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It's good to hear you've started a dialog. Make friends and try to see if you can convince him that it's a *friendly* gesture to flag a problem for the CO with an NM so he can go take care of it. That could lead to the broader question of whether the CO needs to go out a fix problems at all, since that might be the more significant problem you're facing. If you have trouble getting him to see the light -- it might take time -- talk to him about the possibility of you helping out with his maintenance tasks. It seems quite likely that the culture in your new area doesn't really expect problems to be fixed, and, if so, you'll have to work hard to swift the culture in another direction, and getting them in the habit of fixing caches might help even though it's you doing most of the work. I would understand if you got shy about posting NMs, at least for a while, but I'd continue to look for his caches and post the appropriate NMs, perhaps trying to add a light-hearted air to the friendly disagreement the two of you are having over whether NMs should be posted. Good luck!

Do you know any local cachers? Talk to them! (or email them, at any rate) The adoption process is straightforward enough >> https://www.geocaching.com/help/index.php?pg=kb.chapter&id=38&pgid=54 And actually, you only have 3 left that haven't yet been archived. The other 3 have already been archived.

The difference is between people that think regulating the behavior of others is generally a good idea and the only question is how to regulate them, and people that think regulating the behavior of others is generally a bad thing to do, so a clear justification is required before you take that action. In other words, between people that think order is the most important thing and those that think freedom is the most important thing. Unfortunately, US popular opinion has, over the last half century, shifted from the latter to the former. Ironic, since the generation that originally saw itself as anti-establishment has been so instrumental in enlarging and fortifying the establishment now that they're in charge of it. Increasingly here in the geocaching world, people talk as if their standards should be enforced without any regard to whether the things they want to rule out are actually bad things as opposed to merely being things they don't like even though others do. As in our politics, this leads to unending arguments because the rule proposing side does not consider objections worthy of consideration as long as the rules they are proposing have popularity on their side. They don't respond to -- in fact, they don't even consider -- the objections that are repeatedly raised and, instead, repeat their opinions as if people will decide to believe in those opinions if they're repeated often enough. Which, sadly, turns out to be an effective approach.

Bingo! Now go join Tennis Courts, talk to the NW History Buff and see what you can get done there. Serving as an officer there would serve as a good "introductory experience" to category ownership. Keith

I created a tour guide type Wherigo like this and ran into a major problem. If using the same character but are moving them in each zone you will have to activate or deactivate the command "talk" for each zone depending on where the character is. Doing this, you will need to create a new "talk" command for each zone. In urwigo This gets confusing because you will have multiples of the same command. I believe there is a limit on the number of commands you can give a character or item at 6. If you use more there will be problems with the player. There's a variety of work arounds. One possibility would be to simply show a message On proximity or on enter in each zone and the message could have an image of that character. This makes it appear like you are interacting with that character. The other option is create one talk command but change the message or input based upon a variable for that zone. I like the idea of having different characters in each zone too.

In that thread it turns out that many of those COs were not actually maintaining those caches. They had strings of DNFs, NMs, no OMs, reviewer notes and disables. I see that you were rewarded a Virtual. And looking at your stats I'd say well deserved. You have a reasonable amount of hides that you look after without getting a reviewer involved. You even check your caches just to check if they're still in good order. The anti-algorithm talk and 'why don't I get to own a virtual' protests spoke volumes.

BAD NEWS about the Myncaster station. I stopped by there today and was able to talk with a farmer just north of it. What appears on satellite views, in the vicinity of where the station once was, is an old barn & hay shed. The Myncaster station was moved north and west from there some time ago and has since been destroyed. SOB, SOB! Keith

You see, that's why analogy's don't really work all that well as arguments. Money = FP's breaks down because you are spending any money given by an employer (even investing is giving that money to someone else to "hold" for you) which you don't do with FP's. Employee of the Month is handled very differently with each list. So trying to force one thing (FP's) into another model (money) only works just so far. So let's quit arguing about a poor analogy, talk about FP's and goals in "awarding" or "collecting" them.

