A Webpage Of Cache Puzzle Solutions

[+carleenp]

How do you puzzle cache owners feel about people who cache with others who have figured out the puzzle?

 

Would you delete the find of someone who accompanied the other person on the hike to the cache location?

 

Just wondering . . .

I don't really care about that. Normally they are people who worked on the puzzle as a group. If someone made no effort in it I would hope they would admit that in their log. I wouldn't delete it if they happened to be there with legitimate solvers. The difference with the online site is it allows for people to make it appear like they solved the puzzle on their own when they did not.

[+Miragee]

Thanks. I would never use that online site, but I cache with someone who is really good at puzzle solving, and I suck at puzzles.

 

Sometimes I understand the concept after it is explained to me; sometimes I don't.

 

Since I don't download Puzzle caches in my PQs, I don't know anything about them until we are on our way to the cache . . .

[+olbluesguy]

If they just tagged along ,and signed the log I wouldn't like it,but how are you going to know?

I know one thing.I'm going to change some things on my puzzles so that I can find out who cheated and expose them.

Can you imagine someone creating a site giving away regular caches?

How would it be if someone posted a picture of the hidding spot?

 

The wayI see it is, Its my Cache...I own It..I set the rules..Do it my way or don't do it at all..Period! I didnt go thru the trouble of creating it for cheaters.

All my future puzzle caches will be placed with that site in mind

[+reveritt]

CarleenP, it's always good to see your Christmas avatar appear--puts me in the holiday mood.

[SCP-173]

How do you puzzle cache owners feel about people who cache with others who have figured out the puzzle?

 

Would you delete the find of someone who accompanied the other person on the hike to the cache location?

 

Just wondering . . .

That doesn't bother me for pretty much the same reasons Carleen gave. People will work in groups often, so they both know how the puzzle works. Some people also cache in teams or groups all the time, and I wouldn't want them to split up because of my cache. I can just see a father saying "Sorry Jimmy, but you didn't solve the puzzle so you need to wait here while daddy logs a find".

 

And this hasn't stopped me from hiding new puzzles.

[+Jeonlyep]

CarleenP, it's always good to see your Christmas avatar appear--puts me in the holiday mood.

It puts me in an altogether different but equally festive mood!

 

 

DAryl

Edited December 3, 2005 by Jeonlyep

[+fauxSteve]

How do you puzzle cache owners feel about people who cache with others who have figured out the puzzle?

I actually encourage it. Camaraderie is a great part of geocaching and there is no reason to punish smart people by making them cache alone!

 

Then again, I think I take a different approach to puzzle caches than some of the other cachers posting here. This cache type is something that is not for everyone, but since puzzles are incredibly popular in our community I am more than happy to help out, and even spoil, my own cache solutions for someone who just wants to go hunting instead of puzzling (and I have no problem if cachers go to past finders for hints as well). Besides, the puzzles around here (central Seattle) generally get quite a few hints added after the FTFers struggle to figure it all out.

 

It seems that in some areas it’s really looked down upon for cachers to get together and solve puzzles or share info about the really difficult ones, but that whole activity is one of the cornerstones of geocaching around here.

 

On a main thread note: I've known about this spoiler site for a long time and until this week there were only a couple dozen solutions and many of them were wrong. Don't sweat it, and don't overreact...

[CoyoteRed]

It seems that in some areas it’s really looked down upon for cachers to get together and solve puzzles or share info about the really difficult ones, but that whole activity is one of the cornerstones of geocaching around here.

You're missing the point.

 

A group of folks who have not found the cache working together to solve the puzzles is part of caching. As the owner of a few puzzle caches, I don't have a problem with folks working together to solve the puzzle. In fact, I don't have too much of a problem with previous finders giving a slight nudge to someone who is just not getting it. (Or course, that's just me, others might feel a bit different.)

 

This is completely different from a previous finder just saying, "here are the coords to the final." This is what upsets me as a puzzle cache owner.

 

There is a huge different between the two.

[+fauxSteve]

You're missing the point.

Not really. That just wasn't the point I was addressing. Carry on people...

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

Then again, I think I take a different approach to puzzle caches than some of the other cachers posting here. This cache type is something that is not for everyone, but since puzzles are incredibly popular in our community I am more than happy to help out, and even spoil, my own cache solutions for someone who just wants to go hunting instead of puzzling (and I have no problem if cachers go to past finders for hints as well). Besides, the puzzles around here (central Seattle) generally get quite a few hints added after the FTFers struggle to figure it all out.

 

It seems that in some areas it’s really looked down upon for cachers to get together and solve puzzles or share info about the really difficult ones, but that whole activity is one of the cornerstones of geocaching around here.

 

On a main thread note: I've known about this spoiler site for a long time and until this week there were only a couple dozen solutions and many of them were wrong. Don't sweat it, and don't overreact...

I much agree with your note above! Thanks for saying this so well! Here is an analogy: I love to place extreme caches, with a terrain rating of 4.5 or 5 (usually 5) and we have a series of extreme urban caches called the Psycho Urban Cache series; several are mult-stage extreme caches. Some of these multi-stage caches can also be difficult in other ways, such as when you have penetrated deep into a storm drain system and have no idea whether to turn left or right or go straight at the next intersection of storm drain pipes, and your GPS is no help because you are deep underground, or into which of three parallel storm drain pipes to enter and crawl for 500 feet. For me, that is part of the challenge: to have accurately plotted the location of the stage beforehand so you know where to turn, or to have to explore all three pipes before you find the darn stage.

