Another question about FTF

3.6k · August 25, 2010

First time I am starting up a thread so please bear with me. I do understand that FTF question does get old. Anyway, I found a 5 stars terrain cache today. When I got to it, to my surprised, two muggles found it before I did! So my question is, does the FTF only goes to geocachers with SN or to anyone that found it?

August 25, 2010

First time I am starting up a thread so please bear with me. I do understand that FTF question does get old. Anyway, I found a 5 stars terrain cache today. When I got to it, to my surprised, two muggles found it before I did! So my question is, does the FTF only goes to geocachers with SN or to anyone that found it?

I think you have to have an account to sign a log, and a find only counts if you signed the log. Of course, i think the FTF call is totally up to the CO.

August 25, 2010

First time I am starting up a thread so please bear with me. I do understand that FTF question does get old. Anyway, I found a 5 stars terrain cache today. When I got to it, to my surprised, two muggles found it before I did! So my question is, does the FTF only goes to geocachers with SN or to anyone that found it?

If they aren't Geocaching than I doubt they are going to *LOG* it.

If you found it first, blank log, new fresh cache, than I guess its yours. It's the same as if someone found it and put it back but didn't sign it and you never knew about it. once you get there you assume FTF and log it. Grats you're the first!

Sort of like you may be the first to LOG it on the website but you may not have been the FTF because someone elses name is already on the paper log but they havn't found a computer to lot it yet. That's why I like my GeoCache app on my phone <_< >

August 25, 2010

First time I am starting up a thread so please bear with me. I do understand that FTF question does get old. Anyway, I found a 5 stars terrain cache today. When I got to it, to my surprised, two muggles found it before I did! So my question is, does the FTF only goes to geocachers with SN or to anyone that found it?

I think you have to have an account to sign a log, and a find only counts if you signed the log. Of course, i think the FTF call is totally up to the CO.

lol TRUE.

If they sign it and then sign up for geocaching.com and say they were FTF that might be different.

I hope they didn't damage it.

19k · August 25, 2010

I must say... that is one FTF question that I have never heard before!! Very perplexing issue... I think some of us may have to go into Platinum conference before we can answer definitively. Meanwhile, I would simply log it with a Found It log, and not a Found It First log.

1.4k · August 25, 2010

I must say... that is one FTF question that I have never heard before!! Very perplexing issue... I think some of us may have to go into Platinum conference before we can answer definitively. Meanwhile, I would simply log it with a Found It log, and not a Found It First log.

The Dog with bad eyesight always seems to make things more complicated then they need to be.........you are the FTF if the others were not Geocachers. End of story

Scubasonic

1.2k · August 25, 2010

There's a lot of cachers that don't log online, so take that into account with this question:

Do you think they found it by accident, or from info from the website? If by accident, what makes you think that? Two people found it by accident?

My thought is, you didn't sign a virgin log, so your not ftf, BUT, if the CO had someone check the cache before publishing (could that be the logs you are seeing?), then you are FTF, that would be the only real exception in my view.

19k · August 25, 2010

I must say... that is one FTF question that I have never heard before!! Very perplexing issue... I think some of us may have to go into Platinum conference before we can answer definitively. Meanwhile, I would simply log it with a Found It log, and not a Found It First log.

The Dog with bad eyesight always seems to make things more complicated then they need to be.........you are the FTF if the others were not Geocachers. End of story

Scubasonic

Thanks, but this time I think I made it pretty simple: "Log it with a Found It log, and not a Found It First log." When you find a "Found It First log" option, please let me know.

8.3k · August 25, 2010

I would say do what feels right to you, but you could also ask the CO what feels right to him. I gave up the FTF game and really don't care who finds the cache, but if asked I would give the first geocacher the blue ribbon. I think we can say the muggles are oblivious to the FTF game and probably oblivious to geocaching but just did it because they thought it would be a fun thing to do.

3.6k · August 25, 2010

There's a lot of cachers that don't log online, so take that into account with this question:

Do you think they found it by accident, or from info from the website? If by accident, what makes you think that? Two people found it by accident?

My thought is, you didn't sign a virgin log, so your not ftf, BUT, if the CO had someone check the cache before publishing (could that be the logs you are seeing?), then you are FTF, that would be the only real exception in my view.

Definitely by accident for sure base on the log! Its a group of people that camp near a pond every year and they said they will be back next year to log again. The next day, they show it to a friend and she logged it as well. So that make two muggles. The cache is in a old stump in the middle of a old deep mill pond. Its about 4 to 5 feet above the water level.

