Social Awareness

6.1k · November 19, 2008

Social consciousness is consciousness shared within a society. It can also be defined as social awareness; to be aware of the problems that different societies and communities face on a day-to-day basis; to be conscious of the difficulties and hardships of society.

Im a world in change, our community needs to assume is role on social awareness.

Is there any valuable reason to justify the prohibition to publish any social cache event nowadays, for instance??

We could make the difference next Xmas, for those millions that are in pain, in debt, suffering because of some few incompetents in higher (and even higher remunerations) places.

Lets make this kind of cache possible, please!!!

November 19, 2008

as they say in utah

November 19, 2008

Just because there are no "social event" caches, please don't assume cachers aren't socially aware.

I work two jobs. Nearly 50 percent of my 2nd salary is used for social purposes. First, I volunteer with an animal rescue. I transport (using gas and therefore money), I donate gift cards to them and I donate cash.

In addition, a friend's church has a mission that pays tuition for high school educations in a non-industrial country. I donate for at least one student yearly. They also buy bicycles for the villages, since roads and cars are nearly non-existent there.

Several of my Christmas gifts consist of donations in the name of family members to organizations that buy livestock or issue business loans to people in developing countries and the participants are required to repay, either in money, or kind, for those funds. That helps them help others.

I cache to get away from the things I experience at my primary job. I've seen things in my careers that I won't discuss with others and I make sure what leisure time I have is spent having fun and not thinking. All I want to see is a gorgeous sunrise, a lazy hawk on the wing, or the sparkle of frost 'diamonds' on a field I'm hiking.

Please don't infuse any other type of'experience' into caching. I just don't think it is necessary or an improvement. You can always get a second job to make a social impression, if you don't already do as I do.

7.3k · November 19, 2008

Geocaching has a "social awareness" event; it's called CITO.

8.9k · November 19, 2008

Is there any valuable reason to justify the prohibition to publish any social cache event nowadays, for instance??

YES....

As was stated very nicely above, this is a chance to get away from the world, to escape these problems even if only for a little while. Why would you want to take the fun out of caching?

3.1k · November 19, 2008

You're free to hold such an event. You just can't publish it here. Some things are worth doing even if you don't get to add to your find count. If it's important enough to you, go for it!

20.7k · November 19, 2008

... Is there any valuable reason to justify the prohibition to publish any social cache event nowadays, for instance??

We could make the difference next Xmas, for those millions that are in pain, in debt, suffering because of some few incompetents in higher (and even higher remunerations) places.

Lets make this kind of cache possible, please!!!

These important social issues could certainly be discussed at geocaching events, you just can't have an event that is solely to benefit your pet project.

I think that a reasonable workaround is for your local geocaching organization to take up whatever cause you are trying to champion. This social project could be addressed at teh organization's meetings, along with all the other stuff that is discussed at meetings. It would not need to be addressed on any cache page and would not be one of the primary purposes of the meeting.

November 19, 2008

For every person out geocaching that's one more person picking up litter, caring for the environment and keeping fit. And it's one less person selling drugs on street corners or writing graffiti.

November 19, 2008

Social agenda to improve conditions = good

Social agenda + geocaching = bad

Many geocachers (myself included) that I know do lots of things to improve conditions. They don't need to combine their efforts with geocaching.

Please, let's keep social agendas and geocaching separate, as it is now.

I enjoy the freedom of keeping caching light and fun.

November 19, 2008

Social agenda to improve conditions = good

Social agenda + geocaching = bad

There goes my rainbow colored lamp post micro cache to show support for same sex marriage of midgets

18.9k · November 19, 2008

Nobody is stopping you from organizing a local group of ____________ to go out and take care of any issue you deem worthy. It just isn't something that "needs" listed as a cache.

1.2k · November 19, 2008

Social consciousness is consciousness shared within a society. It can also be defined as social awareness; to be aware of the problems that different societies and communities face on a day-to-day basis; to be conscious of the difficulties and hardships of society.

Im a world in change, our community needs to assume is role on social awareness.

