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"Member-only" caches through Geocaching.com


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I've finally resorted to posting a message after not being able to find too much information about the perks of membership. Specifically, I am most interested in the "member only caches" descriptor. Can someone elaborate on this? Are "member only" caches.... better? Most of the caches I have been to in the last few weeks have contained items for small children, and I was wondering if member caches have a more "elite" theme and stricter rules governing what can be traded.

 

Do member-only caches show up on the regular geocaching.com search map once you are registered?

 

Any other information about what makes member-only caches "better" would be appreciated.

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On average, I wouldn't expect that you'd find significantly better trade items in members only caches. You'd be more likely to find trade swag for grownups in caches that involve a long hike.

 

There is no one-month membership options but you could try a three-month membership to check it out.

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I've finally resorted to posting a message after not being able to find too much information about the perks of membership. Specifically, I am most interested in the "member only caches" descriptor. Can someone elaborate on this? Are "member only" caches.... better? Most of the caches I have been to in the last few weeks have contained items for small children, and I was wondering if member caches have a more "elite" theme and stricter rules governing what can be traded.

 

Do member-only caches show up on the regular geocaching.com search map once you are registered?

 

Any other information about what makes member-only caches "better" would be appreciated.

 

No, not "elite",,, just for members only.

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If I rated caches on a scale of 1 to 10 - the average PM only cache would be maybe .5 higher than the average cache. As for trade items, newer caches and remote caches tend to have the best swag despite the membership status.

 

No there are no rules - any Pm can mark any of thier caches as a PM only.

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People make caches "Member Only" for various reasons. Sometimes if there's been a rash of cache mugglings in the area, they'll make Travel Bug Hotels member only to try to cut down on thievery. It adds a level of security (you have to pay to see it) and, more importantly, the cache owner can see who all has been viewing his cache. Yep, if you even pull up the cache page, the CO can see that each time you do it.

 

But, to me, MO caches are the least of the perks of Premium membership. Pocket Queries, Bookmarks, Notifications, Caches Along a Route, etc are of much more benefit, IMHO. :)

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Most people do it for the audit feature. Some misguided souls think it makes the cache more secure and you'll see others (albeit a very small group) who feel MOCs in some way "give back" to the geocaching community.

 

In reality, most MOCs we have been to have not been any better than there non-MOC counterparts, many times not even as good. Since we often cache with new cachers or even about to be cachers, there are often times we go to a MOC with them since we really don't pay attention to which is which. Thankfully, since MOCs are only intended to keep none members from accessing the information, TPTB included a feature to allow non-PM's to log these caches so at most if we have hunted one of these it is only a minor issue to deal with after the fact.

 

Most areas have very few MOC's and, like we said in our experience, wouldn't pay extra for the ability to hunt them. There are plenty "open" caches to hunt

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Some misguided souls think it makes the cache more secure

 

I can tell you for a fact that the the MOC feature has made my Summer of Love cache more secure. It's located along the sidewalk on a major street, 200' from a major intersection, in an extremely cache dense area. I keep a notification of all logs within a radius of of my home, which also includes this cache. I see when the 100 a day crowd shows up, which is quite frequently I see how they find everything in the area, except my cache, and I also see how a lot of the other caches in the area mysteriously disappear. The MOC attribute has keep the find count down to 24 in six months, while other caches in the area probably are closer to 75. Those other caches seem to disappear and have to be replaced on a regular basis.

 

In this case, I used the PMOC feature to cut down on traffic to the area, which decreased the the chances that a cacher that was more concerned about his/her find count, exposed the cache to a second party, (muggle).

 

 

In reality, most MOCs we have been to have not been any better than there non-MOC counterparts, many times not even as good. Since we often cache with new cachers or even about to be cachers, there are often times we go to a MOC with them since we really don't pay attention to which is which. Thankfully, since MOCs are only intended to keep none members from accessing the information, TPTB included a feature to allow non-PM's to log these caches so at most if we have hunted one of these it is only a minor issue to deal with after the fact.

