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Forgive my incoherent ramblings. I'll try to clarify. What I was trying to say was that (by giving an example) I could have very easily turned a virtual cache into something that is NOT a cache by just giving a detailed description. This is comparable to the Chicago Tourism parallel that you mentioned. My point was that in the Chicago Cache-Cam (Cam-Cache?), I made it so that you HAD to use your GPSr to verify that you had been to that location. The verification requires you to go to those precise coordinates and answer a question. The only reason I didn't put a cache there was that the area is so wide open and public that I was sure a cache would be gone within days of being planted. The muddled examples I gave were to illustrate that I agree with the fact that just naming a place and having a web-cam there (IMO) does NOT constitute a cache. Nor does giving specific instructions in how to get there without the need of a GPSr (that's a letterbox). For more talk about what constitutes a virtual cache, Jeremy started a thread over here.

quote:Originally posted by alexm:When is the magic vessel scheduled to arrive? Just found out for sure this morning! The non-nuclear wessel is "out for delivery" according to the latest tracking updates! Yipee! quote:I'm getting kinda anxious about finding ClayJar's first (that I know of) official public cache after missing 'em all at LAGG-1 (!@$?@&%! 2D elevation mode!). You can rest assured that I'll do my best to find one of the best places possible around Lake Chicot. I've been studying the topo maps, and I've got several potential locations to scout out for the best site. I'm not sure if it'll end up being a terrain 5 or not, but I'm gonna try. quote:If you truly want to make it an "anti-alex" cache, put it somewhere where I can't get a big boat in there (no boat ramp) and relativley close by (like one of those university lakes in Baton Rouge). That oughta drive me nuts! I'm a pretty good swimmer though. Hmmm... so if I can find a water-bound place with no room for a big boat and enough growth to prohibit access by swimming... I think I have just the spot, but I'll just hang on to it until an anti-ClayJar cache shows up. (You know, that whole "Mutually Assured Destruction" thing from the Cold War: if you plant an unfindable one, I'll have an unfindable one right there to plant, too.) ...maybe we do have too much time on our hands. quote:I'm hoping to hide my "over-the-water" and currently unnamed caches this weekend. I figure they're in for a long and lonely winter... That almost sounded like something that could have possibly sounded somewhat like a challenge, but not really. I'm kinda looking forward to looking for the water-bound caches. Having to use a boat to get there should add flavor to my caching experiences; they won't just be simple "park and log" caches (which are nice, but I love a challenge). Between GSOS, Camp Livingston (to place a travel bug for a Californian), and hiding Loch Lock Locker, I ought to have a nice day tomorrow. I think I'll try to talk my brother into coming along, but I seriously doubt he'll be up for it (he's one of those "Great Indoors" type of people). I have a feeling that I'll be sore from all that paddling tomorrow, but that'll give me something to talk about in the editorial section of ClayJar's Geocaching Logbook next week.

quote:Originally posted by alexm:When is the magic vessel scheduled to arrive? Just found out for sure this morning! The non-nuclear wessel is "out for delivery" according to the latest tracking updates! Yipee! quote:I'm getting kinda anxious about finding ClayJar's first (that I know of) official public cache after missing 'em all at LAGG-1 (!@$?@&%! 2D elevation mode!). You can rest assured that I'll do my best to find one of the best places possible around Lake Chicot. I've been studying the topo maps, and I've got several potential locations to scout out for the best site. I'm not sure if it'll end up being a terrain 5 or not, but I'm gonna try. quote:If you truly want to make it an "anti-alex" cache, put it somewhere where I can't get a big boat in there (no boat ramp) and relativley close by (like one of those university lakes in Baton Rouge). That oughta drive me nuts! I'm a pretty good swimmer though. Hmmm... so if I can find a water-bound place with no room for a big boat and enough growth to prohibit access by swimming... I think I have just the spot, but I'll just hang on to it until an anti-ClayJar cache shows up. (You know, that whole "Mutually Assured Destruction" thing from the Cold War: if you plant an unfindable one, I'll have an unfindable one right there to plant, too.) ...maybe we do have too much time on our hands. quote:I'm hoping to hide my "over-the-water" and currently unnamed caches this weekend. I figure they're in for a long and lonely winter... That almost sounded like something that could have possibly sounded somewhat like a challenge, but not really. I'm kinda looking forward to looking for the water-bound caches. Having to use a boat to get there should add flavor to my caching experiences; they won't just be simple "park and log" caches (which are nice, but I love a challenge). Between GSOS, Camp Livingston (to place a travel bug for a Californian), and hiding Loch Lock Locker, I ought to have a nice day tomorrow. I think I'll try to talk my brother into coming along, but I seriously doubt he'll be up for it (he's one of those "Great Indoors" type of people). I have a feeling that I'll be sore from all that paddling tomorrow, but that'll give me something to talk about in the editorial section of ClayJar's Geocaching Logbook next week.

