Awww....thanks for the shout out! Been lurking in the forums for awhile, but I got excited when I saw a discussion pop up that mentioned Dean & me.
Nice discussion, JPreto...when we first split our joint account into two separate accounts Dean was incredibly discouraged. He saw that other people were dropping throwdowns when they couldn't find a cache and then logging a find, instead of a DNF. We talked, in depth, about the different ways that people choose to play the game (worldwide) and he decided that if he didn't find a cache, he didn't think it was quite fair to replace it and get the smiley (he has a high moral compass AND a law degree - LOL!). Soooo...wanting to respect the owners that placed those caches he politely logs his DNFs. I guess our view is that people are going to play the game that they decide is "fair" to them, even if it's strongly discouraged by Groundspeak. Hopefully between the blog posts that come from GS and people talking to others in their own communities we can create more awareness about throwdowns....AND photologs, right? We had a friend get their online logs deleted when the CO checked the logsheet and couldn't find their name - they confessed to us that they didn't have a pen with them, so they took a picture with the cache and thought that would work. A name on the logsheet is one of the main rules of the game...so now if they forget a pen, they write a note on the cache page that says they visited the cache and will be back later to claim their smiley.
Dean certainly wouldn't be in the position he is today if he had thrown down a new cache every time he couldn't find one. So proud of him.
