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Cache Sabotage? Really?


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We are so lucky to have a special cacher in our area who creates some of THE BEST series around! His series are not about the 5 star difficulty micro hide or the impossible terrain etc... His focus is on the journey and taking you to THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACES you would NEVER otherwise see or experience if not for his caches. His series are mostly made up of numerous traditionals with clues to 1 or more ? finals. Today we ventured out to find his series with 24 traditionals, some of which have clues to the final, and the final. A large part of the fun is in collecting the clues/codes on/in each cache and then putting things together at the end to see where the final is. The traditionals are scattered in groups of 4-5 in several local parks/preserves. To our dismay we find all 5 in one park with half the clues PURPOSEFULLY either burned off, ripped off or scraped off. We're freaking out because we just hiked almost 2 miles to the farthest of these 5 caches only to find half the clues on each, to the final, 'destroyed.' 2 miles isn't that far BUT who wants to trekk back again? We send the CO an email stating half the codes are missing on 5 caches in the series and please call us so we can not only get the codes but also write the codes on the logsheets or wherever in each so the next cachers to visit can get the codes and make it to the final....until he can come out and fix things. We speak to the CO a bit later as we're getting into our vehicle and it turns out he already knows about the 'sabotage' which is why he, unbeknownst to us, has posted the full coords to the final on that cache page thus rendering it pretty much another traditional. I had mixed emotions while speaking to him. I FELT SO BAD for him. I was irate for us and SERIOUSLY TICKED OFF that someone would do what they did to his hard worked series. He on the other hand was very calm and laid back almost forgiving. Long story short, whoever did this should be stripped of their GC membership! They ruined our journey. They ruined the COs hard work. They ruined the experience and joy of this series for a lot of people. I guess my question is, what sort of person does this sort of thing? This CO is the nicest person you could ever want to know. He has helped me with so many things. Recently he spent hours teaching me about waypoint projections and not just copying/pasting info but really taking the time to help me understand and even offering to meet in person so we could practice together. It just makes me really sad that there are people in the game who would do evil things like this to such a great person. We have our caches stolen all the time or the caps or lids stolen from our caches by another member. We have come to, I guess, accept it and move on.What we experienced today with witnessing these codes being burned off/scraped off this member's caches really made me mad.

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Perhaps the FTF on the final bonus cache was still up for grabs when the 'damage' was done?

People will do ANYTHING to get that coveted FTF, ya know. Ethics will just get in your way.

 

That appears to be the only motive, as everything else is in place. However in that case, it would be easy to determine who did it, and rather obvious to other cachers. They either are being set up by others to look bad, or not that sharp.

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I feel sorry for the CO. Unfortunately, this kind of things happens far too often. I am starting to think that the proliferation of Geo-capable devices to people who have nothing invested in geocaching or preserving the game are causing damage that shows up in caches. I can't say all, but I would think that a person who has found caches, hidden caches, etc. is invested in the game and would not purposefully damage another's cache. I don't know the solution. I would say don't become discouraged! There are enough good folks out there geocachers or not that the evil doers will not prevail.

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I hear what you are saying, but there are a couple of things you said that I would like to mention that may want to reconsider for a better experience next time something like this happens:

 

You begin by saying, "His focus is on the journey and taking you to THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACES you would NEVER otherwise see or experience if not for his caches."

 

But then, you go on to say, "2 miles isn't that far BUT who wants to trekk back again?" and "They ruined our journey."

 

If the cache really brought you to such an awesome location, how was your journey ruined by not being able to find the last cache, and why would you NOT want to trek back there again? The best attitude, I'd think, would be to consider yourself fortunate for having an additional reason to return besides to enjoy the beauty of the spot.

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I know exactly what your saying as I have experienced the same thing before.

 

The other type of sabotage that I have experienced in the last year, is that someone has been damaging and also stealing containers that I have put out. One of my containers is an onsite puzzle, and the original container cost me $150.00 plus the time that I spent building it. it was stolen. Then I replaced it with another container that I also had to purchase parts for and then build. This time though I move the cache about 40 feet south and attached it to some debris (car chassis) that was dumped there eons ago. I locked it to the frame with a gun lock and attached a stainless steel chain to that, thus making it possible to solve the puzzle still.

