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Cacher hoarding travel bugs


ClassicRider

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If anyone knows cacher named <name removed by moderator> he is hoarding others cachers travel bugs. I have sent him many emails and he refuses to release the travel bugs back into the wild. As of today, he has 13 travel bugs which do not belong to him. If anyone can pursuaed him to release these bugs I know me and others would be happy. Thanks

Edited by Eartha
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Forum guidelines: 3. Personal attacks and inflammatory behavior will not be tolerated. If you want to praise or criticize, give examples as to why it is good or bad. General attacks on a person or idea will not be tolerated.

 

The proper post is: There is a cacher who seems to be hoarding others cachers travel bugs. I have sent him many emails and he refuses to release the travel bugs back into the wild. As of today, he has 13 travel bugs which do not belong to him. If anyone can pursuaed him to release these bugs I know me and others would be happy. I know I have a few Jeeps in my inventory, but I swap them here and there and have Jeep hotel. Thanks

 

As v-hunter points out: Running a Jeep Prison does not seem to quailfy you for sainthood. TB Prisons are an anathema to the free spirit of TBs.

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Forum guidelines: 3. Personal attacks and inflammatory behavior will not be tolerated. If you want to praise or criticize, give examples as to why it is good or bad. General attacks on a person or idea will not be tolerated.

 

The proper post is: There is a cacher who seems to be hoarding others cachers travel bugs. I have sent him many emails and he refuses to release the travel bugs back into the wild. As of today, he has 13 travel bugs which do not belong to him. If anyone can pursuaed him to release these bugs I know me and others would be happy. I know I have a few Jeeps in my inventory, but I swap them here and there and have Jeep hotel. Thanks

 

As v-hunter points out: Running a Jeep Prison does not seem to quailfy you for sainthood. TB Prisons are an anathema to the free spirit of TBs.

 

promo-angry-mob.jpg

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the-angry-mob.pngthe-angry-mob.png

Link to comment

Forum guidelines: 3. Personal attacks and inflammatory behavior will not be tolerated. If you want to praise or criticize, give examples as to why it is good or bad. General attacks on a person or idea will not be tolerated.

 

The proper post is: There is a cacher who seems to be hoarding others cachers travel bugs. I have sent him many emails and he refuses to release the travel bugs back into the wild. As of today, he has 13 travel bugs which do not belong to him. If anyone can pursuaed him to release these bugs I know me and others would be happy. I know I have a few Jeeps in my inventory, but I swap them here and there and have Jeep hotel. Thanks

 

As v-hunter points out: Running a Jeep Prison does not seem to quailfy you for sainthood. TB Prisons are an anathema to the free spirit of TBs.

 

promo-angry-mob.jpg

mob-angry.gifmob-angry.gifmob-angry.gif

mob-angry.gifmob-angry.gifmob-angry.gif

the-angry-mob.pngthe-angry-mob.png

Isn't there a penalty for using the same images in multiple post in the same day?

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Forum guidelines: 3. Personal attacks and inflammatory behavior will not be tolerated. If you want to praise or criticize, give examples as to why it is good or bad. General attacks on a person or idea will not be tolerated.

 

The proper post is: There is a cacher who seems to be hoarding others cachers travel bugs. I have sent him many emails and he refuses to release the travel bugs back into the wild. As of today, he has 13 travel bugs which do not belong to him. If anyone can pursuaed him to release these bugs I know me and others would be happy. I know I have a few Jeeps in my inventory, but I swap them here and there and have Jeep hotel. Thanks

 

As v-hunter points out: Running a Jeep Prison does not seem to quailfy you for sainthood. TB Prisons are an anathema to the free spirit of TBs.

 

promo-angry-mob.jpg

mob-angry.gifmob-angry.gifmob-angry.gif

mob-angry.gifmob-angry.gifmob-angry.gif

the-angry-mob.pngthe-angry-mob.png

Isn't there a penalty for using the same images in multiple post in the same day?

