Have a few finds under your belt before hiding?

[+flyboy599]

I started caching last year here in Italy. On a trip back to the US I did a few caches there as well and was shocked at how much further advanced the sport is there. My friends introduced me to the tips and tricks he uses in his hides and I was amazed. Granted I suppose this is to be expected as Geocaching started there. Regardless, the caches here in Italy, although fewer, are great and challenging.

 

However, I recently went to find a cache with a friends who had never gone before. While I normally choose a cache that I have already found or one that has been found recently for a first timer I really wanted to find one in the mountains here close to town. Using my autoroute and the instructions on the page I planned a course and we set out. First, the instructions mentioned nothing of the extreamly trechous roads we encountered that almost destroyed my poor Opel, not suited to the boulders located everywhere in the road. We stopped 1km from the cache and hiked in. Having no waypoints we did our best and wound up in, what I would imagine, to be a hermits backyard. A small challet in the middle of nowhere and the coords led us to an open piece of backyard about 3 meters from the backdoor. Not suprisingly, there was no cache. We still searched for over an hour as no one was home. I was miffed and my friend disappointed. I gave up on it and posted a DNF only to have the owner assure me it was "right under my feet" on the road (which didn't exist.) I gave up. A fellow cacher refused and continued to e-mail him and finally we chose to make it a quest to find this cache. Using satalite maps and other topos with the hint we went back up there and found it about 200 meters off from the given coords. The container was in a drainage ditch and taped shut. Later we realized that the hider had never before found a cache himself.

 

So my question is, wouldn't it be prudent to required a user to find, say, ten caches before they hide there own? I almost went out to search for another that had a one sentence description from a user who registered only days before posting his cache. What are your thoughts?

[+DanOCan]

I know this topic has been discussed before and I expect someone will post some links which will provide a lot of reading material.

 

My opinion is that we don't need any more regulations. It would be difficult to police and it also would be almost impossible to come up with a regulation that would work. How many Finds would you need? 10, 20, 100?

 

I think the solution to this problem is what you have already discovered. Do your research before heading out for those more remote caches. Check the cachers history. If it is a new account with few Hides or Finds expect there could be problems with accuracy. Read the previous logs to see what others have experienced. If there are no previous logs (ie: you are on a FTF hunt) then all bets are off as to what you will find.

 

Cheers!

[+flask]

oh, boy. we've had this conversation before. be prepared for the onslaught that usually ensues.

 

some people will benefit from the experience, and some will not. on the whole, cache quality would probably not improve, since the kinds of caches that get hidden tend to be what a significant number of people enjoy finding.

 

a significant number of people like to find guardrail caches. if a new hider is in an area where these are predominant, the new hider will tend toward guardrail caches. if that same hider does not wait until he has found a dozen or so guardrail caches, he may not realize that this is normative for his area and he may put out a big old ammo can, cleverly camouflaged.

 

additionally, it happens sometimes that a cacher will use one account for hiding and one for finding. in those cases we often have an experienced cacher with apparently no finds.

 

some people will put out lame caches no matter how many they've found, and some put out good ones right from the start.

 

and then there's the popular (and i think correct) preference for fewer rules. cachers seem to be more interested in civil liberties than a lot of groups, which is fun because out of that subset we seem to be squarely divided to right and left.

 

fewer rules.

[+Jhwk]

Q: "Have a few finds under your belt before hiding?"

 

A: Yes

 

but that's just my way of seeing the world.

[+WRITE SHOP ROBERT]

Whenever the topic has come up , I always reccommend having about 100 finds before you hide a cache. That is plenty for you to get a feel for what works, and what doesn't work in the game. It also lets you figure out your own style of playing.

[+Renegade Knight]

...So my question is, wouldn't it be prudent to required a user to find, say, ten caches before they hide there own? I almost went out to search for another that had a one sentence description from a user who registered only days before posting his cache. What are your thoughts?

