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Least Hides/Greatest Complaints


ximines

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Seems that the fewer number of hides a cacher has, the quicker he/she is to complain, and often advise on a better placement. Also the least likely to add a piece of paper where a log is full or wet.

Do they all think that owners all live within a few minutes walk?

While we accept the responsibility of maintaining our caches. it would be pleasing to think that ALL finders might be supportive rather than just whingeing. Of course there are jusifiable whinges, but not like the Spanish couple in bangkok who complained that no-one understood them.

It would help all cachers if they were to read and digest the latest logs, but I guess that's too much to expect.

So thanks to the few who do carry out maintenance and offer constructive criticism and ideas.

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Seems that the fewer number of hides a cacher has, the quicker he/she is to complain, and often advise on a better placement. Also the least likely to add a piece of paper where a log is full or wet.

Do they all think that owners all live within a few minutes walk?

While we accept the responsibility of maintaining our caches. it would be pleasing to think that ALL finders might be supportive rather than just whingeing. Of course there are jusifiable whinges, but not like the Spanish couple in bangkok who complained that no-one understood them.

It would help all cachers if they were to read and digest the latest logs, but I guess that's too much to expect.

So thanks to the few who do carry out maintenance and offer constructive criticism and ideas.

 

My experiences do not match yours. Most of my experiences have been very positive.

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At first i thought the problem with newbies is they place caches too quickly and they are of poor quality.

 

Then i think of seasoned cachers who this applies to. It seems that if you use duct tape on a vitamin bottle then it is less money per cache which equals more caches and (i guess?) more importantly more smileys.

 

We dont cache for smileys so i hate your pill bottle with camo duct tape (that doesnt even camo at all) stuck in that bush at McDonalds.

 

ugh...

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A couple of thoughts, take em or leave em.

 

Maintenance is the owners responsibility. If I do not have the time to do the maintenance then I post a log saying the owner should visit the cache. I am cautious about SBA or Needs Maintenance.

 

This last week I replaced two containers that were 150 miles away from home. I replaced numerous logs and replenished a few caches with swag. If I visit a cache and I do not have the proper items to maintain it then I will turn it over to the owner. I only have 6 hides one is archived. I am not a complainer, at the same time I let the owner know the condition of the cache, as I expect others to do for me. My hides are fairly close to home and I do maintain them.

 

Don't think of the maintenance logs as complainers. How many cachers never let you know that your cache is a mess. Those are the folks I get upset about.

 

Edit for these thoughts:

 

If your logs are wet then spend some money on waterproof logs. If your container leaks then make a effort to maintain it more often, or improve it.

I am not against a prolific hider. But if they can not visit the cache for maintenance within a year then there is a problem.

Edited by undertree
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At first i thought the problem with newbies is they place caches too quickly and they are of poor quality.

 

Then i think of seasoned cachers who this applies to. It seems that if you use duct tape on a vitamin bottle then it is less money per cache which equals more caches and (i guess?) more importantly more smileys.

 

We dont cache for smileys so i hate your pill bottle with camo duct tape (that doesnt even camo at all) stuck in that bush at McDonalds.

 

ugh...

 

I would venture to say that for every one person who feels the way you do about the easier to find caches there are five out there who disagree. Not everybody can go out and find the harder caches. The camo'd pill bottle in the bush at McDonald's may allow somebody who can't get around easily the chance to still participate. Additionally, it is an easy enough hide that the children can do it. As the mother of a 6yo and 2yo, I am grateful to those who place such caches. My 6 year old can find the harder ones. My 2 year old on the other hand makes EVERYBODY smile when she is able to go look through the bush and find the pill bottle cache. She loves to cache. Being able to find some on her own makes her love it even more!

 

And, a simple solution...if you hate something, don't do it.

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And, a simple solution...if you hate something, don't do it.

 

Yeah. Like if you don't like premium members logging MOC caches, then don't hide MOC caches. :)

 

:P

 

Boy, you are funny. However, if you had read the post you are commenting on in the other thread, you would see that wasn't the problem. The problem was people who don't sign the log and still claim the find. But, if you want to continue this conversation, please move it to the appropriate thread.

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Seems that the fewer number of hides a cacher has, the quicker he/she is to complain, and often advise on a better placement. Also the least likely to add a piece of paper where a log is full or wet.

Do they all think that owners all live within a few minutes walk?

While we accept the responsibility of maintaining our caches. it would be pleasing to think that ALL finders might be supportive rather than just whingeing. Of course there are jusifiable whinges, but not like the Spanish couple in bangkok who complained that no-one understood them.

It would help all cachers if they were to read and digest the latest logs, but I guess that's too much to expect.

So thanks to the few who do carry out maintenance and offer constructive criticism and ideas.

 

My experiences do not match yours. Most of my experiences have been very positive.

