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How do you earn the title of Charter Member?


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Charter cut-off went into March 2003. I recall wondering if I cared about getting the "Charter" designation when contemplating buying Premium Membership when we first started (no).

 

Waited another x number of weeks, to be sure we'd still be caching in a year, then went Premium.

 

Missed Charter by x number of weeks (I don't remember what x equals).

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Charter cut-off went into March 2003. I recall wondering if I cared about getting the "Charter" designation when contemplating buying Premium Membership when we first started (no).

 

Waited another x number of weeks, to be sure we'd still be caching in a year, then went Premium.

 

Missed Charter by x number of weeks (I don't remember what x equals).

 

You probably kick yourself when that is brought up, but I probably would have done the same thing. I didn't go premium for about 6 months. There were Pocket Queries, the ability to hide and seek the then much more controversial Members only caches, and umm, that's about it. :D And I guess supporting the website before they were raking in the millions. :ph34r: In all seriousness, that was probably the biggest reason in those days.

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:ninja: It all came to pass on a dark and windy night in the hills of southren California, when a chosen few where sent a message / invitation to join the group (the year of 01)And Yes we have control of the "the platinum memberships"

Edited by GIDEON-X
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Aside having that on a forum title, what's the point?

 

Back when they started these "memberships" I had a very simple GPSr and the concept of Pocket Query was a distant dream. I just think they needed the money to prop up the lilypad, get a few more lackeys and such.

 

As far as I care, my real membership began the day I found my first cache and the day I became a Contributing Member was the day I hid my first cache (and of course it was an Ammo Box on a mountain top.)

 

Anything else is testament to my giving money to Groundspeak because I like to, they deserve it or because is for greater glory of peoples socialist endeavour.

 

Not that I in any way associate Charter Membership with being a founding father of Geocaching...

 

geowash.jpg

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Pay Groundspeak 10k bucks and I am sure they will give you the title. money does talk. Always does.

 

If that were the case I bet we could set up an account to accumulate bribes to bring back Virtuals. :ph34r:

Not to take this thread off topic. I am willing to say that Groundspeak will bring back virtual if someone folk over alot of green and pay a full-time reviewer. If you wanna talk more about this, start up a new thread about it.

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Pay Groundspeak 10k bucks and I am sure they will give you the title. money does talk. Always does.

I don't know about Groundspeak - $10k for a company doesn't go far these days - but I'm sure you can interest a couple of charter members.

 

$10k is too rich for me though. I'm willing to offer a coffee and 3 donuts. Any takers?

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Aside having that on a forum title, what's the point?

I respect the title, and I think it means something.

 

Back at the time that Premium Memberships were first being offered on this site, the concept of passing money to young, small, web-site-only companies for promises of continued future services was not nearly as ordinary as it is today. And it wasn't clear that geocaching would ultimately be a Real Thing. The people who bought Premium Memberships on geocaching.com back then were the ones who trusted the site owners enough, and bought into the geocaching-as-a-hobby concept enough, to be willing to take the (albeit) small risk of a Premium Membership purchase.

 

Seems kind of silly I suppose, but I respect those who were willing to take the risk when there were way, way fewer caches (and fewer benefits for having a Premium Membership), and then financially stick with it all these years.

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Aside having that on a forum title, what's the point?

I respect the title, and I think it means something.

 

Back at the time that Premium Memberships were first being offered on this site, the concept of passing money to young, small, web-site-only companies for promises of continued future services was not nearly as ordinary as it is today. And it wasn't clear that geocaching would ultimately be a Real Thing. The people who bought Premium Memberships on geocaching.com back then were the ones who trusted the site owners enough, and bought into the geocaching-as-a-hobby concept enough, to be willing to take the (albeit) small risk of a Premium Membership purchase.

 

Seems kind of silly I suppose, but I respect those who were willing to take the risk when there were way, way fewer caches (and fewer benefits for having a Premium Membership), and then financially stick with it all these years.

Awww, shucks, thanks.... :anicute:

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Aside having that on a forum title, what's the point?

I respect the title, and I think it means something.

 

Back at the time that Premium Memberships were first being offered on this site, the concept of passing money to young, small, web-site-only companies for promises of continued future services was not nearly as ordinary as it is today. And it wasn't clear that geocaching would ultimately be a Real Thing. The people who bought Premium Memberships on geocaching.com back then were the ones who trusted the site owners enough, and bought into the geocaching-as-a-hobby concept enough, to be willing to take the (albeit) small risk of a Premium Membership purchase.

 

Seems kind of silly I suppose, but I respect those who were willing to take the risk when there were way, way fewer caches (and fewer benefits for having a Premium Membership), and then financially stick with it all these years.

