What Irks you most?

[+J Grouchy]

I wouldn't say this irks me "most"...but it's kind annoying to see this on one of my caches yesterday:

 

My first find. Fun! Log needs maintenance.

 

[+Oxford Stone]

COs who think that beacuse they've put out a T5 cache, necessitating use of equipment such as ropes / boats, that it's automatically a 5/5. The 5/5 I've found was visible from about 100 yards away and the host from about 1/4 of a mile. 5/1.5 perhaps. But no, every last T5 in my area is a 5/5. Should I ever want to finish that column of the grid... well I've not even looked how far I'd have to go.

 

In a similar vein there are 5 loops, total about 110 caches, near me, all lovely woodland walking, but EVERY cache is a 2.5/2.5... I think they were put down in a hurry for a Geolypmix but even so...

 

Just to add my votes to mediocre hides / containers on tough puzzle caches (give us a prize after solving that dadgum cipher!), and bad maintenance / co-ords (there's some commitment involved in becoming a CO...)

 

Overall though, nothing really spoils my enjoyment. I've just had a great weekend caching. 61st and 62nd D/T combos; my 1600th cache was my son's 800th - yes that took some synchronising - some great sunny picturesque walking; 2nd oldest physical cache; can get 365/366 on the calendar this lunchitme; a CITO to look forward to on Thursday; and 3 interlinked puzzle / challenge cache ideas brewing in the back of my mind with a "local cachers" theme.

 

Happy caching and don't get too irked! It's just a game!

Edited August 18, 2014 by Oxford Stone

[team tisri]

When someone is FTF, but then they take an age to post their log online. Then I dash out, get to GZ, feel all excited that I'm going to be FTF; only to find the log is already signed.

 

What irks me? People who think they are entitled to be notified if they are not going to be FTF on a cache. Part of the FTF side game is not knowing if you are first and feeling the rush hit you when you find out you are. I cannot understand how such self-entitlement can motivate a person to think that they must be placated by an immediate FTF log, lest they actually be disappointed if they come in second.

What are you on about, "placated by an immediate FTF log"? If you had read my post correctly, you would see that it said, "they take an age to post their log online".

 

I understand that some people don't have smartphones and so can't post a log until they get home. I don't think it's unreasonable to hope that people will log their FTF within a reasonable amount of time.

 

I enjoy the thrill of seeing if I'm FTF, or if I have just missed out; but not to get there in the evening and find FTF was at 6:30am (as happened to me once).

 

To think of that as "taking an age" really is a first world problem. You know, someone finds a cache on their way to work, logs it when they get home (and most of us have lives over and above jumping on gc.com the very nanosecond we get home from work). Maybe they were out that evening and logged it the following day. Maybe they were caching while on holiday and have limited internet access, or found the cache on the way to the airport or something. Maybe they just felt like leaving a carrot dangling for other FTF hounds. There are all sorts of reasons why someone might not log their find as quickly as you might like.

 

It comes back to, if you play the FTF game you have to deal with the fact that a cache with no logs isn't necessarily an unfound cache.

 

sandbagging a log is silly. FTF hounds do NOT have "lives over and above jumping on gc.com". it is the nature of the hound. they get texts sent directly to their phone telling them of the newest cache that just published 10 miles away.

 

i don't enjoy that part of the side game. first world problems, i know. heck, geocaching in general is a first world issue completely.

 

You can get FTF without being an FTF hound.

 

When I was a premium member I got email notifications of new caches. I didn't get texts sent to my phone or anything else. Sometimes I got an email while I was sitting at my computer and decided to go out and get FTF. Of those times, sometimes I actually got the FTF. Sometimes I then returned home quickly and logged it, other times I was out doing other stuff and logged it later, and a few times I deliberately didn't log it until the evening despite finding it in the morning to see how many of the local FTF hounds would rush out thinking it was still unfound.

 

I got FTF on one cache a week after it was published, 3500 miles from home, the day before I flew back home. I think I logged it online within a few hours of finding it, but had I not logged it for a few days because of dealing with international flights that's one of those things.

[+Trotter17]

One of the things I'm getting irked about is how many caches I'm finding that are right around no-trespassing or private property signs with no acknowledgment from the CO that this is their property or that permission has been given. Some are right next to the signs or on the edges while others (from what finders have implied) are simply right past no-trespassing signs. It just irks me and honestly, I just leave them be and move on. There was one I was looking for recently that took me down a long, beautiful, quite road with plenty of places to hide a nice sized cache. Of course, when GZ popped up, it was right near a blocked drive, a private drive, and a ton of no trespassing signs. Nothing on the page.

 

Fairly new, as well, so not like someone just recently put that stuff up, I imagine.

[+wmpastor]

When someone is FTF, but then they take an age to post their log online. Then I dash out, get to GZ, feel all excited that I'm going to be FTF; only to find the log is already signed.

 

What irks me? People who think they are entitled to be notified if they are not going to be FTF on a cache. Part of the FTF side game is not knowing if you are first and feeling the rush hit you when you find out you are. I cannot understand how such self-entitlement can motivate a person to think that they must be placated by an immediate FTF log, lest they actually be disappointed if they come in second.

