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Are Micro's Really Caches?


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The first cache was a 5 gallon bucket with trade goodies as we all know. Now it seems like all I have to choose from are micros. They are easy to hide and you don't have to be creative to keep the muggles away. I don't mind the occasional "one for the numbers" but it seems that in central Florida it is rediculous with micros.

 

Most micros that I have seen lately you don't even need a GPSr to find, just look under that lightpole or in that tree or under that power box.

 

What drew me to caching was the hunt and being led to a new place that I haven't been to or some remote park.

 

Am I the only one who feels this way?

 

erikwillke

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Micros are caches, more so than virtuals were. I do agree that in some areas they proliferating like bacteria on an old dish sponge. What happens is that a novice comes along, finds a micro or two and thinks "Well this is all there is to it" and places a bunch. Also, its not unheard of for someone to toss out 30, 40 or 50 of the things in a day or two.

 

I'm pretty lucky in that in my area micros are in the minority. Something like 12 percent of all caches here (closest 500 to my Zipcode). But you go to some areas and you're talking 60 or more percent micros.

 

Whenever someone posts a thread complaining about micros, its inevitible that someone responds with "If you don't like them, don't hunt them" (you'll probably see that within the next 5-10 posts). The problem is that in some areas, if you don't like micros, you don't geocache because there isn't anything else.

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Not all micro's are bad, there are some really great ones out there. From reading the logs you can usually tell which one's are which. On the other hand, not every large container in the forest is a good cache. Often they are difficult to maintain because they take time and effort to get to.

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"If you don't like them, don't hunt them"

Just thought I would get it out of the way early.

The micros are not all bad. Some times they do get ridiculous.

My wife finds most of the easy ones, she has a bum leg and can't do the longer hikes.

It keeps her involved with my new hobby.

I have found some that are interesting. Like the one I found and signed five feet from a young lady that was

laying out soaking up the sun, she never even knew I was there. That was a challenge!

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Micros have their place, unfortunately they're often misused by those lacking the creativity or skill to hide something bigger or in a better location. One of my favorite caches was a micro, your basic 35mm hidden in a spot which took about 10 seconds to find. The reason it is on my favorites list is because it's in a state park on top of a mountain and from the cache location you can see for miles and miles on a clear day. Any micro that takes you to a view such as the one pictured is, in my book, an excellent micro. So yes, to answer your question, micros are caches. Are they always *great* caches? No. But I'd take this micro over most of the "regular" caches I've found any day.

 

The view from the High Knob Memorial Micro (GCNN3Z):

 

7a61fc2e-fed6-4d54-bc69-1ecba39f9599.jpg

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Here inPOLK CO, FL, just south of you we have lots of micros. We also have many larger caches with trade items, we even have an urban 5 gal. bucket with outstanding trade items. Is every micro great, no but many are very creative and worth a look. Are all the larger caches great, no but many are creative and worth a look. Come on down and check it out. We are having a geoevent 4/15, you are invited.

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What drew me to caching was the hunt and being led to a new place that I haven't been to....

What drew me to caching is the same as you but as DocDiTTo pointed out, the size of the cache shouldn't make a difference toward those draws. For the most part, I'd rather find a micro than an unkept, chewed up plastic container with a wet log and soggy McToys. Larger caches are a harder to maintain because most people (IMHO) don't really regularly trade equal or up and caches lose their quality over a short time. It takes some effort for a cache owner to keep a large ammo can fully stocked with worthwhile items.

 

I must admit that over time I'm gradually evolving into one of those TNLNSL people. It's not cheap to drive a couple hundred miles round trip to find a dozen or so caches (they're not necessarily close together in my part of the country) and then put a $.50 or $.75 item in each one. I do carry a back pack full of quality goodies and when I find one of those really special caches full of nice goodies that I know will see lots of traffic I always try to leave a nice item. When I do that, I almost always "Took 0, Left xxxx". I seldom actually "trade" any more.

