Trolling for ICONS

[+CENT5]

Just got this e-mail from a cacher who lives in another state. I have never met or interfaced in any way, shape or form with this cacher.

 

"Hi hows it goin?You look like you need a few icons.Wana trade?I would love to have your...new york,obsesed and drunners icons.Please " Signed BBBBBBB

 

Being a bit puzzled I responded with: "I'm a bit confused. Trade icons?"

 

I kinda figured what the answer was gonna be but had to wait for it. Their response:

 

"Trade trackable numbers for discovering purposes so we could get new icons that we dont have.sound good?e-mail me back please?" Signed BBBBBBB

 

To which I responded: "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING!!!!! I send u tracking #'s so you can get the icon. Tell me you are kidding."

 

Um I'm sorry I don't choose to do that. That seems EXTREMELY cheesy to me. If I can't hold the coin in my hand I can't "Discover" it now can I.

 

I try respect the fact that we all choose to play the game our own way. I can't respect this particular method though.

 

And I'm still confused. WHAT on earth led you to believe I would do such a thing.

 

My My you have a ton of icons in a very short time. I'm impressed.

 

Regards,

 

I wonder if they will respond???

 

Skanky-- VERY Skanky

[+Runaround]

I met a cacher on the trail who offered me a card with tracking numbers for about 25 different coins. I politely declined and explained that I wouldn't want the icon for a coin unless I actually found the coin in a cache and moved it to another cache. He told me that I didn't "understand" the point of geocoins?!?!?

[+Kryten]

There will always be a subset of the caching population for whom collecting rather than finding has become the primary motivation. For such individuals, the size of the find count and associated icon collection becomes an end in itself with the requirement to physically visit cache sites or actually be in posession of coins or TBs, merely an inconvenience to be circumvented whenever possible. It's a different mindset with different goals and different rewards and I'm not sure what it's called, but it's not geocaching.

[CoyoteRed]

Yeah, I've seen this before. Usually, it's folks bringing coins to events, but I've heard of lists being offered.

 

Personally, it's not even a matter of me holding it in my hand, but actually moving it along. There are plenty of coins we've seen at events or in caches, but if we didn't move it along we didn't log it. Same with TBs.

 

There was one of the last moving caches at an event once. I signed the log when offered simply to be polite, but I never logged in online. I didn't find it in the wild.

 

Some folks will log anything.

[+briansnat]

I've received similar requests. E-mails from people offering to trade the tracking number of geocoins I had in my posession in return for tracking numbers they had. I usually offer to mail them the coin, but I won't give out the number.

 

Another strange practice is that I've seen Xeroxed sheets of tracking numbers being passed around at events. No coins or TBs, just tracking numbers.

 

I really don't get the point. What does trading numbers prove? That you can read an email or sheet of paper?

 

Its all part of the numbers craze where people are so focused on pumping up their numbers, they throw their integrity out the window. Unlike phony finds however, I don't see how it harms anyone, so if people want to add unearned icons to their profile that's their prerogative.

[+thisismeisthatu]

Looks like the old numbers game to me. I personally hate the discouver option that has been added. I do understand why they did it. But to me Trackable coins and travel bugs are to be move from cache to cache. and I made a promised to myself a few weeks ago not to every use the option. I will only log a TB or coin if I physcally move it to another cache. Let me tell you it was hard when I was at an event a week ago or so. There where a few Jeeps there and almost every was discouvering them. I help to my promise.

[+nikcap]

I haven't had this happen to me, but I've seen list of coin tracking numbers at events. I have traded puzzle hints for holding a coin that I can discover. Sometime I log the coin, some times I forget.

On a tangent, I've seen "paper" coins in caches. (a copy or replica of the original coin that has either been stolen or held onto by the owner) Oddly enough, it seems many people get irate about this practice too.

What's the difference?

[+Snoogans]

I met a cacher on the trail who offered me a card with tracking numbers for about 25 different coins. I politely declined and explained that I wouldn't want the icon for a coin unless I actually found the coin in a cache and moved it to another cache. He told me that I didn't "understand" the point of geocoins?!?!?

 

Nope he failed to get YOUR point.

 

I'm an Icon Ho and proud of it, but I MUST touch a coin (counting coup) to get credit. I play my own game, and while I find the trolling scheme to be rather misguided I refuse to judge.

 

I've been an Icon Ho since BEFORE the coin craze. I'm more of a hider than a finder, but the chance to get my first Earth cache sent me 150 miles ONE WAY to get it. I'll get an A.P.E. cache too some day for the same reason.

