Neo_Geo Posted July 3, 2003 Share Posted July 3, 2003 Rule #1: When you remove a travel bug from a cache, go to that bug's page and LOG THE GRAB!!! What is it with people who take a bug and don't log it? I went to a cache specifically to grab a particular bug. The bug was gone when I got to the cache. Someone wrote in the log book that they took the bug, but the bug still appears on the cache's Web page! I would not have gone to that cache and gotten all muddy if I knew that the TB wasn't gonna be there!!! Are they waiting until they place the bug into another cache before logging the find??? ...just to save a few seconds on the computer? Do us a favor... LOG THE GRAB!!! Our wives and mothers will appreciate it on laundry day!!! Quote Link to comment
+woodsters Posted July 3, 2003 Share Posted July 3, 2003 How long before you got their did they take the bug? I've wondered about this when going to grab a bug. What if someone went after it right then and beat me to it? I would assume they would log it in online, but how long should they wait? Personally I think it should be logged immediately (within a couple of hours or so) and that if they can't then they don't need to take it. Will keep people off wild goose chases. Brian Wood Woodsters Outdoors http://www.woodsters.com Quote Link to comment
+CrimsonWrath Posted July 3, 2003 Share Posted July 3, 2003 The first bug I found, I headed straight home and logged it. I was so nervous about having this huge responsibility! I replaced it later the same day in a new cache and stopped by a friends house to use their computer to log in and update the bug! The bug/log should be updated within a day out of a courtesy to other seekers. I think I've seen a request around here to let other visitors to the cache indicate the bug is no longer there. It would be nice to put a "?" on a bug to indicate that it should be here, but wasn't found. Quote Link to comment
+The Leprechauns Posted July 3, 2003 Share Posted July 3, 2003 IMHO, same day/next day is a good rule of thumb for logging your find when you just hit a cache or two in your local area, and take a travel bug. But don't forget about those of us who go on marathon cache trips across multiple states, 100's of miles from home, and with no computer access. Or who cache while on vacation in another country. The benefit of moving a bug a long distance is more important than possibly disappointing someone else hunting for the same bug. But even then, when I return from a long trip, I at least try to do my travel bug grabs, even if I'm too tired to write up my cache logs. In the situation Neo Geo complains of, there was a six-day delay without the bug being grabbed. Absent special circumstances, that's a good bit too slow, I think. While delayed grabs is an issue, I think that "Travel Bug Rule #1" OUGHT to be "Put the bug back into another cache within a few weeks... don't just keep it." x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x Some mornings, it just doesn't pay to chew through the leather straps. - Emo Phillips Quote Link to comment
Neo_Geo Posted July 3, 2003 Author Share Posted July 3, 2003 Woodsters Outdoors wrote: quote: How long before you got their did they take the bug? I got there 8 days after the cacher's reported log date. They waited about another week before actually logging it! Here it is, July 3rd! Someone waited until today to log that they found one of my caches, which is no problem for me - that's cool... BUT, they took a TB with them! They even went so far as to write about it on their cache Web page log, but it still appears as being in the cache!!! http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=77138 Check out Norman Paperman's entry on the 29th of June... The S.O.B. deserves the Poison Ivy!!! I almost wish that he DID get it from my cache (but this cache site is ivy-free) Quote Link to comment
+woodsters Posted July 3, 2003 Share Posted July 3, 2003 Yes 6 days is too long, as you stated depending on circumstances. One of our first caches stated it had a certain travel bug in it and it didn't. Then it had another TB that wasn't logged when we set out, but was logged when we returned. The cache owner finally made a log entry about the TB was not there and that whoever took it, did not log it. I would say out of those extreme times like the marathons leprechauns were speaking of, that I would not take a travel bug if I weren't going to be able to log it very soon. That's my opinion though. But as they stated in those circumstances that you could significantly help it along it's journey, then that's a gray area. I would at least try to log on somewhere. A lot of hotels now, have computers that you can use. Or you could go to a local library, internet cafe, or somewhere like Kinkos. Brian Wood Woodsters Outdoors http://www.woodsters.com Quote Link to comment
+woodsters Posted July 3, 2003 Share Posted July 3, 2003 I would email them and tell them. It might of been an honest mistake or they didn't know how... Brian Wood Woodsters Outdoors http://www.woodsters.com Quote Link to comment
+CrimsonWrath Posted July 3, 2003 Share Posted July 3, 2003 Maybe all new cache sites should be equipped with a network connection so we can log our finds immediately? Hmmm... I wonder if I can log onto the geocaching website with my cell phone. It'd be a pain to type in a log! Quote Link to comment
+bthomas Posted July 4, 2003 Share Posted July 4, 2003 As a 300 bug finder, I've long since accepted that there's a systematic delay in bug reporting. I've probably had 100 DNF bugs. It's part of the challenge, like going for a cache FTF. My bug rule #1 is to be considerate and log ASAP, and rule #2 is to keep the bug alive and moving. Quote Link to comment