 

Hey - all I really want is an excuse to get me out of the house or office and into the woods. <_<

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Maybe you could start something similar to the "Return to Tradition" series that has cropped up in New England. All it took was one cacher who was burned out from all the micros, multis, and puzzles, and who created a "back-to-basics"-style cache (just a nice walk in the woods to a fully-stocked ammo can); she invited others to add to the series and within a few weeks there were quite a few of them, all put out by different cachers.

 

Variety is great -- I love multis and puzzles, though I'm not a big fan of micros because I'm not good at finding them -- but the plain old traditional cache had been getting overlooked; this series was well-received because it brought new life and new respectability back to placing that kind of cache. (Maybe it took the pressure off to always trying to think of some new, never-been-done-before idea?)

 

Start a series -- plant one like this, post it in your local forum, invite other cachers to add to the series both in the post and on the cache page. Maybe you'll see a bunch of new traditionals pop up. <_<

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... If you don't like them, don't hunt them ...

I agree with Brian, sort of. <_<

 

Would be nice if you could make an automatic ignore list.

 

Like a pocket query, but the results go on your ignore list instead of getting emailed to you.

Couldn't you just build your PQ to not send you the type of caches that you don't like?

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... If you don't like them, don't hunt them ...

I agree with Brian, sort of. <_<

 

Would be nice if you could make an automatic ignore list.

 

Like a pocket query, but the results go on your ignore list instead of getting emailed to you.

Couldn't you just build your PQ to not send you the type of caches that you don't like?

 

No, you cannot build a pocket query to not send you the type of cache you don't like. In my area it has become common for the owner to not specify the container size. I suspect this is to defeat this very strategy. I brought this up in a thread recently as a reason to make the size field a mandatory entry.

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Here inPOLK CO, FL, just south of you we have lots of micros. We also have many larger caches with trade items, we even have an urban 5 gal. bucket with outstanding trade items. Is every micro great, no but many are very creative and worth a look. Are all the larger caches great, no but many are creative and worth a look. Come on down and check it out. We are having a geoevent 4/15, you are invited.

 

Here is your breakdown (500 nearest caches to Lakeland FL) :

 

4 ( 0.8%) Large

274 (54.8%) Micro

52 (10.4%) Not chosen

9 ( 1.8%) Other

71 (14.2%) Regular

89 (17.8%) Small

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Couldn't you just build your PQ to not send you the type of caches that you don't like?

 

How to you build a PQ to eliminate bad caches? Most of the anti-micro crowd don't hate micros, they hate lame, uninspired caches placed for the sake of placing a cache. It so happens that because of the ease of placing micros, they make up the overwhelming majority of this kind.

 

Sure if I can set my PQ to filter out lame caches I would, but usually I don't know that the cache is a waste of my time until I've found it, or at least arrived at the general area.

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Couldn't you just build your PQ to not send you the type of caches that you don't like?

 

How to you build a PQ to eliminate bad caches? Most of the anti-micro crowd don't hate micros, they hate lame, uninspired caches placed for the sake of placing a cache. It so happens that because of the ease of placing micros, they make up the overwhelming majority of this kind.

 

Sure if I can set my PQ to filter out lame caches I would, but usually I don't know that the cache is a waste of my time until I've found it, or at least arrived at the general area.

Hold on, big guy. This thread is about micros, so I made the assumption the the caches that he wanted to ignore were micros. Not having a PQ send you these is fairly simple.

 

'Lame' caches are an entirely different issue and fodder for hundrends of other threads.

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No, you cannot build a pocket query to not send you the type of cache you don't like. In my area it has become common for the owner to not specify the container size. I suspect this is to defeat this very strategy. I brought this up in a thread recently as a reason to make the size field a mandatory entry.

Of course, you are correct. However, if you do feel that the primary reason people let the size be 'unknown' is to hide the fact that they are micros and you don't like micros, filter out 'unknown'.

