Geo-publicity

[+SUPER-CONSERVITIVE]

Should geocacheing be made openly public by us and our friends, or should it be conveyed person-to-person? post your thoughts in the comments. My thought is publicly.

[knowschad]

Should geocacheing be made openly public by us and our friends, or should it be conveyed person-to-person? post your thoughts in the comments. My thought is publicly.

Wouldn't this be a great world if EVERYBODY geocached?

[niverson92]

i think geocaching will reach a point where it is to public. for me part of the fun of caching is the stealth part. if everyone knew what you where doing i feel part of the fun would be lost.

Edited March 4, 2012 by hippietwinkie

[+Chokecherry]

I think it may become more public but I think for the most part people just won't care. Everyone at my job knows I do this. 2 of them actually care. My last job none of them cared except the one that I was able to get permission from to hide some caches (yay for small town connections).

 

Being a tattooed person who looks sufficiently suspicious enough just wandering down the street I appreciate when people actually know what I'm doing. I don't do many in town caches though but it's nice to know that I'm not going to sound like a complete lunatic trying to describe what I'm doing.

[+theosus]

i think geocaching will reach a point where it is to public. for me part of the fun of caching is the stealth part. if everyone knew what you where doing i feel part of the fun would be lost.

 

It's already too public for me... I still cache though. Like any sport though it will have folks that just don't care. I backpack, but no one else I know is into it. I know a few geocachers. Most of my friends are into some sort of "ball" sports. Football baseball basketball.... I could care less about any of those.

 

Edited to remove family unfriendly language.

Edited December 22, 2014 by Keystone
Removing family unfriendly language

[+Chokecherry]

Feelings about popularity probably depend on what kind of caches one is into. In town caches that people get off being stealthy about are not my thing. Rather be out in the woods where stealth doesn't matter and where people are more likely indifferent to what I'm doing.

[+cerberus1]

It's not a secret. Geocaching is already "openly public".

We've seen ads and articles on geocaching in outdoors, science and computer magazines.

Once in a while a news article appears, some not for the good of the hobby.

My Nuvi for the car had a geocaching ad included with the other stuff.

One's interests would determine whether they'd look into it further.

[+GeoStar Husband]

 

Being a tattooed person who looks sufficiently suspicious enough just wandering down the street I appreciate when people actually know what I'm doing.

 

 

I hear ya! 6'1" tall, shaved head, gauged ears, 50+ tattoos and wandering around stealthily peering under benches, around corners, in crevices... Yep, not scary for the ordinary muggle at all!

 

Give me the woods and fields any day. Trees and wildlife don't care that I am a walking comic book!

[+Totem Clan]

 

Being a tattooed person who looks sufficiently suspicious enough just wandering down the street I appreciate when people actually know what I'm doing.

 

 

I hear ya! 6'1" tall, shaved head, gauged ears, 50+ tattoos and wandering around stealthily peering under benches, around corners, in crevices... Yep, not scary for the ordinary muggle at all!

 

Give me the woods and fields any day. Trees and wildlife don't care that I am a walking comic book!

I too am tatted up. I have a full bread. I'm balding and have a pony tail. I've been told that I scare people, but I don't know why. Most young men won't look me in the eye even when I'm talking to them and they step out the way when I walk by. (but kids love me for some reason).

 

We all need to cache together. I could just see the muggles recaction as we search for urban micros.

[knowschad]

Being a tattooed person who looks sufficiently suspicious enough just wandering down the street I appreciate when people actually know what I'm doing.

 

I hear ya! 6'1" tall, shaved head, gauged ears, 50+ tattoos and wandering around stealthily peering under benches, around corners, in crevices...

I see that you've met Chokecherry, too, huh?

[+RobDJr]

I once felt that publicizing geocaching was a good thing. I've since changed my mind for a variety of reasons, the articulation of which would open up an enormous can of worms, so I won't get into that.

 

Let's just say that I'm now just waiting semi-hopefully for the whole popularity bubble to burst and for geocaching to slide back into a comfortable sort of semi-obscurity.

 

So if you feel you hafta, and I mean really hafta, I'd vote person to person, and only to specific, pre-qualified people, with secret handshakes and background checks and the whole shebang.

 

And swear them to secrecy on pain of an eternity with nothing but LPC's and altoid tins in guardrails.

[normastitz]

I tell lots of people about geocaching, most people think its fun but they wouldn't want to do it. My daughter took a geocoin into show and tell cos it had done so many miles and we printed off the maps for her to show, I thought it was amazing and no-one else did!

My brother caches cos I got him into it and we are plannig a trip to go caching together soon.

I got my new boss into it .. that's about all ... but we love it and we've met a couple of other cachers when we've been out and about and they are all friendly and lovely. There are cachers around my area that hide and seek and I love to see their user names crop up and I'd love to meet them.

Every time we find a cache we learn something new, how many other hobbies are that cool?

[+Chokecherry]

Being a tattooed person who looks sufficiently suspicious enough just wandering down the street I appreciate when people actually know what I'm doing.

 

I hear ya! 6'1" tall, shaved head, gauged ears, 50+ tattoos and wandering around stealthily peering under benches, around corners, in crevices...

I see that you've met Chokecherry, too, huh?

 

I'm pretty sure I was wearing a hoodie I ran into all of you all at that webcam. lol

 

The less I have to explain to anyone questioning what I'm doing is better for me. But again I tend to not enjoy urban caches or the whole "secret, stealthy" craze. I enjoy going places where I can wear a tank top, get dirty and enjoy myself without having to sneak around or wonder who is going to call the police next.

