Maybe A Solution To Missing Tb's

July 23, 2006

Having just discovered that another of my travel bugs has been a victim of a muggled cache I started to think about how some of this could be avoided. If bugs and coins were not listed on the cache page for anyone and everyone to see perhaps there would be fewer go missing. My most recent MIA was placed in a cache where 2 TB's had already gone missing from and the cache was actually trashed after my bug was placed there. I realize that some cachers go to a cache because there's a bug or coin in it (I've done it myself) but do you ever wonder if some people just watch the local cache pages and visit the cache when the pickin' is good? The other thing I wondered about was the possibility of some symbol being placed on a cache page if bugs go missing there regularly - a warning that TB's are not safe there. Perhaps these suggestions have been made before -sorry if that's the case.

July 23, 2006

If I was a cache owner and that icon was placed on my cache page, I am sure less people would visit it.

Maybe the goal for the TB would be to never visit that certain cache??

July 24, 2006

If I was a cache owner and that icon was placed on my cache page, I am sure less people would visit it.

Maybe the goal for the TB would be to never visit that certain cache??

I don't see why people wouldn't visit a cache because there was a symbol warning that bugs and geocoins have gone missing from this cache. I don't just visit caches to place these items. I hate it when bugs and coins go missing from one of my caches and would not mind it at all if a warning was put on that particular cache. Better than archiving it if there hasn't been any other problem with the cache. Probably the stash won't be that great either in such a cache but if that's all you go for then just pick new caches.

6.5k · July 24, 2006

Perhaps I'm missing something here, but you seem to be making the leap that caches get muggled because they contain TB's? I disagree; caches get muggled because a non cacher finds them, is curious about the contents, and lacks the respect and decency to put them back when they have satisfied the curiousity.

The presence of a TB is irrelevant to all of this. I doubt that most muggles visit the cache page prior to the muggling. <_<

man would flask hate this post-where did she go?

July 24, 2006

I just wonder if in a case where three tbs have gone missing at three separate times that perhaps someone is collecting tbs from that cache. Could it be a muggle? Yes - found it once and said this is neat - goes again - gets some more neat stuff. Could it be a cacher who collects tbs - yes to that as well.

1.6k · July 24, 2006

Perhaps I'm missing something here, but you seem to be making the leap that caches get muggled because they contain TB's? I disagree; caches get muggled because a non cacher finds them, is curious about the contents, and lacks the respect and decency to put them back when they have satisfied the curiousity.

The presence of a TB is irrelevant to all of this. I doubt that most muggles visit the cache page prior to the muggling.

man would flask hate this post-where did she go?

And most of the caches that I visit that are "supposed" to have TB's or GC's in them, don't.

July 24, 2006

man would flask hate this post-where did she go?

And most of the caches that I visit that are "supposed" to have TB's or GC's in them, don't.

That's because the owner hasn't given up hope it will show up again or doesn't know what to do about it. There is a site where you can bury the tb. I had one go missing a few months ago (another cache where there were supposed to be other bugs and there weren't but the cacher left my tb there anyway and it went missing as well.) I just think that some of these caches should have warnings placed - it could be with the owner's permission. As I stated above I wouldn't mind if a warning was put on one of mine if bugs were going missing from it.

5.2k · July 24, 2006

And most of the caches that I visit that are "supposed" to have TB's or GC's in them, don't.

That can be fixed, by the bug owner, the cache owner, or a reviewer.

22k · July 24, 2006

never

mind.

Edited July 24, 2006 by BlueDeuce

July 24, 2006

True. So the onus would be on the bug owner to contact the cache owner if his bug wasn't moving. That would be the only way the bug owner would know that his bug was missing. Although there might be some mention in the logs of bugs being dropped off or picked up.

Edited July 24, 2006 by willstew

11.3k · July 24, 2006

Well . . . two coins I placed in a Puzzle cache last Tuesday were stolen in less than 12 hours. If I had not "officially" dropped them in that infrequently-visited cache, I have no doubt they would still be there.

