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Some hints just tell you to much!


cobrac

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Is there any guidance on how helpful a hint should be?

 

I've found a few times that after the effort and time of getting to GZ, having a good search around-sometimes you need a slight nudge in the right direction...so you check the 'hint'....but quite often the hint will tell you inch for inch exactly where the cache is. I find this kind of hint is a bit annoying...more of an 'answer' than a 'hint'.

 

I've tried searching for this in the forum but no luck.

 

Any thoughts on this?

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I find this kind of hint is a bit annoying...more of an 'answer' than a 'hint'.
One of my caches has a rather cryptic hint. Some cachers seem to find it no more helpful than the description. That one's rated somewhat high in difficulty. I'll open my cache GC274MB for discussion: Is that more like what the OP is asking for?

 

My first cache had a very non-helpful hint, which I've changed over time, until it's about as specific as I can get without a flashing neon arrow (soon to be installed <_<). It's rated rather easy, and my intention was that it would be an easy find for cachers, yet difficult for muggles. The balance is just about right.

 

If I include a hint, the idea is to give away the hide. It's the last resort in the field before cachers will Phone-A-Friend, who'll tell them exactly where it is anyway. But I like Blue Deuce's plan of telling you what to expect from the hint before you read it.

Edited by kunarion
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My hints are usually dead giveaways. I don't want people tearing up the area around the cache, so I try to make it as specific as possible.

 

I've seen people use graduated hints, a gentle nudge, then a slap on the head and finally a dead giveaway. This worked much better before the days of paperless caching when people would manually decrypt the hint. Now with so many people going paperless and seeing already decrypted hints it wouldn't work so well.

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Is there any guidance on how helpful a hint should be?

 

I've found a few times that after the effort and time of getting to GZ, having a good search around-sometimes you need a slight nudge in the right direction...so you check the 'hint'....but quite often the hint will tell you inch for inch exactly where the cache is. I find this kind of hint is a bit annoying...more of an 'answer' than a 'hint'.

 

I've tried searching for this in the forum but no luck.

 

Any thoughts on this?

 

i'll take a detailed hint over "no hint needed" or "no hint"

 

is beyond me why don't people get it that leaving the Hint field empty implies that is no hint

 

that is extremely annoying especially if you manually decrypt it in the field

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I have a cache that I give detailed information in the hint, but I explain that in the description.

 

That's the way to handle it. I think if the CO knows what the site is like and for whatever reason feels the hint needs to be specific, fine. But adding that into the description (e.g. "hint is a spoiler") is a great courtesy for those who don't need/want such a hint.

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Is there any guidance on how helpful a hint should be?

 

I've found a few times that after the effort and time of getting to GZ, having a good search around-sometimes you need a slight nudge in the right direction...so you check the 'hint'....but quite often the hint will tell you inch for inch exactly where the cache is. I find this kind of hint is a bit annoying...more of an 'answer' than a 'hint'.

 

I've tried searching for this in the forum but no luck.

 

Any thoughts on this?

 

i'll take a detailed hint over "no hint needed" or "no hint"

 

is beyond me why don't people get it that leaving the Hint field empty implies that is no hint

 

that is extremely annoying especially if you manually decrypt it in the field

 

Agreed. If you have no hint to give just leave the field empty. Please!

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Some hints are a gentle nudge. Others are dead giveaways. Others only tell you the obvious - that you are in the right area. Some hints are not helpful in any fashion whatsoever.

 

It is the cache owners right to disclose as much or as little as they want. My hints are usually a little vague but if you think for a moment - they give things away pretty well.

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Is there any guidance on how helpful a hint should be?

 

I've found a few times that after the effort and time of getting to GZ, having a good search around-sometimes you need a slight nudge in the right direction...so you check the 'hint'....but quite often the hint will tell you inch for inch exactly where the cache is. I find this kind of hint is a bit annoying...more of an 'answer' than a 'hint'.

 

I've tried searching for this in the forum but no luck.

 

Any thoughts on this?

 

i'll take a detailed hint over "no hint needed" or "no hint"

 

is beyond me why don't people get it that leaving the Hint field empty implies that is no hint

 

that is extremely annoying especially if you manually decrypt it in the field

 

See this CobraC ?^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

This is what all other hint threads in the history of this forum have been about, useless hints (all while the field says if you don't have one, leave it blank).

 

So that's why your search came up empty. You are actually the first one to start a thread about dead giveaway hints. <_<

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...

I've found a few times that after the effort and time of getting to GZ, ...

My 3 caches that require a significant hike, the hint is truly a spoiler. I realy don't want people hiking for 1, 4, or 12 hours, just to log a DNF. The one super spoiler I made sure to mention that fact in the description (http://coord.info/GC1NPJV). I had a few DNFs on that one, and was sad that people had made the hike, and were unable to bag the cache, so increased the spoiler-ness of the hint.

