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Won't Release Tb


GeoRaptor

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Posted (edited)

I have a TB (Anaconda) that has been in the hands of the same person since 5/14/2005. I have emailed this person several times. He responded the first time saying he would move it along shortly. Now its several months later, and he doesn't respond to my emails and still no TB movement. Any suggestions?

Edited by GeoRaptor
Posted

Well, the bad news is that the person has found only one cache since he got your bug. That is the bad thing about people who don't cache much and grab travel bugs. You might also want to think that maybe something happened to them. Maybe they got in an accident or something and can't get out to cache. It would be nice if they would give you some scoop, but that doesn't look like it is happening. I wish you luck. If you scower their logs, maybe you can find someone who they have cached with and get in contact with them and see if they can help you out.

Posted

At least he admits to having it so you know for sure where it is. Many get taken out and looged as picked up and never moved on. People loose them, give them to the kids, etc. Often will reply to an email that they did move it on, but did not log what cache they put it in to.

 

I have suggested a solution to this many times here, but here it is again.

 

What happens is that a TB gets picked up and logged. The logger gets credit for the TB and thus has less incentive to move it on. The bug finds it's way to the bottom of a back pack, a closet or gets tossed to the kids in the back of the van and that's the end of it.

 

If you could not get credit for a TB UNTIL you log it a second time, (typically when you set it out on it's way), then this specific problem would be greatly reduced.

Posted
At least he admits to having it so you know for sure where it is. Many get taken out and looged as picked up and never moved on. People loose them, give them to the kids, etc. Often will reply to an email that they did move it on, but did not log what cache they put it in to.

 

I have suggested a solution to this many times here, but here it is again.

 

What happens is that a TB gets picked up and logged. The logger gets credit for the TB and thus has less incentive to move it on. The bug finds it's way to the bottom of a back pack, a closet or gets tossed to the kids in the back of the van and that's the end of it.

 

If you could not get credit for a TB UNTIL you log it a second time, (typically when you set it out on it's way), then this specific problem would be greatly reduced.

As someone once said to me: Do you cut and paste this? :huh:

Somehow, I think that since most of the bugs missing in these circumstances were picked up by newbies who have since abandoned the sport, I doubt that they would be concerned about your solution.

Posted

This is an age old question, but here's a thought I just had.

When e-mailing a cacher, in your email, make the suggestion that they can reply to you through your profile page and provide the link to that page. That way they can still keep their own email private by checking off the little box at the bottom so it doesn't include the sender's address. And the link is right there for them. Quick and easy. Perhaps when they see your profile, it will make it more personal and they'll reply. Just a thought. There really isn't much else you can do, beside the log scouring and reaching out to someone they've cached with suggestion. Good luck with your travel bugs.

Posted
What happens is that a TB gets picked up and logged. The logger gets credit for the TB and thus has less incentive to move it on. The bug finds it's way to the bottom of a back pack, a closet or gets tossed to the kids in the back of the van and that's the end of it.

 

If you could not get credit for a TB UNTIL you log it a second time, (typically when you set it out on it's way), then this specific problem would be greatly reduced.

This would work unless they just put they dropped it somewhere and never did.

Posted

As someone once said to me:  Do you cut and paste this?  :unsure: 

Somehow, I think that since most of the bugs missing in these circumstances were picked up by newbies who have since abandoned the sport, I doubt that they would be concerned about your solution.

 

Yes. And from what I have seen here and from asking other cachers, this is one of the most common reasons TB's go missing. Newbies are responsible for some and others just plain get stolen. Fixing this would not fix all reasons for missing TB's, but it would help for many. Sorry, but I don't understand having the opinion that because fixing this would not solve all the missing TB's, there is no reason to fix this one particular problem.

 

I do agree with you that TPTB don't seem to be very interested in missing TB's. I have not seen a response to this suggestion from any of them indicating if it would even be possible to implement a second logging requirement.

 

I also sort of understand your implying that I am starting to annoy at least one person by posting the suggestion several times. I guess I should get off the horse now and let it be. Sorry.

Posted
I do agree with you that TPTB don't seem to be very interested in missing TB's. I have not seen a response to this suggestion from any of them indicating if it would even be possible to implement a second logging requirement.

 

I also sort of understand your implying that I am starting to annoy at least one person by posting the suggestion several times. I guess I should get off the horse now and let it be. Sorry.

Personally keep posting it tell you at least get some type of yes or no answer. I think your idea is acceptable. It just a matter of being able to implement such an idea.

Posted
I do agree with you that TPTB don't seem to be very interested in missing TB's.  I have not seen a response to this suggestion from any of them indicating if it would even be possible to implement a second logging requirement.

 

I also sort of understand your implying that I am starting to annoy at least one person by posting the suggestion several times.  I guess I should get off the horse now and let it be.  Sorry.

Personally keep posting it tell you at least get some type of yes or no answer. I think your idea is acceptable. It just a matter of being able to implement such an idea.

I should think that, by now, TPTB have read the suggestion. If they choose to act on the suggestion, they will. If they choose not to, they won't. A suggestion on the Geocaching.com Website is probably the best plce to make a suggestion.