The chat archive was always open to anyone from the beginning. You could even become a member of the list with out having to be a member of the OGA. I know because I applied and became a member of the list. That only lasted for about 4 days until I complained to the hosting service that inappropriate content was being posted to the list and the service owners agreed with me. My pay back for this was having my complaint posted in the list and my list membership revoked. Pretty cool, getting booted of a list without a single post to the list. After that a few people starting posting about taking the list private and it looks like it happened. Oddly enough, a few days before this change, some other people complained about something on the list and their complaints were not air to the public that I saw. Seeing as this is not an email, but something posted in the public, I see no problem with adding it here. From: oga-talk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oga-talk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of The Blue Quasar Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2007 9:46 PM To: oga-talk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [oga-talk] OGA: Recent postings of copyright material - Please review in its entirety To all participants of OGA-Talk: On Friday May 25th, 2007 a member of the Ontario Geocaching Association (OGA) executive was contacted by a representative from Freelists.org in regard to the following complaint that had been sent to them: Subject: Posting of copyrighted material. Date: Thursday 24 May 2007 15:51 From: kwatson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To: staff@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:staff@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Members have been posting copyrighted material to the oga-talk list. A few members have subscribed to an on line document that is being mailed to them. As they receive each edition, they are posting it in it's entirety to the talk group. This information is not freely available to the public unless they ask for it directly from the creator. No where in what is being posted is anything that would indicate permission has been given. As part of the subsequent discussions between the OGA and Freelists.org we were advised to remove all identified copyright material from the archives of Freelists.org that were posted by members of OGA that have posted. This action was completed Saturday May 26th. All content of the discussion was removed in accordance with the following documentation as provided by the representative of Freelists.org: (IANAL) Copyright is implicit -- the fact that someone wrote something grants it copyright by default. Fair use allows excerpts of passages provided proper credit is given and other things like use for parody. I believe what they're doing violates the author's copyright since it is a direct copy of the content in its entirety. Again, IANAL, this is just my slightly-informed understanding of copyright law. I believe this presents a problem for FreeLists. I think we should explore removing the content from the archives and preventing it from being posted in the future. n as provided by John Madden (weez@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) If you have any questions regarding this notification, please contact info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

First off I'm not picking on this person, not going to say what cache it is or who placed it, but I did want to talk about it and see if you had any similar experiences. Was alerted of a geocache recently published near me last night so I went out but was unable to find it. Sent the OP a message asking for a hint, and they directed me pretty far from the coordinates, about 20-30 feet away. I went back this morning with the hint and lo and behold tossed in the bushes pretty far away was just a simple GLAD container with 2 pieces of blank scrap paper, a clothespin, and a rubber eraser. FTF, hooray? I checked out their profile and this person joined only a couple weeks ago with 3 finds and 3 hides. I understand not everyone has money to spend on official geocaching containers and crazy swag, and in a cute way this is basically geocaching at its essence in a little Tupperware container, but would any of you been happy to find this after searching 2 different days for a total of maybe an hour and a half? There's a reason why Geocaching recommends you find something like 20 caches before hiding your own. Honestly when I saw it in the bush I thought it was some random trash someone threw out of their car window as they passed by, I know you've all seen the type of stuff I'm referring to while hunting. The placement was also super strange. I'm going to message the OP and mention that there is a big tree absolutely perfect for hiding this in about 20 feet up the trail, with lots of holes and hiding spots. Tossed in a random bush by the side of the road way off the coordinates is not fun to find for anyone. Anyway, hopefully I can work with this new player to maybe help them and make this cache better, and was wondering if you guys have any similar stories? Have any worse experiences? All things considered it's not THAT bad, so I know you guys must have some horror stories worth sharing.

My first Geocaching experience was in 2008, right when the activity had gained a lot of traction. One of my extended relatives asked me if I had heard of Geocaching. I forget the exact explanation he used, but I was very intrigued. My cousins and I hopped in the car and joined the search with my relative. I didn't find any of the caches (they were all micros), but the people with me did. I signed my name and the rest is history. I think the best way to get muggles into it is to talk about it. I usually bring up the names of trails I walk and mention Geocaching. They either give me a puzzled look or a "Yeah I've heard about it." Also, there is a trend on Tik Tok that I learned of recently, so a lot of younger people are being introduced to it that way. Last week, I found a cache in front of some muggles. They asked what I was doing and I explained Geocaching to them. They responded positively, so I might have helped a "wizard" discover themselves! My favorite is to just ask a muggle if they want to go Geocaching with me. I've done this maybe once and it was a good time.

