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What Irks you most?


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2 hours ago, RufusClupea said:

If I saw that particular hint--depending on my knowledge of/experience with that particular CO--I might search the stump first (stumps are actually pretty limited/narrowed down areas to search, IME) and then if unsuccessful, I'd look around to see what else the hint might be hinting at.

I think I would understand SicilianCyclops' gripe point if he would give an example. :D

 

Well, I don't want to single any one co out, but there was one in which the first stage was near an historical marker sign on a path in the woods. The hint was something like, "If you're reading (the sign), you can see it (the cache)." Now that would lead you to believe that perhaps that stage would consist of a magnetic nano on the sign. However, I know for a fact it was not on the sign. So what could that hint mean? From that vantage point my eyes could see a whole wooded area with thousands of hiding spots. One log even stated that the hint was misleading and there has been no shortage of DNFs.  

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4 hours ago, RufusClupea said:
4 hours ago, dprovan said:

Yeah, I agree that's irksome, but I try to be more amused than annoyed. Even worse are the hints that would be helpful, but say the opposite of what they mean. "Don't be stumped." Shouldn't that mean it's not in the stump?

If I saw that particular hint--depending on my knowledge of/experience with that particular CO--I might search the stump first (stumps are actually pretty limited/narrowed down areas to search, IME) and then if unsuccessful, I'd look around to see what else the hint might be hinting at.

I've never seen "Don't be stumped" when the cache wasn't actually in the stump. The closest I've gotten is that the stump had decayed so much you couldn't really call it a stump any more.

4 hours ago, RufusClupea said:

I think I would understand SicilianCyclops' gripe point if he would give an example.

The simplest example of a hint that's meaningful only in retrospect that I can think of is "Green" when the cache is out of sight, so it doesn't matter that it's green until you have it in your hands. ("Red" is a little less like that since it is sometimes a valid hint because it tells you the cache would stand out like a sore thumb if you could see it, so you probably can't see it.) Similarly, a hint that tells you you're looking for, say, a fish, but it turns out the hide is distinctly unfish-like, and you can only see that the camo's a fish after you've retrieved it from wherever it was hidden.

Another example I've seen is "magnetic" when the only reason it's magnetic is to make it stick to some metal added to the distinctly non-metalic camo. Since the hint's "magnetic", you think you're looking for something metallic that it could be attached to, but that's actually the last thing you should be looking for.

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2 hours ago, Cachez said:

What has irked me this weekend is doing a six mile trail of 15 caches and finding five of them were either missing or in need of attention. I got to a point where I could do the last two and risk them being DNFs too or give up. I gave up. Posted all my logs and very shortly after, the CO disabled the lot saying they would be reworked. I'm possibly being slightly unreasonable about this but I was irked that they appeared to have let maintenance slide, but been jogged into action by my logs. It feels like I wasted the better part of a day looking for a bunch of caches which weren't there.

You have every right to be irked, but at least the bright side is that your logs triggered some action. I thank you for your sacrifice.

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17 hours ago, Cachez said:

What has irked me this weekend is doing a six mile trail of 15 caches and finding five of them were either missing or in need of attention. I got to a point where I could do the last two and risk them being DNFs too or give up. I gave up. Posted all my logs and very shortly after, the CO disabled the lot saying they would be reworked. I'm possibly being slightly unreasonable about this but I was irked that they appeared to have let maintenance slide, but been jogged into action by my logs. It feels like I wasted the better part of a day looking for a bunch of caches which weren't there. 

I realise that part of my irkedness is related to my own expectations - I have had a difficult time at work recently and was looking forward to a satisfying and isolated caching walk to clear my mind a bit. 

If I have a pre-planned route I'm taking to find caches, I recommend looking at activity logs on them to ensure they've recently been found. Of course, caches can always come up missing at a moments notice but at least you have an idea that they're there and find-able. Sorry you had to go through that. I think the vast majority of us have been there but I'm happy to see someone posting some NM and DNFs to get the CO out to check on their caches. 

 

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15 hours ago, magellan315 said:

What irks me? The proliferation of micro's to the point of exclusion of all else. Someone hid a micro in the picture below. You're never going to find it without a machete and an airstrike using a herbicide. 

micro.jpg

My goodness that looks like the 7th Circle of Kudzu Hades. 

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1 hour ago, SeattleWayne said:

If I have a pre-planned route I'm taking to find caches, I recommend looking at activity logs on them to ensure they've recently been found. Of course, caches can always come up missing at a moments notice but at least you have an idea that they're there and find-able. Sorry you had to go through that. I think the vast majority of us have been there but I'm happy to see someone posting some NM and DNFs to get the CO out to check on their caches.

Yes, a good practical suggestion, but if you check the caches in advance and realize that there's no good reason to go search for those caches, then post NMs so they don't stay that way forever.

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17 hours ago, magellan315 said:

What irks me? The proliferation of micro's to the point of exclusion of all else. Someone hid a micro in the picture below. You're never going to find it without a machete and an airstrike using a herbicide. 

Come on, silly.  It's behind that leaf.  No, the other one.

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On 8/13/2017 at 10:58 AM, SicilianCyclops said:

I'm sure it's been mentioned in these myriad pages, but something that irks me, which I've seen more than once, are hints that are not helpful when searching and only make sense AFTER finding the cache. This is particularly irksome when you're in the woods with gps bounce and there are hundreds of hiding spots. Basically, some cache owners simply try to get too cute or tricky with their hints. 

