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What is an LPC (light post cache)


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When a newbie posts on the forum for help solving a puzzle cache, they get jumped on for asking. People will tell them that it is some violation of forum etiquette to ask for help. And anyone who post anything beyond the gentlest encouragement to kept trying gets criticize for given away too much. So why the dual standard? :D

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When a newbie posts on the forum for help solving a puzzle cache, they get jumped on for asking. People will tell them that it is some violation of forum etiquette to ask for help. And anyone who post anything beyond the gentlest encouragement to kept trying gets criticize for given away too much. So why the dual standard? :D

 

I'm unsure how this relates to the topic, but I'll reply. I'm not sure how it's a double standard... I think it's a general frowning upon of spoilers - asking for them or giving them.

 

I read it a second time - I misunderstood your question the first time. Sorry.

Edited by Arrow42
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When a newbie posts on the forum for help solving a puzzle cache, they get jumped on for asking. People will tell them that it is some violation of forum etiquette to ask for help. And anyone who post anything beyond the gentlest encouragement to kept trying gets criticize for given away too much. So why the dual standard? :D

 

I guess it is a double standard in a way, but most puzzle caches are unique. Most LPCs..... well.... you know.

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And here I thought LPC stood for "League Of Professional Cachers"

 

Scubasonic

 

Before geocaching was invented, LPC referred to Leather Personnel Carriers (boots). :D

 

I was actually being funny there is a cacher here that posts a cache under the name of "League of Professional Cachers" and whenever a cache comes out with his name we know that it is a "Light Pole Cache"

 

SS

Edited by Scubasonic
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I have no idea...

Ah, once I was that innocent too... *sigh*

 

I guess everyone is in a good mood today. This hasn't morphed into a "I hate micros" thread, followed by the inevitable "If you don't like them, don't find them".

:D I hate micros.

 

:D But they have the right to exisit.

 

:D They should be banned before they run geocaching for all us. They make cachers look bad.

 

:D By that reasoning all caches hidden the forest should be banned because they might cause geotrails and get us all kicked out of the woods.

 

:( It's all like and icecream store.........

 

There, is that better now? :D

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When a newbie posts on the forum for help solving a puzzle cache, they get jumped on for asking. People will tell them that it is some violation of forum etiquette to ask for help. And anyone who post anything beyond the gentlest encouragement to kept trying gets criticize for given away too much. So why the dual standard? :D

 

I don't think it is a dual standard. When you tell someone the solution to a puzzle, you do the work for them. Telling someone what a LPC is is the same as showing photos of ammo boxes, or bird houses that may have caches in them. Keep in mind not every country's lamppost have those skirts (I am from Ireland, and got confused by the name LPC too at first until my husband explained what a LP skirt is), and not every country has readily accessible ammo cans.

Edited by Penguin_ar
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When a newbie posts on the forum for help solving a puzzle cache, they get jumped on for asking. People will tell them that it is some violation of forum etiquette to ask for help. And anyone who post anything beyond the gentlest encouragement to kept trying gets criticize for given away too much. So why the dual standard? :D

 

You're comparing clams and oysters.

 

Explaining to someone what an LPC is doesn't compromise any specific cache. Even when LPs are present there is no guarantee the cache is hidden on one, so at best it can give people an idea where they may find a cache.

 

Solving a puzzle for someone gives him specific information about finding a specific cache.

Edited by briansnat
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I'm glad I hadn't seen a thread like this one before I found my first LC. The first one was a surprise, and really quite fun. The second was not so much. By now they are just a good way to get out of the house for a quick cache or two, when I don't have time to go for better ones.

 

While I don't dislike the LPC, (or any other quick park and grab). I am glad no one spoiled the fun of the first one I found. I really did enjoy that one.

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When a newbie posts on the forum for help solving a puzzle cache, they get jumped on for asking. People will tell them that it is some violation of forum etiquette to ask for help. And anyone who post anything beyond the gentlest encouragement to kept trying gets criticize for given away too much. So why the dual standard? :D

You're comparing clams and oysters.

 

Explaining to someone what an LPC is doesn't compromise any specific cache.

I disagree.

 

You don't think this photo:

 

Typical example:

51032240_4018257b3c.jpg

... will ruin the fun for anyone reading this thread who has never before encountered a standard lamp post cache?

