Disapearing caches

[tanybracty]

I admit that I am new to this brilliant sport, but I ask this question.

Why are caches disapearing due to "Premium Membership", a cache near to me disapeared, as it was suddenly listed under this membership? Surely it is more important to encourage new cachers, than it is to restrict their access? If everyboby started this listing where would we be?

[+*mouse*]

There could be lots of reasons why the cache owner might change the listing of the status, but one that is fairly common at the moment is trouble with muggling of the cache - and not neccessarily by muggles, but from other cachers (sadly it does happen). Making the listing Premium means you can monitor who is viewing your cache page as you can see a list of who has been looking at it and when.

 

Most premium owners will still allow you to log a premium cache - just email them and you may find they are willing to give you details of the cache and how to log it.

[The Hearse]

Normally, I would agree with your sentiment but not on this occasion. There are more than sufficient caches to encourage all types of geocachers but it is the premium members that fund the activity and without them where would we be? Reward premium members with their occasional indulgence and continuing enjoying the activity for free.

[+Coppers Lot]

In my area most easy to find traditionals are being marked 'premium member only' because people like grope will then have to pay a subscription to find them. We've lost a few in my area (South Northants).

 

There are a HUGE number of caches for the non-premium member so I don't see that the odd few disappearing should be an issue.

 

Unfortunately not everyone is trustable and if your paying a subscription your more likely to respect the effort other cachers have gone to to place the cache and also by paying the subscription you show you are serious about the sport.... There should be perks for the paying member and premium member only caches are it as it stands.

[+Slogger007]

I have had around a dozen of my caches completely muggled this year, some more than once. This was not random, but systematic stripping of caches by someone using GC.com. Therefore I have made the remaining caches 'Premium members only'.

 

I'd rather not do this, but see it as the only way to protect the caches for the enjoyment of cachers in the future.

[+Mark+Karen]

It's not like Premium Membership is massively expensive. £20 gets you a years membership which considering how much time most of us spend on geocaching and what we get out of it, it's very good value.

 

Of course the majority of caches should remain 'free' to encourage new people into the sport but I don't see the £20 as being a huge barrier if you can already afford a GPS, computer and transport.

[+Lovejoy and Tinker]

Less than 40p/week. Bargain of the century. That doesn't buy enough diesel to get me onto the main road at the start of a caching Sunday. Or even a choccy bar to eat on the way.

[team tisri]

Less than 40p/week. Bargain of the century. That doesn't buy enough diesel to get me onto the main road at the start of a caching Sunday. Or even a choccy bar to eat on the way.

 

Or a can of something cold and sugary part way through a long caching run. Still less a can of something cold and beerlike at the end of the run.

[+Alibags]

It's happened a bit near me due to persistent muggling, obviously by the same people. I think now most mobile phones have a GPS built in people who get all the most up to date phones have also got the ability to find and muggle caches with no extra financial outlay.

 

The other reason to make a cache PM only is that the cache owner can see a log of who's been looking at the cache page. This is fun when you have set a new puzzle cache and want to see who's obviously trying to solve it