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What the heck is this virtual cache?


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Posted (edited)

Ok, so I'm goofing off on the website, and I stumble upon an (apparently) new virtual that moves around?

 

And it's not even a cache....it's more of benchmark.

 

Just when I think I've figured everything out on this site.

 

What the heck is this? :laughing:

 

GC43F3

Edited by PhxChem
Posted (edited)

Did you see a specific cache that you could link to for us so that we can see what you're talking about? :laughing:

 

edit: oops, see it now...

Edited by Ambrosia
Posted

Ok, first off, even though the date at the top says 5-20-08, there have been finds since 2002. So I guess this is an older virtual. Not sure about everything else, though! I think they're trying to get around guidelines, unless the description has been around since 2002 and is grandfathered. Dunno. :laughing:

Posted

Looks like a traveling cache. It's been logged over 5,500 times. Shows it was placed yesterday, but the logs go back 6 years. I don't know why it's listed as a virtual.

 

El Diablo

Posted

[ Grumpy old man voice ] You youngsters, without a sense of history... [ /grumpy ]

 

Back in the old days, before there were rules against such things, a new type of cache was born. Somewhere around spring of '02, which would be the middle of the GC4xxx series (which would be GC48xx... but this is approximate and I mention it only for the hex-impaired), the locationless cache was "invented". This was a category that allowed caches without fixed coords and without a signed logbook to be logged. This type has come and gone as a geocache. Before that, the way to list such a cache was as a virtual as it was the most similar - no logbook involved. After that, it's called a waymark.

 

When locationless fever hit, most of this type of cache was reassigned to that category and subsequently to Waymarking.com before being archived on geocaching.com

 

What you have here seems to be a rare specimen of one of the pre-locationless locationlesses that was never recategorized. The owner is still active, still bumps the coords, and tweaks the placement date. Yes, you can edit the placement date of a cache. No, you can't edit the GC# of a cache; they're assigned serially.

 

Times were different then - with the prevailing reign in March, '02 when this cache was

published, this was a totally proper listing and has been grandfathered through a couple of generations of listing guidelines.

 

Today, a listing like this would be immediately redirected to Waymarking.com

 

Knowing the approximate age of a GC# from memory can tell you a lot about its place in history. (Example: if you're searching for a two digit GC #, you're not looking for a blinky in a mall parking lot.)

Posted

[ Grumpy old man voice ] You youngsters, without a sense of history... [ /grumpy ]

You're only 4 months older than me. :):D

 

I'm wondering why the cache placement date has changed. That makes it confusing. I kept looking at it, the fresh date, and the virtual icon. Weirded me out at first! It's been so long since I saw a "new" virtual. :)

 

Your explanation makes sense.

Posted (edited)

I don't know why it's listed as a virtual.

Because there's no cache container. You just find a Canadian Survey Marker and confirm its stamped number. It's a pre-Waymarking substitute for the fact that benchmarking on GC.com only covers the U.S. And with that many logs on the cache page, one can better understand why Jeremy knew by 2003 that he needed to come up with another solution for locationless and virtual caches.

 

This is one of several grandfathered "find a benchmark" virtual caches. This one's the most popular because it moves, and has a specific target. There's one virtual in Pennsylvania that's a true locationless: find any benchmark in the state and post its coords and photo. I'm surprised those weren't archived and locked when the rest of the locationless caches were shut down.

Edited by The Leprechauns
Posted

Ok, so I'm goofing off on the website, and I stumble upon an (apparently) new virtual that moves around?

 

And it's not even a cache....it's more of benchmark.

 

Just when I think I've figured everything out on this site.

 

What the heck is this? :rolleyes:

 

GC43F3

 

Ouch I have a migrain after reading that. I don't understand any of it. ;)

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