 

I should say so ;)

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I saw this one TB that I'd forgotten about in my car. When I found it on the floor, I thought, "Oh my! Someone may begin ranting about me in the forums!" I quickly went to the nearest cache site and got rid of the bug. Day-after-day, night-after-night, I worried and worried about that dadgum bug. I kept thinking, "The gods of TBs are going to do something bad to me, to punish me for my wrongs." Well, *PO on the leg was my punishment. Oh, *PO is a new thing I'm starting; <not in here> poison oak.

Edited by Eartha
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I saw this one TB that I'd forgotten about in my car. When I found it on the floor, I thought, "Oh my! Someone may begin ranting about me in the forums!" I quickly went to the nearest cache site and got rid of the bug. Day-after-day, night-after-night, I worried and worried about that dadgum bug. I kept thinking, "The gods of TBs are going to do something bad to me, to punish me for my wrongs." Well, *PO on the leg was my punishment. Oh, *PO is a new thing I'm starting; <not in here> poison oak.

is having a tb hotel with no bug trade requirement still bad? i have a tb hotel near my house and i dont mind when people take all the bugs because they are suppose to travel. i just wind up getting more bugs wen im out caching and put the ones in it that help there missions

Edited by Eartha
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I don't know why but I find this situation amusing. I was quite stunned to see the the quantity of trackables <name removed by moderator> has, and for the length of time. Then a little chuckle at the glass houses comment and seeing some lengthy trackables the original poster has.

 

Eh, I guess this is one without an easy obvious solution. I guess I'll pull up a chair and see how it unfolds. I feel bad when I've had anything for more than 2 weeks. One time I had a giant geocaching for dummies books for several months before I found a cache it would fit in, and I felt awful about having it in captivity for so long.

Edited by Eartha
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I don't know why but I find this situation amusing. I was quite stunned to see the the quantity of trackables <name removed by moderator> has, and for the length of time. Then a little chuckle at the glass houses comment and seeing some lengthy trackables the original poster has.

 

Eh, I guess this is one without an easy obvious solution. I guess I'll pull up a chair and see how it unfolds. I feel bad when I've had anything for more than 2 weeks. One time I had a giant geocaching for dummies books for several months before I found a cache it would fit in, and I felt awful about having it in captivity for so long.

I usually email about my tbs around two weeks and as long as you are trying that is what most cahers want, It is awesome when some cacher will email me back and tell me that they are planning to put in into an awesome cache or they just havent been caching win a while.

Edited by Eartha
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I've seen this phenomenon myself recently. There is a cacher in our area that picked up a coin of mine from a nearby cache. When I went to look at the persons profile I noticed that they had only been caching for about a month. In that time they have found nearly 120 caches and have taken a combination of 25 coins and bugs from those caches. Problem is that they haven't returned any of the bugs or coins that they have found back into the wild. It's only been a few days since they grabbed my coin but my fear is that they will continue to hold onto these for a while or being new they don't really understand that they should be moving these along. 120 caches and 25 trackables is a heck of a lot for a brand new cacher. I didn't reach 100 caches for nearly 4 months and I've never logged a month with over 100 caches in it and I consider myself to be a pretty active cacher. I've seen several of these types of things where people get all gung ho and cache and cache and cache and then stop and never do it again. Usually it happens when they place their first cache and then they never log onto the web page again after it publishes. My fear is that is what is going to happen with this person but this time it is going to be travel bugs that pay the price.

 

Anyway I usually give people who grab my bugs a month or more before I sedn them a reminder message asking them to release my bug. I'll wait a bit on this one before sending in a message but I'm wondering how much longer than th etwo week time limit I should wait before contacting them.

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This thread seems to have gone way off topic for a bit, but it's the only one out there fits for my post.