I don't know how the local coin and Jeep thief keeps track of the coins and Jeeps that are dropped, but many have gone missing recently. <_<

1.6k · July 24, 2006

Well . . . two coins I placed in a Puzzle cache last Tuesday were stolen in less than 12 hours. If I had not "officially" dropped them in that infrequently-visited cache, I have no doubt they would still be there.

I don't know how the local coin and Jeep thief keeps track of the coins and Jeeps that are dropped, but many have gone missing recently.

Do you have "watchers" on your caches?

July 24, 2006

Well . . . two coins I placed in a Puzzle cache last Tuesday were stolen in less than 12 hours. If I had not "officially" dropped them in that infrequently-visited cache, I have no doubt they would still be there.

So if they weren't listed on the cache web page they might have at least a fighting chance in this case. I know that I sometimes place a bug in a cache that hasn't been getting much traffic but if I know (either by experience or if a warning symbol could be placed on the cache page) that the cache has had problems I wouldn't place a bug or coin there.

How do other owners feel about having a warning symbol placed on one of your caches if someone seems to be boosting their private collection from it? Or would you rather just archive it? Or do you care?

July 24, 2006

There was a topic earlier like this, but it covered ways to keep your TB moving and the big things it said was:

Keep the TB ugly. Cute Tb's get adopted by kids. Pick something ugly.

Put a hole in it to run the chain through. This makes it less desirable to keep. I would reccomend this for coins as well, if you don't mind a hole in it, but since you may never see it again anyway, Drill it. This may also keep those "coin collectors" from keeping your coin.

Attatch info to it so people know it is a TB and what its purpose is, If not people may think it swag and keep it.

Use the addage; never loan it out if you want it back. If you are afraid of losing your TB never send it out

11.3k · July 24, 2006

One of the coins that was stolen was beautiful and it had been traveling successfully without being defaced.

In fact, it had traveled more than 11,000 miles before the local thief decided to take it and stop it from traveling.

July 24, 2006

One of the coins that was stolen was beautiful and it had been traveling successfully without being defaced.

In fact, it had traveled more than 11,000 miles before the local thief decided to take it and stop it from traveling.

But if it had a big hole in it with a chain through it with a bunch of tags on it, it may still have been in there.

July 24, 2006

There was a topic earlier like this, but it covered ways to keep your TB moving and the big things it said was:

Keep the TB ugly. Cute Tb's get adopted by kids. Pick something ugly.

Did you pick ugly bugs?

Put a hole in it to run the chain through. This makes it less desirable to keep. I would reccomend this for coins as well, if you don't mind a hole in it, but since you may never see it again anyway, Drill it. This may also keep those "coin collectors" from keeping your coin.

Do you really belive that collectors are only after the bug? Without the tag it's not a TB - how it's fastened on is irrelevant I think.

Attatch info to it so people know it is a TB and what its purpose is, If not people may think it swag and keep it.

I don't believe that cachers don't know what they're picking up when they take a TB. Even a newbie will get it figured out soon enough.

Use the addage; never loan it out if you want it back. If you are afraid of losing your TB never send it out

In a perfect world TBs would not get stolen and it's not a perfect world. Still, only one poster has commented on whether or not they thought a warning on risky caches would help. We put other atrributes on our caches. And how about not 'officially' listing the presence of bugs and coins in the caches - that would really make collecting harder. Maybe there are just too many collectors out there to vote for that kind of solution....

Edited July 24, 2006 by willstew

21.9k · July 24, 2006

I am moving this thread from "The Geocaching Topics" forum to "The Travel Bug" forum.

8.8k · July 26, 2006

If a bug is confirmed as missing, and the cache owner and TB owner are not responding, send me a link to the TB page and I will mark it as missing. This doesn't archive the bug, it merely takes it off the cache page.

2k · July 26, 2006

I personally would love a "Stealth Mode" option on my Travel Bug and Coins. The fact is -- a search of nearby caches will show icons for coins and bugs. If there was no icon, there would be no way to know that there was a coin or travel bug in the cache except for visiting the cache.

