Team Dredd
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Posts posted by Team Dredd
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Do you think this would still be OK if I gave an explanation on its web page as to why it has suddenly reappeared and that it is a duplicate?
I just post the information in a log so the first few people that find it can read the log if they are curious as to why it hasn't moved in so long. I have to post a log anyway to grab them from missing status when we bring them back to life (since we always mark them missing when they are actually missing). Would be just as good to make a note on the main cache page to I suppose, that way it wouldn't rotate down and off the page.
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I was talking to a geocaching friend on the phone this afternoon about a 5/5 cache he has been working on lately and asked him when he was gonna finish it so I could go after it. He said he abandoned the idea because he got tired of going back and forth with a specific reviewer (that I will not mention). He told me he is so tired of cache after cache getting denied because of what he says is the reviewer's preferences, or new-more restrictive guidelines. It made me think back to a meet and greet that we attended last year. While at the meet and greet several cachers were in a conversation about getting caches approved. Some of them that have some caches out already said they will not try to publish anymore caches in the area because they feel it is getting ridiculous to try to get a new cache approved; "like jumping through hoops" and getting nit picked about specific phrases used in their description that some specific reviewer just didn't like so they have to keep changing and altering. This may be partly to blame for the decline around here, at least by the local cachers anyway.
Before you bash me to bad for saying that I want to say that we own 30+ caches and I do not have a problem getting a new cache approved. Sure a few have been declined, but there has always been an explanation and a link to the specific guideline to go along with why it was not approved. Most of the time we just correct what the discrepancy was, or if we can't make it conform we just abandon it and move on. We have only been placing caches for a few years and though we are familiar with most of the guidelines we certainly are not experts and have no idea if the guidelines are becoming more restrictive. I do know we have attempted to place caches in similar areas as existing caches, or in a similar fashion as an existing cache and have been told our cache is against a guideline; which turns out it was.
So for those of you that have been around a while this question is for you. Are the guidelines and reviewers becoming more restrictive than they used to be? Can this be one reason of many to contribute to the decline?
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We need the address of the people who think it is a good idea. We can then go, drill holes in the side of their house, and install stuff we think is cool.
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I just hope those were his nanos, not some he stole from someone else's cache.
+1
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I have noticed some found logs like "found it yay" around lately. Only a couple I think on ours, but on other caches too when I am logging our finds from the computer after we get home. Started noticing that a couple months ago. One pair recently found a couple of our caches out in the "outer areas" without finding the easier ones along the way. Prompted me to go look at some cache logs since the caches they found were not that easy in terrain or difficulty, and are not found often (needed to check on a couple of them anyway). Sure enough the pair of Yay Sayers hadn't signed the paper logs so those specific yay logs went into delete history.
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I have found cards and other things in caches already with the QR codes on them. Geocacher's cards with a QR code that take your phone straight to the profile page or their specific website. There is an ammo can in one of the surrounding counties around here that has a large QR code on the inside of the lid. It takes you to the CO's profile page or the theme of the cache or something I don't remember now. One of the items we keep with us to give to muggles or police asking questions, or to drop in caches, is a laminated Muggle Card done up nicely that explains geocaching. After seeing the QR codes in some other caches we incorporated a QR code onto the muggle cards that takes them to geocaching.com
Although we are newer to geocaching, I also agree with the others here that opening an actual container and signing a real log is part of the attraction to this game. The oldest cache in this area is a cache named Big Pine Cache just south of Amelia Island. It has the original log book from 2001 inside; talk about fun! Finding that thing sitting way out there all by itself and then seeing a log book with the original signatures. Man, I want to go out and find a cache now.
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Not sure if there is any one thing that would make me quit, with the exception of some unforeseen health issue that would prevent it. Although we have only been caching a few years compared to most of you, we have already seen the decline in quality caches and the increase in cache trashing etc.
I think if we ever did just quit (and were still able) I would post on all our cache pages that our caches are up for adoption, and monitor our email for adoption requests. We have a mix of typical caches and some very creative or special containers, I would hate to see the special ones go away from lack of maintenance. For the ones that did not get adopted I doubt we would pick them up, would probably just let them run their course.