 

Another geocacher took one of my geocoins out of a cache, and 10 months later hasn't moved it. I double checked his profile, and he's been active- logging 2500+ caches and new caches every day. I checked his trackable webpage, and went through all the TBs and GCs he's found- he's holding onto 28 of other people's geocoins, jeep travel bugs, and unite for diabetes TBs. 28! When you consider that the average geocoin costs close to $8-10, he's basically 'stolen' about $250 bucks worth of merchandise for his personal collection. The part I find hard to believe is that he has the audacity to log them for his profile, as if he knows no one can do anything about it.

 

Is there any sort of retribution built into geocaching to combat this? For example, deleting his profile, erasing all of his logs, etc? I remember reading about a situation with XBOX Live where gamers that were found cheating online (akin to stealing TBs and GCs) had a warning sent to them, and then their profiles' points (or finds) erased as punishment.

 

If I sent his name to one of the moderators, would they be able to intervene as a 3rd party? I sent the TB horder an email, but no luck as of yet.

 

Any other suggestions to help solve this problem are welcome. Unfortunately though, I really don't know what can be done to solve the root problem. The geocaching website is built so much on trust (that other cachers won't remove/destroy other people's caches, TBs, GCs, or put something harmful into a cache, etc) that there are bound to be selfish people out there who take advantage of other people's generosity... honestly this is the reason why I've stopped buying TBs from Groundspeak, and why I don't release any of my geocoins into the wild anymore, I just take them to event caches so I know no one can steal them.

 

Thanks,

dmbfan73

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...Another geocacher took one of my geocoins out of a cache, and 10 months later hasn't moved it. I double checked his profile, and he's been active- logging 2500+ caches and new caches every day. I checked his trackable webpage, and went through all the TBs and GCs he's found- he's holding onto 28 of other people's geocoins, jeep travel bugs, and unite for diabetes TBs. 28! When you consider that the average geocoin costs close to $8-10, he's basically 'stolen' about $250 bucks worth of merchandise for his personal collection. The part I find hard to believe is that he has the audacity to log them for his profile, as if he knows no one can do anything about it...

I sent the TB horder an email, but no luck as of yet...

 

This is so frustrating for you, and the others whose trackables have suffered similar fates - You have my sympathy. :rolleyes:

 

As to what you can do...

You've tried the "polite email" with no response, so I'd try that once more. Then if there's still no reply I think I would contact just two or three of the other owners of trackables being held by this cacher, just to ask them whether they've been able to get anywhere with him/her. You don't mention whether this cacher is in Germany, or another country, but have you considered putting a polite thread about the matter on the local Forum in whichever country the Hoarder is based? - without naming names, but just stating the facts and asking whether others in that region are aware of such things happening. Does the Hoarder appear to go caching regularly with any other cacher? Is there anyone who might be able to tactfully intervene on your behalf?

 

I've no idea if there's anything that the local Moderators can do about these situations, but I'm sure one will be along soon to give their views.

 

MrsB :rolleyes:

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Glass Houses. Looks like a Jeep prison you're running with the rules you have applied on the cache.

 

Now v-hunter, what would influence you to investigate the OP's profile, and see that he owns a Jeep Prison? :rolleyes:

 

That is a bonafide prison though, and the cache was muggled a couple of times, and several imprisoned jeeps lost. I wonder how it has been "stocked" in the past, jeep hoarding perhaps? :rolleyes:

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...Another geocacher took one of my geocoins out of a cache, and 10 months later hasn't moved it. I double checked his profile, and he's been active- logging 2500+ caches and new caches every day. I checked his trackable webpage, and went through all the TBs and GCs he's found- he's holding onto 28 of other people's geocoins, jeep travel bugs, and unite for diabetes TBs. 28! When you consider that the average geocoin costs close to $8-10, he's basically 'stolen' about $250 bucks worth of merchandise for his personal collection. The part I find hard to believe is that he has the audacity to log them for his profile, as if he knows no one can do anything about it...

I sent the TB horder an email, but no luck as of yet...

 

This is so frustrating for you, and the others whose trackables have suffered similar fates - You have my sympathy. :rolleyes:

 

As to what you can do...

