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Who All Completely Ignores Micros...


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I'm hearing some folks simply completely ignore micros--just don't look at them, as if they didn't exist. Some claim their caching experiences have gotten better because they simply don't run into as many lame caches since they've started ignoring them. Sissy would rather CITO while I hunt a micro--if she can't trade, she couldn't be bothered.

 

So, who all ignores micros simply because it's a micro?

 

Also, does anyone who places micros consider their cache may be completely ignored because it is a micro? Would it affect your decision to put a lot of effort into a micro if you knew folks would simply ignore it based on size? What about a nice location you want to bring someone to, but they had you on their ignore list because of the size?

 

Is filtering based on size fair? Would you fudge the size of your cache to a "small" so it isn't filtered?

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So, who all ignores micros simply because it's a micro?

 

Is filtering based on size fair? Would you fudge the size of your cache to a "small" so it isn't filtered?

 

Interesting question...not exactly the usual angst over micro spew. I don't ignore micros, but if I have a choice in my area, I'll choose the traditional or even better IMO, a multi. Unfortunately for me, I think multis (and puzzles too) get ignored more often than micros. There are simply more easy, quick micros out there (not discounting the tough ones) and people like the smileys, so I don't think most would filter them.

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My first placement is a micro and I get great logs on it. There's plenty of spew in Maine but enough good micros to keep us interested.

 

Hey Jeremy, I promise never to belittle you if you ever express an interest in something that does not excite me.

Edited by Kacky
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I'm not a big fan of micros, but due to a health problem I can't do much more. The more I hunt them the more I respect them. They have a niche.

 

Micros are more of a mental challenge than a traditional cache. With a micro you usually have to think to find. With a tradional you can usually spot them a 100 feet away.

 

I like traditional, but with the growing popularity of caching they become more difficult to find a spot to place. In the mean time I'll look for the micros as needed. It doesn't degrade my caching experience at all.

 

El Diablo

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I don't completely ignore them. I try to take the time to review each cache, large or small, and decide to look for it based upon how it interests me. I prefer to find regular sized caches over micros, but only for the logbooks. For me, it is more interesting to read a journal entry and gain some knowledge of the history of the cache while at the cache location. If I liked the cache, I will handwrite a nice journal entry in the logbook about my experiences of finding that particular cache. I rarely trade swag or trinkets.

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Doesn't anyone MYOB anymore? Who cares whether I filter them out or love them to death.

 

This a slow posting day or something? ;)

:shocked::(:P:)

 

As for micros and the question , we do not ignore micro's . We like micros , we like most all types of caches and will hunt almost all of them . With the exception of some private property caches (because they just make us personally feel uncomfortable) .

 

We placed a full size traditional cache in a place that we thought would not be muggled . It was in a cemetery . But alas the cache was indeed muggled and the coin and TB that was in it as well were all gone . In its place these people put not one but 2 empty beer cans ( not something a cacher would do) .

Therefore we dedided to move the cache a small distance and YES we turned it into a MICRO , in the hopes that these disrespectfull muggles would not be able to do such a thing again.

 

We like Micro's we like them a lot .

 

Star

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I love micros and even the one nano cache we have found. My wife likes micros as long as they are film canister size or bigger. We love the hunt, if we get to trade once we find it that is even better. Our first cache is awaiting approval it is a small cache. We figured it would draw more folks if there is a trade possibility.

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i dont ignore them but if there walmart, drugstore or any other lame spot caches that consist of a drive up and drive away i ignore them. micros can be cool if there deep in the woods where there are lots of mosquitos :shocked: i dont care about whats in the cache or the size i care about where it is

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So, who all ignores micros simply because it's a micro?

Not me, I'll look for any cache if I have the time and the cache is close enough.

 

Also, does anyone who places micros consider their cache may be completely ignored because it is a micro?
Nope. When I place my caches I do so thinking that they're good caches for whatever reason I happen to have for hiding one. I'd like others to enjoy finding them, but you can't please everyone all of the time. Knowing that *some* people will enjoy them is good enough for me.