What are you on about, "placated by an immediate FTF log"? If you had read my post correctly, you would see that it said, "they take an age to post their log online".

 

I understand that some people don't have smartphones and so can't post a log until they get home. I don't think it's unreasonable to hope that people will log their FTF within a reasonable amount of time.

 

I enjoy the thrill of seeing if I'm FTF, or if I have just missed out; but not to get there in the evening and find FTF was at 6:30am (as happened to me once).

 

To think of that as "taking an age" really is a first world problem. You know, someone finds a cache on their way to work, logs it when they get home (and most of us have lives over and above jumping on gc.com the very nanosecond we get home from work). Maybe they were out that evening and logged it the following day. Maybe they were caching while on holiday and have limited internet access, or found the cache on the way to the airport or something. Maybe they just felt like leaving a carrot dangling for other FTF hounds. There are all sorts of reasons why someone might not log their find as quickly as you might like.

 

It comes back to, if you play the FTF game you have to deal with the fact that a cache with no logs isn't necessarily an unfound cache.

 

sandbagging a log is silly. FTF hounds do NOT have "lives over and above jumping on gc.com". it is the nature of the hound. they get texts sent directly to their phone telling them of the newest cache that just published 10 miles away.

 

i don't enjoy that part of the side game. first world problems, i know. heck, geocaching in general is a first world issue completely.

 

You can get FTF without being an FTF hound.

 

When I was a premium member I got email notifications of new caches. I didn't get texts sent to my phone or anything else. Sometimes I got an email while I was sitting at my computer and decided to go out and get FTF. Of those times, sometimes I actually got the FTF. Sometimes I then returned home quickly and logged it, other times I was out doing other stuff and logged it later, and a few times I deliberately didn't log it until the evening despite finding it in the morning to see how many of the local FTF hounds would rush out thinking it was still unfound.

 

I got FTF on one cache a week after it was published, 3500 miles from home, the day before I flew back home. I think I logged it online within a few hours of finding it, but had I not logged it for a few days because of dealing with international flights that's one of those things.

 

Given that many people will go out of their way to find a new cache only because they think they have a shot at FTF, the polite thing to do is if possible log very soon. If you want to write a story (if so, good for you), then log "found - more later," and write more when you have the time. This assumes you've got access to electronics in the field. If it was impossible for me to log FTF for a long time, I would explain and apologize in my log when I finally got the chance. By then there would probably be some "snippy" comments logged, and those remarks would be perfectly justified. Near me, no cache goes unfound for a week unless it's a tough puzzle or maybe a 5/5.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

When someone is FTF, but then they take an age to post their log online. Then I dash out, get to GZ, feel all excited that I'm going to be FTF; only to find the log is already signed.

 

What irks me? People who think they are entitled to be notified if they are not going to be FTF on a cache. Part of the FTF side game is not knowing if you are first and feeling the rush hit you when you find out you are. I cannot understand how such self-entitlement can motivate a person to think that they must be placated by an immediate FTF log, lest they actually be disappointed if they come in second.

What are you on about, "placated by an immediate FTF log"? If you had read my post correctly, you would see that it said, "they take an age to post their log online".

 

I understand that some people don't have smartphones and so can't post a log until they get home. I don't think it's unreasonable to hope that people will log their FTF within a reasonable amount of time.

 

I enjoy the thrill of seeing if I'm FTF, or if I have just missed out; but not to get there in the evening and find FTF was at 6:30am (as happened to me once).

 

To think of that as "taking an age" really is a first world problem. You know, someone finds a cache on their way to work, logs it when they get home (and most of us have lives over and above jumping on gc.com the very nanosecond we get home from work). Maybe they were out that evening and logged it the following day. Maybe they were caching while on holiday and have limited internet access, or found the cache on the way to the airport or something. Maybe they just felt like leaving a carrot dangling for other FTF hounds. There are all sorts of reasons why someone might not log their find as quickly as you might like.

 

It comes back to, if you play the FTF game you have to deal with the fact that a cache with no logs isn't necessarily an unfound cache.

 

sandbagging a log is silly. FTF hounds do NOT have "lives over and above jumping on gc.com". it is the nature of the hound. they get texts sent directly to their phone telling them of the newest cache that just published 10 miles away.

 

i don't enjoy that part of the side game. first world problems, i know. heck, geocaching in general is a first world issue completely.

 

You can get FTF without being an FTF hound.

 

When I was a premium member I got email notifications of new caches. I didn't get texts sent to my phone or anything else. Sometimes I got an email while I was sitting at my computer and decided to go out and get FTF. Of those times, sometimes I actually got the FTF. Sometimes I then returned home quickly and logged it, other times I was out doing other stuff and logged it later, and a few times I deliberately didn't log it until the evening despite finding it in the morning to see how many of the local FTF hounds would rush out thinking it was still unfound.

