Let me vent

[+gururyan]

I just need to vent, hear me out. I had to run an errand to an area I never visit. I had about 3 hours to kill so I figured I would rack up some smilies. Well, I got 2 out of 16. No, I'm sure they are there, but c'mon people...can you think of maybe a little better place to hide these?!? I'm not a numbers cacher, so typically I ignore 1/1 or 1.5/1.5 micros. But these locations were just ridiculous. For example, 10 ft. from the speaker/microphone at a fast food drive-thru that is open from 7am-2am? Or a micro somewhere in the bushes by a bank's back door with all the office windows facing you? Or a micro next to daycare center's playground?! C'mon people, can you pick more suspicious areas or higher muggle zones?! Do you want people to call the cops on me? Do you want geocaching to get a bad wrap? Can we please use more common sense when placing a cache?

 

[/rant]

[knowschad]

I just need to vent, hear me out. I had to run an errand to an area I never visit. I had about 3 hours to kill so I figured I would rack up some smilies. Well, I got 2 out of 16. No, I'm sure they are there, but c'mon people...can you think of maybe a little better place to hide these?!? I'm not a numbers cacher, so typically I ignore 1/1 or 1.5/1.5 micros. But these locations were just ridiculous. For example, 10 ft. from the speaker/microphone at a fast food drive-thru that is open from 7am-2am? Or a micro somewhere in the bushes by a bank's back door with all the office windows facing you? Or a micro next to daycare center's playground?! C'mon people, can you pick more suspicious areas or higher muggle zones?! Do you want people to call the cops on me? Do you want geocaching to get a bad wrap? Can we please use more common sense when placing a cache?

 

[/rant]

That is one rant that I can agree to!

[+larryc43230]

That is one rant that I can agree to!

+1

 

I have lots and lots of those types of caches on my Ignore List.

 

--Larry

[+humboldt flier]

A big 10 - 4 to that.

[Mr.Yuck]

I just need to vent, hear me out. I had to run an errand to an area I never visit. I had about 3 hours to kill so I figured I would rack up some smilies. Well, I got 2 out of 16. No, I'm sure they are there, but c'mon people...can you think of maybe a little better place to hide these?!? I'm not a numbers cacher, so typically I ignore 1/1 or 1.5/1.5 micros. But these locations were just ridiculous. For example, 10 ft. from the speaker/microphone at a fast food drive-thru that is open from 7am-2am? Or a micro somewhere in the bushes by a bank's back door with all the office windows facing you? Or a micro next to daycare center's playground?! C'mon people, can you pick more suspicious areas or higher muggle zones?! Do you want people to call the cops on me? Do you want geocaching to get a bad wrap? Can we please use more common sense when placing a cache?

 

[/rant]

 

I like your rant and agree with it. However, I think this might go downhill. Locally, I study caches on a one-by-one basis as they are published, and would have ignored everything you mention. When out of town, I do the same, I study the caches in the area, and pick which ones I want to go for. I know you say you were going to an area you rarely go to, and probably didn't have time for this method.

[+jmw61]

Good rant. Hammer meet nail...

[sabrefan7]

STEALTH is FUN! How about one hidden were the CO tells you that the Casino security and cameras will be watching you! yep,,, it has 57 :-) and 19 :-(

and is ignored by this Hockey Fan

[knowschad]

I like your rant and agree with it. However, I think this might go downhill. Locally, I study caches on a one-by-one basis as they are published, and would have ignored everything you mention. When out of town, I do the same, I study the caches in the area, and pick which ones I want to go for. I know you say you were going to an area you rarely go to, and probably didn't have time for this method.

Well, I wasn't gonna say it, but it did occur to me...

 

so I figured I would rack up some smilies.

there was your first mistake.

[GOF and Bacall]

I'm on board. In a location based game we seem to pick some lousy ones.

[+larryc43230]

I like your rant and agree with it. However, I think this might go downhill. Locally, I study caches on a one-by-one basis as they are published, and would have ignored everything you mention. When out of town, I do the same, I study the caches in the area, and pick which ones I want to go for. I know you say you were going to an area you rarely go to, and probably didn't have time for this method.

