caching finding etiquette?

[+limpfish]

Recently been noticing a few claiming to have found caches that are just plain missing. Shocking eh? is ths evil scandalous cheating or just the done thing?

 

One claimed a find for a cache that the owner had disabled a month previously. Another openly stating in a found log that they couldn't find it (whaat?), this after a load of good old honest DNFs - hmmm most of them mine tbh.

 

They both had hundreds more cache finds than I'll ever get, so maybe I'm just jealous of the caching elite swanning around racking up their numbers irrespective of if they happen to find it or not, while I'm battling with nettles and mud happy for every paltry little find.

 

Both cases they'd offered photo evidence as proof that they had turned up at the cache location. But surely they're missing the point? You can't just turn up, take a photo of a field and claim to have found the cache... can you? Or am I just taking it too seriously?

[+*mouse*]

I'm with you, but I guess it is up to the cache owners if they honour the find or not.

 

Sometimes people can put a lot of energy into trying to find a cache, only to find when they get there it has been muggled etc..... I know some cache owners will still allow you to claim a cache like that as a find, as the reason it wasn't there was because of circumstances outside of your control.

 

We all play the game slightly differently. Personally I just accept that there will always be a small number of caches that for one reason or another are missing in action so I don't claim them. Like you I think it goes against the grain. But if others want to do it then that is up to them I guess.....

[Red Squadron]

I always thought that if there is a logbook in the cache that it had to be filled in to claim the cache. Or, in the case of Stonehenge a photo had to be taken of a certain stone and the picture sent to the owner of the listing to be verified before you could claim the find. If a picture of a field was all that was needed then I would have thousands of claims because I live in Norfolk (Field heaven). If these people want to cheat then let them, you know that your nettle stings etc mean that you have done the job properly. Cheaters never win. They just think they have.

Edited February 15, 2008 by Red Squadron

[markandlynn]

Heres some help on this edit to add its not hurting anyone though is it ? Edited February 15, 2008 by markandlynn

[+limpfish]

Probably wouldn't have minded so much but one is a local cache that I've been battling with for ages, years even, I stopped logging the DNFs after the first few. Occasionally I'll go back have another look round but he hides himself well, one day I'll get him off guard but for now he's just too clever for me....

 

After all that imagine my absolute open mouthed astonishment when then along pops some 1000+ cacher, completely dismisses my most respected enemy, blatantly saying they couldn't find it but what the hell logging it as yet another find in his thousands anyway. 2 year ban!

 

Heres some help on this

 

Nice list, maybe I could use this to boost my numbers

[+Delta68]

We frequently come across finds logged by cachers who haven't been anywhere near the cache but someone else logs it on their behalf.

 

Personally I wouldn't claim a webcam cache by posting a photo taken near by either but people do do this.

 

Irritating yes, but to me it's like playing patience at cards - if you cheat, who are you fooling?

Edited February 15, 2008 by Delta68

[+Von-Horst]

I'd never heard of pocket caches before - what a strange idea!

 

I guess the hobby is different for everyone and it doesn't realy matter how yougeocache as long as you don't hurt anyone...but I (we) like to actually visit places, even if they are tucked out the back of mortorway service stations!

[wolfshead57]

I go with Delta on this one its only yourself your cheating on. I have been tempted I will admit, there is a local one that I have logged as a DNF and have been back to loads of times to try and get it. I see others find it and the next day I am off again and still can't figure it out. The clue leaves me stumped the cache leaves me stumped maybe I am just the thickest cacher in the TOON.

 

Anyway if others want to pretend they have found something thats up to them I am still on my quest for this other one and if I dont get it soon I will do some serious damage to the area, I have a big hammer...

[+Cushie Butterfield]

I am just the thickest cacher in the TOON

I bet it got moved by a Malicious Mackem, it will be in the same place our football skills have been hidden. See - it's all your fault! If you find it then we will start winning again

(I might live down here but black and white blood still courses through my veins)

Edited February 15, 2008 by Team Skully

[+microphonemark]

I have a nano cache. It's seriously tiny.

Recently a cacher visited my cache but did not sign the log or open the cache, and claimed the find. I'm allowing it for two reasons.

1. It was blowing a gale at the time.
   
2. He described the cache in his log well enough to satisfy me that he'd at least seen it
   

I live nearby-ish enough to know that it was blowing a gale and he probably would have lost the log in that weather!

 

Posting "couldn't find it. not here. Here's a photo of the area though" as a found log would get deleted from any of my caches. Posting a DNF is not giving yourself an 'F'!

[+PopUpPirate]

LOL at the thumbs-down comments on that bookmark list

 

http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/rating...7e&ID=66010

[+keehotee]

I have a nano cache. It's seriously tiny.

Recently a cacher visited my cache but did not sign the log or open the cache, and claimed the find. I'm allowing it for two reasons.

1. It was blowing a gale at the time.
   
2. He described the cache in his log well enough to satisfy me that he'd at least seen it
   

I live nearby-ish enough to know that it was blowing a gale and he probably would have lost the log in that weather!

 

Posting "couldn't find it. not here. Here's a photo of the area though" as a found log would get deleted from any of my caches. Posting a DNF is not giving yourself an 'F'!

 

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

I had to take my Mum to Heathrow last month and stopped to do a MM cache on the way back.