 

Not really. If they can post accurate coordinates, they are good. The road to the cache, or any other route that can be taken is the responsibility of the finder to figure out.

 

I've had to turn around before while seeking a mountain cache due to rocks in the road there were more than my Corolla could handle.

 

About the only thing finding more caches does for you is teach you the local style. Then you tend to think "that's what all caches should be" and it skews your thinking. It can stop a new cacher from placing what would be a great cache because it doesn't fit the local style.

[+Isonzo Karst]

I always reccommend having about 100 finds before you hide a cache. That is plenty for you to get a feel for what works, and what doesn't work in the game.

 

The OP is in Italy. There are 1100 caches in the whole country. It's long and mountainous. 12 finds is a lot there. Have to find before placing works in some countries and not in others. I'd say no. But I'm cautious about 0/0 hiders. Well, I guess they're 0/1 hiders when that first cache gets published.

[+eagletrek]

I waited until I had about 200 finds before hiding my first cache. It wasn't because I couldn't post accurate coords but that I wanted to see a wide variety of caches before hiding my own. I thought I at least owed that to the folks that had hidden so many great caches for me to find.

 

That said, some folks like jumping in with both feet without really having mastered the basics. BTJMO

[+Kiwi Nomad]

It is sad when someone makes a such poor placement of a cache.

Unfortunately even people with plenty of hides can make poor choises as well.

Maybe offer to help him/her on their next placement.

Or you say something about being glad that their is a new geocacher in the area and was wondering how he came about his/her choice of location. Bear in mind coming across as a friend will probably get you further and hopefully prevent a repeat experience.

 

Good luck.

[+Renegade Knight]

....That said, some folks like jumping in with both feet without really having mastered the basics....

 

I'm hard pressed to come up with a basic that would be learned consistantly by finding a few caches. Owning and finding require different skills. Care to elaborate?

[+Kiwi Nomad]

....That said, some folks like jumping in with both feet without really having mastered the basics....

 

I'm hard pressed to come up with a basic that would be learned consistantly by finding a few caches. Owning and finding require different skills. Care to elaborate?

 

I agree RK and some cachers need help replacing caches where they found them.

It is not unusal to read logs saying that a cache was found out in the open or not well hidden.

[Clan Riffster]

So my question is, wouldn't it be prudent to required a user to find, say, ten caches before they hide there own?

My thoughts: Yes, it's a great idea. 50 or 100 would be even better. The greatest teacher on the planet is experience. True, some folks might feel their ADHD acting up after 2 finds, and not want to wait that long, but if they take their ball and go home, what have we really lost? Another perfectly valid counterpoint to your idea is that some folks are exceptional, right out of the gate. Having found 1, or even 0 caches, they have the imagination to create awe inspiring caches. I'd argue that these folks will still have the ability to create gems even if they are forced to wait, but others disagree with that logic, feeling that, somehow, creativity is stifled by patience.

 

Will this ever happen? Probably not. We've got enough rules as it is.

[Clan Riffster]

About the only thing finding more caches does for you is teach you the local style.

A few things I learned between my first find and my 100th find:

1. Film canisters make carpy caches
   
2. Gladware makes carpy caches
   
3. A well written cache page pleases many people
   
4. There is a certain degree of skill involved in getting accurate coords
   
5. Film canisters make carpy caches
   
6. Piling sticks on a cache does not hide it.
   
7. Coffee cans make carpy caches
   
8. Location, location, location
   
9. If you like it, tether it. Bears steal stuff when no one is looking.
   
10. Film canisters make carpy caches.
    
11. A micro in the woods is an invitation to deforestation.
    
12. Education beats legislation, every time.
    
13. You don't have to be a nerd to cache, but it sure helps.
    
14. Trying to look inconspicuous only makes you look suspicious.
    
15. Film canisters make carpy caches.
    

As you can see, experience isn't wasted on everybody.