Charter Members

[+Lil Devil]

Among the people I've had test it, bthomas is the current champion with finds for 92 charter members. Wow.

Now that you've published the macro, I found that I got that beat. After taking out finds on my own adopted caches, I have found 642 caches owned by 93 Charter Members. And I'm behind on my logging by a year so that number is probably higher.

[+Lil Devil]

Alamogul likely holds the record with 1893 caches found, owned by 131 Charter Members.

 

Edit to subtract his finds on adopted caches.

Edited May 30, 2014 by Lil Devil

[+Mudfrog]

My issue got resolved. Whew.

 

Do we get to choose which of our caches appears on the list?

 

My methodology was to pick the cache with the most opportunity for a found log. I suppose it might be better to pick the one with the most logs? Since I was going off on my own I just picked the oldest, so in your case it would be Ker-Splash. I don't have a problem with adding one you want to the list though - just let me know.

 

I have two Challenge caches in the queue awaiting approval - one requires 13 different Charter Member finds (easier depending on your location), the other requires 50 (harder).

 

I was a little surprised at how many Charter Members didn't have active caches or any cache at all (and therefore are not in my bookmark list). I suspect that the actual number to choose from will be a good deal smaller than the 491 - maybe that's why I'm stalled at 281 now (282 with fizzymagic)?

 

The one you picked for me isn't particularly popular. It's a long hike for the average cacher so most of the finds seem to be from Boy Scouts coming from the nearby Boy Scout camp.

 

Which would you like to change it to?

 

Nice job to bigcall and fizzy. A "bigcall" challenge looks to be interesting for sure!

 

Since you asked Briansnat, i thought i'd chime in and say that i would like to see the cache under my named changed. I actually adopted Turkey Creek South (GC3AC0), so it's not technically one that i put out myself.

 

My first ever cache placed was Boggy Creek Bonanza (GC5378). It's in an area that i feel won't be compromised by area growth and one that i plan on keeping going for as long as possible.

 

Thanks again!

 

Btw, using the macro, i have only found 10 Charter Members' caches. Looks like i have my work cut out for me...

[+bigcall]

Nice job to bigcall and fizzy. A "bigcall" challenge looks to be interesting for sure!

 

Since you asked Briansnat, i thought i'd chime in and say that i would like to see the cache under my named changed. I actually adopted Turkey Creek South (GC3AC0), so it's not technically one that i put out myself.

 

My first ever cache placed was Boggy Creek Bonanza (GC5378). It's in an area that i feel won't be compromised by area growth and one that i plan on keeping going for as long as possible.

 

Thanks again!

 

Btw, using the macro, i have only found 10 Charter Members' caches. Looks like i have my work cut out for me...

Done!

[+Roman!]

The current number of charter members now stands at 477 (hopefully the ones who dropped haven't been hit by whatever bug caused the problem for fizzy). Of those, 384 have hidden a geocache.

 

I pulled the complete list of these caches from the database and posted the results as a Google Doc here. Please let me know if you have trouble accessing it.

 

Is there any way to include what state/province the caches are in?

 

Thanks.

 

EDIT: never mind but I swear that info wasn't there the first time I looked, mind you my wife says I'm not that observant.

Edited June 1, 2014 by Roman!

[+Tomo134]

Is it still possible to get a charter member?

[+Roman!]

Is it still possible to get a charter member?

 

Yes but it's an honorary title for employees and reviewers.

[+fizzymagic]

Two bigcall challenges have appeared in Northern California.

[+wimseyguy]

Is it still possible to get a charter member?

 

Do you mean get one as a pet, or get one into bed?

[+Uncle Alaska]

Thanks for the great macro!! I now have another challenge to add to my growing list. I have 66 finds by 14 Charter Members. Can get some of the smaller challenges, have my work cut out for the 50+ ones.

[+The Leprechauns]

The Elves' PA Bigcall Challenge has just been published. It's located in a suburban Pittsburgh park, easily accessible from the airport and two major interstates.

 

Check out who published the cache!!!

 

Others interested in setting up a Bigcall Challenge are welcome to borrow any of the language from my cache listing, so long as "Bigcall Challenge" is part of your cache name.

[+fishgeek]

The Elves' PA Bigcall Challenge has just been published. It's located in a suburban Pittsburgh park, easily accessible from the airport and two major interstates.

 

Check out who published the cache!!!

 

Others interested in setting up a Bigcall Challenge are welcome to borrow any of the language from my cache listing, so long as "Bigcall Challenge" is part of your cache name.