38.2k · August 25, 2010

First time I am starting up a thread so please bear with me. I do understand that FTF question does get old. Anyway, I found a 5 stars terrain cache today. When I got to it, to my surprised, two muggles found it before I did! So my question is, does the FTF only goes to geocachers with SN or to anyone that found it?

It sounds like the cache was found before you got there. That is your answer.

August 25, 2010

First time I am starting up a thread so please bear with me. I do understand that FTF question does get old. Anyway, I found a 5 stars terrain cache today. When I got to it, to my surprised, two muggles found it before I did! So my question is, does the FTF only goes to geocachers with SN or to anyone that found it?

It sounds like the cache was found before you got there. That is your answer.

If they are indeed muggles he should not consider himself the FTF? :unsure:

5.8k · August 25, 2010

If anyone at all found it before you, you are not the first...Duh...Muggles, Aliens, Bomb Squad...it doesn't matter who...

5.8k · August 25, 2010

If they are indeed muggles he should not consider himself the FTF?

that's right.

5.8k · August 25, 2010

Definitely by accident for sure base on the log! Its a group of people that camp near a pond every year and they said they will be back next year to log again. The next day, they show it to a friend and she logged it as well. So that make two muggles. The cache is in a old stump in the middle of a old deep mill pond. Its about 4 to 5 feet above the water level.

Those are not muggles now, they are geocachers, just not with accounts here. The great thing about geocaching is that anyone can play, even if they don't have an account, or don't log their finds, or even know what they found. They signed the log, maybe traded items, and replaced the cache...they are geocachers, not muggles.

August 25, 2010

Definitely by accident for sure base on the log! Its a group of people that camp near a pond every year and they said they will be back next year to log again. The next day, they show it to a friend and she logged it as well. So that make two muggles. The cache is in a old stump in the middle of a old deep mill pond. Its about 4 to 5 feet above the water level.

Those are not muggles now, they are geocachers, just not with accounts here. The great thing about geocaching is that anyone can play, even if they don't have an account, or don't log their finds, or even know what they found. They signed the log, maybe traded items, and replaced the cache...they are geocachers, not muggles.

I once had to run to catch a bus. That did not make me a jogger.

I may at some time in the future run again to catch the same bus, still not a jogger.

August 25, 2010

FTF isn't an official stat, so you can claim whatever you want. But it does say FTF--first to find. Not FGTF--first geocacher to find.

August 25, 2010

There is a T5 in my area that this happened with but I can't remember which one I read it on. I think the CO made a mention of who was the first cacher to find it, but mentioned that muggles accidentally found it first.

I would say that you are not FTF since you were not FTF. If those people were beta testers, they don't count though, but I think beta testers usually sign at the end of the log so the FTF issue doesn't come up.

9.3k · August 25, 2010

Initially my thoughts were that you should claim it, but since they signed the log, I'd say the FTF goes to them.

2k · August 25, 2010

Since you weren't the first to find it, you're not first to find.

14k · August 25, 2010

First time I am starting up a thread so please bear with me. I do understand that FTF question does get old. Anyway, I found a 5 stars terrain cache today. When I got to it, to my surprised, two muggles found it before I did! So my question is, does the FTF only goes to geocachers with SN or to anyone that found it?

I think you have to have an account to sign a log, and a find only counts if you signed the log. Of course, i think the FTF call is totally up to the CO.

You don't have to have an account to sign a physical log. You just need to find the cache, and access the log and use a writing instrument.

I found a cache at the entrance of a game park in Tanzania and as I was signing the log I explained geocaching to the woman I was traveling with. She wanted to sign the log too. The fact that she didn't have a geocaching.com account at the time didn't change the fact that she did everything else that one associates with a find. In her case, I doubt that she ever created an account but those muggles that found the 5 star cache might decide that it sounded like fun, then went home and set up accounts.

2.8k · August 25, 2010

It sounds like the cache was found before you got there. That is your answer.

+1

9.3k · August 25, 2010

Were the muggles LOOKING for the cache, or did they find it by accident?

(If by accident, it doesn't sound as if it's hidden to well! :unsure: )

Surely it's First to Find, 'cos I'm looking for the cache?

Not I was looking for it and found it after it was found by someone who wasn't looking for it, and didn't know it was there until they found it... :unsure:

(And, yes, I know FTF isn't recogized by Groundspeak! )

6.7k · August 25, 2010

Your were the third to sign the log book. What is the question?

19k · August 25, 2010

Come to think of it, how do you know they were muggles? Or, if you do know that they were, how do you know they didn't go home and create accounts and have logged it online by now?

