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What Irks you most?


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It used to be a game of getting outdoors, but it stagnated into a game of low quality containers and powertrails, just for the numbers stuff.

Geocaching used to be about so much more than it's just about the numbers. :( It irks me as to what geocaching became. It's just not the same anymore. :(

 

It still is a game of getting outdoors unless you're trying to find caches in your kitchen.

 

Or drive and stop every 528 feet for a pill bottle on a guardrail. :laughing: Gotta love those PT's, one can really rack up on the numbers quickley. B)

 

Whoever drives to find a cache every 528 feet is doing it wrong.

 

I've never been on a busy highway caching every 528 feet.

 

I've never driven to caches that have been placed every 528 feet.

 

The PT I hit are on lengthy trails that some times go deep into forest areas or along large bodies of water. And I'm out there all day walking and I find maybe 20-25 in 6 hours. These scenic trails can be found all over Washington and Oregon.

 

I prefer it when the trail is shared among cache owners, and grows organically. That way there's a variety of owners, and hiding styles, and cache containers.

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Whoever drives to find a cache every 528 feet is doing it wrong.

 

I've never been on a busy highway caching every 528 feet.

 

I've never driven to caches that have been placed every 528 feet.

 

The PT I hit are on lengthy trails that some times go deep into forest areas or along large bodies of water. And I'm out there all day walking and I find maybe 20-25 in 6 hours. These scenic trails can be found all over Washington and Oregon.

 

Here, this is what a PowerTrail of geocaches is. :)

 

That was the tipping point. The game became all about numbers when that PT was sanctioned. It irks me.

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That was the tipping point. The game became all about numbers when that PT was sanctioned. It irks me.

 

The game became numbers for some. Not all. That PT looks awesome. :P

 

I can see where some people might be excited by or attracted to the experience of the rapid-fire, cache-to-cache-to-cache jumble of a flat-out mobile nutso Power Trail, without their primary objective being simply to collect the numbers.

 

I'm a 'journey' guy myself, meaning that in ANY endeavor the attraction for me always encompasses the experience of getting there, not just holding the trophy. Even if it's an unpleasant experience, I sign on for the experience.

 

So for one person, it might be the nice hike; for another, it might be the leapfrog team interaction of a migratory film-container dance. (That's a particular style of PT-play.)

 

In these forums, PT-ers's are usually denigrated as smiley-hungry shortcut-takers. I suspect that's true for the majority of them, but if I was to one day decide that a PT was shiney, then I'd be all-out.

 

Don't see it happening, because I find that I tend to stay away from even the intentionally-set mini-trails present on local Rail-Trails.

 

There's two more cents. In cache.

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The PT I hit are on lengthy trails that some times go deep into forest areas or along large bodies of water. And I'm out there all day walking and I find maybe 20-25 in 6 hours. These scenic trails can be found all over Washington and Oregon.

 

Here, this is what a PowerTrail of geocaches is. :)

 

I have certainly done all day hikes with friends into back country where we might find 20-25 caches. Or we might find one. I would argue that both of them are "power trails." The others are "repetitive trails." I guess it depends on the definition of what is powerful. So perhaps what irks me the most is not whether there are repetitive trails - I ignore those easily enough - but how their name became associated with power. It has always seemed a bit Orwelian to me, or at least a masterful public relations coup, so that even people who do not like stopping every 528 feet ascribe something powerful to that act.

 

For those who do not think that repetition is an accurate way to describe their experiences a "numbers trail" might be a neutral term

Edited by geodarts
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I'm more disappointed than irked that I get so few visits anymore to my nice caches that were placed for the hiking experience and great views. I placed these caches because that's what brought me to geocaching in the first place.

Edited by TahoeJoe
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I'm normally fairly live and let live/ play the game how you wish to play it but a watch list log yesterday just made my blood boil.

 

The cache in question (I won't name as it's a potential guideline breaker) takes planning, both beforehand and once in the area. The location is historically significant to millions of people across the globe and fur many is a pilgrimage site.

 

Why am I so enraged? "TFTC"

 

You don't just find yourself walking past this cache on A Sunday arvo... It's not just another attached to a guard rail like the 50 others you did that day. For God's sake, give us some details.

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I'm normally fairly live and let live/ play the game how you wish to play it but a watch list log yesterday just made my blood boil.

 

The cache in question (I won't name as it's a potential guideline breaker) takes planning, both beforehand and once in the area. The location is historically significant to millions of people across the globe and fur many is a pilgrimage site.