 

Fifty Charter Members is tough. I have the thirteen for the "bigcall lite" challenge, but I have a lot of work to do for this one.

 

(I'd have a better shot at it if you guys can get "Elves on the Waterfront" re-enabled.)

[+The Leprechauns]

Fifty Charter Members is tough. I have the thirteen for the "bigcall lite" challenge, but I have a lot of work to do for this one.

 

(I'd have a better shot at it if you guys can get "Elves on the Waterfront" re-enabled.)

I'm dealing with a "throwdown cache" problem at "Elves on the Waterfront." The problem is, I can't find the throwdown that everyone else was finding. Until I do, I don't want to re-hide the real cache and enable the listing.

 

The good news is, I have another cache, "Triangulated Elves," one block away from there -- that cache is in place and was just found today. It's across the street from the Convention Center.

[+WRASTRO]

Wow, I will have a darned tough time managing to get to 50 charter members. Running the macro I show 67 finds and 16 charter members. Quite the interesting challenge concept and I hope that whatever version shows in in the PNW may be a little more attainable for me.

[Moun10Bike]

I think that this challenge is going to get even more difficult. One of our reviewers notified us that he had lost Charter Membership. In checking on his account, I see that we have dropped to 431 total Charter Members, down significantly from last week even. I suspect that recent changes in the membership service are causing unexpected loss of Charter status. I have notified our engineering team that something appears to be amiss.

[+The Leprechauns]

Hopefully, as was done for fizzymagic, Charter Member status can be restored for those who lost their status through no fault of their own -- like if an auto-billing failed or if no notice of upcoming expiration was sent.

[Moun10Bike]

Whoops, never mind! I was looking at the accounts with a cache hide, not total number of accounts. All is fine!

[+bigcall]

I think that this challenge is going to get even more difficult. One of our reviewers notified us that he had lost Charter Membership. In checking on his account, I see that we have dropped to 431 total Charter Members, down significantly from last week even. I suspect that recent changes in the membership service are causing unexpected loss of Charter status. I have notified our engineering team that something appears to be amiss.

431 matches my number on the bookmark list - good to know they synch up. Not sure how easy it will be to keep track of it in the future though?

[+Tomo134]

What is the difference between a charter membership and a normal premium membership?

[+Lil Devil]

What is the difference between a charter membership and a normal premium membership?

You must be new here

[+Prying Pandora]

I have a hunch that like the Fizzy/Jasmer challenges, this is a challenge type that people will try to chase down when they are traveling. I don't see an existing bookmark list of the challenge caches based on this, so I started one. It's hard to track them all down with the current limitations of search tools on geocaching.com, so I probably missed some. If you identify one I missed, email me and I'll add it to the list.

[+ADKer]

These are accounts simply had their status changed in the database as a perk of the workplace (there's your solution to becoming a Charter Member, Roman! ). The last "true" Charter Member in the list is ID = 106426.

 

You wouldn't happen to need a new landscape architect at the HQ, would you?

[+drpepper]

Wow...are there really only 400-500 charter members?

Edited July 27, 2014 by drpepper

[+sbell111]

I have a question about this challenge. As I understand the challenge guidelines, previously finds can be applied to the completion of a challenge cache. Therefore, any any old finds on caches that were owned by a PM and have been archived should count. Further, any caches that were owned by a PM should count regardless of whether that person is still a PM (or even caching any longer). Is this correct?

[+Don_J]

I have a question about this challenge. As I understand the challenge guidelines, previously finds can be applied to the completion of a challenge cache. Therefore, any any old finds on caches that were owned by a PM and have been archived should count. Further, any caches that were owned by a PM should count regardless of whether that person is still a PM (or even caching any longer). Is this correct?

 

Since no has chimed in a week. Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that new Challenge have to allow, (the underlined), under the newest guidelines. Older challenges rules are grandfathered in.

[+bigcall]

I have a question about this challenge. As I understand the challenge guidelines, previously finds can be applied to the completion of a challenge cache. Therefore, any any old finds on caches that were owned by a PM and have been archived should count. Further, any caches that were owned by a PM should count regardless of whether that person is still a PM (or even caching any longer). Is this correct?

 

Since no has chimed in a week. Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that new Challenge have to allow, (the underlined), under the newest guidelines. Older challenges rules are grandfathered in.

 

I guess I have not checked back in on this in a while...

 

I can't speak for all of the variants, but at least in my version of the Challenge all previous finds count, archived or not. However, in order to make tracking easier, the cache in question must list the Charter Member as the owner. This stipulation causes some confusion especially in the case of adopted caches, but generally if you find/found a cache and the owner is currently listed as being a Charter Member, it would count - I believe Fizzy's Macro checks this via the owner ID #.

