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Mixing Wheresgeorge.com with Travel Bugs


ESFKids

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I may get a lot of flak for this from MANY people, but here is what I have done: Merged a wheresgeorge.com dollar bill serial number with a travel bug sort of feature.

 

This is how I did it: My little R2D2 action figure has a tag attached to him explaining wheresgeorge.com and how it tracks bills. On the back it has all the relevant information (serial #, year, denomination) that is required for it to be logged.

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OOPS! Hit post now before i really wanted to. Anyhow, the theory goes that the happy cacher who find R2D2 will log him on the wheresgeorge.com system, and after awhile he will get some distance on him. It's worked adequately well so far, and is certainly a very cheap way to do things. Tell me wwhat you think!

 

You can visit the wheresgeorge page for R2D2 at:

http://www.wheresgeorge.com/report.php3?key=65b26fe9df8230b5cc0455ee19d9ebbb&entcnt=0

Or you can visit the little hompage i set up for him at:

http://www.geocities.com/ESFKids/R2-D2/R2-D2.htm

 

Thanks for responding, positively or otherwise!

 

ESFKids' Dave

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It is wrong for you to use the wheresgeorge site for this. You are not even passing the bill around. Even if you were passing the bill it is not circulating the bill in the normal course of business as required by wheresgeorge. I don't think that we geocachers should be using the caches to pass our wheresgeorge bills. In fact, I think that we should all discourage the use of the caches for marked bills and do every thing that we can to stop this activity including reporting offending serial numbers to wheresgeorge and destroying marked bills found in caches. Just my 2 cents worth. BTW... I have already reported your bugs serial number to wheresgeorge and asked that it be removed from the database.

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quote:
Originally posted by lowbluethunder:

It is wrong for you to use the wheresgeorge site for this. You are not even passing the bill around. Even if you were passing the bill it is not circulating the bill in the normal course of business as required by wheresgeorge. I don't think that we geocachers should be using the caches to pass our wheresgeorge bills. In fact, I think that we should all discourage the use of the caches for marked bills and do every thing that we can to stop this activity including reporting offending serial numbers to wheresgeorge and destroying marked bills found in caches. Just my 2 cents worth. BTW... I have already reported your bugs serial number to wheresgeorge and asked that it be removed from the database.


 

Placing WG bills in caches is natural circulation. I've placed US coins and bills along with other nations currency (coins and bill) as cache bait.

 

If your thinking that natural circulation is get bill from bank or as change and then spend bill. Well, your wrong. Georgers have left bills on busses, in malls, in books in the library, all kinds of places in hope that someone will find it.

 

"Destroying marked bills found in caches"? icon_eek.gif Call me cheap if you want but any money I take from a cache is either going in my collection or will be spent.

 

However I do agree, ESFKids did step beyond the nature of WG. Using WG to track something other than a bill is using the site in way that the site created does not intend it to be used. IF you would have kept the bill with R2D2 or the bill was the TB then there might be some room for argument. But, assigning a serial number to R2D2 isn't how WG was ment to be used.

 

ESFKids if you are looking for a cheap alternative to travel bugs, like it sais on R2D2s webpage, then you should learn HTML, PHP, and MySQL. Then buy some web space somewhere cheap and write your own tracking database! Oh, and you shouldn't have posted the link. Considering what you wrote in your post you knew that you were going start some contraversy. Without the links the 'WG Police' would have to at least have do some work to find your TB. Instead you lead them right to it. icon_frown.gif

 

- Lone Rangers

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quote:
Originally posted by lowbluethunder:

It is wrong for you to use the wheresgeorge site for this. You are not even passing the bill around. Even if you were passing the bill it is not circulating the bill in the normal course of business as required by wheresgeorge. I don't think that we geocachers should be using the caches to pass our wheresgeorge bills. In fact, I think that we should all discourage the use of the caches for marked bills and do every thing that we can to stop this activity including reporting offending serial numbers to wheresgeorge and destroying marked bills found in caches. Just my 2 cents worth. BTW... I have already reported your bugs serial number to wheresgeorge and asked that it be removed from the database.


