RedsSockpuppet

Look, anyone who serves in a volunteer organization understands traps in the people who we work with. Yes, there were issues. BUT, you know what, I give the organizers a huge free hall pass. SoCal was in the house and we socialized and had a great time. More like an awesome time. Then, eight of us spent an memorable day in Colorado logging the oldest cache in Colorado, getting Tarryall birthday cake, and driving to the top of Pike's Peak for new elevation milestones, and another event! It was all good. Sincere thanks for those who got stuck with a thankless task. Réd

So, this discussion is not gonna be honest about how much the "not rich" people actually pay into IAP? I really have my flame proof threads on here, but sadly at my advanced years, I have know clue what IAP is. Clarify please!

Pokeman Go is sorta a competitor of Geocaching. Fortunately, this is not a zero sum game that challenges Geocaching, but there are some intriguing possibilities that could be adopted by Groundspeak to enhance the game playing experience for all of us. I have been playing Pokeman with the son for the last couple of days and have achieved the lofty level of 5! There are really cool Pokeman features that Groundspeak could adopt that would keep the integrity of the game while getting us all off the couch and into the woods. These ideas are just random “out-of-box”stream of consciousness thoughts. I know some are good, and I know some will not work, but this OP is simply starting a dialogue with the community. The question is simple.. What is good about Pokeman Go that could enhance your Geocaching experience? Thoughts. 1) Implement the level system. Put in a ton of factors such as quality, geography, numbers of course, hides, events, souvenirs, recent finds, d/t ratings, tbs owned and moved…. Etc.. then, everyone is ranked from level 1 to 100. I have 6,000 finds What does that really mean compared to the universe?.. Bah.. what is my motivation to go out next weekend to pick up a few caches…. BUT if I am level 49 and it takes me 20 caches, a Wherigo, and a 3/3 challenge cache to hit level 50 I am motivated to get my arse out into the woods this weekend and cache away!! The devil is in the details, but a newbie geocacher should be able to hit level 50 in say 6 months with heavy weights on “what you have done for me lately” stats. 2) How about encouraging more social interaction? Perhaps 2 or 3 who log a cache make an automatic event? Not for every cache, just once a day. 3) Allow geocachers to join up in a group, or guild. Then rank guilds on their poweress. Geocaching doesn’t lend itself to pvp, but leveraging social interactions could be awesome. 4) I don’t have an issue with Groundspeak making money off of TB’s. In fact, I love coins and Tbs. So let’s put those stats right up at the top with hides and finds! I like the upcoming summer challenge. Encourage tb acquisition and movement as much as possible. Don’t forget supply and demand… e.g. only certain levels, or certain caches found, or certain souvenirs, attendees of mega events can acquire some Tb’s….. BONUS.. You get credit when others log. 5) The cool thing about Pokeman is I can sit outside drinking a glass of wine and smoking a cigar. They just come up and I catch them. Over and over again. When I started geocaching I cleared out my hometown and I realized the game took on a new turn as I needed to travel. Bear with me here, but how about allowing everyone to relog caches? Every 10, 14 or 30 or days or so? I suspect we lose a lot of cachers who don’t have the commitment or gas money to go outside their home. I was in Colorado for the mega event two weeks ago. I sherphad a contingent of SoCal cachers to the oldest cache in Colorado, Tarryall. I logged Tarryall back in 2012. Would it upset the universe if I got credit for another find on this cache 4 years later? Final Note: Groundspeak does not allow me to log directly into the forums with my geocaching account as I have an accent on my name. Their platform does not accommodate “unusual” spellings. When I questioned, I was told to change my name to access the forums. I said no. I was not changing my name. My geocaching name is Réd if you want to check me out. So, that is why I log under Redsockpuppet!

Wow! What a comprehensive survey! Well done Mother Ship! Sorta off topic, but let's ask the same questions for the inane jumping through hoops questions with some earthcaches. Why do I need to spend 15 minutes of Internet research, when I visited the place, soaked in the environs and took a selfie? And of course, I am never told if my answers are right or wrong. And, to open a can of worms..... how about a similar survey for virtuals. I know all the con back ground, but c'mon, you need to acknowledge all those fav votes. I've always thought virtuals could be replaced with history caches. Appoint a national board and approve 10 or 15 a month..... No appeal, just the best get published. Make it a competition. Perhaps award souvenirs? I would like to see a Grand Canyon souvenir in my list. My humble thought.