 

I got FTF on one cache a week after it was published, 3500 miles from home, the day before I flew back home. I think I logged it online within a few hours of finding it, but had I not logged it for a few days because of dealing with international flights that's one of those things.

 

Given that many people will go out of their way to find a new cache only because they think they have a shot at FTF, the polite thing to do is if possible log very soon. If you want to write a story (if so, good for you), then log "found - more later," and write more when you have the time. This assumes you've got access to electronics in the field. If it was impossible for me to log FTF for a long time, I would explain and apologize in my log when I finally got the chance. By then there would probably be some "snippy" comments logged, and those remarks would be perfectly justified. Near me, no cache goes unfound for a week unless it's a tough puzzle or maybe a 5/5.

 

I had a similar experience to what Team tisri shared, but it was on a cache published 4 days before I found it, and the cache was 9370 miles from home. Generally, I try to log my finds as soon as reasonably possible but also have had a couple of instances where I didn't prior to getting on an international flight. Maybe in your area no cache goes unfound for a week but that's certainly not universal. I'm pretty sure that the FTF game played in places which get dozens of new hides a month isn't the same as playing the game in a place that doesn't have a dozen hides in the entire country. To expect that there should be one true way to log caches when FTF in this globally played game is unrealistic.

 

 

[+Oxford Stone]

COs who think that beacuse they've put out a T5 cache, necessitating use of equipment such as ropes / boats, that it's automatically a 5/5. The 5/5 I've found was visible from about 100 yards away and the host from about 1/4 of a mile. 5/1.5 perhaps. But no, every last T5 in my area is a 5/5. Should I ever want to finish that column of the grid... well I've not even looked how far I'd have to go.

 

/// someone was listening to me - a T5D2 just been published in Windsor. FTF says you can wade to it (inlet of the Thames) - oh, go on then! After the storm drain I crawled up last night for a T4/D4.5 it'll be pleasant.

[+sbell111]

Given that many people will go out of their way to find a new cache only because they think they have a shot at FTF, the polite thing to do is if possible log very soon. If you want to write a story (if so, good for you), then log "found - more later," and write more when you have the time. This assumes you've got access to electronics in the field. If it was impossible for me to log FTF for a long time, I would explain and apologize in my log when I finally got the chance. By then there would probably be some "snippy" comments logged, and those remarks would be perfectly justified. Near me, no cache goes unfound for a week unless it's a tough puzzle or maybe a 5/5.

First, let me say that I found the FTF race to be beyond silly even when I participated in it. That being said, part of that race is the understanding that you might not be first. If someone is going to get snippy simply because they didn't know that they weren't first prior to opening the container, then they deserve their unhappiness, in my opinion. I'll go further to say that if they think it's such a big deal, then they should quickly post the 2TF log so that none of their easy-to-disappoint friends waste their times trying to do the thing that the actual game of geocaching is about: finding caches. Edited August 19, 2014 by sbell111

[+Iowa Mongoose]

People who decide to borrow (permanently) Travel Bugs and Geocoins, which they themselves did not purchase, just so they can add them to their own collection.

Edited August 20, 2014 by IowaMongoose

[+WarNinjas]

The one thing I have ran into lately that has kind of bothered me is 1D x 1T caches that are in highly muggle areas. Just the other day I was meeting my boss at a job about a hour from home. I wanted to grab a cache in the morning before the job because after we were both heading back to a area I cache often. I got there about 20 min or so before we were to meet and I wanted to grab a quick cache for the streak. I was in luck there was 3 1x1 caches in the area. Done deal right!

I head over to the first one for a quick grab. NOT It was on a bench in front of a restaurant and there was some guy sitting on the bench just chillin'.

OK I will go over to the next 1x1...well as I drive by it I see there is absolutely no where to park anywhere near it at all! I'm talking really far away. I read the logs and the last finder mentioned that he was shocked to be the first to find it in about a year but that was probably because it was so far from anywhere to park and listed as a 1x1.

I just headed over to the 3rd and I can't even remember but it was a muggle issue and I decided to just go to the job and found a cache later.

 

My thought is if it is listed as a 1 difficulty it should be fairly certain that when you get there you will be able to make the find. Not have to come back a few times for it to be clear of muggles to grab it. Or list it as a 1.5 so we know there might be a chance we won't be able to make the find that day. I know there could be times a 1 D could have a muggle but these places it would be very often.

[+Pezdude]

These guys!

 

 

They are so rude. They love to make unannounced visits.

Can't they see I'm caching here?

What do they think this is? Their home!?

 

 

Their eight-legged brethren like to make surprise appearances as well.

[+giddeanx]

These guys!

 

 

They are so rude. They love to make unannounced visits.

Can't they see I'm caching here?

What do they think this is? Their home!?

 

 

Their eight-legged brethren like to make surprise appearances as well.

A picture of you is on their forum.

[+Pezdude]

These guys!

 

 

They are so rude. They love to make unannounced visits.

Can't they see I'm caching here?

What do they think this is? Their home!?

 

 

Their eight-legged brethren like to make surprise appearances as well.

A picture of you is on their forum.