 

Pretty much the only way to be wowed/amazed/astounded/flabbergasted by a container hidden under a lamp post skirt is if you have never come upon one before, and aren’t aware that those metal boxes lift up. I speak from experience; the first one I ever did left me stumped for quite a while. It gave me a big grin when I finally thought to lift the cover. Wow -- there was a cache under there! Those things slide up! Hooda thunkit?

 

If I had read a thread like this beforehand, however, my fun would have been spoiled.

 

Or, to put it another way:

 

I'm glad I hadn't seen a thread like this one before I found my first LC. The first one was a surprise, and really quite fun. The second was not so much. By now they are just a good way to get out of the house for a quick cache or two, when I don't have time to go for better ones.

 

While I don't dislike the LPC, (or any other quick park and grab). I am glad no one spoiled the fun of the first one I found. I really did enjoy that one.

Sorry, briansnat, but I have to agree with tozainamboku. It’s bad form to spoil any cache in the forums, even when newbies are the only victims.

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Someone who is in this thread either wants to know what a LPC is or already knows.

True, but traditionally a question like this would not have received an answer. I suspect that if the subject of this thread wasn't unliked by certain participants in this thread, the question would have gone unanswered.

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I'm glad I hadn't seen a thread like this one before I found my first LC. The first one was a surprise, and really quite fun. The second was not so much. By now they are just a good way to get out of the house for a quick cache or two, when I don't have time to go for better ones.

 

While I don't dislike the LPC, (or any other quick park and grab). I am glad no one spoiled the fun of the first one I found. I really did enjoy that one.

I agree 100%. I'm rather new, and I found my first LPC about 2 weeks ago. I posted a DNF the first time, and then went back and found it. I thought it was pretty cool (the first time). Not knowing that it WAS a LPC or what they are, I would have read this thread and then it would have been spoiled for me.

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I agree 100%. I'm rather new, and I found my first LPC about 2 weeks ago. I posted a DNF the first time, and then went back and found it. I thought it was pretty cool (the first time). Not knowing that it WAS a LPC or what they are, I would have read this thread and then it would have been spoiled for me.

 

It's very easy to stay ignorant* if that is what you want. However, LPC are talked about in tons of different threads all over the forums.

 

 

 

(*: I mean it in the non-derogatory sense of the word)

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Thank you for the help and some humerous conversations. The reason why I had asked is that I knew the skirts lifted up and I had checked several times, but could never find it. Didn't know if I was misunderstanding the concept or not. Even asked an experienced geocaching friend and he didn't have a clue of what an LPC is, so I figured I could use some help from you guys. Thanks.

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I agree 100%. I'm rather new, and I found my first LPC about 2 weeks ago. I posted a DNF the first time, and then went back and found it. I thought it was pretty cool (the first time). Not knowing that it WAS a LPC or what they are, I would have read this thread and then it would have been spoiled for me.

It's very easy to stay ignorant* if that is what you want. However, LPC are talked about in tons of different threads all over the forums.

 

(*: I mean it in the non-derogatory sense of the word)

If one doesn’t want one’s cache challenge spoiled, one should take care not to read the online logs for that cache – but in my opinion the forums are a different matter. Folks come into the forums looking for advice, discussion, education and conversation about caching. They don’t come here expecting spoilers. We should take care to respect that.

 

It has traditionally been considered indiscrete to use forum threads to discuss the solutions to specific puzzle caches. Shouldn’t the same consideration be given to all specific types of concealment? I’m also preaching to myself, by the way. In the course of past forum conversations I have been guilty of unthinkingly blowing the cover of certain types of camouflage I have seen. I have decided I will no longer do that here.

 

It was NOT the first cache I ever found that inspired me to love this hobby. No, it was the first one I ever found that was cleverly disguised as a [censored/spoiler], rather than simply being hidden under a pile of sticks, that stirred my excitement. "Camouflaged? As a [censored/spoiler]? That’s COOL!!" That cache got my attention; that cache moved me to become a geocacher. It would be a real dadgum shame if one of us here were to spoil someone else’s similar experience.

 

I know better than to read online cache logs when I’m trying to avoid spoilers; I’d really rather not have to worry about spoilers when I browse forum threads.

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If one doesn’t want one’s cache challenge spoiled, one should take care not to read the online logs for that cache – but in my opinion the forums are a different matter. ...

 

I can agree with your philosophy in general... but this one is fairly well marked as a spoiler for "LPC" hides. If someone wants to know what LPCs are, it takes 5 seconds on google images to find the two images I posted.