My statistics may not be the best. I'm guesstimating... I'd guess that 40% of missing bugs were picked up by people who have stopped caching. I don't see how this requirement would stop them from picking up TBs. It's after they pick them up that they decide to stop.

I'd guess that 40% of missing TBs got muggled. (Including one of ours in Minnesota.) Logging requirements would not phase muggles.

The remaining 20%? Some are lost by the finder. I've seen this. Some are picked up by geocachers who do not log on geocaching.com. I have one i the Netherlands which was marked 'missing' by the cache owner, but the bug turned up in a different cache, with no logs for picking up the bug, logging either cache, or dropping the bug. I'm just happy to see the bug moving again!

I still don't see how log pick up/log drop off to get credit would have affected any of these missing bugs.

Posted

---at least you pushed enough buttons to get your TB moving again.

 

I had one go missing from a cache - the person who picked it up is clearly identified by the cache log, and like others, refuses to respond to or acknowledge my e-mail requests. Short of locating another cacher who knows this individual personally (one who would be willing to apply a swift boot to the "seat of the problem"), I have no other recourse but to mark it missing and go on ...

 

Sure makes me think twice about buying GeoCoins or more TB tags ...

Posted

Fixing this would not fix all reasons for missing TB's, but it would help for many.  Sorry, but I don't understand having the opinion that because fixing this would not solve all the missing TB's, there is no reason to fix this one particular problem.

 

Maybe it's just a simple cost-benefit issue. TPTB may have looked at the cost of implementing this change, including the effort of implementing and testing it, the correction of whatever subtle bugs were lurking in the implementation, and last but certainly not least, dealing with the inevitable flood of forum postings that would say "Waah! Why didn't I get credit for the TB I picked up???" If they compared that cost to the benefit, which would be to possibly reduce the number of missing TBs by (most likely) a very very small percentage, they would probably not see it as something worth doing. (Especially given their long backlog of other features that would have a much bigger benefit.)

 

From what I have seen, the cachers who are most interested in doing lots of TB movements to have a high TB stat count are among the most conscientious bug-handlers out there. The ones with hundreds or thousands of TB finds always seem to move them on very quickly.

Posted
I have a TB (Anaconda) that has been in the hands of the same person since 5/14/2005. I have emailed this person several times. He responded the first time saying he would move it along shortly. Now its several months later, and he doesn't respond to my emails and still no TB movement. Any suggestions?

Welcome to my world. 7 out of 12 stolen last one in Texas not released for months by another jerk.

Posted

Well I've started looking up the profiles of the cacher as soon as I get the email that my TB has been picked up, and then I send a "hi how are you?" email to the person right away. In fact, if it's a newbie cacher, I ask them if they need help logging it and instructions on how to drop it in the next cache they go to. Always friendly and supportive.

 

Have only "gotten into" TB's in the past few months and now have 73, most of which are in circulation. Have a few MIA, but have decided to stop fretting over them, for now.

 

In the meantime, I have emailed and received "hey howdy, thanks" emails from cachers all over the world who think it's totally cool that I would take the time to email and say thanks for picking up the TB in the first place. I have a few email buddies now that I hadn't intended to pick up along the way, and just 2 days ago, my husband and I drove out to meet a cacher who was in CA from Michigan and we did a 15 TB trade.

 

Yep, I'm hooked on TB's for the moment. Love caching too..........

Posted
I've seen a travel bug where someone took a travel bug and never did geocaching again ):

Stick around you'll see it again and again. It's one of the reasons never to release anything you are not willing to lose.

Posted
I can just buy a toy from a toy shop and make it a travel bug :D

You could stick on a toy, or an old shoe or a decommed payphone. I've seen both.

 

Just don't make them too cute.

 

See snoogans advice thread pinned at the top.

Posted

You could stick on a toy, or an old shoe or a decommed payphone. I've seen both.

 

The Public Pay Phone was a cool (and very heavy!) TB that we were lucky enough to find (at the top of a mountain) and drop off (at the top of another mountain) -- but it unfortunately has disappeared, along with the entire cache where it was last placed. :D

 

Just don't make them too cute.

 

But don't make them too unappealing, either, or if they land in a TB "hotel" that has a minimum-number-of-bugs rule, your ugly little bug will be doomed to spend eternity in the cache, while the cute ones move along quickly.

 

It's tough to find that middle ground between too cute and not cute enough :D

Posted

i have had almost the same thing happen one day i sent my bug on his first journey into the caching world and to never appear again :anibad: after a couple of days i got an email from a fellow cacher that it wasnt in the cache i placed it and told me they did pick up my other one from another cache .... so.... a few weeks pasted and no one claimed to have my poor butterfly so i went back to that cache to check the log book and see if some one logged him in there as takin him well guess what .... sure enuff the person whom emailed me about him being missing hand wrote that they took him from that cache ...so i wrote again and they never responded .... so i can only assume they like my TB and the part that makes me mad is i dont care about the butterfly i just wanted my tag back so i can send it out as some thing else like a LOG! ;) so i have now laid that bug to rest ;)

Posted
I've seen a travel bug where someone took a travel bug and never did geocaching again ):

I've seen the profile of someone who has only picked up 3 travel bugs, and have never logged a cache find. I'm trying to email the profile because 2 of the 3 travel bugs are MINE. urgh. (thinking it's a kid account).

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