Is there any valuable reason to justify the prohibition to publish any social cache event nowadays, for instance??

We could make the difference next Xmas, for those millions that are in pain, in debt, suffering because of some few incompetents in higher (and even higher remunerations) places.

Lets make this kind of cache possible, please!!!

There is nothing wrong with being Socially Aware...and I would say many Geocachers are. As has been siad before me, you don't need geocaching in order to make your idea for some sort of community event come true.

6.1k · November 19, 2008

Okay... some good opinions... tough all in the same direction.

What's about evolution, instead of unanimism?

If you think we have a perfect game thats fine... I think everything can always be better.

Thank you all very much for your feedback... its solely what I wanted... to measure the trends.

Edited November 19, 2008 by ruidealmeida

3.9k · November 19, 2008

Social consciousness is consciousness shared within a society. It can also be defined as social awareness; to be aware of the problems that different societies and communities face on a day-to-day basis; to be conscious of the difficulties and hardships of society.

Im a world in change, our community needs to assume is role on social awareness.

Is there any valuable reason to justify the prohibition to publish any social cache event nowadays, for instance??

We could make the difference next Xmas, for those millions that are in pain, in debt, suffering because of some few incompetents in higher (and even higher remunerations) places.

Lets make this kind of cache possible, please!!!

Well, since you seem to have asked:

First, I find your prose and syntax rather disorienting, complex and confusing, and thus, after having read your post six times, I am not at all sure of what you are proposing, beyond a very vague idea that it seems that you may want Groundspeak to create a new category of some kind of "social awareness cache event" or "social services cache event", so that you may then perhaps sponsor some. Beyond that, I am rather lost, and I can garner very little idea of exactly what it is that you are proposing. My comments below, in the remaining portion of my post, will be based upon my above-disclosed tentative interpretation of the meaning of your post.

It seems that you would like to sponsor some "social awareness" (perhaps to foster awareness of famine in Ethiopia?) or "social services" (perhaps a soup kitchen which would give free meals to all comers?) events, and have them somehow linked to geocaching. You are free to sponsor all the social awareness or social services events and activities that you wish, but why would you want them linked to geocaching, perhaps to the extent that they would be listed as an event or cache? Isn't that much like trying to mix apples and turpentine, or trying to link oranges with performance car racing? Why bother? Why not allow geocaching to remain what it is, namely an outdoor adventure sport, and allow social awareness efforts and social services outreach efforts to remain what they are? Why try to mix them? Are you feeling some kind of compulsion to accrue the find/attended smileys associated with such an event or cache?

Even more importantly, how would your dragging geocaching into the mix of social awareness events or social services events add any benefit to the social awareness/services effort? Why cannot you simply engage in such activities yourself, or join any of tens of thousands of social outreach organizations -- some of them denominational and many of them non-denominational and non-profit (spanning a spectrum which includes Habitat for Humanity, Catholic Charities, Salvation Army, Peace Corps, Goodwill, and the Shriners) -- without trying to link these activities to geocaching?

In a way, your proposal, if I understand your post correctly, reminds me of a long-standing joke between myself and my wife and some of our local geo-friends. Our car engine -- as it true of many Toyota Corolla engines from the early 2000s which have accrued high mileage -- is somewhat of an oil burner, and thus we need to add a quart of oil every few hundred miles. We have (jokingly) decided amongst ourselves, and have also advised some of our geo-friends, that each time we check the oil and add a quart of oil to the engine and make an entry in the car maintenance logbook in the glove compartment, we should be able to then claim a find on a special cache created for that purpose, or at least on one of our archived caches, and log it as a find/smiley on geocaching.com, in return for our efforts.

Likewise, we live in the mountain wilderness, and our five cats, which wander outside at times, often come home with blood-engorged (yummy!) ticks embedded in their skin. And so we have a daily ritual wherein Sue and I each comb through the fur of each cat carefully with our fingers, searching for fat ticks, whereupon we remove them. We have (humorously) decided that each time we find and remove a tick on one of our cats, we should be able to then claim a find on a special cache created for that purpose, or at least on one of our archived caches, and log it as a find/smiley on geocaching.com, in return for our heroic efforts.

