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Published before placed caches


Packfan12

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Should you count a cache as a find if it is published before it was placed? I looked for a cache for about 30 minutes and DNFed the cache. I find out later that the cacher had someone else attempt to put out the cache and they failed to do so. The cache was published and about 10 cachers in the area looked for it before it was finally disabled. What should i do in this situation?

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Or don't. Just treat it like any other DNF. Either go back and find it or if you don't want to go back to that spot then just forget about it.

one time a new local cacher made the mistake of publishing a cache before he actually placed it. About six of us looked for it and logged DNF's. The owner apologized and offered to let us log it as a find and even claim joint FTF, but I don't think any of us did. I didn't go back for several months, and then I signed the log and claimed the smiley.

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Should you count a cache as a find if it is published before it was placed? I looked for a cache for about 30 minutes and DNFed the cache. I find out later that the cacher had someone else attempt to put out the cache and they failed to do so. The cache was published and about 10 cachers in the area looked for it before it was finally disabled. What should i do in this situation?

 

This has happened with some frequency in my area with a new cacher. He has not been placing his caches until after they get published. I logged a DNF and have decided that I will not bother to look for any of his caches again.

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So....with all due respect, I'm guessing that none of you "old timers" were ever "noobs" and certainly didn't make any mistakes when you started out???? Sometimes a little help goes a long way to get someone started. Either way, the response a newcomer gets from fellow geocachers will not be forgotten and makes a huge difference in how they will (or won't) participate in the future.

As a realtive newcomer I have really appreciated the mentoring received on these forums. So far everyone has been welcoming and helpful.

Maybe a note to the offending owner who published the unplaced cache, teaching them correct proceedure would be appreciated.

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So....with all due respect, I'm guessing that none of you "old timers" were ever "noobs" and certainly didn't make any mistakes when you started out???? Sometimes a little help goes a long way to get someone started. Either way, the response a newcomer gets from fellow geocachers will not be forgotten and makes a huge difference in how they will (or won't) participate in the future.

As a realtive newcomer I have really appreciated the mentoring received on these forums. So far everyone has been welcoming and helpful.

Maybe a note to the offending owner who published the unplaced cache, teaching them correct proceedure would be appreciated.

 

As much as I wanted to, I did not send him any nasty notes. Two of his prior caches were placed real close to houses and one resulted in LEO being called out. He will learn in time, but until then I am not rushing out to try to get a FTF on his caches.

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So....with all due respect, I'm guessing that none of you "old timers" were ever "noobs" and certainly didn't make any mistakes when you started out???? Sometimes a little help goes a long way to get someone started. Either way, the response a newcomer gets from fellow geocachers will not be forgotten and makes a huge difference in how they will (or won't) participate in the future.

As a realtive newcomer I have really appreciated the mentoring received on these forums. So far everyone has been welcoming and helpful.

Maybe a note to the offending owner who published the unplaced cache, teaching them correct proceedure would be appreciated.

 

Who said anything about negative contact with a new cacher? Or that they never make mistakes? Heck, nobody even said they wouldn't contact a new cacher and offer help. The only question asked is if we would log as a find if we found out the cache wasn't there. No, I wouldn't log it as a find. I would log a dnf. I would probably not even assume the cache wasn't there unless the CO fessed up. My dnf would say something like "Bummer. Even after a thirty minute search I was unable to locate this one. I'll have to return for another attempt."

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There was a cache near here placed by a very experienced local cacher. There were several DNF's before he realized he had transposed two digits while entering the coordinates for the cache page. Everyone was searching across the street from the actual location.

 

My point is that 1) even experienced cachers can make mistakes, and 2) DNF logs provide useful information!

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So....with all due respect, I'm guessing that none of you "old timers" were ever "noobs" and certainly didn't make any mistakes when you started out???? Sometimes a little help goes a long way to get someone started. Either way, the response a newcomer gets from fellow geocachers will not be forgotten and makes a huge difference in how they will (or won't) participate in the future.

As a realtive newcomer I have really appreciated the mentoring received on these forums. So far everyone has been welcoming and helpful.

Maybe a note to the offending owner who published the unplaced cache, teaching them correct proceedure would be appreciated.

 

Well, I still think it's funny when it happens. C'mon, lets not get oversensitive here. :sad: Besides, there is no "mentoring" by the Geocaching community required when someone gets a cache published before it is placed. I'll go out on a limb and say there was reviewer action and reviewer guidance with the cache owner over the situation every single time I've seen it happen.

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I don't have a cache listed but I have one placed. I want to know if it will fill with water, be discovered by muggles and/or gardeners, see if a couple friends can find it, etc. Seems kind of lame to send a friend out to place a cache. I think someone can make a little more effort to do it right.

 

Not at all lame. My guard rail cache was out a week and I checked the coordinates every day (I parked there) to get good averages. My ammo can was out for a month before I published, I had to wait for sports preseason to finish on the fields next door, also wanted to make sure it wouldn't leak or get muggled and I went on vacation.

 

Sounds to me like you are being a good CO, thats all.