 

Most areas have very few MOC's and, like we said in our experience, wouldn't pay extra for the ability to hunt them. There are plenty "open" caches to hunt

Edited by Don_J
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People make caches "Member Only" for various reasons. Sometimes if there's been a rash of cache mugglings in the area, they'll make Travel Bug Hotels member only to try to cut down on thievery. It adds a level of security (you have to pay to see it) and, more importantly, the cache owner can see who all has been viewing his cache. Yep, if you even pull up the cache page, the CO can see that each time you do it.

 

But, to me, MO caches are the least of the perks of Premium membership. Pocket Queries, Bookmarks, Notifications, Caches Along a Route, etc are of much more benefit, IMHO. :)

 

I often make cache members only for caches that are in areas I do not want to subject to high traffic counts (muggles, vegetation, etc). I also start most of my caches members only to allow paying members the improved odds of a FTF.

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I've finally resorted to posting a message after not being able to find too much information about the perks of membership. Specifically, I am most interested in the "member only caches" descriptor. Can someone elaborate on this? Are "member only" caches.... better? Most of the caches I have been to in the last few weeks have contained items for small children, and I was wondering if member caches have a more "elite" theme and stricter rules governing what can be traded.

 

Do member-only caches show up on the regular geocaching.com search map once you are registered?

 

Any other information about what makes member-only caches "better" would be appreciated.

It has been my observation that Premium member-only caches tend to have somewhat higher swag quality, due to the modest reduction in finds by people most likely to leave junk as swag.

 

It is also indisputably true that Platinum Member-only caches ALWAYS have very high swag quality and are ALWAYS excellent or downright amazing hides, but then again, it is also true that there are only about 250 geocachers worldwide who can even see the listing pages for these caches, much less have the ability to find them.

 

.

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Most people do it for the audit feature. Some misguided souls think it makes the cache more secure and you'll see others (albeit a very small group) who feel MOCs in some way "give back" to the geocaching community.

 

In reality, most MOCs we have been to have not been any better than there non-MOC counterparts, many times not even as good. Since we often cache with new cachers or even about to be cachers, there are often times we go to a MOC with them since we really don't pay attention to which is which. Thankfully, since MOCs are only intended to keep none members from accessing the information, TPTB included a feature to allow non-PM's to log these caches so at most if we have hunted one of these it is only a minor issue to deal with after the fact.

 

Most areas have very few MOC's and, like we said in our experience, wouldn't pay extra for the ability to hunt them. There are plenty "open" caches to hunt

First of all you have to actually find these PMO caches to make a judgment as to wether they're better,worse or, "not even as good," (slaughter the english language).

 

We have 74 caches hidden and ALL of them are PMO. Know why ? Because we use the GC.com site everyday just like the rest of you and if you use the GC.com site everyday, PAY FOR IT.

 

Do you think the site is run by fairies ?? Magic ?? Cough up the $30 for the year and shut up. We would pay double that. If you use it, PAY FOR IT !

 

AGAIN, the only members who whine up a storm about PMO caches ARE PREMIUM MEMBERS !! It's bizarre !

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I've finally resorted to posting a message after not being able to find too much information about the perks of membership. Specifically, I am most interested in the "member only caches" descriptor. Can someone elaborate on this? Are "member only" caches.... better? Most of the caches I have been to in the last few weeks have contained items for small children, and I was wondering if member caches have a more "elite" theme and stricter rules governing what can be traded.

 

Do member-only caches show up on the regular geocaching.com search map once you are registered?

 

Any other information about what makes member-only caches "better" would be appreciated.

 

 

Do you use the GC.com site ? Yes, you do ! SO PAY FOR IT !! That's the bottom line. If you use it, pay for it. Period. GC.com needs to stop allowing users to USE their site FOR FREE !! Cough up the cash or get lost ! Gimme a break, $30 bucks for a year ? Huge bargain.

 

If I ran the site I would hike membership up to at least $50 per year.....no actually $60 !! Where would you go ???