 

BEWARE: Long winded semi-OT tangent! DANGER WILL ROBINSON!

 

I believe Groundspeak is passing bye a great opportunity to create GeoTourism by not entertaining the idea for folks to purchase unique personalized cache icons for their caches. Sure, I believe some folks would abuse it as they do coin icons, but I also believe that cachers like me would be willing to drive/fly wayyy outta their way to collect them.

 

Sounds stupid huh? Well, think about it this way...... GeoTourism is a muscle that WE all posses as cachers. We vote with our wallets and that gives us POWER that no one is focusing. If personalized cache icons were put into play, a well traveled Icon Ho's profile would spell it out clearly (visually) to local governments that banning/restricting caching activities is NOT a good idea. It will cause the areas we pass through that restrict/ban caching to lose money from purchases of gas, food, airfare, and lodging, etc.

 

I'm willing to bet that the average expenditure of an individual to attend a Mega-Event weekend out of state is conservatively about one thousand dollars. Cities go hog wild with sponsorship and support for conventions, because of the revenue they generate. Geocaching generates revenue for local economies EVERY single day, yet very little is being done to point that out.

 

Now, how many of you are planning a trip to the next Mega-Event? And of those, what percentage really WANT that Mega-Event icon? Folks, look in the mirror. You've got muscle.

[+briansnat]

On a tangent, I've seen "paper" coins in caches. (a copy or replica of the original coin that has either been stolen or held onto by the owner). Oddly enough, it seems many people get irate about this practice too.

 

They probably get irate because they can't steal it to add to their collection.

[+Snoogans]

On a tangent, I've seen "paper" coins in caches. (a copy or replica of the original coin that has either been stolen or held onto by the owner). Oddly enough, it seems many people get irate about this practice too.

 

They probably get irate because they can't steal it to add to their collection.

 

You da man Brian. Lord, I swore I'd nevvver say that.

 

I plan to do the same with my own coins. It's a fairly NEW trend, but I've moved nearly a half dozen just like it recently. I like the idea.

 

I HATE finding that I was LTP (Last to place) on a coin. I will ONLY trade them hand to hand at events now, so I can direct the owner to that party when they eventually enquire about it.

[+Kit Fox]

Looks like the old numbers game to me. I personally hate the discouver option that has been added. I do understand why they did it. But to me Trackable coins and travel bugs are to be move from cache to cache. and I made a promised to myself a few weeks ago not to every use the option. I will only log a TB or coin if I physcally move it to another cache. Let me tell you it was hard when I was at an event a week ago or so. There where a few Jeeps there and almost every was discouvering them. I help to my promise.

 

When I find new caches, or revisit old finds, to see new coins, and Jeeps, I often use the Discover option. I do this for two reasons, to share or give newer cachers a chance to physical see the coin, or Jeep. I also do it, because sometimes I can't help the mission of said item. I won't virtually log anything (been offered). I personally despise cachers that troll the TB galleries looking for Coins, Jeeps, and TBs with the number visible, just to get the icon.

 

As a TB, and a coin owner, I appreciate having 50% less logs for my items "in the wild."

[CoyoteRed]

I believe Groundspeak is passing bye a great opportunity to create GeoTourism by not entertaining the idea for folks to purchase unique personalized cache icons for their caches. Sure, I believe some folks would abuse it as they do coin icons, but I also believe that cachers like me would be willing to drive/fly wayyy outta their way to collect them.

 

So, if everyone has one are they really that valuable? Why would anyone travel a distance to get an icon when so many are local?

 

If I'm reading you correctly, then each team/individual could get a unique icon, like a Snoogans icon for finding one of your caches.

 

hmmm....

 

I don't see any good coming out of this for the hobby. Icon Hos will simply whip into town find one cache of each person who has a custom icon and leave.

 

I'm sorry, I doubt we would ever do that. Icon collecting makes the hobby less about the individual cache. I don't place caches to simply be a smilie so I don't think I'd buy a custom icon to further degrade a placement.

Edited August 31, 2006 by CoyoteRed

[+ArriBlossom]

Huh. This is all very interesting. I had seen evidence of coin obsession but never really understood it. I think I get it now.

 

I saw one log that read, "Found this coin in cache xxxxxx. I picked it up, admired it and then put it back." I was all, "WTF?!" Why not just move it on?

 

I saw another log from a person who found a cache but returned weeks later to pick up a coin that had been put in after he found it. He posted a note to the cache page, "I happened to be in the area so I picked up the coin to move it on."