This makes no sense. FPs are used in so many different ways for so many different reasons that if you're concerned about what they mean for others, it means you probably shouldn't use them at all as there's no way you can use your FP in a manner that means the same for everyone else. You're basically saying that someone who gives a FP for a FTF (it certainly happens) or gives a FP to the cache because they know the CO (this happens as well) should factor into your decision to award a FP the same way someone who gives a FP for an amazing location or a FP for a rewarding caching experience from start to end. How will you ever be able to meet the expectation for every reason a FP is awarded? You earned the FP and it's yours to give as you deem warranted. Why should someone else's thoughts about what they believe a FP means factor into your decision to award your FP to a cache? Cerberus provided the appropriate link to rebut this. Some cachers did (and still do) use it that way but that was never the overriding intent. It was only an addition that allowed cachers to add FPs to caches for whatever reason they felt like awarding one. I've added them for a cool creative container, the amazing location, the total experience from start to finish, for a cache placed in remembrance of a caching friend, for the opportunity to talk to an Amish gentleman in a cemetery and learn the history of the church and the community, and for other reasons. I guarantee that many cachers wouldn't have found the cache where I was talking to the Amish man a "good" cache. It was just a micro container along a fence line in a cemetery. The experience I had was what made that cache FP worthy. If I were ever over in @barefootjeff's neck of the woods, you can bet I'd look at the caches he's given FPs to because we appear to have similar tastes in cache experiences. I do use FPs to help filter caches when going to a new area for a family vacation. Caches that I ordinarily might remove from my list stay on it due to the number of FPs it has accrued. Sometimes the cache turns out to be worth it while other times it is a dud of a cache. They will never guarantee a good/great experience since they're awarded for too many various reasons to be consistent. However, the odds are usually a bit better than just some randomly filtered out caches with far less (or none) FPs.

Hi you guys I am a long time geocacher who lost touch when I moved to Maui, its just not happening a lot here. Beautiful, but not a lot of caching. OK so I have two Garmin Hcx Etrex. I know, its been a moment. I need to buy a new unit, and am eyeing the link below. Is this my best bet right now? I have bad eyes, so will this be a step up? And oh, I am not a touchscreen fan. Any feedback welcome. And also, new friends Please? I am taking tomorrow off so I can sit online and make friends and talk story and rekindle my passion for geocaching. I am ready to purchase tonight, so talk to me.... Mods, if in the wrong place, please let me know <3 Garmin GPSMAP 64st, TOPO U.S. 100K with High-Sensitivity GPS and GLONASS Receiver

Let's set up a long term thread that we can all talk about caching in and around San Diego County.

I have no interest in souvenirs. For challenge caches that are challenging, in particular, when I meet the challenge, I want to log the find so I can talk about the challenge and what it meant to me for the same reason I want to log cache finds and talk about them. I'm not doing it for trophies. Yeah - I'd rather have challenge caches continue as-is than to see them completely banned and replaced by souvenirs. The post-moratorium rules have eliminated some challenge types that I enjoyed, but at least the pre-moratorium ones have been allowed to continue and there is some potential for new challenge caches that might be interesting, if a CO can come up with a good idea that works within the current guidelines. I wouldn't be opposed to simple souvenirs, like Jasmer or Fizzy or calendar, but I wouldn't want to see GS resources spent on something that is currently accomplished by BadgeGen. I wouldn't be surprised if GS ends up getting complaints from cachers about how a particular 'accomplishment' doesn't have a souvenir. "There is a souvenir for having 2000 and 3000 finds, but how about a souvenir for having 2500" or "There is a souvenir for completing a Fizzy grid, but how about a souvenir for completing half of a Fizzy grid"... There have already been complaints about how some countries don't yet have souvenirs, so I don't see how 'accomplishment' souvenirs would be an attractive use of time.

That's a good division that covers most everything, although one of the problems I have with GS's attitude towards challenges is that in preventing challenges, they rule out everything except accomplishments, so a CO can't come up with a new idea that isn't really either. I have no interest in souvenirs. For challenge caches that are challenging, in particular, when I meet the challenge, I want to log the find so I can talk about the challenge and what it meant to me for the same reason I want to log cache finds and talk about them. I'm not doing it for trophies.

In geocache talk it don't mean stolen loot though. Street talk, swag is low grade stuff. Kinda makes sense as to what I find left in geocaches.

Can you please explain my why if cachers sit in a restaurant and eat pasta and talk about geocaching it is related to geocaching and if cachers meet at an ice skating area and skate and talk about geocaching or go for a hike and talk about geocaching it is not related to geocaching? I just do not get it. round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and we go

So... just host a hike and invite geocachers directly without making it an event. That's exactly what the ice skating event will end up. gc.com will lose however and those who do not belong to cliques and are not local to the event area. I thought that there should be better ways, but apparently they are not and Groundspeak does not seem to have interest to keep such events on their site. Why would Groundspeak be interested in hosting things entirely unrelated to geocaching? As far as I am aware, they are not out to compete with Meetup.com. How is it a loss? Can you please explain my why if cachers sit in a restaurant and eat pasta and talk about geocaching it is related to geocaching and if cachers meet at an ice skating area and skate and talk about geocaching or go for a hike and talk about geocaching it is not related to geocaching? I just do not get it. Nobody said those things weren't about geocaching. Your ideal event, evidently, is not about geocaching. You just want to use the geocaching site as a platform to bring people to something that has nothing to do with geocaching, and that's an entirely separate issue.