In a somewhat similar vein, I work part-time as a contractor for an undisclosed shadow government agency wherein I am paid to track down alien reptoid reptilian shapeshifters (they are, of course, working as agents controlled by the New World Order conspiracy) who are posing as humans and kill them. I have often joked to Sue that I should be able to claim a find on a special cache created for that purpose each time that I track down and execute a reptoid reptilian shapeshifter alien slimebucket.

Your proposal sounds suspiciously akin the three schemes which I have delineated above wherein Sue and I want to accrue smileys for performing activities that may be necessary and may be worthwhile, but which have nothing to do with geocaching.

3.5k · November 19, 2008

I suppose this is as good a place as any to share a story.

My son Connor is autistic. In fact he's pretty severe on the "spectrum." The local geocachers have really taken to him and are always asking about how he's doing. I've taken him to a few events, but he has to be constantly watched and since many events are held near woods and water, that just becomes problematic. Still, the few times I can get him out people love to take turns walking him and playing with him on the swings. He really loves the attention too.

About a year ago I got an email from a cacher who was taking part in a charity race to benefit an autism charity. He let me know that he ran in Connor's name. That was really cool.

Another local cacher is a quilter and a few years she assembled a quilt with pieces of material that were signed by other cachers. She attached a travel bug tag to it and took the quilt to events for people to log. A lot of people offered to buy the quilt off of her, but she wasn't about to sell it.

Then she and her husband decided that rather than sell it they would raffle the quilt and give the money to be used for Connor. When all was said and done they had collected enough money to pay for one semester of speech therapy for Connor. My wife and I were absolutely floored at the generosity.

My point is this: they did it without the promise of a smiley or a cool new icon. They did it because they saw a need and wanted to help meet it. Given the opportunity I believe most people would do the same...and many of them are geocachers.

Just because events aren't about social awareness, don't assume that cachers aren't socially aware. Many I know are very involved in different causes and make a huge difference in people's lives. Personally, I like it that way.

And if you bought a ticket on the quilt, Connor says "thanks."

(His sisters say "thanks" too)

Edited November 19, 2008 by CYBret

6.5k · November 19, 2008

I don't need my recreational activity and escape from my regular life to edumicate me on any social welfare agendas. I just need it to show me a good time by taking me to interesting places, making me think about how a cache is hidden, and give me an excuse to gather with like minded souls to enjoy some food and brew.

Keep the social agendas out of events and cache listings. I have enough of it and support the ones I choose to on my non-caching days.

Edited November 19, 2008 by wimseyguy

18.9k · November 19, 2008

I suppose this is as good a place as any to share a story.

My son Connor is autistic. In fact he's pretty severe on the "spectrum." The local geocachers have really taken to him and are always asking about how he's doing. I've taken him to a few events, but he has to be constantly watched and since many events are held near woods and water, that just becomes problematic. Still, the few times I can get him out people love to take turns walking him and playing with him on the swings. He really loves the attention too.

About a year ago I got an email from a cacher who was taking part in a charity race to benefit an autism charity. He let me know that he ran in Connor's name. That was really cool.

Another local cacher is a quilter and a few years she assembled a quilt with pieces of material that were signed by other cachers. She attached a travel bug tag to it and took the quilt to events for people to log. A lot of people offered to buy the quilt off of her, but she wasn't about to sell it.

Then she and her husband decided that rather than sell it they would raffle the quilt and give the money to be used for Connor. When all was said and done they had collected enough money to pay for one semester of speech therapy for Connor. My wife and I were absolutely floored at the generosity.

My point is this: they did it without the promise of a smiley or a cool new icon. They did it because they saw a need and wanted to help meet it. Given the opportunity I believe most people would do the same...and many of them are geocachers.

Just because events aren't about social awareness, don't assume that cachers aren't socially aware. Many I know are very involved in different causes and make a huge difference in people's lives. Personally, I like it that way.

And if you bought a ticket on the quilt, Connor says "thanks."

