QSparrow

I can't believe it. Today I get this: You never did go see if the cache in on the bridge!! To bad to sad I've composed this email: Enough is enough. If you want to maintain somebody else's cache, the proper thing to do is adopt it. But because you decided to maintain a DISABLED cache, that meant that very few people were going to even see it. It is irrelevant whether or not the cache was actually there or not. IT WAS DISABLED. The fact that the thing is now archived, believe it or not, is actually not the end of the world. The original owner, if he still wants it, can have it unarchived. Or you can take over the maintenance properly and submit it as your own cache now. Or somebody else can now use that spot since it is not being taken up any more by a DISABLED cache. Again, I never claimed that it was not there. If you think it was archived prematurely, take it up with the admin, but it sure seems that he agrees with me, since he archived it. Now stop harassing me, and next time, adopt the cache. Any opinions before I hit "send"? Edited to fix spelling. Edited to take out some of the harshness.

It's not the forum that's giving me angst. You guys give me sanity. Here's a follow-up. On Thursday I got this email: That cache was last found in February!!! February. In May you ask if its active??? Why when it was found in February. If you'd look at the cache owners profile or read some past logs you would know that the owners gone BUT there are others maintaining the cache...LIKE MYSELF!!!!! Most cache owners are not going to answer a question like that anyway. The idea behind the game for one is to get people out of the house and have fun. Finding the cache or NOT!!! I have painstakingly kept that cache running for a couple of years and now because YOU were lazy and NEVER went to look for it and you posted that note, now the cache is gone!! Thanks!! NOW, YOU GO DOWN THERE AND SEE IF ITS TRULY GONE OR NOT!!! I have driven 5=0 miles for caches, some I find and some I don't. The ones I don't find doesn't mean they are gone. I NEVER post a note to archive it simply because I can't find it. It would be different if there were 10 DNF's before I arrived. Heck, if that were the case I wouldn't go search for it in the first place. But THAT was NOT the case here!! Now go down there. The cache is on Devil Gate Dam on the old road way. You have to approach it from the east. Go there tomorrow and let me know what you find out. If its there it may very well be wet. But if it there..... well you know how I already feel about it. This was my reply: Again, very sorry. A million apologies. Really. I feel really bad about this. I really thought that would be the end of it. But this morning I get this: so I see you never went and checked on the cache. shame shame shame So after talking with you guys I now know that I could have handled the original situation better. I apologized to this person multiple times for it. But my apology was clearly not accepted. I'm wavering between giving him a real piece of my mind, and just letting it go. What would you do? (Edited to add italics for readability.)

By then, we will all be muggled. Good grief! If someone wants to take the trouble to prop-up some absentee cacher's placement by replacing and maintaining it, then why don't they just let it get archived and then re-publish it as their own? If any nasty emails are going to be sent, it should be to the owner (well...not really), for not doing one of the following: activate the listing when a fellow cacher replaces the container. Maintain the container themselves, like a responsible cacher, and then activate the listing. Archive the listing Doing nothing is not an acceptable option. Is a disabled listing hurting anyone, you ask? Why leave it there, when it's obvious that the owner isn't around anymore? I like to see things kept tidy. Rude emails are never acceptable. This is a game, not a war. Thank you. My feelings exactly. I just don't get it why we can't all just get along. I may have made a huge mistake but it was not intentional. I apologize repeatedly. Why can't we all treat each other with respect?

Well I am giving this person the benefit of the doubt in our email exchanges just like I would have liked him to give me. But I like I said this wasn't the first time I got this kind of response. I guess I just don't have thick enough skin for this. Just like I'd make a horrible politician. I know my limits & that's a good thing.

Yeah, absolutely. Everything is OK now. I've put my caches up for adoption & I'm done with this sport. Lesson learned! Moving on. I do appreciate all the help.

And that's part of it too. My buttons are kind of easy to push. I hopefully will learn from this & apply it to other parts of my life. I do appreciate all the feedback you all have given me, positive and negative. You guys rock.

Correction! What is that ammo box doing under your pillow! I still have 6 of them unplaced!

And I (she) will say, 'what's a cache?'

Ok, if you feel this way, I did not archive the thing, the admins did. All I did was post a log. Why am I getting blamed? I'm not blaming you. I just advised that if a cache is disabled then let the admins handle it. Ok thanks for the clarification. BTW, I just got an even nastier email, to which I apologized again. I'm done. It's not worth it to me. Time is the universal healer... Yep, in 100 years will anyone care? Of course not. I don't even care anymore.

Ok, if you feel this way, I did not archive the thing, the admins did. All I did was post a log. Why am I getting blamed? I'm not blaming you. I just advised that if a cache is disabled then let the admins handle it. Ok thanks for the clarification. BTW, I just got an even nastier email, to which I apologized again. I'm done. It's not worth it to me.

