Destructive Geocachers

[+Jamie Z]

You know, this stuff really makes me mad.

 

 

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LU...f3-6db68376c681

 

Why would somebody do this? Is there something we can do about this? Can someone lose their geocaching privileges?

 

What's ironic is here are some comments from other geocachers:

 

"Hate the graffiti though, too bad it can't be removed."

"Very nice piece of history it is a shame that people deface things like this."

"It's to bad that the locals use it to display their graffiti and deface the property."

 

It's not just the locals.

 

Jamie

Edited April 20, 2009 by Jamie Z

[+beejay&esskay]

It is simply unfathomable to me why someone would do it...and have his picture taken to brag about this stupid bit of vandalism.

[+PeachyPA]

The same could be said of SOME of the cachers at the 2007 MidWest GeoBash. The workers had just placed a new sign at one of the entrances of the fairgrounds before the event. When we went to find a cache placed near the sign, we noticed that cachers had left signatures and rubber stamp images all over the uprights of the post. No wonder they will not be having the event at the same place in 2009.

[+Pork King]

There's one (or sometimes hundreds) in every crowd. I was talking to a part time geocacher today who informed me that he as hidden several caches around the county but then decided not to publish them. On one, he found a telephone pole, unscrewed a sign plate, and DRILLED a hole in the pole to place a cache in. I got the location for a couple of them. I may go CITO later...

 

As geocachers, we should strive to be more ninja-like . Leave no trace. It's random acts of stupidity like what the OP pointed out and my example above that may lead to the end of geocaching in public areas.

 

Let's just all try to be a little more less dumb out there!

[+Pork King]

A post so alluring, it posted twice. Edit for DP

Edited April 20, 2009 by Pork King

[GOF and Bacall]

I just don't know what to say. Nothing comes to mind that wouldn't get me a vacation from these forums.

[+Rockin Roddy]

Very sad! We've got a cacher in the area who dug out a 2x4 and fitted a container in...then attached the "fake legs" to existing legs of a sign with long wood screws. The one side swings out to reveal the container, while the other side is just there to even it out. I KNOW the cemetery didn't approve of this! it gets good reviews, but I left a log stating this type of hide needed special permission and hope others will learn from it.

[+Kohavis]

I've seen similar defacement. Geocaching is like the rest of society - many people feel that the world is their plaything and that they're entitled to behave whatever way they want. When confronted, their answer is invariably ... "whatever". I'd like to take that "whatever" and put it where God hadn't intended anything to go

[+Frank Broughton]

A post so alluring, it posted twice. Edit for DP

 

Ditto! I only had my dad for 13 years on this earth but of many things he taught me one comes to mind often - "Do not litter or deface public property."

 

I literally have a passionate hate for litterbugs and those who have to "tag" things.

[+Renegade Knight]

You know, this stuff really makes me mad...."Hate the graffiti though, too bad it can't be removed."

"Very nice piece of history it is a shame that people deface things like this."

"It's to bad that the locals use it to display their graffiti and deface the property."

 

It's not just the locals.

 

Jamie

 

Locally we have grafitti rock where our Oregon trail ancestors inscribed their names in the rocks and now its' sacred. Then it was graffiti.

 

While I know what you are saying and more than a few times other folks are unknowingly thankful I'm not a petty and vindictive omnipotent being else they would have a perpetual paint can enema...I also know that some of what we do now is the very thing that will be sacred down the road and wish that folks today had the wisdom to know the difference and let some of us inscribe our names on a rock where the locals have been doing it for the past 50 years because it is the very cultural tradition that gives us history.

 

Oh well at least the archaeologists I work with appreciate the irony of their profession.

[+Runaround]

Nothing surprises me anymore. I know of one cacher who has carved their GC.com username into trees near caches.

[GOF and Bacall]

You know, this stuff really makes me mad...."Hate the graffiti though, too bad it can't be removed."

"Very nice piece of history it is a shame that people deface things like this."

"It's to bad that the locals use it to display their graffiti and deface the property."

 

It's not just the locals.

 

Jamie

 

Locally we have grafitti rock where our Oregon trail ancestors inscribed their names in the rocks and now its' sacred. Then it was graffiti.

 

While I know what you are saying and more than a few times other folks are unknowingly thankful I'm not a petty and vindictive omnipotent being else they would have a perpetual paint can enema...I also know that some of what we do now is the very thing that will be sacred down the road and wish that folks today had the wisdom to know the difference and let some of us inscribe our names on a rock where the locals have been doing it for the past 50 years because it is the very cultural tradition that gives us history.

 

Oh well at least the archaeologists I work with appreciate the irony of their profession.

 

I understand and appreciate the irony you describe. However, this is a matter of adding to the slow demise of what already is a piece of history. Would you carve your name in that rock over a name carved in there a hundred years ago?

[4wheelin_fool]

You know, this stuff really makes me mad.

 

 

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LU...f3-6db68376c681

 

Why would somebody do this?

 

I freely admit responsiblity for that particular incident; not only did I give him permission, but I told him to do it.

 

For some reason I have received several e-mails from people who wish to learn how to think for themselves. My response has been to tell them to do exactly what I say, and to do it very quickly and instantly without question. I told him to carve up a covered bridge and to post a picture of himself in the act doing it.

 

However in this case, if you look closely at the first photo, the tool he is using and how he is using it, is not really consistent with the force needed for such an act, and he is clearly posing and smiling for the camera. The second pic shows the supposed graffiti -which is really from an old barn in Virginia. Since he did not do exactly what I said, as he is a little *slow*, the lesson failed. <sigh>

Edited April 20, 2009 by 4wheelin_fool

[+Renegade Knight]

...I understand and appreciate the irony you describe. However, this is a matter of adding to the slow demise of what already is a piece of history. Would you carve your name in that rock over a name carved in there a hundred years ago?

To answer your question.

No I would not do it over the top of any other name be it 100 years or 1 day ago. However where there is a long history of people signing over the past 50-100 years (in the case I'm thinking of in volcanic tuft and not what looks like a building in the photo's above) to the present, I would not hesitate to place my name next to my fellows.

[+J-Way]

I can't remember if 50 or 60 years is the magic time. I'm working on a project in the Sonora Desert (Southern California, USA) where we have to watch out for historically and culturally important objects and areas. This includes the expected Native American artifacts and pictographs and such (we're currently working on a multi-million dollar route location to miss one such area). And no, I can't tell you where that area is because it's Top Secret.

 

What completely snockered me, however, is that we also have to watch out for more recent things like tank tracks (from when Gen. Patton was training for the African Campaign of WWII), and trash piles from the 20's and 30's. Ok, I guess I can go along with the tank tracks, but PILES of freakin' TRASH????

 

I guess the time line goes like this:

- time of infraction (signing bridge, dumping trash, etc.) until statute of limitations (SOL) expires: You could be imprisoned, fined, ostracized, and beaten with rotten bananas by the protectors of the sacred environment if they find out who did such a horrible thing. I personally have been threatened with physical violence if I disturbed anything in a certain area.

- SOL expiration plus 45 years or so: The protectors will lament the sad state of everything, but really can't do anything about it.

- After 50 years or so: The graffiti/trash/whatever suddenly becomes sacred, and the decendents of the original protectors of the environment suddenly become protectors of what their parents fought against.

 

Remember: a Native American Pictograph is nothing more than really old graffiti.

 

Edit to say: Please don't misunderstand the purpose of this post. It was to comment on the strange ways of the protectors of history, not to say that graffiti is OK. I think what the cachers did in the OP was quite despicable.

Edited April 20, 2009 by J-Way