Do we owe a decent log?

[Moss Trooper]

The question is.. If some one takes the time to set a cache.. do we owe it to them to write a worthy log?

 

So often you see on cache logs 2 or 3 words then TNLN TFTC!!

 

I personally try and write something at least decent be it dire or silly and I never use TFTC or TNLN. I am not on about the logs in the caches but on the web page logs.

 

Coments please an don't get into a flame war.. or I'll ban the lot of yer

 

Moss T the infamous!!

[+ReadyOrNot]

Sometimes "TFTH" is deserving of the quality of the cache placement. You will find 9 times out of 10 that a good cache will have good logs and bad caches will have "TNLN" or "TFTH"..

[+Donmoore]

Hate to see it myself. At least a line with some kind of description would be nice. The number hunters are usually the ones who don't write much as they are logging that many caches in one sitting.

 

"Its all about the journey" as one friend said to me.

 

TNLNS the thread!

[+KoosKoos]

You don't OWE a hider a decent log any more than a hider OWES you a decent cache. On both sides, it's a nice thing, but you'll see plenty of reasons for good and bad experiences.

[+webscouter.]

I find that the length of my logs are directly proportional to how much I enjoyed the cache. Therefor a film canister hidden in a parking lot will get a short three to five word log.

 

The caches I enjoy the most will get 600 plus word logs.

[adrianjohn]

I try to write a decent log, though sometimes with some caches it is hard to say something at all.

Further I like to see a decent log for my caches when they are found, I suppose the short logs are another symptom of the changes that have come over time.

Like the ten(+)-micro power trails that seem to be springing up all over.

Sorry another subject I know!

[+Rocky Balboa]

I try to write logs to a lenght that will atleast remind me what I was doing on a particular date when I look through my found list. It annoys me sometimes when I have written very little and I can't place the cache at all. However sometimes if a cache has really annoyed me - dumped down a muddy footpath in a bush for no apparent reason other than the planter wanted to hide a new one today and had time to kill, then I have no regrets in just putting a 1 or 2 word log. At the same time if I really enjoy a cache i'll spend ages writing a full on review! I think this is how it generaly works, the better the cache (and everyone has their own opinions on what makes a good cache obviously) the longer and more precise the log!

[+Trucker Lee]

Quite simply, the more fun, the better the hide, the "classier" the cache, the better and bigger the log should be.

 

With this principle in mind, and LPC rates "found".

[+TrailGators]

Quite simply, the more fun, the better the hide, the "classier" the cache, the better and bigger the log should be.

 

With this principle in mind, and LPC rates "found".

Hear hear!

[+Malpas Wanderer]

Sometimes logs can be too descriptive, and give away things ideally not revealed.

 

This is no reason to be discourteous to the setter however and something said about your day or travel to the cache could be written instead.

 

Lately I do all electronic logs from memory, (no notes taken) so the log probably shows true reflection of how impressed and easily I recall a cache after hours or days.

 

Must admit I've probably written a few very short logs where not much could be recalled

[+Andy33]

As others have said the better the cache the better the log. There are quite a number of caches being placed that are only worth doing if you are trying to boost your numbers.

 

If a cache is a good one then it deserves a decent log.

 

Andy

[+The Hornet]

If a cache is a good one then it deserves a decent log.

Quite agree, but conversely if it a poor cache then I try and be polite but honest. This sometimes upsets the owners and a couple of times has provoked quite an unpleasant reaction but hey! If I am allowed to say how much I enjoyed a cache why shouldn't I be allowed to say I didn't?

[+Birders]

We have always tried to put a few lines into logs, but some log books are so tiny it's not easy!

 

We think there is a definite increase in the numbers of cachers who simply scribble "T4TC", or rubber stamp log books which leads us to seriously wonder if they're mainly there for the ego trip of a huge score rather than taking time to write logs and do swaps.

 

Lastly, we also try to take pictures of any TB passing through our hands... but many TBs now have no pics - not even a "starter" pic from their owner! Shame on them.

Edited May 3, 2008 by Birders

[+Sue and Bernie]

We actually find that it's the journey AND the pleasure that affects the length and breath of our logs!

 

Sue and I like to do only a couple of caches at a time - preferably by bicycle when the weather is good. We then tend to do a bit of a diary entry regardless of the "quality" of the cache because it was simply more of an event for us by taking more time and effort.

 

By contrast, when we walked a local trail of micros not far from our home, we had little to say about each one of the string (other than commenting on the high frequency of dog-walkers that plagued us).

 

If the cache has something special (like the Cove Bay Earthcache GCP80R recently found by Bernie), then that gets pictures and comments - mainly for ourselves.

 

....but generally, we feel that a reasonable composed comment should, as the norm, be left for the setter. A terse (or even worse - an acronym only log) is really damning with the faintest praise and really says it all!

