stlsportster Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 How do I handle it when I can't solve a riddle/puzzle to find a cache...is there a proper ettiqute to ask for a hint/clue? Quote Link to comment
+El Diablo Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Just send the cache owner an email and let him know the efforts that you've made so far, and ask if they'll give you a hint. Most hiders want their caches found, so usually they will be happy to. El Diablo Quote Link to comment
+Sputnik 57 Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 How do I handle it when I can't solve a riddle/puzzle to find a cache...is there a proper ettiqute to ask for a hint/clue? Kudos to you, stlsportster for asking about how to ask. Lots of newcomers post the puzzle on the forum and ask for help. It is generally considered bad form to ask for help on a specific puzzle on the forum. As the venerable El Diablo says, e-mail the cache owner for a hint, and happy caching. Quote Link to comment
stlsportster Posted October 26, 2006 Author Share Posted October 26, 2006 Ok...now how do you handle it when you email the owner of the cache and get no response... Quote Link to comment
+Kapitein Haak Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 I would say let the cache rest and try again in maybe a few months. Greetz Kapitein Haak Quote Link to comment
+Semper Questio Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 Ok...now how do you handle it when you email the owner of the cache and get no response... Give it some time. The owner may not check email every day, may be out of town, or there may be any number of other reasons you did not get an immediate response. Go find other caches and give the owner a chance to respond. It may take a week or 2 - maybe even more. Quote Link to comment
stlsportster Posted October 26, 2006 Author Share Posted October 26, 2006 Give it some time. The owner may not check email every day, may be out of town, or there may be any number of other reasons you did not get an immediate response. Go find other caches and give the owner a chance to respond. It may take a week or 2 - maybe even more. Man that is asking a man on a diet to put down a piece of cake !! Now I got the bug, but not a lot of time to cache with 2 young kids at home, so I'm trying to hit all the caches close to the homestead... Patience may be a virtue, but oh so hard sometimes Quote Link to comment
+sbell111 Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 Ok...now how do you handle it when you email the owner of the cache and get no response...Some will disagree, but I would suggest seeing if any of your local friends have found the cache and see if they will push you in the right direction. Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 Ok...now how do you handle it when you email the owner of the cache and get no response... if I can't solve the puzzle, then I'll look for a different cache. Quote Link to comment
+Semper Questio Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 Give it some time. The owner may not check email every day, may be out of town, or there may be any number of other reasons you did not get an immediate response. Go find other caches and give the owner a chance to respond. It may take a week or 2 - maybe even more. Man that is asking a man on a diet to put down a piece of cake !! Now I got the bug, but not a lot of time to cache with 2 young kids at home, so I'm trying to hit all the caches close to the homestead... Patience may be a virtue, but oh so hard sometimes I'm right there with ya, but there are always alternatives. I tend to take a quick stab at puzzles and if I can't get them quickly they go off to my ignore list. They then sit there until I get to a time frame I can't go out caching. Instead I stay in and work on the puzzles and that includes making contacts to solve the ones I just can't get. Essentially, it's my version of indoor caching. It ain't much, but it's still playing the game when I otherwise couldn't! Quote Link to comment
avroair Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 Ok...now how do you handle it when you email the owner of the cache and get no response... if I can't solve the puzzle, then I'll look for a different cache. ROFL! Don't you mean WHEN I can't solve the puzzle? If the cache owner doesn't respond one option is to put out a cache like this: Do You Sudoku? Quote Link to comment
+Harry Dolphin Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 Ok...now how do you handle it when you email the owner of the cache and get no response... if I can't solve the puzzle, then I'll look for a different cache. ROFL! Don't you mean WHEN I can't solve the puzzle? If the cache owner doesn't respond one option is to put out a cache like this: Do You Sudoku? But, Brain never asked for help on my Soduko cache! Come to think of it, he's never found any of my mystery caches. And, he'd love Clueless... Quote Link to comment
+Former Hawkeye Posted October 31, 2006 Share Posted October 31, 2006 I'm from a different era, before computers, so I sometimes don't even know what some of the puzzles are asking-so it is hard to ask a question. Crossword and sudoku I understand-but not secret codes. It seems like these computer problems with puzzles are becoming more common. What ever happened to using a gps and finding a cache. Am I alone on this? Quote Link to comment
+kohldad Posted October 31, 2006 Share Posted October 31, 2006 If I have tried several times without success, than I'll enter a DNF log explaining why. A lot of times, someone else that has tried to solve the cache will send an email with a hint. Sometimes this is nothing more than the waypoint of a similar cache or a book to read, others its more obvious. Happily, I've never received the solution itself. Quote Link to comment
+Storm Runner Posted October 31, 2006 Share Posted October 31, 2006 If the cache owner doesn't respond one option is to put out a cache like this: Do You Sudoku? That's probably the best puzzle cache ever ! I might have to make the trip up north just to log it. I try puzzle caches, but after 10 minutes and having no clue how to solve them I move on to regular caches. It's better to have 10 finds on the day then sitting home trying to figure them out. Another thing you can do is print them out and hand them to people at work to slove for you Quote Link to comment
+bish0p Posted October 31, 2006 Share Posted October 31, 2006 I'm from a different era, before computers, so I sometimes don't even know what some of the puzzles are asking-so it is hard to ask a question. Crossword and sudoku I understand-but not secret codes. It seems like these computer problems with puzzles are becoming more common. What ever happened to using a gps and finding a cache. Am I alone on this? I agree 100% one of the thing that annoys me more than just a straight puzzle cache is one that I have to run around to 4 or say 6 caches to get codes that mean nothing, then try and make sense of them... With no hint about what to do with them. Quote Link to comment
gerboa Posted October 31, 2006 Share Posted October 31, 2006 For those who whinge about puzzles, puzzle setters are not catering to the LCD..., No LCD is not a code. Quote Link to comment
+Tallahassee Lassie Posted November 1, 2006 Share Posted November 1, 2006 I love puzzle caches, and have solved a number of them, so I feel like I can give a little advice. It has taken me more than 4 months to solve some puzzle caches. Puzzles are, to me, supposed to be hard, and if they are rated a 3 or 4 for difficulty thn I expect to have to work a little to solve them. If I can't get it, then I keep plugging away when I can to solve it. That said, I have asked for hints before, but mostly I have an "Aha!" moment in which the solution or the path to the soluton becomes clear. If you don't like puzzle caches, or don't want to put in the effort, then you could just ignore them. It's easy to do, and you won't have to keep looking at it. Or you could team up with another geocacher and do some brainstorming about the solution. On one puzzle cache that I did, it turns out that I couldn't do the puzzle because my home computer was too old, and I was missing a feature needed to solve it. When I tried it on my home computer, it was easy. Good luck to you! Quote Link to comment
+stibnitetwins Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 I like to put out the puzzle caches that I want to go out and find (or at least work on until I'm stumped.) I try to rate my puzzles accordingly (some times I wish there was that reviewer awarded sixth star.) I put lots of time into the puzzle and expect it to take a long time to solve. Most of the questions I get on a cache will be politely answered with a "We are not giving hints" at least until several people have solved it, then gentle nudges may be given in obscure ways. For figuring out a difficult puzzle I would gather a group of people to try and hammer it out, not necessarily just geocachers. Share the work share the glory. Remember to have fun with it, it is a game and the pleasure of figuring it out will most likely be better than finding the actual cache. Quote Link to comment
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