(His sisters say "thanks" too)

3k · November 19, 2008

Geocaching has a "social awareness" event; it's called CITO.

Amen! I cache to get back to nature with my friends and family and away from daily realities. I don't mix the two. CITO is our contribution and it's an extremely important one.

6k · November 19, 2008

I don't uncerstand. We do lots of social events here. We have BBQ's, breakfasts and flash events.

Interesting that someone with 36 posts and ZERO finds should be preaching to the group. This person is not a valid member of our group and probably joins many groups online to preach their philosophy since she/he is obviously has greater socially responsible concerns than all of us

3.9k · November 19, 2008

I don't uncerstand. We do lots of social events here. We have BBQ's, breakfasts and flash events.

Interesting that someone with 36 posts and ZERO finds should be preaching to the group. This person is not a valid member of our group and probably joins many groups online to preach their philosophy since she/he is obviously has greater socially responsible concerns than all of us

Excellent point! I forgot to perform due diligence on the original poster before I sent my reply to their somewhat incoherent initial post, and thus I was not aware that the poster might well be a troll! Thanks for your research work!

Late edit to remove the "troll alert" phrase near the end of the message in light of the fact that later posts illustrated the fact that the OP's account is not a troll account but rather a sock puppet account for a very active and reputable European geocacher.

Edited November 19, 2008 by Vinny & Sue Team

3.6k · November 19, 2008

Im a world in change, our community needs to assume is role on social awareness.

We do? Isn't geocaching supposed to be a fun sport/hobby/game?

3.1k · November 19, 2008

I don't uncerstand. We do lots of social events here. We have BBQ's, breakfasts and flash events.

Interesting that someone with 36 posts and ZERO finds should be preaching to the group. This person is not a valid member of our group and probably joins many groups online to preach their philosophy since she/he is obviously has greater socially responsible concerns than all of us

Excellent point! I forgot to perform due diligence on the original poster before I sent my reply to their somewhat incoherent initial post, and thus I was not aware that the poster may well be a troll! Thanks for your research work! Troll alert!

Digging further would reveal a very active non-native-English speaking cacher.

Edit to remove link to the wrong guy

Edited November 19, 2008 by Dinoprophet

6.1k · November 19, 2008

I don't uncerstand. We do lots of social events here. We have BBQ's, breakfasts and flash events.

Interesting that someone with 36 posts and ZERO finds should be preaching to the group. This person is not a valid member of our group and probably joins many groups online to preach their philosophy since she/he is obviously has greater socially responsible concerns than all of us

Excellent point! I forgot to perform due diligence on the original poster before I sent my reply to their somewhat incoherent initial post, and thus I was not aware that the poster may well be a troll! Thanks for your research work! Troll alert!

Digging further would reveal a very active non-native-English speaking cacher.

No... not realy... Almeidara is also a fine portuguese geocacher, please dont jump into conclusions and leave him alone.

For some reason, our login in the forum area doesnt recognize the original profile... this one: http://www.geocaching.com/profile/default....36-cb8fee89fbaa

Edited November 19, 2008 by ruidealmeida

3.1k · November 19, 2008

I don't uncerstand. We do lots of social events here. We have BBQ's, breakfasts and flash events.

Interesting that someone with 36 posts and ZERO finds should be preaching to the group. This person is not a valid member of our group and probably joins many groups online to preach their philosophy since she/he is obviously has greater socially responsible concerns than all of us

Excellent point! I forgot to perform due diligence on the original poster before I sent my reply to their somewhat incoherent initial post, and thus I was not aware that the poster may well be a troll! Thanks for your research work! Troll alert!

Digging further would reveal a very active non-native-English speaking cacher.

No... not realy... Almeidara is also a fine portuguese geocacher, and please leave him alone.

For some reason, our login in the forum area doesnt recognize the original profile... this one: http://www.geocaching.com/profile/default....36-cb8fee89fbaa

I'm sorry. I didn't like the hits you were taking, you seemed to have a caching history despite your profile, and I was looking for the "real you". That account seemed to fit. Lots of bad assumptions flying around here.