When I'm on the road and looking for targets of opportunity (as opposed to my usual practice of planning which caches to look for in advance), I tend to restrict my hunts to caches larger than micros whenever possible. It's not completely foolproof, but it does lessen the chances of my winding up at a spot like the high-stealth locations mentioned in the original post. I guess I have no problem with those who like that sort of challenge, but that's not what I'm in the game for.

 

--Larry

[mresoteric]

Hasn't been a problem for me yet. The caches I've looked for have been fun even when I didn't find them.

[+larryc43230]

Hasn't been a problem for me yet. The caches I've looked for have been fun even when I didn't find them.

+1

 

However, finding vs. not finding a cache isn't the issue here, it's the question of whether one enjoys looking for caches in the sorts of places the OP describes. I'll bypass those caches in a heartbeat. As always, YMMV.

 

--Larry

[knowschad]

Hasn't been a problem for me yet. The caches I've looked for have been fun even when I didn't find them.

I love every day that I'm alive (well, there have been a few notable exceptions) but that doesn't mean I can't gripe about the weather.

[mresoteric]

Hasn't been a problem for me yet. The caches I've looked for have been fun even when I didn't find them.

I love every day that I'm alive (well, there have been a few notable exceptions) but that doesn't mean I can't gripe about the weather.

 

But where you can't control the weather, you can choose where you cache.

[+shadowmib]

I just need to vent, hear me out. I had to run an errand to an area I never visit. I had about 3 hours to kill so I figured I would rack up some smilies. Well, I got 2 out of 16. No, I'm sure they are there, but c'mon people...can you think of maybe a little better place to hide these?!? I'm not a numbers cacher, so typically I ignore 1/1 or 1.5/1.5 micros. But these locations were just ridiculous. For example, 10 ft. from the speaker/microphone at a fast food drive-thru that is open from 7am-2am? Or a micro somewhere in the bushes by a bank's back door with all the office windows facing you? Or a micro next to daycare center's playground?! C'mon people, can you pick more suspicious areas or higher muggle zones?! Do you want people to call the cops on me? Do you want geocaching to get a bad wrap? Can we please use more common sense when placing a cache?

 

[/rant]

 

I give you 100 internets for that one. I would have twice as many finds as i have now, because I don't want to dig in the bushes at the burger kind in front of the drive up window, or get the LPC out of the middle of the parking lot at the chinese market with the securty guard sitting there staring at me.

[+G & C]

Yea... not a fan of risking being arrested, or really even questioned by the police or any kind of security over a geocache.

 

I say rant on.

[+simpjkee]

For me, this is the #1 reason I don't urban cache much at all anymore. I've found too many caches like this and I just have no interest in doing them anymore. Unfortunately, I haven't quite figured out a good system for me to find those urban cache gems so they get lost amongst the riff raff.

[+larryc43230]

For me, this is the #1 reason I don't urban cache much at all anymore. I've found too many caches like this and I just have no interest in doing them anymore. Unfortunately, I haven't quite figured out a good system for me to find those urban cache gems so they get lost amongst the riff raff.

If you ever find a foolproof method, could you let me be the first to know? I'd pay good money for that!

 

--Larry

[+geodarts]

Yes. But all those caches that are mentioned must have inspired someone to place a cache there, who of course obtained permission.

[purpleflipflops]

AGREED!

Now, I am a lot newer than most of you, I just started a bit ago, but I have to say, what really drew me into Geocaching was the ability to visit places that I would have missed otherwise. Even in my own town I have found stores, statues and walking trails I didn't know about before, AND THAT ROCKS! So I do get frustrated when I am looking for a cache in the area I am going to, only to find out that the 50 closest caches are LPC...Now, there is nothing wrong with them, But I would like to see a reason for me to venture out there (Becides the joy of the hunt, at least...)

[+gururyan]

who of course obtained permission.

Yeah, I'm sure they did.

[+Ecylram]

For me, this is the #1 reason I don't urban cache much at all anymore. I've found too many caches like this and I just have no interest in doing them anymore. Unfortunately, I haven't quite figured out a good system for me to find those urban cache gems so they get lost amongst the riff raff.

If you ever find a foolproof method, could you let me be the first to know? I'd pay good money for that!

 

--Larry

 

Closest solution I've found is to pick caches by cache owner. I have gsk file I created of all the caches placed by owners I know to place creative caches. It works pretty well.

