The future of geocaching

[The Birches Head Hunters]

After reading some recent topics, such as the interesting discussion about chavs (this one), I have been thinking.

 

Should we keep our hobby as secret as possible, only telling people that we already know and trust, or is it safe to publicise Geocaching in major publications?

 

What would be the consequences of The Sun* newspaper running a major article on Geocaching? Would we suddenly see a surge of new members? Would those members be of the calibre of people who would follow the GC rules and ethics? Would more caches be trashed? Would more trackables go missing?

 

Even now I feel that Geocaching is starting to explode, and there may a limit beyond which there is no return. Anyone can join, there are no entry requirements, no payment is necessary. Once you join you have 'instant' access to thousands of boxes of unguarded 'treasure'.

 

I was reading the home page of a Geocoin recently, and the owner had written that under no circumstances should the coin be taken to the USA, due to thefts in that country. Has the USA already gone too far?

 

I'm not sure how I feel about this, but would be interested in the opinion of others.

 

(* I have only used The Sun as an example of a widely read publication. I am in no way implying that all Sun readers are 'chavs' or similar! )

[+blueboots]

I'm not sure how I feel about this either, but my gut feeling is that it should be a hobby that is spread by word of mouth to friends and relatives rather than by the media. Sadly there will always be people who are not prepared to play by the rules. Paying for membership will never exclude the risk.

[+Sensei TSKC]

If opened up to the Mass, it could suffer from those people/commercial ventures who will just want to make money out of it (and I am not referring to Groundspeak).

 

Keep it to word of mouth and the ocassional article/program in the right fora - is that the right term?

[+The Wombles]

<snip>

What would be the consequences of The Sun* newspaper running a major article on Geocaching?

<snip>

 

Similar to The Times story in 2003 here and here and here? (with thanks to the Hornet and SP).

 

We've had radio broadcasts, national newspaper articles, local TV programmes and even national TV programmes. The people who have joined have (mostly) added to the variety and interest of caching. When I started no-one knew about geocaching and they thought I was nuts. Now lots of people know about caching and, er, well they still think I'm nuts....

[+Pieman]

I think you could run an ad campaign on the TV quite safely without us being over-run. It's always going to be a niche as it's a weird combination-a techy outdoor hobby.

 

I've told lots of people about it and several have shown interest, but no-one has gone as far as doing a cache!

[+The Cache Hoppers]

Underground, overground, wombling free ....

 

Sssssssh, a nudge is as good as a wink .... keep it up your sleeve, until you find there no new caches within 5 miles within a month, then you tell all your neighbours so they go out setting caches for you to go and find!

 

[+Gushoneybun]

If opened up to the Mass, it could suffer from those people/commercial ventures who will just want to make money out of it (and I am not referring to Groundspeak).

 

Keep it to word of mouth and the ocassional article/program in the right fora - is that the right term?

 

I agree with word of mouth. If it is reported in a paper to the degree mentioned previously I think you will drag all sorts in who would end up thrashing around in the undergrowth, upsetting landowners and then moving on and leaving us with the bad press.

[+SidAndBob]

I've told lots of people about it and several have shown interest, but no-one has gone as far as doing a cache!

Same here (apart from one or two). It's amazing how most lose interest when it comes to buying a GPSr. That should keep the masses away for a little while yet.

[WashoeZephyr]

I was reading the home page of a Geocoin recently, and the owner had written that under no circumstances should the coin be taken to the USA, due to thefts in that country. Has the USA already gone too far?

Yes, it sadly has gotten pretty bad . I take my coins to events and share them with other cachers to discover. I've known too many people to lose their coins in the wild. So far I have had pretty good luck with plain old travel bugs. One of mine was picked up in Regents Park in London yesterday!