 

Happened to be in the area? I know that area. There's really no reason to be there unless you're looking for that cache.

 

Ah, well. To each his own.

[+Snoogans]

So, if everyone has one are they really that valuable?

 

Where geocaching is concerned, value is based on the mindset of the cacher.

 

Why would anyone travel a distance to get an icon when so many are local?

 

Come on CR.... Why do folks aspire to get an APE cache? AT LEAST part of the reason is that coveted icon.

 

If I'm reading you correctly, then each team/individual could get a unique icon, like a Snoogans icon for finding one of your caches.

 

hmmm....

 

Icon Hos will simply whip into town find one cache of each person who has a custom icon and leave.

 

Thank you. YOU just proved my point.

 

I don't see any good coming out of this for the hobby.

 

If it ever happens, you may hafta reconsider that foregone conclusion.

 

I'm sorry, I doubt we would ever do that. Icon collecting makes the hobby less about the individual cache. I don't place caches to simply be a smilie so I don't think I'd buy a custom icon to further degrade a placement.

 

To each their own. I'd buy a custom icon for all of my regular caches. I'd buy a custom icon for Quantum Leap. I'd buy a custom icon for all of One degree of Separation caches (369 of 'em at last count and growing every day) and share it with ODS hiders if Grounspeak would allow it.

 

Revenue for GC.com, happy icon ho's, and a quick visual reference to flex the GeoTourism muscle. Uhhh, win-win-win.....

[+Loch Cache]

Just got this e-mail from a cacher who lives in another state. I have never met or interfaced in any way, shape or form with this cacher.

 

"Hi hows it goin?You look like you need a few icons.Wana trade?I would love to have your...new york,obsesed and drunners icons.Please " Signed BBBBBBB

 

Being a bit puzzled I responded with: "I'm a bit confused. Trade icons?"

 

I kinda figured what the answer was gonna be but had to wait for it. Their response:

 

"Trade trackable numbers for discovering purposes so we could get new icons that we dont have.sound good?e-mail me back please?" Signed BBBBBBB

 

To which I responded: "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING!!!!! I send u tracking #'s so you can get the icon. Tell me you are kidding."

 

I am sure they are not kidding. I recieved an email from Belgium:

Hello

 

I would like to share some geocoins with you.

 

Please feel free to discover 2 of mine geocoins:

-The canadian geocoin: CA4EX_

-The Belgian geocoin: BEPWR_

 

Do you allow me to log 2 of your geocoins?

-Kentucky geocoin.

-2006 Midwest Geobash event.

 

Of course i will not share these coins with other peaople.

 

Greetings from Belgium

 

Johan

 

I blanked out the last letter of the tracking number because I did not want to give the numbers away, but you can see he had no problem just giving them up. I did not play his game.

 

I also have seen books of coins at events with printouts of every coin so you do not have to touch, examine and write down numbers. Not the game I want to play now. Early on I wrote down numbers if someone told me them. Sometimes I’d log them, sometimes not. I have deleted some of those old logs and plan to do some more so I am not hypocritical. (Although I am sure everyone is in some way, but let's not debate that.)

 

Loch Cache

[+GreyingJay]

I don't have any problem with discovering coins at events. (Why else would I use Discover? If I found the coin in a cache I'd pick it up...) After all, I held it, I admired it, why not discover it. I was at an event the other day and people brought bags and albums full of coins.

 

There were no Xeroxes, no paper facsimilies of coins... people passed around their collections and other people admired. If you wanted to write down tracking numbers, you brought out a pen and paper and sometimes a magnifying glass, and you got busy.

 

And you know what? I wrote down about two dozen tracking numbers, after which I got tired of writing. After that I just continued admiring people's coins. Screw the icon, I can always find it again another time.

 

If people want to commit that kind of time and energy for a little icon, so be it.

[+Mudfrog]

Huh. This is all very interesting. I had seen evidence of coin obsession but never really understood it. I think I get it now.

 

I saw one log that read, "Found this coin in cache xxxxxx. I picked it up, admired it and then put it back." I was all, "WTF?!" Why not just move it on?

 

I saw another log from a person who found a cache but returned weeks later to pick up a coin that had been put in after he found it. He posted a note to the cache page, "I happened to be in the area so I picked up the coin to move it on."

 

Happened to be in the area? I know that area. There's really no reason to be there unless you're looking for that cache.

 

Ah, well. To each his own.

