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Useless Hints


M3J

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We've found one of the five humans on the planet that don't know the movie "Rocky" :D

 

Make that six! I know of the movie, but refuse to watch a steroidal excuse for a human being strut his stuff for a few million dollars a pop. Sincerely, I have better things to do with my time than watch the latest blockbuster movie that makes no sense. :P

 

Wait... how do you know you are not one of the five? Add me to the list, and that makes three of us right here right now who don't "know" the movie. (I didn't bother seeing it when I was in high school, or anytime since.)

 

I agree that a hint referring to a movie that most people under 40 probably didn't see is a bit of a stretch.

 

Add me to that list too. I have not seen Rocky either. I know what the movie is about but would never be able to figure out a clue that refered to it.

AND I am over 40... not by much, but over 40 nonetheless.... :D

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FWIW, when I am reviewing a new listing and I see some of the "Non-Hints" I do post the following Reviewer Note, but then I publish the cache anyway. Bad hints aren't enough to hold up a new cache.

 

Hello fellow geocacher. I'm one of the volunteer reviewers for Ontario.

 

Please leave the 'hint' area blank if you do not wish to give one. Players decode the hint in the field when they need additional help and they expect that the text provided will assist them. If you really must say something in that area that tells people there is no hint then please enclose the text in square brackets (found to the right of your "p" key)

 

It's about all I can do. Hopefully some people do make some kind of update.

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FWIW, when I am reviewing a new listing and I see some of the "Non-Hints" I do post the following Reviewer Note, but then I publish the cache anyway. Bad hints aren't enough to hold up a new cache.

 

Hello fellow geocacher. I'm one of the volunteer reviewers for Ontario.

 

Please leave the 'hint' area blank if you do not wish to give one. Players decode the hint in the field when they need additional help and they expect that the text provided will assist them. If you really must say something in that area that tells people there is no hint then please enclose the text in square brackets (found to the right of your "p" key)

 

It's about all I can do. Hopefully some people do make some kind of update.

 

Good call CD. It would be nice if you could ask them to remove it before you publish it but I understand that's not really within your guidelines.

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OK, found another good one this weekend across the border. I was caching over in Buffalo and went to a cache that had something to do with a BEE. I could not find the cache at all on the back side of the building where the GPS continually zeroed out. I consulted the hint and it said something like:

 

"No need for a hint, by now you have been busy doing all the others in the series and know what to look for"

 

So what if you're like I was and this was the first one you did?

 

I did another in the series later on and found what the BEE was and where the hides were. I went back to the first place and found the appropriate spot...in front of the building....about 20M from ground zero.

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OK, found another good one this weekend across the border. I was caching over in Buffalo and went to a cache that had something to do with a BEE. I could not find the cache at all on the back side of the building where the GPS continually zeroed out. I consulted the hint and it said something like:

 

"No need for a hint, by now you have been busy doing all the others in the series and know what to look for"

 

So what if you're like I was and this was the first one you did?

 

I did another in the series later on and found what the BEE was and where the hides were. I went back to the first place and found the appropriate spot...in front of the building....about 20M from ground zero.

 

Apart from the fact that the rumour goes that the "Bee" caches lack accurate GPS coordinates with undermutterings of Google Earth (sic) , yes I would agree that the CO shouldn't assume that you've done others previous to your current attempt.

 

Ahhh the Bee caches... I've heard so many comments, none worth repeating :)

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"No need for a hint, by now you have been busy doing all the others in the series and know what to look for"

 

So what if you're like I was and this was the first one you did?

 

 

Please, somebody kick me in the head if I ever decide to do a Bee cache. :D

 

There are 5,000 or more happy find logs on these things, they must be great!

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FWIW, when I am reviewing a new listing and I see some of the "Non-Hints" I do post the following Reviewer Note, but then I publish the cache anyway. Bad hints aren't enough to hold up a new cache.

 

Hello fellow geocacher. I'm one of the volunteer reviewers for Ontario.

 

Please leave the 'hint' area blank if you do not wish to give one. Players decode the hint in the field when they need additional help and they expect that the text provided will assist them. If you really must say something in that area that tells people there is no hint then please enclose the text in square brackets (found to the right of your "p" key)

 

It's about all I can do. Hopefully some people do make some kind of update.