Edited November 19, 2008 by Dinoprophet

November 19, 2008

the simplest answer is that no cache can have any "Agenda" other than geocaching.

6.1k · November 19, 2008

Lots of bad assumptions flying around here.

Undoubtly!

6.7k · November 19, 2008

I am with the OP on this one.

I hear "If you don't like it don't hunt it" here pretty frequently. Cachers can take the same attitude toward events with a social agenda... if you don't like it, don't attend!

Doing good works is a fundamental part of me and having a network this large would be an amazing asset.

We can have a Unite For Diabetes Travel bug but not an event... I think it's a shame.

November 19, 2008

I don't uncerstand. We do lots of social events here. We have BBQ's, breakfasts and flash events.

Interesting that someone with 36 posts and ZERO finds should be preaching to the group. This person is not a valid member of our group and probably joins many groups online to preach their philosophy since she/he is obviously has greater socially responsible concerns than all of us

Excellent point! I forgot to perform due diligence on the original poster before I sent my reply to their somewhat incoherent initial post, and thus I was not aware that the poster may well be a troll! Thanks for your research work! Troll alert!

Digging further would reveal a very active non-native-English speaking cacher.

Edit to remove link to the wrong guy

You guys are jumping into the wrong conclusions. We know Rui and his family, they geocache under the username Kelux. They're pretty active, considering they're geocaching for an year and a half now. And, like he wrote, he had some difficulties in logging in the forum with the Kelux username, so he has this one. The mistery ends here. There's no troll here, only wrong assumptions.

As for the theme itself, I do understand what the OP means. Maybe it's the language barrier that is somewhat disturbing the view.

So far, CITO is an event with a social event. Right? the OP suggest to go further, to get geocaching envolved with other kinds of social events, like charity, fund raising, etc. And he, with this vision, stands to be a correct way to be in nowadays.

That's about it. Think that's clear enough.

IMHO, I don't support that idea. I think that it would open a Pandora Box, full of difficult issues to resolve. There's lot of subjective views over this subject. I'm sure everyone can get a number of friends, geocachers, common people to help in one of this actions. It doesn't have to be published here. That's my opinion. Actually, that's an opinion of a somewhat active non-native-English speaking cacher.

6.7k · November 19, 2008

I am with the OP on this one.

I hear "If you don't like it don't hunt it" here pretty frequently. Cachers can take the same attitude toward events with a social agenda... if you don't like it, don't attend!

Doing good works is a fundamental part of me and having a network this large would be an amazing asset.

We can have a Unite For Diabetes Travel bug but not an event... I think it's a shame.

6k · November 19, 2008

WOW a compliment from the famous Vinny and Sue. My life is complete. I will remember this day forever.

November 19, 2008

Social consciousness is in the eyes of the beholder. I am politically, socially, economically and religiously conservative. Other cachers may be on the other side of the spectrum. Somehow, I don't see ourselves sitting around singing Kumbia. After all some atheist cachers might object to Kumbia, as is their right!

Edited November 19, 2008 by WeeWillie

3.9k · November 19, 2008

WOW a compliment from the famous Vinny and Sue. My life is complete. I will remember this day forever.

While Vinny of Vinny & Sue Team still stands behind his original compliment, it must be noted, for the record, that the utterance of the compliment triggered strong protests by the following parties:

Venona
The Four Ancient Ones, bless their calcified variegated segmented exoskeletons, who landed on earth over three million years ago in their starship.
Sionevil, aka Sioneva

...and thus the compliment is being re-considered in light of these protests. Any needful updates or revisions to original compliment will, if needed, be uttered within the next 24 hours in order to be incorporated into the official permanent record.

Edited November 19, 2008 by Vinny & Sue Team

5.8k · November 19, 2008

Okay... some good opinions... tough all in the same direction.

What's about evolution, instead of unanimism?

If you think we have a perfect game thats fine... I think everything can always be better.

Thank you all very much for your feedback... its solely what I wanted... to measure the trends.