 

Both the examples you mentioned are perfectly fine. Not sure why you would think otherwise.

 

As far as discovering coins, travelbugs, or Jeeps at events,,, why not? The event is a listed GC.com cache. There isn't a thing wrong with me discovering these, as long as i get to physically see/hold it and record the numbers off them myself! That's the key, that you get to physically hold or see the trackable. Passing numbers around isn't kosher and trading numbers through emails is just plain goofy!

[+briansnat]

As far as discovering coins, travelbugs, or Jeeps at events,,, why not?

 

I really don't have a problem with that. Its not my cup of tea. My personal criterion is that I have to find the coin in a cache (I use "discover" if I'm not going to move it along for whatever reason), but if people want to log coins they find at events, I have no issues with that. At least they saw the coin and likely touched it. Its this trading of tracking numbers that I find bizarre.

Edited August 31, 2006 by briansnat

[+ArriBlossom]

Both the examples you mentioned are perfectly fine. Not sure why you would think otherwise.

I never said it wasn't "perfectly fine." I said I did not understand the obsession with geocoins. In case #1: while it's probably true the person picked the coin up and admired it, I didn't understand why he went to any lengths to post about it on the coin page. I mean, who cares? Apparently, he did. For the icon, of course. I did not understand that at the time I read his "discovery" post.

 

Case #2: You'd have to know the area to understand. I can understand picking up the coin to log it so you can have the icon but seriously, this guy went out of his way. "I just happened to be here." No, you consciously made an effort to be there for the coin. For the icon. Let's not be coy now.

Edited August 31, 2006 by ArriBlossom

[CoyoteRed]

Why do folks aspire to get an APE cache?

 

Because they are so rare? Maybe?

 

...a quick visual reference to flex the GeoTourism muscle.

 

Please explain this again. I don't get it. Why would anyone in tourism care about icons? Once you got a Snoogans icon, who cares? Because the icons would not be completely representative of the numbers of visits because of geocaching, the number to view would be total visits. Heck, if you're just icon grabbing there would be less incentive to return unless there is a new icon to find. Folks are going to have a new icon for every cache? I think not.

[+carleenp]

I've never had an email asking to trade numbers. Likely because I don't have a ton of icons. I want those to track only things I actually got from a cache, moved or own (and is moving). On many occassions, however, I have had people give me lists of tracking numbers at events, or give me the number of their personal coin or TB. I don't care what others do in terms of logging and trading numbers at event. I figure that is their business and I just don't care what others do all that much. But I do get uncomfortable when a person I just met hands me a list like that. I used to explain why I don't need the list, but after a person once seemed a bit offended by the fact that I didn't want their list of numbers, I just started taking the list and never logging them.

Edited August 31, 2006 by carleenp

[+conradv]

It's interesting that people really do believe that they are not doing anything "wrong" by using sheets of numbers, or even doing mass "discovers" at events. People seem to be able to talk themselves into anything.

 

Myself? I think that both practices are a bunch of hogwash, but that's just me.

[+GreyingJay]

Myself? I think that both practices are a bunch of hogwash, but that's just me.

 

Fair enough. Why is it hogwash to discover coins at an event? I'm physically holding them and admiring them.

[CoyoteRed]

Myself? I think that both practices are a bunch of hogwash, but that's just me.

 

Fair enough. Why is it hogwash to discover coins at an event? I'm physically holding them and admiring them.

 

Why would you log it? So what you were looking at them. Did you move them along? Would you have held and admired them if you didn't get an icon?

[+ibycus]

I go back and forth on the discover issue. (although never so far as saying wanna trade tracking numbers?)

 

In some respects I think that the discover is great. You can say "Hey I saw this bug, this coin or what ever" You can look over your found list and remember which coins you've seen and which you haven't.

I even bring my coins to events and what not to show them off.

 

I don't think it stops any coins/bugs whatever from moving on.

 

*but* on the other hand it means a lot more to have said "I moved this coin from this cache to this cache" rather than just "I saw this coin".

 

For Jeeps I will use the discover option. I don't think I ever saw a White Jeep in a cache. Then again I've seen some really, really rare coins (among them the lackey coin), and declined to use the discover option...

[+conradv]

Myself? I think that both practices are a bunch of hogwash, but that's just me.

 

Fair enough. Why is it hogwash to discover coins at an event? I'm physically holding them and admiring them.

 

It gets back to the original "intent" of geocaching, or more specifically, what I believe to be the intent of geocaching.

