FTF Totals Listed?

[+kenas]

I would love to see somehow that your FTF totals were listed. Although I do not have a FTF as yet it does appear to be a statistic worth tracking. Possible?

[+the4dirtydogs]

We track our FTFs with the help of GSAK.

[+StarBrand]

FTF is not officially recognized by the site. There are no 'rules' for it either.

 

It would be difficult for the site to try and play referee if multiple cachers tried to claim FTF.

[+Team LegoMINI]

It would be difficult as I've often seen the person who claims the FTF end up being the second, third or even later person to post their find. With the ability to log via the smartphone, those who wait to log when they get home often end up out of the correct chronology of when they actually found the cache. Groundspeak would have to add some sort of FTF radio button and you can only imagine the fun that would stir up....

[+Moose Mob]

It's a pretty cool feeling to be writing your geo-nick on that prestine piece of paper. But it's not that simple.

 

If GC tracked FTF, then each new cache placement would start an FTF race. The beauty of geocaching is that it uses a non-competitive model. Folks will create compitition, but it's not built in.

 

Here are a couple questions that will have inconsistent answers.

- If you are in a caching group of 4 geo-nicks the simultaneously view the cache, does each nick get 1 point? 1/4 point?

- If you give only the point to the first person that grabs it, is there a penalty loss for physical violence to gain the advantage?

- What if the reviewer was bribed for location prior to publication?

 

FTF is a really cool feeling, but if it were elevated above it's current status, it would be more open for corruption.

[+kenas]

All valid points!

[+chillypenguin]

I bookmark my FTF's as a way of tracking them. I can then just go back to the Bookmark list to see them and it keeps a count.

[+Totem Clan]

I would love to see somehow that your FTF totals were listed. Although I do not have a FTF as yet it does appear to be a statistic worth tracking. Possible?

How will the site track them?

[+Odyn]

I would love to see somehow that your FTF totals were listed. Although I do not have a FTF as yet it does appear to be a statistic worth tracking. Possible?

How will the site track them?

 

I'm not advocating this as a good idea, but from a technical stand point it seems sort of interesting to think about.

 

What could be done is when a person creates a cache they could optionally be given a unique identifier and the ability to print out a template message with the code on it. They could include that in the cache and the first person to find the cache simply takes it. When they log their find they have the ability to enter the code and claim their FTF. They code could be 1-time use. Or depending on the generally accepted practices of the geocaching community maybe the cache owner could optionally choose to allow co-FTFs. In that case, again depending on what the norms, the site could hand out full or partial FTF points as appropriate.

 

Again just fun speculation as I tend to agree with the earlier poster that officially recognizing FTFs as a stat is probably a bad idea.

[+DonB]

I would love to see somehow that your FTF totals were listed. Although I do not have a FTF as yet it does appear to be a statistic worth tracking. Possible?

I download my finds PQ and use CacheStats to keep track of mine.

[+niraD]

What could be done is when a person creates a cache they could optionally be given a unique identifier and the ability to print out a template message with the code on it. They could include that in the cache and the first person to find the cache simply takes it. When they log their find they have the ability to enter the code and claim their FTF. They code could be 1-time use. Or depending on the generally accepted practices of the geocaching community maybe the cache owner could optionally choose to allow co-FTFs. In that case, again depending on what the norms, the site could hand out full or partial FTF points as appropriate.

What happens when a CO who doesn't like the FTF side-game doesn't include the FTF code in the cache? Or gives the FTF code to the "wrong" geocacher?

[+The A-Team]

What happens when a CO who doesn't like the FTF side-game doesn't include the FTF code in the cache? Or gives the FTF code to the "wrong" geocacher?

Or the first person to find it doesn't care about having it officially recognized on the site, so they don't take the code. If a later cacher then grabs it, now you have both the real FTF and the official FTF, both on one cache. Or the CO wants to deny a particular FTF hound the chance, so they either leave it out until after the FTF hound finds it, or give the code to a friend.

Oh so many ways it could turn badly. FTF can get ugly enough as it is, I can't imagine how bad it would get if there were official rules that governed it.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

What could be done is when a person creates a cache they could optionally be given a unique identifier and the ability to print out a template message with the code on it. They could include that in the cache and the first person to find the cache simply takes it. When they log their find they have the ability to enter the code and claim their FTF. They code could be 1-time use. Or depending on the generally accepted practices of the geocaching community maybe the cache owner could optionally choose to allow co-FTFs. In that case, again depending on what the norms, the site could hand out full or partial FTF points as appropriate.

What happens when a CO who doesn't like the FTF side-game doesn't include the FTF code in the cache?

 

is right. What would probably happen is that a FTF found would send a nasty PM to the CO asking why they didn't include the FTF code. I'm in the camp that, except for an extraordinary cache, I would probably not include a FTF code. Even though I don't care for the FTF game, I think that there are some caches where FTF is actually meaningful.