Is there shame in a DNF?

[+simpjkee]

cachers should log every DNF just as they would log every find. not doing so is irresponsible

[+Team MacKenzie]

If I truly made a serious effort to find a cache and come up empty handed, yes, I'll log a DNF. But if I get to a cache site and take a look around and don't WANT to look for it, then no, I'm not going to log a DNF.

 

What I'd really like is a DNA 'Did Not Attempt'...there'd be a whole bunch of them on my stats...

 

Like the past two days...I was travelling on business so of course I packed my gear. Used the motel as centre point and pulled up the closest caches....after spending 3 hours over two days, I came to the conclusion that those folks must cache differently than we do in our neck of the woods.

 

The first cache I headed for had a name and a clue that had absolutely nothing to do with where the cache was...a rock face 5' off the edge of an industrial road. I stood there on not one but two occasions trying to figure out what would possess anyone to place a cache there when there was this lovely city park ACROSS the street.

 

Second cache...well the name of the cache had tree in it...ok, it's in a parking lot of a touristy thing. LPC maybe?? Unhuh...hidden in a tree...not that either. Ground zero is 30 feet out in a field used to dump building debris...and it's nano!

 

My third and last cache DNA was just as bad. I hiked almost a mile through this absolutely marvelous park created in part by reclaiming a pretty little lake from industrial pollution. Great, finally a good cache experience to redeem the area...NOT. As I approach GZ, I realize that the cache is in the back delivery area of the supermarket. Yep, it's a guardrail cache. And it's tight up against an area that is used to park spare trailers!

 

I got my exercise on both days and will go back for my walking in the park but won't bother packing my caching gear next trip to that city.

 

Yep, we need a 'DNA' marker!!

[&Adork]

A note from a newbie: It took me 2 trips to 3 different caches before I made my first find. I didn’t post DNF’s for those. I figured that as they were literally my first attempts, I was no better than a muggle. When I did find them on my second attempts, I posted the finds and that it took me 2 attempts. I’m at only 4 finds now (and climbing), but I don’t feel that I should post any DNF’s until I’ve made 10 to 15 finds. By then I should have some idea about what I’m doing. After that, I see no shame in a DNF. If the day comes where I decide to leave a few caches of my own, I hope other’s will post DNF’s to let me know if I hid them well enough, or too well.

 

Well, you've added yet another new one - I'll give you that.

 

Hmmm....lessee now. Then maybe I feel that I shouldn't post any DNF's until I've made .... ohhhh.....1000 to maybe 1500 finds! By then I should have some idea about what I'm doing.

 

But y'know.....we can really work this thang! Maybe I should decide that I'll start filing DNFs when I reach a count one higher than what I've found, & just make that permanent. Why, that way I won't ever have a DNF!! And no shame!!

 

My, my, my. Puzzles aren't puzzles any more; 'First' don't mean "the incremental position greater than zero and immediately preceding the second position". Instead, it could mean any one of any number on a team or coincidental bystanders in the vicinity - or all of 'em!! And now "did not" means "until I'm ready for it to happen". Poor ol' cache hiders don't know whether to blink or go blind.

 

What's this world comin' to?!? "I didn't rob that bank, your honor! I haven't done 5 of 'em yet....so I'm innocent just by not knowin' what I was doing!!"

 

Ye-e-e-aah...at'll work.

 

~*

 

 

PS: No problem d00d....jus' funnin' on ya some. Play yo' game -- they ain't no rules.

 

Now that is not only welcoming, but completely off topic and beside the point.

 

I have no shame in posting a did not find. I do however notice that this community takes cache logs, finds, locations extremely seriously. Perhaps too seriously. And, as a newbie just learning where things are hidden, how they are hidden, where to look, when to look, how to look. Not knowing how a logged DNF affects a cache, you can understand my lack in desire to log each and ever trip.

 

I frankly can’t even imagine how logging whether you found a small plastic container on the first attempt relates to robbery or worse.

 

I can make one very important observation from this experience. This is my second, and last post in any forum on Groundspeak. I will not attend or join any “group” events, and I may give up on the whole game on the off chance I’ll ever end up as patronizing and arrogant to someone who has 4 finds and has been geocaching for a whole week as you have been. Thanks for the warm welcome.