[knowschad]

Hasn't been a problem for me yet. The caches I've looked for have been fun even when I didn't find them.

I love every day that I'm alive (well, there have been a few notable exceptions) but that doesn't mean I can't gripe about the weather.

 

But where you can't control the weather, you can choose where you cache.

 

Gettin' pretty uppity there for a newbie, aren't you?

 

[+Chokecherry]

For me, this is the #1 reason I don't urban cache much at all anymore. I've found too many caches like this and I just have no interest in doing them anymore. Unfortunately, I haven't quite figured out a good system for me to find those urban cache gems so they get lost amongst the riff raff.

If you ever find a foolproof method, could you let me be the first to know? I'd pay good money for that!

 

--Larry

 

Closest solution I've found is to pick caches by cache owner. I have gsk file I created of all the caches placed by owners I know to place creative caches. It works pretty well.

 

I usually examine the cache page before opting to do it. I avoid caches by some owners or save them for when i'm really hard up for a caching fix. Sometimes I do wonderfully bad caches just because I like the cache names. I'll admit it. I'm willing to get the smiley in a parking lot if it has a cool name.

[mresoteric]

Gettin' pretty uppity there for a newbie, aren't you?

 

Beats being down. That was pretty much my weekend.

[GOF and Bacall]

I wonder how the developers are coming along with the project to add favorites to PQs?

[+Sol seaker]

Hasn't been a problem for me yet. The caches I've looked for have been fun even when I didn't find them.

I love every day that I'm alive (well, there have been a few notable exceptions) but that doesn't mean I can't gripe about the weather.

 

But where you can't control the weather, you can choose where you cache.

 

LOL

And it's a lot easier to choose where you cache when you only have 15 finds.

The circle of found one closes in on you more and more the more you find.

And as gas prices go up and up, the choices become more limited.

Besides, you don't always know it's going to be a lousy cache before you get there.

ESPECIALLY in places you've never been before. (which if I had of been there before I would have known there was a WALMART PARKING LOT there)

[+simpjkee]

For me, this is the #1 reason I don't urban cache much at all anymore. I've found too many caches like this and I just have no interest in doing them anymore. Unfortunately, I haven't quite figured out a good system for me to find those urban cache gems so they get lost amongst the riff raff.

If you ever find a foolproof method, could you let me be the first to know? I'd pay good money for that!

 

--Larry

 

Closest solution I've found is to pick caches by cache owner. I have gsk file I created of all the caches placed by owners I know to place creative caches. It works pretty well.

 

I usually examine the cache page before opting to do it. I avoid caches by some owners or save them for when i'm really hard up for a caching fix. Sometimes I do wonderfully bad caches just because I like the cache names. I'll admit it. I'm willing to get the smiley in a parking lot if it has a cool name.

 

I've been picking caches by owner and by reading the cache pages. This system works okay, but when I wanna cache I wanna go! I don't like all planning.

 

And I'll also pick caches based on name or theme. If it's a theme of something I know about, I'll find it just so I can log it and ramble about my views on whatever the theme is (ie NASCAR, Books, Video Games, Music, etc).

[+larryc43230]

Closest solution I've found is to pick caches by cache owner. I have gsk file I created of all the caches placed by owners I know to place creative caches. It works pretty well.

I've done something similar on occasion. It certainly improves the odds, anyway!

 

--Larry

[knowschad]

I wonder how the developers are coming along with the project to add favorites to PQs?

Probably about the same as that Bookmark Search feature.

[+Chokecherry]

For me, this is the #1 reason I don't urban cache much at all anymore. I've found too many caches like this and I just have no interest in doing them anymore. Unfortunately, I haven't quite figured out a good system for me to find those urban cache gems so they get lost amongst the riff raff.

If you ever find a foolproof method, could you let me be the first to know? I'd pay good money for that!

 

--Larry

 

Closest solution I've found is to pick caches by cache owner. I have gsk file I created of all the caches placed by owners I know to place creative caches. It works pretty well.

 

I usually examine the cache page before opting to do it. I avoid caches by some owners or save them for when i'm really hard up for a caching fix. Sometimes I do wonderfully bad caches just because I like the cache names. I'll admit it. I'm willing to get the smiley in a parking lot if it has a cool name.

