Suggestion For A New Cache Category

[+Bambi&Thumper]

I did a search, but couldn't find anything so here goes...

 

I, and some of my friends are also Book Crossers and it's quite common for Book Crossers to release travelling books into caches. The thing that bothers me is cache owners might be a little cheesed off if I drop off a book in their cache, especially if it doesn't move very quickly. For those not in the know, Book Crossing is a scheme where you attach numbers to books and release them to travel, a little bit like travel bugs. The problem as I see it is that books aren't small, and some people could object...

 

I know there are a few caches specifically for books and I thought it'd be really cool if we could start a new category of "Book Crossing Caches" like we have "Letterbox Hybrid Caches". As I see it, these caches would have to be big enough to house a few books, waterproof and probably fairly easy to access because books can be quite heavy.

 

The thing is, by encouraging cachers to get involved in Book Crossing, we would also be able to encourage Book Crossers to come and join in by indroducing them to GC.com and the new site WM.com. Also, since virtuals, webcams Earth caches and locationless caches have been consigned to history, I thought it might be nice to introduce another new cache category.

 

What do people think?

 

Bambi.

[+adambro]

I don't believe that getting rid of virtuals, webcams etc was to make way for new types. The idea was to bring geocaching back to what it is supposed to be.

 

Surely looking for large or regular caches provides an easy way of finding caches suitable of taking book crossing books.

 

Maybe you could attach a TB tag to the books and then you'd be able to track them through GC.com.

[+budd-rdc]

You can communicate with other Book Crossers/Geocachers and propose a universal title for Book Crosser caches, for example, begin all listing with BCC or BXC (Book Crosser's Cache), so one might be named "BXC: In the Woods" and another "BXC: By the Pond" and put a space between the colon and the name to make it friendly to searches.

[+Bambi&Thumper]

I don't believe that getting rid of virtuals, webcams etc was to make way for new types.

 

Of course it wasn't, but although it's not something that floats my boat especially, a lot of people get a kick out of hunting for new cache types, and it encourages people to try different things. For example, simply because it was an icon that we didn't have, we decided to try to get a locationless cache for our 50th cache. As it happens, we found that it wasn't really our thing, so we only did the one. Somebody else may have got a real buzz out of it and now be haveing a great time with the new WM.com site.

 

The idea was to bring geocaching back to what it is supposed to be.

 

As I understand it, this would be in line with "what it is supposed to be" as it would be a tangible cache with a real logbook (which is why virtuals and webcams have been removed to WM.com).

 

Surely looking for large or regular caches provides an easy way of finding caches suitable of taking book crossing books.

 

Yes, but this is looking at the bigger picture and encouraging cross-fertilisation of ideas between two diffferent, but complimentary disciplines. By encouraging Cachers to get involved with Book Crossing and Book Crossers to get involved with Caching, both activities could benefit. In addition, it doesn't address my central issue that people might have a problem with me "cluttering up their cache by me dumping a book in it".

 

Maybe you could attach a TB tag to the books and then you'd be able to track them through GC.com.

 

Of course I could do that, but the idea is that Book Crossing Books can travel outside caches too and this is catered for in the Book Crossing site, so it seems a little pointless to track these books twice. However, the logs for the "Book Caches" could have an area where you can put the Book Crossing number (BCID) which could then be included as a link by the site at the bottom of the log (in a similar way to the traveler tags site which puts a link to the cache page where a tag has been dropped off). Then, there could be an area on the cache page that lists the books currently in the cache, with links to the Book Crossing site.

 

These caches would then appear on the Book Crossing site as Book Crossing Zones, which would inspire local Book Crossers to find out about caching and maybe they'd take up the hobby too.

 

Bambi.

Edited February 23, 2006 by Bambi&Thumper

[+KoosKoos]

I don't have a problem with a new cache type, but to me, it's not high on the "needs to get done" list for the site. (yeah, as if I could control that list)

 

However, there's absolutely nothing from getting some geocachers to start putting together these hybrid caches (I've seen a couple out there) and having them cross-listed with the bookcrossing site.

 

People will still go find a new cache and unless it's terribly remote or a hard puzzle, caches get visited pretty frequently without separate icons.

 

A fine idea to expose people to a different activity!!! (hmm, maybe my next cache will be crosslisted)

[+KiwiKat]

I do both Geocaching and BookCrossing, but I don't intend to combine the two. No specific reason other than I just don't want to and I am currently more interested in cache hunting than book releasing/hunting. However, for those who like combining their leisure time interests, I think these two could work well together. I have encountered a few books in caches since I started caching.

 

I don't feel that tagging BC books as TBs would work for the same reason Bambi & Thumper mentioned. It would be next to impossible to control where the books went after they were plucked from a cache. They may or may not go from cache to cache.

 

The idea of setting up what is known as an OBCZ (Official BookCrossing Zone) could possibly work a bit better than releasing books into any old cache, as it could avoid upsetting someone who does not want their cache involved with BookCrossing. I haven't encountered anyone not wanting to play along in New Zealand (where I live), but I suppose it could happen.

 

I had a look around the BC site and noticed that the UK acutally has a special category for releases made into Geocaches where New Zealand does not. I guess it would take a bit of time to get everyone onto a level playing field if BCing and Geocaching were to play more seriously with each other. For now, though, I don't believe there is anything stopping a cacher/crosser from setting up an OBCZ cache. If that idea caught on, then maybe special categories could be set up on each site and in all countries.

 

Guess I'm kind of on the fence about this, as I don't have a personal desire to combine both. However, if someone were to set up an OBCZ cache near me, I would be happy to help keep it well stocked with books.

 

Cheers,

Kiwikat

[+Renegade Knight]

Caching is a natural fit to quite a few activites. It's just a matter of figuring out the coordination between the two so they both work.

 

A book travel bug is one of those problems... A BCC cache is certainly doable under the current rules. Something in the middle? Probably needs some work to figure out how it might work.

[+budd-rdc]

Although no one has responded to my earlier post, I'll follow up anyway.

 

You have to realize that most of the unique icons involve commercialism on this site. Project APE, Jeep, and most (but not all) of the Geocoin icons are like that. In order for the Book Crossing Cache icon to be implemented, there has to be mutual interest between the Book Crossing Community and Groundspeak.

 

However, there are ways to start a grass roots movement to create a momentum so the icon creation becomes inevitable. Moun10Bike Coin icon can be considered such a thing. Remember that the popularity of the Yellow Jeep Fever locationless cache had a lot of influence on the Yellow Jeep icon becoming a reality.

 

To clarify, that's the spirit of what I proposed earlier, to see if the idea will take off on its own.

Edited February 23, 2006 by budd-rdc

[+Mopar]

I've done a few bookcrossing themed caches, and they are just that; a themed cache. No different then any other themed cache, say like one where you trade recipes or DVDs. Some were traditional cache TYPE, some were multicache TYPE.

[+The Blue Quasar]

Identifying the BookCrossing Cache as such like was suggested is the best approach in my opinion. It doesn't need a unique icon because there isn't a unique aspect to seeking a container that is used for books.

 

Can you illustrate how a Book Crossing Cache is different from what we have already, besides the obvious link to BookCrossing?

 

Making the name "OBCZ - your cache name here" would make it approachable to both groups. And easily searchable too.

 

Using the Letterbox as an example, at least around my area most Letterbox caches are not set up properly. Instead of using a follow the instructions format, it is often just the fact that a stamp is in it.

 

The Blue Quasar

 

rotten typos

Edited February 23, 2006 by The Blue Quasar