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When we buy a trackable (coin or tag) I take a high resolution scan, or good up close picture depending on what it is, and if our TB goes missing we have the option of creating a new one. We have a few out like that already (proxies) from one that have disappeared or were taken by a brand new cacher that hasn't found a cache in over a year. I would suggest caution when putting out a copy with the same code. Don't put one out after just a short time because if the original starts moving again then there will be two moving around.
We wait a year or longer depending on the circumstances of how the original disappeared, and even then we move it around in our inventory for a while just in case. We had one that was placed in a cache, then the next entry for the cache was the CO archiving it due to it being destroyed by machinery. We were pretty sure the TB went with the cache so we didn't wait to long to put a proxy out on that one.
Long story short; we do it and we got the idea from others who do it so shouldn't be a problem.
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Definite slump around us when it comes to new caches being hidden in our county. Curious if whatever the "barcode" thing some of y'all are talking about could be responsible. Someone send me a message about that so I can see if that is happening here. While looking for some caches I have found a few cards zip tied to trees and stuff with a barcode on them but didn't pay much attention to it, doesn't look exciting.
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We missed lots of caches when we were starting out, especially before MrsDredd was involved and I was doing it alone. I can't tell you how many caches we went back to look for that we originally missed. The second time around we found them right off and couldn't believe we missed it the first time. Still happens sometimes.
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There is a place in our community that I thought would be a great spot for a hide. I like caches with a bit of history, and this place has some history about how long it has been here, how it got here and the history of the original owners. We went there and looked around and saw a few interesting spots to put one since it is bordered by woods on two sides. Then got to thinking about the people who now hang out here most of the time near the woods-line, and especially after dark. MrsDredd also said she liked the idea of a cache there, but thought it could create a problem if a cacher showed up and bumped into the wrong person there, especially if something unscrupulous happened to be going on at the time. It is not urban either so it's not like it was an alley cache. Bottom line; we didn't place it just because of the possibility that a cacher may run into trouble while looking for a cache at this spot.
Having said that, there have been several caches that we have pulled up to find (usually urban micros) around the Jacksonville area that we decided against because of the area or the time of day and the muggles hanging around. If we pull up to a cache, especially some urban micro cache and don't like what we see, we just go on to the next one. An area that we may not approve of may not bother another cacher in the least.
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And the game has taken another step into the surreal and daft.
We now have a series 'A Nice Pair' where a red telephone box and a red post box are within 20 feet of each other. Neither are particularly rare in the UK.
So now it's time for 'Drains where you can see a blue garden gate', 'Traffic Lights where you can see a church with bells, 'Police stations within a stones throw of a roundabout' and Bus depots with big doors'.
The hobby being increasingly popular is only a good thing if:-
a. You are Groundspeak and your income increases, or
b. It doesn't make it crappy.
PP.
Wha . . . .????
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I leave a Geocaching card that I made,
I hope the cards are not paper or the standard computer card that turn into mush
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5. Most personalized swag. Why would anyone want to take a wooden non-trackable coin with some other cacher's name on it?
We like finding the wooden nickels from other cachers. We don't keep them but we do move them. We always send a message to the nickel's owner letting them know we found one of their coins and where we found it; if the nickel is numbered we of course let them know which one we found. To each his or her own I guess but we like finding them.
We have found I guess about 4 or 5 of them so far, although none lately. A couple have been in pretty bad shape from getting wet and moldy, but one of them had some kind of clear coat on it like spray varnish or something and it protected it pretty good. We went to the website (www.wooden-nickel.com) and set up a design for our own but have just never spent the $ for them.
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I have seen a lot of talk about ROW. But very little understanding about it by many.
Just because a right of way may exist does not mean that it is trespassable ROW.
Some times the ROW is for utilities and road. Who owns the land on a ROW?
In many cases the property owner that abuts the ROW owns the land.
A governing entity may own the ROW but not the land.
The ROW laws may differ all over. In the big city the ROW for a sidewalk is owned by the city.
But the homeowner may own the land. The homeowner must allow trespass on the sidewalk.
But must also pay for upkeep of the sidewalk, big screw job there!
I live in the country and own both sides of the road that live on. I own the land that the road is on.
