Usage of the hint field when placing a cache.

[+Zop]

First, once again I must apologize if this toipc has been addressed before but no matter that I try, the search tool here just doesn't work.

 

Topic: The proper usage of the hint field when placing a geocache.

 

Some time ago at an event, a reviewer was asked to speak about a few things, among the items he discussed was the usage of the hints field when placing geocaches.

 

His advise was great! (I'm paraphrasing here but I think I understood it well enough)

 

"If you want to provide a hint, do it! That's what it's there for, If you don't, JUST LEAVE IT BLANK" "If your cache doesn't need a hint, LEAVE IT BLANK or say so in the description but don't place useless or snide comments there."

 

Has there been any sort of writing about this? Any way to effectively pass this on to new cachers when they go to submit a cache?

 

I for one am getting tired of manually decrypting a hint field that simply states "You don't need a hint" or "Silly you, looking here for a hint HAHA"

 

Thoughts?

[+StarBrand]

Oh - I think most cachers new or otherwise get the proper useage of the hint field. They just think they are being funny. What really needs communicated is the annoyance we feel when seeing useless hints. There is even a thread dedicated to useless hints somewhere......

 

As for searching the forums - use google and be site specific for forums.Groundspeak.com

[Motorcycle_Mama]

Not a Getting Started issue. Moving to the Geocaching Topics forum.

[+bittsen]

I think it's rude to leave a hint of "too easy" or "Email me for a hint" or "Not yet"

 

I see it all too often.

 

What's worse is a "hint" that makes the hunt harder. I see that sometimes as well.

[+BlueDeuce]

Thoughts?

 

Get all your locals into an online club then bring up the subject so no one feels like it's a personal criticism.

 

Otherwise mention the pointless hint in your log.

Edited January 7, 2010 by BlueDeuce

[+Zop]

 

As for searching the forums - use google and be site specific for forums.Groundspeak.com

 

Best advice I've had in ages.. Thanks!

[+Zop]

Not a Getting Started issue. Moving to the Geocaching Topics forum.

 

Thanks MM, I figured Getting Started would be a good spot since newer cachers may see this.

 

Thank you for the correction.

[+Chrysalides]

I for one am getting tired of manually decrypting a hint field that simply states "You don't need a hint" or "Silly you, looking here for a hint HAHA"

I'm not fond of them either. Rather than get snarky about it, I roll my eyes and carry on searching.

[+bflentje]

I think it's rude to leave a hint of "too easy" or "Email me for a hint" or "Not yet"

 

I see it all too often.

 

What's worse is a "hint" that makes the hunt harder. I see that sometimes as well.

 

I am not fond of useless hints either but what I find even more amazing is that everyone here thinks everything is rude. How rude.

[+briansnat]

Has there been any sort of writing about this?

 

It tells you right on the cache submission page to leave it blank if you don't want to provide a hint.

 

I think taunts and other non hints are annoying. Nothing like standing near ground zero dripping sweat and swatting mosquitos while decrypting the hint only to find some silly taunt. Or worse; parking directions.

[+briansnat]

I am not fond of useless hints either but what I find even more amazing is that everyone here thinks everything is rude.

 

Is there another term for deliberately trying to inconvenience other people for laughs?

[+AZ Cache Family]

I am not fond of useless hints either but what I find even more amazing is that everyone here thinks everything is rude.

 

Is there another term for deliberately trying to inconvenience other people for laughs?

 

Yes...

 

Donkey i 5+4...

[+Chrysalides]

Just want to add that, on the Oregon (and likely Colorado and Dakota), after pressing "Go" on a geocache, when you press on "Show Hint", if no hints are entered, it says "No Hint Available". So even when the cache owner doesn't type "you don't need one" or "too easy". you'll still see a useless hint. It'll be nice if they'll just disable that button when there's no hint. At least it doesn't taunt you...

[+DragonsWest]

Just want to add that, on the Oregon (and likely Colorado and Dakota), after pressing "Go" on a geocache, when you press on "Show Hint", if no hints are entered, it says "No Hint Available". So even when the cache owner doesn't type "you don't need one" or "too easy". you'll still see a useless hint. It'll be nice if they'll just disable that button when there's no hint. At least it doesn't taunt you...

 

Would be better for them not to put it in the Hint field, but place such statements in the main body of the cache description.

[+frinklabs]

I want to put hints for a challenging multi I have out there (now that there has been FTF) but I don't want to have them easily decrypted simply by pressing a button.

 

Is it rude to put encrypted hints in a waypoint description?

[+Prime Suspect]

Is there another term for deliberately trying to inconvenience other people for laughs?

Not without getting moderated.

[+Chrysalides]

I want to put hints for a challenging multi I have out there (now that there has been FTF) but I don't want to have them easily decrypted simply by pressing a button.

 

Is it rude to put encrypted hints in a waypoint description?

I don't think so. Of course, I have leetkey installed, so it's a simple select, right click operation for me to decode.

 

The other alternative is to post it within [] in the hints section, so that it can't be decoded with one click.

 

Edit for clarification : if you type "magnet" in hints, it will show as "zntarg" when encrypted. However, if you type "[zntarg]" in hints, it will show "[zntarg]" whether encrypted or not.

Edited January 8, 2010 by Chrysalides

[+ShowStop]

I have never posted a hint as "none needed" or anything like that. What I have done on a few caches is made the hint harder to decipher or used it as word games:

 

Cache name - Ab Uvagf Arrqrq

Cache hint - See Title (encrypted)

 

Then I have this hint on another cache:

 

(Decrypted)- a long hint is usually not very helpful since most gpsr units FENCE cut off POLE after 30chars

[+Printess Caroline]

I am not fond of useless hints either but what I find even more amazing is that everyone here thinks everything is rude.

 

Is there another term for deliberately trying to inconvenience other people for laughs?

 

I can think of a few: inconciderate, impolite, smart-alecky, offensive, antagonistic. I know I could think of more, but I think rude covers it all. Plain and simple, it's just not nice.

 

I will use a hint if my cache is located in a place that takes some effort to get to. I don't want them to have to log a DNF in that case if I can help it.

[+bittsen]

Just want to add that, on the Oregon (and likely Colorado and Dakota), after pressing "Go" on a geocache, when you press on "Show Hint", if no hints are entered, it says "No Hint Available". So even when the cache owner doesn't type "you don't need one" or "too easy". you'll still see a useless hint. It'll be nice if they'll just disable that button when there's no hint. At least it doesn't taunt you...

 

On my Colorado if there is no hint then there is no menu botton for a hint. It magically disappears.

[+Chrysalides]

On my Colorado if there is no hint then there is no menu botton for a hint. It magically disappears.

*grumble*

[+Arrow42]

Then I have this hint on another cache:

 

(Decrypted)- a long hint is usually not very helpful since most gpsr units FENCE cut off POLE after 30chars

 

Ha... mean.

[+FunnyNose]

Some people write short stories in their hint area.

 

Such as:

 

It has been said that when you like a place you should put down roots . . . apparently this isn't the case here with this cache.

A special note . . . Per the request of Maine Department of Transportation folks . . . please avoid walking on the leachfield (for you folks who are connected to City Sewer Systems and have no idea what this area is . . . it's the green grassy rectangular area with the "candy cane"-like PVC plastic pipes. You can get to this cache by walking alongside the woodline. Also . . . if you see any folks from the DOT eye-balling you as you go towards or leave the cache please make a special point to identify yourself as a geocacher since they have no problem with geocaching, but are safety conscious and want to make sure that nothing illegal is going on at this rest area. Thanks.

 

or:

 

Coming from the lake you will see a path to the water, it's a common lot. The cache is 10 feet up the path and on your left about and about 20 feet in the woods. Near a red camp but not on the same property. By land- you can drive down a dirt road park at the head of the trail,very very short walk to watter. The cache would be on your right about 20 feet into the woods 10 feet from the water. old cut firewood on ammo box

[4wheelin_fool]

On many of the old caches there was no map on the page, and part of the challenge was finding a trail to the cache. I remember seeing more than a few pages where there was a paragraph in the hint field explaining how to find a trail in.

 

Of course today it refers to the hide. If it doesn't mean anything just put it in brackets so noone has to decript it.

Edited January 8, 2010 by 4wheelin_fool

[Keystone]

A useless hint is not a Listing Guidelines issue, but it is a procedural issue that the Volunteer Cache Reviewer can write an advisory note about before publishing the cache. Like the common practice of reminding hiders of one-star terrain caches that they ought to be handicapped accessible, reviewers do not delay publication of a cache solely because it has a useless hint.

 

Many reviewers leave a "form letter" reviewer note right before publication, similar to the one I use:

Hello,

 

Your cache will be published momentarily, but before doing so I wanted to write and encourage you to reconsider the encrypted hint section of your cache page. Your hint did not seem like it would be useful to someone decoding it in the field. From the instructions for hiding a cache:

 

"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."

 

Thank you for considering this request. Enjoy the logs on your new cache!

 

Keystone

Geocaching.com Volunteer Cache Reviewer

I would say that this is one of my ten most commonly used reviewer note templates.

[knowschad]

Useless hints don't really affect me since I started doing paperless caching with my Nuvi, since the GSAK macro decrypts the hint, and if I check the cache page at all, I will amost certainly see the hint. But not everyone, especially the newcomers, don't have access to that luxury. I do remember decrypting by hand, only to find that it said nothing but "None needed" or something like that, and it did NOT make me feel any better.

[GOF and Bacall]

While I don't have to decrypt the hints by hand it is still annoying when I flip to that Cachemate page and find some stupid entry. "No hint needed" If I didn't need the lousy hint I wouldn't be looking at it.

[+briansnat]

I do remember decrypting by hand, only to find that it said nothing but "None needed" or something like that, and it did NOT make me feel any better.

 

Especially because when you take the time to decrypt the hint, obviously you need one.

[+Dgwphotos]

 

What's worse is a "hint" that makes the hunt harder. I see that sometimes as well.

 

I agree. One cache I tried recently said "up under some moss." Well, the GPS is very inconsistent in the area, and this being the Pacific Northwet, moss is EVERYWHERE! It needed to be much more specific. Needless to say, I dnf'ed the cache.

[+Chrysalides]

What's worse is a "hint" that makes the hunt harder. I see that sometimes as well.

 

I agree. One cache I tried recently said "up under some moss." Well, the GPS is very inconsistent in the area, and this being the Pacific Northwet, moss is EVERYWHERE! It needed to be much more specific. Needless to say, I dnf'ed the cache.

I recall one that says "not in the ivy". There's no ivy anywhere in sight for that one

[+NatureGuy360]

A useless hint is not a Listing Guidelines issue, but it is a procedural issue that the Volunteer Cache Reviewer can write an advisory note about before publishing the cache.

 

I completely agree! Granted, the information written in the hint field is ultimately the responsibility of the person who placed the geocache. However, if some of the reviewers start discouraging geocachers from typing in a "useless hint" before the reviewer publishes the geocache, I think this issue could be reduced.

[+WRASTRO]

 

What's worse is a "hint" that makes the hunt harder. I see that sometimes as well.

 

I agree. One cache I tried recently said "up under some moss." Well, the GPS is very inconsistent in the area, and this being the Pacific Northwet, moss is EVERYWHERE! It needed to be much more specific. Needless to say, I dnf'ed the cache.

I found that one.

[+jellis]

I think it's rude to leave a hint of "too easy" or "Email me for a hint" or "Not yet"

 

I see it all too often.

 

What's worse is a "hint" that makes the hunt harder. I see that sometimes as well.

 

Yeah what's up with the "Emai me for a hint" Let's see, you are caching in an unknown area far from home and you don't have reception on your iphone or Blackberry. Wait I don't have a smartphone! By the time you send an email you are back home after you get an answer from the owner wondering if the next time you go back to that area would the cache even still exists or the cache has changed.

 

"Too Easy" Wait! It is easy for the owner because they know where it is. We don't! TOO EASY would mean it is right in front of your face saying "geocache" on it.

[+jellis]

it errored with a duplicate sorry

Edited January 8, 2010 by jellis

[+jellis]

 

What's worse is a "hint" that makes the hunt harder. I see that sometimes as well.

 

I agree. One cache I tried recently said "up under some moss." Well, the GPS is very inconsistent in the area, and this being the Pacific Northwet, moss is EVERYWHERE! It needed to be much more specific. Needless to say, I dnf'ed the cache.

I found that one.

 

Was that one of mine?

[GermanSailor]

His advise was great! (I'm paraphrasing here but I think I understood it well enough)

 

"If you want to provide a hint, do it! That's what it's there for, If you don't, JUST LEAVE IT BLANK" "If your cache doesn't need a hint, LEAVE IT BLANK or say so in the description but don't place useless or snide comments there."

That's absolutely correct. I'm really annoyed by this "you don't need a hint" / "so easy no hint required" etc. nonsense.

 

Has there been any sort of writing about this? Any way to effectively pass this on to new cachers when they go to submit a cache?

As far a I know not. However you can write in your log, that you didn't like the hint and link to this topic here. Actually that would be something the reviewers could look for as well. Just have a glance over the hint and just not publish geocaches with such "hints". At least the owner knows than that his or her hint is not the best idea. Of course this can't prevent changing the listing after the publish.

 

I for one am getting tired of manually decrypting a hint field that simply states "You don't need a hint" or "Silly you, looking here for a hint HAHA"

I use the %hint with GSAK, so I have the hint decrypted in the comments field of the waypoint on my 60CSx. Additonally I usually carry the printout with the decrypted hint with me when geocaching. Sometimes it's even a good idea to look for spoiler pics as well.

 

GermanSailor

[+bittsen]

Yeah what's up with the "Emai me for a hint" Let's see, you are caching in an unknown area far from home and you don't have reception on your iphone or Blackberry. Wait I don't have a smartphone! By the time you send an email you are back home after you get an answer from the owner wondering if the next time you go back to that area would the cache even still exists or the cache has changed.

 

"Too Easy" Wait! It is easy for the owner because they know where it is. We don't! TOO EASY would mean it is right in front of your face saying "geocache" on it.

 

Yup, I'm in the forest, it's 2AM, raining, and 40 degrees. I want to find the stupid cache and get done with it. "Email me for a hint"? Guess what? At that point it's DNF and a quick trip to my ignore list. I've even left the DNF off and just put it straight on ignore. Walking away from a cache hunt, angry, because the CO want's to play games with you is NOT a great way to be enjoying anything.

[Team Alex en Noor]

I remember when creating my hide that it said you should not make long hints because they are difficult to decrypt in the field. I think that if you have any brains you can easily deduce that this also goes for useless hints.

However there was this one time the hint was (in my opinion) particularly useless. We were caching in a small town nearby and just coming out of the extreme-newby situation so I decided it would be more fun not to automatically decrypt every hint but first see if we could do without. The cache description said that there was permission of the owner, so we started searching. After a few moments I found a board with the hint encrypted and decrypted giving the one-word real hint and that the owner of the site requested not to search between the plants...

For us (even though we were careful) the warning was a bit late. Why not put this in the cache description?

 

Noor

[+power69]

What's worse is a "hint" that makes the hunt harder. I see that sometimes as well.

Exactly why i don't read the hints.

if i can't find it then i come back home and look

[+palmetto]

Zop, thanks for starting this thread. I've added a link to for it to my Useless Hint template. I've been linking to the long running Useless Hints thread, now I've got links to both!

 

Per Keystone, this isn't a guidelines issue, so I offer my useless hint comment and publish. And hope the cache owner does some editing.

 

As a cacher I'm really annoyed with "too easy for a hint", "see title", "email me*" or hints that have meaning only after the cache is found, something I've encountered a lot lately. Those are hard to warn the cache owner about on a read through. Heck, even out in the field, you decrypt it and then try to make sense of it. If you find the cache, then you know how it relates. *If the cache owner wants to add that hints will be provided after a DNF is logged, fine. But NOT encrypted in the hints field.

 

I'm also not fond of "hint will be added after FTF". If FTF finds it without a hint, why does anybody else get one? Does FTF deserve to be further penalized (further because they're already beta testing your coords and your design). I don't expect this to change, and do not comment on it as a reviewer. Adding a hint if a cache is turning out to be generally tougher than intended is fine, but "only after FTF"? meh...

[Mr.Yuck]

A useless hint is not a Listing Guidelines issue, but it is a procedural issue that the Volunteer Cache Reviewer can write an advisory note about before publishing the cache.

 

I completely agree! Granted, the information written in the hint field is ultimately the responsibility of the person who placed the geocache. However, if some of the reviewers start discouraging geocachers from typing in a "useless hint" before the reviewer publishes the geocache, I think this issue could be reduced.

 

Correct. I know of one other reviewer besides Keystone (not to say there aren't more) who is very vigiliant about posting that canned message about useless hints. And I rarely see useless hints in their territory. And in a reviewers territory where no such notes are posted, there are boatloads of useless hints in hint fields.

 

One thing though, I've long since learned because of this issue that "abar" decrypts to "none", without even decrypting the hint, since the word none almost always occurs in a useless hint.

 

Oh, and thanks for reminding me of that local multi placed in Spring 2007 that has 33 finds and 27 posted DNF's (you know there really are more than 27). It's hint decrypts to "Too easy for hints". I needed to get my blood pressure up this morning.

Edited January 8, 2010 by TheWhiteUrkel

[+Crow-T-Robot]

I want to put hints for a challenging multi I have out there (now that there has been FTF) but I don't want to have them easily decrypted simply by pressing a button.

 

Is it rude to put encrypted hints in a waypoint description?

I don't think so. Of course, I have leetkey installed, so it's a simple select, right click operation for me to decode.

 

The other alternative is to post it within [] in the hints section, so that it can't be decoded with one click.

 

Edit for clarification : if you type "magnet" in hints, it will show as "zntarg" when encrypted. However, if you type "[zntarg]" in hints, it will show "[zntarg]" whether encrypted or not.

 

Useless hints don't really affect me since I started doing paperless caching with my Nuvi, since the GSAK macro decrypts the hint, and if I check the cache page at all, I will amost certainly see the hint. But not everyone, especially the newcomers, don't have access to that luxury. I do remember decrypting by hand, only to find that it said nothing but "None needed" or something like that, and it did NOT make me feel any better.

 

I have the same set-up with my Nuvi. The macro decrypts the hint and stores it on the unit. It's a nice feature to have and makes even the lame "no hint needed" hints bearable. However, if I get to a waypoint or clue that uses rot-13...I'll have to come back home to get the key to decrypt it

[+bflentje]

I am not fond of useless hints either but what I find even more amazing is that everyone here thinks everything is rude.

 

Is there another term for deliberately trying to inconvenience other people for laughs?

 

Come on now, how many people REALLY decrypt hints by hand out in the field? If there were EVER a way to prove it (without liars here in the forums), I'd bet the number would be miniscule.

[+jellis]

Wow I am so use to either adding a hint or leaving it blank and reading your comments about not leaving a hint too long that now I noticed they added that in the editing part.

 

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.

[+ThirstyMick]

Just want to add that, on the Oregon (and likely Colorado and Dakota), after pressing "Go" on a geocache, when you press on "Show Hint", if no hints are entered, it says "No Hint Available". So even when the cache owner doesn't type "you don't need one" or "too easy". you'll still see a useless hint. It'll be nice if they'll just disable that button when there's no hint. At least it doesn't taunt you...

On the Colorado, the option for Showing Hints isn't there if there is no hint

 

Edit to add, and I'm not as irritated by useless hints as I was before I had a GPS that would decrypt them for me But I feel for those who do it manually and discover the hint is useless....

 

By the way, I have a couple of puzzles where the hint mostly helps for the puzzle part... for these the hint is pretty long, but I'm assuming people are going to read it at their computer while they work on solving the puzzle. Is this acceptable?

Edited January 8, 2010 by ThirstyMick

[+flask]

i decrpyt hints by hand in the field. not always, but i do.

[Pup Patrol]

The search function worked great for me, but I remembered to change the field from "last 30 days" to "all".

 

From way back in 2008, in the Canada forum:

 

May 7 2008:

Hint field on cache listings: a suggestion

 

Sep 24 2008:

Useless Hints

[+ThirstyMick]

I love when the hint is a reference to something about which I know nothing. I've seen bible references, Alice in Wonderland references, all sorts of things that tell me nothing about the cache location if I don't get the reference.

 

Of course, I can google it now that I've got an iPhone, but its still annoying.

[+jellis]

I love when the hint is a reference to something about which I know nothing. I've seen bible references, Alice in Wonderland references, all sorts of things that tell me nothing about the cache location if I don't get the reference.

 

Of course, I can google it now that I've got an iPhone, but its still annoying.

 

Yes I hate it too. We have one cache I know and he does it a lot. I don't have a smartphone so that is useless unless I catch it before I go out.

[Pup Patrol]

I am not fond of useless hints either but what I find even more amazing is that everyone here thinks everything is rude.

 

Is there another term for deliberately trying to inconvenience other people for laughs?

 

Come on now, how many people REALLY decrypt hints by hand out in the field? If there were EVER a way to prove it (without liars here in the forums), I'd bet the number would be miniscule.

 

Some times, I might decrypt a hint before printing out the cache page.

 

But for the most part, the hint gets decrypted manually, in the field.

 

Luddites still caching with paper printouts...whaddya gonna do?