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If one doesn’t want one’s cache challenge spoiled, one should take care not to read the online logs for that cache – but in my opinion the forums are a different matter. ...

 

I can agree with your philosophy in general... but this one is fairly well marked as a spoiler for "LPC" hides. If someone wants to know what LPCs are, it takes 5 seconds on google images to find the two images I posted.

Using that same logic, if I can find the solution to a puzzle cache online, it's OK to post that solution here, right?

 

If I can google up the answer to grandfathered virts, it's OK to post that answer here, right?

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Using that same logic, if I can find the solution to a puzzle cache online, it's OK to post that solution here, right?

 

If I can google up the answer to grandfathered virts, it's OK to post that answer here, right?

 

Only if the puzzle has already been talked about ad-nauseum 5,743 times on the forum and has made it to the status of cliché. Any less then 5,743 times on the forum then no.

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Does anyone have the original LPC thread bookmarked? I managed to find it once a couple of years ago, but can't seem to dig it up anymore. It was hilarious, because a year or two after the original bunch of postings, somebody (I'm guessing BrianSnat) revived the thread by yelling, 'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!". :D

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Using that same logic, if I can find the solution to a puzzle cache online, it's OK to post that solution here, right?

 

If I can google up the answer to grandfathered virts, it's OK to post that answer here, right?

 

Only if the puzzle has already been talked about ad-nauseum 5,743 times on the forum and has made it to the status of cliché. Any less then 5,743 times on the forum then no.

If it's talked about so much, then there's no reason to show pictures on how to find them.

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Using that same logic, if I can find the solution to a puzzle cache online, it's OK to post that solution here, right?

 

If I can google up the answer to grandfathered virts, it's OK to post that answer here, right?

Only if the puzzle has already been talked about ad-nauseum 5,743 times on the forum and has made it to the status of cliché. Any less then 5,743 times on the forum then no.

If this thread has spoiled a specific type of cache concealment – and therefore ruined the one and only chance of potential LPC fun for a newbie who signed up only just this week and has never before heard of the concept, and might have otherwise been stumped for a while – then does it really matter how many times the spoilage has happened before?

 

Is our newbie not a human and a cacher with rights, same as you and me? Does he not deserve respect? If we prick him, does he not bleed? If we tickle him, does he not laugh? If we poison him, does he not die?

 

If we spoil his cache hunt, is he not bummed?

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If it's talked about so much, then there's no reason to show pictures on how to find them.

 

Yes there is. How else can make the joke about the ammo can?

 

If we spoil his cache hunt, is he not bummed?

 

I've already addressed that. "It's very easy to stay ignorant if that is what you want."

 

If you think this thread is evil then maybe you should avoid Pictures - Cool Cache Containers (CCC's). You might explode.

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True, but traditionally a question like this would not have received an answer. I suspect that if the subject of this thread wasn't unliked by certain participants in this thread, the question would have gone unanswered.

 

Your likely right. LPCs are so common and talked about so often that I don't feel too bad about explaining what they are.... they are disliked for the same reason - extraordinarily common. I don't even dislike LPC - I see their place in the universe of caches and I appreciate them when all I want to do is grab a cache and kill some time.

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If you think this thread is evil then maybe you should avoid Pictures - Cool Cache Containers (CCC's).

Thank you – and I do avoid it. I have never opened that thread.

 

I have also never understood why anyone, upon obtaining a photo of a particularly clever concealment method, would want to spoil it by posting the photo in the forums.

 

Fortunately in the case of that thread the title clearly warns readers of spoilers. Not so with this thread. The OP asked a question that could have been answered without spoiling the hide method. The photo you posted was therefore unnecessary, and fails to respect the newbie seeker who might still be oblivious about LPCs and who might enjoy being fooled by his first one.

 

That’s all tozainamboku and I are saying. You are welcome to disagree.

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If we spoil his cache hunt, is he not bummed?
I've already addressed that. "It's very easy to stay ignorant if that is what you want."

 

If you think this thread is evil then maybe you should avoid Pictures - Cool Cache Containers (CCC's). You might explode.

I get that you don't see the problem. Personally, I believe that this is because you are new. In years past, when this thread topic came around, the answer was never directly given.

 

In my opinion, we should go back to trying not to post spoilers.

Edited by sbell111
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If we spoil his cache hunt, is he not bummed?
I've already addressed that. "It's very easy to stay ignorant if that is what you want."

 

If you think this thread is evil then maybe you should avoid Pictures - Cool Cache Containers (CCC's). You might explode.

