swaninwa

I really enjoyed sitting next to this person an chatting with them at the event. As I said, I've decided that forgetting about it and giving this person the benefit of the doubt is the best for all concerned. Thanks for all the feedback everyone...

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I created this post just before I left work for the day, and by the time I hit the store and drove home I had decided what I was going to do. And that's nothing. I actually sat next to this person at an event 4 - 5 months ago, and for the record they are not handicapped or arthritic in any way that would physically keep them from signing the log. It does appear to me that they might be cheating. They signed the easier ones, but not the tougher ones. Does it bother me? Yes, because I don't like cheaters. Will I lose sleep over it? Nope. Do I care enough to go check all of my other caches and monitor him? Nope. Is it important enough to me to make an issue out of it and then create bad vibes that will make us both uncomfortable at future events? Nope. Will I look at them differently next time I see them? You bet I will. I sign every log book in every cache because it's important to me. It's called honesty. And who knows, while not handicapped, maybe there IS some strange, unknown reason that I never thought of that would explain things. Or maybe not. In the interest of kindness I'll try to give him the benefit of the doubt.

It was purely by accident that we noticed that a local cacher with pretty big stat numbers has logged several of the areas finds online but not signed the physical logs inside some of the caches. We happened to be caching along a couple of days behind him and noticed it. At first we thought maybe he'd forgotten a pen, but we also found caches with pens inside that were not signed by the cacher. Since this cacher has logged several of the caches we own, we checked a few and have found that some of those logs have also not been signed. We were kind of taken aback. What would you do in this situation? Would you contact the cacher and ask what the deal was? Delete his logs and say nothing? Leave them and not worry about it? I don't want to start trouble, but on the other hand, is it fair to log caches you haven't actually found? It's not something I normally police, but in this case it was something we couldn't help but notice. I'm baffled. What do you all think?

My membership expires in 29 days and I'm not sure if I just paid a year last year, or if I set it up to renew automatically...do I have to write and ask or is it viewable in my account somewhere? THANKS

I too am having this problem. Ran two last night and two this morning...none have arrived. Hope to get just ONE of them by the time I leave at 8am. DARN...

I suppose it depends on your area, but here in the Pacific Northwest I think our reviewers do a FANTASTIC job! Our caches are almost always published within 24 hours of submission. Sometimes I can't believe how fast it happens. I did have one cache a while back that somehow got lost in the shuffle and didn't get published. After a few days I emailed one of the reviewers and asked about it. I got a very nice note back and the problem was fixed within minutes. I can't thank them enough for the great job they do! Also, I don't find the submission process difficult at all, AND, I'm glad it's there because if it wasn't I think it would be BEDLAM! Just my two cents...

Me too, man! I totally feel for ya...on my way to the ferry in a few and frantically trying to print a few things since I can't run a query. Hope it's back up and running in a few hours when I get to my hotel so I can run it then! Hope everyone gets their PQs and has a great weekend!! I'll keep my fingers crossed!!

Thanks. it worked for me. Glad I didn't delete some. Darn! I just cleaned mine out! I hope this gets fixed soon as I'm supposed to leave for the ferry and I had a couple to run! EEK!!

At least in my case, that's not true. I use a waterproof ink so it won't run. Besides, for running, stamps aren't the only problem ink, I've seen many a pen used that wash away in the wet. Where did you get your stamps Jester? (and ink?)

I'm curious to know how quickly people decrypt their cache hints. We always use the hint if we need it, and certain conditions will contribute to us decrypting it sooner than others (like if it's pouring rain) -- BUT we ALWAYS take a stab at the cache first, and see if we can find it without a hint. Unfortunately, it seems like everyone we meet decrypts their hints ahead of time. We've found that if we cache with someone else and we don't decrypt too, we don't get to make the grab on very many caches. Because of this we find ourselves decrypting clues when we don't really want to. I realize that everyone caches differently and I'm not saying one way is right and the other is wrong. I'm just wondering if anyone else saves the hint like we do, or are we the minority? How do you handle it with other people? Thanks for your comments...