 

Fine work, CD. I just wish this "reviewer suggestion" was universal. I was just looking for a cache Sunday (which I didn't find) that was not published by you. The cache is only a couple of months old, and it's hint field decrypts to "none at this time". :D

 

I'd think that hardly anyone who receives that note from a reviewer would leave an ABAR hint in the hint field. But you'd know better than me. By the way, ABAR decrypts to "none". I've seen it so many times, I've memorized it. :blink:

Edited by TheWhiteUrkel
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I personally don't mind the hints such as "in the rocks", "stumped?", "pine tree", or even "predator". Sure, there might be five "pine trees", but at least I know it's not the other types of trees, or rocks, or park benches.

 

I'd prefer a one word hint that merely narrows the search down over a detailed description.

 

I also can understand a hint such as "not at this time" on a new cache - to me the FTF should be able to find it sans hint.

 

I'm not a big fan of hints that are useless once you are at the cache such as "park in the parking lot", "don't forget your pen", or "bring mosquito repellant".

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Just returned from a trip to Michigan where the following were a couple of hints that I saw.

 

"Easy find - you provide your own hint." - didn't need the hint but wanted to see what it was

 

"Think dog" - GPSr bouncing all over the place in a wooded area with a lot of fallen trees and hiding places and cache was in hollow birch bark on the ground.

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Out on the weekend...two more goodies...

 

"Good luck! No hint needed just beware of the muggles! This is NOT located within the yellow taped off construction area."

 

and

 

"re dho tchi llip epp ers. lo okl ow" decypher that and you realize it has to do with a Red Hot Chilli Peppers song...being that I walked over a bridge to get there, I figured the song "Under the Bridge"...good guess, but it was 10M west of the bridge. A) 90% of cachers likely would have no clue about the song reference and :ph34r: it didn't matter anyway

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Out on the weekend...two more goodies...

 

"Good luck! No hint needed just beware of the muggles! This is NOT located within the yellow taped off construction area."

 

and

 

"re dho tchi llip epp ers. lo okl ow" decypher that and you realize it has to do with a Red Hot Chilli Peppers song...being that I walked over a bridge to get there, I figured the song "Under the Bridge"...good guess, but it was 10M west of the bridge. A) 90% of cachers likely would have no clue about the song reference and :D it didn't matter anyway

 

:unsure::P:D I remember that one. I didn't think it was that bad. Must be showing my age :laughing:

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One that *I* thought was useless: "post your log on top to Geocaching.com when you get home." However, when I read previous logs, people had made comments like "once I stopped using the GPSr and read the hint I found it", and "the clue really helped". Then I wondered what I was missing? I never did find the silly thing!

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One that *I* thought was useless: "post your log on top to Geocaching.com when you get home." However, when I read previous logs, people had made comments like "once I stopped using the GPSr and read the hint I found it", and "the clue really helped". Then I wondered what I was missing? I never did find the silly thing!

 

Any chance it was hidden on top of a log?

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One that *I* thought was useless: "post your log on top to Geocaching.com when you get home." However, when I read previous logs, people had made comments like "once I stopped using the GPSr and read the hint I found it", and "the clue really helped". Then I wondered what I was missing? I never did find the silly thing!

 

Any chance it was hidden on top of a log?

..or possibly the log was on top?

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"Just off the beaten path."

 

Wow that is an unusual place to put a cache. I was hoping to find it laying on the trail so this hint helps narrow the location down.

 

That was placed by a newbie so it can be overlooked. However it took me longer to find for some reason.

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Recently did a cache called Up and Over. The clue was" look up look way up". got a DNF on this one because the cachers before us found it on the ground and sent an e-mail to the CO saying "didn't know where the cache came from so hid it in some roots". Clue was useless or user was clueless?

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"Near the trail". What is "near"? To me, it's a metre or two -- NOT TEN METRES!!!

 

"Behind the tree". I have not found a tree yet that has markings indicating which part is the front!!!

 

And the winner is:

 

"Please rehide the cache as you found it".