Cool thread. It took me a while to realize this setting (NMEA) was the reason I couldn't get my GPS to talk to my Laptop. GOod thing to check FIRST.

Cool thread. It took me a while to realize this setting (NMEA) was the reason I couldn't get my GPS to talk to my Laptop. GOod thing to check FIRST.

Last Saturday I was going up to the cottage when I noticed a car parking & family getting out at the parking coordinates for one of my caches. Really excited I turned around and when up to ask whether they were caching ... made awkward by a local dual language situation (and I had to switch to their language to make things more comfortable for them.) I identified myself as the cache owner and happened to notice them while going to the cottage. Fun talking with them about local geocaching, particularly my caches (he's a new cacher). Fun finding out that they had been intently looking for all the clues to my multicache. I'm convinced that I scared them off with all the details of how one person approached and another found it, and how I did each of the clues. They haven't logged either their find or inability to find the cache. I think I made another mistake by sending them a message through the email bot politely asking whether or not they'd found the cache. No response. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but ... Flip side is that I've only met one other cacher a couple of days after I set a cache to check up on the coords and someone comes up looking for it. Talk about fast! I have met a few other cachers, but only on organized outings. Those were fun.

Last Saturday I was going up to the cottage when I noticed a car parking & family getting out at the parking coordinates for one of my caches. Really excited I turned around and when up to ask whether they were caching ... made awkward by a local dual language situation (and I had to switch to their language to make things more comfortable for them.) I identified myself as the cache owner and happened to notice them while going to the cottage. Fun talking with them about local geocaching, particularly my caches (he's a new cacher). Fun finding out that they had been intently looking for all the clues to my multicache. I'm convinced that I scared them off with all the details of how one person approached and another found it, and how I did each of the clues. They haven't logged either their find or inability to find the cache. I think I made another mistake by sending them a message through the email bot politely asking whether or not they'd found the cache. No response. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but ... Flip side is that I've only met one other cacher a couple of days after I set a cache to check up on the coords and someone comes up looking for it. Talk about fast! I have met a few other cachers, but only on organized outings. Those were fun.

Smitty and I, on three caches, have been beat by Mark71Mark. Two of these happened on the same day. The first was near our house, so we hit that one immediately after work. Low and behold, Mark had found the cache at noon earlier that day. So we decided to go to one down the coast a little. We get to within 400ft of the cache on the road, and there is a white truck pulled off to the side. When we get near the cache, we see a guy trudging through the bushes. Cautiously, Smitty asks "Is it about 100ft in that direction?", Mark looks up at him, with a little red radio in his hand, and says,"Is what 100ft in that direction?". We had a nice little conversation with Mark before we found the cache. A few weeks later, right after work, we went to find a new cache. When we got there, pulled off to the side of the road again was the white truck. Grumbling, we race to the top of the hill, to find that Mark had just beat us to the cache by a couple of minutes....talk about beat to the cache...Three times. --Dixie

