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A C.O. who hasn't done anything for a year.


madh0us3

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I live in a small town with a number of caches that were placed a few years ago. The person who placed most of them hasn't maintained them for over a year.

 

Some of their caches are still there, and some of them are long gone with a 8 month list of DNF's. Would it be inappropriate to put whole new caches that match the descriptions back in the places where they disappeared from?

 

Should I log the missing ones as "NM" and see if the cache owner does anything?

 

Is there like a certain amount of time given as a grace period before someone should/can take action on these?

Edited by madh0us3
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If there hasn't been a reply for a Needs Maintenance in a long time, then someone should be posting Needs Archived, and the reviewer will get an email and can look into it. If some of the caches are in good shape, I would leave them alone, and let them be. Someone has to remove any that are archived and still there.

Does anyone know what happened to this CO?

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OK, well that wasn't too hard to figure out who it was.

They are not inactive. You can look at their profile and see that they logged in April of this year. They might have issues. But they are not inactive on the website.

 

Edit, so yes, log the NM. Several of their caches already have them. 4/17 do. Only post a NM if there isn't one already. The ones that already have them, I'd write a friendly note, remind them. Lately, I need reminders for everything! I know I have to replace a logbook on one cache, and a container on another, but it has been too dang hot to go out. It's been really hot all across the US. Some of us ain't spring chickens, or in the best of health, and the heat and ozone, and air quality has been really bad. You gotta take stuff into consideration before getting all bothered about it.

Edited by Planet
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You could send the CO an email saying that you are out and about in the area and willing to help out if he/she has any maintenance that needs doing, but I wouldn't drop any new containers without express permission from the owner.

 

In fact, perhaps an email first before logging several NMs would be a good idea in this case. Is there a concern about missing caches taking up real estate? I would message and wait a week or two before proceeding with any "official" logs.

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You could send the CO an email saying that you are out and about in the area and willing to help out if he/she has any maintenance that needs doing.....

That tactic would be nice (helping by doing their maintenance).... but in reality, it only 'enables' the CO to stay lazy. A full or damp log is a simple issue to perform a temp fix, repeated fixes and trashed out caches indicate a CO not willing/able to fulfill their obligations.

 

If there are loads of DNF logs, file a NM.

If there is a history of not taking care of a NM (the issue, not the flag), then post a NA.

 

A NA log usually jolts a lazy CO into action... if not, then the reviewer takes the matter up.

 

It may sound harsh, but do we really need more lazy hiders?

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You could send the CO an email saying that you are out and about in the area and willing to help out if he/she has any maintenance that needs doing.....

That tactic would be nice (helping by doing their maintenance).... but in reality, it only 'enables' the CO to stay lazy. <snip>

It may sound harsh, but do we really need more lazy hiders?

 

You are absolutely right GG. I guess I don't think about the owners but more about the seekers who are out hunting unmaintained caches. It makes me sad to hear that some Dad took his kid out caching for the first time at the park and all they found was a broken, wet box. :(

 

I'm a helper - can't help it :lol: I've sent two or three PMs to owners whose caches could use some TLC, offering to fix things up because I live nearby. Only once did I get a reply and the CO took care of it herself. The rest were archived eventually. But I figure it never hurts to try!

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I live in a small town with a number of caches that were placed a few years ago. The person who placed most of them hasn't maintained them for over a year.

 

Some of their caches are still there, and some of them are long gone with a 8 month list of DNF's. Would it be inappropriate to put whole new caches that match the descriptions back in the places where they disappeared from?

 

Should I log the missing ones as "NM" and see if the cache owner does anything?

 

Is there like a certain amount of time given as a grace period before someone should/can take action on these?

 

If you wanted to replace the caches, you'd have to ask the cache owner first. I do occasionally replace a whole cache if the owner is unresponsive and the cache has merit, however this is only a few times a year. It would better IMO to put your time and money into your own caches.

 

Here's what I do for caches that are missing for more than a few months. First post a NM "Will this one be replaced?". Then wait 1 month and post a Needs Archived. "Looks like this one is not coming back." or "Any update?" At this point, the reviwer will get involved and usually give a deadline of 1 month to replace before it's archived. Then, if you really like the spot, you can place your own cache there. From my own experience, about 40% of the time a NA post will trigger the cache owner to replace the cache. The rest of the time the cache owner either archives it or doesn't respond at all and the reviewer archives it.

Edited by The_Incredibles_
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Generally the way to go is as mentioned above.

 

If there have been a lot of DNF's on a cache:

 

Log a "needs maintenance"

 

no action in over a month?

 

Log a "needs archived".

This will send a note to the reviewer. They normally take it from there.

 

If it's a tough cache though, it may normally get a lot of DNF's on it, so if it's a tough cache, wait until there are many confirmed DNF's (by someone who has found it before, which will often happen when a cacher brings a friend back).

 

There are a number of people who log caches on one account and place caches out of a different geo-account, so take that into consideration. And some people simply don't find many.

 

I've seen many, many cachers who have been playing this game since 2003 and have only found 800 caches. So if they haven't logged into the website for a while it doesn't mean anything. That's just the rate at which they log in, although they're still active.

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OK, well that wasn't too hard to figure out who it was.

They are not inactive. You can look at their profile and see that they logged in April of this year. They might have issues. But they are not inactive on the website.

 

Well, that kind of lessens my hope for these missing caches more than it reassures me, really. They logged on three months ago, (hopefully) saw that these need help, and didn't fix them.

 

I'm not like.. upset about it or anything, and I don't want to step on anyone's feet at all, or hassle them or anything like that. I just hate the thought that someone might come to this little town and find that half of the caches are gone.

 

I think I'll try to email the CO and see if I can help.

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