The township owns the ROW for road and utilities only. I must pay proprty tax for the land that the road is on.
The public may drive on the road but not the area that you would call the ditch. No ATV , no Snowmobile allowed on this ROW. I have the right of arrest! So before you start saying the public owns the ROW
think again. The public does not own the ROW. The governing agencies do and they determine how
the ROW is used. No sidewalk, the homeowner may be in charge. Or they may not. do not assume
you have trespass rights. Only in public spaces do you have trespass rights. That ROW you are on may be
private property as well. You John Q Public do not have the right to do as you please on the ROW.
Check before you think of hiding a geocache, it might just be ilegal to place it there.
Some places are now baning hides in signs because of that atitude of I John Q Public own it.
No you don't!
Thanks for posting this information; I learned a lot that I didn't know about ROWs.
(Though your tone seems to be quite angry--or maybe that's just my interpretation.)
After reading some of these posts I would suggest checking state laws and local or county right of ways. Apparently Florida and my county are different than a lot of other places. I would be upset if I had to pay taxes on, and be responsible or liable for a ROW. Our property lines stop at the ditch line (or similar in sub divisions) and I am not responsible or liable for the ROW. I have a few caches on the ROW but they are not in front of someone's home, and if there is a home around none of our caches are i a position to cause a cacher to have to nose around in front of a home. But then we have no caches in sub-divisions either.
One thing I agree with is the point brought out about the type of ROW. I am a bit off the road and there is a power pole on my property for electric and phone. In this case the utility companies have a ROW to the power pole, but the property is strictly owned by us. They have to drive in through my driveway to get to the pole and Florida Statutes awards them that ROW that I cannot deliberately block. They can come on my property for maintenance and even tree trimming. If someone were to try to place a cache there it would be a problem.
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We have quite a few trackables out. We enjoy the TB part of the geocaching game about as much as finding caches and really enjoy watching them move around. We try to keep up with them but unfortunately they do disappear regularly.
When we purchase a new TB, whether a coin, cute trackable or just a tag I take high resolution scans of it and save them. If the TB is taken by a new cacher (sometimes they stop caching as quick as they started) we will send a nice email inquiring about it. If no reply we mark it as missing, and in a year or so we put out a nicely laminated PROXY and send it on it's way.
If it just goes missing from a cache we will send some nice inquiring messages after a couple of months. If we don't get any informative responses we mark it as missing so it doesn't continue to show up in the cache. If it doesn't turn up, time to turn up is always depending on the circumstances of its disappearance, then we will put out the nice PROXY. Unfortunately we have several marked as missing right now and are just waiting to see if they ever turn up. If they don't it will be PROXY time.
You have to be careful with proxy TB's though. If you put one out to soon and the original starts to move again it can be confusing. I have heard Ground Speak has locked some TB's that has happened too.
Haven't thought about using the code for a T-shirt to be used at events and stuff but that is a really cool idea too.
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Replying to the last post it made me think of something that seems to be happening more and more with these young kid cachers lately; at least to some of my cachers anyway. It Irks both of us when someone hunts down one of our caches and then takes a picture of the container IN IT'S HIDING SPOT!! I think pictures are cool, and I don't mind a picture of the container so much, but don't take a picture of the container in its hiding spot in a way that shows every future cacher exactly how and where to find it. If I wanted that done I would do it myself and then make the difficulty a 1.
Does anyone else delete those kind of pictures from there cache page? We do on some of our caches and always put a very nice explanation in the delete log so the person who posted understands why.
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This has been said before, but throw-down "replacement caches" instead of an honest DNF irk me.
I recently checked a cache, found it was gone (on a second visit I discovered the container a few yards from where it should have been), and disabled it temporarily.
Then I get a Found It log: "No worries. It's still here!"
The original cache was fairly well camouflaged, although placed out in the open. I gave it a 2.5 on difficulty. The throw-down was the usual 35mm film canister, placed on top of a post and "hidden" by a couple of pebbles.
About a dozen people had struggled up a steep slope past the actual cache to log the fake one. One said it was "an easy find," which should have been a tip-off, but I figured that he was just an excellent geocacher.