Awww, shucks, thanks.... :anicute:

Hi, do you have any idea how many Charter Members there are??

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Hi, do you have any idea how many Charter Members there are??

Hey, Dick - no, I don't, but I bet a lackey could tell us. It would also be interesting to know how many Charter Members there were originally and how many now. It's dropped off over the years, natch, as some folks drift away.

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Aside having that on a forum title, what's the point?

The people who bought Premium Memberships on geocaching.com back then were the ones who trusted the site owners enough, and bought into the geocaching-as-a-hobby concept enough, to be willing to take the (albeit) small risk of a Premium Membership purchase.

 

...there were way, way fewer caches (and fewer benefits for having a Premium Membership), and then financially stick with it all these years.

 

Yep. We were ever so happy to part with the money and keep on doing it over the years. Even a friend of ours who was on very low income was happy to send in the dough. Great times then and still great today. :)

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Aside having that on a forum title, what's the point?

I respect the title, and I think it means something.

 

Back at the time that Premium Memberships were first being offered on this site, the concept of passing money to young, small, web-site-only companies for promises of continued future services was not nearly as ordinary as it is today. And it wasn't clear that geocaching would ultimately be a Real Thing. The people who bought Premium Memberships on geocaching.com back then were the ones who trusted the site owners enough, and bought into the geocaching-as-a-hobby concept enough, to be willing to take the (albeit) small risk of a Premium Membership purchase.

 

Seems kind of silly I suppose, but I respect those who were willing to take the risk when there were way, way fewer caches (and fewer benefits for having a Premium Membership), and then financially stick with it all these years.

B) Thanks.

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Actually, I think there is a way you could get the "Charter Member" title. You could seek out a Charter Member and obtain their membership from them. I'm guessing an exchange of money, goods or services would need to occur in order for you to obtain said membership. Do a quick name change, delete all of their finds, re-log all your finds under this account and bingo bango boingo you have your very own charter membership!

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More importantly, try asking how you become a Platinum Member. :ph34r:

 

What is a platinum member? Is it higher than charter?

That is something that is not talked about. It is almost a secret society.

 

Platinum members "don't exist", which means that the platinum membership cannot be discussed in public. :ph34r:

Edited by 4wheelin_fool
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Perhaps the best evidence that Platinum membership exists is that its existence is vehemently denied by none other than Vinny? :ph34r:

 

(can't seem to find a link to that series of post...)

 

 

 

To those new to the forums, Platinum membership is a long running joke that probably outlived being funny by several lifetimes. At least, if it exists, I'm obviously not invited :P

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Please don't discuss Platinum membership. You KNOW you aren't supposed to do it so why bring it up at all?

 

(See you all at the next Platinum event. If it's anything like the last one it should be great. Hopefully there won't be quite so many folks with massive hangovers this time though.)

Edited by Thrak
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I signed on in 2002, but missed charter membership because I didn't even own a computer when I started, so I couldn't justify paying for a membership, I borrowed a friend's computer, or printed up cache pages at work. I bought one just for this hobby. I signed up eventually, but didn't know about charter membership, at all. I don't think not having one makes me any less of a member. I was appointed as the Grande Dame of the OBC (Old Boy's Club) back in 2003/03. I found a bunch of threads with mention of it, but not the original one. Then I started looking at those who posted to those thread, and noticed there are some charter members who have less than 100 finds, who still log in and keep their membership going. :D

 

It is so not about the numbers.

 

I need to go check into ClayJar's chat now and see if anyone misses me. :P

Man, those were the good old days. Y'all got me reminiscing now looking back in time.

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I didn't become aware of geocaching until late in 2003. Became a paying member very soon thereafter. Would have been a charter member if I knew about the game sooner. So I am simply a going on nine year premium member. Happy to be a long time supporter and really couldn't care less about not being a charter member. Didn't/doesn't/won't bother me in any way.

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Actually, I think there is a way you could get the "Charter Member" title. You could seek out a Charter Member and obtain their membership from them. I'm guessing an exchange of money, goods or services would need to occur in order for you to obtain said membership. Do a quick name change, delete all of their finds, re-log all your finds under this account and bingo bango boingo you have your very own charter membership!

Yeah, I guess I would do it for $10,000 plus Paypal fees. Email me for my Paypal address.

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I know a charter member who said he got his charter member status when he registered his first gps with the manufacturer and they had a question that asked something like would you like to sign up for Geocaching and he said yes, even though he did not know what it was. I remember signing up for geocaching thinking it was a way to find out about hiking trails.

Who knew back then.

Edited by Packanack
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More importantly, try asking how you become a Platinum Member. :ph34r:

 

What is a platinum member? Is it higher than charter?