 

Granted, I'm new at this, but I see the purpose to be this:

 

Go out in the countryside and find hidden caches.

Sign the log book.

Take something and leave somthing ("nothing" is considered something: TNLN).

If there is a TB, you can log it and move it to another cache.

If you have a TB, you can leave it in the cache.

Go online and log your finds on the cache's page.

Do it again.

 

So this is just my opinion, and others have the right to do what they want - just seems to me that it defeats the purpose of "finding" or "discovering" a TB.

 

[+eagletrek]

Myself? I think that both practices are a bunch of hogwash, but that's just me.

 

Fair enough. Why is it hogwash to discover coins at an event? I'm physically holding them and admiring them.

 

It gets back to the original "intent" of geocaching, or more specifically, what I believe to be the intent of geocaching.

 

Granted, I'm new at this, but I see the purpose to be this:

 

Go out in the countryside and find hidden caches.

Sign the log book.

Take something and leave somthing ("nothing" is considered something: TNLN).

If there is a TB, you can log it and move it to another cache.

If you have a TB, you can leave it in the cache.

Go online and log your finds on the cache's page.

Do it again.

 

So this is just my opinion, and others have the right to do what they want - just seems to me that it defeats the purpose of "finding" or "discovering" a TB.

 

 

This observation is Spot On! I agree folks can cache their own way but for those who have turned geocaching into a swap meet, please don't confuse yourself with folks who are in it for purpose of "finding", "discovering", and for that matter "trekking."

[ju66l3r]

Anyone baffled by why there are icon collectors hasn't looked into the entire Pokemon phenomenon. Their motto is "Gotta catch'em all" and the main protagonist is Ash Ketchum. Once you think you've got them all...they put out a new set as some new island full of new and wonderous pokemon are revealed in the Pokemoniverse.

 

Unlike coin collectors or other physical collectors, icons are free/cheap/easy to collect. Touch one of the magical passed numbers and you're in. As more people make more icons, there's more to collect to "catch'em all". It doesn't matter that everyone, their sister, AND their dog is creating these things. Promotionalism from the days of baseball cards and cereal box prizes has convinced whole new waves of people that they have to have one of every item in the series.

 

Just wait until some of these people get capitalistic about the idea and start creating accounts, filling it with one of every icon they have a tracking number for and then selling the account on eBay for someone else as a "starter set" to get them caught up as far as possible on icons (and the new owner would begin their collection from that point onward).

 

PS - if you start selling accounts now as a result of my post, my cut is 5% per sale.

[+budd-rdc]

I agree with ju66l3r on the collector sentiment responsible for the icon trolling. At least for pokemon and baseball cards, collectors are obtaining physical objects.

 

Are people just satisfied with collecting IMAGES ON A COMPUTER SCREEN now? A nice power or network outage will turn them blank.

 

I have discovered Geocoins and TBs at caches and at events for various reasons, but for more than just to get an icon in the profile. Have you checked your profile lately? There's an icon inflation now, so for me, the meaning of collecting every one has totally been lost.

 

Snoogan's idea for buying a unique cache icon is interesting, but I suspect it'll become victim of inflation also, with cluttered up profile and loss of interest later on, something that can't be undone easily. I agree with CR's sentiments about Project A.P.E. and shortage.

 

I'm still waiting for a corporate sponsor to replay something similar to the Project A.P.E.

[+GreyingJay]

Did you move them along? Would you have held and admired them if you didn't get an icon?

 

No, I didn't move them along. Why not? Because they were in someone's personal collection. THEIR intent is to keep them forever in a shiny collection. You might ask them why they bothered to do that, wouldn't that also defeat the purpose of trackable TB's? Yes, but I digress.

 

Would I have held and admired them if I didn't get an icon? Of course I would, and I did, and I already said so in my first post above. I was at a local event where people brought binders and binders of coins for us to look at. I saw as many as I could (all the while wishing I had the money and creativity to make my own). I started writing down TB numbers and gave up because it wasn't worth the time and effort to me to spend my evening with pen and paper (and then sitting in front of gc.com late at night logging them all). I'd rather spend my time at events actually TALKING to people rather than being engrossed in what icons I get to add to my profile. So I logged "some" of the coins I looked at. But I looked at far more than I logged (or ever will log).

 

And you know, with SO MANY icons available now, I don't think I'm going to bother logging more than just the coolest of the coolest of coins I see in the future.