You've tried the "polite email" with no response, so I'd try that once more. Then if there's still no reply I think I would contact just two or three of the other owners of trackables being held by this cacher, just to ask them whether they've been able to get anywhere with him/her. You don't mention whether this cacher is in Germany, or another country, but have you considered putting a polite thread about the matter on the local Forum in whichever country the Hoarder is based? - without naming names, but just stating the facts and asking whether others in that region are aware of such things happening. Does the Hoarder appear to go caching regularly with any other cacher? Is there anyone who might be able to tactfully intervene on your behalf?

 

I've no idea if there's anything that the local Moderators can do about these situations, but I'm sure one will be along soon to give their views.

 

MrsB :rolleyes:

 

The TB horder I'm particularly concerned with is back in the States, from before I moved over here to Europe with my wife. He's been to 22 Event caches, so I guess the local geocaching community should be familiar with him, especially with his high numbers. I don't have a problem contacting a few people, as you suggested, but I really think this is better dealt with by a 3rd party. Someone in his area, as you suggested, would be nice... perhaps the local volunteer cache reviewer. My frustration is that no one can really do anyone thing with these people- except ask politely over and over. We have no course of retribution against these thieves, no way to report them except informally in the forums.

 

It's one thing to hold onto a TB for a while, another thing to grab 28 geocoins and keep them all.

 

Geocaching is supposed to be fun: TB horders ruin the fun for everyone. I think on your account page that everyone should be able to see your inventory of TBs, so that everyone can see what you have and how long you've had it. This way horders won't be able to hide, everyone will know. It will either encourage people to move TBs along sooner or take them without logging them. I'm just hoping people will be honest.

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Glass Houses. Looks like a Jeep prison you're running with the rules you have applied on the cache.

 

Now v-hunter, what would influence you to investigate the OP's profile, and see that he owns a Jeep Prison? :rolleyes:

 

That is a bonafide prison though, and the cache was muggled a couple of times, and several imprisoned jeeps lost. I wonder how it has been "stocked" in the past, jeep hoarding perhaps? :rolleyes:

 

OP's original post stated he had some jeeps and a jeep hotel, but he edited that out after myself and Harry Dolphin posted. I guess I was just curious. And it is a public profile.

 

Just another case of "pot meeting kettle" since the OP has had a yellow jeep in his possesion for almost 2yrs and 2 whites and a green for over a year.

Edited by v-hunter
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Glass Houses. Looks like a Jeep prison you're running with the rules you have applied on the cache.

 

Now v-hunter, what would influence you to investigate the OP's profile, and see that he owns a Jeep Prison? :D

 

That is a bonafide prison though, and the cache was muggled a couple of times, and several imprisoned jeeps lost. I wonder how it has been "stocked" in the past, jeep hoarding perhaps? <_<

 

OP's original post stated he had some jeeps and a jeep hotel, but he edited that out after myself and Harry Dolphin posted. I guess I was just curious. And it is a public profile.

 

Just another case of "pot meeting kettle" since the OP has had a yellow jeep in his possesion for almost 2yrs and 2 whites and a green for over a year.

 

Oh, that makes sense!! I mean it looked pretty weird that the guy just complains about TB hoarding, and the next poster goes through his profile, and finds one of his 25 or so hides is a Jeep prison. OK, I'll stop picking on the OP. Not that you can really be picked on by someone named The White Urkel. :P

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This thread seems to have gone way off topic for a bit, but it's the only one out there fits for my post.

 

Another geocacher took one of my geocoins out of a cache, and 10 months later hasn't moved it. I double checked his profile, and he's been active- logging 2500+ caches and new caches every day. I checked his trackable webpage, and went through all the TBs and GCs he's found- he's holding onto 28 of other people's geocoins, jeep travel bugs, and unite for diabetes TBs. 28! When you consider that the average geocoin costs close to $8-10, he's basically 'stolen' about $250 bucks worth of merchandise for his personal collection. The part I find hard to believe is that he has the audacity to log them for his profile, as if he knows no one can do anything about it.

