Trackables at Events

[+CrazyL200]

Just been looking at some events past, present and future (got nowt better to do this morning !!!)

 

Seems that a lot of trackables that go to events:

 

a.) get logged into the event page quite a long time before the event

b.) get stuck on the event page for a long time after the event

 

WHY ???

 

All it does is result in lost travelling time, mileage and (more to the point, after the event) causes the owners grief over trying to find out if it's been lost or not.

 

Is it just lazyness ???

Or is there really a big hole at some events that they get chucked in, never to be seen again ??

 

Either way, I don't think I'd take any to any event, just in case.

 

I've only been to one event so far. It was 6 weeks ago and there's still 6 trackables on the (archived) event page.

 

I'm sure the vast majority of cachers log them in and out responsibly, but it's a shame so many seem to get stuck.

[+Kryten]

I've recently started to notice coins and TBs whose mission specifically requests that they are not be taken to an event.

[+Birders]

We would never think of taking a trackable to an event in future. Our TBs are precious to us and we like to know where they are!

Edited October 16, 2006 by Birders

[+Son Of Windswept]

I have no objection to any of my coins/tbs etc beiong taken to an event, and being logged by people at the event, so long as the trackables are put back on the road pretty quickly, once the event is over. For those people who like to collect icons this is the easiest way to do it, and if thats what they want to do it then its fine with me.

However I have not, nor ever intend to log trackables from an event I have attended. Finding them in a cache is fine, finding them at an event, isn't, as far as I am concerned. However thats a personal opinion and how I play the game. Each to their own.

 

Paul

[+mongoose39uk]

Cannot say it bothers me in the slightest.

 

I have loads of coins and tb's out in the wild, so long as people get pleasure out of them I am happy.

[+Pengy&Tigger]

Does anyone actually have any evidence that trackables are more likely to go missing at events, than when placed in a cache?

 

I appreciate that they do go missing, but perhaps this is more visible than when they go missing at a physical cache, due to a large concentration of them in one place ans the caches getting archived soon after.

 

If someone picks up a trackable from an event and doesn't log it, would they have been more likely to log it if they had found it in a box? Probably not.

 

Of all my TBs that have gone missing (lots), not one of them has gone walkies from an event.

 

Also, a number of trackables still on event pages are people's personal trackables and coin collections, that they have forgotten to pick up afterwards.

 

T

 

P.S. If someone has time on their hands (not me) and wants to prove or disprove this thread, why not try taking a random sample of TBs in a TB graveyard, and see whether they went walkies from an event, a physical cache or by being picked up and never placed again.

[+The Cache Hoppers]

I've only been to one event so far. It was 6 weeks ago and there's still 6 trackables on the (archived) event page.

 

Doubtless that any of those particular TB's have been lost in a black hole. Three of them belong to the event organiser who will more than likely pick them up at some point for his inventory; one is someone's car, presumably they left in it; one is a precious item which belongs to a young cacher and I expect he takes it with him to events (pretty sure I have seen it at some this year), which leaves one TB remaining which was dropped in by the parents of the young cacher previously mentioned who I know would have made sure it was safe.

 

I quite often leave my coins and Geochatters TB on event pages but they are not left at the event, I take them home with me. I have them specifically for logging at events - they are precious and I wouldn't dream of releasing them into the wild. If people don't want their TB's taken to events, for discovering, logging or whatever, they can quite easily put a label on them saying so - its not always enough to put something on the TB page. Given the number of TB's, coins, logbooks, flags, in circulation, the percentage which actually go missing must be extremely low. And it is quite easy to track down any that do appear to be missing, only to find that they are actually quite safe. Having said that, if anyone can help me find "A Little Bundle of Joy" I would be a very happy bunny. I'm quite sad that it has gone missing, but at the end of the day, in the grand scheme of things, it is not that important. Liane

[+HazelS]

Here's my 2 penneth......

 

I have attended a LOT of events this summer... over 10 anyway, and of all the bugs and coins I have taken to events, not a single one has been lost as a result.

 

I have loads of trackables out there and can say that when you release a trackable, you KNOW there's a risk of a chance of the cache it gos into being muggled, or a coin turning up in the bottom of someone's bag 8 weeks later. I

 

It's a fact of life that a trackable might go walkies.

 

I really don't think that trackables that go to events are any more likely to go missing than those placed in caches, come along to some more events Nick... you'll see how the trackables are snapped up and whisked away!

 

H

 

Edited to correct my dreadful typos

Edited October 16, 2006 by HazelS

[+CrazyL200]

Perhaps I shouldn't have identified any particular event.

I was merely asking a question after looking over some events and refered, indirectly, to a particular event.

And, I appreciate that that particular event has reasons behind most of the trackbles still showing. Except, perhaps the one this post refers to.

 

I'm aware TBs go missing, I've lost them in the past (thankfully reappeared several weeks later) and have one missing at the moment (which is a long, stupid tale I wont have a rant about here !!).