 

Not too long after when another local cacher went after the new cache container, I received a phone call with more unsettling news. Someone had attacked my security measures, although they failed to remove the cache, they did considerable damage to the cache container. It was still solvable, but all of the fun was taken out of solving the puzzle, as the bottom had been broken out making it easy to see/solve the puzzle.

 

The only form of possible security that I have come up with is that I make all of my caches premium member only now. I do not like to this all the time as there are alot of newbies and others that want to see creative hides and they are forced to either accompany others to my hides or pay for a premium membership. Since I have done this though I have not had a single incident(knock on wood) with any of my caches being stolen.

 

What it comes down to is cost. I spent $750.00 between 3 hides that I put out, two of them were stolen and had to be replaced and one of those was damaged yet again. My other cache that was taken, was actually found over a .10 of a mile from GZ. How it was seen I have no idea, the cache which was somewhat difficult to create, as far as some of the parts that needed to be able to withstand the uncertain weather that we have up here in Washington. I have woodworking experience and the knowledge and means to waterproof what i can, but when the cache is stolen or an attempt at stealing it just irks those such as myself who feel responsible to put caches out for others to find.

 

For me this is the worse kind of sabotage.

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I hear what you are saying, but there are a couple of things you said that I would like to mention that may want to reconsider for a better experience next time something like this happens:

 

You begin by saying, "His focus is on the journey and taking you to THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACES you would NEVER otherwise see or experience if not for his caches."

 

But then, you go on to say, "2 miles isn't that far BUT who wants to trekk back again?" and "They ruined our journey."

 

If the cache really brought you to such an awesome location, how was your journey ruined by not being able to find the last cache, and why would you NOT want to trek back there again? The best attitude, I'd think, would be to consider yourself fortunate for having an additional reason to return besides to enjoy the beauty of the spot.

 

Yeah, I've been to Yellowstone and Yosemite...who would want to go there again? ;)

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If the cache really brought you to such an awesome location, how was your journey ruined by not being able to find the last cache, and why would you NOT want to trek back there again? The best attitude, I'd think, would be to consider yourself fortunate for having an additional reason to return besides to enjoy the beauty of the spot.

This is a really good point, although I know how easy it can be to lose sight of it. I've never experienced this kind of intentional interference, but I have trek'd a ways only to fail to find the cache all on my own. Definitely frustrating, but I'm OK if I remind myself that the cache isn't the reason I went, it's just what got me to go.

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In any given segment of society, in any group of people, within any activity there will be a certain percentage of people whose sense of morals and decorum will be counter to those of the majority and whose attitudes and actions will defy all understanding. All the rest of us can do about these people is try to minimize their collateral damage as they move through life, turn our backs, and quietly say to ourselves......"jerk!"

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In any given segment of society, in any group of people, within any activity there will be a certain percentage of people whose sense of morals and decorum will be counter to those of the majority and whose attitudes and actions will defy all understanding. All the rest of us can do about these people is try to minimize their collateral damage as they move through life, turn our backs, and quietly say to ourselves......"jerk!"

 

TRUE!

 

Sadly, this is becoming more the case in Geocaching, when in the past it was mostly not an issue.

Five years ago I would have offered our spare room to any Geocacher(s) who needed a place to stay...nowadays I'm not so sure I would. :(

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TRUE!

 

Sadly, this is becoming more the case in Geocaching, when in the past it was mostly not an issue.

Five years ago I would have offered our spare room to any Geocacher(s) who needed a place to stay...nowadays I'm not so sure I would. :(

That's too true.

 

On one of my caches I used to have a standing invite to any and all cachers stop by my place for a steak and beer after finishing the cache. Now if I don't know them, I don't want them stopping by.

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TRUE!

 

Sadly, this is becoming more the case in Geocaching, when in the past it was mostly not an issue.

Five years ago I would have offered our spare room to any Geocacher(s) who needed a place to stay...nowadays I'm not so sure I would. :(

That's too true.

 

On one of my caches I used to have a standing invite to any and all cachers stop by my place for a steak and beer after finishing the cache. Now if I don't know them, I don't want them stopping by.