If he has logged 2500+ caches in 10 months and not moved your coin, you can safely assume he has no intention of doing so. Most likely he lost or misplaced the coin long ago. He will probably ignore your email since he is too obsessed with finding caches to have time for email.

 

Someday maybe your coin will be found under a car mat or behind a washing machine, and then it will get back into circulation.

 

Good luck.

Edited by UncleJimbo
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If he has logged 2500+ caches in 10 months and not moved your coin, you can safely assume he has no intention of doing so. Most likely he lost or misplaced the coin long ago. He will probably ignore your email since he is too obsessed with finding caches to have time for email.

 

Someday maybe your coin will be found under a car mat or behind a washing machine, and then it will get back into circulation.

 

Good luck.

 

I've contacted a few other cachers who are in the same boat as me with this TB horder, they've all had the same luck.

 

I'm not going to release any coins or TBs into the wild ever again, just keep them with me to bring to event caches. Not nearly as fun, but I'm tired of dishonest people taking advantage of the game.

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...I'm not going to release any coins or TBs into the wild ever again, just keep them with me to bring to event caches. Not nearly as fun, but I'm tired of dishonest people taking advantage of the game.

 

Yeah, I understand why you feel like that.

 

I'd really like Eartha or one of the other Mods to add their comments here - Is there anything that TPTB are able, or willing, to do in these cases, please?

 

MrsB <_<

Edited by The Blorenges
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I saw this one TB that I'd forgotten about in my car. When I found it on the floor, I thought, "Oh my! Someone may begin ranting about me in the forums!" I quickly went to the nearest cache site and got rid of the bug.

 

Something similar happened to me. A geocoin had fallen to the bottom of my caching bag. I found it about 2 months after I picked it up. I had not even logged it out of the cache it was in. I immediately "retrieved" it with a note stating what had happened. I was able to place it a couple of days later. But I felt really badly and was quite embarrassed about having it so long and especially with it still showing in the other cache.

 

I don't like keeping trackables very long either. However, it has happened. I don't want to leave a trackable in a cache that is not very active or either I haven't found a cache big enough for a trackable I may have. In those cases, I will usually log it in the cache and then retrieve it with a note stating why I didn't leave it so at least the owner knows I still have it. If it were my trackable, I would rather someone handle it that way than leave it in a rarely visited cache.

 

Also, I attend events when I can. Most of the events I attend are about 100 miles away. There are cachers there that I always swap travelers with so it gets the trackable moving with another cacher in another area.

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I'd really like Eartha or one of the other Mods to add their comments here - Is there anything that TPTB are able, or willing, to do in these cases, please?

 

MrsB <_<

 

Not a mod of course.

 

What exactly should they do? Doing anything to restrict their account, up to banning won't get the travelers back. In fact it might make the situation worse.

 

The only viable solution I know of is the local community. Find someone who knows this person and have them get the story.

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I'd really like Eartha or one of the other Mods to add their comments here - Is there anything that TPTB are able, or willing, to do in these cases, please?

 

MrsB <_<

 

Not a mod of course.

 

What exactly should they do? Doing anything to restrict their account, up to banning won't get the travelers back. In fact it might make the situation worse.

 

The only viable solution I know of is the local community. Find someone who knows this person and have them get the story.

 

In the case mentioned above (post #15 ) dmbfan73 stated, "I double checked his profile, and he's been active- logging 2500+ caches and new caches every day. I checked his trackable webpage, and went through all the TBs and GCs he's found- he's holding onto 28 of other people's geocoins, jeep travel bugs, and unite for diabetes TBs. 28!"

This suggests to me that the offender is a very active cacher, probably well known in his local area - It looks like numbers are important to this guy. I was considering what his reaction would be to receive some sort of official warning from GS along the lines of "We have received complaints about your actions regarding blah blah blah trackables which have been held for blah blah time against the wishes of the owners. We politely request that these items are released back into the game by blah date. Failure to comply with the request will mean that your account will be suspended. "

Yes - I know that he can simply go off and start a new account - but isn't it possible that that this would be enough to make him "re-think" his game play and get those trackables back in action?

