New cachers

[+Dragery]

Hi look at me, I've only been geocaching since June 7th. Ha Ha I'm a newb because of my date. Ok, now that that's out of the way.

 

Is anyone else getting tired of geocachers who get into the hobby for 1-30 finds then just disappear? Leaving nothing but a trail of DNF'd LPH logs, stolen or unlogged geocoins/travelbugs, misplaced or mistreated caches, and a slew of horribly placed unmaintained caches that never get fixed?

 

I think with the ease of attaining apps for smartphone and Iphones, and a geocaching.com account "Low quality cachers" are infecting this game. When signing up for a geocaching.com account, new players should have to go through a flash demo/orientation. Then answer the BASIC questions about geocaching (etiquette, TB/coin logging, etc) . And maybe impose a 50 find minimum before being able to hide your own cache. (yeah I'm sure that one has come up before)

 

Anyways thanks for being my shoulder to QQ on.

 

-Drag

[+atmospherium]

Is anyone else getting tired of geocachers who get into the hobby for 1-30 finds then just disappear?

No. Nothing wrong with testing the waters.

 

Leaving nothing but a trail of DNF'd LPH logs, stolen or unlogged geocoins/travelbugs, misplaced or mistreated caches, and a slew of horribly placed unmaintained caches that never get fixed?

I've seen very little of this in my experience, but I'm sure it exists here and there.

 

I think with the ease of attaining apps for smartphone and Iphones, and a geocaching.com account "Low quality cachers" are infecting this game. When signing up for a geocaching.com account, new players should have to go through a flash demo/orientation. Then answer the BASIC questions about geocaching (etiquette, TB/coin logging, etc) .

I tend to agree with an "orientation" process when signing up.

 

And maybe impose a 50 find minimum before being able to hide your own cache. (yeah I'm sure that one has come up before)

It comes up every week, or so it seems. But I strongly disagree. A cacher's find count is no indication of their level of experience or responsibility.

 

Anyways thanks for being my shoulder to QQ on.

Anytime.

[+Dragery]

Is anyone else getting tired of geocachers who get into the hobby for 1-30 finds then just disappear?

No. Nothing wrong with testing the waters.

 

I should have left the question mark for AFTER all the stuff they leave behind, I have nothing against people testing the waters, the statement only applied to the ones leaving the "slew of.... "

 

And being from a highly cache saturated area, I can say I experience terrible quality cachers more than I few times here and there.

 

Granted time spent caching is not an indication of a persons ability to hide, it still opens their mind to certain types of hides. It's like having your drivers permit (god knows people can drive a long time and still SUCK at it) But at least getting them behind the wheel for a bit before giving them a license shows them the basics.

[knowschad]

Yup. I know what you're talking about. Nothing I can do about it, though.

[+Dragery]

Only quote from from Bible related materials I know by heart, and one of many qualities that I WISH I could attain.

Edited July 14, 2010 by Dragery

[+Chokecherry]

Find counts can be skewed. I have a friend with low counts simply because he opted to re-find all of the finds that we had previously done together under one account and sign the log with his new name.

 

What I see here is that sure the items are easy to obtain but to go through the hassle of using them usually turns people off. You can test drive geocaching here at one of the state parks where they let you use their GPS and I see people dipping their toe in the water and then in short order giving up. No harm done.

 

I've brought people out with me and the hobby never stuck. It looked cool on paper to them but actually having to walk to the cache and then look for it was just too much hassle.

 

People who aren't into it fizzle out fast, do relatively little damage... I have no complaints.

[+Snoogans]

I think with the ease of attaining apps for smartphone and Iphones, and a geocaching.com account "Low quality cachers" are infecting this game.

 

WOW! Leave it to a noob to invent identify a NEW branch on my geocaching tree of angst.

 

Update follows:

 

Hey gang, out of the blue comes yet another branch on the "Geocaching Tree of Angst!" It's bolded down at the bottom. Thanks Drag-person!

 

To summarize our "Geocaching Tree of Angst" so far:

 

We have an atmosphere rich with CO2 that is represented by one atom of "Entitlement" ( C ) and two atoms of "Expectation." (O2)

 

We have a rich medium for the growth of angst in our soil, which is represented by a common/general, "unawareness that this hobby is intrinsically linked to other people."

 

The water (H2O) that nourishes the tree is either actual or perceived (H2) negative interaction (O) between geocachers.

 

Our tree is furtilized by misconception, misinterpretation, and misunderstanding (MMM) whether actual or deliberate.