 

Would it affect your decision to put a lot of effort into a micro if you knew folks would simply ignore it based on size?
Nope. Same answer as above (to pretty much the same question).

 

What about a nice location you want to bring someone to, but they had you on their ignore list because of the size?
It's their loss. If they wanted a larger container there, they should have placed one in the location before I did.

 

Is filtering based on size fair?
Sure. People should cache how they want to cache. They should be allowed to skip what they don't enjoy, and I should be allowed to place a cache that I enjoy placing.

 

Would you fudge the size of your cache to a "small" so it isn't filtered?
Not a chance. I'd rather have an accurate cache description so it can be skipped instead of disappointing someone on purpose.
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I'd never put any caches on 'ignore' (or posters either, though sometimes there are those that are just asking for it)

 

My choice is to read the descriptions of the caches and then make a decision based on the info/lack of info provided by the hider.

 

I have placed a couple micros myself and I do realize that some players may filter them out, but that is their choice and their loss (or their gain, as they may see it).

In order to bring people to a couple interesting locations, a micro was my only option besides a multi.

(And people definitely pass on multis, I know because I've had 2 very easy ones placed and they really have had fewer logs even though the effort needed to complete them was so minimal, no extra driving included, etc...... oh well!)

 

I would not fudge the listing of my micro as a "small" to try and get more visitors.

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I completely ignore all micros... and am a happier person now that I do it. I've even turned off small caches, because in my area, they more often than not provide the micro-spew-type of experience.

Pocket Queries are you friends!

That being said, there are good micros and smalls out there. Other peoples favorites lists pick out the winners for me...

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I like them all, I like cleverly camo'd ones especially. Speaking of which I've got a clever camo job ready to hide tomorrow. I know a lot of people will enjoy the find itself but I'm gonna try to find a great location to make it even better.

 

I've been hiding fewer micros in favor of containers with larger logbooks because I like to read people's experiences in them.

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We have certain puzzle caches and multis on our ignore list. Not driven by size, but one on the list is posted coords 5 miles from home, actual coords are 89.7 miles from home, so we are not likely to find it, so we ignored it. As for placements, we hide what we want. Find it if you want, if you pass it up, then it's your loss, not ours.

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Well, interestingly enough, that made me go look at a few logs.... Micros in this area are found more times per month than most caches. My micros have a higher find/month rate than my larger caches by at least a ratio of 2:1

 

As for me, I like micros quite a lot. We have some cache owners around here that put out some great ones---very vreative and in fanstastic places. Most of the first few caches we actually found were micros. They took me to some places that I didn't know existed--and except for a short ten years when I was a young adult, I've lived in this town since I was 5 years old.

 

We're more likely to pass on a multi --especially when they don't say up front how many stages there are total.

Edited by Team Neos
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i dont ignore them but if there walmart, drugstore or any other lame spot caches that consist of a drive up and drive away i ignore them. micros can be cool if there deep in the woods where there are lots of mosquitos :shocked: i dont care about whats in the cache or the size i care about where it is

Micros are fun if they are hidden in plain sight at an interesting location.

 

The micros in the woods are the ones I would prefer to ignore, but if I'm there anyway I'll look.

 

I recently found a micro I thought was exceptionally well done. It was an interesting spot. The container fit the location. It was well hidden from muggling, yet not impossible to spot for a cacher.

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I plan my geocaching days around some key regular caches that appear to offer good hikes to interesting spots. If a micro then appears along my route I'll give it a few minutes... maybe 5 or 10 if it is in a public area maybe more if it is in the woods... but it doesn't bother me to walk away and leave it unfound.