 

Yes, I agree that the intent of a Travel Bug was, well, to travel, but when you have people keeping permanent collections and when you have a "discover" feature specifically for the purpose of logging a TB that you didn't move, well.... what other reason would I use "discover"?

[+Snoogans]

Myself? I think that both practices are a bunch of hogwash, but that's just me.

 

Fair enough. Why is it hogwash to discover coins at an event? I'm physically holding them and admiring them.

It's not hogwash. To those that think it is, it's a misguided attempt to look down upon those that don't think/play the same way they do. (No shortage of Type "A" personalities in geocaching.) They talk big in the forums, but where are they, at events, defending their righteous beliefs? The fact of the matter is that the site supports this activity, or there would be no "discover" option.

 

Ironically, I secretly think it's hogwash to troll for TB/coin codes that you've never come in contact with, but I have no angst about it either. The minute someone's trolled TB/Coin finds start magically erasing my legit finds & discoveries, I'll be all up IN angsty about it.

 

The ONLY person I need to please is myself, I could care less what others think about my logging discoveries on TBs & Coins at events or at caches.

[+StarBrand]

I have received a handful of emails similar to the OP. I simply don't respond.

 

My own personal criteria is much along the same lines as Briansnat - gotta see them, hold them to feel right about logging anything.

 

What is starting to bug me more is the slips of paper (copied 100 times over) left in my caches with 1 or more serial numbers on them. Sometimes they are supposed to be a substitue for the actual coin, more often just a tracking number. Geo-trash if I find them in my caches.

[+conradv]

...To those that think it is, it's a misguided attempt to look down upon those that don't think/play the same way they do...

 

Well, that's your opinion, but I think it's kind of ironic that you put me in a "group" like that and then agree with me later in your post (at least partially).

 

I don't "look down" upon anyone, and I stated that it is only my opinion. You seem to be the one passing judgement - "righteous beliefs"? lol Just because I don't agree with the way that some people want to interpret the game...

[+Mudfrog]

Myself? I think that both practices are a bunch of hogwash, but that's just me.

 

Fair enough. Why is it hogwash to discover coins at an event? I'm physically holding them and admiring them.

 

Why would you log it? So what you were looking at them. Did you move them along? Would you have held and admired them if you didn't get an icon?

 

First off, i don't care about the icons as they are a dime a dozen these days. I've seen a ton of them at events and if you look at my profile you'll see that i don't log them too often. But, they are still cool to see for alot of us, as most are very creative in their design. If i like the coin then i might log it, but only if i get to touch, hold and/or see it personally.

 

Is there a guideline that specifically says i have to pick it up and move it along?

[+LadeBear68]

Myself? I think that both practices are a bunch of hogwash, but that's just me.

 

Fair enough. Why is it hogwash to discover coins at an event? I'm physically holding them and admiring them.

 

It gets back to the original "intent" of geocaching, or more specifically, what I believe to be the intent of geocaching.

 

Granted, I'm new at this, but I see the purpose to be this:

 

Go out in the countryside and find hidden caches.

Sign the log book.

Take something and leave somthing ("nothing" is considered something: TNLN).

If there is a TB, you can log it and move it to another cache.

 

Ironically, I secretly think it's hogwash to troll for TB/coin codes that you've never come in contact with, but I have no angst about it either. The minute someone's trolled TB/Coin finds start magically erasing my legit finds & discoveries, I'll be all up IN angsty about it.

 

The ONLY person I need to please is myself, I could care less what others think about my logging discoveries on TBs & Coins at events or at caches.

 

I don't discovery coins but I agree with Snoogans. If TPTB thought the game should not be played this way, why did they create the "discover" button?

[+conradv]

If TPTB thought the game should not be played this way, why did they create the "discover" button?

 

Is the discover button for when a TB is "out of sync" from where it is supposed to be? If it's travelled from the cache that it was last logged as placed in on the internet?

[+Mudfrog]

If TPTB thought the game should not be played this way, why did they create the "discover" button?

 

Is the discover button for when a TB is "out of sync" from where it is supposed to be? If it's travelled from the cache that it was last logged as placed in on the internet?

 

There was an option, "retrievied from someplace else" or something along those lines. Don't see it now so the discover option may have taken it's place.

[+Runaround]

What is starting to bug me more is the slips of paper (copied 100 times over) left in my caches with 1 or more serial numbers on them. Sometimes they are supposed to be a substitue for the actual coin, more often just a tracking number. Geo-trash if I find them in my caches.

 

I'm starting to see this in the caches I maintain for the Cleveland Metroparks. Someone recently glued one of these pages into the logbook. Since nobody signed the back of the page, I just tore it out.

