Hint on page

[+Crafty Turtle]

I"m fairly new to caching, so before finding a cache I diligently read every log, the "hint", I look up the coords in Google Earth, and sometimes other maps (eg local topo maps).

 

However, the hints I often find are useless, confusing cryptic clues making reference to some movie or cultural genre of which I have no knowledge.

 

Why is a hint not a hint? Surely a hint should be more of a spoiler - eg "under a rosebush by the white picket fence" rather than a cryptic clue only for those who happen to understand the reference - eg "Bart's bespectacled friend". As it turns out, that means "Milhouse" - or the house next to the old flourmill. Even though the coords lead me right to that house anyway. This clue is not helpful at all.

 

A hint should be a hint - a spoiler. If you don't want to read it, then don't. If you need to read the hint, then please please give us a helpful hint, not more puzzles.

[+Ambrosia]

Well, saying that it's "under a rosebush by the white picket fence" isn't really a hint, it's telling people exactly where the cache is.

 

The hint issue goes back to the early days of caching. Back then, most of the people who cached were die hard outdoorsy people who wanted to find the cache on their own. A lot of cache pages didn't say very much, especially about where the cache was. A lot of them didn't have hints, and if they did, they were very cryptic. It was a matter of pride for people not to use the hint, but to find the cache on their own. The hint was a last minute thing that you looked at in the field, decrypted on the spot, if everything else was exhausted. Then, you'd still have to figure out what the hint was alluding to. The more mysterious the hint, the better.

 

It's gotten to the the point today, where a lot of hints tell you exactly where the cache is. I find myself doing this with my caches (I like things to be easy in my old age!), but realized recently that this upsets some old timers. So sometimes, I'll leave two hints, like on one of my caches:

 

[small Hint:] Pnpur vf abg va gur zbfg cevpxyl ohfurf.

[big Hint:] Fubhyq or va orgjrra gur sebag bs gur gjb ybj ohfurf gb gur evtug bs gur fgnvef. Oruvaq gur fznyy ebpx.

 

Which translates to:

 

[small Hint:] Cache is not in the most prickly bushes.

[big Hint:] Should be in between the front of the two low bushes to the right of the stairs. Behind the small rock.

 

I've hoped that this will satisfy both types of cachers.

[+ecanderson]

Why is a hint not a hint? Surely a hint should be more of a spoiler - eg "under a rosebush by the white picket fence" rather than a cryptic clue only for those who happen to understand the reference - eg "Bart's bespectacled friend".

There have been some long prior threads on this topic here and elsewhere. The general, average, typical, standard take on this was that a good hint should nudge you in the right direction without totally giving away the location. That sometimes requires the CO to put some thought into it.

 

It sounds as though your approach is that you start out with the decoded hint in hand, and believe that every attempt to find should result in a find. Ain't gonna happen!

 

Believe me when I tell you that you'll need to adjust your perspective a bit if you're not going to get pretty frustrated with caching really quick. Some caches are MEANT to be hard to find. The CO who creates a 3 star or higher difficulty rated cache is laying down a challenge for you, and you need to either avoid them or take up the challenge and have some fun with it.

[+fegan]

ANY hint is better than "No Hint Necessary" or "Too Easy For A Hint"

 

What the heck? Why bother doing that? Why not simply leave it blank?

 

Some of my hints are spoilers, some are a little cryptic...depends on the hide. If it should be an easy find to begin with and people are having trouble, the hint is most likely a spoiler. However, if it's a tough hide the hint might be a little cryptic. Think about it this way...if it's a 3 or 4 difficulty hide and the hint is a complete spoiler then you just changed the cache difficultly to a 1 or 2 at most, which isn't very fair to folks who found it without using the hint. And some folks read everything, including the hint, before they ever begin their search...so a complete spoiler for a difficult hide takes all the difficulty out of it...so, the hint is just a nudge to help you figure out where it's hidden without completely giving it away.

 

[+Team Cotati]

I am really happy that most cache hiders include helpful hints.

 

In fact, I am exceedingly happy that they do that.

[+FunnyNose]

ANY hint is better than "No Hint Necessary" or "Too Easy For A Hint"

 

What the heck? Why bother doing that? Why not simply leave it blank?

 

Especially when it says on the cache submission page

 

Hints/Spoiler Info:

Enter any hints or spoiler information below. This information will be encrypted on the site until a geocacher clicks on a link to unencrypt it, or decodes it on the trail. Text within brackets [like this] will not be encrypted. Please keep your hints short, so decoding it on the trail is easier. If you don't have a hint, leave it blank.

[Motorcycle_Mama]

A hint should be a HINT not a spoiler in my opinion.

 

It is true, however, that many hints are not hints but rather the cache owner's attempt at something else (eg being "clever" or something along those lines).

 

Not much you can do about it other than find the cache anyway without the "hint" or skip the cache and move on.

 

Life goes on.

[+ngrrfan]

A hint should be a HINT not a spoiler in my opinion.

 

It is true, however, that many hints are not hints but rather the cache owner's attempt at something else (eg being "clever" or something along those lines).

 

Not much you can do about it other than find the cache anyway without the "hint" or skip the cache and move on.

 

Life goes on.

Yeah.... What she said.

[+briansnat]

I"m fairly new to caching, so before finding a cache I diligently read every log, the "hint", I look up the coords in Google Earth, and sometimes other maps (eg local topo maps).

 

However, the hints I often find are useless, confusing cryptic clues making reference to some movie or cultural genre of which I have no knowledge.

 

Why is a hint not a hint? Surely a hint should be more of a spoiler - eg "under a rosebush by the white picket fence" rather than a cryptic clue only for those who happen to understand the reference - eg "Bart's bespectacled friend". As it turns out, that means "Milhouse" - or the house next to the old flourmill. Even though the coords lead me right to that house anyway. This clue is not helpful at all.

 

A hint should be a hint - a spoiler. If you don't want to read it, then don't. If you need to read the hint, then please please give us a helpful hint, not more puzzles.

 

I agree with you to a point. I think it depends on the intended difficulty of the cache. I personally place my caches to be found and my hints are basically of the "look here dummy!" variety.

 

Some people on the other hand place caches with the intent of fooling their fellow geocachers. In those cases you may be lucky to get a hint at all, and if you do it might be cryptic.

[+niraD]

And some encrypted hints simply direct the seeker to take another look at the hint(s) already provided in the cache description. An example might be "the cache name is an anagram".

 

I've also provided multiple hints on a single cache, each identified as a "nudge" or a "spoiler" or a "starting point" or whatever.

[+Team Cotati]

And some encrypted hints simply direct the seeker to take another look at the hint(s) already provided in the cache description. An example might be "the cache name is an anagram".

 

I've also provided multiple hints on a single cache, each identified as a "nudge" or a "spoiler" or a "starting point" or whatever.

 

And most hiders provide helpful hints with their hides.

 

Nice, isn't it?

[+tallglenn]

I agree that most hints are useless. I have also come across hints that specify the location down to the quark. Of course this is useless because the cache migrates after each finder, and we don't replace it exactly where the hint says if we haven't used the hint. On a "waist high" cache, some dude I've never met must have arms twice as long as me and replaced the cache so high I couldn't reach it at 5'3". I had to jump up & down and fish it out with a stick. I logged that I replaced it "where women and children can reach it". Please, tall dudes, don't replace caches as high as you can reach!

[+bittsen]

My hints are just that, hints. Not obscure references, mind you, but actual hints.

 

For instance, one hint said "Chin up, a DNF isn't that bad".

 

What would that mean to most?

[+ngrrfan]

My hints are just that, hints. Not obscure references, mind you, but actual hints.

 

For instance, one hint said "Chin up, a DNF isn't that bad".

 

What would that mean to most?

To me it says: The cache isn't on the ground, probably 4-6 feet off the ground.

[+bittsen]

My hints are just that, hints. Not obscure references, mind you, but actual hints.

 

For instance, one hint said "Chin up, a DNF isn't that bad".

 

What would that mean to most?

To me it says: The cache isn't on the ground, probably 4-6 feet off the ground.

 

Closer to 10

[+hat_man]

I have one hide that I give hints to if the cacher asks. I have 3 different "levels" of hints for that particular cache. I also have one hide that the whole cache page/story is a clue.