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Motion to change TB procedure


Goat6500

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Whoah! Since when do you have to have the Travel Bug tracking number to virtually pick it up? Guess it's been a while since I've been able to get my hands on a travel bug, but I just picked up and placed a bug over the holidays and when I went to log the pick-up/drop-off, I couldn't place the travel bug into the new cache cause I no longer physically have the bug! Now I can't complete the procedure until the owner emails me the tracking number(if they still have it). I'd like to say this "new" TB procedure is a BAD idea. I see that it's a control to keep people from virtually picking-up the bug without physically picking it up, but that's NOT the problem with TBs. The problem has been with people picking-up the bug physically without virtually picking it up and that is how bugs get lost. I emailed the owner, but if I don't hear from them in a couple of days, I'll probably just forget about this bug and it's virtual trail will end. If I could have just picked it up(like it used to be) without the tag, we'd be fine.

Blame me for being an untimely Logger and a non-reader of directions, but face it, so are most cacher's.

While it's nice to know someone is putting thought and effort into trying to make this game better, It is my practical opinion that this "new" TB procedure is going to hurt the game more than it will help it. We should go back to the old way of logging travel bugs. Who's with me?

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I disagree.

 

You don't need the number for the drop off, just for the pick-up. Once you pick it up, it is in your inventory, and you can just drop it off when you log the cache. I am assuming from your post that yours is the rare situation where the pickup and drop off of the bug took place on the same trip. Requiring the number is the only way to ensure that the person logging it actually had it.

 

You said "I see that it's a control to keep people from virtually picking-up the bug without physically picking it up, but that's NOT the problem with TBs." The only reason it is not a problem is because the control is in place. There have been numerous incidents where someone posted a picture of a bug that showed the number and the bug was then bogusly placed in caches. Perhaps someone wants to Markwell a thread that discussed this.

 

"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."

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Yesterday, we picked up a travel bug from one cache and then immediately dropped it off in the next cache we visited. All we did was write down the number while we had it in our possession and then when we got home we were able to log both the pick up and the drop off.

 

Don't see where there is a problem.

 

Janine

 

"You have brains in your head; You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

You're on your own. And you know what you know.

And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go...."

Dr. Seuss

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quote:
Originally posted by Goat6500:

Whoah! Since when do you have to have the Travel Bug tracking number to virtually pick it up?


As far as I know, it has always been that way... I mean, how else would you be able to verify that you saw the bug or had it in your posession? The number is a TRACKING number.
quote:
I'd like to say this "new" TB procedure is a BAD idea.
If you could, please enlighten me how the "old" way worked. I don't see how the process could protect fake logs if you didn't have to have the tag number to prove that you saw/had the bug.
quote:
I emailed the owner, but if I don't hear from them in a couple of days, I'll probably just forget about this bug and it's virtual trail will end.
No, it won't just end... the next time it is logged it will look like it jumped from one cache to another, or to another user - virtually skipping any time it spent with you, but it won't just end.
quote:
We should go back to the old way of logging travel bugs. Who's with me?
Okay - I haven't logged a bug in a while... correct me if I am wrong here: You find a bug, and in order to include it in your online inventory - you have to enter the tag number when you log it. This puts it in your inventory, and then when you leave it in another cache - you simply select it from a little pull down menu when you log that cache. Correct?

 

If that is how it is, I don't really see how it could go back to the "old" way of apparently just being able to grab whatever bug you want at will, with no checks and balances.

 

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quote:
Okay - I haven't logged a bug in a while... correct me if I am wrong here: You find a bug, and in order to include it in your online inventory - you have to enter the tag number when you log it. This puts it in your inventory, and then when you leave it in another cache - you simply select it from a little pull down menu when you log that cache. Correct?


 

Yep, quite correct.

 

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I have been in the prediciment you were in just this past weekend. I had a travel bug and was helping it get some mileage by putting in my cache in Texas before travelling to Oklahoma. I logged it in in TX. and then placed it in a cache in OK. I neglected to get the number the second time. I had to go back to the cache and get the number. It was an inconvenience and I was cussing it at the time but it was my fault. I usually write down on the paper what I took and left at that cache and then download everything on my computer while everything is fresh in my head. I agree with the procedure and it will help control the travel bugs journey and safeguard it from getting lost.

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The virtual trail needn't end completely. The next person to find the bug can uncheck a box on the TB log screen to indicate he didn't find it in the cache the system thinks it is in now. A few miles will be lost but I assume not many, since you found and placed it the same day.

 

migo_sig_logo.jpg

vlip2.gif Now cache away, cache away, cache away all!

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quote:
Originally posted by D & S:

I had a travel bug and was helping it get some mileage by putting in my cache in Texas before travelling to Oklahoma. I logged it in in TX. and then placed it in a cache in OK. I neglected to get the number the second time. I had to go back to the cache and get the number. It was an inconvenience and I was cussing it at the time but it was my fault.


