pay) so they decided to move them to a different website and restructure them in a way that works better (in my, and many others, opinion). Now, there has been a couple of times that I've wished that Virtual caches still were allowed, but that has been pretty rare. Cowboy X states that he thinks that geocaching as a whole suffers because cachers no longer have the option to place a Virtual cache that involves puzzles. While it is true that the option of a puzzle Virt is gone, the only major change is that now a chacer has to find a way to work an actual container into the end of the puzzle or adventure, a place where the intreped hunter can sign his/her name to mark the find. Doesn't sound like a negative impact to me. If a hider cannot deal with this two things come to mind: A.) They don't seem very creative to me, and I probably won't mind the lack of their Virtual, and B.) there are other websites that still allow Virtuals and Locationless caches.

I don't see that. I had a pretty good idea as to what this sport was all about by the time I had 36 finds (I use that number because my 36th was my first micro). By my 50th find I had experienced short hikes, long hikes, drive ups, urban caches, suburban caches, historic caches, scenic caches, lame caches, puzzle caches, multi caches, micros, full size, 1/1's, difficult terrain, events, virtuals, devious hides, caches in AOL tins and ammo boxes and caches on two coasts and in 3 states. I'll put the experince I gained in my first 50 finds up against anyone who has racked up 1,000+ finds by going from mall parking lot lamp post to mall parking lot lamp post. You aren't "experienced" until you've opened an ammo box and been bitten by an extremely upset hamster. No cache is truly a difficulty 5 unless the trade items fight back.

Yeah, but if you posted DNFs with this info on the cache pages, other cachers like myself would know not to waste our time on those caches.

Yay!

Just out of curiousity, how were your caches different, and what were the complaints?

Shouldn't it be container+logbook+coords+published on gc.com=geocache No, that would make it a Geocache. There is a difference.

Ummmm...no thank Godness! Why? Is there something wrong with making a cache hunt a bit more intersting or entertaining? I know of a cache around these parts that would be quite lame in most peoples opinion if it wasn't for the clever decoys associated with it. EDIT: Oh, and don't you just hate when someone quotes you before you have the chance to fix a typo?

Yes Yes Good example, there are other similar methods out there too. Without permission from the owner, this is not a find. Once again, without permission from the owner, this is not a find. However, if there is indeed a problem with the cache, I'd say a "Needs Mainenance" log is more in order anyways. Once again, in my opinion, the owner should allow you to claim a find, but without the owners say so, how can you even guarantee that you even really found the cache? That could have been a decoy, the remnants of a archived cache, or even just plain garbage.

Well, obviously some cachers do have fun with them, otherwise why would anyone bother? Could it purely be the numbers? Sure, but even if so, why does that impact your ability to ignore those caches that have no appeal to you? As pointed out by others, people are still hiding all types of caches, not just 'lame' micros. Heres a different way to think about this: Not all cachers think in the same way. Some of us cache as a way to get out and find a new spot, hike, scenic view, etc. For those people there are caches at the end of great hikes, or at historic locations or such. Some of us cache for the challange of figuring out puzzles and such, for those there are Mystery and Puzzle caches. Some of us are all about the hunt, finding hidden things, even if it is in a parking lot. For those there are 'lame micros' or 'Micro Spew'. To continue my train of thought, smoe cachers get their caching enjoyment from finding thing hidden in spots that the rest of the world doesn't even realize is there, or the rush from trying to nab that micro in a very busy spot without beeing seen. My point is, not everyone cache for the same reason, so not everyone will hide the same type of caches. I love hiding puzzle caches, but as not many enjoy finding them they don't get a lot of hits. Does this meen that I shouldn't hide them? No, because those that have found them really seemed to enjoy them.

Doesn't sound like a valid find to me, he didn't actually do what was required to properly find that cache. Of course, I imagine that this has already been beaten to death in a different forum

It stands for Geo Zombies, a term that refers to those that stumble around like a zombie following the arrow on their GPSr. Okay, really, it's Ground Zero.

Yes, it is a bad thing. After 20-or-so Wal Mart hides hidden under the same way with the only variant being the location of the light pole, you get sick and tired of it. After 20-or-so newbies (who, ironically, have found only all 20 Wally World Caches in a 10 mile radius) each hide 20 or so micro film canisters in randomn places off the road with no intrinsic or historical value, you get sick and tired of it. Then when a cacher, who has found all 20 Wal Mart Caches and all 20 Multi Caches goes and micro spews 20 caches in a variant of a wasteland, you get sick, tired, frustrated, and peeved. So, now, you have 60 new caches and 60 more finds ...... and the only thing you can do with that is brag that you have those numbers. You can't validate it with a great caching story, you can't really (or at least I hope not) say that you got exercise/historical,geographical insight, nor can you really claim you had a lot of fun. But you can claim you found 60 lame caches. Congratulations. It took you finding 60 of them before you realized you didn't like them and therefore could ignore them? Wow...