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Why We Should Be Nice To Muggles

deimos444

By deimos444
in General geocaching topics

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Tidalflame

+Tidalflame

Posted
Posted

I don't know. I don't want to sound like an elitist, especially since I'm still pretty much a newbie... but I think that for the sake of the sport, you have to be careful about who you reveal it to. If someone seems like a nice person, then by all means, tell them about Geocaching. But conversely, there are some people I'd never tell about it because I'd be worried that they'd just go trash any caches they could get their hands on.

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twjolson & Kay

twjolson & Kay

Posted
Posted

The majority of people aren't malicious. They wouldn't trash a cache unless reacting to something; like the cache owner making them mad. But also, you are missing the other side of the equation. Sure the next person maybe malious (not likely, but possible), but the next person might also be the next great cache hider. That is far more likely then them being a mean jerk.

This isn't a club. GC.com is open for all to see. I think excluding everyone until they prove themselves just isn't smart. Share geocaching, everyone contributes. New blood means new ideas, new caches, new local clubs, new events, etc. Sure there is risk, but so much can be gained from so little risk.

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Radman Forever

Radman Forever

Posted
Posted

I tell some people about geocaching, but I don't tell everyone about the sport. I think TV, the Internet, newspapers, magazines and other word-of-mouth sources are doing that for me. Besides, I think it would be more fun for muggles to "accidentally" discover geocaching on their own like I did (I clicked on a link from Wheresgeorge.com and the rest is history).

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hide & seekers

hide & seekers

Posted
Posted (edited)
We were all muggles once. :blink:

My husband and I moved a micro cache along one of our favorite hiking trails in a state park before we realized what it was -- that's how we were introduced to the sport. Got the GPS this December for a different reason and then a friend told me about geocaching.com. Been hooked ever since I found my first one!

 

(Hey Radman, I was born in your town!)

Edited by hide & seekers
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BlueDeuce

+BlueDeuce

Posted
Posted (edited)
I think that we should honestly explain what we are doing.

And if you have an old GPSr you might be able to sell it.

Some people ask me what I'm doing, some people question me.

 

Some are asking to see if you need help, some want to know if you are up to no good, some are only curious up to a point.

 

I have to decide if they really want to hear about geocaching or even if they should (there I said it). Sure maybe I missed a recuit but I really don't feel a responsibility or a requirement to tell just anybody what I'm doing.

 

Heck, why am I talking to you? I'm outta here. ;)

Edited by BlueDeuce
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AuntieWeasel

+AuntieWeasel

Posted
Posted

It depends. I've found people are pretty uniformly fascinated with the idea in the abstract, and pretty uniformly negative about the idea of one of these things in their own neighborhood or favorite park.

 

On my first day out, I found a micro in a doggie park and explained to a dog walker who saw me what I was up to. She squinted at me and said, "you people aren't doing nothin' stoopid, are you?" I'm not sure what she had in mind. Drug dealing or terrorism or something, I imagine. To my relief, the cache wasn't muggled for over a year after that, but I was sure I had put it at risk.

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CoyoteRed

CoyoteRed

Posted
Posted (edited)

The only folks I will show a cache to are the authorities or land owner. Others I simply give them this site's URL and maybe talk to them about it. That way, then if they are interested, they can find it on their own.

 

I don't include them in the hunt I am on at the time. Like others have said, it's best to let them make discoveries on their own.

 

Besides, who am I to jeopordize someone's cache because of my error in judgement?

 

EDIT: fixed typo that completely changed meaning.

Edited by CoyoteRed
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Miragee

+Miragee

Posted
Posted

The only muggles I have shown a cache to recently were some guys who were riding off-road motorcycles. They were stopped at a viewpoint when I arrived, wearing a backpack, on a rather warm day. I figured they might wonder what I was doing, so I showed them my GPSr and told them all about the website and then showed them the ammo can full of great swag . . . that I hadn't hidden yet.

 

They said they thought the idea sounded really fun, so maybe I made some converts. :)

 

The ammo can I showed them got hidden more than .1 of a mile further up another steep trail that I don't think their bikes could navigate.

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welch

+welch

Posted
Posted
We were all muggles once. :)

Exactly, how else are we suppost to introduce Geocaching to other people?

by randomly selecting people off the street (or park trail) and indoctrinating them? :laughing:

 

Unless I'm specifally asked if I'm geocaching, i usually just give some other simple reason to mildly interested people.

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2ofHis

+2ofHis

Posted
Posted
We were all muggles once. :)

Exactly, how else are we suppost to introduce Geocaching to other people?

"Go out to the highways and byways and bid them to come in!" I have showed several family members our new passtime, and they were very enthusiastic about it. I don't know that any of them will buy a GPSr to go at it themselves, but they had fun caching with us. My 12-year-old nephew likes to go into his "pirate" mode when we talk about it, and make plans to go after "treasure". (Aaargh!)

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damel

+damel

Posted
Posted
Are Geocachers that are not caching at the time considered muggles? :rolleyes: Have you every purposely "muggled" another cacher just to keep them waiting? :P Oh, the anitcipation! :D that would be unethical! :P:D

I have so done this before! Like when you know they have to be a cacher because they are just lingering around. I just sit and watch. :P Its fun to see the anticipation for sure!

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E = Mc2

+E = Mc2

Posted
Posted
We were all muggles once. :P

Exactly, how else are we suppost to introduce Geocaching to other people?

"Go out to the highways and byways and bid them to come in!"

:rolleyes:That's exactly what I do! (Hint: Occupation)

 

Although the majority of my passengers don't really understand the capabilities of a GPSr: That's one of them there tracking devices, huh? I have had some folks who at least had heard the term, and one just last week had actually gone caching with her brother.

 

I wonder just how many I've turned on to the sport since I started... :P

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TeamAO

+TeamAO

Posted
Posted

I think muggles get blamed for alot of "looting". But I read alot of forum posts, and all the logs for all the local caches. And when one comes up missing, you can always read back and see how "great they were hidden" and "camoflauged extensively". I hike VERY frequently and I've never recalled a muggle hopping around off the trail BEGGING to get a snake bite or something of that nature. Maybe it's just jerks, who aren't geocachers but have a GPS and decided to play some games. Maybe it's geocachers that got bored. Whatever the case may be, most of the time "muggles" get blamed WAY to often.

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fly46

+fly46

Posted
Posted

I go on a person by person basis.. The redneck in the crappy truck that was trying to give me money for the pay phone because my yellow etrex cell phone wouldn't get reception got a total lie and I ran off... The woman at the boat ramp got something about a scavenger hunt but not the whole thing 'cause I was in a race at the time.

The police officer didn't get any explanation at all!

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JanniCash

+JanniCash

Posted
Posted
We were all muggles once. :D

Not me.

 

I was caching before someone decided to steal that term from those famous witch stories. :(

 

Salvelinus

By that logic, there have never been Dinosaurs, because the term has been developed only 85 million years after they got extinct.

 

Jan

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