 

It just struck me that there were a lot of trackables still listed on events pages. Surely, event pages aren't quite the same as any other cache page in this respect. The event has been attended and, presumably, all trackables moved on, so why not treat an event the same as any other cache and once you've taken the trackable, log it out and move on. Or, if it's the owners page, use it to store own trackables, no problem.

 

I can understand how trackables at events can be popular as coin collecting and coin icon collecting has really taken off this year (yup, guilty on both counts)

 

I just have a thing about incorrectly or badly logged trackables and there were several other events, several months old, that still had trackables listed that were nothing to do with the event organiser.

 

I don't normally have time to spend the amount of time I have today looking around cache pages etc... but there we go, I got a bit distracted while researching something else.

 

Time to log myself out and move on to another location now.

[+Bambi&Thumper]

We released a coin to celebrate our 250th cache at the Shropshire event. Sadly, it's gone AWOL. This is not a moan, merely a blatant highjacking of this thread, so if anyone should have come across it or know where it's hiding, we'd be very grateful if you could log it...

 

<Sad and sorry lost coin that went missing at it's first event/cache>

 

 

Bambi.

[+Simply Paul]

The first event any of my three TBs went to was in the US... and my Pink Thing vanished there. I contacted everyone who said they'd attended and no one admitted taking it. If I ever take a TB or coin to an event I try to get the name of whoever takes it off me.

 

On the topic of the original post, I think lots of TBs and coins which get booked in early and out late at an event belong to the owner (or are the owner!) and so tend to 'hang about' until picked up to drop off at the next event. I know that's what I do with the coin which comes to most (i.e. the ones I remember to take it to!) events with me. It's probably not as serious a problem as it may look at first glance.

[+Clyde.]

Well this is an interesting post for me and will be watching it carefully.....

 

I started a thread like this a few months back HERE and got some replies of which I found very upsetting, upsetting in by the reaction that I got for asking the question and because one of the moderators felt that he had to submit a posting and the judging by the nature and content of it, it was plain to me what had happened there....

All I will add is that my T.B. in question has still not been re-released into the great outdoors and its been 10wks+ now since the event.

[+lathama]

My 2p

 

I think that before the discovered icon came about TB's were staying in events longer so people could find and redrop them.

Now its here cachers are never sure how long to leave a TB there to be discovered before moving to next event.

I have around 30 TBs and coins on the move of which only 1 definatly and possibly 1 more have gone missing at events (both in the USA).

[+Cryptik Souls Crew]

I've lost a few of my trackables at events. I know there is a risk in releasing trackables, but at the end of the day there is no reason a trackable should go missing from an event.

 

I personally believe that if a bug/coin goes missing from an event that is down to the cacher who took it there. If I take a trackable to an event I make sure I know who has taken it away so I can tell the owner should the worst happen. If people want to log it for the icon then fine, when they are done I make a point of placing it in the hand of someone I know will log it properly and move it along rather than just throwing it on an unattended table in the corner with 50 other bugs.

[+NickandAliandEliza]

I think you're right in what you say about TB's staying in event caches for a fair old time. I was concerned about a couple we dropped off at an event a few months back - but all it took was a couple of e-mails to sort out. 99.99999% (or so it seems) of people who are into caching go out of their way to help you out.

 

In my opinion bugs and coins are probably less likely to go missing at events rather than in physical caches. This is because - in general - the people who go to cache events are more lilkely to be well into caching and know to get them on their way as soon as (usually! )

 

Now.......it's the discovering of bugs and coins at events that gets my goat. A bit like shooting fish in a barrel. I choose not to do it (even though it's extremely tempting to get all the nice new shiney icons!). But if others choose to - so be it. (The dirty, low-down, rotten cheats! )

 

PS in resect of bugs and coins going missing - - - we make copies of our coins and release those. Not as nice as finding a real coin, but I like them and don't want to lose them.....

Edited October 16, 2006 by Nick & Ali

[+rutson]

All I will add is that my T.B. in question has still not been re-released into the great outdoors and its been 10wks+ now since the event.

 

 

Once again, sorry about that Clyde. My life returns to a semblance of normality in a couple of weeks and I will do my best to actually remember to take the bug and a camera and someone who can hold it steady without giggling TOO much before then.

[+Clyde.]

Once again, sorry about that Clyde. My life returns to a semblance of normality in a couple of weeks and I will do my best to actually remember to take the bug and a camera and someone who can hold it steady without giggling TOO much before then.

 

Thats great news, thank you Rutson, why not get the person who takes the picture to have one taken themselves.

That may cure their giggles......... or not

 

Cheers

[+starsnstripes]

I was excited by all of the geocoins posted early at the first event I attended....I was deflated when none of them actually surfaced.....Some people have geocoins in their pocket and rack up their own caching mileage on them....Most of the event caches I've been to have a box full of TB's and announce for people to come and get them....I was surprized at how many were left over. I handed off a coin to a very grateful cacher who said he would move it along.....I don't see a problem with TB swapping at events. I've lost TB's to muggled caches...