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Here are the logs for a cache hunt I did last Thursday. I was wondering what you would like me to post on the cache pages. How much detail? Would you want me to write more about the hunt itself or maybe what I was doing in the area in the first place?

 

I don’t have a problem with writing a full log but sometimes I don’t know how much spice or detail people want. I’m happy to share but if I am making the effort to describe three similar caches I want to know the reader better.

 

(Urban garden with bronze statues) - DNF

Log: Some kids and their parents started getting interested in what I was doing so I had to move on.

 

(City Park with a Gazebo)

Log: Nice little park. Beautiful day. No one around and I could cache at my leisure. Thanks!

 

(Skirt lifter in a Library parking lot)

Log: Nice quick find. Just had to wait a couple moments for muggles to drive off. TNLNSL

Edited by BlueDeuce
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(Urban garden with bronze statues) - DNF

Log: Some kids and their parents started getting interested in what I was doing so I had to move on.

 

Was the garden cool? I'll bet you saw more than kids and parents there, even if you had to move on.

 

Other than that, they looked adequate to me. In the last case, probably more than adequate.

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(Urban garden with bronze statues) - DNF

Log: Some kids and their parents started getting interested in what I was doing so I had to move on.

 

Was the garden cool? I'll bet you saw more than kids and parents there, even if you had to move on.

 

Other than that, they looked adequate to me. In the last case, probably more than adequate.

 

So maybe a bit more on a personal reflection.

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All three are adequate.

 

Logging is not a science, it's an art. Write what you are inspired to write. Some caches and some locations, and some experiences inspire me more than others. Then again some people seem to lack in the ability to be inspired.

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I think all three were things I would be pleased to read if it were my cache. You don't have to be wordy to communicate and yours communicated your experience nicely. Logging is a personal thing so the real question is whether or not you feel like you expressed yourself to the extent that you wanted.... logging shouldn't be about word count!

 

Quick edit to add a bit:

 

I guess when I said "pleased" I mean I would not be disappointed (though if anyone just even finds it I'm generally happy)... they're clearly not the type of logs that really make the CO extraordinarily pleased about his or her hide or the fact that he or she brought you a lot of joy bringing you to that location... then again they're not designed to and i'm in no way saying that every log should be that!

 

Edit2: clarification to add extraordinarily and correct grammar.

Edited by mrbort
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I find gthat it helps inlogging when I bring a small spiral notebook and write a few words describing the cache.t helps me remember which one was GCYYYZXCV when I get back to the geoshack. Usually I have decided what I'm going to write while I'm driving home.

Edited by ras_oscar
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I am going against the grain on this one. As a CO I like logs. I dislike pasted logs and the short one liners like you just shared. Adequate? Sure. I still am not a fan though.

 

I'd like a finder to tell me why they were in the area. What did they do while they were there? Does this area mean something to them? Did anything neat happen around the time of this find? See anything cool? Take any pictures?

 

Obviously you wouldn't answer those questions but you get an idea. Often I will write a log and tell about what we did right before or afterward. (Stop for icecream and post a pic of my kids eating ice cream and smiling.) I like to post pics of us or other scenes/things at the cache area. I tell about something funny that happened there or something that we did.

 

When I see this: TNLN TFTC TFTF it tells me that all you want is your smiley.

 

Sometimes I get creative and write stories or tell jokes. (Read my log in my sig. :D The CO loved that!) I like writing logs and I think that hiders like reading them. Just last week I got a nice email from the CO thanking us for a log and pictures we posted . Even better, picture chronicle you fun.

 

If its a mindless micro I don't care. Those are just hid to boost numbers anyway. Doh!

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I was wondering what you would like me to post on the cache pages.

 

Not a critisism but a comment;

 

When you look back on your finds list in a year's time, is there anything in these logs that will help you to remember the cache at all?

 

Whilst there is absolutely nothing wrong with your logs, there appears to be nothing remotely memorable about them either.

 

Did you like the bronze statues? Was the garden interesting? Was the Gazebo old-style, modern, neglected? Was the library new, old, on fire?

