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Missing bugs


Naked Baby

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OK, this might be a bit off topic...or maybe it's right on topic.

 

I have a bug that is 100% dead. The dog tag is gone, and the bug itself is no longer discoverable. Is it possible by anyone's reckoning to DELETE the bug from the system so it doesn't show up on my trackables list anymore?

 

This particular bug was on a car. The dog tags were thrown away, the decal removed and the car sold to a muggle. It's never going to be discovered ever again.

 

gc.com is not likely to delete the bug from the system.

 

You can make homemade tags and re-release the bug with a new mission and goal. You just wouldn't delete the previous log.

 

I'd be happy to help you make a new tag and get it back out there. Or if you really don't want it on your account you can adopt it over to me. I'll add it to the 'How to Log a TB' group of Tb's I'm about to release.

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I came here to vent about the same thing and I see that others have the same concerns that I do.

 

I have released a total of 5 bugs, and only one is not MIA.

 

One got 5 months and 894 miles, then picked up by a new cacher on her first day (along with others' trackables - she moved some into other caches, and kept the rest). That was nearly 2 years ago. After a couple of months I sent the customary polite email and I was told that her son was taking them out of state when he went to his father's. So mine and the rest are as good as gone.

 

The second one was Australia bound, got as far as Hawaii and back to Seattle. It roamed around Seattle for a while, then vanished out of the last cache it was placed in. It's been missing for 9 months now.

 

The third one got stuck in a remote cache for a long time (which I don't mind because it's less likely to be plundered) then it got moved to another state and vanished out of the last cache it was placed in. I marked it missing nearly a year ago now.

 

The fourth one I started from back home in Canada a year ago December. It was picked up in November of 08 and is still in the hands of a cacher. They were going to place it around Thanksgiving, but left a note that they did not get a chance to. I emailed to thank them for the update. It still hasn't been dropped. I emailed twice (a month apart, once in January, another time today) to ask politely if the bug could be mailed to me, or placed in a cache. The cacher is not a new cacher - been registered since 2003 but only finds a couple of caches per year, so I'm hopeful that he will send the bug back out there eventually.

 

The last one I started in September and it got "lost" in a geocacher's son's room for a bit (I can relate to that, I have a teenaged son!) and with apologies for the delay, he sent it along (and I emailed a thank you). So it's still on the move.

 

They may turn up again, they may not. It's hard not to be disappointed when they do vanish - after all, if we didn't care, we wouldn't spend the time and few dollars to get them going in the first place.

 

The first day I started caching, I intended to pick up a couple of travelers (I had done my homework so I knew what to do) - and neither one was in the cache they were listed in. Oh well... I moved on. That was in Sept. of 2006. Last year, New Year's Day 2008, a local placed a cache in their own front yard... and lo and behold the bugs I'd sought in Sept of 06 were listed in the cache! We FTF'd the cache, and retrieved 2 of the bugs (they had 3 or 4 in it, I daresay they were all "hostages" as the cacher had not been caching in a while, but placed a cache). We did not trade bugs, just picked the 2 up but over the next few weeks people traded bugs through that cache. Almost as soon as it had no bugs in it, the cache was archived.

 

At least they had the courtesy to get the bugs back into circulation. I posted notes about having sought the bugs 18 months or so earlier on each bug's page.

 

Concerning bugs not being where they should be - I will often post a note on the bug's page (you do not need the bug's number to post a note), if it's not where it's listed, and considerable time has passed. If there's a possibility that somebody just prior to me picked it up and hasn't logged it yet, I don't do anything but it's a common-sense thing. At least then the bug owner is notified that a log has been posted, and then they can decide whether to mark it missing or not.

 

Similarly, if somebody logs one of my caches and mentions that a bug is missing, I'll have a look and if it appears that sufficient time has passed for a previous finder to have logged it, I will mark the bug as missing from my cache, as well as note it on the bug's page.

 

While I don't seek caches specifically for bugs - except for one... Microburst It had The Bug for Jenns in it, and I just had to have that! (I think that bug is AWOL now too!) It is kind of frustrating if you've researched your cache run and you spot a bug in an inventory and you know you can help it on its mission, only to find that it's been plundered - well that's a bummer.

