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GRRR, cache's not being put back right.


mchaos

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I have a couple of micro caches out there and hidden in a cleaver way. The one I have is a galvanized outlet cover with magnets on the back. I hid it on a lamp post in a parking lot to put a cleaver twist on a lamp post hid. Got a bunch of compliments on it.

 

Here is the problem. Its been muggled, and the reason it was muggled I am sure is because it was not put back with care and the right way. I actually checked on it once and had to fix it. It was just slapped on all crooked and did not look natural, it stood out, and it has to be straight so that it does not stand out.

 

Some one found it and took it, and left a not on the pole that read " found your coordinate thing." Although it was very amusing to a couple of cachers that found it before I found out, it sucks. If some one had put it back the way it should have been, it would have never been muggled. I also put on the cache page that it needs to be put back exactly the way it was found. Now I have to move it all together and change it completely. I may just mark it for archive and put another some place else. :unsure:

 

I am sure some one just slapped it on the pole again. Its very aggravating. If you are going to find a cache, you should put it back the way it was hidden. I have seen this before as well, where some one does not put the cache back, or poorly.

 

Here's the cache page. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...=y&decrypt=

Edited by mchaos
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I would not be so quick as to blame a Geocacher here. Being in such a public place, it remains highly likely that occasional muggles can observe a cacher finding the cache. Then later the muggle goes to check it out. Happens more often then you might think with highly public caches.

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Welcome to the joys of cache ownership! Just grin and bear it, as it will happen again, and again, and again...

 

People get in a hurry and just want the smiley so they toss the cache back and move on to the next one.... or at least that's my theory.

Edited by 9Key
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Try not to get discouraged, OP. I've seen this type of cache container before, and I'll never forget the first time I saw one. It was the highlight of my day. It would be a shame for others to be deprived of the experience, although I understand how frustrating it can be for the owner to keep replacing it. Maybe placing it in a different neighbourhood might help solve the problem. I don't know.

 

By the way, great title for the cache. :unsure:

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Actually the opposite happened to me. I was close by one of my caches, so I thought I would go and have a peek at the log. I got there and couldn't find it. After a long search I eventually found it. Someone (the last finders no doubt) hid it in the same place by in a position I would never of imagined.

 

I left it as it was and nudged up the difficulty rating.

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I would not be so quick as to blame a Geocacher here. Being in such a public place, it remains highly likely that occasional muggles can observe a cacher finding the cache. Then later the muggle goes to check it out. Happens more often then you might think with highly public caches.

 

I have once already had to fix it. Its important to the integrity of the cache to be placed correctly. I'll fix it, but I hope cachers take care to find it and put it back.

 

I know muggling happens. I am a little more peeved that the person who muggled it didn't read the cache note, or didn't care about what it said, and didn't put it back the way it was.

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Did you have permission? Could be the property owner confiscated it.

Never hide a cache expecting people to return it a certain way. My policy is...asume nothing. I've given up a number of really good hiding spots knowing that there would be those cachers who would leave the cache exposed-- usually in high traffic/muggle areas. Those caches might work okay in areas where people are less apt to go so it wouldn't matter if it was crooked or exposed.

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One question i would have is why is a cacher who has nearly 6000 smilelys logging it as found when he pnly saw the muggles note?

 

Wrong question:

 

One question i would have is why does a cacher who logged it as found when he only saw the muggle's note have nearly 6000 smilelys? :unsure:

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One question i would have is why is a cacher who has nearly 6000 smilelys logging it as found when he pnly saw the muggles note?

 

Wrong question:

 

One question i would have is why does a cacher who logged it as found when he only saw the muggle's note have nearly 6000 smilelys? :unsure:

Painting with a wide brush here, but sometimes the "big numbers" folks cut corners. :P

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Did you have permission? Could be the property owner confiscated it.

Never hide a cache expecting people to return it a certain way. My policy is...asume nothing. I've given up a number of really good hiding spots knowing that there would be those cachers who would leave the cache exposed-- usually in high traffic/muggle areas. Those caches might work okay in areas where people are less apt to go so it wouldn't matter if it was crooked or exposed.

 

its a shopping center parking lot. I wouldn't even know who to ask. I evoke the Frisbee rule. Parking lot, cars frisbee? The parking lot is big enough that the spot I hid it rarely has cars parked in it, and no one would have a problem with any one playing frisbee there LoL.

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Is it a solid cover or one with plug holes? Could be the overnight campers looking for a bit of free electricity.

 

Is there a way to set it up so the cover only goes back on one way? Put some pegs on it or something else to line the cover up correctly.

 

Its a blank, and it has magnets on the back of it. Its a micro/nano.

 

No over night campers here.

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You can't rely on people to do what you want with a cache, only way to keep this from happening is idiot-proofing it somehow so they can't help but put it back like you want it. And also, like others have said, it may not have been the fault of the last cacher, especially being out in a parking lot. Suppose some hippies where out there playing Frisbee, and one of them missed it and the disc hit your cache and knocked it loose? Well, then the hippie probably looked at, realized how he could make a bong out of it, and took it home. You just never know.