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We like all caches. My wife actually was a big fan of virtuals until they stopped. Now she likes Micros because we have 2 little ones they do not always want to cache. It gives her a chance to find "urban micros" while running around with the kids doing mom things. I like traditional more due to finding bugs. I am a bugaholic and will normally not take anything or leave anything unless it is a bug or unless my daughter happens to want some swag. I do like micro's too. 4 out of 5 of my favorite caches were a 5/5 traditional and the others micro caches. Like others have said, micros make me think more. Finding something the size of a micro cammo'd in a tree or somewhere else is fun for the whole all of us. It is kind of weird when we are all looking up a tree and muggles see us. I am waiting for one of them to come over and help us look for a cat or whatever else they think we lost. I also think micros are good to put out in place of where virtuals were. It is pretty easy to hide a micro in an area like a war memorial or some other nice place to visit, like a wal-mart parking lot "which happens to be our first cache we are putting out" I know I know..... another wal-mart cache... but my wife likes them and for those who care about beefing up there numbers then micros can be good for them too. We hunt them all until we can bleed the local area dry of caches...then we will have to put out more.... peace

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i dont ignore them but if there walmart, drugstore or any other lame spot caches that consist of a drive up and drive away i ignore them. micros can be cool if there deep in the woods where there are lots of mosquitos <_< i dont care about whats in the cache or the size i care about where it is

 

Exactly the same case here. I look at them on a case by case basis, especially in my local territory, which I'm obviously familiar with. I think the better question would be who uses the ignore listing feature, period. I'd bet an extremely small number of people.

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I ignore at least 80% of the new micros in my area (which accounts for about 98% of the hides).

 

Any traditional micro hide that states is an "Evil hide", that it's a nano, or has logs to the effect of "Took me 4 times to find it" all go straight to the ignore list. I just want to find the cache, maybe trade something, sign my name, and move on.

 

My local area is glutted with micros in every parking lot and park. I just can't deal with another numbers-building-micro that have become the rage.

Edited by Ed & Julie
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I live up in the sticks (northern Idaho - Western Montana) where any Cache is at least a "challenge" - some are near roadways, but most are hikes through the beautiful woods in my area.

 

So thankfully, I don't have to deal with micros at all - with all the effort to put out caches in my area, I can't imagine someone hiking in 3 miles and deciding to put a pencil sized cache and calling it good... lol

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I think this game has morphed over the past few years. Micros have grown in popularity (placement and hunting of) due to I think time constraints and the disapearance of public wooded hiding places. Yes there are many woods and hiking trails all over near me, but it is a 30 minute drive to them. Why not get a quick P-n-G and get my cache fix? micros are a part of this sport, get used to them.

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I have caches that some people ignore because they require a 5 mile hike. I have caches that some people ignore because they require that you solve a difficult puzzle. Heck - I've got a cache that requires you to solve a puzzle, go on a five mile hike, and then you get to find a micro. Its only had two finders and the last one was in 2003. But I got my green Jeep in the mail, and once I figure how to hide it alongside the micro, I bet I'll have a finder in no time at all. <_<

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It's true that micros can be overdone in some areas, but then there are some areas that just don't lend themselves to anything bigger -- and at least this way there is SOMETHING to go look for if you don't have time to leave the urban jungle! <_<

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I don't ignore certain types of caches, but I do ignore certain cachers. Many interesting, well hidden micros exist in my area, but they are interspersed with some absolutely lame, (in my opinion), micros. Once I realized that the lame micros all came from the same people, I just click "Ignore" whenever a new one from one of them gets published. As to whether or not they notice they are being ignored, I'd guesse "No", since they keep dropping film cannisters in the Burger King shrubbery.

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I quit hunting micros more than 2-1/2 years ago and never looked back. Too many of them are just lazy hides by lazy cachers. They are often of the numbers, by the numbers, and for the numbers. It's long odds to find a decent one that makes sense. I play for the location, location, location and to get some exercise and fresh air. I'm not impressed by so-called "evil hides" (yawn) and I despise the dodge the muggle game that some micro people like to play. This pretty much kills micros for me so I just don't bother with them anymore. I can easily live with missing out on the occasional worthwhile micro. There are just too many caches these days to bother with crummy micros. I am also leery of small caches, caches in urban and suburban areas, caches close to roads, and caches by certain hiders that are known to consistently hide junk. I filter out many of these as well.