 

Mine too. In my opinion, not just the majority, but the huge majority of cachers , including the inexperienced ones, deal with issues in a well reasoned and mature manner. Most of the ones who don't do well simply think their approach is the only way to address things. Once they are treated respectfully and understand they are being listened to, back down from their angst.

Edited by BlueDeuce
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I would venture to say that for every one person who feels the way you do about the easier to find caches there are five out there who disagree.

I agree with your analysis. As this game has gotten more mainstream, it has devolved to fit the lowest common denominator, the couch potato. While this is a good thing for this website, (more players ultimately equals more money), for those of us who prefer at least a hint of mental or physical challenges, this transition can be painful to watch. Hence, the flurry of anti-micro threads. While I certainly do advocate expressing your likes and dislikes, (Lame caches Suck!), it's probably more effective to screen out the types of caches that don't fit your particular aesthetic, and hide more that do, in the hopes that you'll inspire others to raise the bar a bit.

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...Do they all think that owners all live within a few minutes walk?...

A lot of them act like there is nothing more important to you than to cater to their convenience.

 

I love the emails that I get every now and then. "This cache hasn't been found in a while can you please go check it before I head out? Thanks!" That's on a remote cache with nothing but finds and a long history of gaps between finds.

 

I'm always tempted to return the favor. "Sorry, I won't be in that area before you are, but please send photo's of the cache, I'd like to see how my paint job is holding up, oh and list the contents in detail I may want you to go back and restock it and maybe even put on a coat of paint after sanding away any rust, thanks!.

 

However that's just ignorance. The ones who I find the most funny are folks who blow through town with massive finds who a**-u-me they are right about some nit they are picking. I had one email me they couldn't find the cache so it must be gone and I thought, "Well they didn't find this other cache that would have helped them find this one but they have a truckload of finds so maybe it really is gone, I'll check". Nope. Right were it was supposed to be. Turns out they really didn't have a clue about the hide type. Obvious if you had seen it. Not so obvious if you didn't. The DNF ratio was a testimony to that but they thought their massive finds was enough to help them judge the MIA status. It wasn't.

Edited by Renegade Knight
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I love the emails that I get every now and then. "This cache hasn't been found in a while can you please go check it before I head out? Thanks!" That's on a remote cache with nothing but finds and a long history of gaps between finds.

Darn, that's mighty nice of you! While you're there, can you just sign my name in the log so that I don't have to go out there myself? :)

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I would venture to say that for every one person who feels the way you do about the easier to find caches there are five out there who disagree.

I agree with your analysis. As this game has gotten more mainstream, it has devolved to fit the lowest common denominator, the couch potato. While this is a good thing for this website, (more players ultimately equals more money), for those of us who prefer at least a hint of mental or physical challenges, this transition can be painful to watch. Hence, the flurry of anti-micro threads. While I certainly do advocate expressing your likes and dislikes, (Lame caches Suck!), it's probably more effective to screen out the types of caches that don't fit your particular aesthetic, and hide more that do, in the hopes that you'll inspire others to raise the bar a bit.

 

I concur with CR. What are we talking about here? :) Oh yeah. I actually agree with the OP, newbs will tend to "report" things that aren't really a problem. And will easily proclaim a cache to be missing. Thinking way back, even I did that. Not that I proclaimed caches missing, but I definitely reported stupid carp that wasn't really a problem.

 

Example, I've had two newbs in the last couple of weeks report a cache being very hard to open (strapped to a tree), when it's actually designed to be removed before being opened. It's not really my cache, but I'm the local maintainer for a guy who lives like 75 miles away.

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Seems that the fewer number of hides a cacher has, the quicker he/she is to complain, and often advise on a better placement. Also the least likely to add a piece of paper where a log is full or wet.

Do they all think that owners all live within a few minutes walk?...SNIP...

 

Perhaps it's because novices come into this sport with unrealistic expectations. For instance, they believe that cache owners should take care of their caches.

 

Once they've found their 5th full logbook, in their 20th leaky film canister that wacky notion is gone.

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I would venture to say that for every one person who feels the way you do about the easier to find caches there are five out there who disagree. Not everybody can go out and find the harder caches. The camo'd pill bottle in the bush at McDonald's may allow somebody who can't get around easily the chance to still participate. Additionally, it is an easy enough hide that the children can do it. As the mother of a 6yo and 2yo, I am grateful to those who place such caches. My 6 year old can find the harder ones. My 2 year old on the other hand makes EVERYBODY smile when she is able to go look through the bush and find the pill bottle cache. She loves to cache. Being able to find some on her own makes her love it even more!

 

And, a simple solution...if you hate something, don't do it.

Maybe i didnt express what i was thinking.

 

I am not talking about making caches harder. Easy ones are fine too. I also have a 6yo and we do all kinds.

 

Duct tape isnt really camo. (Unless it is the cloth kind.) I wish people would take more time and care when placing caches. It seems many just toss em everywhere because they can.

 

Pill bottles are hard to get into. At least the ones with the small lids.