 

+1

[+Manville Possum]

People who decide to borrow (permanently) Travel Bugs and Geocoins, which they themselves did not purchase, just so they can add them to their own collection.

 

Yes, and they dip them in every cache they visit!

[+luvvinbird]

People who decide to borrow (permanently) Travel Bugs and Geocoins, which they themselves did not purchase, just so they can add them to their own collection.

I'm with you on that one. I sent two Travel Bugs out into the world and they both eventually ended up in no man's land never to be seen again. I won't bother with any more. When I find a TB in a cache I make sure to move it along as I thought that was the intention. I don't understand why others don't do the same.

[+Iowa Mongoose]

People who decide to borrow (permanently) Travel Bugs and Geocoins, which they themselves did not purchase, just so they can add them to their own collection.

I'm with you on that one. I sent two Travel Bugs out into the world and they both eventually ended up in no man's land never to be seen again. I won't bother with any more. When I find a TB in a cache I make sure to move it along as I thought that was the intention. I don't understand why others don't do the same.

 

My dad warned me about it early on, so I knew it might happen. The one I purchased I don't put out, the one I made I don't put out; the one I was sent free I placed in a cache, it's been picked up and hasn't been placed in a cache yet, but it's only been about ten days or so, since this is for a kids thing I know they will.

Edited August 21, 2014 by IowaMongoose

[+Iowa Mongoose]

These guys!

 

 

They are so rude. They love to make unannounced visits.

Can't they see I'm caching here?

What do they think this is? Their home!?

 

 

Their eight-legged brethren like to make surprise appearances as well.

 

That's what a mongoose is for you know, ha-ha-ha.

 

[+wmpastor]

↑↑↑ Mongoose as pet and caching companion? Doubtful!

The mongoose diet includes snakes, eggs, insects, rodents, crustaceans, and worms. They have extremely high metabolisms much like the ferret and require a high protein diet. They cannot live on dog food or cat food. Feed cooked chicken necks, other cooked meats, worms, insects, eggs.

[+Iowa Mongoose]

↑↑↑ Mongoose as pet and caching companion? Doubtful!

The mongoose diet includes snakes, eggs, insects, rodents, crustaceans, and worms. They have extremely high metabolisms much like the ferret and require a high protein diet. They cannot live on dog food or cat food. Feed cooked chicken necks, other cooked meats, worms, insects, eggs.

 

Probably the only reason I don't have one, HA! How about a walking stick to beat it away if it surprises you and it's too close and a good set of legs to run like the dickens?

Edited August 21, 2014 by IowaMongoose

[+Pezdude]

Well your name IS 'IowaMongoose'. Will you be my geocaching companion and chase the snakes away?

[+Iowa Mongoose]

Just to add my votes to mediocre hides / containers on tough puzzle caches (give us a prize after solving that dadgum cipher!), and bad maintenance / co-ords (there's some commitment involved in becoming a CO...)

 

A prize for a puzzler, I haven't yet found one, but I've solved three and am attempting. I kind of thought there would be a good sized cache at the end... most are a micro though. But that's a good thought, especially when they're tough ones.

 

Bad maintenance, coords further than the supposedly twenty foot allowance beyond the Geocache, yes it's a trifle annoying but not a lot as long as I can still find the cache .

[+Iowa Mongoose]

Well your name IS 'IowaMongoose'. Will you be my geocaching companion and chase the snakes away?

 

Sure, if you're in the area and we can get a group together, you bet.

[team tisri]

When someone is FTF, but then they take an age to post their log online. Then I dash out, get to GZ, feel all excited that I'm going to be FTF; only to find the log is already signed.

 

What irks me? People who think they are entitled to be notified if they are not going to be FTF on a cache. Part of the FTF side game is not knowing if you are first and feeling the rush hit you when you find out you are. I cannot understand how such self-entitlement can motivate a person to think that they must be placated by an immediate FTF log, lest they actually be disappointed if they come in second.

What are you on about, "placated by an immediate FTF log"? If you had read my post correctly, you would see that it said, "they take an age to post their log online".

 

I understand that some people don't have smartphones and so can't post a log until they get home. I don't think it's unreasonable to hope that people will log their FTF within a reasonable amount of time.

 

I enjoy the thrill of seeing if I'm FTF, or if I have just missed out; but not to get there in the evening and find FTF was at 6:30am (as happened to me once).

 

To think of that as "taking an age" really is a first world problem. You know, someone finds a cache on their way to work, logs it when they get home (and most of us have lives over and above jumping on gc.com the very nanosecond we get home from work). Maybe they were out that evening and logged it the following day. Maybe they were caching while on holiday and have limited internet access, or found the cache on the way to the airport or something. Maybe they just felt like leaving a carrot dangling for other FTF hounds. There are all sorts of reasons why someone might not log their find as quickly as you might like.

 

It comes back to, if you play the FTF game you have to deal with the fact that a cache with no logs isn't necessarily an unfound cache.

 

sandbagging a log is silly. FTF hounds do NOT have "lives over and above jumping on gc.com". it is the nature of the hound. they get texts sent directly to their phone telling them of the newest cache that just published 10 miles away.