 

Now if someone used to be a Charter Member and is no longer in that category, they would no longer be identified as such and therefore their caches wouldn't count towards the total. I know of a couple of cases where administrative issues caused the lapse and it was allowed to be reverted.

[+Mudfrog]

I have a question about this challenge. As I understand the challenge guidelines, previously finds can be applied to the completion of a challenge cache. Therefore, any any old finds on caches that were owned by a PM and have been archived should count. Further, any caches that were owned by a PM should count regardless of whether that person is still a PM (or even caching any longer). Is this correct?

 

Since no has chimed in a week. Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that new Challenge have to allow, (the underlined), under the newest guidelines. Older challenges rules are grandfathered in.

 

I guess I have not checked back in on this in a while...

 

I can't speak for all of the variants, but at least in my version of the Challenge all previous finds count, archived or not. However, in order to make tracking easier, the cache in question must list the Charter Member as the owner. This stipulation causes some confusion especially in the case of adopted caches, but generally if you find/found a cache and the owner is currently listed as being a Charter Member, it would count - I believe Fizzy's Macro checks this via the owner ID #.

 

Now if someone used to be a Charter Member and is no longer in that category, they would no longer be identified as such and therefore their caches wouldn't count towards the total. I know of a couple of cases where administrative issues caused the lapse and it was allowed to be reverted.

 

I just sent my version of the Bigcall Challenge in for review. It incorporates the same "owner has to be of Charter Member status when the online log is made" requirement. I hope that this stays intact.

 

On a side note,,, i was just thinking that it would be cool if you, maybe someone else with your approval, came up a background image for use on BCC pages.

[+Dame Deco]

Two questions:

 

First--this doesn't show up using the macro (I have 92 caches/51 different members), but it is owned by a Charter Member:

GC4005

 

Anyone else have an example like that?

 

Second--the adoption bit is confusing me.

GC1D

 

This cache seems to show up tons of lists, the owner is Annie!, but that Charter Member isn't the hider. She adopted it. So ownership is all that matters? This cache does come up in the micro list under Annie!, but in my actual GSAK tab for the 92 caches that qualified, it came up as Jim Gooch. Actually--there were 2 or three that came up that way. GizmoGuy from NW Ohio showed up in the list of owners generated by the macro, but is not listed as an owner of the cache in my actual GSAK tab.

 

ETA: Perhaps the tab in GSAK is for who placed it--

 

Thanks for any info you can give--

Edited December 4, 2014 by Dame Deco

[+bigcall]

Two questions:

 

First--this doesn't show up using the macro (I have 92 caches/51 different members), but it is owned by a Charter Member:

GC4005

 

Anyone else have an example like that?

 

Second--the adoption bit is confusing me.

GC1D

 

This cache seems to show up tons of lists, the owner is Annie!, but that Charter Member isn't the hider. She adopted it. So ownership is all that matters? This cache does come up in the micro list under Annie!, but in my actual GSAK tab for the 92 caches that qualified, it came up as Jim Gooch. Actually--there were 2 or three that came up that way. GizmoGuy from NW Ohio showed up in the list of owners generated by the macro, but is not listed as an owner of the cache in my actual GSAK tab.

 

ETA: Perhaps the tab in GSAK is for who placed it--

 

Thanks for any info you can give--

 

Regarding GC4005. Texas-Jacksons didn't show up on Moun10Bike's spreadsheet (see post #109) and my slogs through various caches to find Charter Members didn't catch them either. Not sure if they were a "late" addition due to admin, but they just didn't show up at that point in time. I'll add them to my bookmark list now though.

 

As far as adoptions go, the intent was to make it easy to administer. Deciphering the original cache placer is sometimes not that easy to do so I opted for the easy way and let adopted caches count. I'm not sure when Annie! adopted GC1D, but I know that I have been the caretaker for GC175 for nearly 12 years so I think there's something to be said for ownership. Plus, in most cases there are multiple caches these Charter Members have placed that would also qualify.

 

The GSAK macro goes by the Owner ID # (a column that can be shown in GSAK) which is a somewhat better indicator than the owner name.

 

Hope that helps with any confusion?

[+bigcall]

 

On a side note,,, i was just thinking that it would be cool if you, maybe someone else with your approval, came up a background image for use on BCC pages.

 

I would be happy to use something like that - I'm probably not best qualified to create such an image though.