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I agree with your analysis. As this game has gotten more mainstream, it has devolved to fit the lowest common denominator, the couch potato. While this is a good thing for this website, (more players ultimately equals more money), for those of us who prefer at least a hint of mental or physical challenges, this transition can be painful to watch.

WOW. All I can say is wow. What an ugly thing to say.

 

Maybe i didnt express what i was thinking.

 

I am not talking about making caches harder. Easy ones are fine too. I also have a 6yo and we do all kinds.

 

Duct tape isnt really camo. (Unless it is the cloth kind.) I wish people would take more time and care when placing caches. It seems many just toss em everywhere because they can.

 

Pill bottles are hard to get into. At least the ones with the small lids.

 

Gotcha!! I gotta agree. The pill bottle in the tree is pretty easy, but I can appreciate the cache, like I said, simply because then my daughter (the 2yo) can make the grab. Looking for the tiny bison tubes is a little harder for her to do. Altho, honestly, the best ones for her to find are the little bird houses. She loves those! :)

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I would venture to say that for every one person who feels the way you do about the easier to find caches there are five out there who disagree.

I agree with your analysis. As this game has gotten more mainstream, it has devolved to fit the lowest common denominator, the couch potato. While this is a good thing for this website, (more players ultimately equals more money), for those of us who prefer at least a hint of mental or physical challenges, this transition can be painful to watch. Hence, the flurry of anti-micro threads. While I certainly do advocate expressing your likes and dislikes, (Lame caches Suck!), it's probably more effective to screen out the types of caches that don't fit your particular aesthetic, and hide more that do, in the hopes that you'll inspire others to raise the bar a bit.

(I have rendered in bold the relevant text above.) I have just visited your profile and noticed that you own a number of cache with a Terrain rating above 1.0 Such caches are way too difficult and waaay too dangerous, and I have logged SBAs on each of those caches. Please archive them immediately! The idea that I should have to get out of my car to reach the cache and sign the logbook is highly aversive to me, and is an affront to common sense!

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I would venture to say that for every one person who feels the way you do about the easier to find caches there are five out there who disagree.

I agree with your analysis. As this game has gotten more mainstream, it has devolved to fit the lowest common denominator, the couch potato. While this is a good thing for this website, (more players ultimately equals more money), for those of us who prefer at least a hint of mental or physical challenges, this transition can be painful to watch. Hence, the flurry of anti-micro threads. While I certainly do advocate expressing your likes and dislikes, (Lame caches Suck!), it's probably more effective to screen out the types of caches that don't fit your particular aesthetic, and hide more that do, in the hopes that you'll inspire others to raise the bar a bit.

(I have rendered in bold the relevant text above.) I have just visited your profile and noticed that you own a number of cache with a Terrain rating above 1.0 Such caches are way too difficult and waaay too dangerous, and I have logged SBAs on each of those caches. Please archive them immediately! The idea that I should have to get out of my car to reach the cache and sign the logbook is highly aversive to me, and is an affront to common sense!

 

ROFLMAO! Love your posts!

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I agree with your analysis. As this game has gotten more mainstream, it has devolved to fit the lowest common denominator, the couch potato. While this is a good thing for this website, (more players ultimately equals more money), for those of us who prefer at least a hint of mental or physical challenges, this transition can be painful to watch.

WOW. All I can say is wow. What an ugly thing to say.

 

Welcome to the forums, where many of us say "WOW. All I can say is wow" that people hide and seek pill bottles in the bushes at McDonalds. :) Which is private property, by the way, and we all know darn well that pill bottle almost never has permission to be there.

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I agree with your analysis. As this game has gotten more mainstream, it has devolved to fit the lowest common denominator, the couch potato. While this is a good thing for this website, (more players ultimately equals more money), for those of us who prefer at least a hint of mental or physical challenges, this transition can be painful to watch.

WOW. All I can say is wow. What an ugly thing to say.

 

Welcome to the forums, where many of us say "WOW. All I can say is wow" that people hide and seek pill bottles in the bushes at McDonalds. :) Which is private property, by the way, and we all know darn well that pill bottle almost never has permission to be there.

 

It's not the saying. It's the way.

 

Actually, I've never seen a pill bottle in a bush at the McDonald's around here. Guess we have higher caliber caching hides than y'all have. :)

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I agree with your analysis. As this game has gotten more mainstream, it has devolved to fit the lowest common denominator, the couch potato. While this is a good thing for this website, (more players ultimately equals more money), for those of us who prefer at least a hint of mental or physical challenges, this transition can be painful to watch.

WOW. All I can say is wow. What an ugly thing to say.

 

Welcome to the forums, where many of us say "WOW. All I can say is wow" that people hide and seek pill bottles in the bushes at McDonalds. :) Which is private property, by the way, and we all know darn well that pill bottle almost never has permission to be there.

 

It's not the saying. It's the way.

