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It's Getting harder to enjoy.....

Fyrefyter

By Fyrefyter
in How do I...?

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Fyrefyter

Fyrefyter

Posted
Posted

I am kind of disgruntled with geocaching in my area. I started doing this as a FUN way of learning the area and just enjoying the outdoors. Finding now that it's turning into a FOR PROFIT activity. The economy has finally hit me and dont have the money to jump in the car and just waste gas for geocaching so I decided to stick to my local area and what did I find? HUNDREDS of caches, but until I pay money for a premium membership I am not priviledged enough to get their coordinates. I guess I will just have to beg friends and family to Gift a Premium membership Every year just to enjoy something that started out as a free thing to do....it's sad really if you think about it.

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ChileHead

+ChileHead

Posted
Posted

It does look like your area has a higher than normal premium member only set of caches. But don't blame Groundspeak or "for profit". GS doesn't make money on PMO caches - they make money on PM memberships. It is the cachers in your area, who have decided for whatever reason to make caches PMO.

 

There are valid reasons though to have them. Every so often we have a bunch of caches in an area go missing, and from evidence I've seen it appears to be a kid who has a GPS or smartphone and found out about geocaching and decided to be a jerk. People temporarily make their caches PMO and it helps the problem. Not a sure win though, but most kids tire of it quickly and then we make our caches non PMO again.

 

Other cachers may make it PMO so that newbies don't come along and find it, and forget to rehide it properly.

 

Ask the hiders in your area why they make their caches PMO, and if they would consider after some time making them public to all.

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Isonzo Karst

+Isonzo Karst

Posted
Posted (edited)

I just created a couple of pocket queries around the coords for your archived cache, N 38° 33.502 W 075° 34.069

 

I assume that's a location convenient for your caching.

 

Within 15 miles of those coords there are 176 PMO caches, and 272 NOT PMO caches.

 

That is a pretty high ratio of PMOs, but that still leaves 272 for you to hunt within 15 miles. Or over 200, given that you've found some number of that 272.

 

I see a powertrail of PMO caches along the roads outside of town.

If doing this seems like fun to you, you could pay $10 for a 3 month membership, and get 'em.

 

Looking at your finds, you don't look a cacher who really wants to get in and out, and in and out, and in and out, of the car grabbing one power run micro after another.

At a certain zoom level, you can see 'em. I bet when you see these on the map, not finding them won't seem so troublesome.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/map/default.aspx?lat=38.55837&lng=-75.56782

Edited by Isonzo Karst
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Fiver1

+Fiver1

Posted
Posted

I find it hard to sympathize with people that gripe about the less than 3 bucks a month for a premium membership. Come on. That's one less burger at your local fast food chain or at today's prices, less than a gallon of gas.

 

Being retired and my monthly income decreasing every year due to insurance rates going up, I still find a way to put back my membership fee through the year.

 

If you live in an area with deposit bottles, you can pick up and redeem enough in a short time to pay for a membership.

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7rxc

7rxc

Posted
Posted

Just treat them like puzzles and solve for the location. You don't get the hints either since you can't see the Cache page, but that just adds to the fun.

 

This does not work well with PM puzzles and some multis, since you can't see the 'hidden' puzzle itself of course... add PM Earthcaches and virtuals... same reason, you can't see the requirements. For those just team up with a local PM.

 

Log them via the map page balloon.

 

Your solution to PM caches can be an exact match to the coordinates, or more likely a small bit off.

Gee your GPS does that too. Often that error will put you right on to the site itself. Normal errors are in the third decimal point for me, so it is good to go!

 

On the other hand, I won't reveal the method, since I had to work it out myself, and posting solutions is not an accepted thing on the forums. Everything you need is on the GC site though! I even got an FTF on one.

 

Doug 7rxc

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L0ne.R

+L0ne.R

Posted
Posted (edited)

There are valid reasons though to have them. Every so often we have a bunch of caches in an area go missing, and from evidence I've seen it appears to be a kid who has a GPS or smartphone and found out about geocaching and decided to be a jerk. People temporarily make their caches PMO and it helps the problem. Not a sure win though, but most kids tire of it quickly and then we make our caches non PMO again.

 

Other cachers may make it PMO so that newbies don't come along and find it, and forget to rehide it properly.

