+Otter and Lemur Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 The following cache "contains" two travel bugs that actually aren't there: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC6299 The cache is unfortunately rather easily found by geomuggles and I think the geomuggles are helping themselves to the contents of the cache on a regular basis. Oddly, the cache isn't otherwise getting trashed or stolen or anything, but it seems to be a very bad place to drop any particularly valuable items such as travel bugs. The owner of the travel bugs haven't replied to mail asking them to move them to a travel bug graveyard or anything, so I was wondering if the exalted Jeremy might be able to move them to limbo or wherever vanished travel bugs go. Link to comment
+Renegade Knight Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 They should go to the travel bug graveyard. Link to comment
+Doc-Dean Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 They can always be moved out later if they resurface. --------------------------------------------------- Free your mind and the rest will follow Link to comment
+Otter and Lemur Posted October 9, 2003 Author Share Posted October 9, 2003 I'm sure they should, but I don't own them or have their tracking numbers. Link to comment
+Otter and Lemur Posted October 9, 2003 Author Share Posted October 9, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Doc-Dean:They can always be moved out later if they resurface. Getting them in there is the tricky part. If the TB owners don't respond to messages asking for them to be moved to the travel bug graveyard, then there they sit, forever, allegedly in the cache in question but not actually there. Since people are going to that cache specifically in search of travel bugs (you'd think they'd read the log entries, but I guess some people prefer not to), it's a source of frustration for quite a few people to get there and find no TBs, time and time again. As far as I can tell, if the owner of a travel bug isn't interested in moving the bug to the graveyard, it stays in the cache forever, or until a geocaching.com admin moves them, which is why I started this thread. Link to comment
Jeremy Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 I sent them both to limbo. Jeremy Irish Groundspeak - The Language of Location Link to comment
+Team Chevelle Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 On a similar note, what about TBs that have been removed from a cache -- probably by a real geocachers, not someone meaning to steal it -- but then never logged as gone? We have a cache near us that had a TB that someone took about 6 weeks ago, but apparently never logged it. So, it says that the TB is still there, of course. It gets sad to repeatedly see new logs that say "Couldn't find the TB that was supposed to be here." People are disappointed. Seems that there should be a way where if, say, 3 cachers in a row note that a TB is gone that is supposed to be there, then the system no longer shows the TB as being there... Either that, or just trust a single cacher that reports it as missing. I just picked "3" out of a hat... - John... Link to comment
+Otter and Lemur Posted October 10, 2003 Author Share Posted October 10, 2003 I find that part of what causes travel bugs to go missing, and take this with a grain of salt, is folks who create them and place them with nothing more than the little silver dog tag attached. Novice cachers just go 'ooh, that's neat' and put it on the back seat of the car and forget about it. I've taken to attaching a laminated 1/3 sheet of paper with very specific instructions and explanations about how travelbugs work, including a polite admonition not to take the bug at all if the person in question rarely geocaches and might not be able to place it again in a reasonable amount of time, how to log that you have them, how to log that you've placed them, and so on. I think some people who pick up and take travel bugs just don't know how they're meant to be used. When I pick up a travel bug that someone else dropped off, if there's little or no instructions with it, at the very least I print off the travel bug web page associated with that travel bug and I stick the page, bug and all, in a Ziploc bag. Link to comment
+w1qa Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 I agree with putting notes with travel bugs. I either attach a laminated note to the bug, or put the bug in a zip loc bag with a laminated note. Additionally, when I find a bug ... I started putting it in zip log bags with a note. I once placed a travel bug - and the next person who visited the cache picked it up ... but didn't know what it was. So they took the travel bug dog tag and level the object behind. Luckily I was able to contact both the cache owner as well as the person who took the dog tag - and although it took a month or more we were able to get them reunited. Link to comment
+AB4N Posted October 11, 2003 Share Posted October 11, 2003 Here is another cache that the owner and myself have tried without sucess to contact TB owners about their purloined TBs. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=8ac874a7-dda7-466e-a087-6ad18233a59f These need to be sent out into the etherland as well. Thanks! Link to comment
Jeremy Posted October 11, 2003 Share Posted October 11, 2003 Got them. Thanks. Jeremy Irish Groundspeak - The Language of Location Link to comment
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