Smitty and I, on three caches, have been beat by Mark71Mark. Two of these happened on the same day. The first was near our house, so we hit that one immediately after work. Low and behold, Mark had found the cache at noon earlier that day. So we decided to go to one down the coast a little. We get to within 400ft of the cache on the road, and there is a white truck pulled off to the side. When we get near the cache, we see a guy trudging through the bushes. Cautiously, Smitty asks "Is it about 100ft in that direction?", Mark looks up at him, with a little red radio in his hand, and says,"Is what 100ft in that direction?". We had a nice little conversation with Mark before we found the cache. A few weeks later, right after work, we went to find a new cache. When we got there, pulled off to the side of the road again was the white truck. Grumbling, we race to the top of the hill, to find that Mark had just beat us to the cache by a couple of minutes....talk about beat to the cache...Three times. --Dixie

I definitely agree that Jeremy would not want to give away design control of the site. But, having run my own site that is probably at least as popular as geocaching.com, I do know that there is a lot of work, and not a lot of time for the one-person crew to do it. This is nothing against Jeremy, I for one am very grateful for all the time and money and efforts he has already put in to the site. I'm just looking for a way to help out, if possible. Maybe an example to show what I mean. You mentioned the wish lists, let's take one thing I read today. In another thread, someone asked if he could download all the caches in Georgia. Several posters in that thread remarked that it would be a cool feature to have the ability to "check all" on the search results page to download all 25 at once instead of having to click every checkbox. This is a 5 minute code change - a very simple JavaScript. But it might not get implemented right away. And this is nothing against Jeremy - I hope I can make that clear that I have nothing but respect for him, but the simple fact is that he's just one person, and he has an outside life that is not just this website. Now maybe the suggestions I had are not the answer. Maybe Jeremy is not comfortable with the thought of having several developers able to modify code on what is in fact, his site. If that's the case then okay, I'm fine with that. I started this thread to talk about the issue, so that all of us as a community can try to come up with ways to get the best of both worlds. How to keep Jeremy in charge of his site (which I think we all still want) while at the same time pitching in to add new features quicker. If it so be that a few extra developers is not the best solution, then maybe there is something else that can be done. Maybe we can create some sort of forum / thread where a list of desired features is maintained and updated as new features come out, in order of desirability. So when Jeremy gets a few hours and wants to spend some time coding, he can go to this forum and see the improvements that the community wants most. And maybe he as the owner would decide to work on something else - that's his prerogative but at least it would be out there. I'm just trying to open up the discussion. dan.

Instead of a distance race, what are your thoughts on a 'Leg Race' or 'Segment Race'? First TB to get to 10 different caches carried by 10 different people wins. This would discourage people from holding TBs. You could also have 'Challange Races', where one TB would challenge another TB to a Segment Race. The TBs could be in different parts of the world. Think of the potential for smack-talk. (I shudder to think of the smack Buck Naked could dish out.) You could also have geocaching groups from different parts of the world challenge each other. Utah Cachers vs Seattle Area Cachers for example. The goal would be to move a certain TB to as many caches as possible within a certain time frame or first one to move the TB to 10 different caches. Rules might include that a geocacher can only do one leg. This might encourage more people from outside a 'core group' to get involved. (Somebody please think of a better name than Leg Race or Segment Race) (Does anybody work for the WWF? The wrestling group not the nature group.)

quote:Originally posted by echo2000: Howdy from Long Island! Sorry to hear about the lack of interest. It just doesn't stick for some folks, I guess. .................... Hope this helps. Always good for moral support... E2 Hey E2 thanks for the moral support. I'm ok ....trying not to let it ruin things for me. Still planning like crazy and that's a big part of the fun for it for me too I have talked to some cachers and have been to one small get together but not exactly what you'd call local. There's talk of another one to the west (first time to the east, CT). Have been working on permissions from parks too, that's opening up tons of great areas so I'm not loosing the momentum of the game... just shifting it ... big thing is the need to get more people into the game. There's so much untapped land around here... I've got to start planting to get people hunting in the area. The Volunteer Care Takers Association for one park I have permission for has asked to participate so I'm hoping I can create a few new enthusiasts there All kinds of possibilities.... I've got the geocaching bug bad... can't see myself getting bored anytime soon I think maybe I need to get a new dog (the 15 yr german shorthair pointer aint what she used to be)... hey I'll create my hiking buddy yet.