We just filmed a segment on geocaching that will air in the late fall on a syndicated program called Xterra planet. But like someone else had mentioned in this thread, I've introduced a lot of people to this that seemed really gung ho about it, but when it comes down to purchasing a GPSr, the intrest seems to fade, oh well. I personally kind of like it as less is better but then again I am still fairly new to the sport myself. So where do you draw the line? Ok, I just went back and read the chav story, people steal coins around here but I can honestly say I have never been urinated upon! Of course here you probably run a bigger risk of being shot

Edited May 3, 2007 by LostinReno

[nobby.nobbs]

i'm another word of mouth....

 

the thing is if you let too many people know then you will get too many caches muggled by " hard of thinking" bored idiots.

 

at least to find most of them you need a gps. but beware of spoiler pics and streetmap combined.... i recon i could find a fair few without one.

[+keehotee]

at least to find most of them you need a gps. but beware of spoiler pics and streetmap combined.... i recon i could find a fair few without one.

It's sad to say, but I've just started putting my caches out as members only for precisely this reason.

I've lost TB's in the past because they've been picked up by new freeby members, who then disappear off the face of the earth after doing 3 caches.

At least if a cacher takes out a premium membership it could be fairly safe to assume that they're going to be caching for longer than a week, and are less likely to turn into a cache trashing monster....

[+rutson]

The having-to-buy-a-GPSR hurdle may well be lowered soon when more mobile phones become GPS enabled.

[+Globetrotter.uk]

KEEP IT LOW KEY! THERE's NO ENOUGH GEOBABES TO SHARE

[+Jonovich]

What with the Groundspeak servers struggling to maintain performance (Not had my Wednesdays PQ's yet!!!) with the current load of users, I'd be very tempted to keep any kind of advertising to a minimum - though of course, without new premium members fees contributing towards the costs in resolving the problems, we are not going to get a reliable service... vicious circle innit!

 

J

[+CrazyL200]

What with the Groundspeak servers struggling to maintain performance (Not had my Wednesdays PQ's yet!!!) with the current load of users, I'd be very tempted to keep any kind of advertising to a minimum - though of course, without new premium members fees contributing towards the costs in resolving the problems, we are not going to get a reliable service... vicious circle innit!

 

J

 

Catch 22

[+Team Sieni]

I've seen articles about Geocaching in a variety of papers: Independent, Telegraph maybe the Guardian. But it's OK, these are all "quality" papers, read by PLU, don't you know. But if ... shock horror ... The Sun were to run an article. Heavens above, think of the undeserving undesirables who might join our hobby.

 

I think there is a natural limit to the number of outdoorsy geeks in the country.

 

I don't think it should remain a secret because it never has been a secret.

 

Mind you, more people = more caches = more irresponsibly placed caches without landowners consent. Hmmm....

Edited May 3, 2007 by Team Sieni

[Deceangi]

What with the Groundspeak servers struggling to maintain performance (Not had my Wednesdays PQ's yet!!!) with the current load of users, I'd be very tempted to keep any kind of advertising to a minimum - though of course, without new premium members fees contributing towards the costs in resolving the problems, we are not going to get a reliable service... vicious circle innit!

 

J

 

Groundspeak [who own GC] are currently and have been for several weeks, working with a outside consultant to resolve site issues. This is a process which can not be accomplished quickly, to insure that data is not lost [accounts or caches]

 

The future prognosis is for a smooth running site, eventually all current issues will be resolved. You have to remember this site started of as a hobby site and used hobby coding, as the site has progressed over time. This has involved a mixture of hobby and commercial coding, until the site is fully running on commercial coding, we will see glitches.

 

As a experienced setter of puzzle caches pointed out to me, the No of caches in the UK alone is increasing at a rate of 80% per year, if this is repeated over the world. It's a wonder we're not seeing even bigger issues.

[+John Stead]

If opened up to the Mass, it could suffer from those people/commercial ventures who will just want to make money out of it (and I am not referring to Groundspeak).

 

Keep it to word of mouth and the ocassional article/program in the right fora - is that the right term?

 

I agree with word of mouth. If it is reported in a paper to the degree mentioned previously I think you will drag all sorts in who would end up thrashing around in the undergrowth, upsetting landowners and then moving on and leaving us with the bad press.