 

Why am I so enraged? "TFTC"

 

You don't just find yourself walking past this cache on A Sunday arvo... It's not just another attached to a guard rail like the 50 others you did that day. For God's sake, give us some details.

Deep breaths. They're not hurting you, they're only cheapening the experience for themselves.

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I'm normally fairly live and let live/ play the game how you wish to play it but a watch list log yesterday just made my blood boil.

 

The cache in question (I won't name as it's a potential guideline breaker) takes planning, both beforehand and once in the area. The location is historically significant to millions of people across the globe and fur many is a pilgrimage site.

 

Why am I so enraged? "TFTC"

 

You don't just find yourself walking past this cache on A Sunday arvo... It's not just another attached to a guard rail like the 50 others you did that day. For God's sake, give us some details.

 

There's a local cacher that's been making the rounds lately. He's been popping up on my caches and others I'm watching all over town and EVERY ... SINGLE ... LOG of his simply says "ty". Can't even be bothered to type TFTC because, I suppose, those two extra keystrokes might cause callouses on his fingertips...?

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With the new app there doesn't seem to be a place to put a watch on a geocache that was a DNF for us. We like to go back and find it if someone else finds it. But with no watch list don't know if it gets found.

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With the new app there doesn't seem to be a place to put a watch on a geocache that was a DNF for us. We like to go back and find it if someone else finds it. But with no watch list don't know if it gets found.

The GC app DOES let you add a cache to a bookmark list.

I have my own bookmark list called "DNFs" and set it to notify me whenever a log is posted to one of the caches in the list.

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With the new app there doesn't seem to be a place to put a watch on a geocache that was a DNF for us. We like to go back and find it if someone else finds it. But with no watch list don't know if it gets found.

The GC app DOES let you add a cache to a bookmark list.

I have my own bookmark list called "DNFs" and set it to notify me whenever a log is posted to one of the caches in the list.

 

Yeah, that does the same thing, but it WOULD be nice to be able to use the mechanism that's specifically set up by the company for that specific purpose.

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What irks me the most?

 

When you put forth the effort to seek out a cache without apprehension, because you can easily see that the last number of logs were ‘Found it’, only realize after searching for a while that those ‘finds’ are actually ‘DNFs, but logging as finds with the CO’s permission.’ Months have passed and no further action is taken by CO. So all you’re left with is an inaccurate and deceptive listing on an cache that no longer exists. True, I could have read all the fake ‘found it’ log’s contents before heading out, but given that they are mostly long cookie-cutter type logs, I didn’t bother.

 

Ok, I feel better now :)

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What irks me the most?

 

When you put forth the effort to seek out a cache without apprehension, because you can easily see that the last number of logs were 'Found it', only realize after searching for a while that those 'finds' are actually 'DNFs, but logging as finds with the CO's permission.' Months have passed and no further action is taken by CO. So all you're left with is an inaccurate and deceptive listing on an cache that no longer exists. True, I could have read all the fake 'found it' log's contents before heading out, but given that they are mostly long cookie-cutter type logs, I didn't bother.

 

Ok, I feel better now :)

 

Ughhh. I can empathize. Several times, in my area, I've seen this statement in the logs of owners who plant hundreds of caches, but don't want to maintain them. Especially if those caches are high D/T and needed for challenge caches (often owned by the same cache owner). Of course, this puts off any NMs since it's unlikely that someone who claims the 'Did Not Find=Found' sanctioned by the 'magnanimous' owner, is unlikely to follow it up with an NM or NA. I have on one occassion posted an NA. Fortunately no wrath on the cache page or via the Message Center from the community or CO on that one.

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We've only been geocaching for about 6 months now, and I suppose there are quite a few little issues that people could nitpick about, but I think by far our two biggest pet peeves are people who don't log out trackables, and cache owners who don't maintain their caches.

 

We both absolutely LOVE finding and passing along trackables, but it seems like so many of the cache's we find that are supposed to contain trackables no longer have them. Passing along a trackable and following it's progress is such a great part of the hobby, it's a shame that so many people feel they can just keep them or can't be bothered to log them out when taking them from a cache. What's more disappointing then finding a cache that lists a trackable only to find none - over and over again?

 

A trackable is actually someone else's PROPERTY that they have purchased and left for the express purpose of tracking it while it moves around. We should all be happy to find one and pass it along, and the very least we could do is to log them in and out properly (and in a timely manner!!) so the owner can follow it along on it's journey.

 

My other complaint is cache owners who ignore their caches that are in need of maintenance. Why bother to go to the trouble of assembling a cache, hiding it and getting in up and running online, only to then forget you own it and ignore a long list of DNF's or maintenance notes? I understand that it can be tough to get out and check on our caches frequently, which is why I limit the caches we place to a small enough number that we can easily handle. Too many owners place so many caches and then are unable, or unwilling to do the follow up required to keep them well maintained.