 

Don_J's experience made me see why some might put PMOs on their caches....

 

To summarize:

  • Some cachers don't create an account on Geocaching.com, or any other caching site.
  • Use a "free" app on their phones that gives them the names, coordinates, and descriptions of nearby caches.
  • Find hundreds of caches and don't log them.
  • Don't look at the website, or any of the guidelines or have any of the basic ideas that go into looking for or hiding caches.

PMO caches are hidden from apps if you do not have an account and if, correct me if I'm wrong, you are not a premium member.

Edited by L0ne R
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cerberus1

+cerberus1

Posted
Posted
Don_J's experience made me see why some might put PMOs on their caches....

 

Too summarize:

  • Some cachers don't create an account on Geocaching.com, or any other caching site.
  • Use a "free" app on their phones that gives them the names, coordinates, and descriptions of nearby caches.
  • Find hundreds of caches and don't log them.
  • Don't look at the website, or any of the guidelines or have any of the basic ideas that go into looking for or hiding caches.

PMO caches are hidden from apps if you do not have an account and if, correct me if I'm wrong, you are not a premium member.

True.

The last couple I looked at hitting ours has "never" written as the last time visited (for when they logged into the GC site).

"Never" pretty-much tells me they haven't learned anything but how to acquire an app.

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39chevy

+39chevy

Posted
Posted

I am kind of disgruntled with geocaching in my area. I started doing this as a FUN way of learning the area and just enjoying the outdoors. Finding now that it's turning into a FOR PROFIT activity. The economy has finally hit me and dont have the money to jump in the car and just waste gas for geocaching so I decided to stick to my local area and what did I find? HUNDREDS of caches, but until I pay money for a premium membership I am not priviledged enough to get their coordinates. I guess I will just have to beg friends and family to Gift a Premium membership Every year just to enjoy something that started out as a free thing to do....it's sad really if you think about it.

 

Surprise...Geocaching.com is not a 'not for profit' organization. It costs money to run and you want to complain about the members who support it. If you don't want to buy a premium membership then don't cry about not having premium member priviledges.

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seashore.eagle

+seashore.eagle

Posted
Posted

I don't mind supporting the site but I agree PMO caches are annoying.

 

I didn't remember premium caches when I used to do it in college in '05, but now that I have been out caching again I can see why PMO caches are a good way of doing things. People are careless and rather jerky about alot of things....just see the arguments about placing Cache's for goodness sake.

 

I think it's also a level of comittment. If you want to do things just for fun there are plenty of free finds. For people a little more serious there's PMO which encourages website use....which helps with community, knowing what to do when you find a broken cache, etc.

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cerberus1

+cerberus1

Posted
Posted
I think it's also a level of comittment. If you want to do things just for fun there are plenty of free finds. For people a little more serious there's PMO which encourages website use....which helps with community, knowing what to do when you find a broken cache, etc.

Curious...

How does a PMO cache encourage website use, the caching community,...?

Most PMO hides I'm aware of are no different than any other cache.

- They're just visited less often.

I think you'd find most people become premium members for pocket queries, notifications and other benefits.

PMO hides are probably rated much lower on the scale, to more valuable premium benefits.

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ngrrfan

+ngrrfan

Posted
Posted

{snip} I guess I will just have to beg friends and family to Gift a Premium membership Every year just to enjoy something that started out as a free thing to do....it's sad really if you think about it.

I see no sadness. I see the perfect birthday or Christmas, or some other special occasion gift for someone to give you. No begging required. :)

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TheWeatherWarrior

+TheWeatherWarrior

Posted
Posted (edited)

Your profile shows you as a premium member. Did you just up yourself, or did somebody else?

If you are speaking of the forum under "Group", it always says premium members. Not sure why, I've been a basic member a number of times (like 2012 when I took a long break from geocaching because I too was disgruntled and annoyed at what has become of the hobby) and yet it always labeled me as premium.

Edited by TheWeatherWarrior
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TheWeatherWarrior

+TheWeatherWarrior

Posted
Posted

I get the disgruntled part. It is easy to do. Hell, the changes I've seen since 2002 when I started is just staggering. Many look at geocaching as a way to make money. Hell, I abandoned my opposition to it and will in the future be looking to make big money. Groundspeak does it, why not me. At least I'll be honest about it rather than the majority that just play games and pretend they don't (like many from my local state society's board members).