[+Mr.Bubba]

I am fairly new to geocaching, and have a cousin that only did a few caches before quitting. She quit, because she listed two jeep travel bug numbers in a cache log. Once it was explained to her that she shouldn’t list the tb numbers, she edited the log. In the time between the initial log entry and the edit, one person found the numbers and claimed to “discover” the two green jeeps, as well as allowing her husband and child to “discover” the two jeeps.

 

Here’s a copy of a portion of the email she was sent explaining how these people collect tb numbers.

 

“My wife reads alot of logs by other cachers and she finds travel bug numbers, she likes to discover them.”

 

In the same email,

 

“I have a list of Geocoins that we own. We share this list with our friends to Discover the coins. Some people like to collect them to make their profile look nice. If you would like to discover any coin we have, please E-mail us and I will share the link with you.”

 

Some local geocachers got some of the “discovery” claims removed, but not all of them. I would just like a general consensus if this is an acceptable way to add a tb icon to your profile. I don’t think so, but I am fairly new to geocaching.

[+GreyingJay]

Some local geocachers got some of the “discovery” claims removed, but not all of them. I would just like a general consensus if this is an acceptable way to add a tb icon to your profile. I don’t think so, but I am fairly new to geocaching.

 

Well, I can only speak for myself, but...

 

I play this game to have fun and discover cool stuff.

 

I don't play this game so my online profile will "look nice".

 

I think "discovering" a TB or coin without ever having touched it is as bad as logging a find on a cache that you've never been to.

[+BadAndy]

I've gotten a number of such requests. I just ignore them.

Edited September 8, 2006 by BadAndy

[+Harry Dolphin]

[

Why would anyone travel a distance to get an icon when so many are local?

 

Come on CR.... Why do folks aspire to get an APE cache? AT LEAST part of the reason is that coveted icon.

 

Dang! Now, I'm a ho, because I planned a vacation around the Crab Creek Ape Cache in Maryland? On that trip, I also found caches in Delaware and West Virginia to color in my map.

(As well as finally getting to meet a dear friend from a different forum board.)

Yup. It was planned around the icon. Doesn't mean (as some people seem to think), that I wasn't also enjoying geocaching, finding new parks, and having a great old time! I can be a 'ho', and still enjoy the best aspects of geocaching. (Even managed a visit to Falling Waters, though there weren't any caches there.)

Last vacation, visiting my sister in Maine, we stopped off in Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Massachusetts to log benchmarks and caches. Found some really beautiful parks! And colored in some new states. Went out of our way to pick up a Found It geocoin. (Great icon!)

"Discover it" has done a great a good job of preserving the history of TBS. People no longr have to 'grab it', to log it. And, frequently, forget to log it back intothe cache, or event.

[+Confucius' Cat]

I can't say as I get the whole coin thing. The custom ones are cool, but not likely to move very much; it seems they generally just get kept by whomever finds them.

 

Custom icons? Would that be like a custom stamp, only virtual? Are we wanting to do electronic letterboxing?

 

I can't say as I understand the whole topic. Guess I need to go to an event or something.

 

Don't see no point in logging what you aint found. kinda silly if you ask me. (I know you didn't)

[+Davispak]

One, I don't write down the numbers to the TB's so I can only log em if I have em.( mostly because I don't remember to write it down). I discovered a coin and have done the same with TB's if there are several in a cache and I don't want to be a TB hog. I do go to caches I have been to before to get a new coin or something like that or I see a TB sitting too long, but lists? where is the fun in that?

A little off topic, but some stuff I have learned about coins and TB's:

 

Once you let it go in the world, it is gone. Don't expect to see it again and you won't be disapointed when it disappears. Wether it goes for 1000 caches or only one, enjoy it while it is still out there.

 

Noobs are more apt to keep coins/TBs thinking they are swag.

 

If you sit aound worrying that other people are "cheating" or not playing fair, then you can't enjoy the game as much. Just play it as best as you can. The heck with those other clowns.

[+Clan X-Man]

So, if everyone has one are they really that valuable?

 

Where geocaching is concerned, value is based on the mindset of the cacher.

 

Why would anyone travel a distance to get an icon when so many are local?

 

Come on CR.... Why do folks aspire to get an APE cache? AT LEAST part of the reason is that coveted icon.

 

If I'm reading you correctly, then each team/individual could get a unique icon, like a Snoogans icon for finding one of your caches.

