Cache Logs

[+beenhere]

In the past we have had lazy cachers that left a "." or TFTC as their message when logging. Now cache placers who have put in time and effort are getting cache logs with no message at all. This is an insult to cache owners. I feel a message, even short, should be required. Please go to this page and vote if you agree: http://feedback.geocaching.com/forums/75775-geocaching-com

Have Fun Caching

beenhere

[+CanadianRockies]

Personally, I'd prefer no comment at all rather than receive a forced comment. A voluntary log comment is more meaningful to me.

Edited March 20, 2011 by CanadianRockies

[+Rckhnd]

I've been to caches that I wish I wouldn't have wasted my time with. In this day of 'political correctness' it would be easier to say 'found it, thanks' than it would be to say 'What a dump, trash everywhere and a lousy duct tape job on your tupperware'.

 

I'm sure the majority of people put great pride in their caches and locations, but in my short tenure as a GC, I have already been unpleasantly surprised more than once. One cache I took a DNF without even bothering to look once I got there.

 

If your tired and it's been a busy day, don't want to start a flame war... TNLN TFTC

 

I've taken to writing notes just so I can remember conditions at caches and whether the log was wet, etc.,

 

[GOF and Bacall]

I always figured the best way to get better logs is to inspire better logs. But even the best caches are going to get the occasional minimalistic log. Not much you can, or should, do about it. I'd be willing to bet that if you required a minimum number of characters per log you'd see no better logs, just longer crap. "This log intended to fulfill the minimum logging requirements."

[+StarBrand]

Sadly, this is likely a lost cause. Back in January, Jeremy left a note in a similar feedback thread indicating that Groundspeak would not support via programming any kind of forced logging practices. Essentially that is tacitly supporting a totally blank log.

[+skullsoup432]

I feel your pain, and I don't even own any caches.

 

In my area we have a few newbies (heck, I'm still a newbie) travelling together. They rarely leave a compliment in the cache logs. I think the longest comment I have seen was something like "your coords were off, but we found the cache." The next log for this cache was by one of them, a simple "yeah."

They have visited some darn nice caches in nice areas, too. Just no respect.

 

I also have a feeling they were the ones who did donuts on a dirt road 20 feet from a cache, and drove on the wet, soft grass between the dugouts and concession area of a very nice, well maintained group of baseball diamonds. Just so they didn't have to walk 100 feet. Just no respect.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Two sides to this coin. Both sides have valid arguments.

 

skullsoup432 has it right -- no respect -- some people just don't have any, they never learned it! It's the others that keep the earth rotating on it's axis!

[+The VanDucks]

Yeah, I've seen a number of forum topics about the scarcity of good logs! I really haven't noticed much change in the quality of logs in the six years we've been caching.

 

We sometimes forget that not everyone is comfortable with writing anything! I worked with several young women (in their early '20's) at my last job, and I was amazed at their poor writing skills. One of them was actually taking classes towards her master's degree. Even though I live in an area with supposedly good schools, I don't think everyone learns how to write coherently or logically. Expecting every log to be a work of literature is useless. It's best to just enjoy the rare funny or clever logs that you do get!

[+StarBrand]

.... Expecting every log to be a work of literature is useless. It's best to just enjoy the rare funny or clever logs that you do get!

I don't have that as an "expectation". I don't think anybody does. But is too much to expect a basic "Thank You" and/or a basic description of the caches condition "cache is in good shape"???

 

I don't think you need any more than an elementary education to say that much. It is just basic manners.

[+Sol seaker]

I'm not sure how no log is an insult.

Except if you assume this means they didn't like the cache I guess.

 

I agree with someone earlier. If you place a great cache you'll get great notes.

If not notes, then you'll at least get favorite points now, so you'll know it was appreciated even if you don't get notes.

 

I've got one great cache and one decent cache.

I've gotten a lot better notes than I expected on the decent cache. Sometimes I get a "TFTC". That's okay. I really appreciate the good notes I've gotten on it.

 

The great cache I've gotten some favorite points on and a whole lot of people making nice short comments about it. I know it's made a lot of people smile by those short comments, and that's all I need. It's in a forested area, but not an area that creates adventure. I know the adventure caches get TONS of long comments, but I just don't expect that off of these.

