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Re-use of old archived GC numbers


Lizzy

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Why aren't the really old (more than a couple of years) archived cache GC codes not reassigned? Just curious, not a request or anything. I can understand why fairly new archived cache numbers would not be reused, but the old ones?

 

I searched for this topic but did not find an answer after weeding through several pages of forum threads, so forgive me if this has been addressed before.

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Because those old caches, if published, had a history associated with them?

Because those old caches, if never published, would take more effort to track down and recycle than it would be worth?

Because it's kind of nice to see a "low number" cache on your screen, and know that it will be an oldie but goodie?

Because there is an infinite supply of new numbers available?

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it's a database thing. You NEVER recycle IDs (the whole point of an ID is that it be unique). If you never truly delete a record (but instead toggle a IsDeleted flag on the record), that ID is not actually gone, its in there, it's just that the web site filters out "WHERE IsDeleted!=true"

 

Archived caches are just that, they have a IsArchived flag. They are still in the database. Its even possible somebody could restore an archived cache, and thus all its logs and history are retained.

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All the above... plus if you ever wanted to look up an old find of yours that had been archived it would be gone. Sometimes looking at the page of an archived cache that you did some time ago will trigger a memory that helps you find a new cache placed in the same general area.

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Because those old caches, if published, had a history associated with them?

Because those old caches, if never published, would take more effort to track down and recycle than it would be worth?

Because it's kind of nice to see a "low number" cache on your screen, and know that it will be an oldie but goodie?

Because there is an infinite supply of new numbers available?

You said you're OLD

 

now my take is what if that old Cache was brought back to life? can some one take a really old Archived Cache and bring it back to life? that would be cool for some of us Newbies.

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Because those old caches, if published, had a history associated with them?

Because those old caches, if never published, would take more effort to track down and recycle than it would be worth?

Because it's kind of nice to see a "low number" cache on your screen, and know that it will be an oldie but goodie?

Because there is an infinite supply of new numbers available?

You said you're OLD

 

now my take is what if that old Cache was brought back to life? can some one take a really old Archived Cache and bring it back to life? that would be cool for some of us Newbies.

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now my take is what if that old Cache was brought back to life? can some one take a really old Archived Cache and bring it back to life? that would be cool for some of us Newbies.
A while back, while researching a location for a new hide of my own, I found a geocache. A little research revealed that it was the container for a cache that had been archived a year and a half ago. (Someone had hidden it "better" than the owner had originally hidden it, someone else logged a DNF, and the owner archived it when he couldn't find it where it was supposed to be.)

 

The owner could have unarchived the cache. It turns out that he didn't want to, but this would have been a situation where he could have.

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now my take is what if that old Cache was brought back to life? can some one take a really old Archived Cache and bring it back to life? that would be cool for some of us Newbies.

 

Ummmm, yeaaaaa...... And ummm, how exactly would it be the same cache???

 

A while back, while researching a location for a new hide of my own, I found a geocache. A little research revealed that it was the container for a cache that had been archived a year and a half ago. (Someone had hidden it "better" than the owner had originally hidden it, someone else logged a DNF, and the owner archived it when he couldn't find it where it was supposed to be.)

 

The owner could have unarchived the cache. It turns out that he didn't want to, but this would have been a situation where he could have.

 

Okay, in this case that would have been kinda cool.

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I had the sad duty of removing Oregon's last (I think) moving cache. In the 4 years 4 months and 4 days that Hide & Seek GC33E7 was on the move, it was logged more than 150 times. It was logged many times at event caches, but the best logs were by cachers that found it on top of signs etc. I still have the box since the owner does't cache anymore. Thanks to the reviewer who allowed me to post a final find of this cache even though it was technicly archived. The many cachers deserve to be able to read their log and everyone elses. The original logbook in its plastic bag now has a TB attached and travels from cache to cache in Oregon for everyone to read whatever you wish and write a log for the TB. I doubt that if I used the original ammobox that GC would let me have the same GC#. :)

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I just used an archived cache to get a fix on a new one. The area is a huge wooded boulderfield. It is rough terrain and accurately pacing into it is just not possible. There is nothing on the aerial to help much except a small pond about 200 meters away straight across the worst of the boulders. OK, I could try a GPS but why change now.. :laughing: There was a cache there a few years ago and after about 6 months and probably 10 trips I did find it. So I looked up the archived cache coordinates and printed out my maps with those and the new cache marked. Should be able to find the old location and then use that to pace to the new one which is only a few meters away. Hopefully both sets of coordinates are good or it may still take a lot of search time...

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Actually there *is* something magic about the "GC" prefix. It's associated with a geocache published on this listing service, just as "TC" means a terracache and "GD" is a geodashing dashpoint.

 

How many times have you asked a caching buddy "what's the GC number for that one?" It is the unique identifier. "GC number" is fairly well embedded into the lexicon of the game.

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