 

Did you add any photos to your logs?

 

To reiterate, there is absolutely nothing wrong with your logs but We always try to add a few details to our logs so that we can remember how we spent our time when we look back.

 

Happy caching,

 

Mike

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Here is the type of log Knight2000 likes

I was going after my daily cache fix today and decided this one would be a chance for another smiley. I packed everything I could think of to head off for this one since I don't know what to expect. When I left my house it was 72 degrees. My partner claimed it was 73 degrees and we argued about it for about 22 and half minutes and settled on calling it 72.5 degrees but by then it really was 73 degrees. It was sunny out but the forecast was calling for clouds later in the afternoon which was OK because we had gotten a little sunburned yesterday while looking for a different cache. We left at 9:17 am and had to stop at Walgreens to pick up some sunscreen. They had SPF 30 there on sale for $4.99. Thats a really good deal because the normal price is $5.49. While we were there I thought I would get some bottled water. I like Sierra Springs and my partner likes Evian. Did you know that Evian spelled backwards is Naive? Yeah, like people are stupid enough to buy water in a bottle. Thats why I don't like Evian. They are so condascending.

We left Walgreens at 9:52. And drove 3 blocks to the Chevron Station to get gas. I thought it would be a good idea to check the tires and was glad I did. One of the tires was 2 pounds low. I wondered if it would be safe to take the car. It might have a leak in the tire. I went into the Chevron store and bought a can of Fix A Flat, just in case. When I went to put it into the trunk I found out I already had a can of Fix A Flat in there. Oh well, you can never be prepared. The gas cost $27.13 which was about a half a tank. My guage is a little off so it might have been a little more than half a tank. I'm not sure.

Time to go head for the cache as soon as my partner gets out of the bathroom. 10:13 my partner finally got in the car and off we went.

Turned on the GPSr to get the best route to the cache. It was picking up the satellites pretty good today so we were confident we would have an easy time.

Drove for about a half mile to get close to the cache. It was now 74 degrees and still sunny when we arrived close to GZ.

Got out of the car and let the GPSr settle down. From where we were we could see about a mile. It was a great view. I noticed that the recent heat wave had taken a toll on the vegetation and noticed an empty spider web off to the left of where I thought the cache might be. My partner and I were arguing over who was going to sign the log this time. I think it was my turn but my partner said it wasn't. I finally gave up.

The search was on.

We started walking towards the coords, hopeful that we had a good readong. There were no trees so the signal was excellent. As the GPSr settled down to about 30 feet we decided to start looking. It felt warmer than 74 degrees. I think it was because the humidity was high but it could be because we were in the direct sun. I knew a black shirt was a bad idea. Then we remembered we forgot to put the sunscreen on and had left it back in the car. Too late now, we were hot on the cache spot.

We searched around for 27 minutes and 37 seconds when I heard my partner say "I'm hot" which is our code for I found it. It was my turn to find it as my partner laughed at me. Nine minutes and 12 seconds later I found it. It was a most amazing feeling that words can't describe. A triumph of biblical proportions. The cache was hidden very cleverly and I can't imagine it ever being muggled from the spot. As I retrieved the cache I stood up and took a deep breath of fresh air and looked at the lovely scenery all around. The colors, the aromas, everything about this location made me feel warm inside, or maybe it was the heatstroke I was developing. I can't be sure.

We looked inside the cache to see if there were any tradable items but didn't find anything that we wanted to trade for. As we retrieved the log we noticed it was nice and dry. This was clearly a well prepared cache. We took a while to read each and every one of the signatures and notes that had come before us. It made me feel good inside to know of all the joy of those who had also found this cache. I signed my name and my partner did as well. We wrote down the time, date, sunrise, sunset, dewpoint, lunar cycle and temperature (in farenheit, celcius and kelvin, of course) and resealed the log. Only after replacing the cache did we fully appreciate the experience. It was only 12:07 so we thought we might make another cache for the day. We had only one thing on our mind. How would we ever find a cache that would top this mazing find at Walmart under the lamp post skirt.