Some of the cachers around our area use small rubber stamps for signatures and I was kind of liking that idea. If you use a stamp, where did you have it made, and what size is it? Was it expensive? Is it self-inking or do you carry a small stamp pad? Any other comments or suggestions? Thanks!

I dunno -- What I get out of this thread is that the OP won't trade (or even leave a little something) unless there is something cool he/she can take -- AND the OP doesn't want to bother with TBs or GCs at all. Bummer... We don't have small children and we don't trade swag -- but we DO leave a NEW toy or gift in every regular sized cache we find. While we sometimes leave small first aid kits, packs of tissues, and hand sanitizer, the majority of our leavings are kid friendly toys like silly putty, glow sticks, magic towels, light up astro-balls, hot wheels, hair clips, etc. We've always felt that swag items ARE FOR KIDS and therefore we try to leave something decent that will bring a smile to a little one's face. If the cache is in desperate need we have been known to leave 2 - 3 items, just to make sure there is something in it for the next family. We rarely take anything, and by rarely I mean like maybe one item out of 100 caches. We have plenty of that stuff at home already, and if we feel we must have something we will simply go to the store and buy it. We also move or discover every trackable item we come across. JMHO, but I thought that was how the game was supposed to be played. I guess we're just more into giving than taking. Happy Caching!

This problem may work itself out as you both become more experienced cachers. When we were new my husband did the exact same thing, I swear he'd follow that compass SO LITERALLY he'd climb a fence or cross the freeway if the arrow pointed that way! This, however, caused a lot back-tracking (and a little bickering) and wasted quite a bit of time. Bottom line, he took the wrong way several times, then figured out how much more procuctive it would be if he followed instructions. After all, when you take the hard way, the first thing you see when you get there is the EASY way you should have gone! In the meantime, take turns holding the GPS and "leading" the searches. Then try and be patient if he messes things up when it's his turn. Bring a book along, that way if the terrain he's chosen is too much for you -- you can stay behind and read while he tries it on his own. When it doesn't work out, he'll be back. Then he can read the directions and you can both try again. Remember, it's supposed to be a game, so work it out like you would any other game -- agree on some rules ahead of time and play fair. HAPPY CACHING!

Actually, I don't cache with kids either, I just consider swag more of a "kid thing". Around here it seems like most adults don't even swap, it's always TNLN. It's cool that some people leave adult stuff, but even then I probably wouldn't take it -- as I have plenty of little flashlights, tape measures, etc. floating around drawers in my house...LOL! I do leave those packs of tissues and little first aid kits every so often, but mostly I go for something that would make a kid smile...that's just my thing...

ROFLMAO! Love it! Seriously though, DON'T use an altoid tin. I beg you. I too LOVE TOIDS, and have thrown out many a tin in my time. I will not use them as a cache container because we've never seen one that wasn't wet, rusty and icky. Go with the tiny lock n locks as others have suggested. You won't be sorry, and your fellow cachers will appreciate it SOOOO MUCH!!

If the cache is not there, how can anyone find it? Archived caches should NOT be there because they are either missing (like yours) or they are supposed to be picked up by the owner when archived. If it were me, I would say NO. If I wanted them to find it I'd have replaced it, not archived it. Sounds very suspicious to me.

We've released four coins out into the wild and three of them are MIA. Because of this we will no longer be releasing coins for travel. It would be quicker to just take $8 and toss it out the car window! We do LOVE coins however, and in order to be involved with them to some degree I have taken our favorite special coin, activated it -- and now it lives in my geo-purse. We DO NOT dip this coin into every cache we find -- I don't have that kind of time! We DO however, dip it in special caches -- caches that take us to an awesome place, or that are somehow original in their placement or type of hide. When we cache in a new town we choose the cache we think was the coolest one of that trip, and we dip our coin into that cache. Also, when we run into other cachers, we show it to them and ask them to discover it. This way our cool little coin racks up mileage and gets shared with people, but never leaves the safety of our own hands. That being said, we DO love to find coins in caches. IF we find one of yours you can rest assured that we will take very good care of it and make the extra effort to move it someplace safe and special. Thanks to all those who DO share their coins!

