can you search for members by their real name?

[+all Wright]

My nine year old son placed his very first travel bug in a really creative cache close to home, owned by some trusted neighbors. Someone visited the cache since we did, and wrote their names, and traded some junk, and took my sons travel bug. They have not logged their visit to the cache or logged that they have possession of the travel bug! It never got anywhere, and it's already muggled????? or is it possible that these people really haven't gotten around to logging their find for 3 days? (we do ours immediately)

I have the names that they wrote on the log, and that is all. Is there a way to search them out on geocaching.com by their actual, real name??

 

What do you all suggest I do? I am aware that these things happen sometimes - but right out the door......that's just sad! Where's the code of honor?

Edited June 8, 2010 by all Wright

[+brslk]

That's really crappy but maybe it was taken by people on vacation or some other legit reason they can't log it yet.

Pretty sure though that you cannot trace anyone from their actual name here.

 

That's probably a good thing.

[+NanCycle]

My nine year old son placed his very first travel bug in a really creative cache close to home, owned by some trusted neighbors. Someone visited the cache since we did, and wrote their names, and traded some junk, and took my sons travel bug. They have not logged their visit to the cache or logged that they have possession of the travel bug! It never got anywhere, and it's already muggled????? or is it possible that these people really haven't gotten around to logging their find for 3 days? (we do ours immediately)

I have the names that they wrote on the log, and that is all. Is there a way to search them out on geocaching.com by their actual, real name??

 

What do you all suggest I do? I am aware that these things happen sometimes - but right out the door......that's just sad! Where's the code of honor?

 

Since you have the names they wrote on the log, you can try to find them by their user names.

If you find them, you could maybe see if they're local, or traveling.

Three days really isn't very long, especially if they're not at home.

If you find their user names, you could send them an email, but I'd wait at least a week and then be VERY VERY nice. Don't use the word "muggle" and most certainly not the word "steal."

[+GeoGeeBee]

Three days? Seriously?

 

That seems much too soon to be hitting the panic button. School's out for the summer, people are traveling. Give them some time.

 

If they haven't logged it in three WEEKS, then maybe try to track them down.

 

If not knowing where your bug is for three days is going to get you this worried, maybe you aren't cut out for being a bug owner.

[Motorcycle_Mama]

Agreed. Three days is nothing. They might be traveling. Give it some time.

[+roziecakes]

It's true, I know a lot of people who take a week or so to log their finds, sometimes more if they have a high find volume and/or are traveling.

[+all Wright]

It's true, I know a lot of people who take a week or so to log their finds, sometimes more if they have a high find volume and/or are traveling.

 

K, well thanks guys, that makes me feel better. We are very new to geocaching, and have never put out travel bugs before now. I guess because we post ours immediately I didn't realize that other people didn't. I did read someones post about traveling and not having the internet handy - so that does make sense. Also, probably someone wouldn't put their name on the log if they had no intention of posting the find and TB.

[+Walts Hunting]

Do not get emotionally attached to you travelers. They will disappeat, sometimes reaappear, move long distances.

[Mr.Yuck]

It's true, I know a lot of people who take a week or so to log their finds, sometimes more if they have a high find volume and/or are traveling.

 

K, well thanks guys, that makes me feel better. We are very new to geocaching, and have never put out travel bugs before now. I guess because we post ours immediately I didn't realize that other people didn't. I did read someones post about traveling and not having the internet handy - so that does make sense. Also, probably someone wouldn't put their name on the log if they had no intention of posting the find and TB.

 

Well, unless the kids have seperate accounts, I see you only own two TB's, and they both have now been logged. So I assume there's a happy ending? Also assuming I'm looking at the right one with the final goal in NY, I only live about 60 miles from there. You never know, I might see it one day.

[+roziecakes]

It's true, I know a lot of people who take a week or so to log their finds, sometimes more if they have a high find volume and/or are traveling.

 

K, well thanks guys, that makes me feel better. We are very new to geocaching, and have never put out travel bugs before now. I guess because we post ours immediately I didn't realize that other people didn't. I did read someones post about traveling and not having the internet handy - so that does make sense. Also, probably someone wouldn't put their name on the log if they had no intention of posting the find and TB.

 

It's understandable! We try to log our stuff as quickly as possible, but I know that I've gone a few days without being able to log a TB myself. Hope that it does get logged very soon!!

[+all Wright]

It's true, I know a lot of people who take a week or so to log their finds, sometimes more if they have a high find volume and/or are traveling.