 

I've been picking caches by owner and by reading the cache pages. This system works okay, but when I wanna cache I wanna go! I don't like all planning.

 

And I'll also pick caches based on name or theme. If it's a theme of something I know about, I'll find it just so I can log it and ramble about my views on whatever the theme is (ie NASCAR, Books, Video Games, Music, etc).

 

I usually don't cache during the week so I have time after work to plan out for the weekend where I want to go. Usually it involves travel so I try to find a clump of caches in one general area to hit.

 

I avoid the caches with no redeeming qualities what so ever. Bad name, bad page and what appears to be a bad location. Did some drive bys on various caches over time because of all of the above working against them.

[+StarBrand]

While such caches have always existed. Thier shear number and percenatge of total are ever growing in the areas I like to cache. Makes it a lot harder to just grab cache info and go have fun. Now I have to stop and screen them a lot more before heading out. That wasn't always true.

[knowschad]

While such caches have always existed. Thier shear number and percenatge of total are ever growing in the areas I like to cache. Makes it a lot harder to just grab cache info and go have fun. Now I have to stop and screen them a lot more before heading out. That wasn't always true.

I usually grab them when I come to them, but I have to admit that it is sometimes more fun picking up after my dog.

[+larryc43230]

While such caches have always existed. Thier shear number and percenatge of total are ever growing in the areas I like to cache. Makes it a lot harder to just grab cache info and go have fun. Now I have to stop and screen them a lot more before heading out. That wasn't always true.

That's been my experience in this area, too. I almost never just load my GPS with the latest PQ results and jump in the car. To avoid disappointment, I need to look before I leap these days, and read a bunch of cache pages before setting out, lest I find myself in the middle of a sea of lamp post hides. This is true no matter how carefully I try to construct the pocket query. In this area at least, lots of micros are disguised through the use of "Not Listed" or "Other" as the cache size. I'm glad, I guess, that someone out there enjoys lifting lamp skirts and avoiding security guards....

 

--Larry

[+larryc43230]

I usually grab them when I come to them, but I have to admit that it is sometimes more fun picking up after my dog.

 

Been there, done that, a bit too often for my liking lately.

 

--Larry

[Night_Hiker]

Stealth is my favorite part of the day but i agree. Some places just shouldn't be used. Putting a cache near a bank or other suspicious areas, can get people questioned by cops and you should want people not to have to deal with that when looking for your hides. However most cops think anywhere is suspicious, so it's unavoidable. It is all art of the game tho. I'm honestly not going to turn down looking for a cache because of it's location, but i do take those concerns into account when i place my caches

[+NeecesandNephews]

I have to disagree with this rant. Totally.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

c'mon a thread where everyone agrees??? You people are going to make the Earth turn backwards. :laughing:

[+briansnat]

Hasn't been a problem for me yet. The caches I've looked for have been fun even when I didn't find them.

I love every day that I'm alive (well, there have been a few notable exceptions) but that doesn't mean I can't gripe about the weather.

 

But where you can't control the weather, you can choose where you cache.

 

You can choose where you cache. Finding worthwhile caches is becoming more and more of a chore.

[+uxorious]

who of course obtained permission.

Yeah, I'm sure they did.

 

There are a few out there that tell you on the cache page that everyone who is watching you knows about the cache. That the cache has permission, and the people in there know it is there.

 

In those cases, I think this type of cache can be fun. It is awkward, but fun in a silly way to know you may be being watched.

 

However, without a note on the cache page I usually just skip these.

[littlegreenman1]

Obviously it would be bad form to leave some type of negative remark on a cache page in regard to location, but I do see where some type of anonymous rating system of a cache by finders would help out with alot of these.

 

Myself, I generally don't care for urban caching. Though I realize for a large group of people, this is the only option they have.

For every creative cache and nice discovery you make in urban settings, there are dozens more that are un-creatively placed in worthless locations.

 

I feel a lot of these types of caches are made by employees that like the idea of seeing a fellow cacher finding the film can in the shrubbery outside your office window, but nobody really wants to go digging through the shrubbery in front of your office window in plain view looking for said film can.

 

I guess, even given my opinions on urban caching, this is me expressing agitation towards lame or uncreative cache locations. A nano on a McD's playland rail isn't really any better or worse than a preform bottle hanging in a totally random tree on some random sceneless backroad. So I'll save my rant for a more appropriate thread.

