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Useless Hints

GeoGeeBee

By GeoGeeBee
in General geocaching topics

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GeoGeeBee

+GeoGeeBee

Posted
Posted

Saturday I was traveling to a conference, and decided it would be a good opportunity to color in a couple of counties on my map. So I was looking for easy caches near the interstate.

 

I stopped for one located right off the Interstate, difficulty 1.5, terrain 2. I parked in a Wendy's parking lot near the coordinates, and my GPS was pointing into the street. So I decoded the hint.

 

It said "THINK DUH DUH DUH ITS NOT THAT HARD." Yes, all in caps. My first thought was a phrase that I cannot type in this family-friendly forum. My second thought was, "there's another film can a tenth of a mile from here, I think I'll go find that one."

 

If you're not going to put a useful hint, why not leave the field blank? Why would a CO choose to insult the person who is looking for his cache?

 

OK, rant over. Discuss.

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JL_HSTRE

+JL_HSTRE

Posted
Posted
If you're not going to put a useful hint, why not leave the field blank? Why would a CO choose to insult the person who is looking for his cache?

 

I definitely agree it's annoying. Especially if you're not on a smartphone and have to manually decrypt the hint, only to find out it's something useless or worse the hint is "You don't need a hint" or some variant thereof.

 

Occasionally I've see hints that seemed worthless but turned out to actually be meaningful. Recent one said "let your inner cacher guide you" and the container was inside something.

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JL_HSTRE

+JL_HSTRE

Posted
Posted

I've also noticed certain useful hints have also been made useless. The one that mostly comes to mind is some variant of "don't look down" or "don't look up". The problem being that I've seen that hint both used seriously and sarcastically so now when I see "don't look down" I don't know if the CO means "it's actually up high" or if they really meant "don't look down ;)".

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StarBrand

+StarBrand

Posted
Posted

I recall one hint, from a very experienced cacher/hider, at that, that actually said the cache was on the "left side" of a spruce tree. No... not north side or east side... left side. :lol: Seriously.

I've seen several simlar hints. Like "stay left of the rock" - or - "not right of the wooden post" - both placed in locations where there could be multiple approaches.

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Mr.Yuck

Mr.Yuck

Posted
Posted

Its been an issue as long as I have been around. As new cachers come into the activity, the problem grows.

 

Some odd compultion to put something, anything in that field despite the warning that any text should actually be helpful.

 

I didn't want to say it's getting worse with newbie placements, but I think you might be right.

 

And you're definitely right about people having a compulsion to put text in a field who's instructions say to leave it blank if you don't have one.

 

I do know one reviewer who appears to share this with me as his pet peeve, and actively "coaches" the CO's who have worthless hints at submittal. I sure wish all the reviewers did this. Not that I want to add "one more thing we have to look at" for them or anything. :lol:

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dakboy

+dakboy

Posted
Posted

My favorite is "Too easy for a hint". Hey knucklehead, if it was that easy I wouldn't be sitting here decrypting the hint.

How about "none" or "none needed".

 

Or even better, COs who post "hints will be posted after FTF/1 week/1 month/whatever time" or "anyone who DNFs will be provided a hint" and then, 3 years later, haven't updated the hint or don't email the seeker with the promised hint after posting a DNF. Bonus points if they put that into the encrypted hint itself.

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GeoGeeBee

+GeoGeeBee

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Yes, I will always agree on the annoyance factor of useless hints. I understand wanting to rant just to blow off steam with useless ones and zeros but were you REALLY THAT annoyed that you had to hold yourself back in family friendly forums?

 

Yes, at the time I decrypted the hint, I was actually annoyed enough that a word the FCC would describe as a "fleeting expletive" did escape my lips. Along with a suggestion that the CO should do something anatomically impossible. Then I went down the road and found a different cache.

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4wheelin_fool

4wheelin_fool

Posted
Posted

If you're not going to put a useful hint, why not leave the field blank? Why would a CO choose to insult the person who is looking for his cache?

 

 

Because the CO may be 14 years old and doesn't see it as an insult, or take the game too seriously. Although they could also be in their 20s and smoking the funny stuff and think it is humorous. They could also be in their 30s and have developmental issues, or be in their 40s and going through a mid-life crisis. It may be also someone in their 50s, and pretending to be someone else to hide their activities from their spouse. Or it could be someone in their 60s, in a misguided way trying to communicate with their geocaching grandchildren. Then there is the possibility of it being someone in their 70s who doesn't see it as an insult, or take the game too seriously, or they could be in their 80s and smoking the funny stuff and think it is humorous..