 

Actually, I've never seen a pill bottle in a bush at the McDonald's around here. Guess we have higher caliber caching hides than y'all have. :)

 

Oh, it's a hypothetical example. I see you are not the one who came up with it in this thread. :)

 

I see you're relatively new. Congratulations on your 1 year anniversary, by the way! I've seen many a newer person who appears to be totally shocked that there are some of us out here who don't feel that any cache is a great cache. Personally, my excuse is I'm somewhat of an old timer, and store parking lots and the bushes at McDonalds were not locations for geocaches when I started. Not in my area at least.

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I haven't seen newbies complaining in my area, but I have seen a number of spoiler logs written in their online logs on their first few finds. Things like "if you have trouble, look under what you would sit on..." and things like that.

 

I typically find that a nice email to them explaining things helps, along with an invite to the next get-together to meet folks.

 

That being said....I'll agree that caching is not the same as when I started and that a good portion of the caches closest to me are on my ignore list because a pill bottle/altoids tin/etc. dropped in the bus hand called "My first hide" is just not why I got into this sport.

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Seems that the fewer number of hides a cacher has, the quicker he/she is to complain, and often advise on a better placement. Also the least likely to add a piece of paper where a log is full or wet.

Do they all think that owners all live within a few minutes walk?...SNIP...

Perhaps it's because novices come into this sport with unrealistic expectations. For instance, they believe that cache owners should take care of their caches.

 

Once they've found their 5th full logbook, in their 20th leaky film canister that wacky notion is gone.

I'm sure when they're new to the forums they probably expect the Mods to be nice and helpful and not snarky and rude. I'm sure it doesn't take long for that wacky notion to be gone either. :)
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WOW. All I can say is wow. What an ugly thing to say.

The truth is often less than pretty. Would you disparage creativity? Many folks coming into this game these days seem to equate "easy to find" with "creativity need not apply". You mentioned that your daughter loves to find little bird houses. I do too.. Using a bird house to camo a cache shows that the hider is willing to use a slightly higher degree of creativity than what passes for normal these days. The hider could've simply plopped out a film canister in that same spot, and your daughter would have likely enjoyed finding it. By raising the bar, and applying creativity to their hide, the end result was your daughter having a higher degree of pleasure. That doesn't sound like a bad thing to me.

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I would venture to say that for every one person who feels the way you do about the easier to find caches there are five out there who disagree. Not everybody can go out and find the harder caches. The camo'd pill bottle in the bush at McDonald's may allow somebody who can't get around easily the chance to still participate. Additionally, it is an easy enough hide that the children can do it. As the mother of a 6yo and 2yo, I am grateful to those who place such caches. My 6 year old can find the harder ones. My 2 year old on the other hand makes EVERYBODY smile when she is able to go look through the bush and find the pill bottle cache. She loves to cache. Being able to find some on her own makes her love it even more!

 

And, a simple solution...if you hate something, don't do it.

 

 

Yes, I agree with you. Most of the caches I do are either wheelchair/disabled person(s) accesible or I add certainrules to them.

 

*Although this is not wheelchair accessible, I do allow other people to do the cache for wheelchair people and disabled people and still count it as a find for both if both the wheelchair/disabled person(s) and the person(s) doing for them are geocachers. If so, please put both usernames in the log. I like to be fair and find ways to include wheelchair people and disabled people, and I am hoping that by doing this, more people that would not normally be able to find the caches or go on the hikes/trips to go find them may still participate in some way in getting these caches and counting them as a find. I assure you I have felt in some measure, the sadness that you do through personal experience. Now more people can have fun. Thanks and I hope that you like this new way. Please feel free to contact me through my e-mail if you have any questions or comments. If the other person is not a cacher, I would appreciate it if the person who gets the cache for you is the owner of the house or someone that you know and trust not to take or destroy the cache or perform any other form of rude or harsh treatment. Thanks and have a lot more fun from now on, everyone. Thank you.

 

If I am not sure if it is accessible by Wheelchair/disabled person(s) I put that it may or may not be accessible to them. I always try to be fair to people who can't get out and do it themselves for one reason or another.

 

I hope that people will copy/paste this onto their caches that they make in the hopes that we may be able to get more people into the sport who otherwise may not be able to do it. Thanks and have a great day. gwf :)

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I haven't seen newbies complaining in my area, but I have seen a number of spoiler logs written in their online logs on their first few finds. Things like "if you have trouble, look under what you would sit on..." and things like that.

 

I typically find that a nice email to them explaining things helps, along with an invite to the next get-together to meet folks.

 

 

Yup!! I've seen tons of "newb spoiler" logs. I can't recall ever getting one on one of my own caches. If I did though, I'm sure I'd do what you did, send a helpful explanation email, and invite them out to the next get-together. Where I would fill their ears with anti-micro extremist propaganda. Mooooohahahahahaha! Just kidding. (I think).

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WOW. All I can say is wow. What an ugly thing to say.