 

Thanks for the hide.

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I like your logs a whole lot more than the "Find # 37 of 82 today. TNLNSL" variety.

That being said, I am an avid reader, and I take tremendous satisfaction in creating caches that generate longer than average logs.

My own logs are so lengthy I've developed the habit of typing them in a character counter beforehand, so I know I don't exceed the 4000 character limit.

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Here is the type of log Knight2000 likes

That's just plain stupid.

 

It's hard for me not to say something to get me booted for a few days. Your just being an donkey. I never said anything of the sort. That's a lot of typing just to be obnoxious.

 

Go ahead and write your pasted logs bittsen. You'll still get the smiley that you want so badly.

 

Not everyone writes one liners. There are plenty of logs out there that tell of the cache hunt and find and something interesting that happened. How will you remember you fun in three years with your one liner? Maybe you cache for the smileys and you won't have to remember as you'll be off to the next mindless micro.

 

It doesn't have to be long. It is nice to share your adventure. This is the way that the site encourages others to log their finds.

Share Your Experience

 

* If you take something from the geocache, leave something of equal or greater value.

* Write about your experience in the geocache logbook.

* Place your geocaching stories and photos online. Learn How to Log Your Find

Maybe you missed this part while reading your geocaching for newbies book.

Edited by Knight2000
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For the DNF - reads nice sounds nice.

 

The others sound good however...sometimes it is nice to add...

  • I usually try to mention the state of the container
  • a comment about the view/surroundings is always nice - (were the flowers in bloom??)
  • Was anybody with you?
  • See anything unsual on the way to the cache?

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I think they are fine BD. Since I wasn't with you , I don't know anything about the hides nor their locations. You are usually pretty much to the point with your posts here, so I would expect your logging behavior to be the same.

 

I always write a unique log for each find. I try to apply a little humor or creativity whenever possible. I never post #xx of yy today, even on power runs. My logging effort is generally commensurate to the effort put forth in the hide. And I don't use the standard boring TNLNSL acronyms or any variant of them.

Edited by wimseyguy
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For multible logs, I find that a combination of "cut n paste" and comments specific to each cache is best, for me.

 

I may have the same paragraph describing the weather, why Im in the area, something unusual happening during this cacheing run ect.. Then I say a few words about each specific cache, condition, veiw, how its hidden, if I took and left something.

 

Followed by the standard Signed Log, Thanks for the Hide

 

I would never consider cut and pasting the exact same log for multible caches.

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Let the newer armchair experts argue about it.

You are correct. I am not able to spend as much time as you caching as I only have two days off a month. The rest of the time I spend taking care of my 91yo/blind grandmother. She has lived with me for two years now as she could no longer afford assisted living and I didn't want her going into a nursing home.

 

One liners are acceptable but CO and anyone else that reads like hearing about your experiences.

Edited by Knight2000
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i believe that all three of those logs are adequate.

 

just.

 

but keep this in mind: not every cache deserves a log that rises above that level.

 

i NEVER cut and pate even a part of a log. as a CO or even as an interested third party reader of logs, when i see a nice paragraph cut and pasted, even accompanied by a few specific lines, i'm unimpressed. i'd rather read that one nice paragraph ONCE and then see just the short few lines on the other caches.

 

like wimseyguy, i also never write "XX out of YY for today", no matter how many caches i have found that day. even if my objective was to find a bazillion caches in a day, i try to consider each cache as a separate event. it seems to me more polite and less crass that way.

 

also like wimseyguy, i do not use acronyms. sine i usually don't comment on what i take or leave, "TNLN" seems useless to me (i feel dirty, just having typed it here) and "SL" seems redundant. do you really need to tell people that you signed the log?

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I think they are fine BD. Since I wasn't with you , I don't know anything about the hides nor their locations. You are usually pretty much to the point with your posts here, so I would expect your logging behavior to be the same.

 

I always write a unique log for each find. I try to apply a little humor or creativity whenever possible. I never post #xx of yy today, even on power runs. My logging effort is generally commensurate to the effort put forth in the hide. And I don't use the standard boring TNLNSL acronyms or any variant of them.