 

i don't enjoy that part of the side game. first world problems, i know. heck, geocaching in general is a first world issue completely.

 

You can get FTF without being an FTF hound.

 

When I was a premium member I got email notifications of new caches. I didn't get texts sent to my phone or anything else. Sometimes I got an email while I was sitting at my computer and decided to go out and get FTF. Of those times, sometimes I actually got the FTF. Sometimes I then returned home quickly and logged it, other times I was out doing other stuff and logged it later, and a few times I deliberately didn't log it until the evening despite finding it in the morning to see how many of the local FTF hounds would rush out thinking it was still unfound.

 

I got FTF on one cache a week after it was published, 3500 miles from home, the day before I flew back home. I think I logged it online within a few hours of finding it, but had I not logged it for a few days because of dealing with international flights that's one of those things.

 

Given that many people will go out of their way to find a new cache only because they think they have a shot at FTF, the polite thing to do is if possible log very soon. If you want to write a story (if so, good for you), then log "found - more later," and write more when you have the time. This assumes you've got access to electronics in the field. If it was impossible for me to log FTF for a long time, I would explain and apologize in my log when I finally got the chance. By then there would probably be some "snippy" comments logged, and those remarks would be perfectly justified. Near me, no cache goes unfound for a week unless it's a tough puzzle or maybe a 5/5.

 

Those remarks wouldn't be justified in the slightest. Assuming people have both the online access and the inclination to use it doesn't justify being snippy if someone doesn't log their find as soon as you think they should. If people go out of their way because they think they have a shot at the FTF they have to accept they may get there too late. If you don't want to take that chance, don't go for the FTF. It really is that simple. There were times I went for an FTF only to find I'd been beaten to it. If I'd been beaten by 5 minutes or 5 hours the fact would remain that I wasn't the first to find it.

 

The cache I found first a week after it was published was (I think) a D3/T4.5 cache that involved a climb up the side of a mountain followed by a mile or so of hiking, then a climb up a scree slope and finding a cache among the scree. Like I said, I happened to have internet access and the time and inclination to log the find before heading home. Had I not had time, or not had internet access, it would probably have been two or three days before I logged it. If someone hunted it in the meantime, too bad.

[+cerberus1]

Given that many people will go out of their way to find a new cache only because they think they have a shot at FTF, the polite thing to do is if possible log very soon. If you want to write a story (if so, good for you), then log "found - more later," and write more when you have the time. This assumes you've got access to electronics in the field. If it was impossible for me to log FTF for a long time, I would explain and apologize in my log when I finally got the chance. By then there would probably be some "snippy" comments logged, and those remarks would be perfectly justified. Near me, no cache goes unfound for a week unless it's a tough puzzle or maybe a 5/5.

 

Those remarks wouldn't be justified in the slightest. Assuming people have both the online access and the inclination to use it doesn't justify being snippy if someone doesn't log their find as soon as you think they should. If people go out of their way because they think they have a shot at the FTF they have to accept they may get there too late. If you don't want to take that chance, don't go for the FTF. It really is that simple. There were times I went for an FTF only to find I'd been beaten to it. If I'd been beaten by 5 minutes or 5 hours the fact would remain that I wasn't the first to find it.

 

The cache I found first a week after it was published was (I think) a D3/T4.5 cache that involved a climb up the side of a mountain followed by a mile or so of hiking, then a climb up a scree slope and finding a cache among the scree. Like I said, I happened to have internet access and the time and inclination to log the find before heading home. Had I not had time, or not had internet access, it would probably have been two or three days before I logged it. If someone hunted it in the meantime, too bad.

+1

When my other 2/3rds (and even me for awhile) were hot into the FTF side-game, I don't recall much mention of etiquette and being polite.

'Course things are a bit different now.

So many with phones today, I guess the "rules" on a side-game that has no rules needed to be updated...

[+NYPaddleCacher]

 

The cache I found first a week after it was published was (I think) a D3/T4.5 cache that involved a climb up the side of a mountain followed by a mile or so of hiking, then a climb up a scree slope and finding a cache among the scree. Like I said, I happened to have internet access and the time and inclination to log the find before heading home. Had I not had time, or not had internet access, it would probably have been two or three days before I logged it. If someone hunted it in the meantime, too bad.

 

One of my first FTFs was similar. It was a puzzle cache published in the morning. The puzzle had multiple levels and was the kind that could suck you in as you peeled away each layer. I worked on it while at work (what? Don't tell me that I'm the only one that has done that.) and solved it in the afternoon and discovered that it was on an island about 30 miles from home (the fact that the cache was called Gilligan's Island should have been a clue.) I left work early (hey, it was a Friday), went home and put my kayak on my rack and drove up in the ever increasing rain to a launch location. I launched my kayak (the rain had stopped by the time I got there), paddled about a 1/2 mile to the island and found the cache in short order. The log book was empty! I paddled back to shore in the waning light, loaded up my kayak and went home to log my FTF. Nobody else even attempted it for over a month. It was published in August 2007 and only has 30 finds.