quote:Originally posted by echo2000: Howdy from Long Island! Sorry to hear about the lack of interest. It just doesn't stick for some folks, I guess. .................... Hope this helps. Always good for moral support... E2 Hey E2 thanks for the moral support. I'm ok ....trying not to let it ruin things for me. Still planning like crazy and that's a big part of the fun for it for me too I have talked to some cachers and have been to one small get together but not exactly what you'd call local. There's talk of another one to the west (first time to the east, CT). Have been working on permissions from parks too, that's opening up tons of great areas so I'm not loosing the momentum of the game... just shifting it ... big thing is the need to get more people into the game. There's so much untapped land around here... I've got to start planting to get people hunting in the area. The Volunteer Care Takers Association for one park I have permission for has asked to participate so I'm hoping I can create a few new enthusiasts there All kinds of possibilities.... I've got the geocaching bug bad... can't see myself getting bored anytime soon I think maybe I need to get a new dog (the 15 yr german shorthair pointer aint what she used to be)... hey I'll create my hiking buddy yet.

quote:Originally posted by CharlieP:She enjoys the walk and being outdoors with me and our dog....So I take her on the ones that have a long walk in a pretty area followed by a short cache hunt. My wife's in this category also. I read the hints and look at the topo maps. If the walk/hike is going to be the right length and the scenery interesting, I'll be able to talk her into jumping into the car with me and the dog. Sometimes, the kids convince her to go. Depends on the weather a lot; the kids and I go regardless, but she prefers good weather. YMMV ------------------ Rich in Western Pennsylvania N 40 33.029 W 079 59.408

quote:Originally posted by CharlieP:She enjoys the walk and being outdoors with me and our dog....So I take her on the ones that have a long walk in a pretty area followed by a short cache hunt. My wife's in this category also. I read the hints and look at the topo maps. If the walk/hike is going to be the right length and the scenery interesting, I'll be able to talk her into jumping into the car with me and the dog. Sometimes, the kids convince her to go. Depends on the weather a lot; the kids and I go regardless, but she prefers good weather. YMMV ------------------ Rich in Western Pennsylvania N 40 33.029 W 079 59.408

If you could travel like a genie (cross your arms, blink your eyes, nod your head), what cache(s) would you like to hunt? Or in other words, if time and money weren't an issue, what cache(s) would you like to hunt? This started going through my head recently because I noticed a couple new caches hidden in Hong Kong. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=9499 http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=9497 The descriptions (...you can catch the #7 in Central, to the northwest of the Star Ferry..) got me walking down memory lane and I thought it would be interesting to hear the opinions of others. Another cache that catches my eye is http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=8298 the cache is placed in the ruins of a mediveal castle in small nook somewhere in the castle. The description says to bring a flashlight. Talk about 'tree coverage' ... 'I couldn't get a good lock due to the stone ramparts and drawbridge...'

We met someone doing our first cache. He was leaving as we were finding. We weren't really sure what we were doing or anything about the hobby really (I had only bought the GPS that morning), so we didn't even stop to talk to him. As we were passing each other, he said, "Getting close". Even then we weren't sure if he was a fellow geocacher or not - till we read his log where he mentioned seeing us. dan.