This is my first post on here so I hope I am doing it right and it works:) I am scared to even make contact with cachers in my area as they are strangers and I have geokids. Maybe 10 years ago I would have had no fear, but not these days, quite a sad state of affairs

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I feel sorry for the CO. Unfortunately, this kind of things happens far too often. I am starting to think that the proliferation of Geo-capable devices to people who have nothing invested in geocaching or preserving the game are causing damage that shows up in caches. I can't say all, but I would think that a person who has found caches, hidden caches, etc. is invested in the game and would not purposefully damage another's cache. I don't know the solution. I would say don't become discouraged! There are enough good folks out there geocachers or not that the evil doers will not prevail.

 

+1......I don't know if these were Premium only caches but they should be.....it does help.

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TRUE!

 

Sadly, this is becoming more the case in Geocaching, when in the past it was mostly not an issue.

Five years ago I would have offered our spare room to any Geocacher(s) who needed a place to stay...nowadays I'm not so sure I would. :(

That's too true.

 

On one of my caches I used to have a standing invite to any and all cachers stop by my place for a steak and beer after finishing the cache. Now if I don't know them, I don't want them stopping by.

This is my first post on here so I hope I am doing it right and it works:) I am scared to even make contact with cachers in my area as they are strangers and I have geokids. Maybe 10 years ago I would have had no fear, but not these days, quite a sad state of affairs

 

Your fear has nothing to do with geocaching. Geocachers are just a microcosm of people in general, and I would have to say that my experience is that the proportion of good/evil people is probably higher with geocachers. The best way to meet other cachers is at geocaching events. I looked in the area of your last find and sadly, the closest event is over a 100 miles away. The anti-social, mad at the world types usually don't show up to events, so you end up with nice helpful people. I am not very good at meeting new people, and was very apprehensive about attending my first event. That was seven years ago and I have spent countless hours hiking and urban caching with the people that I met that day. I have been to their homes, gone to parties that had nothing to do with geocaching, gone to lunch, dinner. Many are now my friends, not just geofriends.

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Luckily, I can't recall someone's specific caches ever being targeted in this area. We have someone that is obviously using the website to steal ammo cans, and we had two incidents of self proclaimed "pirates" that died off rather quickly when CO's simply replaced their caches with minimal publicity.

 

I agree that some people are jerks, some don't know right from wrong and simply don't care. It's a product of our self entitled, me, me, society.

 

How many times have a few forum regulars jokingly posted, "if they deleted my log, they'd be having to do some cache maintenance in the future". It's sad, but there are people that really think this way and will act on it. You took my log away, I'll take your cache away. It's all about me. How dare you disrespect me. I'm entitled to log it if I want. I play by my rules, not yours, and if you don't like it, I'll pee in your cache.

 

Just a reflection of life in general. It's my parking space. It's my lane on the freeway, even if you were passing me. I will block the intersection even though it says "do not block". It's my aisle in the market and I'll block it with my cart if I want. My time is more important than yours so I will go through the 10 item checkout with 20 items. I'm too busy to wait a second to hold the elevator door.

 

Sad state of affairs...

Edited by Don_J
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GlacierGlider I understand your frustration. I haven't spent nearly what you've laid out for caches. I've noticed that a few of my clever cache containers go missing not long after I replace them. It isn't park maintenance, and I doubt it is muggles. I did an experiment, I replaced a cache but did not make a owner maintenance log of it. The cache stayed there and people found it. When I made a note that a new container was there it disappeared within a week.

 

I don't think that I will describe a couple of my caches as "ammo cans" anymore either.

 

I find myself saying "jerk" a lot more often nowadays.

Edited by wing-nut
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GlacierGlider I understand your frustration. I haven't spent nearly what you've laid out for caches. I've noticed that a few of my clever cache containers go missing not long after I replace them. It isn't park maintenance, and I doubt it is muggles. I did an experiment, I replaced a cache but did not make a owner maintenance log of it. The cache stayed there and people found it. When I made a note that a new container was there it disappeared within a week.

 

I don't think that I will describe a couple of my caches as "ammo cans" anymore either.

 

I find myself saying "jerk" a lot more often nowadays.