 

However, there is one local cacher (a fine cacher, but a busy man with a family to look after, and thus little time to spare for cache hunts) who sometimes calls me on the phone before tackling these caches and asks for strong and specific hints on exactly where each stage of the cache is. He is still more than willing to go in there and retrieve each stage, and he does so dutifully, but he just does not want to have to figure things out while he is in there. In other words, he wants to know exactly where each stage is so he can just go in and get it quickly, without spending a half-hour on his belly in a cold wet tube trying to locate exactly where the stage might be. I willingly give him the information for which he asks; I do not worry that he may have been given a shortcut to my cache. To me, this is respecting that everyone is different and respecting the way he chooses to play the game. Bottom line is that he still gets dirty and has fun, and I still have fun. No attachment, no loss, no fuss!

Edited December 3, 2005 by Vinny & Sue Team

[+HMP No Ka Oi]

How do you puzzle cache owners feel about people who cache with others who have figured out the puzzle?

 

Would you delete the find of someone who accompanied the other person on the hike to the cache location?

 

Just wondering . . .

First, I don't care if someone didn't solve my puzzle and signed the log OR if they went to some other web site to get a clue, hint or solution to my puzzle cache. I have far too many important things to worry about than goofy stuff like this. If someone wanted the coords for my puzzle caches they can email me and I will give it to them.

 

As for deleting logs: You would have to write something OUTRAGEOUS for me to delete your log i.e. give away the actual coords ruining the puzzle for those who wish to solve it with out help. In my area there have been cache owners who have deleted logs that were simply unflattering about the puzzle or have said things like the "cache was 50' away from GZ". This is NOT a give away, you still have to solve the puzzle.

[+AuntieWeasel]

I have far too many important things to worry about than goofy stuff like this.

And yet you don't have too many important things to worry about to weigh in on the topic in great big letters. Ah, life is full of fascinating paradoxes.

[+Mudfrog]

We have a couple or three puzzle caches out and can see what some of the ruckus is about here. As with the rest of you, i wanted ours to be fun and challenging! Well of course there wouldnt be any challenge at all if cachers used that site to get the final coordinates.

 

Does this bother me,, not really! I keep seeing over and over on these forums that people should be able to play the game the way they want. So if a cacher wants to cheat themselves by using that site then why should i care. Heck, they missed out on the best part of the cache experience to my notion. For this reason, i dont believe that a cacher who has pride and who likes that sense of accomplishment would even consider using the site.

[+reveritt]

... I keep seeing over and over on these forums that people should be able to play the game the way they want. ...

Within the rules. And before we get off on the familiar "rules vs. guidelines" debate--I am saying that in any game, there is a range of acceptable behavior--call it whatever you want.

 

The only reason many people in this thread are unconcerned about the spoiler website is that it is obscure. If people started giving away puzzle solutions here in these forums, I believe they would be squelched in short order. Newbies who naively ask how to solve puzzles are universally informed that this is poor form, and they should communicate privately with the cache owner.

[+ChileHead]

I was once even called the "evil bas***d son of the devil"

Oh that happened more than once.

[+Mudfrog]

... I keep seeing over and over on these forums that people should be able to play the game the way they want. ...

Within the rules. And before we get off on the familiar "rules vs. guidelines" debate--I am saying that in any game, there is a range of acceptable behavior--call it whatever you want.

 

The only reason many people in this thread are unconcerned about the spoiler website is that it is obscure. If people started giving away puzzle solutions here in these forums, I believe they would be squelched in short order. Newbies who naively ask how to solve puzzles are universally informed that this is poor form, and they should communicate privately with the cache owner.

I agree that this was not done in the best of taste but there are no rules or guidelines pertaining to this sort of thing either. I also agree that we should all try to act in an acceptable behavior but i know that this doesnt allways come about with some folks. Its one of those things we sometimes cant do much about.

 

What i was trying to say above is that i dont think the site would ever cause much of a problem in the first place. I really think that most people would avoid using it. Im wanting to think that the majority of us want the challenge that comes along with a puzzle cache. Skipping over that challenge would end up making the cache find pretty boring. There's only going to be a very few who might want to cheat in order to make that find, and while i think it is wrong personally, it really doesnt hurt me in any way!

[+sbell111]

I would like to say that I am shocked that this issue is causing such a ruckus. I'm not, because I know that people get all twisted up over the tiniest things in the forums.

 

I really don't think that it's that big of a deal. I don't see how it's any different than one person telling their friend what the trick to figuring out a puzzle is.

 

Whatever.

[+sbell111]

It appears to me that this thread defeats its own pupose in two ways.

 

First, the webpage in question had been virtually unknown. Since few people knew of it, there were few solutions and few 'cheaters'. Now more people know of it because of this thread. The result being more solutions posted and more people using these solutions.

 

Second, some cache owners are threatening to archive (or have archived their caches) because of this information. This action merely deprives the vast majority of cachers who don't even know the website in question exists.

[+briansnat]

OK, puzzlephobes--give this one a try.  There is no math involved--the challenge is in finding the information at each stop, but nobody has failed to solve it yet.

Okay, now you're just being mean.

Here's one for you Auntie W.

[+Moose Mob]

Since TPTB are aware of this issue and a few requests end the beatings of this long since dead horse. I'm going to put this thread out of it's misery.

 

Thanks folks.