Bills for Bugs - Cool?

[+alienbogey]

Hi,

 

My family and I are just starting caching. We're having fun.

 

The kids are excited about Travel Bugs. Obviously, having just started, we have no TB's to leave in return for taking one.

 

We've left a few WheresGeorge Travel "Bills" in return as an easily made up alternative.

 

Is that cool?

[+wyohunter]

The Where's George are considered a TB as well. But the main thing to remember is this, Travel bugs are meant to travel. You don't have to trade bug for bug, just keep them moving! And welcome to this fun sport!

[+BlueDeuce]

Correct, you do not need to leave one (or anything else) to be able to take one.

 

As for Where's George bills.

 

http://www.wheresgeorge.com/wrapper.php?page=top10bills_dgc

 

#3 Usage of Bills in Geocaches

Only real, actual U.S. dollar bills can be used as Travel Bugs in Geocaches if they are to be logged on this site. Photocopies or other duplicates of bills will not be allowed and any instances of this will be deleted and blocked from entry. Once any bill has been found in a Geocache, it is marked as such on this site and is removed from the summarizations and other Top 10 reports found on this site. Once a bill is tagged as a "Geocache Bill", it will not be untagged as such, even if it is returned to normal circulation.

[+Eartha]

You do not need to trade for travel bugs, just move them along. They are a gamepiece in this game of caching, and are meant to travel from cache to cache. Any Where's George bill that goes into a cache gets removed from the Where's George site, since they do not feel that $$$ moving through caches is commerce. Where's George is to track how money is spent. Not where it's kept until it gets spent. So whoever sent out the Where's George loses their tracking if their bill is placed in a cache.

[+alienbogey]

Thanks for the replies.

 

Dang, that seems kind of tight of WheresGeorge.

 

I got the idea because the first micro cache that we found had a WheresGeorge bill in it. I moved it about 1200 miles and traded it for a TB. When I looked it up on WheresGeorge that was the 4th cache it had been put into and I was looking forward to watching it move around, but I just now looked for it on my WG account and it seems to be gone.

 

I'm going to order a TB for each member of the fam, we'll launch them and see what happens.

[+BlueDeuce]

Dang, that seems kind of tight of WheresGeorge.

 

Not really, it's how WGeorge wants it work. I don't have a problem with that.

 

If you want to read a nicely angsty thread that includes postings from the WG site owner himself click here.

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...t&p=1696851

 

 

edit a/an

Edited August 9, 2007 by BlueDeuce

[+BlueDeuce]

Hey, I see you hit a bug I've been watching.

 

Always great to see geocaching in action.

 

Thanks.

[+alienbogey]

Thanks for the additional replies.

 

WG can indeed run his site how he sees fit, and in my opinion its tight.

 

I read the angst ridden thread, thanks for the link, and found the WG rules which state, "After you have logged any Where's George? bill you have found in a Geocache, you can either spend it normally or place it in another Geocache."

 

This makes it sound like WG has no problem with geocachers but, again, my WG geocache bill has disappeared from my WG list, so I think I'll just give it up as a bad job.

 

Too bad, because I used to be a WG'er, just lost interest after a while, and when we started this geocaching and found a WG bill in our 3rd cache found I had thought, cool, a way to combine the two.

 

Oh, well.

[+niffir]

Ok...to clear it up once again...

 

Wheresgeorge bills that are put in geocaches are NOT removed from the wheresgeorge site (unless significant abuse occurs-- like in the case where someone made many copies of a dollar and spread them in caches). It is perfectly within the rules of wheresgeorge to place bills in caches and for people who find them in caches to hit them. The ONLY thing that happens is that they are removed from consideration for the top 10 lists on the site. That is quite reasonable, since the top 10 lists are meant to show bills traveling around in natural circulation. There used to be a Top 10 list for geocache bills, but it was removed when people were creating false entries or having everyone they know enter the bill just to bump their bills to the top.

[+niffir]

 

Too bad, because I used to be a WG'er, just lost interest after a while, and when we started this geocaching and found a WG bill in our 3rd cache found I had thought, cool, a way to combine the two.

 

Oh, well.

 

Please see my reply as to the "legality" of geocaching bills in the wheresgeorge world. They are permitted.

 

The angst filled post you read was at the beginning of Hank (wheresgeorge's creator) struggling with the issue of natural circulation vs. geocaching. He was facing manipulation of his system by some geocachers who got the bright idea to place many copies of a single wheresgeorge dollar in caches-- leading to many many false hits by people who had never come in contact with the original bill. He had to deal with outcries from wheresgeorge purists who demanded that geocaching bills be outlawed and from geogeorgers (those who cache and george) who wanted them to be allowed. What you see in that thread is not the end result. There have been other threads in these forums and in the wheresgeorge forums that discuss the eventual outcome.

 

As far as the bill that is missing from your account goes-- perhaps you weren't logged in when you entered it on wheresgeorge? If you aren't logged in at the time, it isn't added to your account. There is a lost and found section on the site that will let you search for the bill you found-- if you can track it down, they will add it to your account so you can follow its travels.

Edited August 10, 2007 by niffir

[+Eartha]

I have to stand corrected regarding how Where's George bills are treated that are put in caches.

"Geocaching bills are NOT removed from the wheresgeorge database. What happens

is that they are flagged as Geocaching bills and are not eligible to be listed

in the top 10 lists on the site. Nothing else changes."

[+Night_Hawk]

One thing I'll add is the WG bill's I've dropped into cache's have had a HORRIBLE success rate. Most folks just grab them and spend them. Save your money and buy some TB tags, you'll get allot more millage out of those then you will a WG bill.

[+niffir]

One thing I'll add is the WG bill's I've dropped into cache's have had a HORRIBLE success rate. Most folks just grab them and spend them. Save your money and buy some TB tags, you'll get allot more millage out of those then you will a WG bill.

 

Are you Night Hawk the georger too? I'll echo your comments about hits on cache bills. I've probably left 20 of them in caches over the years and can only think of one that got a caching related hit. That's much worse than my overall hit rate. A few years ago it was popular in the New Orleans area to put a wheresgeorge bill in an envelope or plastic baggy with a note asking that the bill be passed on to another cache rather than being spent. I don't know if those were any more successful.

[+BrianLantz]

Every post I have seen about WheresGeorge bills is old and outdated. The wheresgeorge website has removed their distance trackers and now allows bills in geocaches. Here is their rule.

 

#1 Natural Circulation of bills in a Geocache

The purpose of Where's George? is to track the natural and geographic circulation of currency. This means that any bills you enter should be spent by you in the normal course of everyday life. Giving bills to friends, relatives and/or associates for the purpose of re-entry into the website or simply exchanging any bill though any Geocache violates the whole premise of Where's George?. After you have logged any Where's George? bill you have found in a Geocache, you can either spend it normally or place it in another Geocache. You can not, however, allow any friends, family, or other known Geocachers remove the bill to generate their own entry on the bill. If subsequently found, it must be found by a Geocacher unknown to the previous Geocacher who placed the bill in the Geocache. In general, the Where's George? definition of natural and geographic circulation is spending your cash in the course of any normal transaction with any unknown person/entity.