Secret Society?

April 21, 2013

My Family and i are reasonably new to Geocaching (3 weeks), Already our 16 Year old son, and 3 Year Old Granddaughter join us on our outings... The fun and excitement in the adventure is amazing. The other day we were at a very beautiful location along a major River in Australia, the scenery was so picturesque. So we took some photo's of the surrounding area, being very careful as to not include specific landmarks as to reveal where the location exactly was, and to make sure the cache remained hidden.

This is where my problem lies, upon posting the pic with the caption "GC with the family" a fellow geocacher & family member was angered that we are revealing this secret society to the world. The less people that know about it the better, she said... I informed her of the Share with Friends on Facebook function, the merchandise, the facebook page, the youtube channel etc...

What is everyone's thoughts... are we a Secret Society and we never speak of geocaching or do we share our experiences with friends and family, to try and recruit more????

April 21, 2013

1st RULE: You do not talk about GEOCACHING

2nd RULE: You DO NOT talk about GEOCACHING.

seriously though. sounds like someone got some thorns stuck ah.... errr.... well.... you know where.

I don't actively try to recruit anyone- but I don't try to be "skull and bones" about it either . that's just silly . no one I mention it to ( as in the response to the casual " what did you do this weekend) even knows what I am talking about... or really cares for that matter.

1.1k · April 21, 2013

The jig is up, the news is out, they've finally found us! Seriously, there's no secret society. Just Google "cache" and you will see there is no secrets here. Have fun!

3.3k · April 21, 2013

The jig is up, the news is out, they've finally found us! Seriously, there's no secret society. Just Google "cache" and you will see there is no secrets here. Have fun!

Pssst! Just don't tell about the Inner Circle. And be sure to delete this.

April 21, 2013

I posted a photo of one of my own hides on FB with detailed directions on how to get there. Trying to entice my friends up the hill. Not a chance...nary a single friend will actually go up that hill for something as ridiculous (in their eyes) as my cache. I can't even bribe my co-workers to go with me up there. I think there is absolutely no worry that a photo will compromise anything.

The only people who might have any concerns about photos being posted are the cache owners themselves (when you add a photo to a geocaching.com log) - and that's not what we're talking about here (and even if it was, you did everything right by not actually revealing the cache location itself, so no worries there).

Now...were I to video myself putting $10 dollar bills inside my cache and put that on FB...maybe that'd actually get them up there??

April 22, 2013

Moving to the Geocaching Topics forum. Better fit there than the general education forum. Should get a lot of discussion going there.

Mark Case

Education Forum Moderator

7.8k · April 22, 2013

This is where my problem lies, upon posting the pic with the caption "GC with the family" a fellow geocacher & family member was angered that we are revealing this secret society to the world.

I sincerely hope this other cacher is new and just doesn't know what they're talking about. If it's an experienced cacher, then I give them a :blink: , followed by a :unsure: , then a <_< , and lastly a :rolleyes: . The secret has been out for many, many years. Come to think of it, it never was a secret. You might want to suggest to them that they Google "geocaching" and see how many results they get. Surely a secret society wouldn't show up that many times in Google, would it? In fact, the post that started it all was on a public USENET newsgroup that anyone could see.

You should ignore this other cacher and keep doing what you're doing. If I was in your shoes, I'd actually step up my game and post even more photos. :laughing:

1.8k · April 22, 2013

Sounds like that other cacher has her shorts in a twist over nothing. Cache on, enjoy.

13.7k · April 22, 2013

With all the "TFTC" logs and no pics on many lately, we'd like to see pictures of folks having fun and showing unique locations seen.

Wish more would do the same.

- Just no spoilers.

Sounds like the "cacher" doesn't know what they're talking about.

edited -spllelinng

Edited April 22, 2013 by cerberus1

April 22, 2013

We cached for two years before we "came out" to our friends and family on Facebook. One day we just uploaded about 150 pictures into an album and admitted that we weren't just hiking in the woods. They were very understanding and supportive! :lol:

April 22, 2013

Considering Geocaching has been a topic even on a Bruckheimer crime show....I doubt it can be argued it is "secret". The story of such is funny as hell though. Thanks for sharing it.

3.7k · April 22, 2013

Sounds like your family member is a cranky-pants. If you have a fun activity you enjoy, why would you NOT want people you know join in the fun?

Just to make your crazy relative even crazier, be sure to start a geocaching blog, post TONS of photos on facebook, tell everybody you know about geocaching (perfect strangers too), start a geocaching club and put on classes at your local community center!