 

I grabbed 8 caches the other day that made me wonder why I cache. The best of the 8 was in the back of a Walmart parking lot. They were that bad. If I had of left a lot of commentary it would have been, "Is this the best you could do?" or something like that to which they could have rightfully replied, "why did you seek it then?"

 

There's no need for bad comments, so I'm going to write something short.

Yet if someone writes something short, it doesn't mean they didn't like my cache, it might just mean they found 50 caches that day and couldn't write on each one. That's okay. Some people write that they enjoy my caches and that's enough for me.

[GOF and Bacall]

I grabbed 8 caches the other day that made me wonder why I cache. The best of the 8 was in the back of a Walmart parking lot. They were that bad.

 

Sounds like you need to refine your technique for sorting caches. I try to avoid those types. Mostly because I would rather spend my limited cache hunting time looking for caches that will inspire me to write more than a simple TFTC.

[+skullsoup432]

.... Expecting every log to be a work of literature is useless. It's best to just enjoy the rare funny or clever logs that you do get!

I don't have that as an "expectation". I don't think anybody does. But is too much to expect a basic "Thank You" and/or a basic description of the caches condition "cache is in good shape"???

 

I don't think you need any more than an elementary education to say that much. It is just basic manners.

 

 

I agree.

 

I am a hunt and peck typist. I have no idea where anything is on my keyboard, yet I still take the time to actually leave comments. I understand not every cache is worth a glowing review, yet I at least give thanks. Even praise when I really liked the thought and effort that went into a cache.

 

What really sucks about being a hunt and peckist (sounds better than a 'hunt n pecker', I guess), is that my brain is way ahead of my hands. What seems to me to be a well thought out comment or post turns out to be a clunky, disconnected pile of crap.

 

Like this one. Prolly took me 5 minutes to 'perfect' it, too. Jeez.

[+hukilaulau]

I've been to caches that I wish I wouldn't have wasted my time with.

 

Me too. I didn't log them as finds.

[+simpjkee]

I used to feel slighted by logs with nothing or very little written in them. Now though I just appreciate the writing I get and appreciate that even a log with nothing in it is still notifying you and recording in the caches history that someone found it that day. I mean how would you like it if they left no log at all? I suppose you'd all be blissfully ignorant of a visit to your cache. Of course they want to log it though and get their smiley. Let'em have it, ok?

[+tozainamboku]

The online log serves several purposes. Depending on what purpose you feel is most important you will feel differently about blank logs.

 

1) Online logs are for sharing your experience finding the cache.

2) Online logs are for thanking the cache owner for the cache.

3) Online logs are for keeping track of the caches you have found.

4) Online logs are for keeping score

Edited March 20, 2011 by tozainamboku

[+Vodor and Scorsby]

We had a couple of these recently. We just emailed the cachers and explained that 1) We dont know, without a comment, if they are actually logging a find, or if they just pressed a button on their GPS by mistake. So unless a comment is added we will have to remove their log as it MAY not be a genuine find. 2) One of the only reasons we put so much time and effort into constructing and putting our caches out is to read the comments of cachers when they find the cache.

 

Both times the cachers emailed back to appologise and changed their logs. Since then they are now writing logs for everyone.

 

It was brought up at a regional event we visited a little while ago and most of the cachers round here are deleting logs that are either blank or just have a dot as they are not actually "making any entry in the log" so are not necesarily logging a find. If they leave TFTC at least they are registering a find, although it is frowned on by lots of cachers and they usually start writing logs when they have been around a bit.

 

Still thats in the UK so it may differ slightly in other countries.

[+simpjkee]

We had a couple of these recently. We just emailed the cachers and explained that 1) We dont know, without a comment, if they are actually logging a find, or if they just pressed a button on their GPS by mistake. So unless a comment is added we will have to remove their log as it MAY not be a genuine find. 2) One of the only reasons we put so much time and effort into constructing and putting our caches out is to read the comments of cachers when they find the cache.

 

Both times the cachers emailed back to appologise and changed their logs. Since then they are now writing logs for everyone.