[+Parabola]

I was kind of happy I was able to get a DNF off my DNF list but then added another one. But I'll bet my DNF log is better than most of the found log's anyway's.

 

But lesson learned, just as you can peel one of those darn DNF's off the list another one is just around the corner.

[+Chrysalides]

I do however notice that this community takes cache logs, finds, locations extremely seriously. Perhaps too seriously.

The way I see it, it's a large and diverse community, opinions will inevitably differ and run the full spectrum.

[+WRASTRO]

A note from a newbie: It took me 2 trips to 3 different caches before I made my first find. I didn’t post DNF’s for those. I figured that as they were literally my first attempts, I was no better than a muggle. When I did find them on my second attempts, I posted the finds and that it took me 2 attempts. I’m at only 4 finds now (and climbing), but I don’t feel that I should post any DNF’s until I’ve made 10 to 15 finds. By then I should have some idea about what I’m doing. After that, I see no shame in a DNF. If the day comes where I decide to leave a few caches of my own, I hope other’s will post DNF’s to let me know if I hid them well enough, or too well.

 

Well, you've added yet another new one - I'll give you that.

 

Hmmm....lessee now. Then maybe I feel that I shouldn't post any DNF's until I've made .... ohhhh.....1000 to maybe 1500 finds! By then I should have some idea about what I'm doing.

 

But y'know.....we can really work this thang! Maybe I should decide that I'll start filing DNFs when I reach a count one higher than what I've found, & just make that permanent. Why, that way I won't ever have a DNF!! And no shame!!

 

My, my, my. Puzzles aren't puzzles any more; 'First' don't mean "the incremental position greater than zero and immediately preceding the second position". Instead, it could mean any one of any number on a team or coincidental bystanders in the vicinity - or all of 'em!! And now "did not" means "until I'm ready for it to happen". Poor ol' cache hiders don't know whether to blink or go blind.

 

What's this world comin' to?!? "I didn't rob that bank, your honor! I haven't done 5 of 'em yet....so I'm innocent just by not knowin' what I was doing!!"

 

Ye-e-e-aah...at'll work.

 

~*

 

 

PS: No problem d00d....jus' funnin' on ya some. Play yo' game -- they ain't no rules.

 

Now that is not only welcoming, but completely off topic and beside the point.

 

I have no shame in posting a did not find. I do however notice that this community takes cache logs, finds, locations extremely seriously. Perhaps too seriously. And, as a newbie just learning where things are hidden, how they are hidden, where to look, when to look, how to look. Not knowing how a logged DNF affects a cache, you can understand my lack in desire to log each and ever trip.

 

I frankly can’t even imagine how logging whether you found a small plastic container on the first attempt relates to robbery or worse.

 

I can make one very important observation from this experience. This is my second, and last post in any forum on Groundspeak. I will not attend or join any “group” events, and I may give up on the whole game on the off chance I’ll ever end up as patronizing and arrogant to someone who has 4 finds and has been geocaching for a whole week as you have been. Thanks for the warm welcome.

Boy, if you are going to let a post like this spoil your opinion of Geocaching, Geocachers and Groundspeak you are simply cutting off your nose to spite your face. All in all the posters in these forums are among the most congenial and helpful that I have seen.

[Dj Storm]

Back on topic:

 

When I started geocaching, I promised myself to log all DNF's. Later, I didn't log a DNF for a cache where I didn't arrive to GZ; after that, a cache where I chose not to search; after that, a cache where I called off the search early, because of muggles, and a difficulty 5 micro, because of high difficulty.

 

Now I log all my DNF's.

 

I still consider the above reasons in favor of not logging a DNF, but they no longer apply to me. This new change of my view occurred after a similar topic, in which Briansnat told about him logging a DNF on every cache he hit "goto" for. Without those lines, I probably would have more unlogged DNF's.

 

Someone told about not logging a DNF in order of not scaring away future cachers. I'm guilty myself of canceling a 36-hour trip after someone posted a DNF on the cache I intended to find (yes, two days and a night for 1 ordinary traditional cache). However, one of my DNF's (the only DNF since May on that cache) was probably what caused the owner to do a (needed) maintenance visit, so now future cachers have a findable cache.