Edited April 22, 2013 by The_Incredibles_

April 22, 2013

I have introduced eight people to geocaching over the years, guess what?, none of them have kept it up past a few months. In fact where I live there seems to be less and less cachers then there was when I first started in 2008. When you look through an old cache's logging records you see lots of people with a low find count who were very enthusiastic about this great activity, but their(old)log records rarely go past about 20 finds.

I don't think we need to worry about caching becoming mainstream at the moment, at least where I live.

6.1k · April 22, 2013

I think it used to be a bit of a secret society say 7-8 years ago, but nowadays it's mainstream. It's frequently featured in magazine articles, TV & radio shows, and there are hundreds of facebook groups, and like you say GC.com has added the ability to post your activity to facebook.

I think your friend is over reacting.

April 22, 2013

We have introduced a few work colleagues to Geocaching and some of them are still going strong, some are still the recovering from experience of being dragged through the bushes, being furtive, while dressed in a suit and tie while we were out on a work trip.... heh heh heh. And quite a few have said, "oh, you too?" and while I don't advertise it loudly, I do have a trackable patch on my backpack, which is recognised by quite a few people at work, who march in and loudly ask, "who's the Geocacher?"... It's no secret, but we like to be furtive in finding our caches and when introducing someone to geocaching, its good to explain to them that you don't let 'muggles' see you do it, in order to preserve the cache.

3k · April 22, 2013

Secrets? What secrets?

4.2k · April 22, 2013

Geocaching is iPhone-app-level-mainstream.

2.3k · April 22, 2013

So this isn't a secret society after all?

Does this mean the secret geocache decoder ring I spent a fortune for was a ripoff?

Dang! I wish somebody had filled me in sooner. This takes half the fun out of it.

--Larry

1.2k · April 22, 2013

The only Secret Society left around here are the Platinum Members....oops. Never mind, nothing to see here, move along.

10.2k · April 22, 2013

This is where my problem lies, upon posting the pic with the caption "GC with the family" a fellow geocacher & family member was angered that we are revealing this secret society to the world. The less people that know about it the better, she said... I informed her of the Share with Friends on Facebook function, the merchandise, the facebook page, the youtube channel etc...

Geocaching became mainstream the day I received my first iphone app generated blank find log in 2010. :laughing:

Her opinion isn't too popular, but it's an opinion, and she's entitled to it. It was indeed more of an underground secret society years ago. For the first time, I just realized I've been Geocaching since before facebook existed! Apparently it was not open to everyone in the general public until 2006, although it was launched, with accounts by invitation only, in February 2004. That being said, people posting Geocaching photos to Facebook, or "taking about" Geocaching on Facebook never phased me one bit.

6.1k · April 22, 2013

After over two thousand news articles have appeared, I don't think so. That number does not include the bomb threat related articles either.

Even the top secret Platinum membership has been mentioned too many times here.

1.8k · April 22, 2013

Someone needs to stop getting their world view through their umbilicus ... just saying

1.4k · April 22, 2013

I bet some of my friends and relatives wish I would treat it like a secret, and shut up about it already.

2.6k · April 22, 2013

I've probably told a couple dozen friends, relatives, and coworkers about Geocaching over the years. To date exactly 0 of them have gone on to become active Geocachers.

OP's relative makes the assumption that the only way to keep everyone in the world from playing the game is to keep it secret. In reality, way more people than the current registered users already know about it. They just don't care.

I think the aforementioned relative has confused the need for stealth (to prevent random muggles from spotting the location of a particular cache) with keeping the whole game a secret.

April 22, 2013

I bet some of my friends and relatives wish I would treat it like a secret, and shut up about it already.

+1 :lol:

5.7k · April 22, 2013

This is where my problem lies, upon posting the pic with the caption "GC with the family" a fellow geocacher & family member was angered that we are revealing this secret society to the world. The less people that know about it the better, she said... I informed her of the Share with Friends on Facebook function, the merchandise, the facebook page, the youtube channel etc...

Geocaching became mainstream the day I received my first iphone app generated blank find log in 2010.

Her opinion isn't too popular, but it's an opinion, and she's entitled to it. It was indeed more of an underground secret society years ago. For the first time, I just realized I've been Geocaching since before facebook existed! Apparently it was not open to everyone in the general public until 2006, although it was launched, with accounts by invitation only, in February 2004. That being said, people posting Geocaching photos to Facebook, or "taking about" Geocaching on Facebook never phased me one bit.