[+Dame Deco]

Regarding GC4005. Texas-Jacksons didn't show up on Moun10Bike's spreadsheet (see post #109) and my slogs through various caches to find Charter Members didn't catch them either. Not sure if they were a "late" addition due to admin, but they just didn't show up at that point in time. I'll add them to my bookmark list now though.

 

As far as adoptions go, the intent was to make it easy to administer. Deciphering the original cache placer is sometimes not that easy to do so I opted for the easy way and let adopted caches count. I'm not sure when Annie! adopted GC1D, but I know that I have been the caretaker for GC175 for nearly 12 years so I think there's something to be said for ownership. Plus, in most cases there are multiple caches these Charter Members have placed that would also qualify.

 

The GSAK macro goes by the Owner ID # (a column that can be shown in GSAK) which is a somewhat better indicator than the owner name.

 

Hope that helps with any confusion?

 

Ah--that makes total sense about ownership. I'm planning a trip to Colorado, and I was going through some of the old caches looking for charter members, then looked at ALL their caches that would be nearby. One who placed caches in 2002 was still placing them in 2013 and 2014, and another still had old, active caches. Any Annie! cache would count--that makes total sense, it is the logical way to make it all work.

 

The GSAK info is also helpful, thanks!

 

This is a very, very cool idea for a challenge! I'm at 53, but I'm going to for more!

[Moun10Bike]

The current number of charter members now stands at 477 (hopefully the ones who dropped haven't been hit by whatever bug caused the problem for fizzy). Of those, 384 have hidden a geocache.

 

I pulled the complete list of these caches from the database and posted the results as a Google Doc here. Please let me know if you have trouble accessing it.

 

I've just updated the doc with fresh data. I now show 476 charter members - not much of a change from before - but there are now 430 I show as owning a cache!

[Mr.Yuck]

The current number of charter members now stands at 477 (hopefully the ones who dropped haven't been hit by whatever bug caused the problem for fizzy). Of those, 384 have hidden a geocache.

 

I pulled the complete list of these caches from the database and posted the results as a Google Doc here. Please let me know if you have trouble accessing it.

 

I've just updated the doc with fresh data. I now show 476 charter members - not much of a change from before - but there are now 430 I show as owning a cache!

 

That's pretty good! I wouldn't suspect you'll lose too many in the future, besides, you know, the inevitable thing that happens to all of us some day.

 

I actually know a charter member who does not CURRENTLY own a cache. He's hidden like 3, but they're all archived. Does he count? Or the paltry 46 who don't own a cache have never placed any?

[Moun10Bike]

I made sure to include archived caches, so that number is for those who show as never owning a cache.

[Gert]

One down - if they let me...

 

As I've practically stopped geocaching some years ago I was planning to not renew my charter membership pass this time. But my profile still says:

 

Charter Member

Since: 14 Jul 02

Renewal Date: 29 Dec 14

 

Renew Your Membership

 

This time I didn't get the usual reminder email to renew my membership either. Have there been any changes by groundspeek? Free lifetime membership maybe?

 

Just curious,

Gert

 

P.S. And for non-US citizens they "raised" the price (30 EUR instead of 30 USD - based on the billing address). Not that it matters that much, but it's just one more reason...

[+crazypig88]

One down - if they let me...

 

As I've practically stopped geocaching some years ago I was planning to not renew my charter membership pass this time. But my profile still says:

 

Charter Member

Since: 14 Jul 02

Renewal Date: 29 Dec 14

 

Renew Your Membership

 

This time I didn't get the usual reminder email to renew my membership either. Have there been any changes by groundspeek? Free lifetime membership maybe?

 

Just curious,

Gert

 

P.S. And for non-US citizens they "raised" the price (30 EUR instead of 30 USD - based on the billing address). Not that it matters that much, but it's just one more reason...

What does it mean that your account is archived?

[Moun10Bike]

One down - if they let me...

 

As I've practically stopped geocaching some years ago I was planning to not renew my charter membership pass this time. But my profile still says:

 

Charter Member

Since: 14 Jul 02

Renewal Date: 29 Dec 14

 

There is a 25-day grace period for renewal.

[Gert]

What does it mean that your account is archived?

Nothing, it's a joke. I've put it there!

 

There is a 25-day grace period for renewal.

Thanks! Then it'll be over soon. Remaining Charter members can feel even more exclusive then

 

Cheers,

Gert

[Gert]

There is a 25-day grace period for renewal.

 

Actually it was 30 days!

 

cheers,

Gert - basic member now

[+Breaktrack]

My issue got resolved. Whew.