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Couldn't you just build your PQ to not send you the type of caches that you don't like?

 

How to you build a PQ to eliminate bad caches? Most of the anti-micro crowd don't hate micros, they hate lame, uninspired caches placed for the sake of placing a cache. It so happens that because of the ease of placing micros, they make up the overwhelming majority of this kind. . .

 

Brian, very well put! My feeling exactly! Thanks for saying it!

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(snip)

 

Here is your breakdown (500 nearest caches to Lakeland FL) :

 

4 ( 0.8%) Large

274 (54.8%) Micro

52 (10.4%) Not chosen

9 ( 1.8%) Other

71 (14.2%) Regular

89 (17.8%) Small

 

May I ask how you're calculating that?

 

In our area, we are probably 45% micros (guesstimation)... That's not saying a lot, since we only have about 20 caches within 10 miles. However, I like hunting the micros when I go out, some of them present a nice challenge. 3 I've found (well, one's not found, but I had a head slap moment and emailed the owner) were micros that looked like they were supposed to be there. I've made a few attempts at a terrain 5 micro (well, I guess it's a small... whatever) that's given me some bad bruises. Whatever, it's still fun <_<

 

Then I've found the altoids tins in rock walls, film canisters in drain pipes, and other LUMs following that path. I hope to hide a few devious micros in my area, but so far my only cache has been a regular.

 

BlueNinja

Edited by BlueNinja
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The view from the High Knob Memorial Micro (GCNN3Z):

 

7a61fc2e-fed6-4d54-bc69-1ecba39f9599.jpg

 

I saw the picture first and thoght "hey, that looks just like High Knob". Then I read the caption. <_<

 

I've been going down to Sullivan County every summer all my life and that place remains one of my favorites. Thanks for the little warm, fuzzy feeling. :P

 

Now, back to the matter at hand. Personally I like micros, just for the change of pace and I enjoy the occassion hunt in plain sight just to see how much attention I can avoid. But they do have their place, and sometimes they have become gratuitous (e.g. Walmart).

 

As for straying from our roots, wasn't the original cache also buried? :P

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Okay, lets get real! Time to talk about what most of us know already, but we have all been too chickenpoop to say it aloud! Wel, I'm goood and mad and I'm gonnna say it now! :P:P<_<

 

The truth is that lame urban micros are part of a plot by the evil alien reptoid reptilians B) , working at the behest of the evil alien grays, who are in cahoots with Bavarian Illuminati and the New World Order. It is well-known that they use special viruses implanted in the micro containers, along with flouridated water, toxic jet chemtrails high in the atmosphere, and synthetic food coloring, to pollute our precious bodily fluids and to steal our life energies so that the alien beings can eventually take over the earth and subjugate us to the darn New World Order and their communistic ideas. If you will watch the 1960s film "Dr. Strangelove", you will find out that the good General Ripper, the true hero of the movie, predicted all of this almost 40 years ago, and warned us of these evil plots to pollute our precious bodily fluids. It is time that we stood up to these evil alien reptilians and their Iluminati overlords and their New World Order masters, and that we show them that we are immune to such subterfuge! If you wish to learn more or wish to contribute to our cause, please go to our flagship website, at:

http://www.WeKnowWhoPlacesEvilLameAlienMicros.org

 

Thank you!

Edited by Vinny & Sue Team
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May I ask how you're calculating that?

 

I ran a pocket query for the area through Fizzymagic's PQstats program.

 

By contrast here are the stats for Zipcode 07405 (Morris/Passaic/Sussex County NJ)

 

1 ( 0.2%) Large

69 (13.8%) Micro

12 ( 2.4%) Not chosen

10 ( 2.0%) Other

312 (62.4%) Regular

95 (19.0%) Small

1 ( 0.2%) Virtual

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The trade items in most large caches I find these days are not that appealing. Happy meal toys for the most part. So the issue for me is not trading. There is nothing inherently wrong with micros, the real issue for me is the creativity (or lack thereof) in hiding them. Too often micros are placed in very predictable places and there is no fun in the hunt for those caches. Micros placed on a lightpole in the midde of a parking lot are a good example.

