Don't be a creepy interested party......(TB Zealots)

[+Snoogans]

OKAY. I don't normally post complaint threads but there is a lesson here....

 

OL Snoog is intollerant about one thing when it comes to TBs. What is it you ask?

 

Folks that get attached to a TB that isn't theirs and THINK they have some say in where it goes next or who can pick it up. I call these people "creepy interested parties, or TB zealots" because email usually follows a move that doesn't comply with their creepy need to maintain control over their attachment.

 

A travel bug has a life of its own and NO ONE, save the owner of said bug, has a right to direct its movement.... and even then it's an annoyance if they do it by email and not plainly on the TB page.

 

I got 2 TBs today (TB hotel revisit) that actually had messages from the previous holder (same handwriting/different TB owners) directing WHO could pick them up or not depending on their destination. They also added a destination to a bug that has NO statement of any destination in its description.

 

I would be totally steamed if someone tried to turn one of MY travel bugs into a cache sitting bug or to redirect its movement.

 

This person owns NO TBs of their own. They are a fairly NEW cacher, so hopefully they can be educated that what they did was wrong and a teensy bit slimey IMO. I want to give the the benefit of the doubt, but after moving 2100+ tackables, I've seen the pattern a time or two. Only once, in my experience, has a creepy interested party seen the logic in my argument. I can only hope this will be the second.

 

There's no sense trying to find out who. I haven't logged the bugs yet and I won't until I hear back from the rightful owners.

 

I usually nark out folks that do this to the TB owner and forward any email from the creepy interested party to them. In this case the creepy interested party doesn't really know I have them unless they have a watch on the cache because I deleted my drop note and I haven't logged the TBs.

 

I hope to report a pleasant outcome.

[+waypointazoid]

Ditto.

[+Kealia]

<snip>

I got 2 TBs today (TB hotel revisit) that actually had messages from the previous holder (same handwriting/different TB owners) directing WHO could pick them up or not depending on their destination. They also added a destination to a bug that has NO statement of any destination in its description.

 

Could it be that they've contacted the TB owners and updated the goal for them? I've done this before -emailed the owners of bugs with no descriptions to see where they wanted it to go and then added a note to the bug itself (in the baggie, etc.). Not everybody is pc-savvy. Even if they can sign up for an account, register a TB and log some caches, it doesn't mean they are comfortable going back in and editing pages, etc.

 

Maybe not the case, but an outsdier's view based on the details provided so far....

 

I would be totally steamed if someone tried to turn one of MY travel bugs into a cache sitting bug or to redirect its movement.

 

Agreed, I don't think anybody would argue that.

[+fairyhoney]

"I hope to report a pleasant outcome."

Let's hope so

I have come across this situation, It seems that "they know" that this is where the TB is to go to next.

[+ThirstyMick]

Dude, I was traveling on a 3 day weekend and picked up a bug. On monday, I saw a FRANTIC email in my inbox from the last person who had it saying she'd "had doubts about leaving it and went back to get it and it was gone, but she saw my log in the book and why hadn't i retrieved the bug yet, ohmygod what happened to the bug." i looked at the page and she'd had it for months, dipping it in and out of caches before leaving it in the one I picked it up from..... she was not the bugs owner..

 

on the other hand though, recently i brought a bug 1000 miles to a cache about 4 miles from it's goal, i left a note on it saying that although i brought it this far it has NOT made it to it's destination, please don't take it away before it does. thought i was being responsible not creepy. unfortunately the person who picked it up ignored the note, grabbed it before i could even drop it, didn't bother to dip it and brought it 1000 miles back north. that made me pretty mad, but i still dont think im creepy. she also brought one i own back! 15 miles from home... grr

[+KD5XB]

So -- I have picked up the same Geocoin (TB1AVA0) TWICE now and brought it back to Texas from Oklahoma. The stated goal of this coin is to "Travel about Texas. No Events except for Patriotic Events." Each time I have brought it back, I've put something in my log entry about "bringing it back to Texas as per stated goal".