The truth is often less than pretty. Would you disparage creativity? Many folks coming into this game these days seem to equate "easy to find" with "creativity need not apply". You mentioned that your daughter loves to find little bird houses. I do too.. Using a bird house to camo a cache shows that the hider is willing to use a slightly higher degree of creativity than what passes for normal these days. The hider could've simply plopped out a film canister in that same spot, and your daughter would have likely enjoyed finding it. By raising the bar, and applying creativity to their hide, the end result was your daughter having a higher degree of pleasure. That doesn't sound like a bad thing to me.

 

It has nothing to do with creativity. It has to do with not saying rude things about other people, particularly those you do not know. Your rude comments about the "lowest common denominator, the couch potato" and their apparent (in your opinion) lack of intelligence was snotty...

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Your rude comments about the "lowest common denominator, the couch potato" and their apparent (in your opinion) lack of intelligence was snotty...

Being a couch potato, (or should that be potaoe?), has nothing to do with intellect.

In common vernacular, the phrase is meant to describe someone who follows a sedentary lifestyle.

What some folks would call lazy. Lazy does not equal stupid. A lack of drive does not equal a lack of intelligence, regardless of your attempt to link the two.

I think you're reading way too much into the "lowest common denominator" portion of that post.

In that particular post, the LCD reference was regarding my personal, biased aesthetics.

I strongly dislike caches placed with little or no effort, and I see these couch potato caches as being geocaching's lowest common denominator.

Oh... For the record, I prefer "snarky" to "snotty"... much more accurate.

Have a blessed day! :ph34r:

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I guess most of us would prefer large caches with bountiful exchange content, pristine logs and not under close scrutiny by muggles.

 

However where I cache, Bangkok, we are distinguished by having the least area of parks than any other city in the world. These parks have more security than El Al, and dossers sleeping at a great concentration.

Add to this torrential rain during the "summer" and the continual pumping of the lake onto the shrubbery/trees in greater volume than the amounts used to douse raging fires.

As only "farangs" i.e. foreigners do any caching they, and non farang cachers are subject to intense curiosity.

 

Think you are not being watched, look up at the nearby high rises.

 

Searching for a cache requires lengthy anti muggle ploys, extended searching will bring a posse of "security"

 

Indeed at one cache near a large adjustable sundial, where the cacher is requested to check the "time", one was virtually arrested for swivelling the sundial to its correct position.

 

On top of this, being a third world country,"write on wet" paper is unheard of and unobtainable.

 

The end result of the foregoing is that a large cache will last as long as as a snowball in hell, and the bravest attempts to keep a cache dry are severely tested.

 

A camoflaged micro can last a few months, and the owners are constantly replacing them.

 

Why bother ? , well since caching started here we have had hundreds of cachers from overseas and thousands of "good" logs.

 

So those of you disparaging micros, we will return your fare if you can come to Bangkok and place a full size cache which lasts more than a week.

 

For the occasional whiners, we do have a free service which will deliver a cache to their hotel room.

 

Thankfully we are able to place caches in other parts of the country which are more satisfying and challenging.

 

One of our cachers is even revered by some USMC cachers for the testing quality of his caches, yet he's the same guy who sets micros.

 

NB a Garmin is double the price here.

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"I'm sure when they're new to the forums they probably expect the Mods to be nice and helpful and not snarky and rude. I'm sure it doesn't take long for that wacky notion to be gone either."

 

Have to agree, we are fortunate to have very patient and helpful reviewers, and to to see this from a moderator?????

 

Better he gets a sock puppet if he finds it necessary to be a snide. Currently reflects poorly on GC

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Your rude comments about the "lowest common denominator, the couch potato" and their apparent (in your opinion) lack of intelligence was snotty...

Being a couch potato, (or should that be potaoe?), has nothing to do with intellect.

In common vernacular, the phrase is meant to describe someone who follows a sedentary lifestyle.

What some folks would call lazy. Lazy does not equal stupid. A lack of drive does not equal a lack of intelligence, regardless of your attempt to link the two.

I think you're reading way too much into the "lowest common denominator" portion of that post.

In that particular post, the LCD reference was regarding my personal, biased aesthetics.

I strongly dislike caches placed with little or no effort, and I see these couch potato caches as being geocaching's lowest common denominator.

Oh... For the record, I prefer "snarky" to "snotty"... much more accurate.

Have a blessed day! :ph34r:

 

I think she took your quote personal, because all of her hides average 1 star terrain?

 

I refer to them as fast food cachers. Everything has to be "quick" their food, their cache finds, and their pathetic excuses for "found it" logs.

 

TurtleFinder,

 

You haven't been caching long enough to see the devolvement of geocaching by the type he has just described. We have seen the quality of caches degrade over the years.

Edited by Kit Fox
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eh, nevermind. Ducks in a barrel.

 

Kablam!