 

Every now and then, however, I come across a micro that either takes me someplace interesting that I wouldn't otherwise have gone to or which was hidden with a lot of cleverness and/or creativity. Those make the game worthwhile. Yes, I prefer the large caches up in the mountains, but that is because I like to get up into the mountains, not because those cache are any "better" than other caches. Those caches can suffer from the same lack of creativitiy as the micros. Unfortunately, I'm not able to get up in the mountains all that often, though, and the urban micros allow me to continue to play the game.

Edited by Ga Mountaineer
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Yes, they are. But like all caches, there are some really great ones and really simple ones. The "treasure" in a micro is in the names written on the logs. Community is a great gift even though it's sometimes under-valued. That being said... they really should have their own icon. Like multis, mysteries and puzzle caches, they are completely in a different league.

 

We've never met a micro we didn't like, but they can often be a great launching point for people who are starting out. They're also an underated value for people with disabilties. Just because it's easy for you (or "bad", "lame", "sad", etc.) doesn't mean it isn't a challenge for someone else. More and more we're hearing about families caching together. If the youngest one doesn't get a chance to make some finds once in a while, why will they be interested later? I remember our first lampskirt wallyworld micro and it still makes me smile. Was it hard? No. Was it clever? At the time we thought it was. Was it a cache? Yes. It made us realize that caches are everywhere and thank goodness. I would rather have too many to pick from than not enough. Keep in mind that these so-called lame caches are often being set by new cachers because our community is growing so fast with newbies. Give them chance. I'll bet not every idea you've ever had seemed like a good one to everybody else. <_<

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If I remember correctly, the Original Stash was a drive by with a can of beans as one of the trade items. <_<

I prefer a nice spot to the dumpster behind the WalMart.

I prefer a creative hide to another lamppost skirt.

I often enjoy a nice hike over a drive by.

I go geocaching for many reasons, and celebrate the fact that we have such a variety of hides and hiders involved in this sport, especially where I live and play.

 

I also seem to remember seeing something to the effect of "only *you* can affect the quality of geocaching" on the reviewer notes of my published caches. Maybe more cachers should read threads in the forums, or at least follow the guidance in the reviewer notes? :P

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I sometimes like micros if they get me out on a trail or someplace interesting. I am placing a micro this weekend. I chose a micro because it is in a flood prone area and I need to get it up high. A micro is easier to hide in this situation. I chose an area rich in history and geography (written up in National Geographic) so you can get something out of going there. <_<

 

Doc

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I sometimes like micros if they get me out on a trail or someplace interesting. I am placing a micro this weekend. I chose a micro because it is in a flood prone area and I need to get it up high. A micro is easier to hide in this situation. I chose an area rich in history and geography (written up in National Geographic) so you can get something out of going there. <_<

 

Doc

Don't get me wrong, I like micros just fine. However, I have a huge library cache in a flood plain. I just tied it to a tree so the river doesn't claim it.

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Most micros that I have seen lately you don't even need a GPSr to find, just look under that lightpole or in that tree or under that power box.

 

What drew me to caching was the hunt and being led to a new place that I haven't been to or some remote park.

 

'Most' is not 'All'.

If you want to visit a new place, with a beautiful view, come visit our

ab7a6f50-73d1-43c5-97dd-c138069d64a8.jpg

Weehawken View. Only room for a micro, but well worth the visit for the view.