So... just host a hike and invite geocachers directly without making it an event. That's exactly what the ice skating event will end up. gc.com will lose however and those who do not belong to cliques and are not local to the event area. I thought that there should be better ways, but apparently they are not and Groundspeak does not seem to have interest to keep such events on their site. Why would Groundspeak be interested in hosting things entirely unrelated to geocaching? As far as I am aware, they are not out to compete with Meetup.com. How is it a loss? Can you please explain my why if cachers sit in a restaurant and eat pasta and talk about geocaching it is related to geocaching and if cachers meet at an ice skating area and skate and talk about geocaching or go for a hike and talk about geocaching it is not related to geocaching? I just do not get it.

Check the list in my post above from Feb 17. It is from the same source. I watch both to see if any new ones are added. It's all "GPS". Different countries put different names on their own systems, though. (g.e., EU = Galileo, Russia = GLONASS, China = BeiDou, etc). It's a competitive environment. When we're talking about L5, it's strictly a US issue. The U.S. govt is still calling the L5 signals from Block III 'pre-operational' and won't be considered fully operational until 24 of the Block III birds are up and broadcasting. That isn't anticipated for some years. Not sure when Lockheed-Martin will be done getting the last of the IIIC units into orbit. Looks like SVN 74 (PRN 4) is up and running and healthy since mid-January 2020. That said, I fully expect nav companies to use any 'healthy' L5 signals to augment what's already in the air long before all 24 are up. In order to deal with things like Galileo, a receiver has to be looking in the right place. While we've been talking about L1/L2/L5, you have to then look at Galileo as E1, E5/E5a/E5b, and E6. Whether the chip maker covers the whole spread varies between manufacturers and chips within their families. All of them talk about civilian accuracy in the 3m range.

If signing your name is a pointless exercise, how do you feel about actually opening the cache? I mean, if you Found the cache and it's in your hands, you can still talk about it online. For that matter, why even pick it up. Once you see it, you can still talk about it. Right? So just look around for it and once you spot the hiding place you're good to go. Actually, I guess there's no reason to even see the cache. If you're not going to pick it up, or open it, or sign the log, why even bother putting your eyes on it? I think you should be able to find the place you think it's hidden in and then talk about it. You could probably even talk about it without going so far as to get out of your car. Why take the hike, or lift the lamp post skirt, or look under the bushes, etc. These require you to leave the nice cool air conditioned car. Perhaps you could just drive up to where you'd need to get out of your car if you were going to sign the log, and then turn around and go back home. Now that I really think about it, with gas prices so high, and signing being so pointless of an exercise, there's really no good reason to drive all the way out there. I say, since we're playing the game just so we can talk about caches, a lot of information is on the cache page itself, and that should give us enough to talk about. I wish these cache owners would stop being so self righteous and give up the "little man syndrome" about their power, and cut us some slack! My original position was that there are a few RARE instances in which a log cannot or should not be signed and that inasmuch as the cache was still actually found, it is still legitimate to log it as a find, and that is wrong to acuse someone who participates in the game/sport in good will by different personal rules as a being "cheater". That is still my position. Again I sign virtually all logs as a courtesy to the owner. Poking a hole is mushy log to PROVE that I was there is still a pointless excerise to me. By my personal rules, if I FIND the cache and open it, it is a FIND to me and I will log it as such, irrespective of whether the logbook, sheet, or mush-ball is signed. This talk about claiming logs from the car is silliness. I respect that others play by insisting that they must sign the log. All I can say, is that I don't try to tell anyone else how to do anthing, and I would hope others would adopt the same attitude in geocaching and life in general.

Talk about an EVIL hide! I read in the news about the astronaut who dove down to the deepest accessible area on the ocean floor. Who knows, perhaps our diving technology will improve and sunken shipwrecks will become Wherigos. A really neat Earthcache would be the volcanic vents on the ocean floor. I couldn't imagine placing physical containers in shipwrecks, WAY too dangerous/unethical in some cases.

The OP is clearly asking about the "unofficial GeoTour" meaning of "GeoTrail," so let's talk about that.

I am having the same issues as the ones posted above. I have contacted Groundspeak and have received the same answer back as the others. I have contacted my internet provider and also contacted my carrier AT&T which I spent nearly an hour on the phone with. The one I was talking to even went higher up the food chain to no advail. They said the only way they could really tell why i am not receiving my text notifications would be to follow a text from start to finish but I don’t have a clue how to give them an origin for a text that I am no longer getting. It seems like they need to talk to someone at Groundspeak to follow the transaction from start to finish. If you will furnish me that number I would be glad to contact AT&T and give it to them.