 

hmmm....

 

Icon Hos will simply whip into town find one cache of each person who has a custom icon and leave.

 

Thank you. YOU just proved my point.

 

I don't see any good coming out of this for the hobby.

 

If it ever happens, you may hafta reconsider that foregone conclusion.

 

I'm sorry, I doubt we would ever do that. Icon collecting makes the hobby less about the individual cache. I don't place caches to simply be a smilie so I don't think I'd buy a custom icon to further degrade a placement.

 

To each their own. I'd buy a custom icon for all of my regular caches. I'd buy a custom icon for Quantum Leap. I'd buy a custom icon for all of One degree of Separation caches (369 of 'em at last count and growing every day) and share it with ODS hiders if Grounspeak would allow it.

 

Revenue for GC.com, happy icon ho's, and a quick visual reference to flex the GeoTourism muscle. Uhhh, win-win-win.....

 

Ya know the icon was nice last weekend I have to admit. BUT, the trip wasn't about an icon, it wasn't about the cache, it was about the trip. We took a road trip that we just happened to cache while we were on it. I think that to drive almost 1000 miles in a weekend for an icon would be extremely stupid. I have to back up CR on this one. Of course everyone is going to play the game the way they want to play, that will never change.

 

X

[+Deliveryguy428]

I agree, I was on the driving end of that cache run and in all honesty I found a cacher or two that actually made the APE cache just another regular cache because the WOW factor from the view made it worth it.

 

We got enough icons for enough things as it is, but if we must can we get icons that tell us if it another drive by lamp post/power box/storm drain vs a cache that might actually provide me a worthwhile WOW factor.

[+Clan X-Man]

This is true. Two of the caches we visited were truly awesome.

 

X

[+cachephrase]

Re: making your profile look "nice" by having tons of icons --

Some cachers I've met think I'm not getting the full caching experience by trying to limit the amount of icons on my profile. Here's the deal -- my profile fits nicely on a screen without having to do a lot of scrolling and such. Yep, the vast incentive to log/not log coins for me is based entirely on laziness!

 

I own only three coins -- a Nebraska group coin, a Garmin store grand-opening coin, and a geocaching.com "Lackey" coin. I can't be bothered to activate them. I keep them because I think they're pretty, and they were all obtained at events I enjoyed. I do sometimes take them to events and show them around because I think they're nice pieces of work -- but I tell people to not bother writing down the numbers because they haven't been activated. If they can't live with that, too bad.

 

I collected coins (the clinky, spendable type) as a kid and maybe I just got it (the gotta-have feeling) out of my system then. I rarely find, move, or log coins -- haven't seen many personally in caches, and if I do I never have anything good enough to leave in exchange -- and see no point in discovering coins for the sake of icons on my page. The really incredible coin designs will stay in my mind in a lot better form than the icon.

 

Of course, should I ever find that one of my unactivated coins has magically been activated by someone who saw it going around a table, well.... But that's for a different thread.

 

Keep manufacturing the beautiful coins, and I'll keep admiring them -- in person.

[+Airmapper]

I tried logging coin collections at the first events I attended, but now I just "discover" some of the ones I like. There are so many different coins and icons I don't care to even try to accumulate them. I have been known to photo the tracking #'s on TB's I think are cool, and discover them, but I don't do it every time.

 

I don't go for logging it if you haven't even seen the coin/ TB, thats just lame and silly.

 

I won my first trackable item at an event, a Geocoin, so I made it's goal to travel with me. I think it's a cool way to keep track of events I've been to and cachers I met.

[+halffast]

Both the examples you mentioned are perfectly fine. Not sure why you would think otherwise.

I never said it wasn't "perfectly fine." I said I did not understand the obsession with geocoins. In case #1: while it's probably true the person picked the coin up and admired it, I didn't understand why he went to any lengths to post about it on the coin page. I mean, who cares? Apparently, he did. For the icon, of course. I did not understand that at the time I read his "discovery" post.

 

Case #2: You'd have to know the area to understand. I can understand picking up the coin to log it so you can have the icon but seriously, this guy went out of his way. "I just happened to be here." No, you consciously made an effort to be there for the coin. For the icon. Let's not be coy now.

I had to make a trip to my most difficult cache to pick up a coin another cacher left for me to keep.It is a all day hike to the top of the highest mtn in my area.When I got there there was 2 coins in the cache.I pocketed the coin for myself and disscovered the other coin.I left the other one in the cache so the next to visit could get the second coin.Should I have taken both coins?