It is my belief that a small percentage of cachers will steal coins/TB's from caches. I also believe that they know about coins and travel bugs due to the icons they see in the listings. No icons makes it harder for them to do their "job".

It's like parking your car. If you park it and leave an iPod in it -- it might be stolen. If you park it and place the iPod on the dashboard so that everyone walking by can see it -- it might be stolen more frequently.

2k · July 26, 2006

...and just to play devil's advocate to myslelf :laughing: -- I often use the icons as a way of finding Travel Bug friendly caches for when I am DROPPING Travel Bugs. If it had a TB in it previously, chances are it can recieve the one I am trying to drop.

July 27, 2006

I'm still of the opinion that TBs would be better and fairer for all cachers if they were only logged OUT of a cache and not INTO one. That way you wouldn't know where it was and would find them by surprise. They should ALL have attached a description of where they are wanting to go and what they and wanting to do etc. so that a finder will only take it if they can help it to it's goal.

July 27, 2006

Well . . . two coins I placed in a Puzzle cache last Tuesday were stolen in less than 12 hours. If I had not "officially" dropped them in that infrequently-visited cache, I have no doubt they would still be there.

I don't know how the local coin and Jeep thief keeps track of the coins and Jeeps that are dropped, but many have gone missing recently.

Twelve hours is not very long to wait. Why not have a stakeout and catch the jerk?

July 27, 2006

I kinda like the stealth option. I'd hate to see it used for all TBs and Coins, but It'd be fun to use (and useful to some people.)

It'd be cool to make a TB or coin that could move around behind the scenes.

I've had two geocoins go missing from one of my caches. One was logged out in the logbook, but never logged on the cache page. (The person who took it didn't even log the find on-line.) The other one got logged online in the text, but the person never logged it to the geocoin tracking page. I e-mailed the second cacher about it a couple of days after they logged the find (some people take their time about logging bugs.) but so far the coin is still listed in my cache.

After about a week I'll boot it.

July 28, 2006

I often use the icons as a way of finding Travel Bug friendly caches for when I am DROPPING Travel Bugs. If it had a TB in it previously, chances are it can recieve the one I am trying to drop.

And if the cache was supposed to have a bug or two and they weren't there you wouldn't place it in that cache. Both of my two bugs to go missing were placed by new cachers in caches that had other bugs listed but MIA.

22k · July 28, 2006

I often use the icons as a way of finding Travel Bug friendly caches for when I am DROPPING Travel Bugs. If it had a TB in it previously, chances are it can recieve the one I am trying to drop.

And if the cache was supposed to have a bug or two and they weren't there you wouldn't place it in that cache. Both of my two bugs to go missing were placed by new cachers in caches that had other bugs listed but MIA.

I'm not real sure how you are going to track bugs/coins have gone missing unless you really know the history of the cache in question. I'm sure you all know the history on many, but considering the thousands of caches out there, how are you going to follow the rest?

My question to you willstew is, are you going to continue to release bugs? I'm not trying to make a point, that's a straight forward question. Just curious. In the current situation is it worth your costs and efforts?

July 28, 2006

I have come across more caches with a TB listed that isnt there, than ones that are. I like the idea of logging them out and them not showing when they are dropped. A surprize is great, especially when it is a find vice a loss.

A hole is a poor way to fix the stolen issue. I can see the reasoning, but this was supposed to be a cool sport and it is turning more into a glut.

Anyone have the GC# for the US TB graveyard, i can find an Aussie and Asutria one....

July 28, 2006

Never mind, it is GC72A8 Travel Bug Graveyard. GC was having search issues...

July 29, 2006

I often use the icons as a way of finding Travel Bug friendly caches for when I am DROPPING Travel Bugs. If it had a TB in it previously, chances are it can recieve the one I am trying to drop.