Like GoldKey said earlier... the tracking number is only required when you "pick up" the bug - when you place it in another cache, all you have to do is make a log on that cache - and near the bottom of that page, select the bug from your "online inventory" so it will be "dropped" into that cache. You aren't expected to remember the tracking number once you've originally logged the bug. icon_smile.gif

 

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I think I know where all the confusion is coming from. (I'm not sure if this is actually the case here or not. So if it's not, just consider this to be my own personal rantings of frustration). Say you're out caching for the day & you drop off a TB that you already have in your "inventory". Another cacher swings in behind you and picks it up then goes straight home. In his excitement to log his find he doesn't bother to make sure that you've "dropped off" the bug & logs his find anyways. When you get home to log the drop, the TB's no longer in your inventory. This could & has resulted in some confusion (for me at least). I've been on both ends of this issue, the latest being with this bug. I picked him up over the weekend, but the log shows him being dropped off by someone who's never picked him up. Should I wait for that person to get their act together, or just go on and log it anyways? Anywho, I haven't noticed any changes, so I'm not sure what else it could be. Sorry if I caused too much of a tangent.54293_500.gif

 

"What do you mean they don't eat no meat?!?"

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(Sigh!)

You guys are missing my point. By simply being on this discussion I know you know that you all know what you're doing, you are "The Elite". I know what I am doing, too and I will log that stupid bug because I am persistent. The problem is that most geocacher's aren't. Frankly, they suck. They pick up bugs, forget to log them, forget that they have them, forget the tracking number and lose them. Or they put off logging them cause they don't have the bug with them at the computer and then forget it all together. They need things as simple as possible. This is a greater risk than one "prankster". Just look at all the TB's that are listed as being in a cache that people say are not there. If they did get into another cache, people might pick them up again, but they won't look for them as eagerly and they'll probably sit in caches unknown until the cache dissappears. This whole game is based on the "honor system" so I don't think we need to "verify" that cachers say what they do. That's my two cents and I'm sticking to it.

P.S. Under the "Old System" you could just pick up a bug with your cache log with a drop down menu without a tracking number, just like when you're dropping it off.

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quote:
Originally posted by Goat6500:

 

The problem is that most geocacher's aren't. Frankly, they suck. They pick up bugs, forget to log them, forget that they have them, forget the tracking number and lose them. Or they put off logging them cause they don't have the bug with them at the computer and then forget it all together. They need things as simple as possible.


So, rather than patiently teaching the newer members how the system works, you suggest 'dumbing' things down, so that nobody has to think or put in any effort to do things right?

 

And, personally, I think the statement that "most" geocachers suck, and don't have the patience or intelligence to figure out how to log a bug, is a bit of an exaggeration. icon_rolleyes.gif

 

quote:
Under the "Old System" you could just pick up a bug with your cache log with a drop down menu without a tracking number, just like when you're dropping it off.

 

Hmmm, it hasn't been like that in the year that I've been involved in the sport. I guess you've been around longer than most of us, to remember the 'pre-tracking number' times.

 

-------

"I may be slow, but at least I'm sweet!" 196939_800.jpg

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Goat,

 

The "Old System" to which you refer has never existed.

 

You need some piece of identifying infomation to find the bug. Two people could have bugs by the same name, how would you know which one to log? The number is the unique identifier.

 

If you want to set up your bugs on the honor system, go ahead, just post the tracking number on the page with the travel bug. Ask the people who accidentally posted the number in their photo of the bug their opinion regarding everyone being on the honor system.

 

"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."

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quote:
Originally posted by Zuckerruebensirup:

So, rather than patiently teaching the newer members how the system works, you suggest 'dumbing' things down, so that nobody has to think or put in any effort to do things right?


I knew i could put my ideas to use sometime! icon_biggrin.gif

 

When im in "the big city" ill put that gladware container out in the mall parking lot!

 

 

No No! wait a virtual......

 

Name one the 53 "door greeters" working the west enterance at Wal*Mart!

 

 

Oh Wait! EVEN better a "SPILL UR NAM!" locationless!

 

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I'm thinking yes there are some, as you call them, Sucky Cachers out there, I would call them inexperienced. I know when I first picked up a bug; I forgot to write down the number before I placed it in another cache. The owner of the cache took care of it for me and informed me of it. Since then I have found 20 bugs and released 8 without a problem. I myself have fixed some bugs that were logged wrong. I have also had bugs taken out of my inventory before I could log it in. But all this can usually be taken care of with e-mail. I find this sometimes just as much a challenge icon_eek.gif as finding a cache.

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quote:
Originally posted by Chazman007:

I'm thinking yes there are some, as you call them, Sucky Cachers out there, I would call them inexperienced. I know when I first picked up a bug; I forgot to write down the number before I placed it in another cache. The owner of the cache took care of it for me and informed me of it. Since then I have found 20 bugs and released 8 without a problem. I myself have fixed some bugs that were logged wrong. I have also had bugs taken out of my inventory before I could log it in. But all this can usually be taken care of with e-mail. I find this sometimes just as much a challenge icon_eek.gif as finding a cache.


U got that rite Chaz. icon_smile.gificon_smile.gificon_smile.gif
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