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wimseyguy

+wimseyguy

Posted
Posted

If you're not going to put a useful hint, why not leave the field blank? Why would a CO choose to insult the person who is looking for his cache?

 

 

Because the CO may be 14 years old and doesn't see it as an insult, or take the game too seriously. Although they could also be in their 20s and smoking the funny stuff and think it is humorous. They could also be in their 30s and have developmental issues, or be in their 40s and going through a mid-life crisis. It may be also someone in their 50s, and pretending to be someone else to hide their activities from their spouse. Or it could be someone in their 60s, in a misguided way trying to communicate with their geocaching grandchildren. Then there is the possibility of it being someone in their 70s who doesn't see it as an insult, or take the game too seriously, or they could be in their 80s and smoking the funny stuff and think it is humorous..

 

Now that there's funny, I don't care who you are. :lol:

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snapshot7

+snapshot7

Posted
Posted

If you're not going to put a useful hint, why not leave the field blank? Why would a CO choose to insult the person who is looking for his cache?

 

 

Because the CO may be 14 years old and doesn't see it as an insult, or take the game too seriously. Although they could also be in their 20s and smoking the funny stuff and think it is humorous. They could also be in their 30s and have developmental issues, or be in their 40s and going through a mid-life crisis. It may be also someone in their 50s, and pretending to be someone else to hide their activities from their spouse. Or it could be someone in their 60s, in a misguided way trying to communicate with their geocaching grandchildren. Then there is the possibility of it being someone in their 70s who doesn't see it as an insult, or take the game too seriously, or they could be in their 80s and smoking the funny stuff and think it is humorous..

 

Well done. :laughing:

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knowschad

knowschad

Posted
Posted

If you're not going to put a useful hint, why not leave the field blank? Why would a CO choose to insult the person who is looking for his cache?

 

 

Because the CO may be 14 years old and doesn't see it as an insult, or take the game too seriously. Although they could also be in their 20s and smoking the funny stuff and think it is humorous. They could also be in their 30s and have developmental issues, or be in their 40s and going through a mid-life crisis. It may be also someone in their 50s, and pretending to be someone else to hide their activities from their spouse. Or it could be someone in their 60s, in a misguided way trying to communicate with their geocaching grandchildren. Then there is the possibility of it being someone in their 70s who doesn't see it as an insult, or take the game too seriously, or they could be in their 80s and smoking the funny stuff and think it is humorous..

 

Have you been smoking the funny stuff? ;)

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MendoBowHunter

+MendoBowHunter

Posted
Posted

there is a cache in my area that is a 3 stage Multi-Cache it is a 3/3 getting to it involves a 1.5-2 mile hike and crossing a river. not only is there no hints but the cache description doesn't say anything about the cache. when you get to GZ for stage one there is a pile of baseball size rocks, after moving every single rock i ended up heading home cursing the CO all theway back to the car :angry:

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Walts Hunting

+Walts Hunting

Posted
Posted

My favorite is "Too easy for a hint". Hey knucklehead, if it was that easy I wouldn't be sitting here decrypting the hint.

[/url]

 

Or Knucklehead maybe you aren't as good as you think you are.

 

I for one have several hides where the hint is Come On It's an Ammo Can.

 

People need to keep their sense of humor.

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Ash McCloud

+Ash McCloud

Posted
Posted

No thtat it matters but I think any hide that the difficulty is 2 or less should get a viable hint. 2.5 and up should be whether cache placers wants to put the hint.

I personally hate the when dnf is posted I will give you a hint. That is great and all if I live within 10 minutes but for some that might be way to far. But I am not upset with that if it is a 2.5 or higher.

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knowschad

knowschad

Posted
Posted (edited)

My favorite is "Too easy for a hint". Hey knucklehead, if it was that easy I wouldn't be sitting here decrypting the hint.

[/url]

 

Or Knucklehead maybe you aren't as good as you think you are.

 

I for one have several hides where the hint is Come On It's an Ammo Can.

 

People need to keep their sense of humor.

The sense of humor can get lost when you're sitting in the middle of the woods, drenched in sweat, black flies and mosquitos biting you, and you are late for dinner, as you decode a "humorous" hint.