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Maybe a better question would be who all completely ignores POSTS about micros. <_<

Micros have logbooks just like the big ones and that is all that counts.

 

This is a little off topic, but I have noticed a trend to put only log sheets rather than log books in recently placed regular and small caches. It is pretty much necessary to use log sheets in micros, but I enjoy reading the finder logs and I am sorry to see this trend in the other caches.

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Maybe a better question would be who all completely ignores POSTS about micros. <_<

Micros have logbooks just like the big ones and that is all that counts.

 

And oddly enough, with the right website code, I don't believe logbooks should exist either...

 

For some folks, geocaching is about the hike. others enjoy the loot, still others enjoy reading the paper logbook. Some folks just like the find, and increasing their count. Micro's get to the basic minimal requirements of a geocache, a thing hidden with GPS coords. If the site supported cache ID codes (like the TB's have), you wouldn't even need a logbook. At that point, caches could become really tiny, and they wouldn't get wet, and they'd be even less likely to get muggled.

 

I'm not a fan of micros. They're harder to find (being physically smaller). But they definitely support urban caching.

 

I also think that to a newbie, the first 3 micros they find are all clever hides (because they've never seen that trick done before). After that, the means of hiding become rather repeated. But then that's true of big caches as well.

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I won't ignore a Micro just because it is a Micro. I may because of the location or because of other Micros that I have found or DNF which were hidden by the same owner. Do that sometimes with Regular Caches anyway, like under heavy tree cover and poor hints. Too big a difficulty rating or terrain might also put me off on a Micro faster than a regular Cache. I do tend to ignore Puzzle Caches and and not a fan of Multi Caches unless there is a visual reason for the stages. I have seldom have seen any that had mostly all interesting stages. Even ones that show you a number of 'interesting sites' in a city in my opinion would often be better as Regular or Small Caches. I have placed a Multi with a number of interesting stages all with parts to a wooden craft cutout. As well I have placed a Multi which had two stages, one under water and one in the air. The other Multi I placed is in a great photo op but high muggle area, stamped cordinates only with the actual cache being in another close by photo op spot but few if any muggles. I have found a few of the now gone Virtual and Earthcaches. Still, like playing poker when you know the game is crooked, if the only cache in town is one I don't like I will still play anyway.

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I hunt them all, some with a higher priority than others. It all depends on my mood and my agenda.

This time of year long hikes will get ignored. Most times puzzles and those of certain hiders get overlooked for other targets.

 

Sunday was a perfect example. Woke up at my normal early hour and did yardwork for several hours before it got too hot. Ate some lunch, lazed in the pool for a few hours (sorry ma, didn't wait for 30 minutes B)), and then took a drive to an area about 40 minutes away that had a nice cluster of caches to find. Some were micros, some were larger. One was even a drive up because I approached from the right direction and never left the comfort of the a/c. <_< Heck I even did a multi that was a bit like a puzzle. ;)

 

I really don't care if anyone ignores my hides. They get found often enough, and those who do find them seem to be having fun. At least the finder of one of my routine urban micros did yesterday:

Very nice hide. The owner would have enjoyed watching me hunt for this one. Guess the heat affected me. Finally regained my cool and walked right to it. TFTH!
And my wife did get to spot him falling for the misdirected hint. :P She was driving by on the way to a meeting.

 

I tend to ignore certain posters more than anything else in this sport. :unsure:

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I have a better way to weed out micros. I updated my pocket queries to find only caches that have at least a 2/2 difficulty or higher. Since a good portion of "park and grabs" are 1/1, they don't show up anymore. It's kinda like sifting the Wheat (hike to caches) from the chaff (park and grabs).