 

It was brought up at a regional event we visited a little while ago and most of the cachers round here are deleting logs that are either blank or just have a dot as they are not actually "making any entry in the log" so are not necesarily logging a find. If they leave TFTC at least they are registering a find, although it is frowned on by lots of cachers and they usually start writing logs when they have been around a bit.

 

Still thats in the UK so it may differ slightly in other countries.

Seems to me that by clicking "Found it" on the log type drop down bar they are declaring the log a find. They don't need to write it again in the text box.

 

I don't think thats fair to delete logs with no writing just because they may not be a find. I think the loggers deserve the benefit of the doubt and the log should stand unless you have sufficient evidence to delete it....such as no log in the physical logbook.

[+E = Mc2]

I've been to caches that I wish I wouldn't have wasted my time with.

 

Me too. I didn't log them as finds.

 

I go ahead and log them as finds.

 

"Thanks for bringing me to your special place", for instance, on the cache beside a dumpster behind the local movie theatre.

 

"What a truly interesting lamp post" - Walgreen's parking lot.

 

"Nice parking lot" - Wal-Mart parking lot. (Kudos to Seamus for that one)

 

"What lovely views and aromas! I spotted the rare Rattus Norvegicus at this location" - Next to the dumpster behind a fast food joint

 

 

Edit: Did I really put an apostrophe in kudos?

Edited March 20, 2011 by E = Mc2

[+Vodor and Scorsby]

We had a couple of these recently. We just emailed the cachers and explained that 1) We dont know, without a comment, if they are actually logging a find, or if they just pressed a button on their GPS by mistake. So unless a comment is added we will have to remove their log as it MAY not be a genuine find. 2) One of the only reasons we put so much time and effort into constructing and putting our caches out is to read the comments of cachers when they find the cache.

 

Both times the cachers emailed back to appologise and changed their logs. Since then they are now writing logs for everyone.

 

It was brought up at a regional event we visited a little while ago and most of the cachers round here are deleting logs that are either blank or just have a dot as they are not actually "making any entry in the log" so are not necesarily logging a find. If they leave TFTC at least they are registering a find, although it is frowned on by lots of cachers and they usually start writing logs when they have been around a bit.

 

Still thats in the UK so it may differ slightly in other countries.

Seems to me that by clicking "Found it" on the log type drop down bar they are declaring the log a find. They don't need to write it again in the text box.

 

I don't think thats fair to delete logs with no writing just because they may not be a find. I think the loggers deserve the benefit of the doubt and the log should stand unless you have sufficient evidence to delete it....such as no log in the physical logbook.

 

The people who dont create logs are usually logging in the field. There is all it takes is a press of the button by mistake, Ive done it a couple of times myself, one person today accidently logged one of our caches twice on two different days and missed out on logging the correct cache they were going for. It was only what they wrote in the log that made me realise which cache they were actually logging. After emailing them they were greatful as it they wouldnt have logged the find.

 

I wouldnt delete a persons log without emailing them first.

Edited March 20, 2011 by Vodor and Scorsby

[+lamoracke]

whats the difference really between a "." or a space bar really? In my personal experience its often just people who are showing they do not like you and want to highlight to the world they do not like you by leaving a blank, like you are not even worth the effort to say a word or anything at all. I would rather have TFTC so it does not stand out, but we cant enforce kindness.

 

Am sure there are folks who equate TFTC and ".", but up here, the blank logs are done by the people who seem to enjoy to showcase who they dislike.

[+simpjkee]

whats the difference really between a "." or a space bar really? In my personal experience its often just people who are showing they do not like you and want to highlight to the world they do not like you by leaving a blank, like you are not even worth the effort to say a word or anything at all. I would rather have TFTC so it does not stand out, but we cant enforce kindness.

 

Am sure there are folks who equate TFTC and ".", but up here, the blank logs are done by the people who seem to enjoy to showcase who they dislike.

 

'If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all', right?

[+Don_J]

Sadly, this is likely a lost cause. Back in January, Jeremy left a note in a similar feedback thread indicating that Groundspeak would not support via programming any kind of forced logging practices. Essentially that is tacitly supporting a totally blank log.

 

Additionally, he said the blank logging ability would be added to the website. (Currently it can only be done from the phone apps.)