 

:ph34r:

 

To the OP: Yup, newbies are probably more prone to complaining, probably because getting your feet wet in the sport requires getting used to the jargon, or realizing that (as Briansnat has pointed out) many caches don't get maintenance on a real timely basis, heck even that reviewers DON'T actually go out and VISIT the cache before publishing (which was our particular fiction that we found out was so not true). (and for the record I do not think B was being snarky, just matter of fact, he's seen plenty after all).

 

Little guidance goes a long way. example: a new local - seven finds under belt complained in a DNF log that my coords were off by 54 feet. Well, no, they weren't. I invited him to come back to the cache when the weather was better - he had logged attempted the find on a bitter, snowy day in January, cloudy beyond reason. Yes I did try to cache that same day and was no better off. Just wasn't a caching day. Hopefully they realize now that the technology is great but can't be on the spot full time. No reason to be off-putting, just set 'em straight as has been mentioned upthread.

 

Everyones a newb once. It's cool. :(

 

(edited for clarity)

Edited by team_goobie
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eh, nevermind. Ducks in a barrel.

 

Kablam!

 

:ph34r:

 

To the OP: Yup, newbies are probably more prone to complaining, probably because getting your feet wet in the sport requires getting used to the jargon, or realizing that (as Briansnat has pointed out) many caches don't get maintenance on a real timely basis, heck even that reviewers DON'T actually go out and VISIT the cache before publishing (which was our particular fiction that we found out was so not true). (and for the record I do not think B was being snarky, just matter of fact, he's seen plenty after all).

 

Little guidance goes a long way. example: a new local - seven finds under belt complained in a DNF log that my coords were off by 54 feet. Well, no, they weren't. I invited him to come back to the cache when the weather was better - he had logged the find on a bitter, snowy day in January, cloudy beyond reason. Yes I did try to cache that same day and was no better off. Just wasn't a caching day. Hopefully they realize now that the technology is great but can't be on the spot full time. No reason to be off-putting, just set 'em straight as has been mentioned upthread.

 

Everyones a newb once. It's cool. :(

 

Now this is my favorite posting today. :unsure:

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Being relatively new to geocaching, I can understand why some newbs are prone to complain in the beggining. I think it's just from lack of experience, and conditioned attitudes.

Most Americans are used to be catered to by the business sector and the government in all of our affairs. We are used to getting our hamburger "Our Way", with service in "Less than 3 minutes". If you complain at most businesses, you get free samples, upgraded products, special service, immediate appologies or something of the sort.

In dealings with the government, a quick call to your local politician will always net an acceptable result. And if you whine enough, they will even get someone to do your paperwork for you. In most cases this is being done for a program that results in some sort of free hand out by the government too!

When we get involved in activities like organized sports, they have even changed the rules so that there is no loser. We don't want to hurt anyones feelings, now do we! Forgot that you took the joy of the victory away from the ten kids who worked half the summer getting good enough to be the winners, but then, they don't count do they. Everyone gets a trophy!

Then comes the first forray into geocaching . . . An activity that is not operated by any organized institution. It is supported by a group of people that work tirelessly to organize the mayhem of thousands of free spirited individuals, all doing their own thing. The entire system is based on the honor and integrity of the players. The foundation of the cache system is the result of thousands of volunteers. The players range from tiny tikes, elderly, disabled and mentally challenged to the person in the utmost excellence of physical condition, and holder of multiple doctorate degrees.

In the real world of having this information publicly available, it's a wonder any of the caches remain intact! I know there are some that do get muggled, but most stay in fairly good shape and in place. That is something of a miracle to me!

There are enough of us that lend a hand keeping things fresh and supplied, that most caches I've run into were in pretty good order. I even added paper to a couple of them, without knowing that this was something out of the ordinary. I just assumed that all players do this type of thing. I think most players in our area do.

If someone finds a situation that is really a problem, then it's only right to complain. But that should be limited to things like a cache placed in a dangerous situation. Caches that hold innapropriate materials or substances. Perhaps a cache that is unknowingly in dangerous proximity to an animals den, beehive or quicksand. Complaints should be reserved for something of the kind.

One way to have fun without needing to complain, is to do your homework. The cache listings all have indicators that tell the hunter what to expect. Their are labels for just about everything immaginable. I always read these. They help a lot. Being a little round guy with a heart condition, I don't want to attempt a climb of Mount Anything just yet. I do like a good walk however, and like to push my limits as much as possible. It's one of the reasons I like geocaching. It gives me a reason to get up from the couch or the computer! As for the difficulty . . . I like the ones that make me want to bang my head against the wall, but I need the easy ones to give me a quick reward when I start to get discouraged. Nothing like a good cache and dash when you have an otherwise poor outing. Sometimes that happens. I don't know about other folks, but I have my days when I couldn't find a donut in a bakery! LOL I guess it's just knowing my limits. That little pill bottle in the bush is just right before I gorf down a couple of big macs, and give it up for the day. It sets my mood for getting up the next morning to go try the harder ones again. So far I've eventually conquered all of them but one. I'll keep swinging by that one till I get it too. No sense in complaining about it. I chose to go look for it. I just havn't mesured up to the task yet. It is not the fault of the hider. And even if the thing did get muggled, at least the owner took the time to hide it to begin with. Maybed they'll fix it, and I can find it another time.

