Found or given

[+spyderman]

If you had to use a phone-a-ffriend to locate a cache would you "Proudly" log it, or log it as a given. I have had cache hogs in the area phone me for directions to a cache, not a hint for it. Let's here some input.

[+Trucker Lee]

IMHO --- Giving help, additional clues, or directions to a cache is up to the cache owner, not me. That would be a wasted call in my book.

[+StarBrand]

While I see PAF networks as bad as posting spoilers in logs, I don't see a problem with also logging the find when you get to it.

[Mushtang]

Unless the cache owner specifically states not to use PAF to help, it's one of the many tools I'll use if I need to. It's not like this is a competition, so if someone finds a cache easier than another person what difference should it make to anyone?

[+BlueDeuce]

If you had to use a phone-a-ffriend to locate a cache would you "Proudly" log it, or log it as a given. I have had cache hogs in the area phone me for directions to a cache, not a hint for it. Let's here some input.

 

I would only use PAF if I needed to confirm information like verifying the coords, not to have someone solve the cache for me.

[+TexasGringo]

Geocaching is for FUN...it is not a competition for a grand prize or TV series. Sure, I took time to place the cache and still have to maintain it...but Geocaching is for FUN.

 

If people email me for a hint, I'll give them another hint and tell them to email me if they still need more. I'll even send them a picture of the cache if they want. I want the Geocacher to have FUN too.

 

All I ask is that they properly re-hide it.

 

Finally, They still have to go to the cache and sign the log.

[+tozainamboku]

Yep. Phone a friends degrade geocaching.

 

Look, if the person posted they phoned a friend for a hint what difference does that make to any other geocacher (including the cache owner). Sure the cache owner might really like seeing those DNFs to give them confirmation that they've succeeded in hiding a really difficult cache. Of course if they know who needed a PAF they get just as much confirmation that way. And people who are looking for the cache still know it will be hard to find because some "big numbers" cacher used a PAF.

 

If the person simply says "thanks for the cache" and doesn't say they used a PAF, perhaps they have degraded the cache owner's enjoyment by denying the confirmation that the cache was difficult. Perhaps others will go and look for the cache with a false sense of how difficult it is. So sure, if you use a PAF and don't say you did in your log, you're posting a bogus log in the sense that it might degrade other cachers' experiences.

 

Some cachers like the feeling of accomplishment of finding a difficult cache on their own. This is why hints are encrypted and the cache pages say "Warning. Spoilers may be included in the descriptions or links." If you want to find a cache without hints and without PAFs, no one points a gun to your head to force you to to read the hint or ask for help. If on the other hand, you enjoy the feeling of accomplishment of find a cache even when you get help finding it, you can decrypt the hints, read logs that may contain spoilers, or phone your friend who found the cache to ask where to look. Stop worrying about how other people play the game.

[+BlueDeuce]

Dam hippies.

[+Team Black-Cat]

I think every cacher, regardless of experience, has been baffled by a "simple" hide. Asking for a hint isn't cheating too much. Just mention it in you log...

I have only used "phone a friend" once. Actually, I called home and had someone email the cache owner to ask him call me, which he did. He and I now go out caching together sometimes.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Okay. I'll admit to using PAF once (or twice.) The coords and cache page were quite explicit! And completely wrong. It was NOT seven feet north of the corner of the granite wall at the coords listed. We searched quite a while there! And it was not my idea to call! It turns out that the cache was across the street, nine feet northeast of the rounded edge of the wall with granite on top. Duh. How silly of me.

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

If you had to use a phone-a-ffriend to locate a cache would you "Proudly" log it, or log it as a given. I have had cache hogs in the area phone me for directions to a cache, not a hint for it. Let's here some input.

A fact of life is that this is simply a widespread and fully-accepted practice in our area (Maryland, Southern PA and Northern VA), and also in all surrounding area. Personally, I have received a handful of such calls, Sue has fielded hundreds, and I have personally never placed one, although the fact is that I go after very few caches each month; it is Sue who goes after a large number of caches most months (and most weeks...), and she occasionally calls people via the phone-a-friend (PAF) network. Were I to ever feel the need to call someone while in the field hunting a cache, I would be most likely inclined to call the cache owner.

 

P.S. It does not bother me at all that plenty of cachers use the PAF network in order to facilitate their finds on caches, nor does it bother me if and when folks use the PAF in scoring a find on one of our caches. And, face it, for most of my caches, calling a friend on the phone is still not gonna save a prospective finder from crawling on their belly in polluted wastewater in a dark and smelly tunnel, surrounded by hundreds of spiders and cave crickets, nor from using their climbing gear to descend a cliff and make the leap into a cave located halfway down the cliff face, nor from needing the Tyvek protective bunny suit, PAPR respirator and portable radiation monitor when making the find itself.

Edited February 18, 2008 by Vinny & Sue Team

[+The Leprechauns]

If you had to use a phone-a-ffriend to locate a cache would you "Proudly" log it, or log it as a given. I have had cache hogs in the area phone me for directions to a cache, not a hint for it. Let's here some input.

It is difficult to answer the question because I never "have to use" a phone a friend. I could always choose to log a DNF, and that is what I normally do. On rare occasions, especially when traveling out of town, I will call the cache owner or whomever is my local host who recommended the cache that I'm having trouble finding.

 

I find that "phone a friend" takes away some of the fun and enjoyment I get out of finding a tough cache all on my own, so I use it quite sparingly. When I do, I make sure to mention this in my log, usually in the context of poking fun at my own ineptitude.

[+simpjkee]

No matter what, in my book, if you sign the log then it is a find. I would frown upon it if someone had someone else log their name if they were at home, but hey if you can get someone to do that for you then you found it cuz your name is on the log ya know. thats the way i see it. so if someone gets hints from a phone a friend or whatever, as long as their name is on the cache log then it is a find.

[+KJcachers]

what's this phone-a-friend network you speak of and where do I sign up?

[+hukilaulau]

Geocaching is for FUN...it is not a competition for a grand prize or TV series. Sure, I took time to place the cache and still have to maintain it...but Geocaching is for FUN.

 

If people email me for a hint, I'll give them another hint and tell them to email me if they still need more. I'll even send them a picture of the cache if they want. I want the Geocacher to have FUN too.

 

All I ask is that they properly re-hide it.

 

Finally, They still have to go to the cache and sign the log.

What he said. Even though I never use PAF myself I don't care if anyone else does it.

[+JohnnyVegas]

I only have a few phone numbers of the cachers the I know, besides, I use GPX sonar and it only shows 5 logs, so even if I wanted to use phone a freind it would do me much good because the 5 logs are always by cacher that I have never met or that I do hot have the number for. Beside I just got e cell phone stolen and I am not it hurry to get another one.

I don't even send e-mails to cache owners when I cannot find a cache, I just never gave it much of a thought. I will e-mail a cache owner when I am working on a puzzle to make sure I have the correct coordinates, but I only due 2 or 3 puzzles a year (I an just not good at doing puzzles)

[+redtech]

 

P.S. It does not bother me at all that plenty of cachers use the PAF network in order to facilitate their finds on caches, nor does it bother me if and when folks use the PAF in scoring a find on one of our caches. And, face it, for most of my caches, calling a friend on the phone is still not gonna save a prospective finder from crawling on their belly in polluted wastewater in a dark and smelly tunnel, surrounded by hundreds of spiders and cave crickets, nor from using their climbing gear to descend a cliff and make the leap into a cave located halfway down the cliff face, nor from needing the Tyvek protective bunny suit, PAPR respirator and portable radiation monitor when making the find itself.

 

I stopped reading at the spider part.