 

Missing caches, broken cache containers, or soaking wet caches that aren't properly protected from the elements are a big disappointment when found, and if left for long periods of time, they prevent other geocachers from placing new caches in the area. We carry extra plastic bags, log books and rags to help clean up wet or dirty caches, but some of the ones that we've found have been beyond a quick repair, or missing altogether. I've even adopted a cache that I found that was in a great spot but in terrible condition from an owner that was no longer able to get out to maintain it.

 

It's a great hobby, and we've had so much fun since we started just a few months ago, and those are our only two real complaints. Lets make sure to maintain our caches, and keep those trackables moving along on their way by logging them out when we take them, and dropping them off in a timely manner and logging them back into their new homes!

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I truly enjoy Geocaching, but some people have become rude beyond reasonableness. Back when I lived in Bayfield, CO, a town of about 1,400 folks, I had about a dozen caches hidden in and around town. Some easy, some fun, and a couple of tough ones. I even had some decoys at one. Some 'power cacher' from Denver came through and logged a find on the cache with the decoys but his signature was no where on the log. So I checked the decoys and he had signed a decoy, which clearly stated "This is NOT the cache." So I emailed him about it and got the nastiest email back. I never deleted his found log and it is still there today although the cache has to be archived. So for anyone who is "all about the numbers" even at the cost of being RUDE and NASTY, you are missing the point and the fun of caching. Power Trails are fun, not because of the numbers, but because I always do it with friends and it's like a rolling party. I also hate BUSH HIDES, but that is never going to change!!!

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With the new app there doesn't seem to be a place to put a watch on a geocache that was a DNF for us. We like to go back and find it if someone else finds it. But with no watch list don't know if it gets found.

Think this poster said WATCH not BOOKMARK. I had the same issue so I had to View on Geocaching to put it in my Watchlist.

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but I think by far our two biggest pet peeves are people who don't log out trackables, and cache owners who don't maintain their caches.

 

Well, it happened again today. I was in an area I don't get to often, and I hit a cache hidden in a local park. It was a really nice, medium sized lock n lock cache, very clean and well maintained, nice dry log, pen and stocked with some decent swag, but it listed two (2) travel bugs, NEITHER of which were there. What is wrong with people?? SIGH :(

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When a cacher submits a cache with coords way off so they can get a cache approved because it is too close to another cache.

 

Yes, and so far off they have to post a spoiler photo. :(

2 in my area (1 was archived) over 150ft away. Posted directions on how to get to the location. The one still live (disabled) they tried to correct the coords because the reviewer disabled it, but the updated coords he moved to someone's backyard. Even if they correct the coords it is still about 100ft too close to another cache.

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One of the things that irks me is when an interesting thread (such as the Return of the A.P.E. Cache) devolves into an endless argument about semantics, having nothing to do with the original intent oh the thread. Take your personal arguments elsewhere. Let's actually discuss the original topic. "I know you are, but what am I?" This is running rampant in several threads.

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One of the things that irks me is when an interesting thread (such as the Return of the A.P.E. Cache) devolves into an endless argument about semantics, having nothing to do with the original intent oh the thread. Take your personal arguments elsewhere. Let's actually discuss the original topic. "I know you are, but what am I?" This is running rampant in several threads.

 

Couldn't agree more. And there are about 4 users that should be banned for the derailment.. which they do ALL the time.. and nothing ever happens.

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There are a bunch of things that irk me, but one thing that rubs me the wrong way is then multiple cachers go out in a group. They all look and scream "I found it! Here it is!" Then they all scurry to the finder and log a found.

Come on - 5 cachers looking should have 5 cachers actually find the cache.

I cache with 2 other cachers. When one finds / sees the cache, he nonchalantly wanders away from GZ then starts whistling... as each finds it, they quietly move away until last one stumbles around for a while, always the brunt of verbal abuse.

True, eventually the last of us is given enough "hot" "cold" "warmer" hints, but each find is worked for...

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Here another one that drives me nuts. You set your sights on a cache that's located on a trail near "X Road." You drive to X Road and the general area where the cache description says to go. You find yourself on a super-narrow, heavily-traveled road with barely any street parking and not a single clue to where the trail might be. Yeah, that's fun...

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Here another one that drives me nuts. You set your sights on a cache that's located on a trail near "X Road." You drive to X Road and the general area where the cache description says to go. You find yourself on a super-narrow, heavily-traveled road with barely any street parking and not a single clue to where the trail might be. Yeah, that's fun...