Personally, I think the signature wooden nickels are a waste of money (sorry people!) We never take them, and of the cachers we personally know, there is not a single one who collects them. The ones that collect in our own caches are never retrieved unless we finally take them when we're cleaning up and restocking the cache. Since we don't collect them, they go in the trash (sorry again!) Swag items are for kids as far as we're concerned. We rarely take anything from a cache, and by rarely I mean darned near never! However, we ALWAYS leave something unless the cache is leaky or damaged. We stock up on new swag items that children will like such as hot wheels, magic towels, silly putty, glo-sticks, squirt guns, hair clips, light up super balls, etc. We'll even leave two or three items if the cache is in desperate need of swag. We do this because we want little cachers to find something decent when they open the container. It's sad how many people take the good stuff out and leave rocks, shells and leaves in trade. How UNCOOL is that? In any case, a trip to the Dollar Store or the Novelty section of Walmart will stock up your swag bag without emptying your wallet -- and you'll be leaving something new and fun for a little cacher to discover! Happy Hunting!!

Sorry, I don't want to sound stupid, but what is an SBA?? Should Be Archived log type. Also known as a NA (needs archived). LOL, THANKS...never heard it referred to as an SBA...learn something new every day...

Sorry, I don't want to sound stupid, but what is an SBA??

It's his cache, right? I only ask because of your use of the word 'rescue', and because I couldn't identify any caches owned by the people you linked to in your profile that looked like they were in need of being moved. I'm probably just confused. NO, MY FAULT, sorry. It's NOT his cache, he wrote to the cache owner (who is out of the area until next March) and offered to move it for him -- and the owner agreed. Problem is, it need to be moved outside of a gated area and I estimate that it would have to be moved about 1000 feet (or more) in order to get it off of the private property. I advised my brother of this and suggested he not move the cache, but I wanted to make sure I was giving him the correct information. Thought I'd get feedback from you guys before I said anything else about it... THANKS, sorry about the confusion, I should have been clearer...

Hi there, My brother wants to rescue a cache that needs to be moved. A while back I saw some guidelines as to how far you could move an existing cache -- but I can't seem to find them now. Can anyone refresh my memory about this? I know the location of the cache, and I think he's going to have to move it quite a ways (due to some recent "no trespassing" signs being posted) in order to make it legal. TOO far perhaps. What is acceptable, or at what point would a Reviewer say "no way" and archive the cache? Any info would be helpful. THANKS!

AWESOME! That's what I needed to know. Thanks TeamMisguided for clearing things up for me, and thanks Lookout Lisa for posting the HTML. I should know in a few days. The people at the park seem to be really cooperative. A volunteer was nice enough to call us and let us know that the ranger was out sick today, and would call us when he returned to work. I imagine we'll have our answer early next week, and I already have his business card with all of his contact information, so once we get the go ahead we'll proceed from there. I think we've covered all the bases....THANKS AGAIN to the both of you!!!!

Hi Lookout Lisa-- Thanks, I've read all that, and we're following the guidelines-- BUT, unless I'm missing something this does not tell me what geocaching.com needs from me as far as proof of permission when I submit the cache for approval... That's what I'm looking for that I can't seem to find the answer to...

We talked to a Ranger yesterday about placing a geocache in a WA State Park. I think it will be approved, he was very receptive and likes geocaching, etc. I was pleased at how supportive he was and how the whole meeting went... I've read everything I can find on how to go about placing a cache in one of our State Parks, but one thing I can't seem to find the answer to is -- What do I send to geocaching.com when I submit the cache? Is just telling them I have a permit enough? Do they need contact numbers, names, a copy of the permit? Anything? I'd like to get this right the first time, if at all possible, to avoid delays or other problems. Any advice or suggestions are most welcome! Thanks in advance! Teri (swaninwa)