 

If people in my area place ammo cans and describe them on the cache page, they disappear rather quickly. If we don't mention them, they stick around for awhile. Eventually, someone mentions ammo can in their found log, and the next log is a DNF. This is different however than a single cacher's caches being singled out because of some offense he may, or may not have caused to someone else. If someone really tees me off, I just won't hunt their caches. End of problem.

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Unfortunately, it becomes a heart issue. I have only been involved in this fun activity for a couple of years, so i am sure people in the earlier days of geocaching were more responsible. As time goes by we see the ethics of life invade most any activity and that includes the more people find out about geocaching. With the influx of more participants, is the addtional hazard of some people with no respect for anyone's property as they carry that ethic in everything they do. Tongue-in-cheek I say maybe we need background checks for the new geocachers.

 

My gratitude goes to those that palce the caches for others to enjoy the hunt for...

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This is my first post on here so I hope I am doing it right and it works:) I am scared to even make contact with cachers in my area as they are strangers and I have geokids. Maybe 10 years ago I would have had no fear, but not these days, quite a sad state of affairs

 

Everybody is a stranger until you meet them. Every activity has its share of jerks, but because geocaching is a sport that is completely dependent on the decency, honesty and good will of its participants, I think that overall it tends to attract a better sort of person. I've found the percentage of jerks to be much smaller than in the general population. Some of the finest people I know I've met through geocaching. Don't be afraid, go out and make friends.

Edited by briansnat
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We are so lucky to have a special cacher in our area who creates some of THE BEST series around! His series are not about the 5 star difficulty micro hide or the impossible terrain etc... His focus is on the journey and taking you to THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACES you would NEVER otherwise see or experience if not for his caches. His series are mostly made up of numerous traditionals with clues to 1 or more ? finals. Today we ventured out to find his series with 24 traditionals, some of which have clues to the final, and the final. A large part of the fun is in collecting the clues/codes on/in each cache and then putting things together at the end to see where the final is. The traditionals are scattered in groups of 4-5 in several local parks/preserves. To our dismay we find all 5 in one park with half the clues PURPOSEFULLY either burned off, ripped off or scraped off. We're freaking out because we just hiked almost 2 miles to the farthest of these 5 caches only to find half the clues on each, to the final, 'destroyed.' 2 miles isn't that far BUT who wants to trekk back again? We send the CO an email stating half the codes are missing on 5 caches in the series and please call us so we can not only get the codes but also write the codes on the logsheets or wherever in each so the next cachers to visit can get the codes and make it to the final....until he can come out and fix things. We speak to the CO a bit later as we're getting into our vehicle and it turns out he already knows about the 'sabotage' which is why he, unbeknownst to us, has posted the full coords to the final on that cache page thus rendering it pretty much another traditional. I had mixed emotions while speaking to him. I FELT SO BAD for him. I was irate for us and SERIOUSLY TICKED OFF that someone would do what they did to his hard worked series. He on the other hand was very calm and laid back almost forgiving. Long story short, whoever did this should be stripped of their GC membership! They ruined our journey. They ruined the COs hard work. They ruined the experience and joy of this series for a lot of people. I guess my question is, what sort of person does this sort of thing? This CO is the nicest person you could ever want to know. He has helped me with so many things. Recently he spent hours teaching me about waypoint projections and not just copying/pasting info but really taking the time to help me understand and even offering to meet in person so we could practice together. It just makes me really sad that there are people in the game who would do evil things like this to such a great person. We have our caches stolen all the time or the caps or lids stolen from our caches by another member. We have come to, I guess, accept it and move on.What we experienced today with witnessing these codes being burned off/scraped off this member's caches really made me mad.

 

Paragraphs

 

Make reading

 

So much easier

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Sorry to hear the experience was diminished by someone being rude. Sorry the same thing happens when you try to explain it on the forums.

 

If you're talking about my comment about the paragaphs, I wasn't trying to be rude. I try to be helpful and constructive on these forums.

 

But... maybe it's my failing eyesight or perhaps my narrowing attention span but try as I may I simply couldn't scan that swodge of text. I'd start reading but my eyes would try and dodge several lines further down the paragraph.

 

I don't know whether others had problems reading it but I for one simply couldn't contribute to the OP's dilema because I couldn't understand it in the first place. I work in a area that is awash in statues and standards and when I come home from wading through such dense screeds of text, I'd rather things were set out in user friendly English, including its layout.

