Skippermark

A very good question. The user, a local geocacher has imported his finds to opencaching.com. One of their finds is a cache called "Mr. Belvedere Travel Bug Hotel" GC2FJC9. Searching opencaching.com for OX2FJC9 turns up nothing. Their profile shows 1212 caches found, so those imported caches DO count toward their overall finds, though. So they must be keeping track internally but not publicly. I imagine if someone else finds GC2FJC9 and uploads it to the site, it will just use the internal (private) ID assigned to that cache, simply for record keeping and to keep the database from filling up with duplicate caches.

I was wondering the same thing. The site does say that users should only upload caches they own. I'm curious how it works if someone uploads their finds file. I read that the site will create an opencaching ID for the caches in the file. Does that mean that if I find a Castle Mischief cache and upload my finds file to the site, his cache will be listed for others to see, though maybe not as an active cache? This is a concern I've heard others address. It could be confusing, especially if someone isn't aware that TBs aren't "cross-site" compatible. Once it ends up in a cache that's listed on one of the other sites, the record of its location is gone.

I think that right there is the crux of the matter. Here in CT, there are land managers who are open to caching, but they want to visit and approve every hide. Most hiders talk to the land trusts before hiding anything, but sometimes a new cache will pop up they don't know about. The land trust managers are okay walking out to check it out, but I worry that they would get upset if a bunch of random caches start appearing on their property. If someone is new, they may not even know that "the park down the road" requires each cache to be approved.

Relocating to the TB section.

We try to guess which one it will be when we're 500, 300, 200 feet away to see who guesses right.

I would quickly state that I believe if ever challenged, the parks board, or whoever, would quickly change their policy. If not, they are asking for legal issues. You are also assuming that any real contender to gs won't have some type of guidelines, policies, or reviews, I doubt Garmin is that stupid. In reality, who is better known, gs or Garmin? If Garmin listed a cache, do you think it would really be rejected by most parks boards? I highly doubt it. You seem to be hanging onto some thread of hope to keep Garmin down that really isn't going to matter in the long run. Park policies will be quickly updated, this is a non-issue. Actually, most states have mandates of who they have do business with and are required by law to deal with only those companies. For instance, the public works department is not able to go say, "We need 3 new lawn mowers this year. Let's get them from the new guy down the street because he seems like a good guy." They have to, by law, purchase the mowers from the company that is the approved vendor for the state, and if they buy it from someone else, they are leaving themselves open for a lawsuit from the person who holds the contract to do business with the state. In the case of caching, if the state has a mandate saying, "We will only deal with Groundspeak" then that's who they have to deal with. If another company wants to be on the list, then they would have to go through the approval process, which usually happens just one time per year or every three or four years, depending on how the contract is written.

Okay, this thread is quickly turning into something that it shouldn't. This thread is about claiming finds without signing the log. Let's keep the discussion to that. Thank you.

I'm not sure what the policy is for things like this, so I sent one of the developers a note to see what they say. Because the past few days were a long holiday weekend in the US, it may be a bit before they get back to me. If you need a quicker response, I'd suggest contacting Groundspeak directly at the address TAR posted above.

Agreed. Time to let this one go.

Relocating to the GPS section.

Can we get that same panel to review cache listings? At least for grammar and spelling? I thank this is a great idea two. I wOod like to heRe what the review panel?.! says when they find miss-steaks. Are they going to correct them on there own!?! or will the cash owner half to dew it?

I just did some searches for geocaching.com with various cache names in Google, and searches were returned for those caches as well as some links to the forums talking about those caches. I'm also seeing links back to Nov 9, 2000 in the archive site. It's always cool to go back and look at how things were in the past. Editing to add that not all of the Archive links work, though.

Relocating to the GPS & Technology section.

I'm not a web developer, but I imagine the site could be setup so that the "hide a cache" page is mostly blank until the test has been taken. It would say something like, "Before hiding your first cache, please familiarize yourself with the guidelines and take the online test to continue." Then, once they "pass" something would be set in their account that would allow the full hiding page to appear. Just like how regular members see a page showing the benefits of premium membership when they try to access a feature that's only available for premium members. Once someone is premium member, they see the full version of the site.

Welcome to the addiction. Earthcaches are fun because you almost always go to a cool place and learn something cool and interesting. I find myself noticing things along the trail that I wouldn't have known about if I hadn't done an earthcache that talked about it.

Yea, that's what we need, more rules! This wouldn't require any additional rules. It could be a quick 10 question test to make sure people know the guidelines before hiding. If they get 7 right, they pass. It wouldn't have to be timed, so they could look up the answers before answering. Many cachers have never looked at the guidelines, and this would be a way to get them to do it. I contacted a newer cacher about a cache that was placed directly on school property, and the reply was, "I had no idea they weren't allowed at schools..." If one of the questions was "Are caches allowed on or near school property," that cache probably wouldn't have been placed. To me, this is a better approach than a minimum number of finds. I've seen people with 0 finds place some awesome caches. They were really 0 finds, not a sock puppet or anything. I've also seen people with thousands of finds place horrible caches, some that violate the guidelines. I'm not against anyone places caches, no matter how many hides they have. In the past, cachers were kind of geeky and tech oriented, but with geocaching growing at such a fast rate and more people trying it because of phone apps and almost every GPS talking about it in their instructions, there's a greater chance that people won't read the guidelines before hiding caches.

Closing thread at request of OP.

Speaking as a geocacher and not a moderator, I would disagree with that. The feedback site was created for the sole purpose of being able to better interact with everyone and know what they want. What is it that you want?

Whoops, sorry about that. I wasn't aware that those all had been released yet. Unfortunately, since I edited it, I can't get your original back. I hope you have it saved somewhere in case you want to post it again. Earlier, there was a list floating around that named souvenirs that may be coming out. That wasn't meant to be posted because what was listed may not even become souvenirs. As for the second part of your post, I'm not sure the plans for releasing a master type list.

My guess is that yes, you need to post an Attended log to get the souvenir. But I am not a lackey, and I don't even play one on TV... You either needed to turn on a smart phone like the iPhone with the Geocaching app on 10/10/10 or find or attend a cache or event on 10/10/10.

Please do not posts any lists. What may be on a list may not actually become a souvenir. Thanks!

The iPhone section of the forums have been closed in favor of the iPhone Feedback section. The forums are great for "chit-chat," but the feedback site was created as an official support center so that lackeys can better see any issues being reported or suggestions that are being made. You can also talk about GPS/iPhone related stuff in the GPS & Technology section, which is where I'll move this message.

I noticed it too and logged out and back in on the map page, and it worked correctly. It's been working well ever since, so I figured it was a fluke.

Closing duplicate thread in place of the one linked below. Please avoid creating duplicate topics to alleviate any confusion. Thanks. http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=263994

From the guidelines, "In the interest of file security, caches that require the downloading, installing or running of data and/or executables may not be published." Also, "First and foremost please be advised there is no precedent for placing caches." So, in an interest to protect users from unsafe websites & programs, the former guideline change was added. The Jigsaw cache was possibly published before the change. Also, because something was allowed in the past doesn't mean that it will be allowed now or in the future.