Nice Itinerary! There are awesome caches in New Orleans. GCGFHX ▼ Marie Laveau, Voodoo Queen -- 366 Favs (This is a must!, but I think you need to part of the tour now) GCRJJG Pirate Alley -- 157 Favs GC6F22 ▼ Virtual Cache, Military History Series - National WWII Museum -- 134 Favs (Spend a couple of hours here, well worth it) Haven't been to the other cool places you are heading... enjoy!

Send an email to the administrator of the website. I have found him (her?!) to be very responsive with these type of issues. The Administrator will definitely solve your problem.

I normally don't defend the man, but this is overdue. Geocaching should be simple game. Seek the cache, find the cache, log the cache.

OK, I flew from LA to Hong Kong, and logged some awesome caches in Hong Kong and Macau earlier this month. Took my backpack, which has a trackable, called Réd's Backpack. I know, pretty original. However, the line on the map shows me going EAST across the globe. Of course, I went west. Anyway to correct? http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?guid=d331288c-e50c-4d29-a759-d85f86ca4036

lol, you learn something new everyday. Never heard the term "geopolitical ontology." Thanks NY Paddle. Now, I'm not making any political statements here, or advocating about the status one way or the other, just an observation. Finding "A Shepherd's Field" was definitely a goal because of the country designation. And, I hired an armed ex-Israeli military guide at $US500 for the day to drive us into Bethlehem to log it, just to be safe for me and my wife. After traveling to Israel in June and just missing the war by a day makes the find all that more interesting. Those people really don't like each other. Just curious why Groundspeak would venture into the debate by classifying 10 caches in the "country" of Palestine, when it isn't recognized by the US, EU and UN. I guess I'm agnostic on the debate of inclusion, because it now shows up on my stat list and is an interesting conversation piece. Sorta on topic, I was very bummed a couple of years ago when I discovered my Scotland finds were not a new country, but part of the U.K. What's the difference? If Scotland secedes from the U.K. next month, I guess I get a new country then. Trying to sort out the moral equivalence of wanting "more" countries for the numbers, while others are worried about more complex issues.

Well, have some, and avoided some. The obligatory episode of poison oak, being kissed by a rattlesnake on my pants but fortunately he missed and I ran, not being murdered by three Walking Dead meth heads who surprised me in the Antelope Valley as I'm in their driveway logging a cache, not being murdered in Detroit by a pair of punks who took exception to me being in their hood at 2 in the afternoon looking at the Masonic Temple earthcache, not having a heart attack after a frog jumped on my hand when pulling up a post hide in Florida, not getting Lyme disease after plucking over 50 bi-coastal ticks, bees, bees and more bees... running the other way after a bear, who sorta saw me first, went the other way, nasty, nasty black widows crawling up my arm, just love those chigger bites, attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes in the Everglades, fending off wild dogs, getting caught in quicksand like muck just last weekend in Illinois. You get the point. I'm sure I've missed some, but gotta love geocaching!

I don't know how Groundspeak became the sole arbiter of Palestine being a country, but I grabbed it last month. http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC3TXTC_a-shepherds-field?guid=99d6a6cb-5016-48a4-97fd-f172bf9670bf Only 10 caches in the "country," and not many US geocacher finds. I journey by Réd, but had to create this account as Groundspeak won't let me log into the forums with "funny" chars

Now this is really in the weeds stuff, but Groundspeak shows 3,143 counties. There are actually only 3,142 US counties. Bedford city in Virginia gave up its "county" status and is now part of Bedford county as of August 2013. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedford_County,_Virginia

I'm at 20% done with 637 of the US counties. Yes, I am chasing webscouter and Hunster. Trouble is, I'm in SoCal, so it is like me playing Risk and starting from the Ukraine, and webscouter being from Missouri has Australia locked up. Plus these guys have like a 7 year head start on me, being late to the party and all. No way I will catch these dudes...But, my goal is to hit them all. Oh, you ask, why log as Redssockpuppet? Seems the forums don't support "strange" chars like é. I fly by Réd. And yes, got all 3 in Delaware! Here are the county geocaching profile county rankings http://www.mygeocachingprofile.com/cacherrankings.aspx?sort=14