 

Plenty of registered Geocachers already do that!

[+Jonovich]

Groundspeak [who own GC] are currently and have been for several weeks, working with a outside consultant to resolve site issues. This is a process which can not be accomplished quickly, to insure that data is not lost [accounts or caches]

 

The future prognosis is for a smooth running site, eventually all current issues will be resolved. You have to remember this site started of as a hobby site and used hobby coding, as the site has progressed over time. This has involved a mixture of hobby and commercial coding, until the site is fully running on commercial coding, we will see glitches.

 

As a experienced setter of puzzle caches pointed out to me, the No of caches in the UK alone is increasing at a rate of 80% per year, if this is repeated over the world. It's a wonder we're not seeing even bigger issues.

 

Sorry, if my post came over as whinge at Groundspeak, that wasn't my intention. I was merely trying to say it'd be best to hold back on any promotional articles until everything is stable. There no news like bad news, so an article to the masses about this wonderful sport could rapidly be dwarfed by one aired by Watchdog about folks not getting a service they are paying for all wrapped up with the standard response of being "Victim of our own success" - that would not be good for anyone.

 

Jon.

[lakeuk]

Any publicity is good for geocaching, so on occasions it may affect the performance of the site, it's to be expected and it can happen to any site even those designed to cope with it like it did this week the digg.com when an american organisation tried to stop posts appearing on the digg site.

[+mollyjak]

We've started 3 people/groups caching only time will tell if they enjoy the hobby/addiction

[+keehotee]

Any publicity is good for geocaching

Why?

Sorry, not being deliberately obtrusive (is that the right word?) - but why is "any publicity" a good thing?

[+Donmoore]

I found that most of the caches i went to in the states that said they had a TB did not in fact have them including jeeps which i was looking forward to getting.

A little publicity is good but i can't see you get huge numbers as there is nothing really offered in reward for find most caches.

[+The Bolas Heathens]

We found the opposite - all the TB's and coins were in the caches as you would expect. I would comment that there did seem to be a *lot* less coins and TB's to find than we get in the UK but it may just have been the areas we were caching in as most of them were micros.

 

I found that most of the caches i went to in the states that said they had a TB did not in fact have them including jeeps which i was looking forward to getting.

[+Jimblonduk]

Surely positive publicity through selected media could be used to sway the decision over landowner agreements, especially if some of the already agreed landowners were to give their verdicts on the hobby and the way that the land is respected (or should be). More publicity of CITO events etc.

 

This would then give us many more interesting caches in great places, which would otherwise be out of bounds.

[+Donmoore]

We found the opposite - all the TB's and coins were in the caches as you would expect. I would comment that there did seem to be a *lot* less coins and TB's to find than we get in the UK but it may just have been the areas we were caching in as most of them were micros.

 

I found that most of the caches i went to in the states that said they had a TB did not in fact have them including jeeps which i was looking forward to getting.

 

It could have been the fact i was caching in the detroit metro area. higest crime rates in the world lol

[+jerryo]

What would be the consequences of The Sun* newspaper running a major article on Geocaching?

Depends on how many pictures there were.

[+Bambography]

Another tick in the 'Word of Mouth' box for me! I've introduced 3 people and although 2 are regular cachers the 3rd only has 1 find.

 

I share the fear that if geocaching gets advertised and we have an influx of people into the sport/hobby/... then they won't relly understand the ethos and etiquette with the potential to spoil caches. The more people finding caches the more likely they are to get muggled too, especially urban caches.

[+currykev]

I've told lots of people about it and several have shown interest, but no-one has gone as far as doing a cache!

Same here (apart from one or two). It's amazing how most lose interest when it comes to buying a GPSr. That should keep the masses away for a little while yet.

 

Most people think we're mad to go hunting for plastic boxes.I think they may be right!

[+jerryo]

Another tick in the 'Word of Mouth' box for me!

 

Agreed.