+Cat'N'Geo Posted July 6, 2003 Share Posted July 6, 2003 I left the travel bug "Geocaching Poem Travel Bug" in a cache (GCGB8T) where it was "grabbed" before I could log it in. It's now missing a stop, and I couldn't "add to it's tale" properly. Is there something I should have done differently? We spent the whole day caching, and by the time we got home, 18 caches for the day, the log damage was done, even though I had tried to log it in as quickly as possibe. Granted it was 2330, but I did try! Is it possible to ask someone to DELAY on the paper log their website grab until you can log it in the cache? Or should I have ticked off the person who grabbed it by logging it in BEFORE I left the house 3 hours away and risked him getting there just to catch it and it not there till I come huffing over the hill 3 hours later? They say this universe is bound to blow, I say we crank up the Calypso Control! ~Jimmy Buffett ~Someday I Will~ Quote Link to comment
MarcusArelius Posted July 7, 2003 Share Posted July 7, 2003 I periodically check the logs of the caches where my travel bugs are. If someone says they've taken it but it is still logged into the cache I check the user's profile. It's usually a newbie that isn't aware that they need to make two log entries. I simply e-mail them and gently remind them to log them out (and back in when they drop them off). Also if a take a TB that isn't yet logged into a cache I will usually wait a day for the person that dropped it off to make their entry before grabbing it myself. Mark Quote Link to comment
+Mejas Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 quote:Originally posted by MarcusArelius:I periodically check the logs of the caches where my travel bugs are. If someone says they've taken it but it is still logged into the cache I check the user's profile. It's usually a newbie that isn't aware that they need to make two log entries. I simply e-mail them and gently remind them to log them out (and back in when they drop them off). I have done this only to fine that they dropped it in another cache and didn't get the number from the tag. Also if I take a TB that isn't yet logged into a cache I will usually wait a day for the person that dropped it off to make their entry before grabbing it myself. Me too. Mark quote: Mejas Love caching Quote Link to comment
+Aggie Wanderers Posted July 10, 2003 Share Posted July 10, 2003 Log it, Live it, Love it! Quote Link to comment
beachcaster Posted July 10, 2003 Share Posted July 10, 2003 As a relative newbie I also made the mistake of grabbing a TB before it had been logged into the cache. I read the FAQ page on this site about what to do with a TB and was so intent on making sure that I logged the fact that I'd grabbed it I didn't notice that it hadn't been dropped into the cache yet. The guy who dropped it did send me a friendly E-Mail pointing this out so I know for next time. Might be worth a note in the FAQ for TB's that you should not grab it until it's been logged in. Quote Link to comment
+Webfoot Posted July 19, 2003 Share Posted July 19, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Neo_Geo:Rule #1: When you remove a travel bug from a cache, go to that bug's page and LOG THE GRAB!!! Do us a favor... LOG THE GRAB!!! Our wives and mothers will appreciate it on laundry day!!! I had someone send me an email stating that I needed to release a bug from my cache so they could log the bug out of the cache and into their hands. HUH??? I sent them an email telling them that I have no control over the bugs in my cache and if they took a bug, they needed to log the bug and I gave them a set of instructions on how to do that. A week later, the bug is still listed as being in my cache and I know that it's not there. In fact, there's three bugs listed in the cache, but I know there's only one in there. I've emailed the owner of the other one, but he/she hasn't responded back. Perhaps I should email the owner of the other bug and tell him what's happened. Tromping through the underbrush looking for Ammo cans, Tupperware containers, & little round disks. Quote Link to comment
+fly46 Posted July 20, 2003 Share Posted July 20, 2003 Well, guys... I know someone touched on this, but I'm going to elaborate... I'm going to my friend's house in September/October in Georgia as well as a family reunion in Tennessee at the same time. My friend has class and work the whole time I am there, and I plan to cache the whole time I am gone, just so I have something to do while my friend is in class/at work. On the way down, I'll be going to two caches in North Carolina. I certainly won't have a computer or know where to find one on the way down, and won't be able to do any logs for those while I'm at it. So any logs for those bugs will be a day or two late.... As for when I'm in Tennessee, we're talking days without internet acess because I'll be in the boonies. So any bugs I find there may not be logged until I get back to Ohio with them. It's not to say that I won't do it, logging any i may find would be the first thing I'd do when I could, but I wouldn't be able to do it right away. *makes a note that her caching equipment now must include internet access so someone doing nothing but hunting for bugs doesn't have to 'waste' a trip* Just remember guys, there's no guarentee that the cache you're looking for won't ever get moved from the time it's placed to the time you get there, and there's no guarentee that the cache will have a bug, either. It's all part of the sport. Quote Link to comment
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