MEintheME

It's funny. As I started to read this thread, I was having trouble understanding the issue with group logs. Now I see where you are coming from, but think you're also making a bold assumption that all groups are the type described as doing something wrong. Clearly I'm not alone in caching with a group that isn't at all like the ones above. I cache in the US in the summers with my family. That can be anywhere from 2-6 cachers. When it's just 2 of us, we sign individually, but when we get bigger than that, we sign as the Bean Team. I am very careful to log which exact members of Bean Team might have been present at the cache. I even refused to let my son log a cache as part of the Bean Team because he sat in the car while we hiked off the road a wee bit to get the cache (one of the best caches I've seen!). We log as a group to save log space (so many tiny logs, so little time) and to save time in muggle-rich areas. If a cache owner put that note and I saw it (doubtful), I'd respect it. But I'd also feel bad for them that we were using 6 lines of the tiny sheet (and knowing my kids, far more than that because they always end up taking up more than one line with their big old signatures!) instead of one... But that's just me and the way we group cache. I know there are some who don't function that way at all. Oh, and we were likely to have TFTC type logs early on given that I had no idea cache owners wanted to read more until I poked around on the forum. Now if the cache is in a lovely area or interesting to find, I'll log a bit. I even went back and beefed up logs for some particularly awesome finds. And, funny enough, I favorited caches that I only wrote TFTC initially... How much I write doesn't mean I don't think the cache is great. Now I'll put a little more, but sometimes words fail me but the favorite point never does .

My kids have often been disappointed at the quality of trade items, especially in U.S. Caches. we take along some nice items and I let them choose what to trade. We traded coins from one of our other homes, as it were, for Dollar Tree type items. We also carry along some hand-embroidered embroidered cushion key chains. small Tom tom drum key chains, and I picked up some small Native American pouches/purses. We like to bring nice items and often here around home we find small stuffed animals and other great items...

I'm 100% a phone Apper and unlikely to change it. I rarely log later, although I do for all other members of the team as they don't have smart phones. However, I will definitely think about writing logs for those finds that are fun. We have a number that are more micro on a bench as we have very active groundskeepers in my home area. Fortunately, the community is kind to us newbies and seems I offended by TFTC logs. I don't mind writing longer logs on my phone, so I'll go from there assuming the micro on the bench or the road walking bridge doesn't need more than a TFTC, but the rest might like more. Clever containers always get a mention as those are the ones I like best,especially when they are in unique locations that I wouldn't otherwise see... Thanks for the food for thought.

For us, we summer in a small town in the rural South. Going to a CITO, an event, or anything else requires a road trip. I've enjoyed the badges as it's pushed me to get outside of my comfort zone. We're relatively new to caching and hadn't ever done a multi. While there wasn't one for the summer challenge, trying to get another one spurred me to try a nearby multi... And then another. I will say that I attended a CITO event which qualifies only as a CITO/earth cache. For those of us who have to drive into town for such events, it would have been nice to count for both (although perhaps defeating the purpose)... We ended up dropping by an event to get the souvenir even though I was in the throes of last minute preparations to head back to our overseas home. In all, I can appreciate people who have no interest and people who are excited about the summer souvenirs. I was very thankful to be away for, home for the summer. Our last CITO event at home was in April for earth day. Everyone involved managed about 45 minutes outside because the heat was already over 100 in the desert. So, I can't imagine trying to do it during the actual summer...

And here's me, been caching for awhile (although successfully only for about a year) and I never even thought about it. If something's unique about the cache or particularly great about it's location I always mention it. But I will admit to lots of TFTCs. Never even considered that, of course, cache owners are enjoying the visits and want to know more about the people who came and what they found. Yeah guys have given me lots to think about. I cache with my family (and have added a couple of members to our caching team this summer). Typically, I write a more complete log on my profile and the rest just TFTC. Hopefully that's good enough. Can't get my kids to write for homework assignments. Darn lazy generation. I never even thought about using the voice input. As I said lots to think about. So glad that I couldn't sleep and came across this topic in the forum. When it's light outside and I can get to my laptop, I'm thinking I'll revisit some caches and potentially edit some logs...