 

The cache submission form provides the following information about the hint:

 

Enter any hints or spoiler information above. This information will be encrypted on the site until a geocacher clicks on a link to unencrypt it, or decodes on the trail. Text within brackets [like this] will not be encrypted. Please keep your hints short, so decoding it on the trail is easier. If you don't have a hint, leave it blank.
Edited by knowschad
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GeoGeeBee

+GeoGeeBee

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I wonder how many people actually hand-decode the hint. I know of one, but not more.

 

I do. To be fair, I didn't in the case which inspired this thread, because I was right next to a highway and had my smartphone. But when I'm caching out in the woods, I print out the listings and bring them with me. If I decide I need the hint, I decode it by hand.

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Sol seaker

+Sol seaker

Posted
Posted

I live in the Pacific Northwest so the hints that really drive me nuts are the ones like, "by a tree", or "mossy log". Yeah? The forest is full of them, and you can't get good reception in the forest so you have to check every mossy log within 100 feet. There could be hundreds of them.

 

Sometimes "typical northwest hide" is sufficient for a hide. That generally means a tree stump. But once again, you can get deep into the woods where GPSr's just don't work well, and in some areas, you could be faced with 20 stumps. And they've listed it as a 1 difficulty!!! ARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!

There are times when I don't mind a needle in a haystack hide, but I want to at least get credit for it in the difficulty rating!!!

 

Here's one from last weekend:

"Face to the east(ish), and your rear to the west(ish). Just stand still and look to your right at 45 degrees, on the ground"

FROM WHERE?????

I did this from Ground zero and it had me on a wild goose chase. I found a better spot for the cache, but no cache. I finally read the logs and saw people putting it within ten feet of the trail, which was about 50 feet from GZ. Well they weren't too far off I guess. I've seen worse.

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knowschad

knowschad

Posted
Posted

Here's one from last weekend:

"Face to the east(ish), and your rear to the west(ish). Just stand still and look to your right at 45 degrees, on the ground"

:lol: First of all, if you are facing to the east(ish), I would assume that your rear is going to be facing to the west(is), but wouldn't all that have been a lot simpler to say, look to the north-east(ish)? Besides, as you say... from where?
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ngrrfan

+ngrrfan

Posted
Posted

Another good one is "no hint needed". That one is pretty lame.

You just don't know how to decode this. It really means....

 

"My hide is so pathetic that you are wasting your time looking for it and I'm helping you waste your time by writing a worthless hint which you think will help you. Now who is dumber? Me for this hide or you for wasting your time looking for it and thinking I'm nice enough to leave you a useful hint?"

 

Once I read a "no hint needed".... I quit looking and go find a better cache to find. :lol:

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roziecakes

+roziecakes

Posted
Posted

One of my (least) favorites is: 'terra gerr' when you're in the middle of a whole bunch of terra gerrs and it could be any one of six (or more) of them. I do admit I get irritated when people post "none (abar)" or "too easy" instead of just leaving it blank. It seems a little silly... not something I get my knickers in a twist over though, just mildly irritating.

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NicknPapa

+NicknPapa

Posted
Posted

Saturday I was traveling to a conference, and decided it would be a good opportunity to color in a couple of counties on my map. So I was looking for easy caches near the interstate.

 

I stopped for one located right off the Interstate, difficulty 1.5, terrain 2. I parked in a Wendy's parking lot near the coordinates, and my GPS was pointing into the street. So I decoded the hint.

 

It said "THINK DUH DUH DUH ITS NOT THAT HARD." Yes, all in caps. My first thought was a phrase that I cannot type in this family-friendly forum. My second thought was, "there's another film can a tenth of a mile from here, I think I'll go find that one."

 

If you're not going to put a useful hint, why not leave the field blank? Why would a CO choose to insult the person who is looking for his cache?

 

OK, rant over. Discuss.

 

If the hint is useless I agree that the field should be left blank. I'm just not sure this one is useless. I know just what I would be looking for after decoding it. Useless or not, there was no good reason to "shout", that drives me nuts. And makes my eyes hurt...

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The Jester

+The Jester

Posted
Posted

My two "favorite" useless hints are:

 

1. "Email me for a hint" - this was on a cache on an island that (at the time) had a $20 dollar ferry ride to get on it. I was wondering if he would email me the extra 20 to get back out there to find the cache.

 

2. When decrypted it was in Spanish (I think) - they are doing their best, but the USA isn't bilingual yet. This did predate smart phones. But then I don't use one, I have an older PDA (that has a an auto decoder function, but I still don't use it until I need the help).