 

I really can't see the point in publicising our antics either. If people are interested in this sort of activity they'll find it by themselves. I’ve been – reluctantly – involved in the start of a couple of attempts to get more of the locals into the sport and, fortunately, nothing seems to have come of it. This was almost tantamount to encouraging the local chavs to have a go. They already do that.

 

In this case, the local cachers were reluctant to give away any cache locations so the event organisers planted their own and now everyone seems to have lost interest. Alarmingly they were going to assist the finding of the caches by lending university GPSrs to what sounded like a bunch of total reprobates. They were probably nicked at the event anyway.*

 

Yer normal newbies are a different matter though, of course.

 

*Pssst… want a yellow etrex anyone?

[+third generation]

Is this not a bit elitist .

 

I assume rich intelligent people can also get fed up with a sport after a couple of wet weekends.

 

In my humble opinion people have to want to ....go outdoors....learn about an area etc. will join geocaching but peeps who prefer to watch television or read books will not.

 

No amount of publicity would persuade either my husband or my son to take up the sport.

 

I think that spreading knowledge; about anything; can ever be a bad thing. If the organisation itself cannot cope with the increase then they will adapt to survive.

 

We are always happy to hear of new people in our area and actively encourage them. (as we were once encouraged and welcomed by others)

Edited May 4, 2007 by third generation

[nobby.nobbs]

i don't think any of the comments were meant in an elitist manner, more nervous, cynical in nature.

 

too many caches have been muggled by bored people of all ages or those with their own agendas. i have seen people who have decided that in their opinion no caches should be in a certain area and go out of their way to get them removed, or remove them themselves. just out of spite or becasue they can.

 

by limiting the publicity we limit the exposure of the sport/hobby to those individuals, that way only those who are likely to want to do this sort of thing are likely to find out about it.

[+molfrew-mosstoad]

We think word of mouth is best.

 

We was recently approached by 2 of the local rags & asked if we were interested in talking to them about geocaching but we declined.

 

We think its better to introduce those who are genuinly interested. We was introduced by a cacher. We have introduced 3 others into caching oursleves & feel thats the best way as they have asked questions about it as problems have arisen as we did before.

 

Its good to have a contact to learn from

[+*mouse*]

Tricky one!

 

Small scale publicity doesn't seem to do any harm to geocaching, or at least none that I've noticed.

 

For example when I lived back in East Anglia there was a great little piece on the local news about geocaching. When I got to work the following day it was brought up in conversation by some of the guys in my office. At the time none of them knew that I went caching, so it was interesting to listen to their honest reactions of what they thought of it.

One guy was all for it - very keen and ready to go out and give it a go, while the other seven really didn't get it at all and thought it was all a bit odd. To me that seems to be a fairly typical reaction when I tell people about caching - some people think it sounds great but most just aren't interested.

 

Also I love the idea that nobody knows what I'm up to, so I figure small amounts of publicity are ok but I wouldn't want to see it as front page news on the national press! Can't imagine that ever happening though, it's just too specialist a hobby to interest most people.

[+DR. Ape]

Ok,

 

We are members of a rather small and obscure "motor racing" club, which we joined nearly 12 years ago, over the years with increased media, both TV and magazines, the club has changed it now has numerous rules and regulations which I have to agree do seem necessary as numbers have increased and so have the "dangers". Unfortunately this has affected the club, which is now lacking the freedom that it used to have.

 

I was introduced to geocaching by another geocacher who thought that we would enjoy the hunt and "obey" the rules and although I am a "newbie" to the game I would hate to see mass media coverage spoil a lovely pastime as I have seen it do elsewhere. Although like all clubs new members are needed, otherwise there is a danger that it may fold, the "quality" of membership would also need to be taken into account otherwise the reasons that we all joined in the first place may cease to continue. It's a difficult balance to obtain.

[+The Mighty Shark]

Should we keep our hobby as secret as possible, only telling people that we already know and trust, or is it safe to publicise Geocaching in major publications?

If it were not for an article on TV I would never have got to know about geocaching but I can also see your point, Too much publicity is not always a good thing.