 

Placing WG bills in caches is natural circulation. I've placed US coins and bills along with other nations currency (coins and bill) as cache bait.

 

If your thinking that natural circulation is get bill from bank or as change and then spend bill. Well, your wrong. Georgers have left bills on busses, in malls, in books in the library, all kinds of places in hope that someone will find it.

 

"Destroying marked bills found in caches"? icon_eek.gif Call me cheap if you want but any money I take from a cache is either going in my collection or will be spent.

 

However I do agree, ESFKids did step beyond the nature of WG. Using WG to track something other than a bill is using the site in way that the site created does not intend it to be used. IF you would have kept the bill with R2D2 or the bill was the TB then there might be some room for argument. But, assigning a serial number to R2D2 isn't how WG was ment to be used.

 

ESFKids if you are looking for a cheap alternative to travel bugs, like it sais on R2D2s webpage, then you should learn HTML, PHP, and MySQL. Then buy some web space somewhere cheap and write your own tracking database! Oh, and you shouldn't have posted the link. Considering what you wrote in your post you knew that you were going start some contraversy. Without the links the 'WG Police' would have to at least have do some work to find your TB. Instead you lead them right to it. icon_frown.gif

 

- Lone Rangers

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quote:
Originally posted by unclerojelio:

Now I'll have to write the serial number of a travel bug on a dollar bill and put it in a cache.

 

... Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by, ...

 

http://www.arlut.utexas.edu/~banks/geocache.html

 

As long as the bill stays in caches that will be fine. However, we have enough trouble keeping plastic toys and stuffed bears in caches. I think a dollar bill will disappear from geocaching quicker than any plastic toy or stuffed bear!

 

At least you'll have WG to track the bill when it doesn't get put back in a cache.

 

- Lone Rangers

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Lordy you are one angry person...

 

I personally don't see a problem with this practice. The fact that lowbluethunder tried to get the bills removed is actually pretty offensive considering geocaching is public domain. If you don’t like it, play something else or at lease be less offensive with your feedback, we’re all friends here.

 

quote:
Originally posted by lowbluethunder:

It is wrong for you to use the wheresgeorge site for this. You are not even passing the bill around. Even if you were passing the bill it is not circulating the bill in the normal course of business as required by wheresgeorge. I don't think that we geocachers should be using the caches to pass our wheresgeorge bills. In fact, I think that we should all discourage the use of the caches for marked bills and do every thing that we can to stop this activity including reporting offending serial numbers to wheresgeorge and destroying marked bills found in caches. Just my 2 cents worth. BTW... I have already reported your bugs serial number to wheresgeorge and asked that it be removed from the database.


 

gjeff

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I believe the Wheresgeorge site stated that geocaching was an appropriate place for the bills, since the trading aspect of caches is similar to currency. However, I do consider your use of the actual serial number of a bill to stamp on your traveller an abuse of the Wheresgeorge.com site. Worst case, why don't you just keep the bill with the item, and have a note that they are a team and can't be separated?

 

Jeremy Irish

Groundspeak - The Language of Location

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quote:
Originally posted by gjeff:

The fact that lowbluethunder tried to get the bills removed is actually pretty offensive considering geocaching is public domain.


 

The issue is not geocaching related. The discussion is on the abuse of the Wheresgeorge site.

 

Although I don't advocate destroying something, I do agree that Wheresgeorge.com should be notified if folks are taking bill serial numbers and stamping them on other items to track them there. That doesn't seem to be the site's purpose.

 

Jeremy

 

Jeremy Irish

Groundspeak - The Language of Location

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IF the serial numbers are being used independant of the bill, then that is indeed wrong, but placing a bill in a cache is stil acceptable IMHO.