We have replaced some containers we know are gone, but not finds like mentioned in the quote above. There are some caches around us that I think are good caches or in cool spots but the CO's are long gone. If we notice a container has several DNF's and is in an area where I drive by it at work (on road all the time) I will check it, if I am sure it is gone I will usually post an Archive request. But a few of them I have replaced just because I liked the cache. I guess that is not really a "throw down" though, I don't carry throw down containers around. I only had one of our caches replaced with a throw down; it was by a long-time cacher I know and the original container was there too, it is just hard to find. The throw down had some "found it" logs and I didn't realize it had been replaced until one of them posted a picture of the container and it wasn't mine.
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"I am using multi-million dollar satellites to look for tupperware containers in the forest. It's my hobby. What's yours?"
No? Well, I thought it was good.
Ha Ha, actually yes it was very good
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If it keeps missing you may try to get some help here. I actually found this website today. http://www.tb-rescue...ndex.rescue.php
I hope it helps.
Checked out tb-rescue.com a while ago. Cool site. I signed up to try an help some poor TB's if I can. Listed one of ours that has been stuck in a cache for over 4 months. Also signed on to try to rescue one down in Jacksonville this week.
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As a CO, you shouldnt place caches if you can't keep up on them.
+1
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Is Lola a trackable or a piece of swag?
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Think if it were your cache what kind of logs would you like to read? I love to read good comments about our caches. Now that being said, we have some very basic caches (especially some of our first ones) so I don't really expect much on their logs, but even on them "found it" is pretty lame. But we also have some pretty good caches in nice historical spots with awesome views or with pretty unique containers hidden with a sort of theme or twist that we and some friends put a lot of effort into. I'm not sure why, but we really like to place caches that other cachers will really enjoy, and when someone leaves a good log about their experience it makes all the effort and maintenance worth it. Sure we left some of those short logs when we were new, but not anymore. Write something that you think will make the CO smile. We found an 11 year old cache the other day that hadn't been found in about 17 months, it was a real trek and I enjoyed it so much I probably wrote to long of a log and left too many pictures, see cache http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GCE7EB_jungle-cache as an example on one of my logs for a cache I really enjoyed. You don't have to leave long logs, but compliment the cache, or the CO, or at least the experience finding it if the cache warrants it. Trust me, as a placer any small tidbit of positive information is very appreciative.
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Yes. Posting a note or maybe an nm would have been better.
As the reviewer points out it can still be solved.
+1. Live and learn right
Challenge Caches
in User Insights
Posted · Edited by Team Dredd
What do I like or dislike about challenge caches?
LIKES
1. We have found only a few challenge caches but they have been fun. We like a reasonable challenge cache that is actually challenging, but not ridiculous. Of course what is ridiculous to some is only a challenge to others I guess.
DISLIKES
1. "Do not look for this cache at the listed coordinates, it is not there". Sometimes the coordinates block legitimate caches from being placed in some good spots because of a blue question mark that doesn't even have a container at that location.
2. We like to systematically clear certain areas of all the caches. We work area by area to clear a town or county and turn the map to smiley faces. Of course there are some caches that have to wait until we can borrow a boat or can get to them for one reason or another, which is motivating. But when challenge caches pop up that have a challenge we simply cannot claim because of something like one of the qulifications needed is "you must have found a cache for 13 years in a row" . . . . . well so much for that one.
3. Ridiculous challenges. "In order to claim this cache as found, all you have to do is find 50 caches in 50 different states in 24 hours". Or " in order to claim this challenge cache as found all you have to do is find one of the three caches on the slopes of Mount Everest on February 29th (can only be done during leap year of course) and take a selfie of yourself at the top of the mountain as you are gliding down to the bottom on a purple hang glider while wearing only beach shorts".
CHANGES
1. Challenge caches should have their own type and icon..
2. Some kind of restriction on the number of them being published so fast, or a restriction on how many can be within a certain radius, like one challenge cache per 100 square miles (kidding) but some kind of distance restriction.
3. Actually, I think there are enough of them now and would like to see them go the way of the virtual (ghost icon) caches. But then that is just me.
Yeah I know a little joking but hey, they asked what we like, don't like and would recommend about them so I spoke my mind.