New Favorites Feature

[+The VanDucks]

I just noticed the new Favorites feature today, since due to a busy work schedule and the impending holidays, I hadn't been on line since the last upgrade. I like the new system very much!

 

Since we've found slightly over 800 caches, in four and a half years of caching, we had about 85 points to use. I went down the list of all the caches we'd found and realized that the ones I remembered the most clearly would be the ones to mark as favorites.

 

There were some from our early days of caching that were not particularly difficult, but I remembered how excited we had been to find them. There were others that reminded me of our planned geocaching trips, where we went to some new location and dicovered interesting parks and old buildings. Some were caches in beautiful mountains and woods, where the hike in and out was the best part. There were others that challenged us physically, by crawling through a culvert, sidestepping through poison ivy and ticks, or creeping out onto a scary overlook. Some caches were memorable because of the people that were with us when we found them. And some were funny adventures in outwitting muggles and having a clever "cover story" as to what exactly we were doing there!

 

The caches that were my favorites were often ones that took us several tries to find, or required us to use a lot of mental agility to understand. Many of them were variations on a familiar type of hide that went off in an unexpected direction so we saw something we hadn't seen before. I realized that for us at least, hard is more satisfying than easy, and caches that took a long time to complete were usually well worth the time!

 

I expect that if 100 cachers who had all found the same 100 caches were asked to mark their ten favorites, we would all have different answers, because our choices reflect our unique personalities. What conclusions can you draw by thinking about your favorites?

[+WRASTRO]

I just noticed the new Favorites feature today, since due to a busy work schedule and the impending holidays, I hadn't been on line since the last upgrade. I like the new system very much!

 

Since we've found slightly over 800 caches, in four and a half years of caching, we had about 85 points to use. I went down the list of all the caches we'd found and realized that the ones I remembered the most clearly would be the ones to mark as favorites.

 

There were some from our early days of caching that were not particularly difficult, but I remembered how excited we had been to find them. There were others that reminded me of our planned geocaching trips, where we went to some new location and dicovered interesting parks and old buildings. Some were caches in beautiful mountains and woods, where the hike in and out was the best part. There were others that challenged us physically, by crawling through a culvert, sidestepping through poison ivy and ticks, or creeping out onto a scary overlook. Some caches were memorable because of the people that were with us when we found them. And some were funny adventures in outwitting muggles and having a clever "cover story" as to what exactly we were doing there!

 

The caches that were my favorites were often ones that took us several tries to find, or required us to use a lot of mental agility to understand. Many of them were variations on a familiar type of hide that went off in an unexpected direction so we saw something we hadn't seen before. I realized that for us at least, hard is more satisfying than easy, and caches that took a long time to complete were usually well worth the time!

 

I expect that if 100 cachers who had all found the same 100 caches were asked to mark their ten favorites, we would all have different answers, because our choices reflect our unique personalities. What conclusions can you draw by thinking about your favorites?

I think you have absolutely nailed what I think the geocaching favorites should be all about! Pin this post. It really can't be stated and explained any better. Good job and thank you for sharing.

Edited December 24, 2010 by WRASTRO

[+niraD]

A lot of my favorites are puzzle caches that are favorite puzzles. For many, the actual hide is secondary; it's all about the puzzle. I don't remember the hides for some of them, and some of the hides that I do remember were fairly generic suburban hides. But some included on-site puzzles, which is a type that I especially enjoy. And some were beautiful locations, as a strong finale to a favorite puzzle.

 

Others are favorites because of the public art they brought me to. Some were blinkers hidden in plain sight on the sculpture itself. Others were fairly generic suburban hides near the art. But they're favorites because of the art.

 

Others were well-camouflaged caches. Many took a while to find. I managed to find a few quickly (if you know it's an "evil" hide, you can ignore all the generic locations and start looking for something more interesting immediately), but I still enjoyed them very much. There's something satisfying about holding a cache with such well-crafted custom camouflage, even if you managed to spot it after just a few minutes.

 

And of course, some were just great locations, either scenic or historic.

 

My absolute favorites were puzzle multi-caches that I found with groups. They combined the satisfying "Aha!" moments of good puzzle caches with well-crafted clues, nice final locations, and the camaraderie of a group of geocachers working together on an excellent cache.

[+succotash]

We already had a Favorites Bookmark before this new feature was implemented, so we had a good idea what defines a favorite for us. The caches themselves are very different - a nice hike in the woods or across the western landscape (usually with an ammocan at the end), a cache on the water, a cache that taught us something new or took us to a unique or historical location, a physical challenge, a creative container, a creative puzzle.

 

The consistent attribute is very simple... we would look forward to doing any of these caches again.

[+briansnat]

Most of my favorites involved either physically challenging terrain, great hikes or interesting or unique spots.

[+Chokecherry]

When picking my favorites I typically gave most weight to location. Did it bring some place cool? Out of the running were any caches that had leaky containers regardless of location. One cache I put down has a cool container but if it wasn't at the spot it is at it wouldn't have been favorite either.

 

I'm looking at the all around experience when doing my favorites.

[+Markwell]

It was nice because I already had a bookmark list that had this implemented. I also had my criteria already set. Here's the things I like in a cache.

• A decent hike (>=0.25 miles) in a sparsely populated area
  
• Nifty little-known history
  
• Great scenery
  
• Unusual hide (suspended in a tree, on an island that you have to canoe to)
  
• Thought-provoking puzzle
  
• Cool camo or really neat container
  
• Long history of being at that spot (old cache that's been around for a long while)
  
• Good theme (and people are sticking to it)

Any one of these characteristics on a cache, and I'll think it's pretty cool. Combine a few, and it scores more points. But if it doesn't have a single one of those characteristics, I'll be asking myself why I was brought here. If I have to ask myself that, I would think the cache was disappointing.

 

So, it was quite easy to get my favorites all in line.

[+va griz]

I noticed that several of the cachers already had a favorites list. Me too, but I like the new system for the simple reason that it's easier to find the favorites when going to a new area. One complication is it looks as if a lot of cachers favor puzzles, multis, and tough hides. Especially when time is limited, I enjoy looking for a cache that's well hidden from muggles but can be figured out by an experienced cacher.

 

My "likes":

Interesting or scenic location.

Clever or unique container.

Finding a way to hide a container much bigger than would seem possible.

[+ChileHead]

I also had a bookmark list that I just converted to favorites.

 

Most of the caches on my favorite list deal with the journey/hike to the cache, or the actual cache location itself. As I usually hike with my dog and he's impatient, I'm not overly fond of very hard finds, though I do appreciate the creativity in them.

[Clan Riffster]

What conclusions can you draw by thinking about your favorites?

As I was reviewing my history, to see which caches would end up in my favorites folder, the ones that made the cut were those hides which were, for whatever reason, my most memorable hunts. Some were fairly easy, most were fairly hard, but all were an adventure. On a side note, when I create a cache, giving someone else an adventure is my primary goal. I want folks to remember my hide long after they made it home, poured a pint of Guinness and kicked their feet up.