 

K, well thanks guys, that makes me feel better. We are very new to geocaching, and have never put out travel bugs before now. I guess because we post ours immediately I didn't realize that other people didn't. I did read someones post about traveling and not having the internet handy - so that does make sense. Also, probably someone wouldn't put their name on the log if they had no intention of posting the find and TB.

 

Well, unless the kids have seperate accounts, I see you only own two TB's, and they both have now been logged. So I assume there's a happy ending? Also assuming I'm looking at the right one with the final goal in NY, I only live about 60 miles from there. You never know, I might see it one day.

 

no, my family has one account and we've release 4 TB's - don't know why you can't see them on my page-I can. it's the glow-in-the-dark flower bug tb that's missing strait off.

[+Chokecherry]

I see two cachekinz and two travel bugs. Neither cachekinz has any miles yet. Anyhow, I wouldn't worry about it yet. These things are not instantaneous. And sometimes they move around without anyone logging them for some time (people who cache by phone for example don't have the ability to log from their app).

[Pup Patrol]

no, my family has one account and we've release 4 TB's - don't know why you can't see them on my page-I can. it's the glow-in-the-dark flower bug tb that's missing strait off.

Yup, 2 TB tags, and 2 "cachekinz"...which I've never heard of or seen.

 

As previously posted, don't get attached to travellers. Once you release them, it's not worth worrying about them any more.

[Andronicus]

...(people who cache by phone for example don't have the ability to log from their app).

Off topic: but...That is because they are using sucky apps. Those poor iPhone owners!

 

"And how much did you pay for that thing?"...Choke on coffee..."Wow, I got this for free."

 

no, my family has one account and we've release 4 TB's - don't know why you can't see them on my page-I can. it's the glow-in-the-dark flower bug tb that's missing strait off.

Yup, 2 TB tags, and 2 "cachekinz"...which I've never heard of or seen.

 

As previously posted, don't get attached to travellers. Once you release them, it's not worth worrying about them any more.

Back on topic, I got each of my kids a cachekinz. I didn't let them reliese them. I think they will get stolen quite quickly. The kids wear them on lanyards (that we found geocaching), and I dip them in all the caches they find.

Edited June 9, 2010 by Andronicus

[Mr.Yuck]

no, my family has one account and we've release 4 TB's - don't know why you can't see them on my page-I can. it's the glow-in-the-dark flower bug tb that's missing strait off.

Yup, 2 TB tags, and 2 "cachekinz"...which I've never heard of or seen.

 

As previously posted, don't get attached to travellers. Once you release them, it's not worth worrying about them any more.

 

Yep, that was me starting that confusion. You did say Travel Bug in the original post, not cachekinz.

 

Agree with Pup Patrol and others. Once you release a traveler, it's a crap shoot. Sorry to hear that it was released by a 9 year old boy. Best of luck to you!! This could very well be someone who doesn't log geocaches on the website, especially with writing their real name in the logbook. This is not to say they won't move a trackable to another cache, knowing an online logger will eventually log it. Or it could be a person slow to log, as others have said. We could speculate all day, but don't give up hope.

[+briansnat]

Do not get emotionally attached to you travelers. They will disappeat, sometimes reaappear, move long distances.

 

You can say that again. My nephew lives in Vt and left a toy airplane behind when my brother's family visited us. I thought it would be fun to turn it into a TB and send it to him via caching. It made its way to VT quickly, but then hopped about the northeast for 2 years. Then it totally disappeared for a year. A geocacher noticed it in the home of a friend who was a former geocacher, rescued it and it was back in circulation.

 

Finally, after 4+ years it reached its destination, a cache a few miles from my brothers house. The following weekend my brother gathered up the family and went to retrieve it. It was gone. The person who took it mentioned the fact that he grabbed it in the paper log, but never logged online. 6 months later it is who knows where. I checked to see if there was an account here that matched the signature in the logbook, but there isn't.

[Andronicus]

Do not get emotionally attached to you travelers. They will disappeat, sometimes reaappear, move long distances.

 

You can say that again. My nephew lives in Vt and left a toy airplane behind when my brother's family visited us. I thought it would be fun to turn it into a TB and send it to him via caching. It made its way to VT quickly, but then hopped about the northeast for 2 years. Then it totally disappeared for a year. A geocacher noticed it in the home of a friend who was a former geocacher, rescued it and it was back in circulation.

 

Finally, after 4+ years it reached its destination, a cache a few miles from my brothers house. The following weekend my brother gathered up the family and went to retrieve it. It was gone. The person who took it mentioned the fact that he grabbed it in the paper log, but never logged online. 6 months later it is who knows where. I checked to see if there was an account here that matched the signature in the logbook, but there isn't.