Geocaching is now very much part of Facebook, I'm a member of quite a few FB geocaching groups. I even like Groundspeak. :laughing:

:ph34r: (Psst. I'm also a member of the Masonic Geocaching Society on FB) :ph34r:

April 22, 2013

I bet some of my friends and relatives wish I would treat it like a secret, and shut up about it already.

+1

+1 more

Virtually all of my friends know of my lunacy (caching, I mean, not that other stuff) and like others, to date, not one has taken up the hobby. Took my sister on the ET Highway. She has not logged even one of the 970 caches we found on that trip. My other sister will tag along, mainly to visit during the hunt, but avoids logging.

The only thing I would say about keeping it quiet is to keep caches from getting muggled. If you are going to discover this game, you will find it eventually, then hop along by yourself for the ride.

Cache Happy

14k · April 23, 2013

I've probably told a couple dozen friends, relatives, and coworkers about Geocaching over the years. To date exactly 0 of them have gone on to become active Geocachers.

It was probably a good decision then that you didn't make public relations your career choice.

3.8k · April 24, 2013

No, it's not secret. But I contend it should be.

4.1k · April 24, 2013

There is nothing wrong with sharing the public aspects of the game. I cached for a long time before anybody taught me the secret signals that can be used in times of distress to identify ourselves

Just don't tell your friends and office workers about the latter. Trust me on that.

2.8k · April 24, 2013

No, it's not secret. But I contend it should be.

If it was secret, how would you have found out about it?

3.3k · April 24, 2013

My Family and i are reasonably new to Geocaching (3 weeks), Already our 16 Year old son, and 3 Year Old Granddaughter join us on our outings... The fun and excitement in the adventure is amazing. The other day we were at a very beautiful location along a major River in Australia, the scenery was so picturesque. So we took some photo's of the surrounding area, being very careful as to not include specific landmarks as to reveal where the location exactly was, and to make sure the cache remained hidden.

This is where my problem lies, upon posting the pic with the caption "GC with the family" a fellow geocacher & family member was angered that we are revealing this secret society to the world. The less people that know about it the better, she said... I informed her of the Share with Friends on Facebook function, the merchandise, the facebook page, the youtube channel etc...

What is everyone's thoughts... are we a Secret Society and we never speak of geocaching or do we share our experiences with friends and family, to try and recruit more????

Not secret at all. A friend of mine tolerates me occasionally stopping to find a cache when he and I are out together, although I restrict myself to caches we're walking right past if they are quick and easy finds.

One year when he was on holiday he and his wife were sitting on a bench enjoying the view when someone emerged from the bushes, saw them, and looked as if they needed to come up with an explanation as to what they were doing. He asked if they were geocaching, and they said they were and asked him what his caching name was, and seemed surprised when he said he wasn't a geocacher.

Some people hear about it and want to try it, others hear about it and think it's sad. Of those who try it some enjoy it and some think it's sad. To each their own I guess.

But no, geocaching isn't a secret at all, even if we don't need to go out and spread the word it's not something that needs to stay secret.

April 24, 2013

Opinions are like, well you know............

and hers happens to be wrong!

Just my opinion of course. : )

3.8k · April 24, 2013

No, it's not secret. But I contend it should be.

If it was secret, how would you have found out about it?

My former college math teacher's ex-wife's boyfriends neighbor's brother, who's the manager of a 7-11, knows someone from Bolivia that let me in the game. I could tell you his name but then I'd have to.. fer-get it.

April 25, 2013

Very poor secrecy. Just watched on FB a 6 mins mainstream news report on geocaching from Manitoba. And tonight on my local news (in Ontario) there was a little segment on the pre-new feel good news part on local news.

ONLY thing that I think we need to keep secret as Geocachers is the places we bury the bodies after we make the sacrifices to Signal. :laughing:

3.7k · April 25, 2013

I've probably told a couple dozen friends, relatives, and coworkers about Geocaching over the years. To date exactly 0 of them have gone on to become active Geocachers.

It was probably a good decision then that you didn't make public relations your career choice.

Can't blame the messenger. I've told dozens of people too, taken many people out caching, but my net result is also ZERO recruits. 2 families went so far as to buy GPSs, 1 family even found some caches on their own, but NONE have actually gone on to become active geocachers.