 

This drives me crazy!!!! Absolutely the most useless thing you can possibly put for an encrypted hint.

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I was just getting choked about this the other day and wanted to tell the forum about it.

 

I get mad when it's a micro in a high muggle area and the cache owner says to watch out for muggles, then dosen't leave a hint. Pretty tough to find a micro without being obvious you're looking for something. And you look like a nutcase to everyone that walks by. If you're going to put a cache in a high muggle area don't make it hard! Those caches don't last too long in my experience.

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How about this one that I recently came across.

 

Cache description starts out with the following statement

 

"A tricky? cache in a large, well traveled urban park."

 

Encrypted hint "If it's supposed to be tricky, then a hint would spoil it!"

 

That helped a lot.

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What about "where would you hide it? Irritating when we've checked the spots where we would have hidden it, and come up with nada!!

And "in front of the washroom" - two entries to the washroom...turned out to be the second entry, after we had unsuccessfully checked out the first. Kinda typical for us, though!

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I hate when the hint tells you the the area the cache is by, Example:

 

"Time to make the Donuts" and the cache is a FILM CANISTER in a TREE behind a Duncan Donuts. My GPS has never been so far off I'm in the wrong parking lot!

 

Also I hate when the hint tells you about the cache container when it would be obvious if you saw it:

 

"A real smiley this time" and the cache was a bright yellow plastic happy face in a bush... Like I could have looked right at it and not known that was it.

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The hint told us where to park. Since it was a newbie cacher and a very nice one, I won't identify the cache.

 

Ugh - she did it again! Still, a nice lady, so no telling her that I wrote this!

 

If she is a newbie and is a nice lady maybe she would appreciate a helpful hint from you about how to do proper hints.

New cachers will not learn the correct way to do things if we don't help them when they are new. When they are not so new it will be harder to make suggestions and then they will already be set in their ways on how to do things. And worse yet! They will give their assistance to newbies and the wrong trend then continues!!!

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The hint told us where to park. Since it was a newbie cacher and a very nice one, I won't identify the cache.

 

Ugh - she did it again! Still, a nice lady, so no telling her that I wrote this!

 

If she is a newbie and is a nice lady maybe she would appreciate a helpful hint from you about how to do proper hints.

New cachers will not learn the correct way to do things if we don't help them when they are new. When they are not so new it will be harder to make suggestions and then they will already be set in their ways on how to do things. And worse yet! They will give their assistance to newbies and the wrong trend then continues!!!

 

We have thought about hinting at a better hint - we'll see. You are right, but I have also been thought of as pompous becuase of trying to help with stufff like this before.

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The hint told us where to park. Since it was a newbie cacher and a very nice one, I won't identify the cache.

 

Ugh - she did it again! Still, a nice lady, so no telling her that I wrote this!

 

If she is a newbie and is a nice lady maybe she would appreciate a helpful hint from you about how to do proper hints.

New cachers will not learn the correct way to do things if we don't help them when they are new. When they are not so new it will be harder to make suggestions and then they will already be set in their ways on how to do things. And worse yet! They will give their assistance to newbies and the wrong trend then continues!!!

 

We have thought about hinting at a better hint - we'll see. You are right, but I have also been thought of as pompous becuase of trying to help with stufff like this before.

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We have thought about hinting at a better hint - we'll see. You are right, but I have also been thought of as pompous becuase of trying to help with stufff like this before.

 

Sometimes the way advice is given can influence the reaction it gets... For example, advice on not putting useless hints could be badly received, while instructions on how to create a real "additional waypoint" for parking (so that people who download the GPX get the coordinates in their GPS) could be seen as nice :P

 

And once she knows how to do the neat additional waypoint, she will most probably not see the need to type the same info in the hint field :ph34r:

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We have thought about hinting at a better hint - we'll see. You are right, but I have also been thought of as pompous becuase of trying to help with stufff like this before.

 

Sometimes the way advice is given can influence the reaction it gets... For example, advice on not putting useless hints could be badly received, while instructions on how to create a real "additional waypoint" for parking (so that people who download the GPX get the coordinates in their GPS) could be seen as nice :lol:

 

And once she knows how to do the neat additional waypoint, she will most probably not see the need to type the same info in the hint field :)

 

On that note, I've been known to suggest that too....

