Deceangi

what so it can be moved agaijn by the powers that be After discussions with Groundspeak, who took on board the opinions off UK & Ireland community members. The topic was moved permanently back to this forum. A technical hitch resulted in the original being accidentally and unrecoverable deleted. Thank you to my esteemed colleague Castagnari (maybe there ought to be a rule, that Site Volunteers, have easy to write names such as Dave or Bob ) for starting a new topic. Deci ps: for those who don't know, I'm a Dave

Actually a Group very heavily involved in Security for all the Olympic Venues, was involved in the discussions! The discussions about Geocaches around Olympic Venues, involved the ACPO-The Association of Chief Police Officers , LOCOG are the organisers of the Olympics, and will be involved in discussions about security. But at the end of the day, Senior Police Offers on the Ground, will have to take immediate decisions about incidents. That's what happened at Weatherby . I hope that clears up things. Wendy your request for clarification about Events, taking place within the Exclusion Zones. Will be passed to Groundspeak. Events taking place outside of Exclusion Zones, will not be affected. Deci

Would this help settle your mind about making the appropriate decision over the cache I've posted this before, but it's still relevant today.

Two ways of helping to decide on Magic Mapit Change the Scale by changing the number in the Scale box at the bottom to either 4,000 or even 2,000. Try switching on and off Filters Above the Filter Legend Box, on the right of the page, is "List of Layers". Click on that and it opens the "Switch map layers on or off" box. Untick the Layers you wish to turn off, and click Refresh at the bottom of the box. That will refresh the map, without the unticked filters. This helps to see where the Filters are on the map. These work for me, and I've seen thousands of locations on MAGIC now. Deci

I can't comment on the legal situation of Madeira and the Azores , but Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man are British Overseas Territories and as such have their own Governments who set their own Laws. You also missed off Gibraltar, which is listed separately as well. Deci

The list of changes says: Mark The Guideline was edited to make the Owners responsibilities more clear. Owners of Webcam Caches have in the past, been warned by Groundspeak to Delete Find logs, where a photograph and not a screen grab of the Webcam Picture was being regularly accepted as Proof of Find. Failure to comply, risked the webcam cache being Archived for non compliance. So nothing has changed, just the Requirement has been made more clear for Webcam cache Owner So nothing new, just a clearer clarification of the Requirement, which I know was applied by Groundspeak, in 2006 when I became a Reviewer. The Logging Requirement for Webcam Caches, has always been a Proof of Find by posting a Picture of the person logging the find. At the location of the webcam, using a picture either directly downloaded from the webcams web site, where the facility exists, or a Screen Grab of the webcam picture. At no time has a photograph at the location, been a acceptable proof of find. It's just a case of some webcam cache owners, have allowed these by not policing the find logs. Deci

The Reviewer has requested a local Maintainer. As the Guidelines state in regards to Maintenance Being able to visit a cache location once a year, is not a suitable Maintenance plan. As the Owner is not in a position to physically check on the container as and when needed. If the container goes missing the day after the owner leaves the area, it would have to wait 12 months, before the owner would be in a position to physically check on it. Also if the Landowner requests the container is uplifted, they will not except a explanation that the Owner will be along in 12 months time to uplift it. Deci

MAGIC Development Staff, must be working on the system. Hopefully it will be back up later on to day. Otherwise Graculus will once again contact them to complain*. *At one point it was a regular occurrence on a Sunday, that they would not restart the system until Monday Morning. Despite supposing to insure it was back up, before leaving the building. After a number of complaints by Graculus, MAGIC Management got on top of this issue, hopefully things will not go backwards. And later on to day, it will be Displaying the Filters again. Deci

English Heritage can only give Permission if they own the Site. The first approach should be be to the Site Manager, as that is the person whose desk, queries will eventually land on. If they don't own the location, it is up to the Landowner to decide whether they require "Approval" off English Heritage. The Reviewer will only require Proof of Landowner Permission. Deci

Welcome Barrinthus whoever you are, now I wonder if I've meet you before I'll have to wrack my memory. Deci