That is something that is not talked about. It is almost a secret society.

 

What I don't get is why Charter Members are not allowed into the Platinum Society! That really miffs me.

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On 6/8/2012 at 5:56 AM, Isonzo Karst said:

Charter cut-off went into March 2003. I recall wondering if I cared about getting the "Charter" designation when contemplating buying Premium Membership when we first started (no).

 

Waited another x number of weeks, to be sure we'd still be caching in a year, then went Premium.

 

Missed Charter by x number of weeks (I don't remember what x equals).

Darn it! I was hoping that there was some way to become a charter member still. I just heard of it while reading through logs on one of my few caches that are still active.

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On ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2012 at 7:59 PM, cache_test_dummies said:

I respect the title, and I think it means something.

 

Back at the time that Premium Memberships were first being offered on this site, the concept of passing money to young, small, web-site-only companies for promises of continued future services was not nearly as ordinary as it is today. And it wasn't clear that geocaching would ultimately be a Real Thing. The people who bought Premium Memberships on geocaching.com back then were the ones who trusted the site owners enough, and bought into the geocaching-as-a-hobby concept enough, to be willing to take the (albeit) small risk of a Premium Membership purchase.

 

Seems kind of silly I suppose, but I respect those who were willing to take the risk when there were way, way fewer caches (and fewer benefits for having a Premium Membership), and then financially stick with it all these years.

 

Appreciate that! :)

 

I'm always a bit wary of paying money to an internet business that I don't know much about. Yes, it was only $30 back then as well but you can bet it was something I had to think about before sending. There weren't that many caches back then but the few that I did find were very enjoyable. I was certainly happy to give something back for the fun I was having.  

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3 hours ago, Gill & Tony said:

It always amuses me that Platinum members think they are the highest level

 

You didn't here this from me but, i received an invitation about three years ago to join a secret geocaching society. Didn't realize it then but it turns out it was for *******m membership. To be honest, I just didn't like the idea of being required to wear the membership hat when geocaching. One reason was that I didn't want people to feel I was somehow a better cacher than them when they saw the hat. The other reason, I just didn't think i'd look very cool wearing that green fez style hat with gpsrs sticking out the top of it. I still sometimes wonder if I made a mistake by not accepting that invitation. :unsure:

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6 hours ago, Gill & Tony said:

It always amuses me that Platinum members think they are the highest level

 

For all noob geocachers listening to this thread, Platinum Membership isn't real. It's a childish joke that many here can't grow out of. It's too bad the lame joke has persisted for years every time someone has the nerve to ask a legitimate question.

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7 hours ago, bflentje said:

 

For all noob geocachers listening to this thread, Platinum Membership isn't real. It's a childish joke that many here can't grow out of. It's too bad the lame joke has persisted for years every time someone has the nerve to ask a legitimate question.

I see what you're trying to do. Can't fool me. Just waiting to receive word to go for my hat fitting.

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19 hours ago, bflentje said:

 

For all noob geocachers listening to this thread, Platinum Membership isn't real. It's a childish joke that many here can't grow out of. It's too bad the lame joke has persisted for years every time someone has the nerve to ask a legitimate question.

 

Yea that's it, a joke perpetrated a longgggg time ago. Go on about your business,, nothing to see here folks! ;)

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51 minutes ago, Mudfrog said:
20 hours ago, bflentje said:

For all noob geocachers listening to this thread, Platinum Membership isn't real. It's a childish joke that many here can't grow out of. It's too bad the lame joke has persisted for years every time someone has the nerve to ask a legitimate question.

Yea that's it, a joke perpetrated a longgggg time ago. Go on about your business,, nothing to see here folks! ;)

And just to be perfectly clear, I'll repeat again that there is absolutely no such thing as Platinum Membership. The highest level of membership is Premium Membership, no matter what other types of secret membership might be discussed. Any type of membership higher than Premium Membership is just an old joke. Absolutely, positively, 100% guaranteed. ;)

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1 hour ago, niraD said:

And just to be perfectly clear, I'll repeat again that there is absolutely no such thing as Platinum Membership. The highest level of membership is Premium Membership, no matter what other types of secret membership might be discussed. Any type of membership higher than Premium Membership is just an old joke. Absolutely, positively, 100% guaranteed. ;)

 

Yes!  This is exactly what I try to explain to people as I board the courtesy jet.

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10 hours ago, PlantAKiss said:

Wait...I’m a Platinum member. Aren’t y’all??? ???

With a public admission like that, I wouldn't count on remaining a Platinum Member for very long. The first rule of Platinum Membership, and all that.

 

Not that I would know anything about Platinum Membership, if it really existed.

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