_Pebcak_

Hi! I used to do a little bit about 10 years ago and I'm hoping to get back into it now. Hopefully looking to maybe meet some people who do this that can teach me a few things and help me hone my skills so that I can get more caches solo

Welcome, and best of luck to you! Good luck with placing your first cache, too!

I think it's a nice gesture, but I wouldn't remove a log from someone else's cache unless I had asked him for permission first.

Yeah, I could understand that. The person that msged me didn't start out with a hint. He actually welcomed me to the game and asked if I needed help. I said yes, simply b/c I was by myself and I had no idea what I was doing. I found out about caching from a friend online, but we didn't live anywhere close so that he could show me.

You see, this is exactly what happened to me. If he hadn't reached out to me, I probably would have just given up and not tried another cache again. This is the kind of thing I love!

When you receive a DNF on your caches, do you ever email the person and ask if they need help, or send hints? Or do you just smile and nod, knowing that you've hidden the cache well and that someone is scratching his head and pondering where ELSE he could have looked? I only have 1 cache. I had 2 DNFs. I did email the first b/c she said she was a newbie, so I asked her if she needed a hint or two (she never responded) and the other actually found the cache the same day. I personally have logged several DNFs, but I think I've only ever received one email about it before, so I was just curious how you react to those DNFs on your caches?

I admit that I didn't read ALL of the previous pages, so this may have been answered before...how can you log a find that you haven't actually found? What if the cache has been moved, stolen, lost? Doesn't that hurt others' attempts?

That's a cool idea. I would like to see those on my app so I know which ones I have to go back to another day.

I didn't know what that was until just now. Thanks for this LOL, I didn't realize that either for one of my first caches...my husband accidentally kicked the skirt, saw that it moved, and we peeked under. I was literally ready to start pulling up bricks but luckily I was saved from that I've also learned that when people say a cache is easy, that doesn't mean easy for me! I just have to accept my own learning curve, no matter how steep it is. There are still a few that I've missed but I'm hoping this winter is kind (and since no gross bugs!) and I can go back and explore without fear of creeper crawlers. /Shudder, lol.

Yikes! Do some people really think that? I always discover them but I seldom move them b/c I'm not really going anywhere special like on a vacation someplace far away rather than the next cache along the road. (Hence the reason for the topic, lol!) Smh...Though hey if people want that, I don't mind! So is that how sometimes I see a travel bug in my cache but when I go to check it out, it's not there? Someone took it but didn't log it yet?

I may need to look into this. B/c I'm not the most, uh, graceful of people. It's quite possible I will fall out of a tree, even if it's only 10 feet up....It's happened before...(Though not while caching, lol!!)

Haha! I go Geocaching with my husband most of the time. We both look together and sometimes he finds the actual hide, and sometimes I do. I always sign the log for both of us (unless, of course, he's not with me while I'm Geocaching) b/c my handwriting is much neater. I'm also the one that carries the pouch of swag so I'm the one stuffing the cache with presents I think if you're in a group together and you're all at ground zero, that's okay. That's sort of what happens at geocaching parties, too. We all work together, but one person climbs the tree, etc and writes us all down.

I only do the traditional caches. I think the others are pretty cool, but I'm clueless, even after having read the forums, so I just leave those be. I prefer the large caches b/c I really like being able to leave "treasures" behind. I tend to like the simpler caches b/c I'm still newish and I have a hard time finding the more challenging hides. Terrain is whatever, I don't mind climbing or swimming or whatever Swag is fun, trackables are cool! I don't mind if it's urban or rural. Anything is an adventure! I think overall, though, I prefer the caches that take me to local parks b/c most of the time, it will be a small, out of the way place that I would have never known existed until I was brought there by a cache!

Occasionally I will come upon a Travel Bug or Coin in a cache, and while I always discover them, I oftentimes don't take them b/c I know I'm not going to be traveling any great distance for a while. So my question is this: Is it better to leave it, or just take it along to my next Geocache, even if it's just one town over?