 

Related:

When someone puts parking coordinates in the description itself instead of as a waypoint. On a phone, it's extremely tedious to have to transcribe them.

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Here another one that drives me nuts. You set your sights on a cache that's located on a trail near "X Road." You drive to X Road and the general area where the cache description says to go. You find yourself on a super-narrow, heavily-traveled road with barely any street parking and not a single clue to where the trail might be. Yeah, that's fun...

 

Related:

When someone puts parking coordinates in the description itself instead of as a waypoint. On a phone, it's extremely tedious to have to transcribe them.

Not much fun to transcribe them on a GPSr, either.

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Here another one that drives me nuts. You set your sights on a cache that's located on a trail near "X Road." You drive to X Road and the general area where the cache description says to go. You find yourself on a super-narrow, heavily-traveled road with barely any street parking and not a single clue to where the trail might be. Yeah, that's fun...

 

Yes - and when they describe it as vaguely as possible - just park near the rusty sign on the road past the big tree..... Gee, I wish we had a way of accurately describing a point on the earth without confusion and ambiguity? That would be great....

 

 

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When a cacher submits a cache with coords way off so they can get a cache approved because it is too close to another cache.

 

Yes, and so far off they have to post a spoiler photo. :(

2 in my area (1 was archived) over 150ft away. Posted directions on how to get to the location. The one still live (disabled) they tried to correct the coords because the reviewer disabled it, but the updated coords he moved to someone's backyard. Even if they correct the coords it is still about 100ft too close to another cache.

 

Real easy fix .... NA!

Edited by BC & MsKitty
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This isn't exactly a deadly sin, but I hate it when it happens. When you're out on a trail and you find the perfect place to hide an ammo can, but then you realize that another cache is to close to there. Oh, and Altoid tins.

Edited by OnTheGoTrio
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When a cacher submits a cache with coords way off so they can get a cache approved because it is too close to another cache.

 

Yes, and so far off they have to post a spoiler photo. :(

2 in my area (1 was archived) over 150ft away. Posted directions on how to get to the location. The one still live (disabled) they tried to correct the coords because the reviewer disabled it, but the updated coords he moved to someone's backyard. Even if they correct the coords it is still about 100ft too close to another cache.

 

Real easy fix .... NA!

 

Posting a NA causes too many problems unless the cache is ownerless. :ph34r:

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Here's one that really ticks me off: trash in caches! Why would you bother finding a cache and then put trash in it?! I found three caches last week that contained trash, one had torn pieces of orange plastic, one had

a candy wrapper in it, the third had a broken acorn (which were all over the ground nearby). Two of these had swag/trade items, which makes me wonder if the folks that put the trash inside thought, "Hey, I want one of these things, but I don't have anything to leave, so I'll just add this trash. That should work." In the same vein are people who put crappy junk in caches like - rubber bands, cheap-nothing-special plastic beads, pencil-top erasers, pennies, broken anything, business cards, balloons, rocks, etc.

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people saying its an "easy" find when it is NOT!

It's frustrating to see this log on caches I'm having trouble spotting. But one has to remember that one's caching experience is not universal. There are plenty of difficult caches I've just luckily stumbled upon right away, where other cachers spent many minutes or even hours or multiple visits before they found it, if at all. I do try not to say it was easy when that happens, just to say I was lucky.

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Cache having a low difficulty rating when it is challenging to find.
This often happens when the "easy" cache is hidden in one of the usual spots. Experienced geocachers know to search in the usual spots, so the cache is very easy for them to find. But for less experienced geocachers who don't know the usual spots yet, such caches can be a significant challenge.
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Cache having a low difficulty rating when it is challenging to find.
This often happens when the "easy" cache is hidden in one of the usual spots. Experienced geocachers know to search in the usual spots, so the cache is very easy for them to find. But for less experienced geocachers who don't know the usual spots yet, such caches can be a significant challenge.

Or gets rehidden by a finder in a "better" spot.

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What irks me today is coming back from a very enjoyable back country weekend, where I had great hikes, hung out with great people, including the wonderful volunteers and, despite being dog tired, washed the Jeep (mostly clean), unpacked the Jeep, made guacamole, cooked up a perfect quesadilla, made a delicious salad and opened a cold one .. then edited 32 photos and shared them on fb .. then went to log my few finds for the weekend and grew very irritable and uttered many profanities (including casting aspersions on GC developers and those who directed them) as I utterly foobared my first 4 logs, wrong dates, messed up tb sequences, etc.