Ok, if you feel this way, I did not archive the thing, the admins did. All I did was post a log. Why am I getting blamed?

So, what do you think is reasonable? How long should we allow caches to be disabled? I agree with you that sometimes people are put in situations beyond their control and cannot maintain their caches. Is there a time limit you would give to this, or is it unlimited?

Well I hope you've learned from my experience then, since all of this happened.

Cute.

That's exactly what I was thinking. If we're just supposed to ignore disabled caches, why do they provide the needs archived log? And how are newbies supposed to know when to use them? If you're supposed to email the owner, wait so many months, post a note, wait so many months, and so on, then why isn't that in the faq? Why doesn't somebody include unacceptable "cache police" behavior in the faq so people like me don't make such an obnoxious mistake? (I know I'm not the only one who has done this - I have seen many "needs archived" logs for long-disabled caches, which is why I thought it's what we're supposed to do.)

I certainly have gotten a lot of pleasure out of caching. But here's something I've observed. When you get involved with something that means seeing them face-to-face, people seem to be pretty civil. I've been involved in many competitive sports for instance, and don't remember any rude confrontations, save for the mis-call by the ref or something. But I've also spent some time on forums, and people tend to be a bit more rude. (Putting it lightly!) I think that when there is no face to the person you are speaking with, there can be a tendency for all politeness to get put aside. I stopped going to those because of that. I'm afraid that's what's happening with geocaching. The personal connection just isn't there, so neither is the civility sometimes. Now, most of the time people have been great. But when they are not, it's just not fun for me. So, I'm going back to the personal-interaction type activities. But that's just me.

Yes - for more than a year. I don't get it. If it's disabled why are you looking for it? You can run a PQ and check the box that says "Is Active" to ignore all of those.... I didn't know you can filter the non-active caches. Thanks for the tip.

Yes - for more than a year.

It was a good location & people stopped looking for it because it's disabled. I figured if it could be archived, somebody else could hide something there & then all could enjoy once again. Silly me.

Ok, seems like most of you think I was out of line. I guess there is some set of unwritten rules out there that I'm supposed to follow and if I don't I get a nasty email. I don't think this is the sport for me. Good luck all! Anybody want to adopt some caches?

Ok guys, last time I got a nasty message from a fellow cacher you helped me see what I did to deserve it that was not obvious to me at first. Since then I have tried to be extra extra nice. But I just got this: ---- Hi Q, Did you ever go try and find GCK1JH ?? You posted a maintenance note but did you ever go try and find the cache. If you did you never posted a DNF and the cache may be there. Try posting ALL your DNF's. That way someone will know whats up with the caches. To many of you NEVER post DNF's so how the heck will anyone know a cache is missing. Now if you did look for the cache I mantioned, why didn't you post a DNF?? If you didn't look for the cache, what gives you the right to post a needs maintenance attribute? Just because a cache hasn't been found in 4 months does give you the right to write it has been gone for a year!!! Maybe you should just seach the web site for all the caches that have not been found in over a year and do the same. People will be all over you for that. You know, that particular cache has seen a lot of visitors and most of the locals have been there. Mybe you should go see for yourself if its there too. --- To which I replied: --- Hi XXXXX, I did not try to find it. As you can see, I asked on June 23 whether the cache was active or not, and got no response. I do not want to go looking for a cache that is not likely to be there, which is what it seemed like from what I could tell from the logs. It sure seems that the owner does not care anymore about it. Since I did not hear back after 2 months, I posted a needs archived log. I did not say that it has not been found in a year -- I said it has been disabled for more than a year. How long should a cache go on disabled like that before the owner needs to check up on it? If the owner does not take responsibility for their caches, shouldn't they be disabled? I did not mean to be out of line, and I apologize if I was. I really thought I was following the rules. I almost always post DNFs - I only don't do it when I know it's a hard cache that I keep going back to - I don't always log it every time I go back. Again, I am relatively new to this, and I am sorry if I did something wrong. It was not my intention, and I am still learning. ----- It was the person who hid the temporary cache in November 2006 who sent the email (not the owner), and when they hid it, they said it "won't last....I can say that for fact!!!" So tell me - was it wrong of me to post a needs archived log on a long-disabled cache without going out to check it first? This kind of stuff really takes the fun out of the sport.

No... I drive a Prius.

Go to the "My Account" page, then click on "Update Home Coordinates".

Uh-oh. I dropped 2 of them a while back... I'm a certified idiot!

Where does it say this in the guidelines? I looked but probably not in the right place. (As I've said before, I'm horrible at finding things.)