There may be a group or message board just for your area. There is, for example, a Southern NJ message board that is outside of the official Geocache page. Obviously everything on that board is geared toward us and our locations. If you asked about a board like this existing on this forum, you might find something. I hope you do. Attending events can be a great way to meet new people and have some awesome food and fun

People who act in the manor I described don't make newer cachers feel welcome, either. I get it, some want a pencil, paper, and a GPS. But just b/c there's an easier way of doing things doesn't make it any less exciting. I think if I'd have read some of the posts I'd read today when I first started caching, I probably would have cried and quit b/c some people seem to come off as bullies. When I pick a few caches out to find, I get excited no matter what they are. Yes, I prefer the larger caches, but I don't mind the small, annoying ones either. I got up from my computer and I got away from burning almost 0 calories to going out and having a small workout. Maybe I don't do it often enough to get burned of the same thing over and over again. Ponder this. If you think that you're being called out as an elitist jerk and that makes you feel bad, imagine how saying new players and new ways of caching are terrible and ruining the game are making the newbies feel. *Sigh* Seeing this kind of stuff is why I seldom visit message boards in general anymore. PS - I give up on the cool fonts. You are all boring (And really, let me spell it out - that would be a sarcastic joke...smh, you never can tell anymore.) EDIT - Grammar error.

I'm getting emails from the generic Mail app on my iPhone. When I click on the link (ie, New Cache #: GCXXXX) - it takes me to Safari and the rest happens.

Zanadian, you're free to believe what you want. I don't have to justify myself to anyone. Enjoy your day cerberus1 & Panther&Pine - Thank you for the heads up. I didn't realize!! I'll just keep the standard font and go with a darker red. Thanks for the advice Is this better? Arthur & Trillian - That's a good point you bring up. Yeah, sometimes the old ways WERE better, but sometimes the new ways are good as well, and I think you've really made a good point: Cache how you want to cache. Everything is what you make it out to be

You know, as I wrote that, I thought that. I didn't pay for my Premium membership, though. If I happen to get an iTunes gift card, I've thought about buying the app. I don't really spend $$ on any apps in general though, so it's not a Geocache-only thing as far as that goes. I am curious to give it a shot. Have you tried both? If you want to PM me instead of hijacking the thread that's cool

I actually I said people in general, not the poster. Additionally I said I did not know the poster, nor do I know if this is how he feels. A general statement, "People are silly." isn't the same as specifically saying something "Gee, Bob is silly." PS - Bob is a made up person in this case.

I'd be lying if I said I read the entire 24 pages I read the first page pretty much, lol. I'm definitely using the Geocaching Intro app for my iPhone. I've always used this app, and it's been about 2 years. I logged my first find using that app, and that was on 11 July 12.

Lol, me too!! I'm 5"4' and not graceful sooooo it's rough. Luckily my partner is 6 feet tall

Why thank you!! That was nowhere where I was looking. Thanks so much! ....At least I know I'm not totally crazy, b/c it wasn't even close to being where I was looking

Well I just feel ridiculous...I can't seem to find where I add a signature or how I can change my title from "Premium Member" to a custom title? I checked out the everything on the drop down menu on the upper right hand side, and I saw nothing. Thanks in advance....I feel really computer-challenged right now!

I believe that it's better b/c you have more people getting into the hobby. You get new blood, fresh ideas, more opportunities to have an adventure, even if it is an "uncreative" cache. It got you up, it got you out, and it got you moving, which is the real point of this, isn't it? When people complain that it's "too popular, too easy, too crowded" - in terms of video game language, that makes you an elitist jerk. What is an "elitist jerk," exactly? It's someone who wants people to conform to him, to his niche, and he dosen't want to let anyone else in his exclusive club b/c hey was an outcast at one time so now he wants to exclude others like he'd been excluded. Now, please don't take that as a personal attack. I don't know you, or anything about you. I just know that is generally the feeling people get when there's an influx of newbies in anything that's been a closed circle of folks for a long time. I look at it this way: We were ALL newbies once. If you take 5 minutes to answer a question then you can make a person better for it, instead of looking down your noses like you are better than him. And if that newbie is just a plain disruptive troll, well, hey, can't he just get banned?