 

MrsB :P

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Yes - I know that he can simply go off and start a new account - but isn't it possible that that this would be enough to make him "re-think" his game play and get those trackables back in action?

 

MrsB :rolleyes:

 

Possible? Yes. Likely? Not enough that I would recommend this as the first course of action.

 

Local community peer pressure, in my opinion would have a much better effect. It wouldn't be coming from some distant corporate entity but rather from people they likely interact with while caching.

 

Now of course some people will accuse me of being a cache cop.

 

I don't care. If you walk around taking mine or my friend's coins and bugs I can ask you about it. And as long as I'm not harassing you I can point out your actions to others.

 

Edit: Of course pointing out action of other cachers, by name, here in the forums in not allowed. This is not the local community.

Edited by BlueDeuce
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Yes - I know that he can simply go off and start a new account - but isn't it possible that that this would be enough to make him "re-think" his game play and get those trackables back in action?

 

MrsB :rolleyes:

 

Possible? Yes. Likely? Not enough that I would recommend this as the first course of action.

 

Local community peer pressure, in my opinion would have a much better effect. It wouldn't be coming from some distant corporate entity but rather from people they likely interact with while caching.

 

Now of course some people will accuse me of being a cache cop.

 

I don't care. If you walk around taking mine or my friend's coins and bugs I can ask you about it. And as long as I'm not harassing you I can point out your actions to others.

 

Edit: Of course pointing out action of other cachers, by name, here in the forums in not allowed. This is not the local community.

 

I really just wish they would show which TBs you have in your possession (and when you retrived it) publically on your profile so that your 'local community' can see if you're hording TBs.... then they can pressure you to release them. Let's be honest, it takes a lot of research to see what TBs a cacher has in his/her possession so it's easy to hide the fact that you're hording bugs. If you make the info public, anytime someone clicks on your profile after you've found one of their caches, you can see right away if you're the type of person that hordes bugs. It's simple, should be easy for TPTB to set up (since it's on everyone's 'my account page' already) and hopefully will shame people into doing the right thing.

 

Or just not log them and steal them anyways. Which is why I stand by my original position- I'm just going to keep my coins for event caches from now on.

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Yes - I know that he can simply go off and start a new account - but isn't it possible that that this would be enough to make him "re-think" his game play and get those trackables back in action?

 

MrsB :rolleyes:

 

Possible? Yes. Likely? Not enough that I would recommend this as the first course of action.

Neither would I: The first course of action would always be "polite email" ( x 2, in my Action Plan, the first when the TB's been static for a couple of months, then the second about a month later. :rolleyes: ) However, in dmbfan's case, this hasn't worked.

 

Local community peer pressure, in my opinion would have a much better effect. It wouldn't be coming from some distant corporate entity but rather from people they likely interact with while caching. I would like to think to think this too. But I can see there might be problems for a cacher from another country trying to get the Hoarder's buddies to tackle him about such a matter. :sunsure:

 

Now of course some people will accuse me of being a cache cop. No - I'd just call you a Caring Cacher. :blink:

 

I don't care. If you walk around taking mine or my friend's coins and bugs I can ask you about it. And as long as I'm not harassing you I can point out your actions to others.

 

Edit: Of course pointing out action of other cachers, by name, here in the forums in not allowed. This is not the local community.Indeed... and I haven't bothered to investigate dmbfan's list of trackables to see which one he's referring to, and who the Hoarder is.

 

I would still like to read GS's stance on such a blatant case of "not playing the game according to the generally accepted guidelines"

 

MrsB :blink:

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Neither would I: The first course of action would always be "polite email" ( x 2, in my Action Plan, the first when the TB's been static for a couple of months, then the second about a month later. :rolleyes: ) However, in dmbfan's case, this hasn't worked.

 

True, but there isn't any good final solution. It's all about a careful and considered approach

 

...I can see there might be problems for a cacher from another country trying to get the Hoarder's buddies to tackle him about such a matter.

