@Moderators: Request for guidance

[LouhenSudet]

Hi,

 

for her birthday, I bought my fiancé a geocoin (a big one) and attached it to a necklace.

She is a singer in a small band and the idea is that if a geocacher is in the audience on a gig, he/she can get to her, get the tracking number and log it as find - similar maybe to the GC.com trackable patches.

The whole idea is not meant to be a promotional measure for the band (they are anyway just a "for fun" band) but to have some fun as we are both into caching and wanted to do something cool for/with other cachers.

 

Is it ok to tell the story, mentioning the band's name and linking to the band's website here in the GS forums?

 

Greets from Finland,

Stefan

[+EscapeFromFlatland]

There are trackables that I've seen that can only be found at events with the owners that are needed to solve mystery caches.

I think linking to the band's upcoming events page within the trackable's description and mission would be acceptable as that is providing a way for people to find the trackable.

Not sure how many people would be able to see it was a geocoin unless they were meeting the band before/after a performance and were closer to your fiance.

[+ras_oscar]

Might get a little dicey as someone reaches to your fiance's neck to retreive the tracking number. Are you two ready for that?

[LouhenSudet]

It's a long necklace . And I am ex-MP/SF - I guess, I can handle it if it gets too dicey .

[Motorcycle_Mama]

Presumably the band plays for money and not for free, that would make them a commercial venture. And since the band is not directly related to Geocaching, I would say that it would not be in compliance with the Forum Guidelines.

 

You could send an email to Groundspeak and ask if they would allow you to use their forums for that purpose.

contact@geocaching.com

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?act=boardrules

8. Commerciality and postings with a larger agenda: It is Groundspeak's desire to maintain forums for the purpose of promoting the activity of geocaching and GPS usage. As a result, we intend to limit forum discussions that promote a commercial, social, political or charitable agenda insofar as the agenda does not reasonably relate to the activity of geocaching and GPS usage. Therefore, threads or posts perceived to have been made with the intent of promoting any of the above agendas will not be permitted. Please note that our Volunteer Forum Moderators are authorized to exercise their discretion in providing some reasonable latitude for forum discussion postings relating to local events and issues in local discussion forums. Notwithstanding the above, Groundspeak reserves the right to include or permit the inclusion of limited commercial content in this forum, in its sole discretion.

[+WRITE SHOP ROBERT]

Of course you can always link to the coin page... http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=2775929 and from there you can have alink to the band. or...we can just go to your profile and find the coin.

 

There are not really any rules about commercial links on Coin pages as far as I know, they are also not part of the "No agenda" rules

Edited May 19, 2010 by WRITE SHOP ROBERT

[LouhenSudet]

@Motorcycle_Mama:

As I wrote, it's a fun band. They play mostly in bars and on small festivals where no entrance fee is asked. I wouldn't call that commercial as they don't have any intention of making profit.

Of course, the band is not directly related to geocaching but my fiancé was trying to link her hobbies. We thought, it's a cool idea to have a trackable at a gig so that present geocachers can log it.

 

@Write_Shop_Robert:

I have been reading in the forums a bit and I got the impression that it is not allowed to publish the tracking number of a trackable anywhere in the web to prevent "virtual logging". Isn't linking to the coin's page like publishing the tracking number?

[+Minimike2]

How will people find the 'cache' the coin is located in? There is no cache and therfore no way to search for the traveler. Posting it in here isn't in the way to get the word out either, probably 99.999% of the cachers don't ever come in here.

Edited May 21, 2010 by Minimike2

[+WRITE SHOP ROBERT]

 

@Write_Shop_Robert:

I have been reading in the forums a bit and I got the impression that it is not allowed to publish the tracking number of a trackable anywhere in the web to prevent "virtual logging". Isn't linking to the coin's page like publishing the tracking number?

No, the secret tracking number is not visible to other players on that page, only to the owner. There is a seperate number that is public(known as a reference number) that cal be used to look the coin up, but not to log it's movements. As long as you keep the engraved tracking number only available to people who have actually seen the coin, then it's all OK.

 

Here's an example of the public reference number that will allow you to view a coin page, but not to log the coin(except for "Notes" which don't require any numbers at all)

 

TB2EZCG

Edited May 21, 2010 by WRITE SHOP ROBERT

[+Ambrosia]

@Motorcycle_Mama:

As I wrote, it's a fun band. They play mostly in bars and on small festivals where no entrance fee is asked. I wouldn't call that commercial as they don't have any intention of making profit.

Of course, the band is not directly related to geocaching but my fiancé was trying to link her hobbies. We thought, it's a cool idea to have a trackable at a gig so that present geocachers can log it.

 

@Write_Shop_Robert:

I have been reading in the forums a bit and I got the impression that it is not allowed to publish the tracking number of a trackable anywhere in the web to prevent "virtual logging". Isn't linking to the coin's page like publishing the tracking number?

There's two different numbers associated with trackables. There's the reference number, which is posted on the trackable page for all to see, and to use to find the trackable page. Then, there's the number on the actual trackable, which you shouldn't post or give out, to prove that people actually found it themselves.

 

An example is my geocoin attached to a Signal plushie, that I take with me to Events and caches for people to discover, and for photo ops (I'm way behind, uploading photos): signal wuz here!

 

The reference number for this geocoin is TB1WARZ. I can post this, and people can use it to find the coin page, but they cannot use it to log it (except for logging a note).

 

The number on the geocoin is PC****. I cannot give that out, you'll need to find me at an Event to log a Discovered It.

 

 

signal wuz here! visiting the Lilypad.

Edited May 21, 2010 by Ambrosia

[+Ambrosia]

Lol, I took too long with my post.

[LouhenSudet]

How will people find the 'cache' the coin is located in? There is no cache and therfore no way to search for the traveler. Posting it in here isn't in the way to get the word out either, probably 99.999% of the cachers don't ever come in here.

How do people find the trackable patches? Or a TB-decal on a car?

Plus, when I put a link to the band's website, cachers can come to the gig - like a "mini-event" .

 

@Ambrosia & Write_Shop_Robert:

Thanks for the explanation!

Edited May 21, 2010 by LouhenSudet

[Keystone]

I'm moving this thread from the Geocaching Topics forum to the Geocoin Discussions forum. That's the forum where you'd want to post a story about your geocoin idea.

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

As mentioned above, the coin's page could have links to the band's site where their schedule is posted, gigs are listed, etc.

 

Coins and TBs do not generally have the same guidelines as cache pages and the forums where agendas are not allowed.

 

Keep in mind, as somebody else stated, that:

1) People would need to be aware of the coin's existence and want to find out where it will be - not sure how to promote that

2) 99.9% of all cachers never come to the forums here, and of those that do 97.3% never come to the coin forums

3) Most statistics are made up on the spot