A Matter of Etiquette

[C-Ker1]

A month or so ago, the family was vacationing in a neighboring state and, of course, we did some caching along the way. A couple of the caches we found were mystery caches that required us to send answers to the owner, which we did when we would return to the hotel. After a week of waiting for a reply, we checked to see when the owner was last on the site--thinking that they, too, could have been traveling. One of the owners hadn't been online since October '08, but the other owner had visited Geocaching.com the same day I checked, plus, based on logged finds, a few days before. Based on the fact that, at least on the second owner's part, it appeared we were being ignored, we logged both caches as found.

 

My question is this--how long should a cacher wait before logging a cache when waiting for an OK from the owner? We all know that life, and sometimes worse, can get in the way, but to log a find while making someone else wait for your reply before they can seems wrong.

[GOF and Bacall]

I log it if I've signed the log. If answers are needed I send them at the same time I log. Never had any problems this way.

[+beejay&esskay]

 

My question is this--how long should a cacher wait before logging a cache when waiting for an OK from the owner? We all know that life, and sometimes worse, can get in the way, but to log a find while making someone else wait for your reply before they can seems wrong.

 

Quite a few cache owners do not respond to the confirmation e-mails. I log a "note" in the sequence I made the find with an explanation that I will change it to a find when I get an OK. After a week or so with no response I change it to a "find". (Right now I have one pending for nearly a week. It's not such a big deal...I might change it tomorrow or I might wait until I get back from my next trip.)

[CoyoteRed]

I log it if I've signed the log. If answers are needed I send them at the same time I log. Never had any problems this way.

Ditto.

[+ventura_kids]

I just log the find.

 

If the owner doesn't like it, he deletes my log.

I've had logs deleted over a year after I logged a cache.

[+Arrow42]

If you've done a good faith effort to follow the rules the CO has laid out then don't feel bad about logging the find. If they have a problem with it they will either contact you or delete your log. It's possible they get a ton of these e-mails and never respond to them.

[C-Ker1]

Thanks for the responses. I appreciate the input.

[+steel city babes]

I normally log cache as found and note in the log that the answers are on their way in an email. I have never received a confirmation email or had my logs deleted.

 

I am not sure about the caches you were doing but is it possible that it is an ALR(additional logging requirement) cache, which are no longer allowed by gc.com.

[+Harry Dolphin]

I normally log cache as found and note in the log that the answers are on their way in an email. I have never received a confirmation email or had my logs deleted.

 

Usually, they are virtuals or EarthCaches. I get about 50% response from virtuals, and 75% from EarthCaches. Due to the low response rate, I log them when I find them, and send the info the same time. Haven't had any of them deleted yet.

[+paleolith]

As long as there was a physical log to sign, and it was not a challenge cache, then sending information to the owner is now optional per the listing guidelines. See the section Logging of All Physical Caches.

 

Sending info may still be required for virtual caches and Earthcaches.

 

Challenge caches apparently may still require completion of the challenge, though the guidelines are self-contradictory on this point. Compare the section Mystery or Puzzle Caches with the above-referenced section.

 

Edward