The Landowner Gives Permission The Designating Authority (NE, SNHi or CCW) can only give Approval and not Permission. Unless they are also the Landowner. It is up to each Landowner to decide, if they require the Designating Authority to give Approval, If just the Landowner gives Permission, then the cache will be Published. Because at the end of the day, they are the ones, legally responsible for all activities that take place on the Designated Area. The Designating Authority only has a Enforcement Role, if any Activity causes any damage, or will cause damage to the Designated Area. The same applies if the location is a Scheduled Monument. Permission has to come from the Landowner, and Approval from the Designating Authority, if the Landowner requests that. At no time do the Reviewers require that the Designating Authority give Approval, that is a decision solely for the Landowner to make. Caches in Designated areas have been published with the Landowner giving Permission without reference to the Designating Authority, others have been Published after the Landowner required Approval off the Designating Authority. Deci

You seem to be of the belief that a location is designated a SSSI, due to the geology of it. That's misleading. 2 genuine examples Cache A, located in a Public Park in a large UK City. Cacher X places a container up a tree, no harm there you'd claim. Yet due to the park being Designated as a SSSI, Cacher X was required to provide Proof of Permission. The reason the Park is a Designated SSSI, is due to the fact a Roost of Bats, a Protected Species. Roost in the tree's in the park. The Cache Owner and any searchers if published risked a Maximum Prison Sentence of 5 years and/or a Maximum Fine of £20,000, for Disturbing the Bats. Cache B, located on Snowdon. Another Designated SSSI, CCW the Designating Authority for Wales, are the owners on behalf of the Welsh Assembly, are for the most part. Happy to give Permission for caches on the Mountain. But have refused one cache placement, due to the cache being located at the site of a extremely rare and Protected Plant. The reason given for refusal being, that 99.9% of all visitors, take specific routes, or visit specific climbs. So the chances of a visitor straying to the plants location is finite, however a cache locate there. Would attract visitors to that location. Placing the plants at risk, It's because Reviewers do not have access to specialised information, nor are they qualified to make judgement calls about specific reasons for a locations Designation. We leave the decision up to the persons with more information. A location may be designated a SSSI for reasons related to Geology, Flora or Fauna. One Point to note, whilst Reviewers will point out SSSI's, which is a UK Government Designation. The location could also be a SAC, which is a European Designation, and a higher level of Designation, than a SSSI. All SAC's are also Designated as SSSI's, but not all SSSI's are SAC's. And please Note, unless they actually own the location, Natural England, SNHi nor CCW may not give Permission for a cache placement. They may give their approval, if asked to do so. Actual Permission has to come from the Landowner or Person Authorised by them.And the decision to require that the Designating Authority, gives their approval, is down to that person and not the Reviewers. I live on the North Wales Coast, and a section of the Coastline is a Designated SSSI, part of the reason for the Designation is that it is the Home to the rare Naterjack Toad.Another reason is due to a colony of Birds who breed on the Dunes/Flats, the Designation of SSSI, carries on to the Flats, due to the Birds breeding there. The Flats are also a Nature Reserve, and that part of the SSSI is owned by the RSPB. Even Nature Reserves can also be SSSI's. Deci

Happy New Year to All. May you all have a year of great caching adventures,and make new caching friends Dave-Deceangi

In the first instance, post a Needs Maintence Log, as well as a Found log. This is copied to the cache Owner. If the Cacher owner fails to action a number of Needs Maintence logs, or there area number of logs confirming that the container is missing, then post a Needs Archived log. These are copied to both the cache owner and also to Reviewers. As the Reviewer responcible for the IoM. I try to check for IoM NA, logs every day, and will action them after a appropiate period. Deci

Spot on. I wasn't about to make it easier by giving away their gender (whichever that may be). But what about the Accordion bit? Have you seen the price of Castagnari , £3,000 and that's to order not stock price who ever He/She is. They can afford to drive a top of the line Range Rover if they can afford that sort of price . They certainly are not buying on one, on Volunteer wages So who do you know who can afford to drive a posh 4x4 to go geocaching Deci The price of the instrument is true, but is the rest of the post a decoy

Welcome to the Team whoever you are. I look forward to meeting you in the future. Deci

I've sent a email to the CO, I will advise of any reply Deci Thats definatly sounds like it. Are you able to e-mail the owner for permission to remove it?