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Bumping this thread for the resolution:

Late last month, I was going to be caching in the area of the cache in question and checked the cache page. Still disabled. I found a few caches and when i went to log them a few hours later, this cache was active and already had two finders!! So my timing left a lot to be desired. But the cache itself is a good and fun one, so that's the happy ending to this story.

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Sigh. There's one nearby me that was muggled. All the cache page says now is: "Cash removed by owner...will replace soon.." Not dated. Cache is still listed as active. I posted a note " If the cache has been removed by the cache owner, the cache should be listed as 'temporarily unavailable.'" Cache owner has not signed on in over a month. Oh, well.

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So....with all due respect, I'm guessing that none of you "old timers" were ever "noobs" and certainly didn't make any mistakes when you started out???? Sometimes a little help goes a long way to get someone started. Either way, the response a newcomer gets from fellow geocachers will not be forgotten and makes a huge difference in how they will (or won't) participate in the future.

As a realtive newcomer I have really appreciated the mentoring received on these forums. So far everyone has been welcoming and helpful.

Maybe a note to the offending owner who published the unplaced cache, teaching them correct proceedure would be appreciated.

 

As much as I wanted to, I did not send him any nasty notes. Two of his prior caches were placed real close to houses and one resulted in LEO being called out. He will learn in time, but until then I am not rushing out to try to get a FTF on his caches.

 

Who says it has to be a nasty note? I send nice notes to newbies all the time, and I've made some good friends that way :unsure:

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So....with all due respect, I'm guessing that none of you "old timers" were ever "noobs" and certainly didn't make any mistakes when you started out???? Sometimes a little help goes a long way to get someone started. Either way, the response a newcomer gets from fellow geocachers will not be forgotten and makes a huge difference in how they will (or won't) participate in the future.

As a realtive newcomer I have really appreciated the mentoring received on these forums. So far everyone has been welcoming and helpful.

Maybe a note to the offending owner who published the unplaced cache, teaching them correct proceedure would be appreciated.

 

As much as I wanted to, I did not send him any nasty notes. Two of his prior caches were placed real close to houses and one resulted in LEO being called out. He will learn in time, but until then I am not rushing out to try to get a FTF on his caches.

 

Who says it has to be a nasty note? I send nice notes to newbies all the time, and I've made some good friends that way :unsure:

 

I was making a point that I wanted to send him a nasty note and I think he deserved one. But I didn't. Otherwise it might have been reminiscent of a dirt covered nano under a capstone.

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Guilty as charged! Our first cache, which we placed after a month or so (and about 30 finds) after starting caching, was published before I'd had a chance to place it.

Everything was sorted except for something we wanted to place in the cache. I went ahead and sent it for review thinking it would take two or three days to get through the reviewer's list - the website says expect it to take two or three days or words to that effect.

Lo and behold it was getting DNFs within hours! I hastily put notes on the cache that I'd be out there to place it any hour and did so. Disappointed a couple of FTF hounds but they were good about seeing as I was a newbie.

 

Of course I know a lot better now!

 

The time a new cache takes to get through the queue (or "line-up" as they say over there) varies considerably. I've sent a cache for review hoping it would be published Friday night or Saturday morning and it hasn't appeared until Tuesday. Another time I sent the cache for review just as I was heading out to place the cache (a few kms from home) and just as I was heading back from hiding it I got notification that it had been published!

 

The lesson here is that the reviewers have lives of their own (really? :unsure: ) and the time to publishing can vary.

 

As for the original question: if you didn't find it, it ain't a find.

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The lesson here is that the reviewers have lives of their own (really? :D ) and the time to publishing can vary.

 

Of course the other lesson is that the check box inficating that the cache is active should not be checked unless the cache is active. From time to time I have thought that the box should be unchecked by default.

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Should you count a cache as a find if it is published before it was placed? I looked for a cache for about 30 minutes and DNFed the cache. I find out later that the cacher had someone else attempt to put out the cache and they failed to do so. The cache was published and about 10 cachers in the area looked for it before it was finally disabled. What should i do in this situation?

No, you did not find it. Some new cachers will get a cache approved/published before they place it.

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No, you did not find it. Some new cachers will get a cache approved/published before they place it.

 

To quote JohnnyVegas: No, you didn't find it.

 

It's only happened to me once. You go to the next event. You throw ice cubes at the offender, and yell: George. Don't ever do that again! :D It was't there, so I did not find it, so I loggd DNF. Seems fairly simple.

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I don't know about claiming it as a find but it is SUPER annoying!!!! I just went on a FTF run the other day, where the cache wasn't placed yet. That's the third time that's happened to me. I even looked at the cache owners profile and saw that they've been members for over a year, with 25 finds. Makes me think all of the talk about not being able to hide a cache until you have at least 100 finds is a good idea.

 

I just looked at the cache that started all of this.......2 finds and they think they know enough to hide a cache?!?! And they changed the coordinates like 10 times? Thats ridiculous !! Again there should be some kind of set amount of finds before a cacher is able to hide one.

Edited by Douce Us 5
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Who says it has to be a nasty note? I send nice notes to newbies all the time, and I've made some good friends that way :anibad:

 

I was making a point that I wanted to send him a nasty note and I think he deserved one. But I didn't. Otherwise it might have been reminiscent of a dirt covered nano under a capstone.

 

Ah I see.

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