 

Apologies if I offended the OP.

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Sorry to hear the experience was diminished by someone being rude. Sorry the same thing happens when you try to explain it on the forums.

 

If you're talking about my comment about the paragaphs, I wasn't trying to be rude. I try to be helpful and constructive on these forums.

 

But... maybe it's my failing eyesight or perhaps my narrowing attention span but try as I may I simply couldn't scan that swodge of text. I'd start reading but my eyes would try and dodge several lines further down the paragraph.

 

I don't know whether others had problems reading it but I for one simply couldn't contribute to the OP's dilema because I couldn't understand it in the first place. I work in a area that is awash in statues and standards and when I come home from wading through such dense screeds of text, I'd rather things were set out in user friendly English, including its layout.

 

Apologies if I offended the OP.

 

It was a tough read.

The OP does tend to get on a roll, and (except for locating the return key) is apparently a pretty good typist.

 

Can we talk about thread sabotage now? :lol:

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We are so lucky to have a special cacher in our area who creates some of THE BEST series around! His series are not about the 5 star difficulty micro hide or the impossible terrain etc... His focus is on the journey and taking you to THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACES you would NEVER otherwise see or experience if not for his caches. His series are mostly made up of numerous traditionals with clues to 1 or more ? finals. Today we ventured out to find his series with 24 traditionals, some of which have clues to the final, and the final. A large part of the fun is in collecting the clues/codes on/in each cache and then putting things together at the end to see where the final is. The traditionals are scattered in groups of 4-5 in several local parks/preserves. To our dismay we find all 5 in one park with half the clues PURPOSEFULLY either burned off, ripped off or scraped off. We're freaking out because we just hiked almost 2 miles to the farthest of these 5 caches only to find half the clues on each, to the final, 'destroyed.' 2 miles isn't that far BUT who wants to trekk back again? We send the CO an email stating half the codes are missing on 5 caches in the series and please call us so we can not only get the codes but also write the codes on the logsheets or wherever in each so the next cachers to visit can get the codes and make it to the final....until he can come out and fix things. We speak to the CO a bit later as we're getting into our vehicle and it turns out he already knows about the 'sabotage' which is why he, unbeknownst to us, has posted the full coords to the final on that cache page thus rendering it pretty much another traditional. I had mixed emotions while speaking to him. I FELT SO BAD for him. I was irate for us and SERIOUSLY TICKED OFF that someone would do what they did to his hard worked series. He on the other hand was very calm and laid back almost forgiving. Long story short, whoever did this should be stripped of their GC membership! They ruined our journey. They ruined the COs hard work. They ruined the experience and joy of this series for a lot of people. I guess my question is, what sort of person does this sort of thing? This CO is the nicest person you could ever want to know. He has helped me with so many things. Recently he spent hours teaching me about waypoint projections and not just copying/pasting info but really taking the time to help me understand and even offering to meet in person so we could practice together. It just makes me really sad that there are people in the game who would do evil things like this to such a great person. We have our caches stolen all the time or the caps or lids stolen from our caches by another member. We have come to, I guess, accept it and move on.What we experienced today with witnessing these codes being burned off/scraped off this member's caches really made me mad.

 

Paragraphs

 

Make reading

 

So much easier

Sorry! Instead of making fun of me, how about helping me? I would like to post photos of the sabotaged containers but I'm not sure how to do it. I don't know much about how things work in the forums but would appreciate any help and/or advice.

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91883551-d490-45b8-bc1d-33ddec679cef.jpg