 

I'm a happier cacher this way, and I don't affect anyone else's game. I also Lead by example

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does anyone who places micros consider their cache may be completely ignored because it is a micro?

 

Not at all because I am fairly confident that the amount of people who ignore micros is so minuscule as to not even a blip on a statistical chart.

 

The "I hate micros" thing is forum fodder, something for those of us who cruise the boards here to vent about one way or another. In the real world most cachers hunt caches where caches are. They are more likely to choose geographically than using size as a criteria.

 

As it was mentioned before, in the Chicagoland area, where the mix is about 45% micros, the micros are the most often found and not only the urban, but the rural and wooded area ones also. I think people like something that is some what more challenging that the average "walk right up after seeing from 25 yards away" ammo hide.

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I'm not a big fan of micros, but due to a health problem I can't do much more. The more I hunt them the more I respect them. They have a niche.

 

Micros are more of a mental challenge than a traditional cache. With a micro you usually have to think to find. With a tradional you can usually spot them a 100 feet away.

 

I like traditional, but with the growing popularity of caching they become more difficult to find a spot to place. In the mean time I'll look for the micros as needed. It doesn't degrade my caching experience at all.

Being on crutches and in chronic pain, I ignore any cache with more than about a half-mile walk in or terrain > 3, but I love to hunt anything else! Container size / type is irrelevant, they are all fun.
El Diablo and TheAlabamaRambler made the point better than I would have.
I quit hunting micros more than 2-1/2 years ago and never looked back. Too many of them are just lazy hides by lazy cachers. ...
Just out of curiosity, if you haen't found any micros in the last 2 1/2 years, how do you know what they are like (or what the motivations of the placers is) for current micros hidden? You don't have to reply. I don't wish to derail CR's thread.
I'd never put any caches on 'ignore' (or posters either, though sometimes there are those that are just asking for it)
Sorry. <_< Edited by sbell111
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does anyone who places micros consider their cache may be completely ignored because it is a micro?
Oops, I forgot to reply to this question...

 

My cache hides are for the enjoyment of those caches who like the types of caches I've hidden. If someone doesn't like the kinds of caches that I've hidden (whether they are micros, puzzles, multis, whatever), why should I care? I would hope that they do ignore my cache if they know they won't like it.

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We love micros and any other caches. We don't really trade much but often put coins or other stuff in caches. We don't ignore anything. There are some kayak caches very close to our house that we are just waiting for cooler weather to find an overland way to get to. I don't fit in kayaks and keep rolling over in canoes but am a good swimmer. Some folks would ignore those if they were kayak limited like us but we wouldn't ignore them for anything. I have hidden a bunch of micros that I could care less if anyone places on their ignore list. It would be their loss not mine. To sum it up.... ignore if you want to but we don't ignore anything.

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I completely ignore all micros... and am a happier person now that I do it. I've even turned off small caches, because in my area, they more often than not provide the micro-spew-type of experience.

Pocket Queries are you friends!

That being said, there are good micros and smalls out there. Other peoples favorites lists pick out the winners for me...

 

Being where you're from, (NW Pa) and "completely ignoring all micros" is absolutetly astounding <_< You must feel like the only vegetarian at a pig roast.

Edited by TheWhiteUrkel
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I think it depends where the micros are. We enjoy the micros that take you to an interesting place/activity. The only micros that we really don't care for are the "light pole/parking lot" micros.

 

I believe that micros should be used in places that have high muggle activity (and a large container won't work) and bring the cachers to an interesting locale. I have found some very interesting micros in downtown city locations. It is fun trying to locate and retrieve a micro when an activity (ball game, fair, festival, etc.) is going on that was the reason for the cache in the first place.

 

Just my $0.02

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Perhaps there ought to be an area in the forums, just for people to vent about how much they love or hate micros.

 

> Groundspeak Forums > General Geocaching Discussions > Micros>

 

That would make it much easier for me to ignore all the posts about them ...

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