SidAndBob

I didn't log one (for the first time) last week. After the new GSAK release I must have been messing with the filters, anyway after searching for 20 mins to find a cache that the logs said was easy I found it had been archived in October I'm not sure why I shared that with you as it was pretty embarassing.

I've seen something along the lines of "If you can see the tree then you're in the right field" on more than one occassion. I figured which field already - as I've got a GPSr. It was the last few feet I wanted a hint with Hey wait a minute - you've got me doing it now. These are supposed to be cliched CRYPTIC hints, not ridiculous ones. That's a whole different thread.

Doh! I have a cache with that very name, but it is for a good reason though and it's not a popular name (or phrase) over here.

...your laminator only ever gets used for stashnotes and calling cards.

I see the same old hints time and time again. "Don't get stumped", "Don't forget to log it" etc What are the least original "cryptic" hints (and most original) that you've come across?

...and along with the batteries there's scrunched up listing print-outs, pen knife, TB's and more batteries, PDA, camera, phone, trades...

I try to place my multi's so that the final cache is nearish the start point, so you do a circular walk. This means that maintenance is much easier. Having said this I have a couple of traditional caches in the mountains which take much longer for me to get to, but I spend my weekends walking, so it's not a problem. I sometimes do maintenance on all but the longest caches at night time to keep weekend free. I find that most caches need very little maintenance too. I guess I'm saying that it really depends upon the person and the caches. As long as your caches are in good places it should be a pleasure going back to them as well.

Okay, I whipped this up. What do you think? LOVE IT!!! It's good, but I think a bush and maybe some text would add a little "je ne sais quoi".

I never even look at the swaps (though my son does while I'm filling the log out). Most times he just find junk. It always seems a pointless part of the game to me (TB's and geocoins excluded as they aren't tradable items anyway), though I can see the appeal for kids. I did once swap an item. It was a plastic case that held 4xAA batteries. Very cheap and very useful.

I've never seen a glass cache container and I'd always assumed it was against the guidelines, but obviously not. As a cacher I want to promote the fact that I do NOTHING to the detriment of the countryside. Don't you hate it when you find a "cache" that used to be in a deli holding olives or humus. You can't fit anything in, the log is soaked and the lid won't go on properly. You can't beat an ammo box, but lock 'n' locks come a reasonable second, especially if you need a smaller hide.

I hate micros. I can never find the *!@$%£ things.

I do my maintenance visits at night, leaving the weekend free to travel to find caches. My local area is valleys, hills and forests. It can be a little spooky sometimes (especially if you catch the reflection of a pair of eyes watching you in the beam), but great to listen to owls etc. Walking by moonlight can't be beat. No snow here so apart from being cold it's not much different than at other times. Cold night air and asthma is a pain though.

I remember it was great to get my first FTF under my belt, but it holds no great appeal now. Sure, I'll go for one now and again, because there's a part of me that wants to say "I was first", but I think that's my insecure side. I usually leave a local cache for a few days to let a new cacher get a chance at their first FTF (but a distant established cacher usually comes by). There's something a bit desperate about traveling huge distances or going out in the dark purely for the FTF when you could be enjoying fantastic views in the daylight. It shouldn't be a numbers game - though I guess it's only human nature!

Any cache placed without thought and reason. The trouble is you often don't know until it's too late. I like scenery, walking, tranquility, wildlife and interesting places, so I avoid urban caches, not that they can't have some of these qualities.

The emails going out are pretty much instantaneous, except on rare occasions when a mail server gets backed up. It's usually the email server on the receiving end that causes the delays. Yahoo, for example, periodically throttles our email due to the large volumes we send out. So it would be unfair to say that the notify service is unreliable when there are plenty of other variables. I have found that Gmail is one of the more reliable services for receiving emails. They seem to have a cleaner way of handling email volume. That would imply that I'd receive it eventually though. The cache was published 5 days ago. I also use a dedicated email host rather than a free webmail service and I know they would strongly deny they refused any messages. The only way we'll ever know is to find the sent email. I know this would be a pain but if you are concerned that there are bugs in this code this may help resolve the issue. "You may miss some logs due to site maintainence, bugs, or lunar eclipses." There's a great full moon tonight, but it says nothing about that. Thanks for your interest.

So it is just unreliable then.

Yeah, I would have thought it would have come to light much quicker if placed date was used, but the "New" icon doesn't show despite being published on 28.1.2007. GC10F5K & GC10F5M. This icon is displayed for one week after publication (I thought). It's sounds too much of a coincidence not to be related.

Now before we start I know there is a get out clause on the reliability of Insta-notify. I use GSAK and PQ as my sources for listing information and Insta-notify for new cache information (not logs). I don't get many new caches round my way and was a bit surprised today when the weekly email notification showed two new caches right on my doorstep which had been around for nearly a week - but no Insta-notify. It has always worked previously and since. It looks like these caches were place over a week before they were released to be published. A local cacher pointed out that they never had a "New" icon on the listing overview page. Is the Placed Date being used instead of the Published Date in these cases? I'm sure you'll tell me there's a good reason for this. This was more frustrating as I drove by the caches twice before they were found by someone else

This thread appears to have run it's course a long time ago. But thanks to those who did give it some proper thought rather than just reitterating the obvious.

I was always under the impression that TB's didn't count as tradable items. That is, you can take or leave a TB without leaving or taking a corresponding tradable item. I was happy with that, but now I'm wondering if I was wrong all along. I now often see "Left TB, took flashing pumkin badge" or the like. Surely this will just end in a depleated cache as the next cacher will take the TB and leave nothing in it's place.

I guess your experiences in the US are very different from ours in the UK. You all seem to be swamped with caches and by the sound of it, many are of poor quality. In my area (England / Wales border) there aren't that many caches, though the quality is generally very good and carpark micros don't exist. Infact, any micros are pretty unusual. It is an area steeped in rich history, beautiful scenic valleys and nearby mountains, but there are still many, many locations for quality hides. I guess I just find it frustrating when you're having to drive so far to go caching when there are potentially so many other good caches which could be available. The trading up idea sounds good, but we all have different ideas of what caching is about. Tradeable items are not important to me and I have rarely seen it happen. The "writing good log entries" comment is good, but that's the least any of us should do. Just writing "Found this one" or similar is a kick in the teeth, but that's a whole different thread. I do believe 'hiding is giving'. It takes a lot of time, local knowledge, effort and money to make a good hide. After all, if you were in a football team, you couldn't just play all your matches away because you didn't fancy hosting any home games. No one would play, we'd all be sitting at home, waiting for someone else to make the effort. Finally, I know you can't force cachers to hide caches with quality, but I hoped this may provoke some ideas on how to improve things in low cache density areas. P.S. Kit Fox's "seed caches" idea is interesting. I'm not sure it'll work, but it's out-of-the-box and more of what I'm looking for.

Hi Keystone, I created this in the web site forum because I believe that a hide to find ratio should be enforced by the web site.

I'd like to think that ALL Geocachers had a little more integrity than that, but you may be right. Everybody should have at least a couple of good caches in their repetoire. I know I couldn't wait to share some of the cool places I know and I get a great deal of satisfaction when others enjoy those place. Fortunately I have some great hiders in my area, but there's scope for loads more. I was forgeting the high saturation thing as it certainly isn't a problem in my neck of the woods. I was caching 40 miles from home yesterday and there were 10 caches within a 10 mile radius That's in a beautiful area too.

After reading the 'Hiding a cache' thread it seemed just as important to me that all members have a responsibility to hide as well as find. I try to keep a 25:1 ratio, but I think at least a 100:1 ratio should be enforced. If hiding is giving and finding is taking, then surely it's not right to only take. Placing a cache might also help these "non-hiders" to appreciate the effort the rest of us spend when making a hide.

I did a cache this w/e which really sucked. As a result of this thread I've just looked up the placer's profile and found they joined 2 days before placing, with 2 finds under their belt. Not too scientific, but it speaks volumes. I think it's good that any geocacher should want to hide caches, but maybe there should be a mechanism to vote out / archive very poor caches.