TRAVEL BUGS

[+Ghost-train]

Have I missed something somewhere. I have a travel bug which disappeared in America a 18 months ago. I decided to release a copy so changed the pic on its page to show a copy was going to be released. I then receive 3 logs saying it had been "Discovered" I thought this meant that you had to have actually seen it in a physical cache but decided to leave it there. The person logging mine said they could read the number on the TB in the gallery so they had 'discovered it. Weird !!

Also is it right to travel around with a TB and log it as having been to numerous caches before it is actually placed in a cache?

I note that these practises seem localised to specific countries. Aren't we all on the same page ??!!

[+The A-Team]

I then receive 3 logs saying it had been "Discovered" I thought this meant that you had to have actually seen it in a physical cache but decided to leave it there.

The tracking code is visible in the photos on 4 of your 5 trackables (Tazzie Cuzzies is okay). That tracking code should never be displayed in a public place. As you've seen, there are people that just can't help themselves and will discover your trackable without ever actually encountering it. I strongly recommend you edit the photos for those 4 trackables and blur out the code. You can also feel free to delete any obviously-bogus "Discovered" logs on your trackables. The most recent 4 "Discovered" logs on Koru are definitely bogus.

[+justintim1999]

"Also is it right to travel around with a TB and log it as having been to numerous caches before it is actually placed in a cache?"

 

Yes. When you log a cache you have the option at the bottom of the log to select an action for each travel bug you have in your inventory. You can select "visited" for each travel bugs you did not leave in that particular cache. The "visited" option allows the travel bug to get credit and mileage between each cache you do until it is actually dropped off.

 

Obviously it's wrong to do this if the person dose not physically have the travel bug in there possession.

Edited May 16, 2013 by justintim1999

[+BBWolf+3Pigs]

"Also is it right to travel around with a TB and log it as having been to numerous caches before it is actually placed in a cache?"

 

Yes. When you log a cache you have the option at the bottom of the log to select an action for each travel bug you have in your inventory. You can select "visited" for each travel bugs you did not leave in that particular cache. The "visited" option allows the travel bug to get credit and mileage between each cache you do until it is actually dropped off.

 

Obviously it's wrong to do this if the person dose not physically have the travel bug in there possession.

 

However, I have seen this practice go overboard. A person will pick up a Traveller, and log it through all of the caches they find for weeks (months?). If a Traveller has a specific goal (such as visit another country), this practice does nothing to meet that goal (unless it is to visit as many caches as possible) while it is in that person's hands (it's sort of being held hostage). I'd rather see my Traveller get picked up and moved and left in as many caches, increasing the odds someone will be able to actually help it meet its goal.

[Keystone]

I am moving this thread from the Geocaching Topics forum to the Travel Bug forum.

[+kunarion]

Aren't we all on the same page ??!!

No, based on how some Geocachers go out of their way to mishandle Trackables.

 

It makes sense that one has not "discovered the TB" if one didn't discover the TB* . Maybe it's a Facebook-style "Like", with "Me see picture" being the same as finding the TB in a cache?

 

If you don't want TBs carried around forever by one cacher, you can specify it on your TB page. But cachers who hijack a TB and make "visits" to hundreds of caches, generally don't seem all that interested in what the TB Owner wants.

 

 

 

*Little known fact: Columbus "discovered" America by seeing only a picture.

Edited May 16, 2013 by kunarion

[+Ghost-train]

"Also is it right to travel around with a TB and log it as having been to numerous caches before it is actually placed in a cache?"

 

Yes. When you log a cache you have the option at the bottom of the log to select an action for each travel bug you have in your inventory. You can select "visited" for each travel bugs you did not leave in that particular cache. The "visited" option allows the travel bug to get credit and mileage between each cache you do until it is actually dropped off.

 

Obviously it's wrong to do this if the person dose not physically have the travel bug in there possession.

 

However, I have seen this practice go overboard. A person will pick up a Traveller, and log it through all of the caches they find for weeks (months?). If a Traveller has a specific goal (such as visit another country), this practice does nothing to meet that goal (unless it is to visit as many caches as possible) while it is in that person's hands (it's sort of being held hostage). I'd rather see my Traveller get picked up and moved and left in as many caches, increasing the odds someone will be able to actually help it meet its goal.

[+Ghost-train]

Oh so true regarding the Held Hostage comment. I had to repeatedly ask a cacher to drop one of my TBs off.He had it for yonks and I thought he was never going to release it.

[+Don_J]

"Also is it right to travel around with a TB and log it as having been to numerous caches before it is actually placed in a cache?"

 

Yes. When you log a cache you have the option at the bottom of the log to select an action for each travel bug you have in your inventory. You can select "visited" for each travel bugs you did not leave in that particular cache. The "visited" option allows the travel bug to get credit and mileage between each cache you do until it is actually dropped off.

 

Obviously it's wrong to do this if the person dose not physically have the travel bug in there possession.

 

I'd prefer that people DON'T do this with my TB/coins. I don't need the phony mileage. Instead of hogging it, why not put it in a cacher so some other geocacher can come along and grab it?

[+Don_J]

I have a friend that had a number of personal coins minted. He gives them, (unactivated), to new cachers and makes them available for our monthly Meet n' Great raffle, . He has a number of these coins that he has activated but they have never left his house, nor has he shared the numbers with anyone. Last month, he started getting, "Discovered, Greetings from Germany", on some of these coins. Either someone wrote a bot, or someone is so bored that they sat there and typed random numbers until they hit Bingo.

 

That's the only thing that I think may be lamer than discovering TBs because someone forgot to blur a photo or typed the tracking # into a log.