 

Jeff

 

quote:
Originally posted by Jeremy Irish:

quote:
Originally posted by gjeff:

The fact that lowbluethunder tried to get the bills removed is actually pretty offensive considering geocaching is public domain.


 

The issue is not geocaching related. The discussion is on the abuse of the Wheresgeorge site.

 

Although I don't advocate destroying something, I do agree that Wheresgeorge.com should be notified if folks are taking bill serial numbers and stamping them on other items to track them there. That doesn't seem to be the site's purpose.

 

Jeremy

 

Jeremy Irish

Groundspeak - The Language of Location


 

gjeff

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The following is the #1 user guideline copied from the wheresgeorge website.

***

The purpose of Where's George? is to track the natural and geographic circulation of currency. This means that any bills you enter should be spent by you in the normal course of everyday life. Giving bills to friends, relatives and/or associates for the purpose of re-entry into the website violates the whole premise of Where's George?. After you enter any bills, just enter them into natural circulation by spending them as you would any other bills. Sending bills via US mail or any transportation methods to people in other locals does not constitute natural and geographic circulation. In general, the Where's George definition of natural and geographic circulation is spending your cash in the course of any normal transaction with any unknown person/entity.

***

 

It makes several points.

First it says "...spent by you in the normal course of everyday life." Clearly, placing a bill in a geocache is NOT spending it.

 

Second it states "Giving bills to friends, relatives and/or associates for the purpose of re-entry into the website violates the whole premise of Where's George?." This would appear to be exactly what is going on when someone places a bill into a geocache.

 

Finally it says "In general, the Where's George definition of natural and geographic circulation is spending your cash in the course of any normal transaction with any unknown person/entity."

 

I stand by my statement that it is wrong to use the serial without the bill in any situation.

 

I also stand by my belief that geocaching is not an appropriate way to circulate wheresgeorge bills.

 

It was said that placing a bill in a cache is the same as a wheresgeorger placing a bill in a book or leaving it somewhere for someone to find. This is not true because if you place it in a cache you know that the person that finds it is a frequent web user. Leaving a bill to be found in the real world is not the same because anyone can find it.

 

I also take offense to my being told that my posts are offensive. I did not put anyone down personally or use any language that could be deemed offensive in any of these posts. I simply stated my opinions. Is that not what these forums are designed for? If you do not like my opinion rebut it but don't put me down.

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Relax! Now that you've provided a rational explanation for your original post I see your point and in fact I would support your argument now.

 

All your other comments are best left off this board, if you want to follow up with me on my thoughts of your behavior, email me.

 

Originally posted by lowbluethunder:

 

gjeff

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quote:
Originally posted by lowbluethunder:

It makes several points.

First it says "...spent by you in the normal course of everyday life." Clearly, placing a bill in a geocache is NOT spending it.

 

Second it states "Giving bills to friends, relatives and/or associates for the purpose of re-entry into the website violates the whole premise of Where's George?." This would appear to be exactly what is going on when someone places a bill into a geocache.

 

Finally it says "In general, the Where's George definition of natural and geographic circulation is spending your cash in the course of any normal transaction with any unknown person/entity."

 

I stand by my statement that it is wrong to use the serial without the bill in any situation.

 

I also stand by my belief that geocaching is not an appropriate way to circulate wheresgeorge bills.

 


 

I lurk in the Where's George forums and this very topic has been discussed a length.

 

It is okay to place WG bills in a cache as long as you do not do it with the intention of passing the bill along to friends or trying to control how or where it goes. The point to allow WG bills to "circulate" in caches are these; Money of all types is placed in caches already. You do not know if or when someone is going to take your bill. The person taking the bill is under no obligation to enter the bill. You do not know were the bill will go next (another cache or be spent).

 

Enter 5 bills at WG and place them in 5 different caches = Good

 

Enter 5 bills at WG and place all of them in the same cache with instruction to enter them at WG and then place them back in the cache = Bad

 

- Lone Rangers

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