how to adopt a cache when the owner is not responding?

[+pekova]

There is this cache which has been disabled for two months now only because it needed maintance and the owner kinda forgot about it. Me and another geo-colleague contacted the owner in order to adopt it or simply to enable the listing but he hasn't contacted us yet. The user has visited the pages of geocaching during that period but still hasn't contacted us about probably letting us adopt it. I've personally repaired the cache, put in a new logbook and it is at this point in it's place for other geocachers to find it. But because the listing is disabled a lot of people actually do not go after it. Is there any way to adopt or re-enable the listing without the permission of the owner?

[+Cardinal Red]

There is this cache which has been disabled for two months now only because it needed maintance and the owner kinda forgot about it. Me and another geo-colleague contacted the owner in order to adopt it or simply to enable the listing but he hasn't contacted us yet. The user has visited the pages of geocaching during that period but still hasn't contacted us about probably letting us adopt it. I've personally repaired the cache, put in a new logbook and it is at this point in it's place for other geocachers to find it. But because the listing is disabled a lot of people actually do not go after it. Is there any way to adopt or re-enable the listing without the permission of the owner?

You can't adopt a cache without involving the owner. Not sure how the Reviewer would respond to a request from you to re-enable, but it wouldn't hurt to ask. You could have just allowed the cache to deteriorate to the point that it needed to be archived. Then the area would have been available for you to place one there (provided nothing has changed in the area that would prevent a cache passing review).

[+pekova]

If there was really need for the cache to be archived then I would let it, but I though it was a real shame to just let it be when there are people who want to take care of it.

 

How exactly do I contact the Reviewer, and what are they really? Never heard of this.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

If there was really need for the cache to be archived then I would let it, but I though it was a real shame to just let it be when there are people who want to take care of it.

 

How exactly do I contact the Reviewer, and what are they really? Never heard of this.

The reviewer will be the very first log on that cache page, unless deleted by the owner.

 

It won't do you any good however, as it has been well established and practiced that you cannot adopt a cache without the approval/assistance of the owner.

 

No contact = no adoption.

 

Truth be known, archival is the best option. As it stands, just who is it that receives the Needs Maintenance logs? That is the only person that can clear a NM flag.

[+Cardinal Red]

If there was really need for the cache to be archived then I would let it, but I though it was a real shame to just let it be when there are people who want to take care of it.

 

How exactly do I contact the Reviewer, and what are they really? Never heard of this.

Look at the Published logs on nearby caches (usually the very first log on the cache). That published log was put there when the Reviewer listed the cache to the website. Your Reviewer makes sure you are not to close to another physical cache placement. They make sure that the listing as submitted doesn't have any guideline violations. Reviewers have powers far beyond us mere mortals. Contact the reviewer through their profile. Tell him/her about your volunteer cache maintenance. Point out the GC#, and ask them to take a look at it.

[+T.D.M.22]

You can either just ask the reviewer to enable it-that's what I did, and he did do it-or you can post a NA log, and put it on your watchlist and claim that spot when it is archived, other than that they won't let you adopt it without the current owners permission.

[+ChileHead]

Personally I'd rather see these archived, as if the owner isn't around, there will likely be a problem days/weeks/months from now, and somebody else will have to step up again to fix/replace. Unless it's truly a historical or special cache, post a needs archived, wait for it to get archived, and submit a new one.

[+Zor]

Personally I'd rather see these archived, as if the owner isn't around, there will likely be a problem days/weeks/months from now, and somebody else will have to step up again to fix/replace. Unless it's truly a historical or special cache, post a needs archived, wait for it to get archived, and submit a new one.

 

I would tend to agree. In my area, there are some good spots where caches have been hidden but the owners are long gone so it's just the finders who end up doing the maintenance. The locals have gotten into the habit that if an owner is gone, log the cache as NA and then replace it with a new one from a cacher who will actually take care of it.

[+Ambient_Skater]

There's a cache in my area which was disabled in December 2010 with a log from the CO saying it was muggled. Five months later there was a slew of cachers who posted Found It logs, so the cache obviously wasn't missing. The CO wasn't active anymore so I logged a NA to inform the reviewer and they reenabled the cache.

 

You can't adopt a cache if the owner isn't around to adopt it to you. Once the cache deteriorates to the point where it is archivable, log a NA and wait for the reviewer to archive the cache, then retrieve and dispose of the remnants, place your own cache there, and submit it as a new cache.

[+Glenn]

There's a cache in my area which was disabled in December 2010 with a log from the CO saying it was muggled. Five months later there was a slew of cachers who posted Found It logs, so the cache obviously wasn't missing. The CO wasn't active anymore so I logged a NA to inform the reviewer and they reenabled the cache.

 

You can't adopt a cache if the owner isn't around to adopt it to you. Once the cache deteriorates to the point where it is archivable, log a NA and wait for the reviewer to archive the cache, then retrieve and dispose of the remnants, place your own cache there, and submit it as a new cache.

 

This is sage advice.

What do think would a better use of a reviewers time. Reviewing new cache listings or removing NM attributes from listings?

Then there is the issue of a cache owner becoming active years later and wondering why other people are listed as the owner of all of his caches. What do you do that point? Does the original owner of the cache get to adopt the listing back to his account. Is that really far especially in a case where the new owner took care of the cache longer than the original owner did and the container and log book are no longer the original.

When you post a NA you are asking for the listing to be archived. Once a listing is archived a new listing, as long as it follows the current guidelines, can be made.

[+NeecesandNephews]

There is really no diplomatic way to point this out, but I will try not to offend you in saying... if you do not know what a Reviewer is or what they do... perhaps you are not ready for cache ownership.

Some reading is recommended. It really does not take that long to get the basic grasp of the Guidelines. Good luck!!