I believe you might have found the remains of a unpblished cache, the CO who has never logged in since the cache was submitted for review. That was over 15 months ago. A possible conformation of this is the cache name Coopers Hill XXX and the first line of the description "Not one for the kids... Over 16s only." which would seem to fit in with the contents you found. with a hint of "Look under the first step of the uphill side of the bridge" The coordinates placing it well within 20m of The Big Charter (GCGDJG) Deci

I'm sorry that my lack of knowledge shocks you: I don't pretend to know everything and am happy to admit when I don't. To me, a fire hydrant is something they have in the United States: I've lived in England for most of my 50+ years and I've never heard "fire hydrant" used in this country. One lives and learns, but I'll still always equate the expression with sidewalk furniture across the Atlantic. The fire hydrants there are large and prominent: they're hard to miss. The ones here, I know now, are small black flaps embedded in the road or pavement surface. They're hard to see, which is why they have the yellow H nearby to try to make it easier to locate them. Yet the signs themselves are small, often hard to see and often hidden in vegetation. If these hydrants are so important why are they so well hidden that even the people who urgently need to use them have difficulty finding them? Groundspeak has banned fake fire hydrant signs (despite claiming to have only guidelines not rules). What will be next: fake footpath signs; fake signs on cabinets; any other innovative hide? Remember Martin Niemöller... To quote the very first line of the very first post on the GAGB Forum by the GAGB Chairman, opening the discussion on this subject. My Bold. Groundspeak reacted to the communication by the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service. Did you expect them to ignore this request? It's not one generated by Groundspeak nor the Volunteer Reviewers, A point you seem to be missing. Please stop pointing the finger at Groundspeak, when this was generated by the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service. Just to make it clear, it's not Groundspeak like you have claimed, but the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service, who contacted Groundspeak Directly. Do they physically have to individually contact each and every Geocache Listing Site with their request, for those Listing Sites to pay attention to their request? Because if Listing Sites who are Listing Geocaches in the UK are ignoring a request by one of the Emergency Services, there is something terribly wrong. Deci

The hearts and thoughts of my family and myself go out to his family and friends, He will leave a huge hole in the Geocaching Community Dave

Ermm you made this post just under 12 months ago in the topic which announced this. Deci

The Request Period for the UK Annual Mega Event Account for 2013 and 2014 is now Open, and will close on the 30th November 2011 at 24:00hrs. If more than one request is made for the account for either year, a Tender Process will apply Requests for the Account for 2013 can be made at http://ukmecsh.forum...ba9b08080d7993b Requests for the Account for 2014 can be made at http://ukmecsh.forum...ba9b08080d7993b The Tender Format can be found at http://ukmecsh.forum...&mforum=ukmecsh The UK Annual Mega was created by the 2008 Harrogate Mega Committee as a Legacy Account, which would be handed on to a New Committee each year. The Holder in 2009 was the Weston super mare Committee. In 2010 the Holder was the Perth Committee. In 2011 the Holder was the Swansea Committee. The 2011 Swansea Committee found themselves in a position of having 2 separate committee's request the account. A one off adhoc Stake Holder Committee comprising of Committee Members from All Holding Committee's was formed, and the 2 Requesting Committee's Chairmen, were requested to submit a Tender Document in a specified format (This Format will be used if more than one Committee requests the account for 2013 or 2014). This one off adhoc Stake Holder Committee, then took a vote after considering the two tender documents. The Account being awarded to the North West England Mega Committee. At the same time a permanent Annual UK Mega Event Account Stake Holders Committee was formed. Comprising of the Chairman or their Nominated Person from all Holding Committee's, With the Chairman or their Nominated Person joining the Committee from that years current Holding Committee. Deceangi On behalf of Annual UK Mega Event Account Stake Holders Committee

Sorry you do not see any discussions between Cache Owner and Reviewer Pre-Publication, so are presuming that the Reviewer did not do a thorough investigation. We rely on information on the Cache page, Maps, MAGIC. Google Satellite/Street View. And also information provided by the Cache Owner to any query made. Deci

what you post as a Note on a cache page, or even as a flyer in a cache container is not a Reviewers concern. Unless the log was offensive or a personal attack. It's up to each Cache Owner to Police the logs to their caches. Personally I've policed logs which were offensive or a personal attack, or on a small number of occasions. When asked to do so by a CO who was entitled to delete the logs, but was frightened of a back lash against them if they did so (that's over and above the actual remit of a Reviewer, but was done as a Customer Service) Of Course there are always Challenges as they do not come under the Cache Guidelines. But are Peer Reviewed. I believe you could set a Challenge of stopping on a specific camp site if not specific dates (but please don't quote me on this, as Challenges are not in the realm of Reviewers. I know very little about them. ) Deci

Joint Post between Andalusite and myself, after we had a brief discussion Deceangi On behalf of Andalusite (who's slaving away to prepare for the arrival of the next generation of Geocachers )