 

 

[+frinklabs]

 

The cache I found first a week after it was published was (I think) a D3/T4.5 cache that involved a climb up the side of a mountain followed by a mile or so of hiking, then a climb up a scree slope and finding a cache among the scree. Like I said, I happened to have internet access and the time and inclination to log the find before heading home. Had I not had time, or not had internet access, it would probably have been two or three days before I logged it. If someone hunted it in the meantime, too bad.

 

One of my first FTFs was similar. It was a puzzle cache published in the morning. The puzzle had multiple levels and was the kind that could suck you in as you peeled away each layer. I worked on it while at work (what? Don't tell me that I'm the only one that has done that.) and solved it in the afternoon and discovered that it was on an island about 30 miles from home (the fact that the cache was called Gilligan's Island should have been a clue.) I left work early (hey, it was a Friday), went home and put my kayak on my rack and drove up in the ever increasing rain to a launch location. I launched my kayak (the rain had stopped by the time I got there), paddled about a 1/2 mile to the island and found the cache in short order. The log book was empty! I paddled back to shore in the waning light, loaded up my kayak and went home to log my FTF. Nobody else even attempted it for over a month. It was published in August 2007 and only has 30 finds.

 

Me too!

 

I wasn't even trying for the FTF -- it was a target cache on my Northern Ontario road trip and had been unfound for three weeks before I got there.

 

I didn't log the find until I got back several days later.

 

It wasn't found again for almost a year after that.

 

Total of five finds.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC3W7K8_abandoned-museum

[team tisri]

 

The cache I found first a week after it was published was (I think) a D3/T4.5 cache that involved a climb up the side of a mountain followed by a mile or so of hiking, then a climb up a scree slope and finding a cache among the scree. Like I said, I happened to have internet access and the time and inclination to log the find before heading home. Had I not had time, or not had internet access, it would probably have been two or three days before I logged it. If someone hunted it in the meantime, too bad.

 

One of my first FTFs was similar. It was a puzzle cache published in the morning. The puzzle had multiple levels and was the kind that could suck you in as you peeled away each layer. I worked on it while at work (what? Don't tell me that I'm the only one that has done that.) and solved it in the afternoon and discovered that it was on an island about 30 miles from home (the fact that the cache was called Gilligan's Island should have been a clue.) I left work early (hey, it was a Friday), went home and put my kayak on my rack and drove up in the ever increasing rain to a launch location. I launched my kayak (the rain had stopped by the time I got there), paddled about a 1/2 mile to the island and found the cache in short order. The log book was empty! I paddled back to shore in the waning light, loaded up my kayak and went home to log my FTF. Nobody else even attempted it for over a month. It was published in August 2007 and only has 30 finds.

 

Me too!

 

I wasn't even trying for the FTF -- it was a target cache on my Northern Ontario road trip and had been unfound for three weeks before I got there.

 

I didn't log the find until I got back several days later.

 

It wasn't found again for almost a year after that.

 

Total of five finds.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC3W7K8_abandoned-museum

 

I honestly didn't expect to be FTF on the one I mentioned, given it had been a week. It was only due to an unexpected flight reschedule that I was still in the area when I found the cache, and I'd have gone for it even if the FTF had been taken. It's a great area with good views and a good hike to get to it. For a while I thought I was going to have to DNF it because it took a fair while for me to figure just where it was, and as I've often said I regard a good cache as one where I can DNF and not consider the time wasted. But then I figured something about the title, took a best guess where it was, and was rewarded with a blank log book.

 

I went to see how many times it has been found but it's a PMO cache so I can't see the details any more.

[+simplr]

The new HTML email notifications. No more value, fine tuned mail filters do not work any more and the information is hidden in a lot of useless bell & whistles, just wasting bandwith.

 

Anywhere else I at least can choose between HTML and plain text notification, now Groundspeak took a large step back in beeing user friendly.

 

I want to have plain text mails back! At least optionally!

 

What's worst is that I now have to open the notification and scroll down to see what it says.

 

Plain text notifications MUST be an option for those who like to keep things simple and efficient - as well as those who use webmail clients that cannot interpret HTML.

 

When the HTML notifications started, half the geocachers I spoke to preferred the old text version. The concensus was that an option must be added to choose plain text notifications. Every few days I check to see if the option had been added

[+coodie]

What irks me? When people sign a nano physical log in large writing, taking up 2 or more spaces! If your name is long, ok date on one line and name on the next, but some people purposely take up way more space than needed, as if the nano log will not ever fill up!

 

Also when I can't find a cache and I contact the CO to double check I'm looking in the right area, even if they tell me the exact spot to look, and I go back and check and it's definitely not there and I let them know and they don't do anything about it.

 

That irks me.

[team tisri]

What irks me? When people sign a nano physical log in large writing, taking up 2 or more spaces! If your name is long, ok date on one line and name on the next, but some people purposely take up way more space than needed, as if the nano log will not ever fill up!