[+Don_J]

I agree.

 

I am a hunt and peck typist. I have no idea where anything is on my keyboard, yet I still take the time to actually leave comments. I understand not every cache is worth a glowing review, yet I at least give thanks. Even praise when I really liked the thought and effort that went into a cache.

 

What really sucks about being a hunt and peckist (sounds better than a 'hunt n pecker', I guess), is that my brain is way ahead of my hands. What seems to me to be a well thought out comment or post turns out to be a clunky, disconnected pile of crap.

 

Like this one. Prolly took me 5 minutes to 'perfect' it, too. Jeez.

 

Keep at it. Eventually you'll figure out what key is what and probably become a two finger and one thumb typist, like me.

[+Vodor and Scorsby]

I agree.

 

I am a hunt and peck typist. I have no idea where anything is on my keyboard, yet I still take the time to actually leave comments. I understand not every cache is worth a glowing review, yet I at least give thanks. Even praise when I really liked the thought and effort that went into a cache.

 

What really sucks about being a hunt and peckist (sounds better than a 'hunt n pecker', I guess), is that my brain is way ahead of my hands. What seems to me to be a well thought out comment or post turns out to be a clunky, disconnected pile of crap.

 

Like this one. Prolly took me 5 minutes to 'perfect' it, too. Jeez.

 

Keep at it. Eventually you'll figure out what key is what and probably become a two finger and one thumb typist, like me.

 

I prefer to just jab at the keyboard till the right letter comes up. I can touch type, I only know where the backspace key is but hey it makes all the other mistakes easy to correct.

[+Don_J]

We had a couple of these recently. We just emailed the cachers and explained that 1) We dont know, without a comment, if they are actually logging a find, or if they just pressed a button on their GPS by mistake. So unless a comment is added we will have to remove their log as it MAY not be a genuine find. 2) One of the only reasons we put so much time and effort into constructing and putting our caches out is to read the comments of cachers when they find the cache.

 

Both times the cachers emailed back to appologise and changed their logs. Since then they are now writing logs for everyone.

 

It was brought up at a regional event we visited a little while ago and most of the cachers round here are deleting logs that are either blank or just have a dot as they are not actually "making any entry in the log" so are not necesarily logging a find. If they leave TFTC at least they are registering a find, although it is frowned on by lots of cachers and they usually start writing logs when they have been around a bit.

 

Still thats in the UK so it may differ slightly in other countries.

 

It's great that you have taught two cachers a bit of caching etiquette, and they responded well to it.

 

Of course you realize that if you were to actually delete one of the logs and they appealed to Groundspeak, the log would probably be reinstated and locked. For reasons beyond my understanding, the CEO is in favor of blank logging.

 

Edit: Spelling

Edited March 21, 2011 by Don_J

[+Don_J]

The online log serves several purposes. Depending on what purpose you feel is most important you will feel differently about blank logs.

 

1) Online logs are for sharing your experience finding the cache.

2) Online logs are for thanking the cache owner for the cache.

3) Online logs are for keeping track of the caches you have found.

4) Online logs are for keeping score

 

You left one out.

 

5) Online logs are for reporting the status of the cache.

[+Vodor and Scorsby]

We had a couple of these recently. We just emailed the cachers and explained that 1) We dont know, without a comment, if they are actually logging a find, or if they just pressed a button on their GPS by mistake. So unless a comment is added we will have to remove their log as it MAY not be a genuine find. 2) One of the only reasons we put so much time and effort into constructing and putting our caches out is to read the comments of cachers when they find the cache.

 

Both times the cachers emailed back to appologise and changed their logs. Since then they are now writing logs for everyone.

 

It was brought up at a regional event we visited a little while ago and most of the cachers round here are deleting logs that are either blank or just have a dot as they are not actually "making any entry in the log" so are not necesarily logging a find. If they leave TFTC at least they are registering a find, although it is frowned on by lots of cachers and they usually start writing logs when they have been around a bit.

 

Still thats in the UK so it may differ slightly in other countries.

 

It's great that you have taught two cachers a bit of caching etiquette, and they respoded well to it.

 

Of course you realize that if you were to actually delete one of the logs and they appealed to Groundspeak, the log would probably be reinstated and locked. For reasons beyond my understanding, the CEO is in favor of blank logging.