Edited April 25, 2013 by The_Incredibles_

1.3k · April 25, 2013

Can't blame the messenger. I've told dozens of people too, taken many people out caching, but my net result is also ZERO recruits. 2 families went so far as to buy GPSs, 1 family even found some caches on their own, but NONE have actually gone on to become active geocachers.

My success ratio is a little better as some of the people I've "recruited" have gone on to cache regularly. Not every week or weekend...or even every month, but they still go out now and then. I would agree with the sentiment that geocaching isn't a secret anymore but many people, even if you can get them to go out caching a time or two, just won't embrace it the way we do.

That's normal for any hobby. Some (ok, alot) of people around here live and breathe hunting and fishing. I enjoy fishing or hunting when I go (rarely) but I don't make any special plans to do it and if I don't go, I don't exactly feel like I'm missing anything, either. I'd rather spend my weekends geocaching

April 25, 2013

I agree it's hardly a secret these days. On the other hand there are some caches, particularly urban ones, which do seem to be placed to make the finder feel part of a secret society. They are not near anything of interest, often need extreme stealth, and seem to imply that the finder is "in on the secret", while all those people who walk by every day without noticing are not.

2.2k · April 25, 2013

I've always said "You know caching went too mainstream the day I joined." That was back in 2003. The days of caching being a secret only shared with a small group has long since passed. You can argue both ways as to whether or not that is a good thing.

6.5k · April 25, 2013

If we are to be a secret society, then don't we also need to have an official secret greeting so that we can identify ourselves to one another?

6.1k · April 25, 2013

It's not a secret organization, but rather an organization which contains secrets. (geocache locations)

If we are to be a secret society, then don't we also need to have an official secret greeting so that we can identify ourselves to one another?

That's only in NJ.

February 15, 2014

Well - one geocacher in this long thread explained just about everything there is to know about geocaching to me. And I took up the hobby as a result. Granted, my speed of finding caches is much slower but I am very thankful for the time spent to educate me in the sport'

3.4k · February 15, 2014

It's only secret when I'm trying not to let muggles catch me caching.

It's no secret when I share the game with people who have caught me at it.

Did you notice what I did there?

5.7k · February 16, 2014

This is where my problem lies, upon posting the pic with the caption "GC with the family" a fellow geocacher & family member was angered that we are revealing this secret society to the world. The less people that know about it the better, she said... I informed her of the Share with Friends on Facebook function, the merchandise, the facebook page, the youtube channel etc...

Geocaching became mainstream the day I received my first iphone app generated blank find log in 2010.

Her opinion isn't too popular, but it's an opinion, and she's entitled to it. It was indeed more of an underground secret society years ago. For the first time, I just realized I've been Geocaching since before facebook existed! Apparently it was not open to everyone in the general public until 2006, although it was launched, with accounts by invitation only, in February 2004. That being said, people posting Geocaching photos to Facebook, or "taking about" Geocaching on Facebook never phased me one bit.

:ph34r: :ph34r: :ph34r:

3.3k · February 16, 2014

So this isn't a secret society after all?

Does this mean the secret geocache decoder ring I spent a fortune for was a ripoff?

Dang! I wish somebody had filled me in sooner. This takes half the fun out of it.

--Larry

Forget the decoder ring. I want the puzzle-solver ring! I'll gladly pay a fortune for that! :grin:

6.5k · February 16, 2014

I would never want to belong to a secret society that would have me as a member.

February 16, 2014

When I first started caching, I thought it would be something I would want to share with everyone. That was six years ago and I have directly influenced a grand total of two people and indirectly two others.

Apparently I will never be a success as a pyramid-scheme sales-person.

On the other hand, all four of those people are still caching today and enjoying it.

That's my theory about geocaching. It isn't a secret, but I have absolutely no interest in getting the hoi polloi involved. If I meet someone who I think would enjoy the hobby, I'll talk to them about it. Otherwise, I don't say anything. After all, others are doing a fantastic job of informing the rest of the world and I'm not really convinced that geocaching has benefited very much from that.

February 16, 2014

1st RULE: You do not talk about GEOCACHING
2nd RULE: You DO NOT talk about GEOCACHING.

February 17, 2014

Everyone knows I Geo-cache.I tell everyone, some people have asked to and did join me. So, no secret around here.

3.7k · February 17, 2014

Y'all realize this is an old thread?

IF the OP's still listening, your relative's got anger issues. Feel free to ignore her and continue to spread the good word.

Edited February 17, 2014 by The_Incredibles_

Secret Society?

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