Bad Form Or Acceptable Technique

[+Blue Blazes]

Was wondering how the geo-community responds to this situation? Let's say there are two cache-rich hiding places, say twelve feet apart, with nothing cache noteworthy between them. Would it be acceptable behavior or bad form to intentionally mark the listing coords halfway between these two places so as to create some doubt in the searcher's mind, and force him to search both places? Is this a common practice to create an illusion or is it dishonest? Stick with the situation where there is a nominal (very subjective) distance between them.

[+Glenn]

Pick one of the two places to put a cache. Then after a few months archive the cache listing but leave the cache itself in place. Place a new a cache in the other location. Then when you list the new cache reference the archived cache in the new caches write up and allow the archived cache to be logged as a "bonus" cache.

[+Airmapper]

If your talking twelve feet, basically that's going to happen because of the natural inaccuracies of the GPS, where it isn't uncommon to have to search a 20 foot or more radius anyway. I wouldn't push it more than 10 feet physically from the cache to the point you select to obtain coords.

 

Some info that would help is the type of sky cover at this site? Is it a wooded area or an open area? If it's wooded, get as close as possible or you'll trow people further off than you may want.

[+Blue Blazes]

Right, I understand that the GPSr accuracy is always there. But this is a case where the mark reading is puposely taken halfway between the two places (nothing noteworthy between them.

[+StarBrand]

I normally put the GPS away and start looking for likely hiding spots when I am within 20 - 25 feet. I figure it unlikely that the hider's GPS error and mine would get me too much closer. I expect ALL coordinates to be taken at the hide location or noted they are x feet away. It is likely that some searchers will look in both places if they are only 12 feet apart. Just too many inheirent inaccuracies with GPS readings.

 

yes - unethical to take readings at any differnt location other than hide spot unless noted in description.

[+JakeBond]

I agree that your coords should be as close to the actual cache as possible, although two spots set apart 12ft, i doubt anyone will really notice the difference if the reading is dead on, or 6 feet off...

 

altho i loved Glenn's idea, tho that seems a little too much in the grey area discussed in other posts...

[+Mary&Dave]

It's bad form. There are plenty of good ways to make a cache hide evil, but intentionally marking incorrect coordinates just makes it frustrating and NOT fun. If a cacher I knew made a practice of doing this, I'd make a practice of not hunting his or her caches.

[+briansnat]

Only 12 feet between them? If you go half way, that's only 6 feet off which still will make your coords quite good. With the EPE in the searcher's GPS its likely they will probably search both spots anyway.

 

Now if you're talking 75 or 100 feet between the spots that's a horse in a different garage. I know of people who do this to add to the "challenge", but its a lousy idea. If any of them lived in my area, their caches would go right to my ignore list.

[+Beffums]

hmm, I'm assuming that both spots are possible to mark coords at? (we have a cache where the GPSr will simply flip to "lost signal" about 4-8 feet from the cache; so we said the coords were crappy and taken as close as we could get to the cache - and upped the difficulty rating)

 

I think, in general, it's a bad practice to take coords anywhere but at the cache site (unless it's an offset cache or in a cave or the like). However, I'm not sure if 6 feet really matters. Then again, I don't think 12 feet matters either, unless you have a MUCH better GPSr than I do! So I'm not sure what the hider gains by marking the midpoint -- people are gonna have to search both anyways.

[+Mopar]

6 feet off? Nobody's gonna even notice, since a consumer GPSr is only accurate to 9-12ft at best.

60ft off? That's bad form and cachers who make a point of doing that quickly get added to my ignore list.

[+Clan Delaney]

I just adjusted the coords for one of my caches that was off by 30 feet. It meant changing the W coord from 072° 33.986 to 072° 33.988... a difference of only .002. By that scale (and I know it varies depending on where you are on the globe) 6 feet wouldn't even be a full .001 decimal minute. Even if you could take a 100% accurate waypoint halfway between these two hiding spots (and this Trimble is only accurate within an inch) the people hunting your cache would certainly end up checking both spots an their own anyway.

 

I agree. Mark the actual hiding spot as best you can. If you really want cachers to check both locations, try making both spots appear as though they are hiding something. I've seen it done, and done it myself. That at least takes thought and effort by the hider, and I can respect that, even if it frustrates the heck out of me while hunting. Intentionally misreporting the coordinates takes no real work at all.

 

Or, you could actually hide a physical cache container in each location, but have only one contain the logbook and trade items. The decoy only contains a note saying that the real cache is still somewhere close by. Mark the location of the true container. Just don't call it a Traditional cache. Make it a Mystery Cache, but say "Coordinates are the location of the cache!"

[+Robespierre]

Be as accurate as you are able!!!!!!!!

[CoyoteRed]

In order to not draw a line where just how intentionally off one can make coords, just make them as accurate as possible. If 6' is acceptable, then what about 12' or 18'? Make life easier and don't try to make gray areas.

[+Prime Suspect]

There's only one good reason to take a reading from a spot other than the cache location (for a Trad). That's if the actual location has such poor satellite reception that you're only getting, say, a 50' accuracy reading, and you can walk a few feet away and cut that in half or better.

[+Renegade Knight]

You can do that. That close odds are it won't matter. If you do, do something like that and it does make a different just adjust your difficulty rating.

 

If it is far enough away to make a difference you should mention it on the cache page.

 

Too far away and it should either be a puzzle cache, multi cache, offset cache or some other form.