 

Given the time it takes to construct the caches we put out, the last was just over 3 months to get it working correctly, I can honestly say I would archive all our caches and not put out any more if it became the norm to blank log all caches. Whats the point if you cant read the nice comments?????

[+simpjkee]

We had a couple of these recently. We just emailed the cachers and explained that 1) We dont know, without a comment, if they are actually logging a find, or if they just pressed a button on their GPS by mistake. So unless a comment is added we will have to remove their log as it MAY not be a genuine find. 2) One of the only reasons we put so much time and effort into constructing and putting our caches out is to read the comments of cachers when they find the cache.

 

Both times the cachers emailed back to appologise and changed their logs. Since then they are now writing logs for everyone.

 

It was brought up at a regional event we visited a little while ago and most of the cachers round here are deleting logs that are either blank or just have a dot as they are not actually "making any entry in the log" so are not necesarily logging a find. If they leave TFTC at least they are registering a find, although it is frowned on by lots of cachers and they usually start writing logs when they have been around a bit.

 

Still thats in the UK so it may differ slightly in other countries.

 

It's great that you have taught two cachers a bit of caching etiquette, and they respoded well to it.

 

Of course you realize that if you were to actually delete one of the logs and they appealed to Groundspeak, the log would probably be reinstated and locked. For reasons beyond my understanding, the CEO is in favor of blank logging.

 

Of course valid find logs that are deleted should be reinstated and locked. I think the CEO is in favor of logging and that is a good thing regardless of the text box being empty.

[+Don_J]

We had a couple of these recently. We just emailed the cachers and explained that 1) We dont know, without a comment, if they are actually logging a find, or if they just pressed a button on their GPS by mistake. So unless a comment is added we will have to remove their log as it MAY not be a genuine find. 2) One of the only reasons we put so much time and effort into constructing and putting our caches out is to read the comments of cachers when they find the cache.

 

Both times the cachers emailed back to appologise and changed their logs. Since then they are now writing logs for everyone.

 

It was brought up at a regional event we visited a little while ago and most of the cachers round here are deleting logs that are either blank or just have a dot as they are not actually "making any entry in the log" so are not necesarily logging a find. If they leave TFTC at least they are registering a find, although it is frowned on by lots of cachers and they usually start writing logs when they have been around a bit.

 

Still thats in the UK so it may differ slightly in other countries.

 

It's great that you have taught two cachers a bit of caching etiquette, and they respoded well to it.

 

Of course you realize that if you were to actually delete one of the logs and they appealed to Groundspeak, the log would probably be reinstated and locked. For reasons beyond my understanding, the CEO is in favor of blank logging.

 

Given the time it takes to construct the caches we put out, the last was just over 3 months to get it working correctly, I can honestly say I would archive all our caches and not put out any more if it became the norm to blank log all caches. Whats the point if you cant read the nice comments?????

 

I don't think that it would become the norm. It would probably be done by young, new cachers, and they would either catch on to local trends, or drop out of the game, as many new cachers do.

 

I think it would be an over reaction and a shame if you, or anyone else archived their caches because of some fringe logging styles. You would deprive the ones that care from finding quality caches.

[+Vodor and Scorsby]

We had a couple of these recently. We just emailed the cachers and explained that 1) We dont know, without a comment, if they are actually logging a find, or if they just pressed a button on their GPS by mistake. So unless a comment is added we will have to remove their log as it MAY not be a genuine find. 2) One of the only reasons we put so much time and effort into constructing and putting our caches out is to read the comments of cachers when they find the cache.

 

Both times the cachers emailed back to appologise and changed their logs. Since then they are now writing logs for everyone.

 

It was brought up at a regional event we visited a little while ago and most of the cachers round here are deleting logs that are either blank or just have a dot as they are not actually "making any entry in the log" so are not necesarily logging a find. If they leave TFTC at least they are registering a find, although it is frowned on by lots of cachers and they usually start writing logs when they have been around a bit.

 

Still thats in the UK so it may differ slightly in other countries.

 

It's great that you have taught two cachers a bit of caching etiquette, and they respoded well to it.

