Bad Experience

[+SlamHelmet]

I am fairly new to geocaching, but up until now it has all been a great experience. Earlier this morning, I followed up on a local micro cache and found it without a problem. However, after logging micro cache as found, the owner of the cache went in and changed the cache to a Premium Members Only cache, effectively blocking me from even going back to the site where I logged my find.

 

I admit I am not yet a Premium Member (I have other, more important bills to pay first), but this was sheer rudeness on that cache owner's part.

 

Whether or not I am a Premium Member in the future, it is highly unlikely I will bother looking for any more caches placed by this person.

Edited October 8, 2006 by Blasingame

[+El Diablo]

Have you sent the cache owner an email explaining that you found it prior to their changing it to a MOC?

 

El Diablo

[+SlamHelmet]

No, I have not contacted the cache owner since this happened. The find has been logged and still shows up in my list of claimed caches. I just can't get back to the page since I'm not a Premium Member.

[+El Diablo]

Send the owner an email explaining to them what happened. They can temporairly change the cache back to a non MOC to allow you time to log it.

 

El Diablo

[+SlamHelmet]

No, I had already logged it. The change was made after I logged it on their site page. I suppose I should just feel fortunate that the find wasn't taken away from me when the cache permissions changed.

[+El Diablo]

Are you talking about "Muggle factor 5"? If so you logged it so I don't understand your problem.

 

El Diablo

[+SlamHelmet]

(sigh) Sorry, I think you just mis-read my earlier post. I logged it and got credit for it. I was complaining about the change in the site after I logged the find. Yes, I still have my find, but no, I cannot go back to the site later and read other cachers' posts. I'm now locked out of the web page where I was in freely before.

[+pwcorg]

Do you want to change your log or something? I don't get it. What are you so upset about? Do you believe the cache owner changed the cache to anger you? If not I fail to see the rudeness on the owner's part.

[+SlamHelmet]

Do you want to change your log or something? I don't get it. What are you so upset about? Do you believe the cache owner changed the cache to anger you? If not I fail to see the rudeness on the owner's part.

 

I cannot go back to the site later and read other cachers' posts. I'm now locked out of the web page where I was in freely before.

[+El Diablo]

I understand you are frustrated, but it is the owners right to change the cache to a MOC. I don't think I would take the attidude that you're not going to hunt anymore of their caches. If it's that important to you then you should become a paying member. It's only 30.00 a year with lots of other benifeits.

 

El Diablo

[+pwcorg]

I'm with El Diablo. MO caches are part of the game and, if you look, the cache owner has several other MO caches so I doubt it was done out of spite. I also don't see boycotting their caches as productive, mature, or an efective method of exacting revenge. You will be the one missing out, not the cache owner. Either way, I'm sorry you had a bad experience but I doubt it will be your last. Hopefully the good will outweigh the bad and you will enjoy caching as much as I have.

[+SlamHelmet]

If it had been a Premium Only cache to begin with, naturally I would not have had the opportunity to find it. I signed the log in the last available spot, and after logging my find, I sent a courtesy message to the owner to let them know another log would be needed. I received a thank you note, and then I suppose the cache owner noted that I was not a Premium member. Probably realizing the cache was made open public by mistake, it was then locked down. It just seemed a rude gesture to me to offer is as an open cache and then decide it was a bad idea when just anyone could search for it.

 

I'm not sure why it was considered important enough that only Premium Members could find it, as it was a log-only cache and was extremely easy to find. However, I agree the owner has the authority and right to do what he/she will with their own cache, but the timing seemed like a slap in the face.

 

When my finances allow, I may buy a Premium membership, but that's not in my immediate future. There are many, many other caches in this area for me to look for freely to have to worry about one that's not available to everyone.

 

Apologies for voicing my frustration.

[+pwcorg]

No, I have not contacted the cache owner since this happened. The find has been logged and still shows up in my list of claimed caches. I just can't get back to the page since I'm not a Premium Member.

 

No worries. I just wouldn't take it personally. It's a game. Have fun!

 

Cache on,

PWC

[Donald, Daisy and Kids]

Do you want to change your log or something? I don't get it. What are you so upset about? Do you believe the cache owner changed the cache to anger you? If not I fail to see the rudeness on the owner's part.

 

I cannot go back to the site later and read other cachers' posts. I'm now locked out of the web page where I was in freely before.