 

Pretty much a ditto for me. I used to put '#xx of yy' but got away from that a long time ago. I still add acronyms at the end tho. SAT. :D

Edited by Corp Of Discovery
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All three caches seemed like average or below average micro's to me. So in turn they get average logs. Your logs were average and fitting for the caches.

 

Much much better than the standard "TFTC" logs. I reserve this log for below average micro's.

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I thought Bittsen's reply was hilarious! Anyhow, I like logs to be more informative. I don't know why.....I like to think that I've offered a challenge to someone or brought them to a special area that they didn't know about. I also like to write down notes in a logbook to help me remember what happened at each cache.....even if it IS a series of P&G's. LPS's will get a one liner......you didn't put thought into the hide, I won't put much thought into the log.

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Note to self...

 

Dry humor is lost here.

 

I read the whole article and thought some of it was funny. It would have been a lot better you would have excluded the first line (Here is the type of log Knight2000 likes). That way it would have come off as humor, and not as an attack on Knight2000 and the types of logs he prefers.

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Anyhow, I like logs to be more informative.

 

When you say "informative" what do you mean by that?

 

My own logs are written as letters to a friend and so I try to make them evocative and entertaining. Sometimes there are facts I discover while searching for the cache that I think my friends will enjoy hearing about (the presence of alligators not too far from where I live, for example). But generally there isn't much I can say that is informative. I've been toying with researching the plants, insects, and animals I photograph and writing better captions for the photos, but so far I haven't had enough time to do that.

 

I include an informative sentence for the cache owner as well, but it is usually stuff like: "The log is dry" or "The log is wet" or "The cache is in good/bad/fair condition" or "My coordinates differed by X amount compared to the published coordinates". (Actually I only include the coordinate difference if my beloved is very insistent about it.) Is this what you mean by informative?

 

Carolyn

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I thought your logs were sufficient, but not extravagant. It really depends on what you're going for. I try to give a little bit of color to my logs, even if they may or may not deserve it. A month or two ago, I did a LPC in a Toys R Us parking lot. Nothing special at all. I did, however, note in my log that it had been bothering me for six months as I continually drove by and saw it on my GPS.

 

It's the little things that show that you're out for the fun of the sport, not to win the sport (if you know what I mean.)

 

Mike (Mike & Kate)

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All three caches seemed like average or below average micro's to me. So in turn they get average logs. Your logs were average and fitting for the caches.

 

Much much better than the standard "TFTC" logs. I reserve this log for below average micro's.

 

I was thinking the same thing. There have been several comments which indicated that the logs were adequate and lots of suggestions of things that could be added, but based on the types of caches that were found, they may be perfectly appropriate. In other words, sometimes a uninspiring hide warrants an uninspiring log.

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I think the reaction a person has to a log says more about the person, rather than the author.

 

JMO.

 

I'm not surprised that you think that way. You've also placed the blame firmly on "stupid muggles" and other geocachers even though you've yet been able to place a cache without having some sort of issue with it.

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:lol:

All three of them seem more than adquate. (SIX STARS)

 

Really? I consider them typical, average.

 

Edited for clarification

 

Steller? No. But you knew that. Perfectly servicable and actually informative? Yes.

 

Edit: Thought I would add, it's also better than 80% of the logs I read. I made up the 80% so you could call it "better than most" I think bittsen would think that this is the kind of log comment post, that Knight2000 would like. I thought about calling it 79% but the voices corrected me and made me call it 80% even though I knew better. My shoulder angel said I should have just done the right thing and actually researched it before I threw a number out there. My shoulder devil didn't have much to say, he was trying to make time with Tinkerbell. She stops in to visit once in a while. I think she has a crush on the Angel but has to deal with the Devil. I buy all my angles nice clothes. Once I tried to feed them angel food and devil food cake. The angel liked the devil food and vice vera. What was I talking about?

 

Truth be told, I would also like the bittsen log just fine.

Edited by Renegade Knight
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Well, they sure beat
Logged from my phone using [whatever]

Those, I hate.

