lil_cav_wings

But what if the non-cachers in question are in the military? Would they then be military "civilians"?

I think, in your case, "statistics hound" would be a better description. You mentioned something in your OP about visiting places that you've never been before and trying harder and harder caches. I think that crosses the barrier from being someone who is generally thought of as being a "numbers hound," someone who needs validation by comparing themself to everyone else and finding superiority in that. You're in a competition with yourself... or, like in narcissa's case, in friendly competition with good folks. When you're striving to achieve something beyond what you would normally do, you're not judging yourself by what others do. You're in competition with your own potential. If that makes any sense...

The same as your Founds. Probabily nothing, but why do you still care about having your Founds visible at your Public Profile? [ Exactly the same of seeing someone's else Found numbers Honestly, I could take-or-leave the "found" status too. I really haven't Found that many geocaches. There are plenty of folks out there that joined GC.com last weekend, and now have more logged caches than I do after a little over four years of being on this website. I also went through a phase where I didn't log online at all, especially on Iraq or A-stan caches. So, if my Found count doesn't matter, and I haven't been run off the forums by the Caching Legends for my noobish-looking Found amounts, why should anyone give a turd about my DNF status? The reason that I really started coming back to the forum and following the exploits of the Caching Legends is to find caches that appeal to me and my active, adventure-seeking lifestyle. Kit Fox is a good example of this: dude wanders the desert like a nomad for miles and miles to find caches. I could care less how many Founds or DNFs he has! The man is eight-kinds of awesome, and I want to hear his stories and suggestions about caches. Same with nypaddlecacher, who travels ev.er.y.where. Could have a 75% DNF rate (which is doubtful), but it's the locations and stories that are interesting! I guess my moral for all this geocaching stuff is to avoid comparing yourself to others through a number count... compare yourself to the geocacher that you desire to be.

So, the people who don't share your particular opinion HAVE to be wrong. You asked for input, and you didn't like what you got back. Sometimes that happens. Why should my DNF stat matter to someone else? I agree with what was said earlier about "how do you define a DNF by specific perameters?" If I don't even bother looking when I get to GZ because the muggle count was too high at that moment, should that be a DNF because of an outside influence to the cache? Personally I'm not logging a DNF, but someone else might consider that a worthwhile DNF log. This past weekend, I spent looking for 45 minutes for a cache and felt like a moron because I couldn't find it. Everyone else did. Not me. I'm not ashamed. It was the only cache I went after while I was out. Someone else might feel that ONLY 45 minutes spent looking isn't worthy of DNF, and you should spend atleast a minimum of an hour to look before abandoning the search and logging. Meh. What validation or sense of accomplishment comes from seeing someone else's DNF numbers?

Wanna Be's? Naaaaaah. What if they don't "wanna be" geocachers, even if they knew about the game? Muggle is fine. It might routinely associated with Harry Potter these days, but 50 million Elvis fans can't be wrong...

It's not just the container, it would depend on the placement too. It would have to be high enough where routine flooding doesn't pose a threat either... oh and the aligators (but I don't think there is an attribute for that). No one expects same-hour response from a CO to come fix a cache if something goes wrong with it, that would be totally unrealistic (but awesome... "There's been reports of a Needs Maintenance log in the Sunshine State. LAUNCH THE CACHE QUICK REACTION FORCE NOW!"). You just have to be able to get to it in a timely manner to fix it. I can totally understand not wanting to drop $25 every other month to go swap out soggy logbooks.

"The cache owner will assume all responsibility of their cache listings." "Your maintenance plan must allow for a quick response to reported problems." Those were from the GC Guidelines for listing. In all honesty, I think putting your hopes for maintenance in the hands of strangers is a little lofty. Some people take really good care of each others stuff, and others don't. If placing a paddle cache is only likely to cause headache and grief for you, it would cease to be fun for you as a cache owner. Do you like kayaking outside of caching? It might be worth it to shop around and find yourself a cheap recreational kayak for yourself. Then it would be a one-time expense for a lifetime of paddling.

I got a new tent. And a new pair of climbing shoes and a new Petzel belay/rappel device. Santa wants me to do GC19B12.

I agree with NYPaddleCacher. It's very possible to cache in on country in the morning, and hop the redeye flight to another. That might be a totally genuine log that you deleted without checking. That would upset me too, especially if I was a new cacher in Europe who made a trip to visit family in the states and did a little caching on the side. Between the language barriers and the frustration of having my log deleted by the CO, I'd cut attitude in an email too. It's better to simply take the higher road, and don't do anything until you have the time and money available to go check on your cache. You can even explain that in the email. "Hey, I would normally go check on the cache to determine the validity of a find, but things have been rough lately and I can't leave my ill father. Would you do me a huge favor and just describe the cache as best you can, and I'll let this all slide until I can get the time to check the cache logs? Thanks." It's one flippin' log on your cache... get over it. This isn't trade negotiations with a former Soviet bloc country that you're doing here. Sometimes, things can wait.