 

Right? Wrong? Rude? Or just trying to help accomplish the published goal?

 

7 3

[+BlueDeuce]

So -- I have picked up the same Geocoin (TB1AVA0) TWICE now and brought it back to Texas from Oklahoma. The stated goal of this coin is to "Travel about Texas. No Events except for Patriotic Events." Each time I have brought it back, I've put something in my log entry about "bringing it back to Texas as per stated goal".

 

Right? Wrong? Rude? Or just trying to help accomplish the published goal?

 

7 3

 

Is your log or effort wrong or rude? Certainly not.

[+q22q17]

I held onto a military themed TB for awhile (several months), took it on "liberty" and even had it visit some military installations. Then, with the owners permission, I found the right spot to leave it, in between a couple military bases, and held my breath hoping someone would help it move. I really miss that TB, but my TB bag is lighter now that it's gone! LOL

 

Another time, I held a TB for awhile because we were going to Yellowstone and had its photo taken with Old Faithful, which was one of the goals. When I was finally done with that goal, I released it in So Cal so it could go to Joshua Tree, and the next poster posted something rude like "this TB has been everywhere except where it was supposed to go." GASP! How rude?

 

I just shrug, smile, and go caching.

 

If you ever find any of my TB's, just move them.........

[+KD5XB]

So -- I have picked up the same Geocoin (TB1AVA0) TWICE now and brought it back to Texas from Oklahoma. The stated goal of this coin is to "Travel about Texas. No Events except for Patriotic Events." Each time I have brought it back, I've put something in my log entry about "bringing it back to Texas as per stated goal".

 

Right? Wrong? Rude? Or just trying to help accomplish the published goal?

 

7 3

 

And as of this past December, the thing has gone MIA. Wasn't even mine, yet somehow I feel some sense of responsibility for it's loss -- if I had put it somewhere else, etc. Somebody took it, didn't log it, hasn't placed it in 6 months, I'd call them a thief if I wasn't trying to avoid an argument.

[+BlueDeuce]

So -- I have picked up the same Geocoin (TB1AVA0) TWICE now and brought it back to Texas from Oklahoma. The stated goal of this coin is to "Travel about Texas. No Events except for Patriotic Events." Each time I have brought it back, I've put something in my log entry about "bringing it back to Texas as per stated goal".

 

Right? Wrong? Rude? Or just trying to help accomplish the published goal?

 

7 3

 

And as of this past December, the thing has gone MIA. Wasn't even mine, yet somehow I feel some sense of responsibility for it's loss -- if I had put it somewhere else, etc. Somebody took it, didn't log it, hasn't placed it in 6 months, I'd call them a thief if I wasn't trying to avoid an argument.

 

Nature of the beast. These go missing despite all good efforts and intentions.

 

I had the same thing happen to a travel bug trying to get back to Nevada. It happened to have a goal to reach a location very near to me in Iowa. I track it, and once it got close enough I gave it the royal treatment, made friends with the owners, got a new tag to head back home to be retired.

 

Some guy takes it to Maryland

 

Okay, not quite the right direction. I manage to get the things back in my hands, not an easy feat, and I

work with another person to carry it across Iowa, at least it makes a good jump.

 

Some guy takes it to Florida.

 

(Sigh) Okay, not quite the right direction. I manage to get the things back in my hands, (again) not an easy feat, and I carry the things down to Olathe, KS myself.

 

It disappears from the cache.

 

It's been a couple years since that happened but it is still a bummer to put that much time, effort and hope to get it to reach its goal only to have it...go south, as they say.

[+MountainRacer]

I agree with the OP, and tend to not be too interested in TBs once they've left my possession. I recently picked one up at school, held it for a week while I moved home, took its picture next to the Coca-Cola bottling plant in my town (it was a Coke-themed TB), and dropped it right off in a newer cache. Textbook handling, if I do say so myself.