+hochzeitspaar Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 This week I found my first nigth cache. It is very exciting to go throug the forrests by night with a torch. But is is not possible to search for night caches on geocaching.com. You have to go through all the descriptions of the caches and find out if it is a "normal" cache or multicache or if it is a night cache which can only be done when it is dark. Night caches should deserve its own icon and should no be categorized as a normal caches or multi caches. It would be great if you could add such a feature. Thank, Ralf Link to comment
+Highland Horde Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 You can just do a PQ for it. Night caches are an attribute on the cache page. There is a night only cache near me that in the attributes they selected the night attribute and had the 24/7 attribute x'd out so you would know that it was a night only. Typically i will do a search for the 24/7 caches and then it opens up more choices for at night. I just save the PQ and run it when I think I will be out after dark...witch is a lot more often this time of year. Link to comment
+pppingme Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 The attribute is there, but its not consistently used. I just ID'd a little over a dozen night specific caches in my area, and only 2 or 3 of them had the night attribute set. In addition I found several that had the attribute improperly set when it shouldn't have been. Since attributes don't carry into pq's (yeah yeah, I know, they are "working" on it), most users, including cache owners, think they are useless and don't mess with them. There are three reviewers in my area and NONE of them enforce setting attributes for any reason. I think even if the reviewers gave feedback that cache owners might start using them, but they don't. Attributes just aren't used like they could be. I'd say only 1 in 4 caches published in my area have attributes set, so 3 out of 4 cache owners aren't using them. Link to comment
+Markwell Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 The attribute may not be consistently used, but that doesn't mean that the method for tracking them isn't valid. The system is in place, but the cache owners aren't using it correctly. Of the 11 caches within 100 miles of my home that have the "Recommended at Night" and "Available 24/7 - Not" selected as attributes, only 5 were truly "night" caches. So even for those that USE the attributes (which is not a lot), they aren't consistently used. A couple of weeks ago when the attributes were first included in the Pocket Queries, I downloaded them and incorporated them into my offline database. Of the 6,548 caches that I grabbed over the course of a couple days, if you exclude the "Needs Maintenance" attribute which is set by non-owners and count all of the other attributes, 2,325 caches - 35.5% of the caches had NO attributes. 100 caches had 1 attribute (1.53%) 191 caches had 2 attributes (2.92%) 359 caches had 3 attributes (5.48%) 512 caches had 4 attributes (7.82%) 487 caches had 5 attributes (7.44%) 562 caches had 6 attributes (8.58%) 500 caches had 7 attributes (7.64%) 455 caches had 8 attributes (6.95%) 422 caches had 9 attributes (6.44%) 635 caches had 10 attributes (9.70%) No - they're not being used as they should. However, I also think that not having them available in GSAK has made it so that even the Premium Members don't care if they're on there or not. If we start getting them in pocket queries, maybe more people will recommend to owners to use them. Link to comment
+JesandTodd Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 Bummer about the attributes not being correctly listed. For me, it's rare for them not to be listed. I simply run a PQ like everyone else suggested. So, not everyone sees the attributes? Link to comment
+baloo&bd Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 The attribute is there, but its not consistently used. I just ID'd a little over a dozen night specific caches in my area, and only 2 or 3 of them had the night attribute set. In addition I found several that had the attribute improperly set when it shouldn't have been. Since attributes don't carry into pq's (yeah yeah, I know, they are "working" on it), most users, including cache owners, think they are useless and don't mess with them. There are three reviewers in my area and NONE of them enforce setting attributes for any reason. I think even if the reviewers gave feedback that cache owners might start using them, but they don't. Attributes just aren't used like they could be. I'd say only 1 in 4 caches published in my area have attributes set, so 3 out of 4 cache owners aren't using them. Attributes are an option not a requirement. There is nothing to "enforce". If a CO can't set the attribute properly, why would you think they would select the correct type? Link to comment
+pppingme Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 Attributes are an option not a requirement. There is nothing to "enforce". If a CO can't set the attribute properly, why would you think they would select the correct type? So your saying its a laziness issue? I just looked at your two most recent caches and neither have any attributes. What does that mean? Link to comment
+tozainamboku Posted January 10, 2010 Share Posted January 10, 2010 (edited) Night caches are one of several categories of caches that tend to have people who have done one and now want an easy way to find out if there are more in the area. In addition to night caches, there are "spirit quests" caches that are hidden in cemeteries; there are various kinds of challenge caches; there are certain categories of puzzles - sudoku puzzles, logic puzzles, cryptography puzzles. The list is endless. Everyone who discovers a new category that they enjoyed wants a quick way to find other caches like this one. Often they ask for a new cache type with it's own icon, or a new attribute for these caches. But there is a a way already find these caches. Often someone will create a public bookmark list of all the caches in some category in their state or other geographic area. A link to this bookmark list appears on every cache in the list. If you found a night cache, check to see if there isn't a link to a bookmark list of night caches in your area. If there isn't a list already and you are premium member, you can begin your own list. Ask other cachers (possibly in a local/regional geocaching group) to recommend cachse to add to the list. Put a note on the list as well asking cachers to send you the GC number of new caches so you can add the list when they come out. Geocaching.com can certainly do more to make these lists more useful. There is currently no way to search for such a list. You may not know about a list until you find a cache that happens to be on such a list. A way to search for bookmark lists of caches in some category is needed. And I don't think that all premium members realize they can make this kind of bookmark list and help out the community. Perhaps some kind of campaign in the weekly newsletter or on the bookmark page could be used to promote more of these list. Geocachers who find a list useful can vote the list as useful. If there were some reward for premium members for making and maintaining list that get high usefulness ratings I believe we would see more lists like these. Edited January 10, 2010 by tozainamboku Link to comment
+bittsen Posted January 10, 2010 Share Posted January 10, 2010 All caches are night caches with the right equipment. Most of my finds are done at night. Link to comment
GermanSailor Posted January 10, 2010 Share Posted January 10, 2010 Night caches should deserve its own icon and should no be categorized as a normal caches or multi caches. It would be great if you could add such a feature. You are right! I only own a very basic night cache, but included NC and the word "Nachtcache" in the name. This is a workaround Why not naming the nightcaches "NC - name" or something like this? A solution for you could be to look for bookmark lists, search for the attributes "Available at all times - NO", "Recommended at night - Yes" and most importantly "Flashlight required - Yes". This should help. Otherwise ask in local forums or ask other geocachers for recommendation at an event. There are even dedicated nightcaching websites, sure those are a good start for some research. GermanSailor Link to comment
+baloo&bd Posted January 10, 2010 Share Posted January 10, 2010 Attributes are an option not a requirement. There is nothing to "enforce". If a CO can't set the attribute properly, why would you think they would select the correct type? So your saying its a laziness issue? I just looked at your two most recent caches and neither have any attributes. What does that mean? Didn't need them. What's your point? Link to comment
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