[knowschad]

I have to disagree with this rant. Totally.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

c'mon a thread where everyone agrees??? You people are going to make the Earth turn backwards. :laughing:

 

Troll!!!

[knowschad]

who of course obtained permission.

Yeah, I'm sure they did.

 

There are a few out there that tell you on the cache page that everyone who is watching you knows about the cache. That the cache has permission, and the people in there know it is there.

 

In those cases, I think this type of cache can be fun. It is awkward, but fun in a silly way to know you may be being watched.

 

However, without a note on the cache page I usually just skip these.

 

AbsoLUTEly!! Those are the caches where I love to moon anybody watching.

[Mr.Yuck]

C'mon a thread where everyone agrees??? You people are going to make the Earth turn backwards. :laughing:

 

OK then. People place caches in the bank's landscaping in front of the windows or 10 feet from the drive-thru speaker because they enjoy finding caches in bank's landscaping in front of the windows or 10 feet from the drive-thru speaker. Or so I've been told.

[knowschad]

C'mon a thread where everyone agrees??? You people are going to make the Earth turn backwards. :laughing:

 

OK then. People place caches in the bank's landscaping in front of the windows or 10 feet from the drive-thru speaker because they enjoy finding caches in bank's landscaping in front of the windows or 10 feet from the drive-thru speaker. Or so I've been told.

No... sadists aren't necessarily also masochists.

[+StarBrand]

Obviously it would be bad form to leave some type of negative remark on a cache page in regard to location, ...

There is negative and there is negative.

 

"Your cache location sucks and the area reminded me of skunky nuclear waste."

vs

"I don't normally like to visit such areas and today was no exception."

vs

"The area could use some CITO and not one that attracts a lot of attention from folks in my neighborhood."

vs

"The area was not my 'cup of tea' but found the cache."

 

All sort of communicate the same thing with differing degrees of negativity.

[RainbowKat]

(which if I had of been there before I would have known there was a WALMART PARKING LOT there)

 

Google's satellite view helps a lot with that sort of thing.

[+nittanycopa]

I don't mind them.

 

I guess when they (urban / suburban micros) represent the majority within your 5 mile radius, you generally get pretty good at using stealth to find them. Or if you travel into larger cities on business trips, these are generally the types available within walking distance of the hotel. Some are extremely crafty hides and that makes up for the lot that are really uninspiring.

 

(So yeah, I'm apparently the minority here, flame away...)

[Mr.Yuck]

I don't mind them.

 

I guess when they (urban / suburban micros) represent the majority within your 5 mile radius, you generally get pretty good at using stealth to find them. Or if you travel into larger cities on business trips, these are generally the types available within walking distance of the hotel. Some are extremely crafty hides and that makes up for the lot that are really uninspiring.

 

(So yeah, I'm apparently the minority here, flame away...)

 

Not really, the majority of Geocachers go after everything listed on the website. The forums are much grumpier than the general Geocaching populace. But what inspired the rant isn't an LPC in a little used section of the parking lot. Two examples that were given were 10 feet from the drive-thru speaker, and in the bank's landscaping in front of fhe windows. And we all know gosh darn well there's a 99.999999% chance they were both placed there on private property without permission. Both an incident waiting to happen, and an embarrassment to the game, in my opinion. But maybe I'm just grumpy.

[Mr.Yuck]

C'mon a thread where everyone agrees??? You people are going to make the Earth turn backwards. :laughing:

 

OK then. People place caches in the bank's landscaping in front of the windows or 10 feet from the drive-thru speaker because they enjoy finding caches in bank's landscaping in front of the windows or 10 feet from the drive-thru speaker. Or so I've been told.

No... sadists aren't necessarily also masochists.

 

My post was actually a spoof of what a poster with, I don't know, about 20,000 posts, has said about 50 times; people place LPC's because they enjoy finding LPC's. I'll have to remember your retort.

Edited March 23, 2011 by Mr.Yuck

[+NeecesandNephews]

I have to disagree with this rant. Totally.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

c'mon a thread where everyone agrees??? You people are going to make the Earth turn backwards. :laughing:

 

Troll!!!

 

In the future ... please try to incorporate the word "scummy" when you reply in this fashion. :laughing: