TeamMadHatter

Well, my point, (and others I think) is the 4 letter acronym log, the text messagefication of Geocaching, if you will. Cripes, how about "Easy find, thanks"? And I do think most agree, a park-n-grab 5 feet a parking spot deserves a lame log. TMH doesn't even appear to be talking about that, but rather "micros in the woods", or "one of 51 caches in the same park", and that kind of stuff. Actually I am taking about the park and grabs with nothing more than "Here is a quick park n grab." as the description of the cache. I am also talking about the many ( in my area) of trail/park hides that are noting more than the park n grabs in a park or on a trail. These caches take from the others that would like to place a cache that has more meaning or a better hide. They seem to only care about the numbers. they do not maintain their caches and no one else can place a cache anywhere in the vicinity due to the mass number of them. If you are not one of the people who does this and then complains about the TFTF logs then move on I am not talking about you. If you have put time and effort into the hide and you get the TFTF logs and this bugs you contact the TFTF loggers and ask them if they enjoyed the find and if there is something that would have made it better. Unless you just like to complain. Complaining on the forums without some constructive ideas on how to fix the problem does not IMO solve any issues. I like to find all of them. It is a compulsion. Found one this weekend that was easy except for the high muggle traffic. I put that in the log. Yes there are some that we have filtered out due to the crazy amount of the micros just placed in random spots because they could. And yes a micro in the middle of the woods labeled as a 1 difficulty with a description of "under wood" is just trolling to me. In this day and age of acronyms and texting a TFTF to me is not a big deal be happy they spent the time to write that. Just as some place caches for the numbers some find caches for the numbers.

Well, my point, (and others I think) is the 4 letter acronym log, the text messagefication of Geocaching, if you will. Cripes, how about "Easy find, thanks"? And I do think most agree, a park-n-grab 5 feet a parking spot deserves a lame log. TMH doesn't even appear to be talking about that, but rather "micros in the woods", or "one of 51 caches in the same park", and that kind of stuff.

But then you'd have been suggesting that we should all know something which we've already proven isn't necessarily true and in fact in some circumstances definitely isn't true. And that wouldn't make sense at all Sorry but one more... Suggesting that we should all know something based on observations and the lack of others to give examples of the contrary does make sense. You have to read the whole line.

Yes but it is fun.

If you'd just said something like IMO this is something to boost the CO's numbers and I treat it as such I'd have understood first time. It was only when you drew on the as yet still undefined collective we all to support your assertion that I couldn't work out how you could possibly know that. Another way I could have said it was We should all know that they are only placed to boost the CO's numbers as I myself can not figure out and have yet to be shown any other motives for placing a cache in a random spot.

OK - thanks for clearing that up - you were speaking on your own behalf then - I was just confused by the We all know this is just something placed to boost the CO's numbers so treat it as such. Ahh yes if that is what the confusion was about. I should have added the IMO as no one person can speak for all.

There's absolutely no need to elaborate - it's fact that caches exist for all sorts of reasons and are placed by CO's with all sorts of intentions. Well thank you for your reply but I will stick to my original opinion then. I do see that they could place a cache just because, but in making my point it still does not (to me) warrant a post other than TFTF.

The we in we all know - is that the we of which you are half or some other set of individuals? If it's the latter then I must fall outside that undefined set you describe as 'we' - because I can think of a number of different reasons why the cache you describe as no frills or blah might be placed. Please elaborate. I am more than willing to admit that I was wrong if given different information.

I would yell "STRANGER DANGER, I NEED AN ADULT!" and then run away.

You are correct about the size, and the extra cost for the fancy cap. I work at a place that has them and may be able to get you a few does the color matter? Also they may have small defects in them (things like bubbles or what not)

My other half of "we" finds things that I don't really like sometimes but that makes it interesting. Makes me try new things if you will. We found a cache that was nothing more than a mail box in the woods. The thing that impressed me about it was they had to drag it into the woods with a shovel and what not to dig the hole and place it. Never mind the "what is that" expressions that we had when we found it. To me this is a cache that deserves a long good post. As for the micros I have only found a few that to me deserved anything more than a TFTF. Even if the spot that the cache is hidden in is nothing special but the back story of how and why it was placed there makes it worthy of a good post. I feel that if you place a cache just because there is a spot with no other effort than placing it, you get a TFTF. Unless something happens to me on the way there. For instance on our travels to one cache with a fellow cacher our friend slipped and broke their arm. We spent the rest of the day at the hospital. The cache was nothing special. Now this is not exciting but something to write about. IMO posting more than a TFTF in a generic no frills cache log seems patronizing. We all know this is just something placed to boost the CO's numbers so treat it as such.

You're an awesome Mom! I wish geocaching was around when I was younger. Your son will really appreciate what you've done for him. At the very least, if I can think of nothing else when logging my finds, I will leave info about the current condition of the cache and paper log. Sometimes that can be the most interesting kind of log for a CO! ;-) I think that may be an awesome dad you're talking to, lol, just based on the post...but I totally agree, I wish this had been around when I was a kid. I'd have LOVED it. I DO love it...guess I haven't changed too much. Do you think you might be trivialising the enjoyment CO's get from logs on their caches because you are yet to invest time and effort in hiding any? No. I do not feel this is the case. I do log a good post if it is interesting. IMO the true problem lies with the standard blah hides that take no more time or effort than someone throwing a pill bottle into the woods. There are just too many of these. On the other side this makes the special ones that much more special. If it is that important send the poster a message asking them if they enjoyed the find or not. you may get a new friend out of it. Even if it seems like a blah hide, I'm pretty sure it takes more time and effort than that...just to get the cache approved and published. I don't know what exactly goes into having to hide a cache, because I have not hidden any myself. But even if a cache isn't the best, I think hiders deserve kudos for the effort. Because without hiders, there would be nothing for us to find! I don't know how you find the caches you go hunting for, if you just find them on the fly while you're out, but maybe you should try looking them up at home and finding good quality caches that you would like to find, and adding them to your watchlist. The first time we went geocaching, I just used the app to find one nearby. It was a pretty sneaky hide, but it didn't really require much hiking or take me any place special. So I started looking them up online first, and reading other people's comments, and looking at how many favorite points the cache has. This has led me to some awesome quality caches, great hikes through places I've never been, tricky hides, etc. This is just a suggestion, maybe you already do this and your area is just full of "the standard blah hides." But I'm sure there are some good ones out there, and I'm sure you'll find them eventually At the start it was a GPS and paper. so it was all planned out (as some of the posters felt it necessary to do the research we actually started in 2005 and combined our accounts hence missing finds and what not.) We now do both research for the ones we feel are interesting to us and we whip out the phone when out and about. There are a good amount in our area that are good and we do post more than a TFTF. Looking into placing a cache I do understand there are a few steps to take. An email to the local reviewer does not seem daunting to me. (Maybe it is different in other areas.) I agree without the hiders there would be nothing to find but to then complain about not getting more than a TFTF in your 51 caches hidden in a park with no back story or anything else interesting other than "it is nice here", is just silly to me. We pick days to go out caching we try to pick areas that have a large number of caches due to the fact that we do not want to waste gas driving from cache location to cache location. So in the area there may be a few that to us warrant a good log posting but the others that are literately a micro placed in a tree, in a parking lot, to me warrant a TFTF as it seems to me that is its purpose. There are no items to swap, no back story, no interesting containers. We have not hidden anything due to having to upkeep the cache. (most caches in our area are not kept up unless someone posts there is a problem. even then it takes weeks.) We do not have time for that. I also feel that one does not need to hide a cache in order have an opinion on the cache.

Do you think you might be trivialising the enjoyment CO's get from logs on their caches because you are yet to invest time and effort in hiding any? No. I do not feel this is the case. I do log a good post if it is interesting. IMO the true problem lies with the standard blah hides that take no more time or effort than someone throwing a pill bottle into the woods. There are just too many of these. On the other side this makes the special ones that much more special. If it is that important send the poster a message asking them if they enjoyed the find or not. you may get a new friend out of it.

Wow never would think this would be a problem. We usually post just TFTF or TFTC if there is an actual cache with trade items (far a few between) we will put what we dropped off and what we took. Most of the caches we find are not that special IMO. If there seems to be a problem with the cache we will mention it. If there is something we find memorable we will post it. Not to be rude but if you get upset because someone did not post about the weather or the time of day get a facebook account or some friends. To me it just seems odd to be so hung up over what others post.

This sounds like a good idea but my opinion is to just look at the logs and the description of the cache. With those two things I can figure out if I want to bother with it or not. If most of the logs consist of TFTC and nothing else then you can tell what it will be like. I can usually figure out if I would like it within the first 4 logs. The more features that are added the more complicated this will get. I like the simplicity of this. You can never make everyone happy