Wow, now that is realy sad, even more sad than the getting stolen from first cache. Finaly reaching the destination, then getting stolen. Way to sad. I would like to give certain cachers a earfull about TB Maggotry!

[+mwellman]

Welcome to Geocaching!

 

When we were newbies, we found one and didn't know what to do with it so we just placed it in a cache without dropping it. Oops.

 

We had one of ours that only went from Saskatoon to Prince Albert before it got lost - it was a tiny micro puck, too easy to lose. But another of ours went to Australia, then Cyprus and now is in Sweden.

 

We took a friend's new TB to Newfoundland and placed it in a ammocan. It got shook down to the bottom and got lost there for a while but a cache emailed us for the code so that he could drop it in Gander. Never dropped. Nothing happens over the winter and then it reappears in Ontario.

 

Don't give up hope yet!

 

P.s. Sometimes I re-visit a geocache several times with various sets of nephews and nieces or TB drops or pick-ups, I just post a note that I was there and what trades or TB activities that we did. Then my stats don't get messed up.

 

Enjoy your Geocaching Adventures!

 

Edited Cut and Paste didn't work the first time.

Edited June 9, 2010 by mwellman

[+MightyParagon]

Can't log from the iPhone? I've been logging my finds from the field.

 

Not sure about trackables....I just followed a listing to see what would come up....but it *appears* that I can log a trackable, if I connect to geocaching .com. But maybe not from the app itself. Hmmm.

[+Chokecherry]

From the app you can't log a trackable on the iphone. If you go to the website on the iphone you can.

[+angela1964]

Do many people keep their travelbugs/geocoins and send out laminates? We picked up a laminate with a code after the owner had had too many real coins nicked. We've just bought a few trackables so I'm wondering whether to release the real things (which are more fun to find) or take photos of them and do laminates.

[BCProspectors]

If they put their real name in the log and do not have a Geocaching.com account under that name they may be someone who does not log their finds online. People like this should not be picking up Travel Bugs. You will definitely need to do some work to find them.

 

The first thing to try is to use a website such as ZabaSearch.com or Canada411.ca depending on if you are in the USA or Canada respectively. Search for their name and you will receive a list of addresses and phone numbers of people who match that name. Call them and ask them if they've heard of or participate in Geocaching and if they do, explain the situation to them. You should be able to find the person with your Travel Bug, but it will take time.

[+all Wright]

Can't log from the iPhone? I've been logging my finds from the field.

 

Not sure about trackables....I just followed a listing to see what would come up....but it *appears* that I can log a trackable, if I connect to geocaching .com. But maybe not from the app itself. Hmmm.

 

we can log our finds and leave notes on the iphone, but you can't do anything with the TB's on the phone. Hope they fix that soon.

[+all Wright]

If they put their real name in the log and do not have a Geocaching.com account under that name they may be someone who does not log their finds online. People like this should not be picking up Travel Bugs. You will definitely need to do some work to find them.

 

The first thing to try is to use a website such as ZabaSearch.com or Canada411.ca depending on if you are in the USA or Canada respectively. Search for their name and you will receive a list of addresses and phone numbers of people who match that name. Call them and ask them if they've heard of or participate in Geocaching and if they do, explain the situation to them. You should be able to find the person with your Travel Bug, but it will take time.

 

I used the zabasearch and looked at their names. There are several, but none anywhere near where I live - so hopefully it is like other posters said - and they are traveling. We are new at it too. I didn't know you had to put your geo "screen name" in the written log. Sometimes I let my daughter do hers, and it depends which kid finds it, but often we don't put our geocaching id.

[+jennyofthemoon]

You know, I try to log at the end of the day whenever I do any caching activity. Sometimes, things come up though. I retrieved a tb last week, and then had a bunch of crap happen and forget about it. It was like 5 days before I remembered to log it (when I was ready to go out for another cache). I felt awful, but thigns happen. Also, I can't deal with trackable from the app on my phone (which I have for paperless caching, but actually use my gps to locate GZ). So, yeah, 3 days I wouldn't freak

 

Things disappear sometimes. it's a sad reality, but it happens.

[+Chokecherry]

I don't sign logs with my real name but in the off chance that someone figured out what my real name was and thought I had taken a travel bug without logging it, then proceeded to hunt me down in my normal non-geocaching life by searching for me online and then phoning the few people with my name I would seriously start to consider a restraining order against that person. That seems a little excessive for a $10 travel bug (or whatever they cost).

 

It's no secret that the reality is these things go missing all the time. Some get a good run and vanish and some get no run at all and vanish.... That is the risk one takes when putting out an object in a game based on the honor system with people joining and quitting all the time. Not to mention these things are occasionally muggled as well so you could be harassing the wrong person about that travel bug as well.