I get that you don't see the problem. Personally, I believe that this is because you are new. In years past, when this thread topic came around, the answer was never directly given.

 

In my opinion, we should go back to trying not to post spoilers.

 

I'm new, and several of you seem very aggressive about the protection of the newbie.

 

as a newbie, I laughed, a lot, about the ammo can.

 

get over yourselves. I've found a LPC, but I didn't know it was a LPC just were I found one under a skirt. I thought it was an up skirt cache or a USC, now I find out that is a football team with some really hot cheerleaders, imagine my surprise.

 

 

usc_cheerleaders_9.jpg

 

 

btw not a sock puppet, just read the acronyms page, did a few web searches about cache capsules and stuff and decided not to be a total idiot the first time I step off a trail to look for a cache all by my little lonesome self

 

Love

Rukagaku

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If you think this thread is evil then maybe you should avoid Pictures - Cool Cache Containers (CCC's).

Thank you – and I do avoid it. I have never opened that thread.

 

I have also never understood why anyone, upon obtaining a photo of a particularly clever concealment method, would want to spoil it by posting the photo in the forums.

 

Fortunately in the case of that thread the title clearly warns readers of spoilers. Not so with this thread. The OP asked a question that could have been answered without spoiling the hide method. The photo you posted was therefore unnecessary, and fails to respect the newbie seeker who might still be oblivious about LPCs and who might enjoy being fooled by his first one.

 

That’s all tozainamboku and I are saying. You are welcome to disagree.

 

How do you tell somebody what a Lamp Post Cache is without spoiling what a Lamp Post Cache is? Perhaps you leave out the skirt detail?

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How do you tell somebody what a Lamp Post Cache is without spoiling what a Lamp Post Cache is?

Like this:

Q:
What is an LPC (light post cache)?

 

A:
It is a relatively common cache hide, one that takes advantage of a clever concealment method made possible by a certain type of parking lot light pole. Most new cachers are stumped at first. I know I was. When I finally figured out the first one I ever attempted, it gave me a big smile. I hope you enjoy your first one too. Good luck!

OTOH, showing a still-stumped cacher an unrequested spoiler photo is almost never a good idea, no matter what the hide method. I would have been greatly annoyed if someone had spoiled my first LPC.

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Q:
What is an LPC (light post cache)?

 

A:
It is a relatively common cache hide, one that takes advantage of a clever concealment method made possible by a certain type of parking lot light pole. Most new cachers are stumped at first. I know I was. When I finally figured out the first one I ever attempted, it gave me a big smile. I hope you enjoy your first one too. Good luck!

 

 

Dear Sir or Madam,

 

I was previously unware that caches were hidden in parking lots. Now that I know this, thanks to your spoilerific description above, the thrill of finding my first LPC is gone from me FOREVER.

 

PS: How dare you assume that such a hide would have stumped me. Just because I only have 5 finds and no hides.

 

-NewbCacher_467

 

 

 

 

:)

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Q:
What is an LPC (light post cache)?

 

A:
It is a relatively common cache hide, one that takes advantage of a clever concealment method made possible by a certain type of parking lot light pole. Most new cachers are stumped at first. I know I was. When I finally figured out the first one I ever attempted, it gave me a big smile. I hope you enjoy your first one too. Good luck!

Dear Sir or Madam,

 

I was previously unware that caches were hidden in parking lots. Now that I know this, thanks to your spoilerific description above, the thrill of finding my first LPC is gone from me FOREVER.

 

-NewbCacher_467

Dear NewbCacher_467,

 

My humblest apologies. I was ignorantly unaware as to the extreme depth of the challenge you seek.

 

May I humbly recommend: If merely learning that the LPC was in a parking lot spoiled the hunt fot you, then maybe you should hunt all future caches without benefit of map, description, latitude, longitude or GPS receiver.

 

That way you can preserve the mystery of the location indefinitely.

 

-OldbCacher_467

Edited by KBI
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How do you tell somebody what a Lamp Post Cache is without spoiling what a Lamp Post Cache is?

Like this:

Q:
What is an LPC (light post cache)?

 

A:
It is a relatively common cache hide, one that takes advantage of a clever concealment method made possible by a certain type of parking lot light pole. Most new cachers are stumped at first. I know I was. When I finally figured out the first one I ever attempted, it gave me a big smile. I hope you enjoy your first one too. Good luck!

...

 

I had the same reaction to my first LPC. However even that much description would have been a spoiler.

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