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Okay, lets get real! Time to talk about what most of us know already, but we have all been too chickenpoop to say it aloud! Wel, I'm goood and mad and I'm gonnna say it now! :mad::mad::mad:

 

The truth is that lame urban micros are part of a plot by the evil alien reptoid reptilians :mad: , working at the behest of the evil alien grays, who are in cahoots with Bavarian Illuminati and the New World Order. It is well-known that they use special viruses implanted in the micro containers, along with flouridated water, toxic jet chemtrails high in the atmosphere, and synthetic food coloring, to pollute our precious bodily fluids and to steal our life energies so that the alien beings can eventually take over the earth and subjugate us to the darn New World Order and their communistic ideas. If you will watch the 1960s film "Dr. Strangelove", you will find out that the good General Ripper, the true hero of the movie, predicted all of this almost 40 years ago, and warned us of these evil plots to pollute our precious bodily fluids. It is time that we stood up to these evil alien reptilians and their Iluminati overlords and their New World Order masters, and that we show them that we are immune to such subterfuge! If you wish to learn more or wish to contribute to our cause, please go to our flagship website, at:

http://www.WeKnowWhoPlacesEvilLameAlienMicros.org

 

Thank you!

 

Vinny, thank you for saying this! Time that some upright geocacher such as yourself spoke out for the truth! We are at war with these darn space aliens (and their Illuminati co-cnspirators) who place lame micros. As General Ripper said years ago:

 

"Do you recall what Clemenceau once said about war?...He said war was too important to be left to the generals. When he said that, fifty years ago, he might have been right. But today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. This war against lame micros must be fought by every geocacher! I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion, and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids and place lame microcaches."

 

Vinny, best of luck in your mission! Wait a minute. . .

 

your name. . .

 

 

. . . is the same

 

 

. . .as mine. . .

 

:mad::mad:<_<:mad:

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Who do you people think you are? Should we also ban "small caches", "regular caches", "large caches", "mystery caches", "virtual caches", "puzzle caches", "night time caches", "monkey caches", etc. just because YOU don't like them or they aren't "how geocaching was intended". The rating system is there for a reason - use it!

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Who do you people think you are? Should we also ban "small caches", "regular caches", "large caches", "mystery caches", "virtual caches", "puzzle caches", "night time caches", "monkey caches", etc. just because YOU don't like them or they aren't "how geocaching was intended". The rating system is there for a reason - use it!

 

I understand your frustration and irritation, and to some extent, I agree with you. As many previous posters have mentioned, the problem is not micro-sized containers themselves, but rather the proliferation of lame micros. So, it is not really about cache size but about quality of cache and placement. And, unfortunately, while you suggest that folks use the rating system, the only rating scales currently in place at geocaching.com are ratings for Difficulty and Terrain. Of course, as others have noted before, websites such as www.keenpeople.com do provide free quality rating vote counters for cache listing pages, and I personally employ these counters on several of our cache listing pages.

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Who do you people think you are? Should we also ban "small caches", "regular caches", "large caches", "mystery caches", "virtual caches", "puzzle caches", "night time caches", "monkey caches", etc. just because YOU don't like them or they aren't "how geocaching was intended". The rating system is there for a reason - use it!

My, such strongly held views for someone who just joined the site yesterday, and hasn't found any caches. I guess some folks are quick learners!

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Who do you people think you are? Should we also ban "small caches", "regular caches", "large caches", "mystery caches", "virtual caches", "puzzle caches", "night time caches", "monkey caches", etc. just because YOU don't like them or they aren't "how geocaching was intended". The rating system is there for a reason - use it!

My, such strongly held views for someone who just joined the site yesterday, and hasn't found any caches. I guess some folks are quick learners!

 

Captain Clorox, I am so glad you are back! We missed you!

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Micros are fun. We found one today that almost had us stumped. the satisfaction of the find was good. Id like to see less Altoid cans in the Wal Mart parking lot type cashes but sometimes there is a special one that makes it all worth while.

timk54

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The beauty of geocaching.com and PQ's, is the ability to filter out micro's if you only want to search for standard caches. If a person does not want to search for micros, they can just search for traditional caches. I prefer the standard traditional caches, so I filter out the micros. What is one person's frustration is another's joy. That is what is so great about geocaching and the variety of caches it provides.