8a2649b5-f470-4360-b84a-a12def52c16e.jpg

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We are so lucky to have a special cacher in our area who creates some of THE BEST series around! His series are not about the 5 star difficulty micro hide or the impossible terrain etc... His focus is on the journey and taking you to THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACES you would NEVER otherwise see or experience if not for his caches. His series are mostly made up of numerous traditionals with clues to 1 or more ? finals. Today we ventured out to find his series with 24 traditionals, some of which have clues to the final, and the final. A large part of the fun is in collecting the clues/codes on/in each cache and then putting things together at the end to see where the final is. The traditionals are scattered in groups of 4-5 in several local parks/preserves. To our dismay we find all 5 in one park with half the clues PURPOSEFULLY either burned off, ripped off or scraped off. We're freaking out because we just hiked almost 2 miles to the farthest of these 5 caches only to find half the clues on each, to the final, 'destroyed.' 2 miles isn't that far BUT who wants to trekk back again? We send the CO an email stating half the codes are missing on 5 caches in the series and please call us so we can not only get the codes but also write the codes on the logsheets or wherever in each so the next cachers to visit can get the codes and make it to the final....until he can come out and fix things. We speak to the CO a bit later as we're getting into our vehicle and it turns out he already knows about the 'sabotage' which is why he, unbeknownst to us, has posted the full coords to the final on that cache page thus rendering it pretty much another traditional. I had mixed emotions while speaking to him. I FELT SO BAD for him. I was irate for us and SERIOUSLY TICKED OFF that someone would do what they did to his hard worked series. He on the other hand was very calm and laid back almost forgiving. Long story short, whoever did this should be stripped of their GC membership! They ruined our journey. They ruined the COs hard work. They ruined the experience and joy of this series for a lot of people. I guess my question is, what sort of person does this sort of thing? This CO is the nicest person you could ever want to know. He has helped me with so many things. Recently he spent hours teaching me about waypoint projections and not just copying/pasting info but really taking the time to help me understand and even offering to meet in person so we could practice together. It just makes me really sad that there are people in the game who would do evil things like this to such a great person. We have our caches stolen all the time or the caps or lids stolen from our caches by another member. We have come to, I guess, accept it and move on.What we experienced today with witnessing these codes being burned off/scraped off this member's caches really made me mad.

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I recently had a wonderful cache get vandalised. It was padlocked and someone actually cut the padlocks and stole the two ammo cans inside. Once of which had about 10 TB's in it. From now on all my caches are premium only. It was something I tried to avoid.

 

58950_154005307956695_338553_n.jpg

 

70b59568-8175-4592-8f4f-a2fc22ef9ca3.jpg

 

Makes me wonder if maybe the utility company got curious...

PMO was something that many of us tryed to avoid, but that is what it has came to for me also on many of my listings. :(

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Instead of making fun of me, how about helping me? I would like to post photos of the sabotaged containers but I'm not sure how to do it.

I see you found the Image command in the forum posting box. Let us know if you have any questions.

 

You can add multiple images in a single post by repeating the command and adding the URL's for each image, one at a time.

 

You can add a new reply without quoting the original post. Just choose "add reply" instead of "quote."

 

I've removed some double-posts and edited a post to reduce repetition.

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Instead of making fun of me, how about helping me? I would like to post photos of the sabotaged containers but I'm not sure how to do it.

I see you found the Image command in the forum posting box. Let us know if you have any questions.

 

You can add multiple images in a single post by repeating the command and adding the URL's for each image, one at a time.

 

You can add a new reply without quoting the original post. Just choose "add reply" instead of "quote."

 

I've removed some double-posts and edited a post to reduce repetition.

thank you! i feel embarrassed to ask for help. i just wanted to share our experience and express our disappointment with what happened to this member's caches. i'm always nervous about posting in the forums because i'm not familiar with how things work or the right 'language' to use etc... some of the comments to my post make me feel really bad but it's more important for me to learn from the positive feedback than it is to not ever post in the forums again because of someone who just wants to make me feel bad or insult me. i appreciate any assistance i might receive that will help me to be a better member of the forums.

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I recently had a wonderful cache get vandalised. It was padlocked and someone actually cut the padlocks and stole the two ammo cans inside. Once of which had about 10 TB's in it. From now on all my caches are premium only. It was something I tried to avoid.

 

58950_154005307956695_338553_n.jpg

 

70b59568-8175-4592-8f4f-a2fc22ef9ca3.jpg

 

I'm not so sure I'd blame geocachers for that one. Wouldn't a geocacher have instructions regarding how to access the cache?

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I recently had a wonderful cache get vandalised. It was padlocked and someone actually cut the padlocks and stole the two ammo cans inside. Once of which had about 10 TB's in it. From now on all my caches are premium only. It was something I tried to avoid.