Edited May 4, 2008 by Sue and Bernie

[wolfshead57]

I like to add a little something, that happened to either meself or the wife or whoever. its just sometimes all I did was walk along and find it.

However I do think if someone has gone to the trouble of hiding a cache then give them a little something to read.

[+Silver-Fox]

My 3p worth, I have hidden more than 70 caches and am happy that people go out to find them that is indeed reward enough for me, it is entirely up to the finder whether they want to add a one word log or more

[+studlyone]

I tend to write longer logs for caches that I have really enjoyed and that have taken me to somewhere new thats opened my eyes to something. Sometimes a cache that is a bit of a let down does get a much shorter log.

[+Fuchsiamagic]

If a cache is a good one then it deserves a decent log.

Quite agree, but conversely if it a poor cache then I try and be polite but honest. This sometimes upsets the owners and a couple of times has provoked quite an unpleasant reaction but hey! If I am allowed to say how much I enjoyed a cache why shouldn't I be allowed to say I didn't?

I agree entirely with this. I sometimes come across caches that just haven't been thought through properly and I would love to write the log to reflect my true thoughts. However, I gave up on that policy after I did one cache which was hidden in an old building opposite the lay-by where you park at a blind bend on a very busy A-road. It was very dangerous crossing the road to get to the cache. I light-heartedly put something in the log about hoping there was a hospital nearby, but got a severe ticking-off from the owner who obviously had no sense of humour whatsoever!

[+John Stead]

I have to admit to writing some very short logs on the website, in fact just a full stop. But they were in response to a series of caches where the cache description was just as short in spite of being in interesting places which could have been made more interesting with some explanation.

 

Having said that I feel that some extremely brief logs are an insult to the cache owner if the cache was any good at all. Perhaps I am influenced in that opinion at the moment as I have just had a log posted on one of my caches which was shorter than the cacher's name and that was brief enough. Beef over!

[+mongoose39uk]

The length and content of my logs varies. The shortest was a TNLN, I would have written a longer more honest log, except I know that the owner has a history of deleting logs he does not like.

 

Mostly my logs are shorter if I am tired and just want to get the logging out of the way. They are rarely very long though, I am not a wordy person.

 

A cache that gives me an enjoyable experience in good company is more likely to get a good long lo thoughit just may not be about the cache.

[+CANTOR CLAN]

our logs usual vary in length depending on how much we have enjoyed it whether it was an easy or hard find etc. As a cache owner I enjoy reading what people have to say about our hides and will listen to constructive criticism however I do object to rude uncalled for comments on a log,because someone can`t find it and there are no additional hints when this is reflected in the difficulty rating

[+Simply Paul]

I like to leave a decent log, for the enjoyment of the setter, perhaps as some small help/entertainment for others reading it and to remind me of the cache if I look back through my logs. Even when I've done a lot in a day, I do try to say something about each. There are people who don't do this because they don't want to, or can't, and other people don't log their finds on-line at all- It's not a requirement. I do scratch my head at occasional 'TNLN' logs (not even a TFTC) I see on caches I felt were extraordinary good though.

 

Do we owe the setters a decent log? No, but it's nice to be nice.

[+Globetrotter.uk]

I like leaving a descent log, however sometimes the weather does make me just want to leave a quick note

[reelcutter]

I try and find something positive to say on my logs even if its about the weather, the local wildlife and views, if its a good hide or an unusual container.

I don't log the bad caches or even claim a DNF I just carry on walking by. My idea of a bad cache might be great to someone else though but that might be off topic sorry.

[+Simply Paul]

I like leaving a descent log, however sometimes the weather does make me just want to leave a quick note

Like it's sunny and you want to get back outside to cache again? (the topic is online logs, not what you leave in the logbook. I don't hang about to write War and Peace in the book when it's raining either!)

[+L8HNB]

We really enjoy and appreciate good postings for our two caches.

 

If a cache involves a good walk, good puzzle (that we can solve!), sensible info gathering or a novelty hide where some considerable effort has gone into the cache then we post a log that reflects the enjoyment we had in doing that cache, especially if something unusual or funny happened along the way.

 

Caches that have obviously had little effort/thought put into them get a simple TFTC, fortunately that is fairly uncommon as we are getting a bit more selective these days ...........

[+Happy Humphrey]

I'll echo the Hornet's post and support the idea of giving critical logs for weak caches. It does seem to induce a defensive attitude though, and you're likely to get an e-mail with excuses (and perhaps with an indignant tone).

[+drsolly]

I put very little in the cache log, because I suspect that those hardly ever get read. I put more effort into the online log.