 

Of course you realize that if you were to actually delete one of the logs and they appealed to Groundspeak, the log would probably be reinstated and locked. For reasons beyond my understanding, the CEO is in favor of blank logging.

 

Given the time it takes to construct the caches we put out, the last was just over 3 months to get it working correctly, I can honestly say I would archive all our caches and not put out any more if it became the norm to blank log all caches. Whats the point if you cant read the nice comments?????

 

I don't think that it would become the norm. It would probably be done by young, new cachers, and they would either catch on to local trends, or drop out of the game, as many new cachers do.

 

I think it would be an over reaction and a shame if you, or anyone else archived their caches because of some fringe logging styles. You would deprive the ones that care from finding quality caches.

 

Dont get me wrong its not much of a problem at the moment. But you know how these things go downhill.

[+CanadianRockies]

Given the time it takes to construct the caches we put out, the last was just over 3 months to get it working correctly, I can honestly say I would archive all our caches and not put out any more if it became the norm to blank log all caches. Whats the point if you cant read the nice comments?????

I place my caches in hopes that others will enjoy finding them, as I enjoy finding theirs. If some of them leave nice comments, that's icing on the cake for me.

[+StarBrand]

Given the time it takes to construct the caches we put out, the last was just over 3 months to get it working correctly, I can honestly say I would archive all our caches and not put out any more if it became the norm to blank log all caches. Whats the point if you cant read the nice comments?????

I place my caches in hopes that others will enjoy finding them, as I enjoy finding theirs. If some of them leave nice comments, that's icing on the cake for me.

One of the things that strongly attracted me to Geocaching in the first place was the strong sense of community. The idea of perfect strangers from all over sharing a brief moment of thier life with future visitors at the special place that an owner had pciked out to share with them.

 

Take away the logs and it really impacts that sense. How can I even know if they enjoyed or really even located my special location(s)??

[+Vodor and Scorsby]

I place my caches in hopes that others will enjoy finding them, as I enjoy finding theirs. If some of them leave nice comments, that's icing on the cake for me.

 

I agree. But, how do you know they enjoy finding them if they dont bother to leave any comments at all? How do other people know its a cache worth finding without any written logs? Like I said its not that bad at the moment, but it might get alot worse.......

[+CanadianRockies]

Given the time it takes to construct the caches we put out, the last was just over 3 months to get it working correctly, I can honestly say I would archive all our caches and not put out any more if it became the norm to blank log all caches. Whats the point if you cant read the nice comments?????

I place my caches in hopes that others will enjoy finding them, as I enjoy finding theirs. If some of them leave nice comments, that's icing on the cake for me.

One of the things that strongly attracted me to Geocaching in the first place was the strong sense of community. The idea of perfect strangers from all over sharing a brief moment of thier life with future visitors at the special place that an owner had pciked out to share with them.

 

Take away the logs and it really impacts that sense. How can I even know if they enjoyed or really even located my special location(s)??

I don't think anybody is suggesting that logs should be taken away. I certainly am not.

 

How do you know if a person really enjoyed your cache if they leave a "TFTC" simply because social convention dictates this? If they have the option to leave some kind words, then these words mean more to me. I'm not saying I don't appreciate words of thanks -- just that I appreciate them more when they are voluntary offered.

[+simpjkee]

I place my caches in hopes that others will enjoy finding them, as I enjoy finding theirs. If some of them leave nice comments, that's icing on the cake for me.

 

I agree. But, how do you know they enjoy finding them if they dont bother to leave any comments at all? How do other people know its a cache worth finding without any written logs? Like I said its not that bad at the moment, but it might get alot worse.......

 

Just because someone said in the log that they liked the cache, how do you know they are telling the truth and not just telling you what they think you want to hear because they really thought your cache stunk? How do you know they aren't just writing nonsense because they've been guilted in to thinking that not writing anything in the log is rude?

 

You could tell a cache is worth finding by looking at pictures, looking at favorites points, reading the cache description, analyzing the maps, checking out the attributes, e-mailing a previous finder for comments or whatever on their trip to the cache, etc, etc, etc.