 

All part of the game, I guess, but I do understand the frustration.

 

Jenn

 

P.S. Runaway46... I used to live in Perth, ON! (Actually Gillies Corners)

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I am thrilled to report that my third missing TB resurfaced yesterday!

 

Em's Odd Purple Sock turned up yesterday after being MIA since April of 2008!

 

It was grabbed from "unknown", dropped off and another cacher picked it up today and plans to move it to yet another state.

 

One found!

 

Another one that has been "held" for a long time was said to have been passed off to another cacher in February, moving to another state. I have yet to see a log for that but I'm hopeful that it will be dropped off soon.

 

I have one that wasn't MIA that is in an event cache, and hasn't been retrieved yet - it's been a few weeks so not sure what's up with that...

 

So I have 2 that are still MIA, one in the hands of a cacher that only cached once and was supposed to have passed it on (apparently not), and one that's MIA disappeared out of the cache it was placed in (this same thing happened to the Purple Sock).

 

I was totally surprised that the sock turned up again (although who would want to steal an old sock?!)...

 

So we'll see if any of the others turn up...

 

Jenn

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The risk is there, no matter what you place the tag on. I'm on my 3rd replace of some of mine. I just keep making a new tag, and putting it into a laminated luggage tag, mark it "replacement" and get it out circulating again. Perhaps if you do a search on Google for the user ID of the bug you want to notify the owner about, it will show up that they posted something? I just found a guy who had a typo on his email, and got him to correct it.

 

<<I agree, great idea! We want to release a few bugs and know the risk, but it does make you wonder if you should. The first bug we ever found was a cute bear from Canada that had been missing for 4 years. A parent released it with her child to watch it travel and then it got stuck. We have recently "unstuck" it and hope it keeps on a-travelin'! In the meantime, though, the person who released it gave up on it and hasn't been on this site forever. I hope she comes back to see her bug a-movin'!

[/quote/}

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If I have marked it as missing it is a simple matter for the cacher to grab a place in a new cache.

 

This is the truth, it is very simple to return it if it is found.

Having it marked into location "Unknown" doesn't have a negative impact on anyone but it does reflect the actual state of affairs. It isn't complicated at all, it is very straightforward.

Cache owners and TB owners should mark that items are in locatoin "unknown" as soon as they can confirm the item is not in the cache, even if it is sitting in a cachers pocket or in the back seat of a van on holidays.

I do plan maintenace visits around reports of missing bugs because a lot of cachers do choose caches that contain trackables, trackable items are one of the two basic gamepieces in geocaching and they are the focus of the adventure for many, as they should be.

So even though you would never visit a cache for a trackable item the fact that many people do should be clear to everyone, look at this thread and many other threads that deal with the same issue.

 

Wavector, I agree that if it is so simple to return a TravelBug or GeoCoin from the 'unknown' status, why don't the Cache Owners just move them to 'Unknown' area after they hear from two or three cachers that the TB/GC are no longer in the cache!! Some of us do use the indication that a travel bug is in a cache to go visit the cache to see it and move it along.

 

Please if you are a Cache Owner, please more it to 'Unknonw' to make sure that your cache's home page it accurate.

 

Please if you are a TB/QG Owner, please move it to 'Unknown', so when the cacher does go to log it, they can use the key code and say they found it, and can get ready to place it in the next cache.

 

I like Wavector's idea of 'greying' out a TB/GC by a cacher response, maybe 'Item not in cache', like a 'needs maintenance' is appropriate. It would not move the TB/QG from the Cache, but at least it would not show up in the Pocket Query. We need accuracy on the home pages so people can trust what they read and what is used in the automation process. This could also cut down on the amount of data that is being processed, and may speed up the website processing :laughing:

 

The most important thing is to be accurate in all we do, so the new cachers do not get discouraged and can believe what they read on the cache home pages.

 

.

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Woohoo, my Ladybug TB that went quiet in November in the hands of a cacher who "handed it off" has reappeared!

 

Unfortunately they put the tracking number both in their find log for the cache, as well as the note to drop the bug off :laughing:

 

They appear to be a new cacher (4 finds) so I just sent then a polite note thanking them for placing my bug, and asking them please to delete the tracking number so it won't be inappropriately logged. Hopefully they will "hear" me in the grateful and helpful way I intended and edit their logs B)

 

I still have 2 missing. One going on 2 years soon, the other coming up on one year soon.

 

I have another one that has been in an event cache since late February. The event has been archived but 14 travelers still remain in inventory...

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...6e-89350d93ee18

 

Dunno what to make of that?

 

As for coins - I have several. IN MY COLLECTION. I share them with folks at events, but I'm not releasing them - too many disappear. I think Nuggs (my better half) has some out there but I can't say as I've seen a log for any of them lately...

 

Jenn

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I know how you feel. We just went through our inventory of Travel Bugs and Geocoins and have come up with 22 Bugs/Coins that have gone missing.

 

We believe that this is an alarming fact. They have either been logged into a cache and are now not there or have been picked up and we have not received an answer from the cacher that logged the retreival.

 

:P

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I have another one that has been in an event cache since late February. The event has been archived but 14 travelers still remain in inventory...

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...6e-89350d93ee18

 

Dunno what to make of that?

 

I've had a TB left behind at an event before now. There are still 8 users watching that archived event cache so it might be worth posting a note to the page asking whether any of them picked up your TB, or remembers someone having it. I know it's a long shot, but it worked for me once and I got an apologetic email from the cacher who had my TB. :rolleyes:

 

MrsB

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I have another one that has been in an event cache since late February. The event has been archived but 14 travelers still remain in inventory...

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...6e-89350d93ee18

 

Dunno what to make of that?

 

I've had a TB left behind at an event before now. There are still 8 users watching that archived event cache so it might be worth posting a note to the page asking whether any of them picked up your TB, or remembers someone having it. I know it's a long shot, but it worked for me once and I got an apologetic email from the cacher who had my TB. :)

 

MrsB

 

Thanks - I just posted such a note so we'll see what happens :)

 

Jenn

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i know what you mean! i went to vegas and dropped my first travel bug ever after caching for a couple of years! it still shows in the cache, but when i emailed all three cachers who came after me, only two responded with appoligies that they did not see it. the cacher who did not respond had come two days after i, and has only "discovered" one bug in the past, but logged that he took it! that was in july '08! i know this is a game, but it losses it's fun when others don't play nice.

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I think I've given up all hope on one bug. We released him on 4/17/2008. It was picked two days later and that's the last we've heard. I've sent three messages, but have never had a reply. The cacher was a 10 year old boy. His last visit to geocaching.com was on 4/19/2008. He hunted with a group of students at a local school. I e-mailed the club's user name and never heard back. Their last visit was on 7/2008.

 

After reading various posts, I'm assuming that I can re-release another bug using the copy tag. Should I grab it from the user so that I can drop the new one in a cache.

Edited by whartonia
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It's really sad, but the only bug/coin I've had any luck in it staying alive is a tiny loggerhead coin I released while in New Zealand in 2007.

 

I had one I set loose in September 2006. [i'd activated it in 2005, but wasn't happy with the hitchhiker, so it took me about a year to find the "perfect" item.]

 

It milled around my home area for two months, and then wound up in the hands of someone who had a relative going to it's ultimate destination. The bug was to go to Auckland, NZ, sort of a "race" to see who would make it there first, me or it.

 

Then it "disappeared". The member in possession said that they would release it "soon". That was mid-2007, after I had already gone to NZ myself in March.

 

Subsequent inquiries received no response.

 

I was a bit tickled pink when I saw it placed in a cache 2 months ago. Then I looked up the cache. It was basically a "replacement cache" for a 5/5 that had been muggled. [i have some serious problems with keeping travelers for an extended period of time.] If I hadn't moved from that area last year, I would have busted my butt to go reclaim it from that cache. I wish I had asked someone I knew to go after it, b/c what'd'ya know, the cache was missing again in less than a week.

 

I'm annoyed. I've released 5 and 4 are lost. I know people have released more and lost more, but... It just really annoys me. My hopes were up that we'd have another "race", but those are a bit dashed now...