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When the instructions say "please re-hide exactly as found/hidden" we can only be as good as the previous person who has replaced it. We do try to re-hide how we think the cache owner intended, but are we right? I hope so. Short of giving very explicit instructions, I am not sure what else you can do. Good luck with it, seems like a very clever cache.

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We have several hidden like the one you mentioned. We used a cover the same color as the pole. The screws are shaved off and adhered to the plate. It even has has the waterproof seal on the back as well to further blend it in. They sit in a parking lot where we get upwards of tens of thousands of muggles in a month. It's Amish Country and the tourists are thick. Knock on wood I have yet to have had either muggled. At one point the places of business even stuck an advertisement sign on the pole right above it. Never even noticed it.

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I don't blame the last person. I realize it could have been some one a bunch of finds ago. I could paint it the same color, but I am not trying to hide it, I want it to look like an access cover. The point is that it is out in the open, yet looks like it belongs there. that's the trick of it.

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I don't blame the last person. I realize it could have been some one a bunch of finds ago. I could paint it the same color, but I am not trying to hide it, I want it to look like an access cover. The point is that it is out in the open, yet looks like it belongs there. that's the trick of it.

 

It could have been anything.

 

The chubby girl ran out of Cheeto's while watching Oprah and decided to go to Walmart for more. She changed out of her bathrobe and into her best spandex pants so she could be presentable to the world. She loaded up the kids, and went on her Cheeto run. She parked way over there because her husband yelled at her about the car ding from last week. She jumped out of the car in a state of delirious Cheeto excitement and ran towards the main doors, but suddenly she remembered that her youngest child was left behind in the improperly secured car seat and the windows were rolled up in the car. She raced back to the car (nearly splitting the crotch in her best spandex pants) and fumbled for the keys to unlock the door. While she did that, her spandex pants finally ripped. Explosively.

 

The cache was knocked out of place by a Cheeto-loving spandex-wearing Walmart-shopping Oprah-watching housewife. I'm sure of it. :unsure:

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When the instructions say "please re-hide exactly as found/hidden" we can only be as good as the previous person who has replaced it. We do try to re-hide how we think the cache owner intended, but are we right? I hope so. Short of giving very explicit instructions, I am not sure what else you can do.
FWIW, some cache owners do include explicit instructions for re-hiding the cache inside the cache itself. If a cache needs to be positioned carefully for the camouflage to work as designed, but it isn't obvious how it should be positioned when it's found out of place, then this can help future finders put it back correctly if they didn't find it hidden correctly.
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I have one out there that's just a waterproof match container behind a sign. It's held in place with a big disc magnet stuck to the post. The container rests on top of the magnet. Slide the magnet down the post to get the container out. Every time I check on it, the magnet is wedged inside of the container and it's a real bugger to get out. What's so hard about putting things back as they were found?

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It can be hard to remember the exact position of a cache like this. I'll replace it straight and aligned, but maybe six inches higher or lower than it was before. Multiply that by twenty finders and you have cache migration syndrome, or CMS.

 

The problem's worse for the caches that are fifteen feet up the post. Recently in western Ohio, I enjoyed finding one of these, where the owner had placed guide marks at the exact spot on the post where the cache should be replaced. I used my hiking poles to put it in the same spot where I found it. That cache was hidden with permission.

 

So, check with the owner of the store whose patrons use this parking lot, or the shopping center developer if it's a shared lot. Ask if you could put some small marks to indicate the inside corner positions for the cover plate. That would be easy to follow!

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I must confess that I've been to a few caches where I was so absorbed in finding the cache that when I finally did, I plucked it out of it's hiding spot, signed the log, then went "uh-oh where does it go?" I hadn't been very observant of where I took the cache FROM, so replacing it was a wild guess at best. Not a big deal with a regular trad. that might be placed back one branch too high, but definately important when replacing an evil/clever/high muggle cache. I've learned to sit back and take a good look before I remove it so I know exactly where it goes.

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I guess I'm seeing another side to this that hasn't been mentioned yet:

 

Found on Jun 13:

June 13 by TheTrevs (18 found)

Log has been removed and a note left the reads " found your coordinate thing." It appears that it has been muggled. TFTC

 

Needs Maintenance posted on June 21

June 21 by The Sims (201 found)

The cache has been muggled. I found this one previously and thought is was so cool that I took my dad by (GaryG07) to find it...but all that was left was a note. :-(

 

Over one month after the first problem was logged:

July 16 by mchaos (26 found)

Blah. I have to go fix it. Darn muggles.

 

July 24... still talking about it on the forums. Isn't it about time to get out there and fix it up?

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i am having problems with this with my cache right now to. i have been lucky so far that it has not been muggled. after a few people posted that it wasnt hidden well i went out and took a look somebody had placed it on the ground in front of it hiding spot. well i posted in the log that i fixed it and asked cachers to place it back where it belongs. went out today and yet again it was laying on the ground. this time i have a good idea who did it since there has only been 2 logged finds well im not one to point fingers if im not sure and since either could have done it im leaving it alone. well long story short i have posted in the logs that if i find it again in this condition that i will remove the cache. its as simple as that. caching is not fun if caches are left out in the open.