It was freezing cold, and there was a muggle sat in his car 6 feet from the cache - which was a magnetic nano on the back of a sign in the MWay services car park - so after very surreptitiously (?) getting it from it's hiding place I unscrewed the lid to find that I couldn't pull the log out, and I didn't have my leatherman with me......so I put it back. Perhaps I should have logged it as a find after all, if all you have to do is be in the right place.

But then on the other hand, there are quite a few caches around here that could be described perfectly - but need that little bit extra to get to to sign the log. I think I'll visit them all on windy days so I can log them as finds..........................................

[+Bill D (wwh)]

I once allowed a found log on an unfound cache... An American couple had come to England for a fortnight's holiday, with paper printouts. A few days later I archived a micro of mine that had gone missing, and replaced it with a nearby virtual. Toward the end of their stay they tried to find the micro, and found the quite distinctive hiding place, but of course no cache. When they got home they realized what had happened, and emailed me with a photo of the hiding place, and asked if they could log the virtual.

 

As they would have walked past the virtual to find that hiding place, and would of course have done the virtual if they'd known about it, I decided to allow that - what they'd actually found was harder to find than the virtual!

[+Bear and Ragged]

A cache we've been watching had a couple of DNF's posted.

 

Shortly after a finder logs "Found. Came prepared and left a micro"

 

Several finds later another cacher logs "Found, but most of the recent finders haven't signed the log..."

Next cacher logs "Found BOTH caches..."

 

G -Now off to prepare a few replacement caches for those DNF'd caches!

[+Delta68]

A cache we've been watching had a couple of DNF's posted.

 

Shortly after a finder logs "Found. Came prepared and left a micro"

 

Several finds later another cacher logs "Found, but most of the recent finders haven't signed the log..."

Next cacher logs "Found BOTH caches..."

 

 

I think it's a bloomin' cheek leaving a replacement cache. Mind you, we would go and check on a cache after a DNF so perhaps the owner is partly to blame...

[+maxkim]

A cache we've been watching had a couple of DNF's posted.

 

Shortly after a finder logs "Found. Came prepared and left a micro"

 

Several finds later another cacher logs "Found, but most of the recent finders haven't signed the log..."

Next cacher logs "Found BOTH caches..."

 

 

I think it's a bloomin' cheek leaving a replacement cache. Mind you, we would go and check on a cache after a DNF so perhaps the owner is partly to blame...

I have done this myself on a couple of occasions, mostly in the spirit of helping out. I always email the cache owner and ok that they are happy for this to happen. I will make sure I do not do this for any of your caches, would you prefer the 'should be archived' marker, if for any reason you cannot maintain a cache in the future????

[+Bear and Ragged]

A cache we've been watching had a couple of DNF's posted.

 

Shortly after a finder logs "Found. Came prepared and left a micro"

 

Several finds later another cacher logs "Found, but most of the recent finders haven't signed the log..."

Next cacher logs "Found BOTH caches..."

 

 

I think it's a bloomin' cheek leaving a replacement cache. Mind you, we would go and check on a cache after a DNF so perhaps the owner is partly to blame...

I have done this myself on a couple of occasions, mostly in the spirit of helping out. I always email the cache owner and ok that they are happy for this to happen. I will make sure I do not do this for any of your caches, would you prefer the 'should be archived' marker, if for any reason you cannot maintain a cache in the future????

 

If the cache owner either:

a. Can't get to the cache for a maintenance visit

b. Can't post a note to say when a visit will take place

c. Get a fellow cacher to check it out for them

 

are they in a position to look after the cache?

In which case a SBA should be posted.

 

On the cache in question, no mention has been made by the owner of either maintenance or re-visiting the cache themselves, or OKing the replacement cache...

 

Are they too far from the cache? Or are they not "bovvered" about the cache?

SBA reasons, surely?

[+kennamatic]

I'm afraid I'm too "old school" as well. Unless you've signed the log you ain't found it. There are some ingenious hides out there where you might well see the cache but the skill can be in how you retrieve it.

 

Yes, these people who log fields as a find are cheating themselves but they do cheat other too. They can make new cachers feel "inadequate" because they aren't able to log at the rate they do. And would you allow such leeway in other fields?

 

I, by pure chance, happened to have walked past Twickenham Rugby ground when The Rolling Stones were playing. Who would like to buy me a drink whilst I tell you about the time I saw The Stones in concert?

[+dino-irl]

A cache we've been watching had a couple of DNF's posted.

 

Shortly after a finder logs "Found. Came prepared and left a micro"

 

Several finds later another cacher logs "Found, but most of the recent finders haven't signed the log..."

Next cacher logs "Found BOTH caches..."

 

 

I think it's a bloomin' cheek leaving a replacement cache. Mind you, we would go and check on a cache after a DNF so perhaps the owner is partly to blame...

I have done this myself on a couple of occasions, mostly in the spirit of helping out. I always email the cache owner and ok that they are happy for this to happen. I will make sure I do not do this for any of your caches, would you prefer the 'should be archived' marker, if for any reason you cannot maintain a cache in the future????

Just because you can't find a cache doesn't mean that its not there! I wouldn't dream of placing a new cache unless it was confirmed as missing by either the owner or a previous finder. This second cache is really messing things up and although probably well intentioned was unnecessary.

 

As to DNFs, I usually don't check a cache of mine unless there are 2, especially if the first one is from an inexperienced cacher.

[+maxkim]

We have found at least two caches that have been disabled by the owner as lost, but they were there..... It is my belief that if the cache is there and you sign the log it should be ok even if it has been disabled for other reasons - such as believed M.I. IMO. Cheers MaxKim