At any rate, I thank all of you who have set the caches that exist already. All of them have their own purpose, fun and charm. It's nice to find the cache-n-dash, and just as nice to find the evil micro two miles from anything resembling civilization. The system of organized caches in an event are great fun, but so is the one individual cache that someone took a lot of effort to design and camoflouge. I don't put down anyones cache. They all seem to have their place in the game to someone.

 

TFTC :ph34r:

Edited by Seeker_Knight
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Your rude comments about the "lowest common denominator, the couch potato" and their apparent (in your opinion) lack of intelligence was snotty...

Being a couch potato, (or should that be potaoe?), has nothing to do with intellect.

In common vernacular, the phrase is meant to describe someone who follows a sedentary lifestyle.

What some folks would call lazy. Lazy does not equal stupid. A lack of drive does not equal a lack of intelligence, regardless of your attempt to link the two.

I think you're reading way too much into the "lowest common denominator" portion of that post.

In that particular post, the LCD reference was regarding my personal, biased aesthetics.

I strongly dislike caches placed with little or no effort, and I see these couch potato caches as being geocaching's lowest common denominator.

Oh... For the record, I prefer "snarky" to "snotty"... much more accurate.

Have a blessed day! :D

 

I think she took your quote personal, because all of her hides average 1 star terrain?

 

I refer to them as fast food cachers. Everything has to be "quick" their food, their cache finds, and their pathetic excuses for "found it" logs.

 

TurtleFinder,

 

You haven't been caching long enough to see the devolvement of geocaching by the type he has just described. We have seen the quality of caches degrade over the years.

 

no, i didn't take it personally and it had nothing to do with the 1 star terrains. My big whopping 8 hides (not off all them are 1, BTW) have all been hidden with a 2 year old child in tow. Don't plan on me hiding much beyond that when her legs are as short as they are. 1/2 of my hides were also hidden to enable a friend on crutches to get out and start making some more finds. The other 1/2 are nanos. Don't expect me to take them out into the woods and make somebody seek them.

 

What I found as offensive was the crap comment about couch potato(e)s bringing down the mental aspect of the game.

Edited by TurtleFinder
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What I found as offensive was the crap comment about couch potato(e)s bringing down the mental aspect of the game.

 

In the beginning, most geocaches were hidden outdoors, requiring hikes to find them. Park and grabs in Walmart parking lots, didn't start until much later in the game. As geocaching became more popular, TV shows started using Geocaching content on episodes. The treasure hunting aspect of the game that helped increase the number of geocachers was the Travel Channel episode about finding treasure. Then came the introduction of geocaching in Couch potato shows like Law & Order. Another detraction that ruined (my opinion) the game was attributing status to your find number. Geocaching evolved (backward) towards easy caches in mundane locations, in an effort to pad smiley counts. A geocache on the top of a peak gets few visits, but number cachers figured they would help out, so they placed geocaches every .1 mile, all the way to the top of the peak.

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A geocache on the top of a peak gets few visits, but number cachers figured they would help out, so they placed geocaches every .1 mile, all the way to the top of the peak.

Put a Cheeseburger every .1 mile from here to the Holy Grail, I still don't think the number of Cheeseburgers counts towards anything but blood pressure and cholesterol. Finding the Holy Grail is what counts. Cheeseburgers can be found without a GPS.

 

There are caches out there that outweigh hundreds of parking lot micros just because of their location.

 

But then again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I just can't see much beauty in a Cheeseburger. Pity me.

 

Jan

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A geocache on the top of a peak gets few visits, but number cachers figured they would help out, so they placed geocaches every .1 mile, all the way to the top of the peak.

Put a Cheeseburger every .1 mile from here to the Holy Grail, I still don't think the number of Cheeseburgers counts towards anything but blood pressure and cholesterol. Finding the Holy Grail is what counts. Cheeseburgers can be found without a GPS.

 

There are caches out there that outweigh hundreds of parking lot micros just because of their location.

 

But then again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I just can't see much beauty in a Cheeseburger. Pity me.

 

Jan

 

Check out this map, where "do-gooders" covered the trail with caches, en route to LA County's oldest cache.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/map/default.aspx...;lng=-118.77292

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In the beginning, most geocaches were hidden outdoors, requiring hikes to find them. Park and grabs in Walmart parking lots, didn't start until much later in the game. As geocaching became more popular, TV shows started using Geocaching content on episodes. The treasure hunting aspect of the game that helped increase the number of geocachers was the Travel Channel episode about finding treasure. Then came the introduction of geocaching in Couch potato shows like Law & Order. Another detraction that ruined (my opinion) the game was attributing status to your find number. Geocaching evolved (backward) towards easy caches in mundane locations, in an effort to pad smiley counts. A geocache on the top of a peak gets few visits, but number cachers figured they would help out, so they placed geocaches every .1 mile, all the way to the top of the peak.