 

Dude, quite simply, there are some caches that get changed, one I visited is now a MOC because it was muggled and trashed! Now the owner has relocated it, and litterally installed it in a electronic combo safe welded on a steel pole and cemented into the ground!

 

I wasnt a member, so I became one! Lets face it, even with the currency conversion to AU$$ it was $40.32 so its still alot less than a buck a week!

 

Dont take it as a move against you, and dont hate the dude for makin it a MOC, its his right to do that, and its your right to become a member so you can find MOC's too!

[+SlamHelmet]

I have already posted my apology. No need to keep pounding me in the dirt. I have lots of good times ahead and am putting this behind me.

 

Onward.

[+Cpt.Blackbeard]

If it was muggle factor #5 it appears to me that it was a MOC before you found it and he temporarily made it non MOC. See this log:

August 31 by Kashiree Q (912 found)

SINCE THIS ONE HAS BEEN FOUND I AM BRING IT BACK UP, BUT I WILL BE CHECKING ON ALL OF MY CACHES THIS WEEKEND IF ALL GOES AS PLANNED. SO GO GET IT!!!!

THANK YOU DARKMOON FOR HELPING YOUR FRIEND SIGN IT!!!!

 

Darkmoons friend would not have needed help signing unless it was Premium members only.

 

If all you want is to read the logs I'd be happy to watch it for a while and let you know what the next few finders say. Just let me know.

[+SlamHelmet]

Thanks for clearing up a big misunderstanding on my part, Captain. I stand corrected.

 

Now I go caching more geo's.

[+flask]

i make it my policy not to hunt MOCs. i just won't. it would bother me if a cache owner (still fully within his rights) changed it in response to a non-member finding it.

 

that said, i fully advocate membership. i also believe in keeping the sport as open as possible. in my area of the country we are almost all premium members. we like to encourage and foster our new people, and giving them access to everything seems to me to be more welcoming, which serves us in the end.

[+Mike & Kate]

I guess I don't have a problem with MOC. In fact, I think it's a valuable way to keep casual cachers away from caches that the owners wish to keep down traffic to.

 

Despite that, I guess I would have a problem with a cache that started out public being switched to private midstream. How many people might have that cache in their GPS, and when they go find it, find out they can't log it?

 

And in this case, it sounds like the cache was temporarily switched to allow one non-member to log it. I REALLY have a problem with this. If "Darkmoon's friend" wanted to log the cache, he/she should have paid like the rest of us to log it. It's unfair to those that don't have a friend who knows the owner well.

 

I'm a big advocate of member-only caches. But it's my opinion that those that start public stay public, and those that start member-only stay that way as well.

 

Sorry if I offended anyone in the process.

 

Mike (Mike & Kate)

[+oldsoldier]

Reading the cache page, seems that, before being archived, it was MO. Then, went archived. Once unarchived, was for everyone. Looks like your log reminded the owner that he had it listed as MO. At least, thats what I gleaned from it.

 

dont let it sour you on the sport though. Each person has his/her own game. Enjoy your own game. Let others enjoy theirs. And, most importantly, introduce others to it.

[+Cpt.Blackbeard]

i make it my policy not to hunt MOCs. i just won't. it would bother me if a cache owner (still fully within his rights) changed it in response to a non-member finding it.

 

that said, i fully advocate membership. i also believe in keeping the sport as open as possible. in my area of the country we are almost all premium members. we like to encourage and foster our new people, and giving them access to everything seems to me to be more welcoming, which serves us in the end.

 

I've only seen one MOC listed within 30 miles of me so it isn't an issue here. I did briefly consider placing one here, but after reviewing the profiles of the cachers most likely to search for it I saw there were a few experienced, respected cachers hunting this area who are not PMs, and it seemed kindof silly to exclude them from finding it.

[+Cpt.Blackbeard]

i make it my policy not to hunt MOCs. i just won't. it would bother me if a cache owner (still fully within his rights) changed it in response to a non-member finding it.

 

that said, i fully advocate membership. i also believe in keeping the sport as open as possible. in my area of the country we are almost all premium members. we like to encourage and foster our new people, and giving them access to everything seems to me to be more welcoming, which serves us in the end.

 

I've only seen one MOC listed within 30 miles of me so it isn't an issue here. I did briefly consider placing one here, but after reviewing the profiles of the cachers most likely to search for it I saw there were a few experienced, respected cachers hunting this area who are not PMs, and it seemed kindof silly to exclude them from finding it.