 

Heh, I once found a nano as part of a fairly large group. To get to the location you had to walk up 1085 steps set in the side of a mountain, then hike a mile or so and climb some more steps. When we finally found the nano I really wanted to unroll the (almost brand new) log and write "lovely cache in a great location with scenic views, found with a group following a caching event, thanks ever so much for bringing us here". If I'm ever FTF on a nano (which is unlikely, given I'd be unlikely to even look for them any more) I'd be tempted to do that so I could log FTF and also log NM saying the sheet was full.

[+NJSquirrel]

people not maintaining there caches...i recently did a multi in a cemetery and we spend almost an hour looking for the final cache. then i looked at the post again online and nobody had logged it for over 2 years. as a CO, you shouldn't place caches if you can't keep up on them.

 

I agree. Especially if the cache has been getting regular visits, then suddenly nothing for months. It's worth checking even if there are no DNFs. It's one thing if the cache is on top of a mountain where it requires a half day hike to get to and only gets one or two finds a year. But a cemetery? They are usually easily accessible. It shouldn't be too hard for the CO to go visit the cache once a year just to be sure it's still in good shape.

 

Why wouldn't we expect the seekers of the caches to log their DNF to give the CO a heads-up that something might be amiss? Why do you expect the COs to closely monitor all their hides to detect a missing cache? That is what DNFs are for!

 

There is no shame in DNFs. Post them!

[+wmpastor]

These guys!

 

 

They are so rude. They love to make unannounced visits.

Can't they see I'm caching here?

What do they think this is? Their home!?

 

 

Their eight-legged brethren like to make surprise appearances as well.

A picture of you is on their forum.

 

+1

 

The multitude of six-legged brethren make surprise appearances as well.

[+Adventure.AS]

Forum posters with ten times more posts than their find count.

Edited August 27, 2014 by Nonsuch30

[Mr.Yuck]

Forum posters with ten times more posts than their find find count.

 

Ha! I'm at less than 5. The guy on top of you on the other hand....

[+GeoBain]

Forum posters with ten times more posts than their find count.

 

[+K13]

Forum posters with ten times more posts than their find count.

 

....or 16+ times as many....

[+L0ne.R]

people not maintaining there caches...i recently did a multi in a cemetery and we spend almost an hour looking for the final cache. then i looked at the post again online and nobody had logged it for over 2 years. as a CO, you shouldn't place caches if you can't keep up on them.

 

I agree. Especially if the cache has been getting regular visits, then suddenly nothing for months. It's worth checking even if there are no DNFs. It's one thing if the cache is on top of a mountain where it requires a half day hike to get to and only gets one or two finds a year. But a cemetery? They are usually easily accessible. It shouldn't be too hard for the CO to go visit the cache once a year just to be sure it's still in good shape.

 

Why wouldn't we expect the seekers of the caches to log their DNF to give the CO a heads-up that something might be amiss? Why do you expect the COs to closely monitor all their hides to detect a missing cache? That is what DNFs are for!

 

There is no shame in DNFs. Post them!

 

It is a courtesy to post a DNF and much appreciated. As a cache owner myself, I do not wait for a DNF if things look suspicious - like a long run of no logs when it usually gets 2 or more a month. Then again, I also checked each of our caches at least a couple of times a year just to check that everything's OK (logbook condition, location condition, container condition, throw a couple of pieces of swag in to top it up). We only have about a dozen active caches, that way maintenance doesn't become a burden. When it does become a chore we pick up the cache and archive it.

 

 

[+Ben0w]

Forum posters with ten times more posts than their find count.

People seeing any value in find counts. Or number of forum posts.

 

SCNR

Edited August 27, 2014 by Ben0w

[4wheelin_fool]

Forum posters with ten times more posts than their find count.

 

My post count is about double my find count, but I've never really stalked anyone's profile for those figures. The only time that I dive into profiles is if I suspect a sock, or if someone needs assistance with something. I don't know why a high post count would bother someone, as most people are likely stuck somewhere where they cannot find a cache. What irks me is any type.of numerical judgement by anyone for any reason.

[+Stinky.Cheese]

Something that has been 'irking' me lately, are more & more caches being listed by people who have never even found a cache! The worst one was listed last month by someone with zero finds 2 days after signing up. They have not signed into their account since!

[+Seaglass Pirates]

When someone is FTF, but then they take an age to post their log online. Then I dash out, get to GZ, feel all excited that I'm going to be FTF; only to find the log is already signed.

 

What irks me? People who think they are entitled to be notified if they are not going to be FTF on a cache. Part of the FTF side game is not knowing if you are first and feeling the rush hit you when you find out you are. I cannot understand how such self-entitlement can motivate a person to think that they must be placated by an immediate FTF log, lest they actually be disappointed if they come in second.

What are you on about, "placated by an immediate FTF log"? If you had read my post correctly, you would see that it said, "they take an age to post their log online".

 

I understand that some people don't have smartphones and so can't post a log until they get home. I don't think it's unreasonable to hope that people will log their FTF within a reasonable amount of time.