 

The roots of our tree are based in actual participation and experience in geocaching as an activity.... Hiding, finding, & moving trackables.

 

The trunk of our tree emerges over time. It is actually just individual experience that expresses itself in this way, "I know better than YOU what geocaching is supposed/intended to be all about."

 

From there our "Tree of Angst" branches out in many directions. Some branches sprout from the trunk and some branches think they are attacking the trunk from the other side, but are seemingly unaware that they are part of the same tree.

 

The named branches of our tree so far:

 

The Theory of Geocaching Evolution

 

Geocaching would be more fun for me, IF

 

Perceived Staunch Defenders of Everything Perceived Lame (P.S.D.E.P.L.)

 

Geocaching was so much better way back when

 

The Theory That It's the "OTHER GUY" Who Is Just Sucking the Fun Out of Geocaching

 

The Theory of Keeping with The Highly Subjective "Spirit of Geocaching"

 

The theory that with the ease of attaining apps for smartphone and Iphones, and a geocaching.com account "Low quality cachers" are infecting this game.

Edited July 14, 2010 by Snoogans

[+StarBrand]

Geocaching isn't for everybody and the only way to find that out is to let them try.

[+Castle Mischief]

I think with the ease of attaining apps for smartphone and Iphones, and a geocaching.com account "Low quality cachers" are infecting this game.

 

WOW! Leave it to a noob to invent identify a NEW branch on my geocaching tree of angst.

 

It's not all that unbelievable. Image the scenario- Fancy Cellphone Owner (FCO) is browsing through a selection of free/trial period apps...

 

**Put on your dream sequence glasses now.**

 

"Hey what's this. A gee-oh-catching doo-hicky? What the heck, it's free!"

 

FCO downloads the app. Gets an account. Spends 5 seconds reading about the finer points of the hobby. Goes looking for a few caches. Finds his first ammo can.

 

"Hey there's some pretty cool stuff in here. I'll take these cool coin things and leave... a state quarter!"

 

Two weeks later, FCO is no longer caching because the trial period has expired or his gnat-level attention span has moved on to the next cool app.

 

"Hey when I point my phone into the sky I can see where the stars are! Oooooooooo... pretty."

 

**Remove your dream sequence glasses now. Exit into the gift shop to your left. Enjoy your stay at Disney Epcot.**

 

I'm sure it doesn't always happen. But I'm pretty sure it does happen.

[Mr.Yuck]

Hi look at me, I've only been geocaching since June 7th. Ha Ha I'm a newb because of my date. Ok, now that that's out of the way.

 

Is anyone else getting tired of geocachers who get into the hobby for 1-30 finds then just disappear? Leaving nothing but a trail of DNF'd LPH logs, stolen or unlogged geocoins/travelbugs, misplaced or mistreated caches, and a slew of horribly placed unmaintained caches that never get fixed?

 

I think with the ease of attaining apps for smartphone and Iphones, and a geocaching.com account "Low quality cachers" are infecting this game. When signing up for a geocaching.com account, new players should have to go through a flash demo/orientation. Then answer the BASIC questions about geocaching (etiquette, TB/coin logging, etc) . And maybe impose a 50 find minimum before being able to hide your own cache. (yeah I'm sure that one has come up before)

 

Anyways thanks for being my shoulder to QQ on.

 

-Drag

 

Pay no attention to the man with the horse avatar, or his apparent amusement with your post. Or his bump of his own thread because of it, for that matter.

 

Yepper, boatloads and boatloads of people find a bunch of caches quickly and disappear. Even noticed one locally that found about 100 in a month, and dropped off the face of the earth. However, in almost every case I've seen of a "fast fizzler" (good term, I like it), they have not hidden any caches. This may be different in your area.

 

You know, the quiz wouldn't be such a bad idea, but I don't think it's ever going to happen. On the contrary, I created a sock puppet account 6 or so months ago for the purpose of anonymously hiding a cache series that never did (and never will) happen. And I got a least 3, maybe 4, emails spaced at regular intervals pestering me to "try Geocaching". On the other hand now that I think of it, there were some educational things in there about how to find your first cache and stuff. Wish I had saved them.

[+Cornell Finch]

 

It's not all that unbelievable. Image the scenario- Fancy Cellphone Owner (FCO) is browsing through a selection of free/trial period apps...

 

**Put on your dream sequence glasses now.**

 

"Hey what's this. A gee-oh-catching doo-hicky? What the heck, it's free!"