 

It's even a concern for local cachers When you 'call somebody out' you have to be willing to take the heat to make such an attempt.

 

I would still like to read GS's stance on such a blatant case of "not playing the game according to the generally accepted guidelines"

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I like to watch TB's I log. After a log or two, I remove them from my watch listing. One I moved a while back was picked up by someone in October 2007, and hasn't been logged since then. Looking through this person's profile, there are maybe five TB's he has kept for an extended period. He's very active, and looks like he lives in Iowa.

 

They own one TB, and if I ever get that one, I'm hanging on to it until they put these TB's back out! Of course, this isn't too likely to happen, since their one TB is a full-size PRIUS! :rolleyes:

Edited by KD5XB
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Yep, I think that would be great! Not only to let other people know what somebody has been holding on to, but as a reminder to the cacher himself to get that stuff off his profile!

The cache site already alerts you if you have been holding a trackable for more than two weeks. Maybe a nag o gram email reminder could be put in place. Once a week to start, then daily after a period of time, then hourly after a longer period of time... :sad:

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Yep, I think that would be great! Not only to let other people know what somebody has been holding on to, but as a reminder to the cacher himself to get that stuff off his profile!

The cache site already alerts you if you have been holding a trackable for more than two weeks. Maybe a nag o gram email reminder could be put in place. Once a week to start, then daily after a period of time, then hourly after a longer period of time... :unsure:

 

Yes but you're the only person who sees it. I'm not talking about on the "My Account" page, I mean the list of TBs you have in your possession should appear on your public profile (the page with your email address, picture, etc...) so that other cachers can quickly look and see how many TBs you're hording, I'm mean, holding onto and if you've been moving them or not.

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We try to stay away from becoming the TB/cache police. You don't ever know what is happening in someone's life. If you want to check on a TB, you look at the TB page. Or the cache page, or the person's profile. The bugs are already listed there. But if you are planning to be aggressive about it, that's not a good idea. The only TBs you should really be contacting anyone about, to check on their whereabouts, are your own.

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Well if any of the horders out there decide they want to release them, I have not placed my first cache yet. I would love to have people send me some random trackables and I will place them in a brand new location here in grants pass, OR thepaintballministry@yahoo.com

 

NOTE: Trackables should not be mailed or sent somewhere without the owner's permission. (But I doubt the hoarders are the type to send them anywhere)

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We try to stay away from becoming the TB/cache police. You don't ever know what is happening in someone's life. If you want to check on a TB, you look at the TB page. Or the cache page, or the person's profile. The bugs are already listed there. But if you are planning to be aggressive about it, that's not a good idea. The only TBs you should really be contacting anyone about, to check on their whereabouts, are your own.

 

So if someone takes my geocoin and won't even acknowledge my one or two emails to please move it along after 10 months, do I have any other recourse? Or is that, that? I think all cachers are frustrated when they invest in a trackable and someone decides to make it part of their personal collection.... especially when their collection is made up of 27 other cacher's coins.

 

Is Groundspeak's position on TB hording that it has no position? That it's only a private matter? Would they consider taking any kind of action to discourage TB hording?

 

I'm not trying to start a witch hunt. I don't have the time or energy to hound other cachers about TBs. I barely have the time to keep up with my two that aren't missing.

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It's a shame when a system based on trust breaks down.

 

But basically GC.com is a listing site, and it appears to be listing the location of these trackables quite accurately.

 

Everyone who has a significant number of trackables out travelling will have had experience of things being lost or stolen - all you're complaining about is that you know the account name of the person who appears to be hanging on to your trackable unreasonably, and that you suspect that this is a pattern of behaviour rather than an accident.

 

IMO there's nothing that GC.com should do apart from allow you to get in touch with the suspect by e-mail. If he/she refuses to respond then that's the unfortunate end of the matter. It might not be satisfactory, but it's the only way that it can work.