 

Did you know that now you can also add parking areas and other important locations as visible additional waypoints instead of part of the description area? This allows other players to easily transfer these points to their GPS from Pocket Queries instead of entering them manually and it also removes extra clutter from the listing. An example can be seen at http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC1981H and more info can be found in the Knowledgebase http://support.Groundspeak.com/Support/ind...325&nav=0,5. as well as on my profile page.

 

You can enhance your listing at any time with visible additional waypoints for parking locations, reference points and trailhead locations. The WAYPOINTS feature can be found on your listing in the NAVIGATION area

 

And as most people know, I'm already willing to be thought of as pompous :ph34r:because I often am

 

:P CD

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Today's gem:

 

"Your too smart for a clue"

 

According to previous logs, the cache was very obvious and easy. I perceived it to be missing, but with useless hint, I couldn't even verify this for the owner. Not to mention, it should have been spelled "You're".

Edited by ElectroQTed
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Today I found a cache that had the following hint:

 

"It sticks to the roof of your mouth".

 

Well I guessed that refers to peanut butter but it had nothing to do with where the cache was hidden (under a bale of straw) and provided no assistance in finding the location. I figured it was what the container was, of course. Then when I did find the cache it was not even a peanut butter jar.

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Today I found a cache that had the following hint:

 

"It sticks to the roof of your mouth".

 

Well I guessed that refers to peanut butter but it had nothing to do with where the cache was hidden (under a bale of straw) and provided no assistance in finding the location. I figured it was what the container was, of course. Then when I did find the cache it was not even a peanut butter jar.

 

Straw sticks to the roof of your mouth when it's wet and mouldy :P

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Today I found a cache that had the following hint:

 

"It sticks to the roof of your mouth".

 

Well I guessed that refers to peanut butter but it had nothing to do with where the cache was hidden (under a bale of straw) and provided no assistance in finding the location. I figured it was what the container was, of course. Then when I did find the cache it was not even a peanut butter jar.

 

Straw sticks to the roof of your mouth when it's wet and mouldy :blink:

 

Well... it was wet and moldy but I did not test it to see if it would stick. Besides that... straw is not for eatting!

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Today I found a cache that had the following hint:

 

"It sticks to the roof of your mouth".

 

Well I guessed that refers to peanut butter but it had nothing to do with where the cache was hidden (under a bale of straw) and provided no assistance in finding the location. I figured it was what the container was, of course. Then when I did find the cache it was not even a peanut butter jar.

 

Straw sticks to the roof of your mouth when it's wet and mouldy B)

 

Well... it was wet and moldy but I did not test it to see if it would stick. Besides that... straw is not for eatting!

 

Your shure ?

 

B) BQ

 

oops... wrong account :D

Edited by CacheDrone
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Today I found a cache that had the following hint:

 

"It sticks to the roof of your mouth".

 

Well I guessed that refers to peanut butter but it had nothing to do with where the cache was hidden (under a bale of straw) and provided no assistance in finding the location. I figured it was what the container was, of course. Then when I did find the cache it was not even a peanut butter jar.

 

Straw sticks to the roof of your mouth when it's wet and mouldy B)

 

Well... it was wet and moldy but I did not test it to see if it would stick. Besides that... straw is not for eatting!

 

Your shure ?

 

B) BQ

 

oops... wrong account :D

 

Yep... I am sure!! Apparently your not... LOL

Edited by brendah
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One that *I* thought was useless: "post your log on top to Geocaching.com when you get home." However, when I read previous logs, people had made comments like "once I stopped using the GPSr and read the hint I found it", and "the clue really helped". Then I wondered what I was missing? I never did find the silly thing!

 

Any chance it was hidden on top of a log?

..or possibly the log was on top?

 

Hah! We found one with a hint like that two days ago. It said "don't forget to log your find". My wife had already taken a DNF on it. I walked up to the log, stuck my hand in it and extracted the cache. The look on her face was priceless!

 

:blink:

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