We met someone doing our first cache. He was leaving as we were finding. We weren't really sure what we were doing or anything about the hobby really (I had only bought the GPS that morning), so we didn't even stop to talk to him. As we were passing each other, he said, "Getting close". Even then we weren't sure if he was a fellow geocacher or not - till we read his log where he mentioned seeing us. dan.

quote:Originally posted by jeremy:I just am trying to get most of it to be efficient so in case we get lots of pageviews at once the thing doesn't crawl. Hitting the site to collect data and post elsewhere causes CPU cycle peaks that concern me. Jeremy Jeremy, I definitely agree. It's because of this that I wouldn't update it very often, to answer another question up-thread. I'd say 1-2 times a week at most. The real reason I wrote it was to give it to the site. The actual page that displays the result doesn't take any CPU hit - it's the other script that crawls the site that would hit the CPU. Ideally, if this could be integrated into the whole site, there would be no need for a separate script to crawl the site. Every time a log was made of a bug, it would just write one update query to a "bugstats" database that the display page could call. If you want to talk more about this Jeremy feel free to email me at dan at insidecorner dot com. Another thing I'd like to say goes along with this. I know from running my own site that there is a lot of work that goes on that you have to do Jeremy. It's a beast as you mentioned in your email to me this morning as a reply to a question I had. As a web developer, this is an area that I'm able to help out. There are many new features such as this that I'd love to see and I'm sure other users would like to see as well. Such as bug / cache stats, maps, ability to view caches found by other users, ability to edit your logs, etc. I'm sure that you have thought of these things also - but you only have so many hours to do this as I think you have a "real" job as well, not to mention that I'm sure you son't want to spend ALL your free time updating this site. I'm willing to chip in - give me some direction and put me to work. If you want to talk more about this, feel free to email me. dan.

You got a problem with it - then talk to Jeremy (contact@geocaching.com) directly he's the only one that can do anything about it (if he agrees as this is his enterprise). You don't have to come here nor do you have to look at any particular caches if you do come here - for what it's worth I don't particularly like what's happening down south either. Childish sniping helps no-one, in fact on balance it probably makes the sniper look worse than the sniped. [This message has been edited by JasonW (edited 28 October 2001).]

You got a problem with it - then talk to Jeremy (contact@geocaching.com) directly he's the only one that can do anything about it (if he agrees as this is his enterprise). You don't have to come here nor do you have to look at any particular caches if you do come here - for what it's worth I don't particularly like what's happening down south either. Childish sniping helps no-one, in fact on balance it probably makes the sniper look worse than the sniped. [This message has been edited by JasonW (edited 28 October 2001).]

I'm a little confused by this thread... Are there actually people who would consider going geo-caching WITHOUT a dog?!?!? Why????? Jenni (my 10 1/2 yr old Golden Retriever) goes just about everywhere I go... including geo-caching! Ya know though... 10 1/2 years later, and I had no clue you could teach 'em to talk.

The next day we went to a cache that is nearly drive-to in a quiet neighborhood with a very good view. As we were pulling up, a previous group was piling into their car to leave. They noted it was a good one and departed. Nothing given away. Have never identified other cachers when both parties were still well back into search mode, but if we did, we'd either talk to them to see who would go first or find something else to do for a bit to let them complete the cache before we proceeded. T-storm ------------------ http://www.cordianet.com/geocaching

The next day we went to a cache that is nearly drive-to in a quiet neighborhood with a very good view. As we were pulling up, a previous group was piling into their car to leave. They noted it was a good one and departed. Nothing given away. Have never identified other cachers when both parties were still well back into search mode, but if we did, we'd either talk to them to see who would go first or find something else to do for a bit to let them complete the cache before we proceeded. T-storm ------------------ http://www.cordianet.com/geocaching

We have taken our Golden Retriever on many caches. For a while she had her own login ID and posted on all the caches she went to. I didn't use the fake doggy talk. It was more of a description of the dog friendly stuff and things a dog doesn't like, at least mine. We have a real problem with cheatgrass that gets in a dogs paws and works its way into the skin. I then gave them 1-3 woofs for dog friendliness. At some point, I quit doing it and a couple months later cleaned them out. I still log her whenever we take her, so at least people see that it was OK taking a dog.