 

If I do a dozen caches, I can usually remember at least something about most of them. But a small box under a pile of sticks in an ordinary wood, won't get much of a log, because there simply isn't much to say. A cache that gave me a lot of trouble to find, will get a much longer log, because there's usually a lot more to say. This might be in the muddiness/steepness/difficulty of the approach, in the hunt at GZ, or some other factor. Often, my logs are mostly about major blunders I've made that made things more difficult for myself. Like "then I fell in the river", or "the nettles broke my fall - if only I'd had less bare skin", or "after carefully climbing the tree, I read the cache page and found out that the cache was in the roots"

 

When I'm doing a long cache, like "Your Mission", which might be done over a number of days, I write a "progress report" for each day. Of courrse, I have to leave out some details, but I get round that by phrases like "so then I went to another place which was very similar to the first place", or "I used an item of Special Equipment to handle a Particular Problem that I encountered", so that although the reader can see that there was some issue at that point, it doesn't tell them what it was, or how I actually dealt with it. Or I might say "So I found myself on the wrong side of the river", which lets me go on to explain how I manageed to recitfy a major problem, but without letting on which is the right side - but it does give away the fact that there's a decision to make, and it's possible to choose wrong.

 

So it can be a bit of a balancing act.

 

Then there's the thorny problem of caches which are just very poor. Sometimes I'll email the cache author with why I didn't like the cache (set in a rubbish dump, set in a place that makes it certain that I'll be looking very suspicious and might find myself explaining geocaching to the police, set in a place that I feel is disrespectful of the dead and their relaitives), but I wouldn't tend to put that in the log; except rarely (and sometimes a bit obliquely).

 

For me, writing the log on a long and difficult cache that I've completed, is actually part of the fun.

[+Dizzley]

Interesting topic: I'm a chatty person and I'm likely to leave longer online logs for caches that have involved some effort on my part and when I've enjoyed the hunt. Of course, I'm not going to bother writing much if it wasn't much of a cache.

 

The cachers I respect are those that always leave a kind word in the logs. Even a "Thanks" is welcome.

 

I've recently taken a new tack with logs - trying to leave a log that will remind me of the day. I wonder if I'll actually go back and read them?

[+Team Incredible]

The more we enjoyed the the cache the more we have to say about it. We only have a couple with short logs and like others have kept things polite when mentioning bad points. We enjoy reading what others say about a cache when planning a trip and a cache page full of TNLN, is likely to make us reach for the ignore button.

 

We really enjoy reading the logs and looking at the photos others put on our cache pages, we've put a lot of effort into putting out what we think are decent caches and enjoyed placing them. Its nice to see others enjoy the location as well.

[+maxkim]

I agree with comments gone before, good cache equals good log. Esp. when you do several by one owner, although I do use cut and paste where I can if there are 20+ caches to log in a day. Also as a cache setter its nice to hear what has happened to finders and what they thought of the cache. Also on some totally off side caches I have used the nuke button (SBA) and emailed the setter to explain why. Cheers MaxKim.

[+Lotho]

I dont write much in the paper log but write as much as i can on the online log. If the cache is generic. my log is only a few lines, but its better than "40/56 today!!! TFTC"

[+Team GeoBlast]

If a cache is a good one then it deserves a decent log.

Quite agree, but conversely if it a poor cache then I try and be polite but honest. This sometimes upsets the owners and a couple of times has provoked quite an unpleasant reaction but hey! If I am allowed to say how much I enjoyed a cache why shouldn't I be allowed to say I didn't?

I agree entirely with this. I sometimes come across caches that just haven't been thought through properly and I would love to write the log to reflect my true thoughts. However, I gave up on that policy after I did one cache which was hidden in an old building opposite the lay-by where you park at a blind bend on a very busy A-road. It was very dangerous crossing the road to get to the cache. I light-heartedly put something in the log about hoping there was a hospital nearby, but got a severe ticking-off from the owner who obviously had no sense of humour whatsoever!

 

I'm going to add an "aye" here. No, you don't owe a cache hider a decent log. I think of placing a cache as a performing art. Unless it is extraordinary in some respect, you are not going to get all rave reviews. Feedback is important for people to know what works and a doesn't work in a cache placement and should be equivalent to the thought and effort put into the placement. Heaping praise on a cache that you were not excited about in the least is condescending while it diminishes the value of a log praising a cache that you did actually like.

[+The Hornet]

If you like the cache write a compliment. If you didn't like it write an honest criticism. If it was neither here nor there write TNLNSL. Job done!

[+Renegade Knight]

The question is.. If some one takes the time to set a cache.. do we owe it to them to write a worthy log?...

 

There is no obligation at all to write an online log at all. I don't hold it agaisnt the people who only write in the physical log. It's a nice thing to write a thoughtful log the owner would enjoy online or off. Even the uninspired logs tell the owner the cache is alive and well and getting found.

 

Interestingly some finders do take time to write a good log at the cache itself but either are silent or use a short online log. I don't know unless I read the cache log book.