 

So think about this -- a few million people know the old interface .. it works, it gets things done. Not perfect, but not awful either.

 

Then someone replaces it with a radical redesign. Think this would work for Facebook? I think Facebook users would riot. I felt like rioting, but my neighbors would just think I'm only a bit more weird.

 

Still, the toss the baby with the bathwater revision is idiocy. Tweak what could be improved a bit, but don't rearrange the whole interface to the point of it being completely confusing. It seems like a business decision, but what kind makes customers angry?

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What irks me today is coming back from a very enjoyable back country weekend, where I had great hikes, hung out with great people, including the wonderful volunteers and, despite being dog tired, washed the Jeep (mostly clean), unpacked the Jeep, made guacamole, cooked up a perfect quesadilla, made a delicious salad and opened a cold one .. then edited 32 photos and shared them on fb .. then went to log my few finds for the weekend and grew very irritable and uttered many profanities (including casting aspersions on GC developers and those who directed them) as I utterly foobared my first 4 logs, wrong dates, messed up tb sequences, etc.

 

So think about this -- a few million people know the old interface .. it works, it gets things done. Not perfect, but not awful either.

 

Then someone replaces it with a radical redesign. Think this would work for Facebook? I think Facebook users would riot. I felt like rioting, but my neighbors would just think I'm only a bit more weird.

 

Still, the toss the baby with the bathwater revision is idiocy. Tweak what could be improved a bit, but don't rearrange the whole interface to the point of it being completely confusing. It seems like a business decision, but what kind makes customers angry?

 

You should pop over to the NM change thread...

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What irks me - is when a team caches - and when the first finder yells "here it is!" Come on - 4 cachers should result in 4 cachers finding the cache, not only the first one. Small issue - but it irks me none the less.

 

Also - I've seen this also when multiple cachers log "yay, I got a FTF!" Because they were all here when cacher A found it. You can only have one First to find. The rest are second and third to finds...

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How about driving a good distance to what appears to be an ideal caching area and only then realizing it really, really isn't?

 

Over the weekend, I drove to a town 40 minutes from home to hike a trail containing 14 caches. After 1 find and 1 DNF, I then discovered that to access the remainder of the trail I first had to cross a field. The field was an endless sea of mud, with more than one small stream going through it that I'm pretty sure isn't usually there. And while I'm sure that some hard-core cachers would have plowed right through this without a thought, it's not for me.

 

Another minor one is difficulty ratings that are very inaccurate. I realize it's all a matter of opinion, but sometimes it's absurd. I logged a cache recently where I simply got out of my car and walked 200 feet across a flat playground to make the find. The terrain rating for this was 2.5. Really?!

Edited by MysteryGuy1
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Another minor one is difficulty ratings that are very inaccurate. I realize it's all a matter of opinion, but sometimes it's absurd. I logged a cache recently where I simply got out of my car and walked 200 feet across a flat playground to make the find. The terrain rating for this was 2.5. Really?!

 

Then again, I hiked in a half mile, with 150' of climb for a 1.5/1.5, and DNFed it. From photos, the cache size was also wrong.

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Whoever drives to find a cache every 528 feet is doing it wrong.

 

I've never been on a busy highway caching every 528 feet.

 

I've never driven to caches that have been placed every 528 feet.

 

The PT I hit are on lengthy trails that some times go deep into forest areas or along large bodies of water. And I'm out there all day walking and I find maybe 20-25 in 6 hours. These scenic trails can be found all over Washington and Oregon.

 

Here, this is what a PowerTrail of geocaches is. :)

 

That was the tipping point. The game became all about numbers when that PT was sanctioned. It irks me.

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What irks me most? There's so many things but here is one that really gets me. You noticed there was a souvenir available so rather than go out and find a cache that day you instead just date change a find from the day before. Really? Very disappointing. :huh:

 

I got the impression from notifications that a bit of that was going on this week.....

 

 

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What irks me most? There's so many things but here is one that really gets me. You noticed there was a souvenir available so rather than go out and find a cache that day you instead just date change a find from the day before. Really? Very disappointing. :huh:

 

If it irks you, why would you do that?

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What irks me most? There's so many things but here is one that really gets me. You noticed there was a souvenir available so rather than go out and find a cache that day you instead just date changes a find from the day before. Really? Very disappointing. :huh:

 

If it irks you, why would you do that?

 

You A cacher noticed there was a souvenir available so rather than go out and find a cache that day you said cacher instead just date changes a find from the day before.

 

Is this better? Oh wait, here's some more clarification for you: in order to get the souvenir.

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