And if the cache was supposed to have a bug or two and they weren't there you wouldn't place it in that cache. Both of my two bugs to go missing were placed by new cachers in caches that had other bugs listed but MIA.

I'm not real sure how you are going to track bugs/coins have gone missing unless you really know the history of the cache in question. I'm sure you all know the history on many, but considering the thousands of caches out there, how are you going to follow the rest?

My question to you willstew is, are you going to continue to release bugs? I'm not trying to make a point, that's a straight forward question. Just curious. In the current situation is it worth your costs and efforts?

The onus has to be mostly on the cache owner to put the warning on their cache if bugs go missing. But you know as someone else stated if bugs were only logged out of caches then at least they wouldn't be listed on the cache pages and it would make collecting a lot harder.

As for releasing more tbs - I don't think so. I've never released any geocoins but after a year of caching I wouldn't even consider it after seeing how THEY go missing. Better to send out laminated paper copies that no one would bother to steal - still trackable but not so tempting.

July 30, 2006

I have found that even emailing a cache owner and the TB owner to tell them that their TB is not in the cache doesn't work. It's very easy and simple to mark a TB missing. Just wishing that more geocachers would do so.

July 30, 2006

It's not that we dont care that they are sitting on the page, it is more of a hope that they will be found again....

i have been emailing the cachers that found the cache after the TB was put in to see if it will prompt them to remember any details. I either get a negative or it was there and can narrow it down. I have found that it can be just a forgotten items that they than go look for and release or i get ignored. If flaming were allowed, i would have a constant burn on two cachers that are still active, as they were identified as the culprits on two of my TB's missing. One even changed their log to reflect that hey didnt take it out now... Guess they feel guilty about a one dollar toy they either stole or lost. On the other hand, one cacher apoligized and replaced the lost item.

As for time line, i sont start the tracking process until something prompts me, than it could take a month or more before i get all of the replies or give up.

And if a cache dosent have the TB, than i just state as such in the logs of the caches i find to let others know that it has been removed.

July 30, 2006

If a bug is confirmed as missing, and the cache owner and TB owner are not responding, send me a link to the TB page and I will mark it as missing. This doesn't archive the bug, it merely takes it off the cache page.

So I have a TB that is missing and has been for several months. I have a duplicate TB. How do I go about registering that and sending it off?

July 30, 2006

Your duplicate TB uses the same page as your "missing" TB, no need to register it, its number is already in the system. If you marked it as missing, you can move it back to it's last location and "grab" it from there to get it back into your possession.

You can edit the TB's page to reflect that the duplicate tag is now attached to the traveler & that the original bug went missing.

Of course the only time we did this, the ORIGINAL bug showed up several weeks later (even though it had been listed as being in a cache that got muggled). Fortunately the finders contacted us and we were able to retrieve the duplicate and let the original keep moving. Things could get confusing if 2 TBs are using the same number. :rolleyes:

July 31, 2006

Your duplicate TB uses the same page as your "missing" TB, no need to register it, its number is already in the system. If you marked it as missing, you can move it back to it's last location and "grab" it from there to get it back into your possession.

You can edit the TB's page to reflect that the duplicate tag is now attached to the traveler & that the original bug went missing.

Of course the only time we did this, the ORIGINAL bug showed up several weeks later (even though it had been listed as being in a cache that got muggled). Fortunately the finders contacted us and we were able to retrieve the duplicate and let the original keep moving. Things could get confusing if 2 TBs are using the same number.

Thanks. I'll do that. I assume that I can grab it from the last location even though 1) I didn't mark it as missing - someone else must have done that when the found the cache without it, and 2) I cannot visit the cache, but will do it on line (its in another State).

August 1, 2006

I successfully grabbed the lost TB and re-issued it using the duplicate tag and changing the name.

In another email I noted that you would archieve a TB if it was in the cache and hadn't been found for a period of time.

Happy Hooker in Alto Cache hasn't been seen since 1/1/06.

See:

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...06-7472e3850ff3

Thanks.

Maybe A Solution To Missing Tb's

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