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Dgwphotos

+Dgwphotos

Posted
Posted

I live in the Pacific Northwest so the hints that really drive me nuts are the ones like, "by a tree", or "mossy log". Yeah? The forest is full of them, and you can't get good reception in the forest so you have to check every mossy log within 100 feet. There could be hundreds of them.

 

Sometimes "typical northwest hide" is sufficient for a hide. That generally means a tree stump. But once again, you can get deep into the woods where GPSr's just don't work well, and in some areas, you could be faced with 20 stumps. And they've listed it as a 1 difficulty!!! ARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!

There are times when I don't mind a needle in a haystack hide, but I want to at least get credit for it in the difficulty rating!!!

 

Here's one from last weekend:

"Face to the east(ish), and your rear to the west(ish). Just stand still and look to your right at 45 degrees, on the ground"

FROM WHERE?????

I did this from Ground zero and it had me on a wild goose chase. I found a better spot for the cache, but no cache. I finally read the logs and saw people putting it within ten feet of the trail, which was about 50 feet from GZ. Well they weren't too far off I guess. I've seen worse.

 

Add "Under a fern" to that list! One million ferns within 100 feet!

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FunnyNose

+FunnyNose

Posted
Posted

Here is one of my favorite hints.

 

Ba gur ovt terra cbjre guvatvr. Trg vg? Terra Qrngu? Vg'f abg whfg nabgure Qbpgbe Jub ersrerapr, vg'f npghnyyl qrfpevcgvir! Jbj! Ohg, ernyyl, lbh'yy or svar. Whfg qba'g tb oernxvat gur ybpx naq bcravat vg. Naq qba'g obgure qrpbqvat guvf jubyr uvag. Ernyyl, ng guvf cbvag V'z whfg onooyvat naq vg'f ernyyl abg jbegu gur rssbeg. Hayrff lbh hfrq gur "Qrpelcg" ohggba ba gur jro fvgr. Va gung pnfr, gfx gfx gfx... vs lbh'er tbvat gb hfr n pyhr lbh zvtug nf jryy qb vg znahnyyl. Pbzr ba, jbex sbe vg n yvggyr ovg! :)

 

For those who don't want to manually decrypt

 

On the big green power thingie. Get it? Green Death? It's not just another Doctor Who reference, it's actually descriptive! Wow! But, really, you'll be fine. Just don't go breaking the lock and opening it. And don't bother decoding this whole hint. Really, at this point I'm just babbling and it's really not worth the effort. Unless you used the "Decrypt" button on the web site. In that case, tsk tsk tsk... if you're going to use a clue you might as well do it manually. Come on, work for it a little bit! :)

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wv-yen

+wv-yen

Posted
Posted

My thing is I hate DNFs.....not on ones I'm hunting, on my hides, I want them to be found. So, there's a 1/1 cache, everyone should be able to find it, no need for a hint. I'll put a spoiler hint in anyway. Why? 1/1 caches are statistically the most likely to be muggled. I'd rather provide a spoiler hint, then if I get a DNF I have a better idea that its really gone rather than someone just having an off day. Just my thing.

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niraD

+niraD

Posted
Posted (edited)
Unless you used the "Decrypt" button on the web site. In that case, tsk tsk tsk... if you're going to use a clue you might as well do it manually. Come on, work for it a little bit! :)
Someone appears to be unclear on the concept. The point of using rot13 isn't to make cache seekers "work for it a little bit" when they want to read the hint. The point of using rot13 is so others can easily avoid reading it until they decide to read it, and then easily decrypt it once they decide to read it. Edited by niraD
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The Jester

+The Jester

Posted
Posted

I too was going to ask who REALLY decrypts the hint in the field. Before I went electronic, my print outs had the hints decoded. But I suppose there are those that do.

Before I went electronic, I always hand decrypted the hints. I don't want to read the 'help' until I need/want it. This did lead to problems at times - such as the time I decrypted the wrong hint/cache. That sent me way off base...

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bflentje

+bflentje

Posted
Posted

I too was going to ask who REALLY decrypts the hint in the field. Before I went electronic, my print outs had the hints decoded. But I suppose there are those that do.

Before I went electronic, I always hand decrypted the hints. I don't want to read the 'help' until I need/want it. This did lead to problems at times - such as the time I decrypted the wrong hint/cache. That sent me way off base...

 

But did it ever send you over the edge to the point of where you started cursing four letter words? <_<

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