38.2k · August 25, 2010

First time I am starting up a thread so please bear with me. I do understand that FTF question does get old. Anyway, I found a 5 stars terrain cache today. When I got to it, to my surprised, two muggles found it before I did! So my question is, does the FTF only goes to geocachers with SN or to anyone that found it?

It sounds like the cache was found before you got there. That is your answer.

If they are indeed muggles he should not consider himself the FTF?

He can if he wants. Doesn't make it true.

August 25, 2010

You are the FTF. If it was muggles that signed the log, they're not players so they don't count. They weren't SEEKING it. If it was geocachers that never log online, they aren't playing the game either, so they don't count. Either way you are FTF.

19k · August 25, 2010

You are the FTF. If it was muggles that signed the log, they're not players so they don't count. They weren't SEEKING it. If it was geocachers that never log online, they aren't playing the game either, so they don't count. Either way you are FTF.

You don't know that. He doesn't know that. I don't know that. See my post #25.

20.7k · August 25, 2010

Definitely by accident for sure base on the log! Its a group of people that camp near a pond every year and they said they will be back next year to log again. The next day, they show it to a friend and she logged it as well. So that make two muggles. The cache is in a old stump in the middle of a old deep mill pond. Its about 4 to 5 feet above the water level.

Those are not muggles now, they are geocachers, just not with accounts here. The great thing about geocaching is that anyone can play, even if they don't have an account, or don't log their finds, or even know what they found. They signed the log, maybe traded items, and replaced the cache...they are geocachers, not muggles.

I once had to run to catch a bus. That did not make me a jogger.

I may at some time in the future run again to catch the same bus, still not a jogger.

I never ride the bus but a few months ago, my Jeep died on the way to work. I was only a couple blocks from a bus stop, so I caught the bus into work. On that day, I was a bus rider.

Similarly, two muggles found a cache. No one found it before them. They found it first. Therefore, anyone who comes behind them cannot find it first.

3.1k · August 25, 2010

How do you know they were muggles? Did they sign the physical log something to the effect of "This is Jack & Jill. We found this container by accident and had not heard of geocaching before but this seems neat!"

If someone signed the physical log but not logged online they might be cachers who don't log online or they might be people who either were with the CO when placing the cache or were 'beta testers' for the cache. If it is one of those situations, they are probably waiting for someone else to log a "real" FTF online before the log it online. A cache with no Found logs will draw FTF seekers better than a cache with a Find log that explains the FTF game is still afoot for the cache.

I would log it as "Found the cache. Not sure if I am FTF because [explain situation here]."

August 25, 2010

I was thinking about this after I went to bed last night. "Wait, I think I've seen this before!" Yep, check out the first log on this cache.

3.3k · August 25, 2010

It sounds like the cache was found before you got there. That is your answer.

+1

+2

3.3k · August 25, 2010

...

I would say that you are not FTF since you were not FTF. If those people were beta testers, they don't count though, but I think beta testers usually sign at the end of the log so the FTF issue doesn't come up.

I don't buy the beta tester thing either. The person still Found the cache, hense FTF. We are not talking about FTFAP (First to Find After Publishing), just strate up FTF. The FTF game is a rough game, sometimes you get screwed.

August 25, 2010

It would make you third to find. No biggie go get the next one. :unsure:

2.2k · August 27, 2010

The cache in question is mine. Personally, I think FTFs can be fun, but I'm not an FTF hound. Also, as Groundspeak doesn't recognize FTFs as an official part of the game, neither do I.

So if the OP wants to claim FTF, I don't really care either way.

The OP can take whatever advice he wants, the above arguments have merits. Technically he was not the first to find, but he was probably the first geocacher to find.

However, I don't really know if the first finders were not geocachers. As others have said, not all geocachers post online, or maybe they just have not logged it yet.

Since my husband placed the cache, I have now advised him to go put some more camo on it, if it is the case that muggles found it. At least they didn't take it.

It would have been nice if the OP asked me what I thought first instead of posting it here on the forums.

I generally as a rule will email the cache owner before posting in the forums or going to the higher ups. I find it to be more polite.

August 27, 2010

Since you weren't the first to find it, you're not first to find.

I too am a ChileHead and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your profile and sig! Just wanted to add that. :laughing:

August 27, 2010

Since you weren't the first to find it, you're not first to find.

I too am a ChileHead and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your profile and sig! Just wanted to add that.

That's all well and good but you know, you still can't log his archived caches. :laughing:

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