[+simpjkee]

Given the time it takes to construct the caches we put out, the last was just over 3 months to get it working correctly, I can honestly say I would archive all our caches and not put out any more if it became the norm to blank log all caches. Whats the point if you cant read the nice comments?????

I place my caches in hopes that others will enjoy finding them, as I enjoy finding theirs. If some of them leave nice comments, that's icing on the cake for me.

One of the things that strongly attracted me to Geocaching in the first place was the strong sense of community. The idea of perfect strangers from all over sharing a brief moment of thier life with future visitors at the special place that an owner had pciked out to share with them.

 

Take away the logs and it really impacts that sense. How can I even know if they enjoyed or really even located my special location(s)??

 

You can tell if they located it by seeing if their sig is on the logsheet. You'll never know wether they enjoyed it or not unless you read their minds, but you could ask them. I imagine that some people would rather share their feelings with the cache owner in a private e-mail than publicly on the cache page.

[+CanadianRockies]

I place my caches in hopes that others will enjoy finding them, as I enjoy finding theirs. If some of them leave nice comments, that's icing on the cake for me.

I agree. But, how do you know they enjoy finding them if they dont bother to leave any comments at all? How do other people know it's a cache worth finding without any written logs?

You'll know some people are enjoying your caches if some people leave favorable comments and award Favorite Points.

 

Like I said its not that bad at the moment, but it might get alot worse.......

There are lots of things that could get worse in the future. At this point, I'm not too concerned about blank logs.

[+Chokecherry]

I have to admit that there are some caches that I really did not enjoy by any stretch of the imagination. I logged the find and essentially lied about enjoying the cache only because I didn't want to start some mud flinging war that we see happen here in the forums. Sometimes I'm even hesitant to log a NM on caches that are hot mess because of how butt hurt people get if you say what's really going on.

 

So that being said, even a good comment should be taken with a grain of salt sometimes. Sometimes I even go and check to see if the people left the same cut and past comments on other caches before giving any weight to their comments.

[+M 5]

Bad decision that sets a bad precedent.

[+Don_J]

Given the time it takes to construct the caches we put out, the last was just over 3 months to get it working correctly, I can honestly say I would archive all our caches and not put out any more if it became the norm to blank log all caches. Whats the point if you cant read the nice comments?????

I place my caches in hopes that others will enjoy finding them, as I enjoy finding theirs. If some of them leave nice comments, that's icing on the cake for me.

One of the things that strongly attracted me to Geocaching in the first place was the strong sense of community. The idea of perfect strangers from all over sharing a brief moment of thier life with future visitors at the special place that an owner had pciked out to share with them.

 

Take away the logs and it really impacts that sense. How can I even know if they enjoyed or really even located my special location(s)??

 

I agree. I have always been extremely shy. When I went to my first event, I felt that I knew almost every one there, because of reading their logs, and their cache listings. I felt that I fit in and I felt that I was better enabled to interact with the others.

 

I would hate to see blank logs become the norm. I have built up my base of friends, and these are true friends, not just geo friends, but I feel that newcomers would lose an aspect of geocaching that has been very important in my life.

[+Don_J]

I have to admit that there are some caches that I really did not enjoy by any stretch of the imagination. I logged the find and essentially lied about enjoying the cache only because I didn't want to start some mud flinging war that we see happen here in the forums. Sometimes I'm even hesitant to log a NM on caches that are hot mess because of how butt hurt people get if you say what's really going on.

 

So that being said, even a good comment should be taken with a grain of salt sometimes. Sometimes I even go and check to see if the people left the same cut and past comments on other caches before giving any weight to their comments.

 

I'm usually pretty honest.

 

On one cache I logged: "Absolutely brilliant! I can't say more without spoiling it". On another cache by the same owner, I logged a note: "Didn't even get out of the car. Too much trash".

[+Don_J]

Bad decision that sets a bad precedent.

 

It would be helpful if we knew what bad decision you were referring to.

