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Proudness and Earthcache reward programs

cezanne

By cezanne
in EarthCaches

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cezanne

cezanne

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I decided to start a new thread in order to avoid any risk for being accused of going off-topic in another thread.

When coming across this thread

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=277063&view=findpost&p=4760421

it came again to my mind that I have already asked myself several times who had the idea of introducing the term

"proud" in connection with the EC masters program and what was the motivation for it.

 

I need to admit that I have an ambivalent feeling about proudness in general and in particular with respect to geocaching

and Earthcaching. It always feels a bit strange for me if you encounter profiles with "I am a <b>proud</b> xxxx EC master".

I'd prefer the omission of proud, but of course anyone is free to write whatever he likes on his profile.

 

Cezanne

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cezanne

cezanne

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The bigger question is, why do you care?

 

Care is not the right word. I'm just curious on the one hand and on the other hand proud has some connotation for me that is not overly positive, but

probably I am the only one here who feels that way. If the latter turns out to be the case, also this would be a valuable result for me this thread could lead to.

 

Maybe I should add that I do not have any problem with someone using "proud EC master". I did not start this thread to solve any sort of problem. Nor do I intend to change/influence anyone's opinion on the topic.

 

Added comment:

Maybe also a cultural aspect is involved in here. I used intentionally "proudness" as it better fits to proud than the more common pride.

When thinking in terms of pride, it came to my mind again that there exists activities like the "Austistic pride day" and others in the English speaking world and that brought me to think about how strong the cultural influence is on the understanding of proud/proudness/pride and that this maybe one of the reasons why "proud EC master" might sound strange to me while it does not to the majority. (Comment: I added this detour just to explain my thoughts a bit further - my topic focuses on the EC context and not on society in general, otherwise it would be off-topic.)

 

 

Cezanne

Edited by cezanne
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geodarts

+geodarts

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I have ambivalent feelings about such things. I generally feel that caching numbers are a matter of time, geography, and circumstances. My numbers are my own and I am not impressed by the numbers of others. I keep my stats page private for that reason. In fact, my numbers might be higher if I spent less time with my daughter - so I might be more proud of that.

 

Still, I note in my profile that I am a platinum earthcacher and am proud of certain earthcaches I have developed. And I also did some quick addition to figure that it is likely that I will hit the next level in the new program when we visit Yellowstone this summer. I expect to apply for the award and get the appropriate coin.

 

Am I proud of that? Not in the same sense as some other accomplishments that family, close friends, or myself have been fortunate enough to achieve. I would have found each and every earthcache regardless of an award program. But that does not mean that it isn't a fun part if the game. Or that it is wrong to take a measure of pride in reaching particular milestones.

 

So perhaps it depends on how you define the word. I can enjoy a bit of pride even if I try to keep that within a personal perspective. And it does not seem strange if people are proud of certain accomplishments and it contributes to their enjoyment of the game,

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cezanne

cezanne

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I have ambivalent feelings about such things.

 

Thank you very much for your reply. I enjoyed to read it and a lot of what you wrote captures what goes through my mind when thinking about the word proud.

 

Still, I note in my profile that I am a platinum earthcacher and am proud of certain earthcaches I have developed.

 

Just to assure you: I do not think that anything is wrong with that and when I wrote about the connotation I associate with proud in the sense it is used with respect to the EC masters program this does not apply to the setting you described. I only referred to the stress on proud by stating in the profile that one is a proud xxx EC master and not just a xxx EC master.

Somehow it seems to me that stating that one is a xxx Ec master should be somehow enough even when one feels a bit of pride individually (there is nothing wrong with that). I conjecture however that most cachers who use the proud are just copying and never reflected in detail about the term proud (which of course is no prerequisite for enjoying ECs - it just my personal paranoia to think about almost everything one can think about).

 

Am I proud of that? Not in the same sense as some other accomplishments that family, close friends, or myself have been fortunate enough to achieve. I would have found each and every earthcache regardless of an award program. But that does not mean that it isn't a fun part if the game. Or that it is wrong to take a measure of pride in reaching particular milestones.

 

So perhaps it depends on how you define the word. I can enjoy a bit of pride even if I try to keep that within a personal perspective. And it does not seem strange if people are proud of certain accomplishments and it contributes to their enjoyment of the game,

 

Well said. I fully agree with you. It's certainly a definition issue.

 

I need to admit that I also felt a bit of pride on the personal level for having reached a cache that was really hard to reach for me and I do not feel ashamed for that, but this is not at the same level for me as the pride for achievements that you mentioned above and even those I would not want to advertise in this somehow institutionalized manner. Recently I read in a log something like "I am proud to be European" (for a cache in the US) and this made me really sad. On constrast to that statement the EC masters usage of proud is harmless as it does not classify people.

 

Cezanne

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geoaware

+geoaware

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I think that people ought to be able to be proud for their own achievements ...what ever that might be.

 

Belittling people who feel pride in their achievements is not a trait I can admire, for if you don't have pride in yourself, you can't understand pride in others or other things.

 

So proud EarthCache Masters, proud EarthCache Discovery Awardees, proud EarthCache developers and proud EarthCache finders....I salute you all!

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cezanne

cezanne

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Belittling people who feel pride in their achievements is not a trait I can admire,

 

Let me just clarify that my intent was not to belittle anyone or anything and I am apologizing if you understood my question in that way.

Apparently our ways of thinking and of expressing ourselves are too different.

I am relieved that mulvaney understood my question just in the way I meant it - otherwise I would start to doubt about the functioning of my brain.

 

 

Cezanne

 

OT note: I am wondering whether you would accuse e.g. philosophers of belittling other people just because they reflect about a lot of things average people do not reflect about.

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geoaware

+geoaware

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Posted (edited)

Belittling people who feel pride in their achievements is not a trait I can admire,

 

Let me just clarify that my intent was not to belittle anyone or anything and I am apologizing if you understood my question in that way.

Apparently our ways of thinking and of expressing ourselves are too different.

I am relieved that mulvaney understood my question just in the way I meant it - otherwise I would start to doubt about the functioning of my brain.

 

 

Cezanne

 

OT note: I am wondering whether you would accuse e.g. philosophers of belittling other people just because they reflect about a lot of things average people do not reflect about.

 

And let me clarify as well - you were not asking a question (in fact there is no question at all in your opening thread post), but making a clear statement that you do not like people to have any reference to pride in their profiles. That is your opinion and I will defend your right not to have any reference to pride in your personal profile.

 

It is my opinion that if people feel proud in their achievements then they have the right to post that in their personal profiles.

 

"Reflecting" is a wonderful way to start discussions and debates. I question the need in these forums about EarthCaches to do so. That maybe a better question to ask in a broader forum, as your opinion seems to be about a wider topic than just EarthCaches.

 

Lets try and keep on the topic of threads on EarthCaches and leave the philosophical debates about pride elsewhere.

 

I humbly request that this thread be closed.

Edited by geoaware
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