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I think I've given up all hope on one bug. We released him on 4/17/2008. It was picked two days later and that's the last we've heard. I've sent three messages, but have never had a reply. The cacher was a 10 year old boy. His last visit to geocaching.com was on 4/19/2008. He hunted with a group of students at a local school. I e-mailed the club's user name and never heard back. Their last visit was on 7/2008.

 

After reading various posts, I'm assuming that I can re-release another bug using the copy tag. Should I grab it from the user so that I can drop the new one in a cache.

You can release the copy, just don't delete any of the prior logs for the original. Change the name, description, mission, but don't delete the prior logs as that would affect your bug's history as well as the history of cachers who found the original.

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Just to throw a positive story in - I just recently started geocaching and really love the TBs and geocoins. Well, a friend of mine used to geocache, but stopped for various reasons, with a TB in his possession. I got him to hand it off to me, and it's now back on it's way (hopefully! lol! barring any other abductions!) My friend picked it up 8/29/2007, I placed it in a new cache on 4/22/09. There is always hope! :-)

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A Little FYI.....

 

From What I can Research, Wavector last posted on February 18th 2009.

The last cache he did was February 8th.

But he was on GC.com April 13th 2009, last week . Did anyone hear from him?

It's ashame that he has 4 cointests going on with all the promises of Great coins that people sent him for his cointests, and he abanded the cointest threads.

I know That I as well as everyone who answered the Nutty Butty cointest worked VERY HARD to find the difficult answers. What a waste of time, I mean , they weren't even FUN, they were HARD!!!!!!!!!

Maybe he's decided to keep the gifted coins himself.

I have emailed him and posted that I hope all is well SEVERAL times. He was well enough to log on on April 13th, but not well enough to cancel the cointests or explein what was going on.

 

I don't know.

 

I'm Disappointed.

 

Opalsns

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We designed a Little League TB for my son, an avid ballplayer, attached one of his medals to it and someone moved it once from last July. I have nicely e-mailed the person who has it twice offering to send him the money to at least mail it back to us. Not even a response. There should be some type of suspension for people who continue to pick them up and hold them for 9 months.

If any of these "holders" are out there, why pick them up if you have no intention upon moving them, and then ignore e-mail asking you to please send it back. Especially when it belongs to a child. Perhaps they do not realize the time and effort some of us put into our TB's, pictures of it, buying it, etc.

Please, if you are not going to ever replace it, don't pick it up out of the cache!!!!

 

Thanks, I feel better now!

 

 

:o

I set out 4 travel bugs back during the summer and 3 of the four have gone missing / stolen.

 

Not a nice thing to do.

 

I emailed the people who last dropped them off, as well as checked logs from the caches they were supposedly left and some mention the bugs were not there.

 

I guess some people don't play by the rules huh. I guess we can only hope someone still has them and will log them somewhere.

 

Thanks for the venting.

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Well, one of mine that was logged into an event cache for nearly 2 months, was logged again, so I still have 2 MIA, and 3 that are still active.

 

Just for the heck of it, I sent a polite message to the person who picked up my first one that went missing, nearly 2 years ago, asking politely if they still have the bug, and if so, would they be willing to mail it to me if I paid for its postage.

 

I think I last tried to contact them about a year ago (so I'm not being a pest).. but my last contact went unanswered. My initial contact with them, several months after they picked up the bug, was answered - but they did not follow through on their promise to drop it. So in nearly 2 years, I've attempted contact either 3 or 4 times. Once was acknowledged, the other time or two was/were not. Since it's been a year or so since I last asked, perhaps they might be a bit more receptive (fingers crossed).

 

Jenn

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Come to think of it - that cacher has a number of bugs and coins in his/her possession according to their profile (looked at their logs for trackables).

 

IF they happen to reply, and if they are willing to mail my bug, I will ask if they would be willing to mail all the bugs/coins (all being held for nearly 2 years - they only cached for one day I think). I am sure everyone else would be glad to see their trackables back in circulation.

 

I do hope they reply... but not holding my breath.

 

Jenn

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