Do we have a perfect game...No, there are always changes to be made. I don't see any "Unanimism" here(thanks, I learned a new word). I see many individuals espressing their individual views on the topic. Remember that the restrictions we face here are because Groundspeak is a business, and doesn't see it's interests served by those changes proposed. Anyone is welcome to start their own site/business to address their own concerns(others already have and will continue to). If there is room to evolve into that, then it will survive, otherwise only the "Fittest" will. I think you will find plenty of Social Awareness in the game already, just not in the for thet you mentioned. Can you see some people using Events as disguised attempts to meet their own ends? If you allow one, you must allow all.

November 19, 2008

One thing that I don't generally like about this 'crowd' is its propensity to "pry". Sometimes (and too frequently) it seems like 90% of you want to be some kind've "Sherlock Holmes" or something.

Why can't we just take the OP's inquiry, whomever made it, at face value? Up until the point where people started delving into motives, background, trying to 'dig up some dirt', jumping to wrongful conclusions, apparently pursuant to character assasination, it was pretty straightforward even if somewhat incoherent & confusing. I really don't understand the motives for the way it turned.

On the issue, I happen to agree with the 'Nay' faction. Up to that point, where it turned, the way I see it is "Asked, and answered." And that was really all that was needed here.

Get a LIFE, of your own, for chrissakes, and....

Cache on!

~*

20.7k · November 19, 2008

One thing that I don't generally like about this 'crowd' is its propensity to "pry". Sometimes (and too frequently) it seems like 90% of you want to be some kind've "Sherlock Holmes" or something.

Why can't we just take the OP's inquiry, whomever made it, at face value? ...

A wise man said it best:

Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.

After being duped by an angsty troll a few times, we begin to do a little bit more due diligence when these kinds of threads come up.

3.9k · November 19, 2008

One thing that I don't generally like about this 'crowd' is its propensity to "pry". Sometimes (and too frequently) it seems like 90% of you want to be some kind've "Sherlock Holmes" or something.

Why can't we just take the OP's inquiry, whomever made it, at face value? ...

A wise man said it best:
Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.
After being duped by an angsty troll a few times, we begin to do a little bit more due diligence when these kinds of threads come up.

Well said, and it has happened more than just a few times here, due to the dark side of human nature and the hostility of some posters who are willing to employ all kinds of deceptions in an attempt to win their argument or to fan the flames.

3.1k · November 19, 2008

One thing that I don't generally like about this 'crowd' is its propensity to "pry". Sometimes (and too frequently) it seems like 90% of you want to be some kind've "Sherlock Holmes" or something.

Why can't we just take the OP's inquiry, whomever made it, at face value? ...

A wise man said it best:
Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.
After being duped by an angsty troll a few times, we begin to do a little bit more due diligence when these kinds of threads come up.

If someone is wrongly accused of being a troll and not "one of us", then due diligence was not done. That's what prompted me to dig into profiles myself, because I suspected those accusations were wrong. Unfortunately, I exacerbated the issue with a bad assumption of my own. It seems that even with good intentions, digging through profiles is dirty.

20.7k · November 19, 2008

One thing that I don't generally like about this 'crowd' is its propensity to "pry". Sometimes (and too frequently) it seems like 90% of you want to be some kind've "Sherlock Holmes" or something.

Why can't we just take the OP's inquiry, whomever made it, at face value? ...

A wise man said it best:
Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.
After being duped by an angsty troll a few times, we begin to do a little bit more due diligence when these kinds of threads come up.

If someone is wrongly accused of being a troll and not "one of us", then due diligence was not done. That's what prompted me to dig into profiles myself, because I suspected those accusations were wrong. Unfortunately, I exacerbated the issue with a bad assumption of my own. It seems that even with good intentions, digging through profiles is dirty.

Dirty? I disagree.

Checking a person's history is a smart way to validate their post. I remember one thread where a cacher stated that he always skips micros. Strangely, several of his most recent finds were micros and he owned some. In my opinion, this information was certainly should have been mentioned in the thread so everyone else can take it into account.

