Jump to content

Form letter


Kfam

Recommended Posts

OK. It's been a month again and the people who have grabbed my bugs haven't done anything with them. Same old story. I hate bothering these folks and people hate being bothered by anxious bug owners and watchers.

I suggest that we draft a polite and unoffensive form letter asking them to get things moving,or, atleast let the owner know what their intentions are. Maybe something that we can have sent from geocaching.com.

An official looking, properly worded, note could reduce the possibility of hard feelings between cachers and get the bug traveling again.

 

Your thoughts on this idea?

Link to comment

An email to the person is probably just as good as a form letter. I think after a month an inquiry about the bug is not out of line.

 

We have three in the wild now, two moving and one probably stopped until spring. Our theory is to wait at least 6 weeks before asking about a bug, especially since we are going into the winter.

Link to comment

There have been several threads regarding this issue over the past few months. One bug owner even started two or three searching for the response s/he wanted. There are a few key facts that every new bug owner needs to be aware of.

1. You only own the bug until you release it.

2. Once you release the bug it is free.

3. All bugs will eventually die.

4. Cachers that move your bugs have variable ability to keep to your timetable.

 

We all hope that when we release a bug that it will enjoy a margin of success in achieving our goals for it. But we have made ourselves dependent on others for that success. Each bug will have a variable life. Some will fail early and a few will continue for perhaps years.

 

There are two virtues that each of needs to nurture when we enter the game as a bug owner. The first is patience with our fellow gamers. And the second is a rather blasé attitude about the perceived shortcomings of our little charges called bugs.

 

I am not being critical here. I only wish that you might be able to see the game from another perspective. I feel that this might actually help you to enjoy the game more since you seem to have set yourself up for disappointment.

 

Keep on caching,

the beast

 

Zeolites unite!

Link to comment

Why not have the geocaching.com system mail out the form letter automatically. That way, there is nobody to get mad at. It's just a 'ping' from the system reminding you that you have a bug in your possesion that hasn't been logged in X days/weeks/months. What do ya think?

 

--Marky

"Everyone spends time in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer with a backlit GPSr"

Link to comment

That's a really good idea! It could be

politely worded as a "courteous reminder that

you have a travel bug in your possession."

 

"If you have already deposited the travel bug

in a Geocache, great, but there's one more step

necessary to send the bug on its way. Stop

by the Geocaching website and log your visit

to the Geocache as soon as you can."

 

Or something like that anyway.

 

-- Scott

 

quote:
Originally posted by Marky:

Why not have the geocaching.com system mail out the form letter automatically. That way, there is nobody to get mad at. It's just a 'ping' from the system reminding you that you have a bug in your possesion that hasn't been logged in X days/weeks/months. What do ya think?


Link to comment

Only problem would be if you own the travel bug.

 

I've had four travel bugs in my "possession" for a while waiting to release. Also, if one of my bugs goes south, rather than dropping it in the Travel Bug Grave Yard, I keep it in my "possession." I don't want it to accumulate final miles.

 

And if these people don't check and respond to their e-mails when it's from the bug owner, why would an automated e-mail elicit more response?

 

I'll still be sending a certain party holding on to Batman periodic e-mails.

 

Markwell

Chicago Geocaching

"Therapy is expensive but bubble wrap is free."

Link to comment

quote:
Originally posted by Trudy & The Beast:

There have been several threads regarding this issue over the past few months. One bug owner even started two or three searching for the response s/he wanted. There are a few key facts that every new bug owner needs to be aware of.

1. You only own the bug until you release it.


 

Huh? I own all my bugs, released or not. Where in the world would you get the idea of a released bug is no longer owned by the original owner?

When I release a bug and place it in a cache, I am not saying: "Okay, here's a bug for someone to pickup, obtain ownership and do whatever they want to with it." Instead I'm saying "Here's _my_ bug and he's trying to accomplish this certain goal. Please help him along."

 

Even the bug FAQs refer to a bug owner and it never infers the ownership is lost or changes. Even the profile pages show "Travel Bugs Owned/Found:..." If you lost ownership when you released the bug, then your only owned bugs would be those you've activated but haven't placed in a cache...

Link to comment

When one of my bugs froze for nearly 2 months I sent the holder an e-mail from the bug itself begging to be set free on its way and lo and behold it was released within a matter of days. It may not work all the time for everybody but it maybe worth a try before sending a more stern e-mail from the owner

 

Niall

The Champions

Link to comment

I think that Maky's Idea is great, I am sure that there are many questions and issues that need to be answered and figured out with his idea but hey, the idea is what great things originate from.

icon_biggrin.gif I have found some TB's with a huge laminated card attached to them explaining the whole carfaffel of how TB's work, where to log them and so on and so on....There is only one problem, most people won't read it. I work for a big company instructing people in servicing and mantaining modern computer controlled lokomotives and it is amaizing to see how little people want to read in our corses. So one can try to cram it down their troats or just make it so simple that it all boils down to 4-5 lines in highlighted letterig.

I have not thought about it all that much yet but all in all I am pretty much prepared to loose most of my TB's to begin with. Lets face it, it is hard enough to get people to do things when you are standing right in front of them so doing that over hundreds and thousands of miles is nearly impossible. Sure most of us are exited to move a TB however, there are enough one time cachers out there that couldn't care less about the TB's mission.

But the majority I believe get's the bugs out there even if it does take a friendly geminder or two. icon_rolleyes.gif

 

So Long grinchtv.gif Eagleflyby

Link to comment

I want to place it well. And I want to place it far and wide. So, I am waiting until I take a trip. That's number one. The second and unfortunate truth is that I lost my GPS up in the boondocks and it will be 2-3 weeks before I have enough cash to properly finance my hobby. ps it is difficult geocaching without a gps unit!

Link to comment

quote:
Originally posted by Trellan:

I want to place it well. And I want to place it far and wide. So, I am waiting until I take a trip. That's number one. The second and unfortunate truth is that I lost my GPS up in the boondocks and it will be 2-3 weeks before I have enough cash to properly finance my hobby. ps it is difficult geocaching without a gps unit!


 

For me at least as long as the person holding the bug places a note on the page regarding the status every few weeks if they are holding it for a long period, I don't mind.

 

"We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile. We are the Borg."

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...