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Bad hints...

BAIN!

By BAIN!
in General geocaching topics

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SwineFlew

+SwineFlew

Posted
Posted

I see some bad hints that cause more damages than necessary. I saw a few liar hints out there and I will say this, it does do damage because people will attack what the hint is point at and keep right on searching.

 

I see some hints out there that doesnt make any senses at all until you find the cache itself. I dont find those very helpful.

 

A good hint is a hint that narrow the search down a bit.

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Don_J

+Don_J

Posted
Posted

Bad hint: "Just like all the others that I hid today". The CO never considered that you could hike the trail from two different trail heads, so his last cache hid was the first one I was seeking.

 

"As you go down the trail, it's on your right". Same thing. As I go down the trail in which direction?

 

"Chin high". Who's chin?

 

"Where a dog would pee". It was!

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uxorious

+uxorious

Posted
Posted (edited)

Not many people have to decode the hint, in the rain, with a pencil these days. However, it does happen. I really wish everyone who encodes a stupid hint,(or non hint) will someday find themselves having to do so.

 

Non hints, and hints that cannot be used at GZ, are as rude as someone who would pass gas in a crowded elevator.

 

Edited to add that you don't need to leave anything in the hint. If you do not want people to have a hint, that is just fine, BUT LEAVE THAT PART BLANK THEN. :mad:<_<

Edited by uxorious
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J Grouchy

+J Grouchy

Posted
Posted

Not to pick on a single cacher, but any cache by boo2931 will have a completely useless remark in the "hint". They aren't hints, exactly...and for some reason he appears compelled to put "none" or "not yet" or some other such wording in the hint. Just leave it blank if you don't want to give a hint!

 

https://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?tx=40861821-1835-4e11-b666-8d41064d03fe&u=boo2931

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GeoTrekker26

+GeoTrekker26

Posted
Posted

One of the best hints, which some may consider one of the worst, is on an open campus. The hint is "under the tree." After some unproductive searching around the many exposed roots, while many muggles wandered by, I resorted to reading old logs. I finally figured out that I needed to go about 100 feet away from GZ, enter a building through a secondary door, go down the stairs, then follow the basement passage around a couple of bends until I was under the tree. Public access is allowed so it is a valid and fun hide.

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Gitchee-Gummee

+Gitchee-Gummee

Posted
Posted

One of the best hints, which some may consider one of the worst, is on an open campus. The hint is "under the tree." After some unproductive searching around the many exposed roots, while many muggles wandered by, I resorted to reading old logs. I finally figured out that I needed to go about 100 feet away from GZ, enter a building through a secondary door, go down the stairs, then follow the basement passage around a couple of bends until I was under the tree. Public access is allowed so it is a valid and fun hide.

We sort of enjoy "cryptic" hints also. You know, some that just may have multiple meanings.

 

Far better than "none", "none needed", "not today" or like carp.

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dprovan

+dprovan

Posted
Posted

Bad hint: "Just like all the others that I hid today". The CO never considered that you could hike the trail from two different trail heads, so his last cache hid was the first one I was seeking.

Yeah, and worse is "My standard hide" when it's the first cache I've ever looked for by this CO -- or the tenth, but I haven't recognized any standard -- and even worse is "JoeCool's standard hide" when I wouldn't know JoeCool from Adam. In general, hints that depend on local knowledge.

 

The ones I really hate are things like "Don't be stumped," which can mean either that it is in the stump or that it isn't in the stump.

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ArtieD

+ArtieD

Posted
Posted (edited)

Okay...this person's hints aren't bad per se...many of them are quite good. The thing that is annoying to me is the way they are written. Here's a standard one, decrypted:

 

Edutignol dna edutital yletinifed tsom llits tub) tamrof dradnats eht ni eb ton lliw elzzup eht ni deniatbo setanidrooc eht.

 

Granted, most would see this one while solving a puzzle, but this format is used even when the hint deals with something you'd need in the field. If I were decrypting it by hand, I would be just a bit frustrated...

Edited by Arthur & Trillian
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313JTG

+313JTG

Posted
Posted

How about caches with no hints and hundreds of potential hiding places at GZ?

 

I was at one like this about a week or two ago. It was a micro in a wooded area with fences and signs all around. No idea what the container was and didn't know if it was up high, down low, wired to a tree, under a fence cap, or on the ground.

 

To me, not putting a hint on a cache is worse than a lame hint :anitongue:

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NYPaddleCacher

+NYPaddleCacher

Posted
Posted

One of the best hints, which some may consider one of the worst, is on an open campus. The hint is "under the tree." After some unproductive searching around the many exposed roots, while many muggles wandered by, I resorted to reading old logs. I finally figured out that I needed to go about 100 feet away from GZ, enter a building through a secondary door, go down the stairs, then follow the basement passage around a couple of bends until I was under the tree. Public access is allowed so it is a valid and fun hide.

 

One of the best hints I've seen was "think laterally". Without the hint there were lots of places where the cache could have been hidden but if one applied a little lateral thinking when reading the cache description it narrowed things down considerably.

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cerberus1

+cerberus1

Posted
Posted

I have a hide with what some call a lousey hint:

"You're kidding right? Okay if you're not kidding , look at the cache name again"

The name of the cache is "Black Rock".

It's a two foot wide flat rock I spray-painted black and pack-frame lugged the mile or so out to place.

It's covering a hole in an old field rock wall - and the only black rock there.

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Panda Inc

+Panda Inc

Posted
Posted

"In a crack in a rock" ... when your looking for cracks in rocks, all you see are cracks in rocks and an occasional rock in a crack. That one was a DNF.

 

Then there's "It's not where you think" ... is that really a hint? So no matter what I think, it's wrong? I think I gave up on that one too, or maybe I'm wrong.

 

Cheers,

PandA Inc

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ras_oscar

+ras_oscar

Posted
Posted

I had a chat with a cacher friend several years ago. He relayed the story of a cache that was in front of a bar near a british style pay phone. The hint said "for a hint dial XXX XX XXXX" after searching all throught the area, including on,in,and under the pay phone he dropped a quarter and punched in the phone number. A drawer popped open and revealed the cache.

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sozzer1

+sozzer1

Posted
Posted

I am no horticulturist so hate it when people describe plants or the type of tree where you should look for the cache. We might not be able to recognise plant species and then at different times of the year the plant could well be either dead or leafless and so unrecognisable. Very frustrating :blink:

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Off Grid

+Off Grid

Posted
Posted

I am no horticulturist so hate it when people describe plants or the type of tree where you should look for the cache. We might not be able to recognise plant species and then at different times of the year the plant could well be either dead or leafless and so unrecognisable. Very frustrating :blink:

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NeverSummer

+NeverSummer

Posted
Posted

I am no horticulturist so hate it when people describe plants or the type of tree where you should look for the cache. We might not be able to recognise plant species and then at different times of the year the plant could well be either dead or leafless and so unrecognisable. Very frustrating :blink:

I would hope that most folks can identify the difference between coniferous and deciduous trees. From there, I would think it isn't too tough to know the difference between a birch, oak, fruit, cedar or spruce/pine/fir tree.

 

But that's just me... B)

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niraD

+niraD

Posted
Posted
I would hope that most folks can identify the difference between coniferous and deciduous trees. From there, I would think it isn't too tough to know the difference between a birch, oak, fruit, cedar or spruce/pine/fir tree.
Yeah, but without the internet, I couldn't identify a Picea glauca or a Betula lenta if my life depended on it.
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