 

And I do share my hobby openly with most everyone. I didn't do this to join a secret club. I do this to see cool places and hopefully meet some cool people.

[+sholomar]

I'd rather it be something that at best 10% of the population is interested in rather than something everyone at work talks about. But whatever, it's a great way for families to get out and spend time with each other, and maybe we'd have less micros if there were more cachers. Finds are pretty sparce around here, sometimes going months without one in caches.

 

Once enough people are interested in it the gossip effect takes over and pretty soon everyone knows about it. Not sure what that percentage would be.

Edited March 4, 2012 by sholomar

[normastitz]

I do make sure I hide caches aswell as find them otherwise the hobby will never grow will it?

 

I do like the sort of secret member part of it too ... but anyone can google geocaching and find out what it is, that's how I got hooked a friend posted on Facebook about caching and I googled and got hooked. When I post on FB about caching I often get asked what it is etc .. why peeps didn't just google like I did I dunno! lol

[+tozainamboku]

I try to imagine what geoaching must be like in Homer, AK. It must be on the opposite end of the spectrum from where I am in Los Angeles, CA. I doubt that there are many urban style hides there. Probably not many on private property and those that are a more likely to have explicit permission.

 

In the big city, the issues with more publicity for the game must be completely different than they are for the OP. He probably wishes that more people would be involved in the game so that he isn't the only one hiding caches and there would be more for him to find. And then when he meets a muggle while out caching, he probably feels a need to explain what he is doing. In the big city, we'd just as soon avoid muggles, and if we do get questioned feel that we mustn't say too much as to compromise the cache. Interesting that in his other thread, he mentions that in Homer, some muggles, once they understand the game will let the piece alone, while others will take the cache. We understand this in the city and that is why we are reluctant to share the location of caches with strangers. But in a small town where you know most of the neighbors, and particular in a remote place like Alaska were you may depend on your neighbors more, it would be natural to be more trusting and reveal these things.

[+Totem Clan]

I try to imagine what geoaching must be like in Homer, AK. It must be on the opposite end of the spectrum from where I am in Los Angeles, CA. I doubt that there are many urban style hides there. Probably not many on private property and those that are a more likely to have explicit permission.

 

In the big city, the issues with more publicity for the game must be completely different than they are for the OP. He probably wishes that more people would be involved in the game so that he isn't the only one hiding caches and there would be more for him to find. And then when he meets a muggle while out caching, he probably feels a need to explain what he is doing. In the big city, we'd just as soon avoid muggles, and if we do get questioned feel that we mustn't say too much as to compromise the cache. Interesting that in his other thread, he mentions that in Homer, some muggles, once they understand the game will let the piece alone, while others will take the cache. We understand this in the city and that is why we are reluctant to share the location of caches with strangers. But in a small town where you know most of the neighbors, and particular in a remote place like Alaska were you may depend on your neighbors more, it would be natural to be more trusting and reveal these things.

I lived in Alaska when I started caching. It's not much diffent than anywhere else I've cached. In fact in Alaska caching is encouraged by many or the tourism departments as a way to encourage visitors. So in some ways it's better.

[+SUPER-CONSERVITIVE]

I try to imagine what geoaching must be like in Homer, AK. It must be on the opposite end of the spectrum from where I am in Los Angeles, CA. I doubt that there are many urban style hides there. Probably not many on private property and those that are a more likely to have explicit permission.

 

In the big city, the issues with more publicity for the game must be completely different than they are for the OP. He probably wishes that more people would be involved in the game so that he isn't the only one hiding caches and there would be more for him to find. And then when he meets a muggle while out caching, he probably feels a need to explain what he is doing. In the big city, we'd just as soon avoid muggles, and if we do get questioned feel that we mustn't say too much as to compromise the cache. Interesting that in his other thread, he mentions that in Homer, some muggles, once they understand the game will let the piece alone, while others will take the cache. We understand this in the city and that is why we are reluctant to share the location of caches with strangers. But in a small town where you know most of the neighbors, and particular in a remote place like Alaska were you may depend on your neighbors more, it would be natural to be more trusting and reveal these things.

Homer is not a small town. now by your standards its a small microbe on a sciencetists slide... However i do not know almost all of my neighbors, and there are sevral caches in homer. Around 30 or so, wich is pretty good considering the towns size. There are many many urban caches, becasue homer is a popular tourists spot there are almost always muggles around. so, i must say that yes, we do have urban cacheing and yes, i do know what its like. Just becasue we dont have skyscrapers dose not mean we arnt civilised. No offense at all intended, mind you.

[niverson92]

 

Being a tattooed person who looks sufficiently suspicious enough just wandering down the street I appreciate when people actually know what I'm doing.

 

 

I hear ya! 6'1" tall, shaved head, gauged ears, 50+ tattoos and wandering around stealthily peering under benches, around corners, in crevices... Yep, not scary for the ordinary muggle at all!

 

Give me the woods and fields any day. Trees and wildlife don't care that I am a walking comic book!

 

6' 5" here and with a couple non visible tats plus a goatee. but i still like the stealthy part of looking over my shoulder at the muggle in their car before i grab a nano or waiting 20 mins for someone to leave so i can place the cahce back, makes me feel all secret agenty like.

 

on the other hand i also love getting out into the woods and getting covered in dirt or pine needles to find that ammo can.

 

to each his own as they say.