Question from my blog

[+capetownfly]

Another thought. There is what i perceive to be a “gap” in the system when it comes to logging travel bugs and trackables on the website.

 

Bear with me. I geocache using my htc hero and really awesome application called (reference to unauthorized application removed by Groundspeak). It is a wonderful app that does all the legwork, even to the point of allowing me to log my find right there and then , provided i have a data signal. Now this is the problem. I often come upon a cache with the website indicating trackables in it, only to discover none. Having thought about it , I think people are forgetting to log their trackables when they log their cache finds which may only happen later in the day / week, etc

 

Would it help to have geocaching.com ask you if you found trackables via a popup, or an alert of some sort, as you log your cache find ?

 

Any thoughts ?

 

via www.geocachesa.co.za

[+malo mystery]

I might not have the answer to your problem but rather some answers to your cause.

 

1) Yes the TB is not there and is long gone, as you might see from previous logs saying that cachers noted it was missing, although it seems Fish Eagle has been hard at work recently posting notes to bug/coin owners and clearing this out of the system.

2) Some cachers - particularly those travelling distances (out of town/overseas) might only log their cache finds on returning home/having internet access and this could be days or weeks later.

3) Others, like me dont log instantly via all those methods you are using, so I only get to log later that evening, maybe you cache an hour or two after me and find an empty cache that I raided earlier that day.

4) If you are caching on a Pocket Query a few days old the answer is obvious.

5) Sometimes cachers might cache a few caches along a path and forget which cache they dropped a TB/coin in or get it muddled and log it as dropped in a certain cache meanwhile they actually dropped it in a neighbouring cache.

 

I guess sometimes you win and sometimes you loose, ever find a coin in a cache that was marked as not having any trackables?

 

I dont think you will ever solve this problem unless everyone logs correct up to the minute logs.

[MnCo]

Unfortunately, this is one of those "facts of life" regarding TB's. People stick them in their bag and then forget about them. This is especially true with casual cachers and I think to myself, if you know that you only cache once every six months, then WHY take a TB or Coin. But alas the reality is that it happens. Sometimes a bug will reappear in another cache as suddenly as it disappeared. Sometimes it's possible to track down the person that took at from the logs, but this is really the responsibility of the owner.