 

FCO downloads the app. Gets an account. Spends 5 seconds reading about the finer points of the hobby. Goes looking for a few caches. Finds his first ammo can.

 

"Hey there's some pretty cool stuff in here. I'll take these cool coin things and leave... a state quarter!"

 

Two weeks later, FCO is no longer caching because the trial period has expired or his gnat-level attention span has moved on to the next cool app.

 

"Hey when I point my phone into the sky I can see where the stars are! Oooooooooo... pretty."

 

It's geo-cay-shing. All n00bs pronounce it like that!

 

I seriously doubt that FCO's first find will be an ammo-can. More likely an urban signpost nano or LPC 35mm. Of course, these will have bad coords too...

 

For the record, I am not fed up with the cachers who only have 1 - 30 finds and then leave, they don't hurt me at all. What does disappoint is that for whatever reason (some are different to those above) they haven't stayed and carried on playing. Perhaps that's what the community (or GS of course) should try and find out.

[+all Wright]

Well, we are pretty new, ourselves, and decided to share with a couple of our friends. One family is totally into it and bought a GPS and loves it. The other one went with us the one day, and then tried it on their own (not very successfully) for one day. Even picked up a TB - and has never gone again. I am thinking of a tactful way of calling and letting them know they need to drop the tb for crying out loud!

[+Kryten]

I'm a bit confused by this "Theory of Geocaching Evolution", I thought it came about by intelligent design.

[+Snoogans]

Perhaps that's what the community (or GS of course) should try and find out.

 

No need. I think post #8 by StarBrand covered it pretty much on the bullseye.

 

I have introduced dozens of people to geocaching. Not one has become a regular cacher and most never cached again. Of the one couple I know of that do cache occasionally since I introduced them to it, for them it's just a diversion for trips and they NEVER log their finds.

 

Most people I know (including my wife) find caching beneath their consideration of something to do for fun.

 

Most of my caching friends aren't happy unless they arrive home from a day of cachin' scratched, bruised, and bloody.

 

It takes a certain kind of masochist to stick with geocaching in the long term. (You can quote me on that henceforth.)

 

I quite enjoyed the blood letting I had recently to redeem a 7yo DNF.

Edited July 14, 2010 by Snoogans

[+Snoogans]

I'm a bit confused by this "Theory of Geocaching Evolution", I thought it came about by intelligent design.

 

Do a thread title search for evolution. There's a locked thread that will pretty much explain it all.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Yes. We see our share of Three-Day Wonders. No finds. Three hides. All take-out food containers. Or film canisters hidden in every guard rail for miles. But, as someone said,how are they fgoing to know if they enjoy it if they don't try it?

 

I have introduced dozens of people to geocaching. Not one has become a regular cacher and most never cached again. Of the one couple I know of that do cache occasionally since I introduced them to it, for them it's just a diversion for trips and they NEVER log their finds.

 

Ah, see. I introduced my sister to geocaching. She enjoys it on an occasional basis. She introduced our brother to it. And a monster was created! Over 9000 finds in 25 states and 26 countries!

Another brother has been geocaching longer than us, but never told any of us about it! Harrummph! He likes those day hikes into the mountains with lots of climb, to hide or find one cache. Oh, well. Some people are just strange!

Yup! Four of us in four different states, wreaking havoc! (For some odd reason, our other siblings have no interest in geocaching!)

[AZcachemeister]

Hi look at me, I've only been geocaching since June 7th. Ha Ha I'm a newb because of my date. Ok, now that that's out of the way.

 

Is anyone else getting tired of geocachers who get into the hobby for 1-30 finds then just disappear? Leaving nothing but a trail of DNF'd LPH logs, stolen or unlogged geocoins/travelbugs, misplaced or mistreated caches, and a slew of horribly placed unmaintained caches that never get fixed?

 

I think with the ease of attaining apps for smartphone and Iphones, and a geocaching.com account "Low quality cachers" are infecting this game. When signing up for a geocaching.com account, new players should have to go through a flash demo/orientation. Then answer the BASIC questions about geocaching (etiquette, TB/coin logging, etc) . And maybe impose a 50 find minimum before being able to hide your own cache. (yeah I'm sure that one has come up before)

 

Anyways thanks for being my shoulder to QQ on.

 

-Drag

 

It's been said before, and many times:

The best thing about Geocaching is that anyone can play.

The worst thing about Geocaching is that anyone can play.