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I've finally resorted to posting a message after not being able to find too much information about the perks of membership. Specifically, I am most interested in the "member only caches" descriptor. Can someone elaborate on this? Are "member only" caches.... better? Most of the caches I have been to in the last few weeks have contained items for small children, and I was wondering if member caches have a more "elite" theme and stricter rules governing what can be traded.

 

Do member-only caches show up on the regular geocaching.com search map once you are registered?

 

Any other information about what makes member-only caches "better" would be appreciated.

 

In the beginning the coordinates of caches could be viewed by anyone, and many caches were signed by people who never signed up. On my first finds in 2001, I just signed my name. A few years later they added Members Only caches so that Jeremy could make the site a full time job and to partly encourage more online logs, I guess. The name seems elitist because in reality all geocachers are members, and need to sign up to view cache coordinates now anyway. The caches are generally pretty much the same, but more likely to be there and looked after. Among cachers, there is no difference, as there is a great multitude of cachers who are not paying members and who have done plenty to make the game more fun. There are also plenty of people who pay the money and dont know squat. They should just change the name from "Members Only" caches to "Diehard Signal Supporter" caches or something along those lines.

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Any other information about what makes member-only caches "better" would be appreciated.

 

Nothing makes them better. They are however a tool to lower the number of potential finders, or to ensure that your finders are either PM's, with a PM, or smart enough to figure out out without being a PM.

 

There are times that those are beneficial if you are a cache owner. Most times it doesn't matter.

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In our area, coin theft from caches is a big problem. PMO caches seem to be safer as obviously most thieves don't want to pay in order to steal. :blink:
I won't put someone's coin in a low terrain non-PMO cache. High terrain caches are generally safe because thieves are also typically lazy jerks.

 

I totally agree with that (the lazy jerk part!)

I usually don't like the member only feature but I am glad we used it on three of our caches. There are a few (only a few) mean spirited individuals around here who have been known to take and/or vandalize caches of those they don't like and we had the three caches initially listed as PM and they went missing. Two days before, the night before and the day after, the same people 'viewed' the caches. At that time those same people were making a big deal about ignoring our caches. Now that doesn't prove one thing but it sure makes you wonder. Why were they viewed?

The only real objection we have to the Member Only designation is when it is used on Earthcaches. God made the ECs, we didn't, so why restrict it from anyone? That just seems tacky!

P.S. I also agree that PM caches are generally not better than non-PM caches. :)

Edited by Konnarock Kid & Marge
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...

Any other information about what makes member-only caches "better" would be appreciated.

 

Nothing makes them better. They are however a tool to lower the number of potential finders, or to ensure that your finders are either PM's, with a PM, or smart enough to figure out out without being a PM.

 

There are times that those are beneficial if you are a cache owner. Most times it doesn't matter.

 

This is the exact reason why I have used the feature. I have a 111 active hides and 2 of them are PMOCs. Both are to keep the activity down at GZ. I'll trade a multi-paragraph log a week, for a set of multiple TFTC's per day.

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People make caches "Member Only" for various reasons. Sometimes if there's been a rash of cache mugglings in the area, they'll make Travel Bug Hotels member only to try to cut down on thievery. It adds a level of security (you have to pay to see it) and, more importantly, the cache owner can see who all has been viewing his cache. Yep, if you even pull up the cache page, the CO can see that each time you do it.

 

 

OK, How do I see who has pulled my cache pages? I'm a PM and have never found that feature.

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People make caches "Member Only" for various reasons. Sometimes if there's been a rash of cache mugglings in the area, they'll make Travel Bug Hotels member only to try to cut down on thievery. It adds a level of security (you have to pay to see it) and, more importantly, the cache owner can see who all has been viewing his cache. Yep, if you even pull up the cache page, the CO can see that each time you do it.

 

 

OK, How do I see who has pulled my cache pages? I'm a PM and have never found that feature.

There is a link at the top of the cache page for the cache owner that says: Read the audit log Edited by TrailGators
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