 

I enjoy the thrill of seeing if I'm FTF, or if I have just missed out; but not to get there in the evening and find FTF was at 6:30am (as happened to me once).

 

To think of that as "taking an age" really is a first world problem. You know, someone finds a cache on their way to work, logs it when they get home (and most of us have lives over and above jumping on gc.com the very nanosecond we get home from work). Maybe they were out that evening and logged it the following day. Maybe they were caching while on holiday and have limited internet access, or found the cache on the way to the airport or something. Maybe they just felt like leaving a carrot dangling for other FTF hounds. There are all sorts of reasons why someone might not log their find as quickly as you might like.

 

It comes back to, if you play the FTF game you have to deal with the fact that a cache with no logs isn't necessarily an unfound cache.

 

sandbagging a log is silly. FTF hounds do NOT have "lives over and above jumping on gc.com". it is the nature of the hound. they get texts sent directly to their phone telling them of the newest cache that just published 10 miles away.

 

i don't enjoy that part of the side game. first world problems, i know. heck, geocaching in general is a first world issue completely.

 

They did read the post correctly. No one has any right to tell another member how to play the game. If someone wants to go for FTF and not log it for days it is entirely up to them. It's got nothing to do with anyone else. If some poor soul (yourself in this instance) legs it out because it's not been logged yet and you get all excited in the holes of FTF - then you get there and see it's been logged already at stupid I clock in the morning, it's no ones fault but your own. Shoulda got up earlier but I guess the excuse would be your job got in the way. Well that's life lol. "That's" what they were on about.

 

As for anyone else who has gone for FTF and some evil swine has found it already and beaten you - tough life innit. Been there myself and it's my own fault for going for it. If they don't log it for days it makes me chuckle. Knowing others will fall for it too lol. They don't need an excuse like life or lack of Internet or anything. They don't owe me an excuse I'll just have to be sneakier next time.

[+GrateBear]

This has probably already been mentioned, but--logs in plastic baggies. They don't always get resealed, they tend to tear, and it's often a struggle to get the cache either out or back in.

[+MamaCobb]

Geocachers who don't retrieve trackables online when they take them out of a geocache. Also, trackable owners that don't mark their trackables as missing when informed that they are not in the geocache they are listed as being in.

 

About once a month I do geocaching runs that are geocaches with trackables only so that I can trade the trackables I am holding. I find that 65% to 80% of the geocaches do not have the listed trackables in them.

[+GeoBain]

Geocachers who don't retrieve trackables online when they take them out of a geocache. Also, trackable owners that don't mark their trackables as missing when informed that they are not in the geocache they are listed as being in.

 

About once a month I do geocaching runs that are geocaches with trackables only so that I can trade the trackables I am holding. I find that 65% to 80% of the geocaches do not have the listed trackables in them.

 

You can move trackables without trading.

[+Roman!]

This has probably already been mentioned, but--logs in plastic baggies. They don't always get resealed, they tend to tear, and it's often a struggle to get the cache either out or back in.

 

On one of the power trails we did we found maybe 100 caches that were in baggies, Grrrrrrrrrrr.

[+Team OPJim]

Geocachers who don't retrieve trackables online when they take them out of a geocache.

I agree. I've actually stopped purchasing and releasing TB and geocoins specifically because they disappear. Even putting them in premium caches doesn't work.

[+Team OPJim]

Hints that aren't hints such as:

"no hint needed"

"use your geosense"

"no hint until FTF" but 6 months and multiple finds later

etc, etc, etc.

 

It is of course completely optional to give a hint, but if you aren't going to then leave the area blank. I would prefer to know going in that if I can't find it myself that there is no hint for backup. Then I can at least decide whether to try for it or not. Having said that, caches in the middle of nowhere, heavy tree cover interfering with coordinates, that take significant time or effort to get to, I prefer to have hints.

[+MamaCobb]

Geocachers who don't retrieve trackables online when they take them out of a geocache. Also, trackable owners that don't mark their trackables as missing when informed that they are not in the geocache they are listed as being in.

 

About once a month I do geocaching runs that are geocaches with trackables only so that I can trade the trackables I am holding. I find that 65% to 80% of the geocaches do not have the listed trackables in them.

 

You can move trackables without trading.

 

I know I can, but then I don't have any trackables left to move.

[+Ma & Pa]

Geocachers who don't retrieve trackables online when they take them out of a geocache. Also, trackable owners that don't mark their trackables as missing when informed that they are not in the geocache they are listed as being in.

 

About once a month I do geocaching runs that are geocaches with trackables only so that I can trade the trackables I am holding. I find that 65% to 80% of the geocaches do not have the listed trackables in them.

 

You can move trackables without trading.

 

I know I can, but then I don't have any trackables left to move.

 

WE pick up every TB we find and drop what we can in appropriate places. We don't trade and we always have a few with us. We do what we can to help trackables move. It would irk me if someone was keeping one of our TB's because they were waiting to trade it.

 

PA

[+The_Incredibles_]

Forum posters with ten times more posts than their find count.

 

 

I often wonder about that.