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changing difficulty stars on a cache?


Woletrap

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Hi all,

 

If I were to change the difficulty rating of a cache I own, what would happen to all the peoples' accounts who previously logged finds?

 

I was originally thinking it would mess with people who use itsnotaboutthenumbers, but then I remembered it re-compiles from scratch when you update your stats, so shouldn't affect that.

 

I can't think of anything else, but thought I'd ask.

 

:ph34r:

 

thanks!!

 

jeff

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If you have rating combo that isn't common in your area and also have a Fizzy Challenge sort of challenge cache in your state, it might throw someone for a loop. This happened to me before. Of course, its your cache, so if you think it's rated incorrectly, its probably more important to rate it correctly than to worry about messing with someone's Fizzy caches :ph34r:

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I recently did exactly that, upped the D in response to a couple of Found It logs. Was in the area, checked up on the cache, and found that I hid it a little better than originally indicated. :ph34r: I also posted a Maintenance Log on the page to let anyone know of the change. Sometimes, expectations mean so much!

 

I say, do what you think is right for that cache.

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i'm just concerned that i rated it too low due to the amount of DNF's people are posting. of course i spot it immediately so its hard for me to judge the stars. its got 56 finds and 20 dnf's, with a difficulty rating of 2 stars. i was thinking of upping it at least to 3 stars.

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i'm just concerned that i rated it too low due to the amount of DNF's people are posting. of course i spot it immediately so its hard for me to judge the stars. its got 56 finds and 20 dnf's, with a difficulty rating of 2 stars. i was thinking of upping it at least to 3 stars.
It sounds like a 3 star but how would it rate against other 3 star caches in your area?
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Of course, its your cache, so if you think it's rated incorrectly, its probably more important to rate it correctly than to worry about messing with someone's Fizzy caches

 

I totally agree. Terrain ratings are a safety matter and difficulty ratings are for the convenience of far more finders than the handful who will be working on the Fizzy challenge.

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What goes up might come down too! As in a pretty tuff hide I placed mid-summer. I had this artificial leaf I fastened to a chain-link fence strand, dead in the middle of some ivy vines growing all thru the fence - a PERFECT match. Had some DNFs, plus the surrounding area looks like a Tank Battalion used it for a pivot point, so I know many more have searched for it that haven't filed DNFs. Anyway, suddenly all kinds of logs start coming in so as I passed the spot the other day I thought to check it out. Between the grounds crew doing some pruning/shearing, & the winter-season taking its toll on foliage, the dang thing's standing out there all bare -- might's well have a red flag tied to it!

 

Got me to wonderin' should I rate it high, low, or just go with a 'seasonal average'. :unsure:

 

~*

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Of course, its your cache, so if you think it's rated incorrectly, its probably more important to rate it correctly than to worry about messing with someone's Fizzy caches

 

I totally agree. Terrain ratings are a safety matter and difficulty ratings are for the convenience of far more finders than the handful who will be working on the Fizzy challenge.

 

I own a Fizzy Challenge like cache. I allow cachers to use the rating that existed at the time my cache was published. This eliminates the issue of owners changing ratings to assist in the Fizzy Challenge. And it eliminates the issue if the owner makes a legitimate change to the rating that inadvertently hurts a Fizzy Challenger. Everybody wins.

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What goes up might come down too! As in a pretty tuff hide I placed mid-summer. I had this artificial leaf I fastened to a chain-link fence strand, dead in the middle of some ivy vines growing all thru the fence - a PERFECT match. Had some DNFs, plus the surrounding area looks like a Tank Battalion used it for a pivot point, so I know many more have searched for it that haven't filed DNFs. Anyway, suddenly all kinds of logs start coming in so as I passed the spot the other day I thought to check it out. Between the grounds crew doing some pruning/shearing, & the winter-season taking its toll on foliage, the dang thing's standing out there all bare -- might's well have a red flag tied to it!

 

Got me to wonderin' should I rate it high, low, or just go with a 'seasonal average'. :unsure:

 

~*

 

Green leaf in the Spring/Summer,

brown leaf in the Fall/Winter!

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In my case,

sometimes you have to change the difficulty rating of a cache, as it changes with season, with regard to vegetation growth... mine is far easier in winter when there are no nettles and brambles around :lol:

 

There are a lot of caches, placed close to the ground, which the actual difficult goes up significantly when there is snow on the ground. Rather than change the D/T ratings seasonally, adding a note to the listing that the snow/lack of undergrowth will effect the actual difficulty. I know that I really appreciated seeing notes like that a few days ago when I was out caching after a foot of fresh snow had fallen.

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There was a local cache that was rated a 2 difficulty, yet it had something like 15 DNFs and no finds. That, to me, is harder than a 2. The owner agreed and upped it to a 4. It ended up getting 26 DNFs before being found...and it's only been found by that 1 person so far, which is its only find to date.

 

Rating a cache correctly is important. It's frustrating to be looking for a low rated cache yet seeing 20 other DNFs. On the same token, it's a pain to walk 1/2 a mile through the woods to find a cache that you have a to climb 20 feet up a tree to grab, yet it's only rated a 1 terrain.

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