Similarly, when someone seemingly has no finds yet pops into the furoms to scold us for being poor stewards, it reaks of trolling. A forum search will certainly turn up several instances of these type of troll threads. This one certainly had the same feel to it.

9.2k · November 19, 2008

Social consciousness is consciousness shared within a society. It can also be defined as social awareness; to be aware of the problems that different societies and communities face on a day-to-day basis; to be conscious of the difficulties and hardships of society.

Im a world in change, our community needs to assume is role on social awareness.

Is there any valuable reason to justify the prohibition to publish any social cache event nowadays, for instance??

We could make the difference next Xmas, for those millions that are in pain, in debt, suffering because of some few incompetents in higher (and even higher remunerations) places.

Lets make this kind of cache possible, please!!!

No thanks.

And why does my post say "ringbone"?

November 19, 2008

No thanks. Keep your activism out of my geocaching.

- Elle, the huge social and political activist.

November 19, 2008

Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.

George Bush is a Wise Man?

W being a fool

Edited November 19, 2008 by KJcachers

14k · November 19, 2008

No thanks. Keep your activism out of my geocaching.

- Elle, the huge social and political activist.

Add me to the of those that would prefer to keep social agendas (whether I agree with them or not). I worked in the corporate world for 25 years before going to work at a university. One of the aspects of my job is working to develop systems to improve the livelihood of rural farmers in Africa and it's extremely satisfying work. Last November I spent a week in Zambia along with 40 something others developing 20 or so specific proposals for funding by the Gates foundation. Some of those projects are now underway and I hope to see some real impact soon. Over the course of the week we had one afternoon free to visit the local sites, and yes, I found a geocache during that brief respite from a lot of work.

November 19, 2008

Again, some of you are insisting that the OP is a sock puppet account and made a flame bait thread. That's NOT what is happening.

The OP is part of the team Kelux.

5.9k · November 19, 2008

Social consciousness is consciousness shared within a society. It can also be defined as social awareness; to be aware of the problems that different societies and communities face on a day-to-day basis; to be conscious of the difficulties and hardships of society.

Im a world in change, our community needs to assume is role on social awareness.

Is there any valuable reason to justify the prohibition to publish any social cache event nowadays, for instance??

We could make the difference next Xmas, for those millions that are in pain, in debt, suffering because of some few incompetents in higher (and even higher remunerations) places.

Lets make this kind of cache possible, please!!!

I’m not sure what your point is. Are you saying Seattle should allow the further bastardization of the game to feign support for your vision of social awareness?

3.9k · November 19, 2008

I’m not sure what your point is. Are you saying Seattle should allow the further bastardization of the game to feign support for your vision of social awareness?

I think he's just a guy who would like to combine two of his interests (Geocaching and helping with some or other social issue/s). He may, perhaps, have had a moment of realisation at an event, that a bunch of cachers getting together on an issue is likely to be at least as good as a bunch of non-cachers getting together, what with cachers generally being a pretty resourceful bunch and all. Perhaps he tried to get an event cache published which mentioned his local Christmastime telethon or whatever, and had it knocked back for crossing the "agenda" guideline. Maybe he even wrote contact@geocaching.com about it and they suggested that he come to the forums.

This is a non-native speaker of English who has stuck his head over the parapet and so far had to endure comments about his English, his politics, his motives, and his possible troll status. He may well be wishing that he hadn't voiced his entirely reasonable opinion in here at all.

As it happens, I agree with the majority in this thread, that geocaching is better for not trying to accommodate other issues. But I can see why someone might think differently and try to change opinions. And I'm glad that I'm not trying to express all this clearly in Portuguese. These are worldwide forums and I would hope that those of us who are fortunate enough to have grown up speaking the world's de facto common language, would cut a little slack to people who don't have total fluency, and whose interpretation of words like "social" - whose roots have been in his ancestors' language for longer than they have in ours - may not be exactly the same as the ones we use.

Edited November 19, 2008 by sTeamTraen

November 19, 2008

Yeah, y'all are a bunch of meanieheads!!!

5.9k · November 20, 2008

I’m not sure what your point is. Are you saying Seattle should allow the further bastardization of the game to feign support for your vision of social awareness?