 

But that being said, if you do upgrade, it will be much less annoying to pay the $30 than to deal with the Prem. only caches. I hate, them too, but I upgraded because I wanted to run packet queries and premium membership is required for that too.

 

Like everything in life, the power is yours to make it what you want. You just have to find the positive more than the negative.

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StarBrand

+StarBrand

Posted
Posted

I am kind of disgruntled with geocaching in my area. I started doing this as a FUN way of learning the area and just enjoying the outdoors. Finding now that it's turning into a FOR PROFIT activity. The economy has finally hit me and dont have the money to jump in the car and just waste gas for geocaching so I decided to stick to my local area and what did I find? HUNDREDS of caches, but until I pay money for a premium membership I am not priviledged enough to get their coordinates. I guess I will just have to beg friends and family to Gift a Premium membership Every year just to enjoy something that started out as a free thing to do....it's sad really if you think about it.

Looks like somebody took care of the PM thing for you - log out and back in the forums to update your 'level'.

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DonB

+DonB

Posted
Posted

I don't understand these people that whine about paying $30.00 a year for a premium membership. That amounts to 8.2 cents a day. If you want to play golf that's not free, my cable TV isn't free, if I don't put in a few hours a year helping out around my rifle club it costs me $200.00 a year, even with the work hours it's $95.00 a year. Very few things in life are free. $30.00 a year is probably the cheapest thing I do for recreation.

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TheWeatherWarrior

+TheWeatherWarrior

Posted
Posted

I don't understand these people that whine about paying $30.00 a year for a premium membership. That amounts to 8.2 cents a day. If you want to play golf that's not free, my cable TV isn't free, if I don't put in a few hours a year helping out around my rifle club it costs me $200.00 a year, even with the work hours it's $95.00 a year. Very few things in life are free. $30.00 a year is probably the cheapest thing I do for recreation.

Yeah....besides, the forums here have more drama than Bravo ;-)

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BlueDeuce

+BlueDeuce

Posted
Posted

My experience has been that there is a marked increase of PM caches in several of the places I have recently visited. Here locally the change was due to a disagreement with a new cacher. All said and told I would recommend increasing the invites to the local clubs and sponsoring more events so there's more getting to know each other and a chance to talk, rather than leave it to sometimes confrontational and sometimes misunderstood emails/postings.

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MountainWoods

+MountainWoods

Posted
Posted

I don't understand these people that whine about paying $30.00 a year for a premium membership. That amounts to 8.2 cents a day. If you want to play golf that's not free, my cable TV isn't free, if I don't put in a few hours a year helping out around my rifle club it costs me $200.00 a year, even with the work hours it's $95.00 a year. Very few things in life are free. $30.00 a year is probably the cheapest thing I do for recreation.

Nothing like admitting that you don't understand someone. I'm sure you tried. <_<

I do understand them. Personally I do not play golf or have cable TV or XM radio or a lot of things that some folks have. I have the simplest cell phone without text or data. My hobby costs are simple because my own goal is not to spend a lot of money on any hobby when there are better things I could do with the money; and yet still enjoy some hobbies. I'm sure that everyone has 8.2 cents a day for a new hobby, right? (That's called, if I have this attribute, then everyone must have this attribute.)

So whilst you don't understand them (assuming you really did try), I do understand them. Although a Premium Member, I never do PMO caches and I'm not losing anything by it. There are plenty of other caches out there!

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terrkan78

+terrkan78

Posted
Posted

There's been a marked upswing of PMO caches around my area. I infinitely prefer keeping caching available to all, but then my caches have never been hit by thieves/vandals and maybe I'd feel differently if they had.

 

My caches are currently all hiking ones, and I think that keeps a lot of the trouble makers away.

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butch_uk

+butch_uk

Posted
Posted

Premium Membership is voluntary, and not a requirement to participate.

 

I am new to the hobby/sport/pastime and am debating whether or not premium membership will give me any benefits. I am a 'casual' cacher as I have several hobbies, some that I can do concurrently with caching. If geocaching is your primary hobby then you will encounter peaks and troughs of enthusiasm, at times you may find it tedious or pointless, when that happens take a break.

 

Remember, it's just a bit of fun to distract you from reality, don't take it too seriously and it will stay fun.

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