I agree. Had he done his homework and studied up a little about long distance running, he'd probably have found a couple of good training programs, some information about selecting good shoes to limit pain, and recovery techniques that make long distance running not so painful the next day. Had he spent thirty or forty minutes just reading up (especially given how information is so readily available on the internet about pretty much anything), he might have been a lifelong runner today! To the OP (who has only posted once, and probably will never come back): It's the same with geocaching or any other hobby. When you spend a little time reading up and studying first, you develop a better understanding of what you're getting yourself into. Then you begin to appreciate it more. Take an hour or so and read the knowledge books. An hour isn't really that much to spare in the great scheme of things for what could be a great lifelong hobby. Then you'll see that the geocaching.com website isn't all that painful to use. Not to mention, smartphones aren't nearly as accurate or easy to use as a good GPSr, especially in the woods. In the education lies the passion.

I've seen that before too. I like the idea that was mentioned about carrying a small chuck of styrofoam, especially if you're a frequent urban cacher who might find more than their fair share of used needles. I would imagine that a wine bottle cork or something small like that would also work just as well. I'd say handle it carefully if you have the materials to do a "field expediant disposal" (and only if you have gloves). If you can break the needle from the plastic, corking the pointy ends in whatever styrofoamy substance might be available, pack the complete syringe away in a ziplock bag for disposal. From there, I would contact the authorities to tell them that they may have a site frequented by drug users. I would also post a notice to the cache's page warning fellow cachers (especially since so many cachers like to include their children in their hobby). Where there is one needle, there's usually more. Be careful.

I can deal with partially baby-masticated Silly Bandz or used shotgun shell casings, but nothing is worse than sticking your hand in a poorly sealed rubbermaid jar and being greated by soggy contents... made slimey by someone swagging-out with a half used plastic jar of bubbles. Even better when you pulled the offending jar of bubbles out and the lid slips and the whole thing dumps on in your lap. Awesome. Thanks. Really.

I agree, sometimes it's tough to get wordy about LPCs and lame caches. I'll make quick initial logs from my iPhone, and then edit them later when I get home and get the time. It also helps to be able to release a TB or coin. Smartphone logs aren't always stupid. Lazy people are just... well... lazy.

The more you cache, the better you get at spotting or figuring out cache locations. If I get really annoyed with a hide, sometimes it helps to just let it be for a little while and then come back to it. I'll usually do that with hiking trails where I know that I'll be back tracking to get back to my car. You spend fifteen or twenty minutes growling and stomping around the woods in frustration, and then when you come back to it after awhile you'll find it in a couple of minutes.

Speak for yourself! I don't think that narcissa's decline of someone holding a door open is rooted in insecurity. In her shoes I would feel put off by the whole experience too, if someone took her politely turning down assistance that she didn't request as a sign of haughtiness and then said something rude about it to her. I gotcha. Politeness and consideration for others goes along way. But if you politely decline something because something about the situation gave you a weird feeling, that's your "personal common sense" meter. Just don't be rude.

Swag pet peeve: condoms in caches. Thanks for the offer, but I'll stick to buying them at the drug store, thanks. That reminds me of the autobahn in Germany. You get ready to pass someone, and you make one quick check of the left lane before you swing into pass, just to make sure there is no one coming. Yet, by the time you've gotten yourself settled in the right lane to pass someone... WHAM... there's an Audi A8 on your butt with his lights flashing for you to hurry up and move.

I find that "stuck up" isn't usually the phrase used. It's normally, "you don't have to be such a b****."

I thought about doing the same thing with a cache for breast cancer awareness (specifically Susan G. Komen), and ended up with the suggestion from a handful of very good cachers to try a TB instead. TBs are easy and you can raise as much social awareness as the number of TBs you drop. I'm sending a "Think Pink" TB out when I come across a good cache for it, and I set up the TB's page to include information about breast cancer. I'm making a donation of $2 per cacher, in their honor, for everyone who moves the bug. No cost to them, and the word gets out.

Yes, it's called social ineptitude when you refuse to realize when assistance is neither needed, nor wanted, but you attempt to force the issue anyway. As a woman, I do find that rude. Don't presume that I am just trying to "tough it out" if I wave you off target once already. If I say that I've "got it," I mean it. It was polite of you to offer though.

It'll suck when people (not just men) stop holding doors and being polite to each other. Huh...

I do. I enjoy the ones with long hikes as well. I did one that was supposedly on a very large hill and I believe it had a terrain rating of 4. I got there to find that the hill was about 30 feet tall, not a particularly difficult climb. Then there are the ones where they marked it wrong on the attributes. I've searched for caches in my area with the >10 km attribute and the majority of them are wrongly labelled. I was tempted to write a note on the log about it, but I decided to just ignore it instead. Ditto. I've learned to cross reference maps, attributes and logs before I head out, but every now and then one will get through. That, and people who drive slow in the left lane on the highway (grrrrr).

Someone told me that there were hot guys here...

Meh. We're being too vulgar and open minded.

So, is it vulgar that I can't stop looking at the nudecacher's gallery images? I give the man mad props. I wish I had that kind of bravery to cache au natural. Aside from the fact that the man probably has a small fortune invested in bug spray and sunblock, he seems very pleased with self-image and happy with in his own skin. Something more teenagers should learn, especially in today's physical-perfection-centric environment.

How would you explain THAT to your kids? "Well, little Timmy, some times people like to have naked time..." I'd be concerned about poison ivy.