Edited by geofindr
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Just to put in my £2 worth, I just got off the phone with a good friend of mine (the guy that got me into caching) and was telling him how my brother-in-law, who was visiting from Ireland, and I went looking for a Micro Lake Pepin Challenge. The sole motavation was to get a FTF. Although we didn't find it, we saw a beautiful area, the dog had a good swim, and we left to find a nice traditional cache afterwards.

 

He said without hesitation "I can't stand micors". "Micros are a pain in the a@@" "If you want to find a cool cache you need to come back out here (N. Idaho) and find Fern Gratto". So that's unofficially his opinion.

 

I did some miro searching the other day in Minneapolis and a couple virtuals as well. Do I like them? Sure if it's all that's available. LPC was good in a way that it took me to a nice place and had me crawling around and up some big ol' trees. If it were in the Lake City Wallmart parking lot I'd of been disappointed.

 

I'd prefer to challenge myself physically rather than psychologically. Tomorrow the wife, dog, and I are going after Lair. It's a 3/4 located in a cave on the banks of the Mississippi. Supposed to be a bit of a climb. In my opinion, the old-school challenge is more my cup of tea.

 

With that said, I feel, the bottom line lies in the creativity of the owner. If there isn't creativity involved, or if it doesn't take you to someplace you may never see, then the cache is mearly a statistic.

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The beauty of geocaching.com and PQ's, is the ability to filter out micro's if you only want to search for standard caches. If a person does not want to search for micros, they can just search for traditional caches. I prefer the standard traditional caches, so I filter out the micros. What is one person's frustration is another's joy. That is what is so great about geocaching and the variety of caches it provides.

 

What did I say? Well it took more than 10 posts, but hey. <_<:mad::mad:

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As for straying from our roots, wasn't the original cache also buried? <_<

 

no, I don't think so, at least not according to the COMPLETE IDOITS GUIDE TO GEOCACHING

 

As I understand it, it was buried but the lid was exposed. A no no today. Hey, the second cache ever placed had alcohol in it.

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As for straying from our roots, wasn't the original cache also buried? <_<

 

no, I don't think so, at least not according to the COMPLETE IDOITS GUIDE TO GEOCACHING

 

As I understand it, it was buried but the lid was exposed. A no no today. Hey, the second cache ever placed had alcohol in it.

 

Alcohol? Who needs travel bugs!

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I want to thank everyone for their £2 and their 2cents. Micro's have been given a new light to me. Thank you.

(even the newbie who was abrasive. Even I was a newbie one day.)

 

erikwillke

husband of KnottyKnitter and father of Mr. McLintock and LightLoad

(geocaching is a virus, my wife thought my hobby was "cute" until I bought her a Magellan)

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A cache is a cache. Read you cache sheet and you know what your looking for. We have evolved. I enjoy them some more than others. To each his own but I liked Virts. because theya re low inpact and can involve something with history where its not appropiate to leave a box. But just like everything with abuse "someone pooped thier pants now we all have to wear a diaper. Someone is dertimed to stunt our growth and limit us. I think the "puters" can handle the data but not the heat. Instead of wiping out an other species of cache why not make sure some guiedlines are made so micros are found according to the difficulty level. At this stage in the game its the find, then the log, because all the fast food resturants and 99 cent stores can't interest me!

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I do them if they are where I am, but don't go far out of my way to find them. I would like to see them listed as a separate category.

 

They are a different catagory; size.

 

You can become a premium member and use pocket queries to filter them out, or use a 3rd party software like Gsak to filter them, or use the "ignore" feature to, well, ignore them.

 

The problem is you are just eliminating all micros, both okay ones and lame ones. I'm still looking for the "lame filter".

 

Ed

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