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We try to stay away from becoming the TB/cache police. You don't ever know what is happening in someone's life. If you want to check on a TB, you look at the TB page. Or the cache page, or the person's profile. The bugs are already listed there. But if you are planning to be aggressive about it, that's not a good idea. The only TBs you should really be contacting anyone about, to check on their whereabouts, are your own.

 

So if someone takes my geocoin and won't even acknowledge my one or two emails to please move it along after 10 months, do I have any other recourse? Or is that, that? I think all cachers are frustrated when they invest in a trackable and someone decides to make it part of their personal collection.... especially when their collection is made up of 27 other cacher's coins.

 

Is Groundspeak's position on TB hording that it has no position? That it's only a private matter? Would they consider taking any kind of action to discourage TB hording?

 

I'm not trying to start a witch hunt. I don't have the time or energy to hound other cachers about TBs. I barely have the time to keep up with my two that aren't missing.

 

First you have to understand that a lot of the "hoarders" are simply people who don't know how to log a bug.

We also have to understand that they may be moving without being logged. Many don't even know the forums exist, so they have no idea how much angst there is over this. It's also possible they are not getting your emails, or if your emails are anything but polite they might ignore you for that reason.

There isn't much anyone can do, or it would have been done years ago. Have you read the pinned threads up top?

I am a Volunteer Forum Moderator, and my only other ability, beside the forums, is to be able to mark trackables missing. I am not about to spend my free time looking up missing bugs and sending emails to thousands of people. I don't have that kind of time. All we can do, and I've been saying this for a while, is teach newbies EVERYTHING there is to learn about caching at the start. Most bugs that are missing are not being hoarded, they are just not being logged. If we taught people from the get go how to log, we'd have a lot less missing bugs, and maybe then, we could sort through who is actually hoarding them. But no, I am not the TB police, and I'm not going to become the TB police. I strongly recommend you read the pinned threads up at the top of this forum.

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I understand all that you said Eartha, however the TB horder in question is not new to the game. He's logged and moved on 100s of TBs... he just keeps geocoins. He's logged 2500+ caches. I agree we need to teach new cachers how to log TBs, and if was the case that a new guy found my coin and didn't move it along, I would never be here writing on this forum, shown by the fact that my other 7 TBs that are missing never motivated me to come here.

 

I know you're only a volunteer, not TB police.

 

I just wish Groundspeak would try harder to help protect people's TBs- I've listed a suggestion and so have others.

 

The end result from this is that less people will release TBs and coins in the wild, and less people will purchase TBs from Groundspeak. I personally won't buy a TB again, not because I'm trying to make a point or be rude, just because the $6 investment isn't worth it anymore. It's a shame that it's come that far and that when someone tries to offer a solution other cachers automatically think you're on a witchhunt. Owning trackables isn't fun for me anymore so I won't do it.

 

So I'm over it. My coin is gone. I get it. I'm not going to email that guy anymore (which was never nothing but polite), and I'm not going to buy anymore TBs or release any coins.

 

I will, however, be respectful of other people's TBs and coins and move them along.

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thousands of people. I don't have that kind of time. All we can do, and I've been saying this for a while, is teach newbies EVERYTHING there is to learn about caching at the start. Most bugs that are missing are not being hoarded, they are just not being logged. If we taught people from the get go how to log, we'd have a lot less missing bugs, and maybe then, we could sort through who is actually hoarding them. But no, I am not the TB police, and I'm not going to become the TB police. I strongly recommend you read the pinned threads up at the top of this forum.

 

You know I am a newbie, I am yet to even go to my first cache (sunday I hope), but I already know a huge amount of the do's and don'ts of geocaching after just a day or two of reading a few sites, mostly this one. I dont really understand how someone could use the site, be able to log their finds and caches and yet not understand or at least have to initiative to work out how to log a tb in and out.

 

I think it just comes down to the fact some people are jerks, and keep them out of selfishness. A few keep them due to other circumstances, but someone who has 20 and is logging caches a lot is not playing the game.

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