 

how did Law & Order introduce geocaching on their show? and why is a show like L&O a "couch potato" show, but the Travel Channel shows aren't? :D

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I think a lot of cache owners use logs to determine when maintnance is needed. It's when I don't hear something that makes me worry. A cacher recently visited the area I live and took it upon themself to replace caches they couldn't find. I had an evil hide turn into a light pole cache out of the kindness of this cacher. At least they placed a container 4' from my actual cache with thie blue sticker on it unlike nearby caches which they placed their sticker on light poles, guard rails, pay phones, and fence caps.

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What I found as offensive was the crap comment about couch potato(e)s bringing down the mental aspect of the game.

If you would read what was typed, as opposed to what you wanted to be typed, you'd probably save yourself a lot of angst. Harboring angst is not healthy. It causes stress, which can lead to long term elevated blood pressure and blood toxin accumulation. On the off chance that you maybe missed it the first time around, (rather than simply being deliberately obtuse), I'll repeat myself: Being a couch potato is not a measure of intellect. As a Life Member of Couch Potato's Anonymous, I can vouch for the fact that being lazy does not make a person stupid. Your attempts to connect the two traits are disparaging to sedentary people everywhere.

 

If you insist on taking this course, ignoring the facts which have been placed before you, could you please continue your argument via PM, so we don't drive this thread any farther off course?

 

Thanx! :D

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A geocache on the top of a peak gets few visits, but number cachers figured they would help out, so they placed geocaches every .1 mile, all the way to the top of the peak.

Put a Cheeseburger every .1 mile from here to the Holy Grail, I still don't think the number of Cheeseburgers counts towards anything but blood pressure and cholesterol. Finding the Holy Grail is what counts. Cheeseburgers can be found without a GPS.

 

There are caches out there that outweigh hundreds of parking lot micros just because of their location.

 

But then again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I just can't see much beauty in a Cheeseburger. Pity me.

 

Jan

Typically, we target the "top of the peak" cache and wade through the cheeseburgers to get there. We do search for the cheeseburgers sometimes because every now and then you find one with bacon on it.

 

As for the new cachers complaining more? Nah, we're frequently impressed with the quality of hides and logs from new cachers. Of course, many would consider us new cachers as well. It's all relative I guess.

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how did Law & Order introduce geocaching on their show? and why is a show like L&O a "couch potato" show, but the Travel Channel shows aren't? :D

 

Even Jeremy had a great post on the original Law and Order thread.

 

Fortunately there is still a barrier to entry right now (price of GPS). I'm more concerned about when cell phones have GPS units in them. That's when you'll see the "AOL affect"

 

No offense to AOL users.

 

The purpose of the Travel Channel is to share great places to visit, and to explore. Law and Order is a fake show with fake drama. The travel channel has always appealed to me because I like to go outdoors, and hike, not sit on a "Lazy boy" with a bag of Cheetos watching fake drama all day.

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I'm with you Kit! The only thing that is hard for me is carrying that 40" flat screen, reciever, and satellite dish while I am hiking and not sitting down, while watching the travel channel.

 

:laughing::D

 

Hit POST to early -- edited to add the following...

 

Regarding the original post - I am relatively new, but I don't fit the mold in the OP. I ordered a bunch of clear 6 mil bags when i started and carry them with me. I also printed off logs of different sizes to carry with me, in case i could help make a cache better along the way. I have added numerous logs, replaced numerous leaky bags, and even some cache containers along the way.

 

I usually don't post a sperate note, but siply write what I noticed/did in my found it log. I figure if I fixed the problem I don't need to file a needs maintenance log anymore, but I want the Co to know whatis happening in case they want to check it themselves.

 

I guess I still have enough noob in me to expect that the CO cares to maintain their cache, and i do get annoyed when I see that a cache has a series of DNFs and requests to check on it by people with many finds, and over the course of months the CO does nothing about it. When I start placing caches, I plan to think of them as children (sort of). If I can't take care of them, I shouldn't have them.

Edited by kraushad
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I'm with you Kit. The only thing that is hard for me is carrying that 40" flat screen, reciever, and satellite dish while I am hiking and not sitting down, while watching the travel channel.

 

:smiling:

 

Oddly enough,

 

I haven't seen a single Travel Channel episode highlighting lamppost covers in parking lots, as an adventurous form of entertainment. :D

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LOL! Maybe not lamppost caching, but i did just find a show on their listing that highlights travellig to different areas of the country to sit down and eat.... Man v. Food. NEXT EPISODE > Minneapolis > Wednesday, March 25, at 10 E/P

 

Now if only he would eat that hoagie while hiking up Mt. Rainier to pick up a smiley on Vinny & Sue's PMC (Psycho Mountain Cache)#268 "LOSE AN ARM GAIN A SMILEY"

 

:D

 

:laughing:

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