[+Nightcrawler.]

And in this case, it sounds like the cache was temporarily switched to allow one non-member to log it. I REALLY have a problem with this. If "Darkmoon's friend" wanted to log the cache, he/she should have paid like the rest of us to log it. It's unfair to those that don't have a friend who knows the owner well.

 

In Darkmoon's defense, from looking at the logs closely, it appears a newer user didn't know how to log online. Darkmoon helped with that. The Muggle Factor series was not MOC for quite some time. The owner has recently made many of her caches MOC. Blasingame just got caught up in it. Looks like a timing issue to me.

[+Cache Heads]

I hope this doesn't open up a huge can of worms here... but non PMs can watch PM caches through the same "back-door" loophole as logging them... just instead of the "log" URL, you use the "watch" URL (http://www.geocaching.com/my/watchlist.aspx?w=XXXXXX) and I think you must have the cache ID and not just the Wapoint code, so you'd have to ask the owner for that. Furthermore, if you log a cache when it's a not an MOC and add it to your watchlist, it will still be on your watchlist if the owner ever converts it to MOC.

 

So, while you can't see the cache page, you can get the logs as they come in... (don't hate me, I didn't do it!)

 

Edited October 12, 2006 by Cache Heads

[+arpegio]

It seems lame to me to turn a regular cache into MOC (unless there was a good reason). Before I became a premium member, I despised the elitist MOCs. Then when I placed my first cache, the FTF didn't even have the courtesy of logging it online. That made me rethink the notion of MOCs and I started making my hides MOC at least until FTF so I could be assured a better chance that someone wasn't doing a drive-by and the logs would be sync'd with the ones online.

[+BlueDeuce]

snip...

 

i fully advocate membership. i also believe in keeping the sport as open as possible.

 

ayep.

[+hndlbr]

I had a member only cache and a peer e-mailed me that he had taken some new cachers with him and they were disapointed that they could not log a find. I changed it, they logged and are now very much into caching and became premium members eventially.

[+Alan2]

Life's short. If you feel someone is playing games with your head, then you have a right to stop going after their caches just like they have a right to make their caches MOC. It's a free market.

 

I don't hunt certain cacher's hides because I don't like wheree they hide them or it's a micro in an urban area or near people's house, or whatever. Some hiders are finicky about how you log the cache, post a picture or something showing the GPS with the scene; you have to be a director to get it right. I vote for their caches by not looking for them. I scratch those caches off my "to do" list. If enough people do that then they learn a lesson and adjust, or not. Who cares? Do what makes you comfortable.

Edited October 14, 2006 by Alan2

[+SlamHelmet]

I have since been gifted with a Premium Membership and have logged a little over 30 finds now, even some of them by the same cacher who placed the one that gave me brief indigestion.

 

Looking back, it was a mistake to get caught up in the feelings I did, but I chalk that up to inexperience and have filed it away as a learning experience. If something like that were to happen to me today, I would hardly give it a second throught.

 

Am now enjoying myself and I have begun to recognize the names of a number of the local geocachers in my area from the logs I've found. Perhaps I will run into one or some of them along the way and make some new friends on the journey.

 

Onward.

[+BlueDeuce]

Excellent!

 

And by the way, it's okay if you still don't like MOCs.

 

Happy caching.

[+michigansnorkelers]

I have since been gifted with a Premium Membership and have logged a little over 30 finds now, even some of them by the same cacher who placed the one that gave me brief indigestion.

 

Looking back, it was a mistake to get caught up in the feelings I did, but I chalk that up to inexperience and have filed it away as a learning experience. If something like that were to happen to me today, I would hardly give it a second throught.

 

Am now enjoying myself and I have begun to recognize the names of a number of the local geocachers in my area from the logs I've found. Perhaps I will run into one or some of them along the way and make some new friends on the journey.

 

Onward.

 

Yeah, I understand your initial frustration.

 

You were new to geocaching and had not logged many finds.

 

It's only natural to be curious about others who logged the same caches you recently visited. As time goes on, and you log over 100 caches, you will find that you will have forgotton many of the earlier ones. But, like me, there will be some favorites that you keep going back to, to review the logs because you enjoyed them so much and want to see what others thought of them.

 

Hope your future searches are fruitful!