I think he's just a guy who would like to combine two of his interests (Geocaching and helping with some or other social issue/s). He may, perhaps, have had a moment of realisation at an event, that a bunch of cachers getting together on an issue is likely to be at least as good as a bunch of non-cachers getting together, what with cachers generally being a pretty resourceful bunch and all. Perhaps he tried to get an event cache published which mentioned his local Christmastime telethon or whatever, and had it knocked back for crossing the "agenda" guideline. Maybe he even wrote contact@geocaching.com about it and they suggested that he come to the forums.

Geocaching has always involved other interests and activities, like driving, biking, or hiking, but special accommodations need not be made for those activities merely to try to shoehorn them into the game. The ancillary interests are merely a part of the overall cache experience and should never rise to equal or exceed the status of the primary focus of the game; going somewhere and finding something.

Does he really see a nexus between geocaching and social awareness, or does he see the opportunity of an audience? Someone with a knack for creating a doo-dad that is useful to geocachers might want to find customers in the crowd, right? How is an agenda any different? Geocachers, like any other culture, represent an audience that one can exploit, for good or bad. That’s just the way it is, but that doesn’t mean that Seattle has to sanction it.

So what happens if Groundspeak allows this sort of agenda event cache? Remember where the website originates, and the obligation it would place on Groundspeak if they were to start down that slippery slope. Agendas are like butt-cracks, everyone’s got one and yours may or may not stink when you shove it in someone’s face. His “social awareness” event cache, however well meaning, would have to be given the same consideration as another’s “beat a Muslim” or “sacrifice a rabbit to Zeus” event cache. In the end, it’s for the best if they keep geocaching about geocaching.

I’m not trying to beat him up, I’m just trying to make him see the frustrating position it puts other people in.

November 20, 2008

Okay... some good opinions... tough all in the same direction.

What's about evolution, instead of unanimism?

If you think we have a perfect game thats fine... I think everything can always be better.

Thank you all very much for your feedback... its solely what I wanted... to measure the trends.

Things can always get better. That does not always mean that trying to make them better, won't make them worse instead.

6.1k · November 20, 2008

Now, after all the fuzz, most of the noise and some of the prejudice has gone; I want to thank you all for your valuable opinions.

This non-Event will be held December 13th in three portuguese major cities, Oporto, Lisbon and Faro.

We will gather around huge Christmas trees, every geocacher (or muggle invited) will bring a gift for a children.

After the meeting we will take all the gifts to a child care institution... one in each city.

This non-Event will be published only in our portuguese forum at http://forum.geocaching-pt.net/viewtopic.php?t=3536.

Naturally we would have much more people if this was a real Event, published on GC.com... but, even so, we will do our best!!!

We invite everyone around to organize such non-Events worldwide....

Like the great philosopher Fox Mulder said: I WANT TO BELIEVE!!

PS: Please forgive my rough english!

Edited November 20, 2008 by ruidealmeida

38.2k · November 20, 2008

Every place I go there is someone trying to make me "socially aware" about something. Pink ribbons, rainbow flags, bumper stickers, flyers, e-mails, posters and ads for this cause and that. I don't want that stuff to creep into something I do as an escape.

I can think of a number of reasons why its a bad idea, but foremost is that what is a wonderful cause for one person might be an evil cause for another. This can create conflict. I could easily see someone posting an event supporting an organization like the Boy Scouts, or Planned Parenthood, followed by howls of protest and people canceling their memberships over it.

And what if someone posted an event promoting Al-Qaeda? I'm sure most people here would say we should obviously draw the line there, yet Al-Qaeda has millions, if not hundreds of millions of supporters.

I'm sure even the OP would agree that a line should be drawn somewhere, but where do we draw it? It puts the reviewers in the position of deciding which causes are worthy and which aren't. If they draw the line in the wrong place then we'll get a firestorm of protest. Bad for the community, bad for Groundspeak's business.

The line is in a good place now - no social agendas. Let's keep it there.

Edited November 20, 2008 by briansnat

Social Awareness

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