 

My caches that are not so much of a hike, I have more vagg hints

Edited by Andronicus
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i'll take a detailed hint over "no hint needed" or "no hint"

I don't like those either. (Editing to clarify that I meant, I prefer a detailed hint over a "no hint needed" type hint).

 

I also don't like the ones that say, "If you're stuck, email me at...and I'll give you a hint." What if you're only in the area for a short while or on vacation and won't be going back there?

 

Another thing I find kind of funny is that on some real challenging caches, the owner says he'll post a hint after the FTF. So the FTF goes out there and finally finds it after a long (or multiple visit) search. A couple days later, a hint appears on the cache page, "bison tube drilled into a 6 foot log on the east side of the rock pile and covered with bark."

 

So the poor FTFer has to struggle to find it but then future finders pretty much have a "gimme."

Edited by Skippermark
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Someone in local regional forums suggested that the best hints were the ones that told you where the cache isn't hidden eg: "not in the rocks" "not in the bushes" "not on the ground. "

 

Those kind of hints can greatly reduce the search area while not being a complete spoiler.

Edited by sdarken
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...

I've found a few times that after the effort and time of getting to GZ, ...

My 3 caches that require a significant hike, the hint is truly a spoiler. I realy don't want people hiking for 1, 4, or 12 hours, just to log a DNF. The one super spoiler I made sure to mention that fact in the description (http://coord.info/GC1NPJV). I had a few DNFs on that one, and was sad that people had made the hike, and were unable to bag the cache, so increased the spoiler-ness of the hint.

 

My caches that are not so much of a hike, I have more vagg hints

 

I agree,

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Someone in local regional forums suggested that the best hints were the ones that told you where the cache isn't hidden eg: "not in the rocks" "not in the bushes" "not on the ground. "

 

Those kind of hints can greatly reduce the search area while not being a complete spoiler.

 

There's one cache we did where I wish I'd taken the time to decode "Not in the thorns" before I went barreling on through the blackberry hedge... <_< Serves me right.

Edited by Merchant Adventurers
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I prefer a hint that is a hint not a dead giveaway, but there are times that I am great full for the giveaway. what really bugs me is a vague description and no hint. so I am in the woods with poor accuracy no hint no idea where the "regular" should be. (or when the cache is winter friendly, in the middle of the woods and the hint is "hanging" !? Really? you think? LOL :) )

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IMHO.... All hiders really want their caches to be found, regardless of how difficult it may be to get to GZ. So a good hint is written in such a manner so as to shove you in the right direction without totally giving the hide away. It may take you a bit to wrap your brain around how the hider was thinking, but eventually you'll get it, in a few minutes.

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I realy don't want people hiking for 1, 4, or 12 hours, just to log a DNF.

I feel the same way about my puzzles. I tend to hint them more aggressively, often in the cache description. I really don't want someone from New Jersey solving a puzzle, coming all the way into the city to log it and then not being able to come up with the container.

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Is there any guidance on how helpful a hint should be?

 

I've found a few times that after the effort and time of getting to GZ, having a good search around-sometimes you need a slight nudge in the right direction...so you check the 'hint'....but quite often the hint will tell you inch for inch exactly where the cache is. I find this kind of hint is a bit annoying...more of an 'answer' than a 'hint'.

 

I've tried searching for this in the forum but no luck.

 

Any thoughts on this?

 

i'll take a detailed hint over "no hint needed" or "no hint"

 

is beyond me why don't people get it that leaving the Hint field empty implies that is no hint

 

that is extremely annoying especially if you manually decrypt it in the field

dont forget "email me for a hint"

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Is there any guidance on how helpful a hint should be?

 

I've found a few times that after the effort and time of getting to GZ, having a good search around-sometimes you need a slight nudge in the right direction...so you check the 'hint'....but quite often the hint will tell you inch for inch exactly where the cache is. I find this kind of hint is a bit annoying...more of an 'answer' than a 'hint'.

 

I've tried searching for this in the forum but no luck.

 

Any thoughts on this?

 

I don't give hints anymore. The people in my area are so good at finding my stuff. A hint would make it to easy.

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How 'bout this for a hint?

 

"The biggest hint is to be careful parking. If you don't have a big truck or four wheeler, check the driveway, it gets washed out often. With the difficulty this high-no hints."

 

This was for a 4.5/3 multi. So, I'm at the final and need a hint. I decrypt the hint and get no help, but find out that I need a tow truck to get my car out of the parking area. As this was a state highway where parking on the road is prohibited, the only parking choice was the obvious area accessable by a, not wsahed out, steep gravel path. This turned out to be impossible to drive out of due to the combination of steep and loose.

 

Thanks to the cache owner for the heads up after I'm in trouble.

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