Coins marked as missing.

[+PrashadFamily]

I got a notification today that says that one of my geocoins has been marked as "missing" by a cache owner or admin.

 

The part that bothers me is that this coin was last logged as placed in a cache on November 27, 2010. That's just six days ago! It just seems to me that this might be a little on the premature side to be marking a coin as missing.... especially considering the recent Holiday! A lot of people travel during this time and maybe the person that has it just hasn't had a chance to get to a computer to log it yet.

 

Is this normal? I mean, I know it's a little annoying to go to a cache thinking there is a trackable there and then to discover that there isn't one after all. But... six days?

 

Also, what is proper etiquette? Is is unreasonable for me to think that whoever it was could have sent me a quick message first... in order to give me the opportunity to research it first?

 

OR, maybe I'm totally overreacting. Maybe it's a mistake and I'm totally blowing it out of proportion!

[+G & C]

Yea, maybe calm down a little bit. Nothing has been done that can not be undone.

 

Was the cache that the coin was located in get archived? That might be one case. Otherwise, if the CO went and checked his cache and saw that your coin wasn't in it and marked it missing after just a few days, I'd say that he did act pretty prematurely. But I still wouldn't worry about it.

 

It'll all get worked out in the end.

[+Droo]

The cache is not archived and YES it is premature to mark a traveller is missing just because a finder stated there were no trackables in the cache (12/1).

 

I would consider it rude too and would ask the Cache Owner if they made a mistake as the coin was probably picked up on 11/30 and hadn't been logged out yet. Still it's their cache to do with as they wish and if their wish is not to be encumbered by phantom trackables that cachers can't be bother to log out when they log their finds it's their prerogative to mark trackables OUT.

 

Also contact the only finder since it was dropped. Ask them if they saw your coin or maybe picked it up and forgot to log it out.... kindly and gently.

[+Eartha]

I have marked hundreds of Trackables as missing. Why? Because somebody went to the cache and saw that the item was not there, and had not been loggrd out, and requested that it be removed from the cache listing. Or because the caches and all of the contents were muggled, but the cache owner didn't mark them as missing when the cache was replaced. If the owner of the cache, and the owner of the trackable don't mark it missing, people who come to find the TB, or geocoin, are disappointed not to find it. Some of the ones I have marked missing have been showing as being in the cache for years, but have been midsing for years. If the trackable is found, or an owner decides it's time to release the copy tag, getting it back into circulation is as easy as logging it. Just grab it. It's sad so many go missing. Sometimes we can research and figure out who might have taken it, but even that doesn't mean we can get it moving again. Leaving it as showing it's in a cache just disappoints people who enjoy moving trackables.

[+PrashadFamily]

I have marked hundreds of Trackables as missing. Why? Because somebody went to the cache and saw that the item was not there, and had not been loggrd out, and requested that it be removed from the cache listing. Or because the caches and all of the contents were muggled, but the cache owner didn't mark them as missing when the cache was replaced. If the owner of the cache, and the owner of the trackable don't mark it missing, people who come to find the TB, or geocoin, are disappointed not to find it. Some of the ones I have marked missing have been showing as being in the cache for years, but have been midsing for years. If the trackable is found, or an owner decides it's time to release the copy tag, getting it back into circulation is as easy as logging it. Just grab it. It's sad so many go missing. Sometimes we can research and figure out who might have taken it, but even that doesn't mean we can get it moving again. Leaving it as showing it's in a cache just disappoints people who enjoy moving trackables.

 

Yes, I completely understand this. In fact, I AGREE with it. Coins shouldn't be virtually listed in a cache when they have been missing for a length of time. I just thought that a mere six days was a little premature to be making this move. That's all.

 

Thanks for your input everyone - I guess it is what it is. Hopefully the coin gets logged soon so that it can move along.

[+PrashadFamily]

The cache is not archived and YES it is premature to mark a traveller is missing just because a finder stated there were no trackables in the cache (12/1).

 

I would consider it rude too and would ask the Cache Owner if they made a mistake as the coin was probably picked up on 11/30 and hadn't been logged out yet. Still it's their cache to do with as they wish and if their wish is not to be encumbered by phantom trackables that cachers can't be bother to log out when they log their finds it's their prerogative to mark trackables OUT.

 

Also contact the only finder since it was dropped. Ask them if they saw your coin or maybe picked it up and forgot to log it out.... kindly and gently.

 

Thanks for your input. I did ask him and it was his intent to mark it missing based on the fact that one person said it wasn't there. Like you said - his prerogative.

 

That's a good idea - I will send the prior cacher a quick PM.

[+ThePetersTrio]

This happened to me recently and sure enough, a recent finder just had not logged out the trackable and because they were fairly new cachers, I wound up returning the coin to the cache the CO had marked missing so as not to confuse them.

 

Hopefully, the CO got a nice lesson in why it isn't a good idea to prematurely mark trackables missing.

 

I mean - it really does put our coins at even more risk. Because if whoever has the coin finally gets around to logging it and it has been marked missing it is even a bigger temptation to keep the coin instead of logging it.

[+PrashadFamily]

I have a super awesome update on this coin!

 

So, here is a quick recap:

 

On November 27, the coin was placed in the cache.

 

On November 30, a cacher went to the cache but did not take the coin.

 

On December 1, a cacher commented that there was no coin in the cache. The cache owner then (apparently without actually checking) marked the coin as missing on December 3.

 

I got some advice above and emailed the one cacher that was there on the 27th and asked it he grabbed the coin. He responded and said he saw it but did not grab it. He offered to go back and see if it was still there for me.

 

On the 5th, he returned to the cache and the coin WAS indeed there!!

 

Yay!

[+Droo]

I have a super awesome update on this coin!

 

So, here is a quick recap:

...snip...

On the 5th, he returned to the cache and the coin WAS indeed there!!

 

Yay!

I've had a coin elude detection in a cache for months... apparently a dozen cachers never saw it and the CO was about to mark it missing when he chose to do a maintenance run and found the coin right where the tracking system said it was. Alas it disappeared shortly thereafter but it did make an appearance after I had given up on it.