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I could paint it the same color, but I am not trying to hide it, I want it to look like an access cover. The point is that it is out in the open, yet looks like it belongs there. that's the trick of it.

I would agree with Harry. To date, every true access panel I've seen has been painted to match the environment. By not painting it, you make it stand out, thereby making it look like it doesn't belong. Muggles are a curious lot, poking, prodding and tugging on all sorts of things, especially those things that draw their attention.

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Well I had gotten a chance today to check on this. On the lamp post where the plate was stuck was written in sharpie marker, "Sorry, I took your geocache thing."

 

I also noticed that the lamp post was tagged up in sharpie. I am guessing that some kids where hanging out in that parking lot, and thinking how cool they are and that its sooo cool to tag things, they must have decided to tag that lamp post, and noticed the plate. So instead of reading the cache note and putting it back, after they were done tagging, they took it.

 

I don't understand, its of no use to them.

 

I am going to archive this one because If I put it back the same tagging kids will probably take it again.

 

There were a couple of months there where I was super busy and hadn't really checked my caches, as well I hadn't even hunted for any. I just basically started up again and found that my cache had been muggled.

 

I will just put one some where else and I guess I will paint it brown to match the post.

Edited by mtn-man
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I will just put one some where else and I guess I will paint it brown to match the post.

 

Yup. Sounds like you have the right idea. Come up with a better idea, better camo, better spot.

 

The camo was it looking like a cover plate screwed into the pole. Just bad luck that a group of kids stumbled across it.

 

Painting it brown will make it look like it belongs to the post even more.

 

I have another one of these plates I made out there and still doing good. where its hidden it looks like its part of what its on and I have had hunters standing right on top of it and could not find it. I don't think that any one will stumble onto that one unless some one is really careless about putting it back, but even then it would be hard to know that the plate didn't belong.

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Juat another point about cache migration (of which I have had more than a few on my caches)

One of my theories is that if a family caches together, one person find it, retrieves it and all look into it. Another family member signs the log and being the last person with the cache, re-hides it where they "think" it was.

 

The rule when we are caching is if you find it, you hide it again. I think there would be less migration using this method as long as the finder isn't so excited they forget how it was hidden :P

Edited by BC & MsKitty
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Juat another point about cache migration (of which I have had more than a few on my caches)

One of my theories is that if a family caches together, one person find it, retrieves it and all look into it. Another family member signs the log and being the last person with the cache, re-hides it where they "think" it was.

 

The rule when we are caching is if you find it, you hide it again. I think there would be less migration using this method as long as the finder isn't so excited they forget how it was hidden :P

 

I can see that happening. Its probably inevitable due to families caching and trying to let every one have some fun.

 

I suppose putting the not recommended for kids attribute on it would help with that.

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Juat another point about cache migration (of which I have had more than a few on my caches)

One of my theories is that if a family caches together, one person find it, retrieves it and all look into it. Another family member signs the log and being the last person with the cache, re-hides it where they "think" it was.

 

The rule when we are caching is if you find it, you hide it again. I think there would be less migration using this method as long as the finder isn't so excited they forget how it was hidden :)

Yes, definitely a good 'theory' out of the endless possibilities. We are a family of 3 who also always practices 'who finds the cache puts it back'.

I suppose putting the not recommended for kids attribute on it would help with that.

I totally disagree. How about just placing a security camera at every cache? :P

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Juat another point about cache migration (of which I have had more than a few on my caches)

One of my theories is that if a family caches together, one person find it, retrieves it and all look into it. Another family member signs the log and being the last person with the cache, re-hides it where they "think" it was.

 

The rule when we are caching is if you find it, you hide it again. I think there would be less migration using this method as long as the finder isn't so excited they forget how it was hidden :)

Yes, definitely a good 'theory' out of the endless possibilities. We are a family of 3 who also always practices 'who finds the cache puts it back'.

I suppose putting the not recommended for kids attribute on it would help with that.

I totally disagree. How about just placing a security camera at every cache? :P

 

That won't work. You need 3 cameras at each cache or else you wouldn't get a true 3D representation. Add in advanced hueristics too.

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I will just put one some where else and I guess I will paint it brown to match the post.

 

Yup. Sounds like you have the right idea. Come up with a better idea, better camo, better spot.

 

The camo was it looking like a cover plate screwed into the pole. Just bad luck that a group of kids stumbled across it.

 

Painting it brown will make it look like it belongs to the post even more.

 

I have another one of these plates I made out there and still doing good. where its hidden it looks like its part of what its on and I have had hunters standing right on top of it and could not find it. I don't think that any one will stumble onto that one unless some one is really careless about putting it back, but even then it would be hard to know that the plate didn't belong.

 

That one, at least, was not obvious from seventy feet away. Though I still suggest securing the baggy with the log book to the inside of the cover plate. At that one, I dropped the log, when I removed the cover plate. I thought the log was missing, until I spotted it on the ground.

The one in Flanders stuck out like a sore thumb.

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