[+Polgara]

Typing up a great log takes effort, no one puts effort out anymore, they don't have to. They log their find and are done with it, its sad, but no one cares, its complacent, its accepted, its the way its done, blah blah blah, excuse after excuse, on and on and so you have a log book full of acronyms instead of tales and stories. When I went caching with fellow cachers, there were times we wanted to read the logs in the cache, because we wanted to see how others crossed a certain obstacle, or if others took the same route, did they see that snake at the tree with the bear markings, did they take a wrong turn at the rock formation, was the creek water high, etc. One of the best loggers ever was geocacher Oregone, you haven't read a log until you've read one of his. Some of my caches I get the letters, but some of them I still get great logs from cachers, and I'm glad for it. Its a simple pleasure when you build a great cache, and someone writes a really nice log about it.

 

Sometimes I think the change in logging is due to the change in caches. When I first started, caching required long hikes, you wanted to sit in the woods, and enjoy the view, and write about your experience, actually you wanted to sit at the final location because you were dam tired, and wished to god an eagle would fly by and drop off a nice cheeseburger and a beer before you began your descent back to the vehicle. Today, everyone is too busy trying to be igcognito, so they write a bunch of silly letters like it means something, and the cheeseburger, well just look up, cause you're probably standing right next to the drive thru. Just sayin.

[+tozainamboku]

Bad decision that sets a bad precedent.

While I don't agree with the decision (I think cachers should share their experience if they can without spoilers, and I think it is just polite to thank cache owners), TPTB made the decision to emphasize that cache owners don't have any control over what people put in the online logs. Some people use the online logging system simply to keep track of what caches they have found, and while most cachers enjoy it more when people use the online log to share, there is no requirement that you do so.

 

I also believe that the decision also has something to do with the implementation of the API that is yet to be released. I believe that in order to keep it simple, it was decided not to return an error if the text of a log was empty. I'm sure one could come up with reasons why taking this shortcut is shortsighted (for example - if someone used the API to post a Needs Archive without any text, how should reviewers react?). However given that the API will be use by mobile apps that may want to log asynchronously, perhaps even when the user interface is not active, accepting blank logs may be the better choice than rejecting them with no way to inform the user.

[+M 5]

Bad decision that sets a bad precedent.

 

It would be helpful if we knew what bad decision you were referring to.

 

The thread topic. Groundspeak not requiring data input. Of course people can just put a . or anything, but it sets a bad example from the top down.

[+Rckhnd]

I go ahead and log them as finds.

 

"Thanks for bringing me to your special place", for instance, on the cache beside a dumpster behind the local movie theatre.

 

"What a truly interesting lamp post" - Walgreen's parking lot.

 

"Nice parking lot" - Wal-Mart parking lot. (Kudos to Seamus for that one)

 

"What lovely views and aromas! I spotted the rare Rattus Norvegicus at this location" - Next to the dumpster behind a fast food joint

 

 

Edit: Did I really put an apostrophe in kudos?

 

BWAAHAHAhahahaaaaa!!!!!! .....interesting lamp post!!

[+ZigZagMI]

.

Edited March 21, 2011 by ZigZagMI

[AZcachemeister]

The last time I checked, this was an option only reserved for users of the 'gack'Phone app.

Just try posting a textless log by any other means and you will be denied.

While I do not support textless logs, allowing them for only a certain segment of the 'population' is just wrong.

 

TPTB BORKED the app, and they don't know how to fix it...so they say textless logs are OK.

 

If textless logs are now allowed via other means, then I stand corrected, and the situation has gone completely down the dumper.

[+nittanycopa]

"Ahh yes, what a dear lamp post this is!"

 

I'm logging the next one as this. I'm about 95% positive the local CO's that hide multiple LPCs and super-easy finds are doing it to help others with numbers and 365 caching day challenges.

 

Do they seriously expect me to write more than a "Quick C&D after groceries. SL. TFTC." on what is a simple number booster?

 

Because that's about all I'd expect to hear on my easy hides. I didn't place them there to get great works of literature in return.

 

I think it's just generally known that verbiose (one or more paragraphs) are reserved for the truly SPECIAL caches. YMMV.

[+StarBrand]

Bad decision that sets a bad precedent.

While I don't agree with the decision (I think cachers should share their experience if they can without spoilers, and I think it is just polite to thank cache owners), TPTB made the decision to emphasize that cache owners don't have any control over what people put in the online logs.

...

Really - you were there during the discussion??!!?? They actually discussed cache owners in the context of "control" issues??