 

If losing track of an object causes annoyance I would probably consider not participating in the travel bug aspect of the game.

Edited June 10, 2010 by Chokecherry

[JohnX]

As for online privacy, it doesn't exist. My name, home address and phone number is available to anyone with decent search skills and I can't do anything about it. (Thanks to some federal agency). For the traveling thing, let it go. It's a bummer but things disappear never to be found again.

[+Chokecherry]

I'm not worried about the online privacy thing. Just how invasive that is to start calling people at home searching for this thing. And random people at that with really no proof they stole it. I find that a little excessive in response to a situation that happens to many travel items.

[+all Wright]

I don't sign logs with my real name but in the off chance that someone figured out what my real name was and thought I had taken a travel bug without logging it, then proceeded to hunt me down in my normal non-geocaching life by searching for me online and then phoning the few people with my name I would seriously start to consider a restraining order against that person. That seems a little excessive for a $10 travel bug (or whatever they cost).

 

It's no secret that the reality is these things go missing all the time. Some get a good run and vanish and some get no run at all and vanish.... That is the risk one takes when putting out an object in a game based on the honor system with people joining and quitting all the time. Not to mention these things are occasionally muggled as well so you could be harassing the wrong person about that travel bug as well.

 

If losing track of an object causes annoyance I would probably consider not participating in the travel bug aspect of the game.

 

Like I wrote earlier, we are new to the game. The TB belongs to my 9 year old son. Of COURSE loosing an object causes annoyance! He's nine! He spent his money (and I did too) on something that would be fun when played fairly. We've never done this before, and it's missing after initial placement.

I had no intention of investigating or harrassing a person for taking the TB other than to look them up on geocaching.com and perhaps email them if it went too long. I did look at a search site suggested by a previous poster, and determined that people by that name do not live in my town, so are perhaps it was taken by travelers who haven't gotten around to logging it yet. Did I go to far doing that???? I would not call anyone, and I certainly wouldn't stalk them. I only wanted to know if that was a search option on Geocaching.com because it is on some forums. And if someone were to blatantly steal a TB they shouldn't get all mad if someone tries to get it back. I understand that these things happen,,, and I won't let it ruin my life. I'll get him a new one and hope it doesn't go missing, but I will wait a while like the other posters suggested. I will give these people the benefit of the doubt.

 

I really appreciate the responses that are understanding and helpful. We can close this topic now.

[+Chokecherry]

Playing devils advocate. The suggestion you were given was to find these folks off the site in real life. My suggestion is that is creepy and I wouldn't. As some one new and obviously upset the the travel bug issue I would suggest peruse the travel bug part of the forum and see this outcome is mre common than not. It is the reality and if the emotional attachment is this much and the expense concerns you then really the travel bug part of this game is not for you as yo will be constantly disappointed and upset.

[+all Wright]

Playing devils advocate. The suggestion you were given was to find these folks off the site in real life. My suggestion is that is creepy and I wouldn't. As some one new and obviously upset the the travel bug issue I would suggest peruse the travel bug part of the forum and see this outcome is mre common than not. It is the reality and if the emotional attachment is this much and the expense concerns you then really the travel bug part of this game is not for you as yo will be constantly disappointed and upset.

 

Well, thanks for your replies. I will wait and see what happens.

[Motorcycle_Mama]

.... I only wanted to know if that was a search option on Geocaching.com because it is on some forums. ....

 

Be aware that due to privacy considerations, you will not be able to search for a user's real name on Geocaching.com unless that person has chosen to place that information in their public profile.

 

Groundspeak will not make this information available to anyone.

[+Barwright/Hoofprints]

My nine year old son placed his very first travel bug in a really creative cache close to home, owned by some trusted neighbors. Someone visited the cache since we did, and wrote their names, and traded some junk, and took my sons travel bug. They have not logged their visit to the cache or logged that they have possession of the travel bug! It never got anywhere, and it's already muggled????? or is it possible that these people really haven't gotten around to logging their find for 3 days? (we do ours immediately)

I have the names that they wrote on the log, and that is all. Is there a way to search them out on geocaching.com by their actual, real name??

 

What do you all suggest I do? I am aware that these things happen sometimes - but right out the door......that's just sad! Where's the code of honor?

Once i had a TB i put in in a pocket to carry on a hikeing cache trip and forgot it there .. i sweated it for months thinking i lost it.. but like five months later there is was the one place i didn't look..then off it went continueing its adventures.... hang in there good luck..

[+power69]

I've sent out a few that never made it to their second cache.

rule of thumb: never attach anything to the dog tags you don't want to lose.