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A plea to tidy up cache listings...


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Over the last few months we've come across quite a few caches where trackables are listed on the cache page, but there's no sign of them in the cache.

 

I don't mean the occasional TB/geocoin that has been picked up just the day before and the cachers hasn't had a chance to log the retrieve on line - I mean trackables that have (supposedly) been in the cache for weeks... or months ... but they're not there. The preceeding logs have comments like "Didn't see Suchandsuch geocoin in the cache" or "no sign of TubbyTed TB" or whatever.

 

A lot of cache owners don't seem to realise that if there's a trackable showing on their cache page and they know its not there, and it hasn't been in there for ages, then they can remove it from the cache listing.

 

You don't have to wait for the owner of the trackable item to do something about it. ;)

 

Just go to your cache page, click on the "trackable ghost", on the right side of the page click on "Mark Item missing">GO, then confirm it on the next page. It doesn't permanently kill the trackable - it just gets it off your cache page. If it re-appears somewhere at a later date the finder will be able to bring it back into play by using the tracking number.

 

MrsB ;)

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If you do do this, then please put a note on the trackable page to say you have marked it missing.

The owner of the trackable does not get an email if you mark it missing and it is only if and when they look at the trackable that they finally find out it is missing.

 

This has happened to me a few times and it is really annoying that the cache owner hasn't bothered to inform me. ;)

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If a coin goes missing from one of my caches, (usually because its been muggled!) I always email the owner to let them know that their item has been taken from one of my caches and apologise. I feel so guilty. I know its a risk they take when releasing them, and all that, but it is happening more frequently lately. :anicute:

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Just a quick bump for this, so I can keep spreading the word :P

 

If a coin goes missing from one of my caches, (usually because its been muggled!) I always email the owner to let them know that their item has been taken from one of my caches and apologise. I feel so guilty...

 

Yes, I know what you mean. :yikes: It's always sad to send that email that starts off "I'm sorry to have to tell you this but ... "

 

MrsB

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It's certainly worth sorting out the ghosts, but it's also surprising how long some people take to log bugs and coins, especially this time of year when they are on holiday, get home and take an age to sort out their logs. So I don't tend to be too hasty in declaring a bug MIA, and then it depends on how busy the cache is whether lots of people notice that it isn't there. :yikes:

On the scale of annoyingness visiting a cache and not finding an advertised bug or coin is fairly low for me, nice to find but I don't usually go specifically to find one. :P

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Funny how semantics can throw one one. After reading this thread I wanted to move a bug of mine out of one of my caches (the bug was given to a friend who has not logged it - the GC bug has obviously not bitten him hard enough). So I search all over the bug listing page to "move the bug to an unknown location" - in the end it transpires that I need to edit the distance travelled and mark the bug as missing. What is probably obvious to someone who has done it before, took a while for me to work out.

 

I expected to find under "log type" and entry "move to an unknown location"

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Just a quick bump for this, so I can keep spreading the word :laughing:

 

If a coin goes missing from one of my caches, (usually because its been muggled!) I always email the owner to let them know that their item has been taken from one of my caches and apologise. I feel so guilty...

 

Yes, I know what you mean. :laughing: It's always sad to send that email that starts off "I'm sorry to have to tell you this but ... "

 

MrsB

 

We emailed the owner of a T.B. that had gone missing from an unmuggled cache we own .

The owner was nice about it and apreciated us checking on his T.B.

He then removed the T.B. from our cache inventry .

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What should owners of trackables do if their TB/geocoin has gone missing?

Our Liverpool 08 coin has been listed on an inventory for ages in a well visited cache - guess it's gone though :)

 

Go to your geocoin's page: On the right there's the little drop-down box "Recalculate distance" > Select "Mark Item Missing" then press GO > Confirm this near the top, when the page refreshes.

 

Job done :)

 

This will remove your coin from whichever cache page it's currently on, and moves it to an "unknown location".

 

If your coin re-appears somewhere, maybe in a completely different cache, whoever picks it up can bring the coin back from limbo by using the tracking number on the coin.

 

MrsB ;)

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I went back to visit my very first cache find last weekend as I was in that area - there was a Pooh Bear trackable listed there on my first visit that had vanished - and its still listed as being there nearly 3 years later! It looks like the cache setter is no longer actively caching - but it's a very good hide in the middle of a forest so I suspect the cache will last for quite some time to come!

 

I try to keep my caches up to date - from time to time I check my local ones that have TBs listed and act on reports of TBs not being there.

 

I've also had one person who hasn't cached outside the US "place" two trackables in a micro that couldn't have possibly taken them.

Edited by Eclectic Penguin
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I went back to visit my very first cache find last weekend as I was in that area - there was a Pooh Bear trackable listed there on my first visit that had vanished - and its still listed as being there nearly 3 years later! It looks like the cache setter is no longer actively caching - but it's a very good hide in the middle of a forest so I suspect the cache will last for quite some time to come!

 

I try to keep my caches up to date - from time to time I check my local ones that have TBs listed and act on reports of TBs not being there.

 

I've also had one person who hasn't cached outside the US "place" two trackables in a micro that couldn't have possibly taken them.

 

Email the TB owner or let me have the GC No of the cache and I'll move the TB into Unknown Location

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It's Spring Cleaning time again, folks :laughing:

 

The recent topic regarding trackable items sometimes not being in caches where they are listed prompted me to bump this pet topic of my own.

 

If you own a cache and there are trackables listed on your cache page that you are certain are NOT in your cache any more then you, as the cache owner, can remove them from your cache page, to keep the details correct.

 

For further details on how to do this, please see the OP of this topic.

 

Keep those cache listings polished! ;)

 

MrsB :unsure:

Edited by The Blorenges
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The other topic about Missing Trackables prompted me to bump this "pet topic" of mine:

 

It's time for the cache listings Spring Clean, folks!

 

If you're a cache owner and you know there are trackables listed on your cache page inventory that are not actually in the cache (and have not been in it for months) then please mark them as missing. You can do this by going to the trackable's home page, on the right side, under "Trackable Items Options". Select "Mark Item Missing", click Go, then confirm the missing status at the top of the next page.

Doing this does not 'kill off' the trackable item for ever - It simply removes it from your cache page inventory. If it is later found elsewhere it can be brought back into the game by using its tracking number.

 

If you're a cacher who visits a cache and discovers that there are trackables listed in the inventory and they are not in the cache it's really helpful if you mention (by name) which ones were not seen when you log the cache online. It's extra helpful if you have the time to post a note on the trackable's home page to let the owner know that you didn't see it.

 

As the owner of quite a few trackables, I'd like to thank all those who already know this information and take the time to try and keep their cache listings accurate.

 

icon_thumbup.gif

 

MrsB :laughing:

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Forgive my ignorance- I have 5tbs missing in action, and logged as such- IF any of them ever re-appear, how do they get re-activated? (Optimistic post...) :wub:

whoever finds them can just log them as "grabbed" (or maybe even "retrieve") and then move them on in the usual manner.

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