 

Do we get to choose which of our caches appears on the list?

 

My methodology was to pick the cache with the most opportunity for a found log. I suppose it might be better to pick the one with the most logs? Since I was going off on my own I just picked the oldest, so in your case it would be Ker-Splash. I don't have a problem with adding one you want to the list though - just let me know.

 

I have two Challenge caches in the queue awaiting approval - one requires 13 different Charter Member finds (easier depending on your location), the other requires 50 (harder).

 

I was a little surprised at how many Charter Members didn't have active caches or any cache at all (and therefore are not in my bookmark list). I suspect that the actual number to choose from will be a good deal smaller than the 491 - maybe that's why I'm stalled at 281 now (282 with fizzymagic)?

 

Interesting. If I could chose one of mine to be representative of my list, I guess I'd go with "Yellowstone - Shoshone Nickname". It's the oldest virtual cache in Yellowstone National Park, and since I'm now living and working in the park, just seems a better one to be my "list cache".

 

Thanks,

 

Mac

 

Mac

Edited March 22, 2015 by Breaktrack

[+Breaktrack]

The current number of charter members now stands at 477 (hopefully the ones who dropped haven't been hit by whatever bug caused the problem for fizzy). Of those, 384 have hidden a geocache.

 

I pulled the complete list of these caches from the database and posted the results as a Google Doc here. Please let me know if you have trouble accessing it.

 

You always were the "go to" guy to get things done around here. Been quite a while, thought I'd say hey.

 

Mac

[+Team Mumu]

I've had the automated billing thingy not renew me a couple of times causing membership to lapse for a day or two until I noticed and manually renewed. Alas, no charter membership for me.

[+bigcall]

My issue got resolved. Whew.

 

Do we get to choose which of our caches appears on the list?

 

My methodology was to pick the cache with the most opportunity for a found log. I suppose it might be better to pick the one with the most logs? Since I was going off on my own I just picked the oldest, so in your case it would be Ker-Splash. I don't have a problem with adding one you want to the list though - just let me know.

 

I have two Challenge caches in the queue awaiting approval - one requires 13 different Charter Member finds (easier depending on your location), the other requires 50 (harder).

 

I was a little surprised at how many Charter Members didn't have active caches or any cache at all (and therefore are not in my bookmark list). I suspect that the actual number to choose from will be a good deal smaller than the 491 - maybe that's why I'm stalled at 281 now (282 with fizzymagic)?

 

Interesting. If I could chose one of mine to be representative of my list, I guess I'd go with "Yellowstone - Shoshone Nickname". It's the oldest virtual cache in Yellowstone National Park, and since I'm now living and working in the park, just seems a better one to be my "list cache".

 

Thanks,

 

Mac

 

Mac

 

Took me a while, but I changed it on my bookmark list

[+RadioactiveToad]

...

That seems low to me, but I have no way of knowing. It wouldn't be hard for the right person to ascertain this - perhaps an inquiry to the right person could be made? Whoever this "right person" might be.

It was Jeremy himself.

Well that works xD

[Keystone]

Actually, I'd recommend going with Moun10Bike's detailed statistics, pulled from the database for this thread, rather than Jeremy's informal estimate during a conversation. 476 charter members as of late 2014, per Moun10Bike, vs. 95 estimated by Jeremy.

[cezanne]

Actually, I'd recommend going with Moun10Bike's detailed statistics, pulled from the database for this thread, rather than Jeremy's informal estimate during a conversation. 476 charter members as of late 2014, per Moun10Bike, vs. 95 estimated by Jeremy.

 

It would be interesting however to know how many charter members own a cache that is still active.

That number is certainly much lower than 476.

[Moun10Bike]

There are currently 448 charter members (I've eliminated the ones that are not "legit" charter members, such as test accounts at Geocaching HQ). 409 of these have cache hides attached to their account, and 366 have active hides (27,253 total).

 

I've updated my list of charter member hides.

[+fizzymagic]

There are currently 448 charter members (I've eliminated the ones that are not "legit" charter members, such as test accounts at Geocaching HQ). 409 of these have cache hides attached to their account, and 366 have active hides (27,253 total).

 

I have updated the list of charter members in my GSAK macro to reflect this new updated list.

 

It's here.

[+pfaefflejournal]

member since 12/27/2001 - Found first cache 12/29/2001 in Illinois man not a good time of year to geocache in Chicago area.

[+Ltljon]

Just stumbled on this old post & was curious, I remember Moun10bike was #24 but who is #3?