targeted by a thief part 2

[+alma]

following on from the travel bug thief topic .well we have one here in north yorks but they are taking caches.i recently did a couple in the middle of the north york moors .the only people who would know about these caches are cachers as there is no way a muggle could find these.

on one of them they took the cache and put a dead animal in its place and placd the stones back in place as they should have been.

the others one had been taken and on one a dirty nappy had been placed in the cache.

after reporting dnfs the owner got back to me and said after a maintainance check they think the animal had been deliberatly killed.

they are obviously very upset and are at the point of giving it up.

there point is why should they bother.

i have told them not to let these people win as these cachers have placed some great caches really devious and some great locations.

why do cachers have to resort to doing this type of thing.is this an isolated case or is it widespread.why do they have to spoil others enjoyment.

a few of us are a bit concerned for our caches as well

[+reddeeps]

That is sick, why would someone do it

[+scottpa100]

You're not going to stop the people who have the perverse sense of 'humour' who do this. Its an open game that anyone can do. Anyone can sign up to it and that's the risk we take. Whilst I know there are plenty of easy caches that take people to lovely unique places within towns and cities, hearing this kind of story, strengthens the argument for high difficulty / high terrain caches. Never say never, but I'd like to think that the kind of individual who may do this kind of act wouldn't actually be bothered about hiking to a remote reservoir, mountain summit or complete a multi-stage multi with questions.

Edited July 7, 2008 by scottpa100

[+currykev]

Would these idiots pay $30 a year for the privilege?

I now only publish caches for Premium Members.

Not ideal but less chance of being found by thieving gits!

[+The Strangler]

just read this thread with interest. I have been caching since march and have noticed the odd cache going missing. i keep a lot on my watchlist after I have found them and some seem to just disapear for no apparent reason other than just mindless vandalism. there is one near me, a travel bug hotel, that could not, in my opinion, have been taken than anyone other than a cacher or a Lurker Cacher. The actual cache was so well hidden it could not be seen unless you were really looking for it. i wonder if there are people that log on to GC, create a member account and just go out of their way to spoil the enjoyment of others or am I just a little paranoid?

[The Red Kite]

just read this thread with interest. I have been caching since march and have noticed the odd cache going missing. i keep a lot on my watchlist after I have found them and some seem to just disapear for no apparent reason other than just mindless vandalism. there is one near me, a travel bug hotel, that could not, in my opinion, have been taken than anyone other than a cacher or a Lurker Cacher. The actual cache was so well hidden it could not be seen unless you were really looking for it. i wonder if there are people that log on to GC, create a member account and just go out of their way to spoil the enjoyment of others or am I just a little paranoid?

 

I have a travel bug hotel ..sorry I HAD a travel bug hotel .. in an ammo box, so well hidden even cachers couldn't always find it.. It has been stolen, complete with my resident Red Kite and a couple of TBs. I have now archived it because it maintenance involved cycling three miles uphill. Only a cacher could have known where to find it. Several of my other local caches have been stolen as well although they could have been discovered by accident.

 

I have now removed the hints from all my cache pages and any placing I do in future will be for premium members only.

 

(Most likely puzzles with kazillions of clues to be found so that anyone intending to nick it will be fed up before they are halfway to solving it )

 

Its very sad that individuals feel it necessary to spoil things for others.

[+Pieman]

There are bound to be a few disturbed people involved in caching who would do this sort of thing by the law of averages; however, I think this should be kept in perspective. There are 30,000 caches in the UK and I doubt whether 0.1% of those will ever be deliberately stolen by a cacher. The chance of being stolen/ destroyed by a non-cacher has got to be way higher.

[paganfrog]

Would these idiots pay $30 a year for the privilege?

I now only publish caches for Premium Members.

Not ideal but less chance of being found by thieving gits!

 

that attitude saddens me. not everyone can afford to pay for premium membership, not everyone will want to as they may not have any access to members only caches, and not all the thieves are the "freebie" members.

 

and basically this just smacks of elitism to me.

[+keehotee]

Would these idiots pay $30 a year for the privilege?

I now only publish caches for Premium Members.

Not ideal but less chance of being found by thieving gits!

 

that attitude saddens me. not everyone can afford to pay for premium membership, not everyone will want to as they may not have any access to members only caches, and not all the thieves are the "freebie" members.

 

and basically this just smacks of elitism to me.

 

Sorry

 

Not everybody can afford petrol, or a GPS, or to take time off work - but I'm not going to make all my caches walkable from the nearest bus stop, or close to a waypoint visible from Google Earth, or published at 8am on a saturday morning.

The fact that you can play this game for free does not mean that the people who pay to play are elitist in any way, or even owe you any sort of consideration when publishing a cache!

[+scottpa100]

 

and basically this just smacks of elitism to me.

 

This could go off topic, but let's get this into perspective. Elitism?! $30 is about £17. £1.42 thereabouts per month. By my reckoning, that's the price of 4 pints of milk or one and a half loaves of bread. Or about half a beer or a quarter of packet of cigarettes or an eighth of a Sky subscription. You just have to decide what your priorities are. For example, I don't have Sky. I'm too busy outside caching!

[+Primitive Person]

Yes, this stuff is unfortunate - but it's also extremely rare. I think discussing it at great length here makes it look like it's a bigger problem than it is. For every cacher who's had something nicked, I suspect there's dozens, possibly even hundreds, who haven't, and we're all taking risks in leaving stuff unattended outdoors. If you're not willing to take the risks, don't play the game. Simple.

 

Lee

[+kennamatic]

I also suspect it's a "local" problem. Most of us will not have a problem other than the odd muggled cache, but if one of these miscreants, for want of a better expression, is in your area, there is likely to be a large number of disappearances which thus has a bigger impact.