There are times when I've written precisely that, and have done so by way of apology for the really crappy formatting and upper/lower case and brevity and ... phones aren't always the best logging tools.

 

If I happen to hit a FTF (doesn't happen all that often, but it happens), I'll pull out my cell phone to make an initial, brief found log so that all of the regular FTF hounds in my area aren't jumping into their cars and interrupting their lives in an attempt to make the FTF. When I get home, I'll usually edit the log and clean it up so that it's presentable.

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I think the reaction a person has to a log says more about the person, rather than the author.

 

JMO.

 

I'm not surprised that you think that way. You've also placed the blame firmly on "stupid muggles" and other geocachers even though you've yet been able to place a cache without having some sort of issue with it.

 

Was that a personal attack??

 

:lol:

 

Adding, you are incorrect. I have a hide that has ZERO issues with it.

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BD, your logs are fine by me. FWIW (0.02), I usually try to mention something about the overall quality of the day; weather, with family/friends, etc. Kind of like "I spent a beautiful day caching, and your cache made it better", or "It was miserably hot/cold/wet, I'm out here sweltering/freezing/soaking, alone/dragging wife/kid/brother through ticks/chiggers/PI, looking for a cache...and I wouldn't have it any other way!" :lol:

 

And now that I've found my first LPC, those get "TNLNSL, THX". :D

 

Cheers

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Here are the logs for a cache hunt I did last Thursday. I was wondering what you would like me to post on the cache pages. How much detail? Would you want me to write more about the hunt itself or maybe what I was doing in the area in the first place?

 

I don’t have a problem with writing a full log but sometimes I don’t know how much spice or detail people want. I’m happy to share but if I am making the effort to describe three similar caches I want to know the reader better.

 

(Urban garden with bronze statues) - DNF

Log: Some kids and their parents started getting interested in what I was doing so I had to move on.

 

(City Park with a Gazebo)

Log: Nice little park. Beautiful day. No one around and I could cache at my leisure. Thanks!

 

(Skirt lifter in a Library parking lot)

Log: Nice quick find. Just had to wait a couple moments for muggles to drive off. TNLNSL

 

Adequate but not excellent.

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(Urban garden with bronze statues) - DNF

Log: Some kids and their parents started getting interested in what I was doing so I had to move on.

 

I had a chance to stop in this beautiful town after a few days of vacation in Indianapolis and Chicago. My wife’s cousin lives here and just had a baby so of course we had to stop and visit on our way back to Iowa. The moms wanted to chat so I made my exit to grab a few caches and I discovered this is a wonderful garden. I just wish I had a better chance to enjoy it. There was a family sitting nearby and one of their kids must have been pretty bored because he came straight over to see what I was doing. I would have spent a little time chatting with him, maybe showing him something about geocaching but I was pressed for time and had to move on.

 

(City Park with a Gazebo)

Log: Nice little park. Beautiful day. No one around and I could cache at my leisure. Thanks!

 

I’m always glad to see a city like this is willing to maintain such a beautiful park. It’s a peaceful place in the middle of a bustling downtown. Fortunately there was no one in the area and I was able to cache at my leisure. My wife’s cousin lives here and I’ve been trying to get her husband interested in geocaching. I thought he was at work but when I got back from caching he was there and said that he wished that I had taken him with me. Maybe he’ll take the initiative and start caching on his own. Perhaps one of your locals could help him out since he doesn’t have a gps. The cache is in good shape.

 

(Skirt lifter in a Library parking lot)

Log: Nice quick find. Just had to wait a couple moments for muggles to drive off. TNLNSL

 

No problems retrieving the cache but I did have to wait for people to leave the area. With a little patience and timing I was able to replace the cache without drawing too much attention to myself..

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So, you found a bit more inspiration after all?

 

Yes. I figured I needed to ask for input. I got in a rut of caching just for myself and really didn't care much for my logs. I rarely get feedback for my logs so I wondered what people thought.

 

For the most part it seemed like people were okay with what I had posted originally.

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