 

58950_154005307956695_338553_n.jpg

 

70b59568-8175-4592-8f4f-a2fc22ef9ca3.jpg

 

I'm not so sure I'd blame geocachers for that one. Wouldn't a geocacher have instructions regarding how to access the cache?

 

This reminds me of someone who hid a bunch of caches in lousy, muggle ridden areas, then posted angsty archive notes claiming someone was out to get him when they disappeared.

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We are so lucky to have a special cacher in our area who creates some of THE BEST series around! His series are not about the 5 star difficulty micro hide or the impossible terrain etc... His focus is on the journey and taking you to THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACES you would NEVER otherwise see or experience if not for his caches. His series are mostly made up of numerous traditionals with clues to 1 or more ? finals. Today we ventured out to find his series with 24 traditionals, some of which have clues to the final, and the final. A large part of the fun is in collecting the clues/codes on/in each cache and then putting things together at the end to see where the final is. The traditionals are scattered in groups of 4-5 in several local parks/preserves. To our dismay we find all 5 in one park with half the clues PURPOSEFULLY either burned off, ripped off or scraped off. We're freaking out because we just hiked almost 2 miles to the farthest of these 5 caches only to find half the clues on each, to the final, 'destroyed.' 2 miles isn't that far BUT who wants to trekk back again? We send the CO an email stating half the codes are missing on 5 caches in the series and please call us so we can not only get the codes but also write the codes on the logsheets or wherever in each so the next cachers to visit can get the codes and make it to the final....until he can come out and fix things. We speak to the CO a bit later as we're getting into our vehicle and it turns out he already knows about the 'sabotage' which is why he, unbeknownst to us, has posted the full coords to the final on that cache page thus rendering it pretty much another traditional. I had mixed emotions while speaking to him. I FELT SO BAD for him. I was irate for us and SERIOUSLY TICKED OFF that someone would do what they did to his hard worked series. He on the other hand was very calm and laid back almost forgiving. Long story short, whoever did this should be stripped of their GC membership! They ruined our journey. They ruined the COs hard work. They ruined the experience and joy of this series for a lot of people. I guess my question is, what sort of person does this sort of thing? This CO is the nicest person you could ever want to know. He has helped me with so many things. Recently he spent hours teaching me about waypoint projections and not just copying/pasting info but really taking the time to help me understand and even offering to meet in person so we could practice together. It just makes me really sad that there are people in the game who would do evil things like this to such a great person. We have our caches stolen all the time or the caps or lids stolen from our caches by another member. We have come to, I guess, accept it and move on.What we experienced today with witnessing these codes being burned off/scraped off this member's caches really made me mad.

 

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Sorry! Instead of making fun of me, how about helping me? I would like to post photos of the sabotaged containers but I'm not sure how to do it. I don't know much about how things work in the forums but would appreciate any help and/or advice.

 

Huntleigh was attempting to provide helpful advice.

 

From your post, I certainly didn't derive that you needed help in posing images.

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We also have a guy around here that has stolen dozens of caches. The fact is known by his hate speech and threats received by email and read on the net. He has done his best to stay anonymous, of course. The guy is not a muggle but geocacher, we know that he has even placed his own cache in our city. The reason of this ugly behavior is quite simple for a Russian player but may need some explaning to others. Many Russian geocachers are pretty sure that once a geocacher reached the place there should be no troubles for him to simply grab the cache. This guy could probably be deeply infected with this idea. Failing to easily find a couple of caches he became rude and aggressive and declared war to "invalid caches" (as he thinks of them).

 

IMHO. You can make your caches premium-only, I agree with this suggestion. In our country this won't work, but in your situation it may be a good variant. You can check your caches regularly. Try to discuss the problem with local geocaching community so caches might be restored/checked more often. Never restore a stolen geocache in the same hiding place and change your tactics (e.g. camouflage). When creating a geocache which you think could be destroyed, place two containers at once, one of them for further replacement. Perhaps it is a good idea to use (until all this is over) cheaper and simplier containers. Don't discuss these cache destroyers in public (don't do any advertisement to them). They usually don't devote their lives to anti-geocaching, they are just trying to be noticed. When they feel this doesn't work they get bored and switch to some other activity (hopefully not so negative).

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