Changing ratings or cache type

[+GPS & DJS]

When the topic of changing a cache rating comes up, it seems to meet with disproval since it would change the stats of people who have found it. I've seen this come up even when someone is talking about increasing a rating. I can understand how decreasing a rating might upset someone who is into maintaining a high terrain/difficutly average, but why is it considered bad to increase a rating? Thanks.

[+TrailGators]

When the topic of changing a cache rating comes up, it seems to meet with disproval since it would change the stats of people who have found it. I've seen this come up even when someone is talking about increasing a rating. I can understand how decreasing a rating might upset someone who is into maintaining a high terrain/difficutly average, but why is it considered bad to increase a rating? Thanks.

I can't think of anything, but someone probably will. Just rate the cache to reflect what it should be. I can understand people making adjustments once they get a better feel for what the rating should be.

[+wapahani]

If the area around the cache has changed enough to change the level, then change it. If the cache isn't as hidden as it use to be, and you feel it needs changed, change it.

The rating is for the cache as it stands at the current time.

[Keystone]

People working on a challenge cache to find one cache for each of the possible 81 difficulty/terrain combinations might be upset if the hider changed the rare 5/4.5 rating to the more common 5/5 rating.

 

Adjustments based on feedback from early finders are fairly common. But changing the rating two years after the cache is hidden is different, absent some sort of change in the local conditions at the cache site.

[+GPS & DJS]

That's answer makes sense, Keystone. My cache hides are pretty mundane and wouldn't impact someone like that.

[+briansnat]

Many times it's not easy to determine the difficulty of your cache. Oftentimes I've hidden a cache that I expected to be easy that people had a hard time with. It's also happened the other way. When that happens I always adjust the rating.

 

I'll also take input from my fellow geocachers regarding my terrain ratings. If enough tell me I'm wrong, then I adjust it.

 

Looking for a cache that is rated wrong for difficulty can be frustrating. Taking on a cache that is rated wrong for terrain can be dangerous. I think the key is to get your ratings right, even if it's 2 years later.

 

I wouldn't worry about people working on challenge caches. Changing a rating may cause problems for them, but they are an extremely small subset of the geocaching population. It's more important to get it right for the rest of us.

 

Change a rating and a few challenge hunters may have to look for another cache. Rate it wrong and you might send a family with young children somewhere that they shouldn't venture.

[Clan Riffster]

I am ratings challenged.

I use the D/T rating calculator religiously, then make minor adjustments when the end result just doesn't look right. Even with this process, it's fairly common for more experienced cachers to suggest I bump mine up a bit. Prior to my hearing about challenge caches, I would have no qualms about bumping them which ever way folks suggested, in an attempt to reach an accurate assessment. Now, I would only change the D/T fairly early in a cache's lifespan.

[+Konnarock Kid & Marge]

Many times it's not easy to determine the difficulty of your cache. Oftentimes I've hidden a cache that I expected to be easy that people had a hard time with. It's also happened the other way. When that happens I always adjust the rating.

 

I'll also take input from my fellow geocachers regarding my terrain ratings. If enough tell me I'm wrong, then I adjust it.

 

Looking for a cache that is rated wrong for difficulty can be frustrating. Taking on a cache that is rated wrong for terrain can be dangerous. I think the key is to get your ratings right, even if it's 2 years later.

 

I wouldn't worry about people working on challenge caches. Changing a rating may cause problems for them, but they are an extremely small subset of the geocaching population. It's more important to get it right for the rest of us.

 

Change a rating and a few challenge hunters may have to look for another cache. Rate it wrong and you might send a family with young children somewhere that they shouldn't venture.

 

Very well said. I especially agree with this statement.

"I wouldn't worry about people working on challenge caches. Changing a rating may cause problems for them, but they are an extremely small subset of the geocaching population. It's more important to get it right for the rest of us."

We have all made mistakes in initial ratings or after input from veteran cachers need to make adjustments. I like challenges too but filling in that matrix isn't as important as looking for a cache with 'accurate' D/T ratings.

[+Castle Mischief]

I've done this on caches that I've adopted that I felt had the wrong size selected (lsited as micro, probably should have been small- couple of found logs mentioned this as well) or that I felt need the difficulty tweaked.

 

I've also done this with a micro that I "upgraded" to a small cache because I felt, on retrospect, that the area could support a container that could hold travel bugs and geocoins.

[+J-Way]

I wouldn't worry about how changing ratings affects challenge cache hunters unless one or both of the ratings is over 3.5 or so. There are bazillions of caches rated at various combinations of 3.0 and below, so what's one more or less? Various combinations of 4.5 and 5.0, however, are fairly rare.

 

But you should ALWAYS increase difficulty or (especially) terrain if the situation changes. As already stated, you don't want a family with a 2-year old going after a 2.0-terrain cache where the trail has been changed to a dangerous 4.0 because of a washed out trail.

[+Moose Mob]

If you changed the hide and the "feel" of the cache has changed, then you should archive and submit a new listing. An ammo can under a pile of rocks at a difficulty of 1.5 is replaced by a nano in a rose garden 10 feet away would be an example.

 

If you are doing a "correction", then by all means, just do it. Yes, folks trying for the well rounded cacher may be affected, but I would err on the side of accuracy.

[+slumbersix]

Recently we attempted to find two caches that were both either or below a two terrain.

 

Come to find out one is on an island in the middle of a pond/lake. The other is about 60 feet in one of the great lakes.

 

Cache hider stated that he rated them based on the terrain in the winter when you could walk on the ice. I mentioned in my logs that they should either be disabled(one of them actually has no trespassing signs near it during the summer) or have the difficulty changed during the summer months and he apparently disagreed with me on that point and posted a little note on one of the cache pages stating how he has it stated in the cache page that these are meant to be winter caches.

 

To each his own I'm saying on this one, though I'm still disappointed.

Edited July 16, 2008 by slumbersix

[Clan Riffster]

That's a tough call. The D/T rating generator advises that you always use the number which would accurately reflect the highest possible difficulty or terrain, in which case you would be right. If the cache is active during warmer seasons, then the D/T should reflect the fact that you can't simply walk a few feet and find them. However, the cache owner addresses this on the cache page, stating it should be hunted in winter, which would make the D/T rating reasonable.

 

That's a good question for a reviewer.

[+slumbersix]

That's why I said to each his own on the cache we attempted to find.

 

I guess the only real issue I had is that we had downloaded caches that had a specific terrain rating(which was quite a few caches) only to find it basically unavailable during the summer without a boat or swimming. We didn't read cache descriptions as we figured that the ratings should be proper.

 

Oh well...

Edited July 17, 2008 by slumbersix

[+hukilaulau]

I've changed a couple of ratings on my caches. One of my first ones i discovered the terrain was just too high. Another one became more difficult whn the water level in a pond rose. I changed it. Then when the water went down I changed it back.

I can think of several local caches where I was having trouble finding a cache, then rethought my search because I knew the hiders usually had accurate ratings and I was working way too hard. I was able to find the caches then because the ratings were much more accurate than the hint!