This is one of my peeves as well.  What's the point of giving a hint if it doesn't help you narrow down the search?  I found one last month whose hint was "Camo container" (with "Camo" spelled wrong to boot).  How does that help me?

Going along with this, I also dislike when the "hint" is that "I'm not giving a hint."  Why do that?  If you don't want to give a hint, that's fine, but the cache page will automatically tell people that.  This feels like you're rubbing it in.

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I saw some geocaching merchandise lately that made me laugh.  It was something like, "I hate it when cache owners say a hide is 'easy.' Of course you think it's easy -- you know where it is!"

1 hour ago, MysteryGuy1 said:

This is one of my peeves as well.  What's the point of giving a hint if it doesn't help you narrow down the search?  I found one last month whose hint was "Camo container" (with "Camo" spelled wrong to boot).  How does that help me?

Going along with this, I also dislike when the "hint" is that "I'm not giving a hint."  Why do that?  If you don't want to give a hint, that's fine, but the cache page will automatically tell people that.  This feels like you're rubbing it in.

 I agree with this.  I've also been irked by hints that say, "If you know so-and-so's hides, think like him."  Well, usually I have no idea who they are talking about, let alone what his hides are like. 

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23 minutes ago, cowgirl68 said:

I saw some geocaching merchandise lately that made me laugh.  It was something like, "I hate it when cache owners say a hide is 'easy.' Of course you think it's easy -- you know where it is!"

1 hour ago, MysteryGuy1 said:

This is one of my peeves as well.  What's the point of giving a hint if it doesn't help you narrow down the search?  I found one last month whose hint was "Camo container" (with "Camo" spelled wrong to boot).  How does that help me?

Going along with this, I also dislike when the "hint" is that "I'm not giving a hint."  Why do that?  If you don't want to give a hint, that's fine, but the cache page will automatically tell people that.  This feels like you're rubbing it in.

 I agree with this.  I've also been irked by hints that say, "If you know so-and-so's hides, think like him."  Well, usually I have no idea who they are talking about, let alone what his hides are like. 

I remember a cache that I was having trouble finding so I read the hint.  It suggested that it was similar to another cache in the area.  Unfortunately, I had DNFd that cache several times and had not found it yet.  I discovered later that that only thing that made it similar was that there was a letter box hybrid "near" both of them.  

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3 hours ago, cowgirl68 said:

 I've also been irked by hints that say, "If you know so-and-so's hides, think like him."  Well, usually I have no idea who they are talking about, let alone what his hides are like.

Yes! "In the style of ClemKadiddlehopper." Who? Although I became more amused by this when a few hints like that popped up in my area, and invariably the hide turned out to be like something that person hid once and nothing like what I considered that person's typical hide. It struck me as funny to realize that such hints were probably as useless to the locals as they are to visitors.

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6 hours ago, MysteryGuy1 said:

This is one of my peeves as well.  What's the point of giving a hint if it doesn't help you narrow down the search?  I found one last month whose hint was "Camo container" (with "Camo" spelled wrong to boot).  How does that help me?

Going along with this, I also dislike when the "hint" is that "I'm not giving a hint."  Why do that?  If you don't want to give a hint, that's fine, but the cache page will automatically tell people that.  This feels like you're rubbing it in.

I DNFed some caches on a recent trip, all were on a stretch of beach that was wall-to-wall piles of rocks, from pebbles to boulders and everything in between. The hint on each of them? "Rock pile".

 

20170807_124853.jpg

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I'm really new to geocaching, but I do have one irk thanks to a couple of caches I was unable to locate. It's putting a cache in a location deep in the thicket where the only way to get through would be to literally cut down some bushes and small trees. I don't mind hard to reach places, but I'd really rather not destroy the local fauna (which is against the guidelines for placement anyway) except for maybe tall grass just to find a box I'm not even sure is there. One in particular I circled around looking for an easier way in (some place I could crawl under or just push branches aside and squeeze in) and could only get within about 50 ft before there was no other way to get inside but with a machete the bushes were so tall and thick. Peeking in as best I could, it was like that all the way in. I just gave up, but I'll stop by again later in the year to see if the lack of leaves makes it easier to find if its not flooded.

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21 hours ago, SeattleWayne said:

If I have a pre-planned route I'm taking to find caches, I recommend looking at activity logs on them to ensure they've recently been found. Of course, caches can always come up missing at a moments notice but at least you have an idea that they're there and find-able. Sorry you had to go through that. I think the vast majority of us have been there but I'm happy to see someone posting some NM and DNFs to get the CO out to check on their caches. 

 

Oh yes, and in this case I had looked at the logs. Although there were a couple of DNFs here and there, I didn't see any reason to suspect that quite so many of them had disappeared. Though on some trails in rural areas, caches can go for quite a while between finds.

I did post NMs on all the ones where there was a problem which I assume was what alerted the CO to the issue. Ah well, onwards and upwards!

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1 hour ago, Cachez said:

Oh yes, and in this case I had looked at the logs. Although there were a couple of DNFs here and there, I didn't see any reason to suspect that quite so many of them had disappeared. Though on some trails in rural areas, caches can go for quite a while between finds.

I did post NMs on all the ones where there was a problem which I assume was what alerted the CO to the issue. Ah well, onwards and upwards!

Good work. 

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On ‎8‎/‎7‎/‎2017 at 9:42 AM, hzoi said:

So, you want to be first to find, but you want it to be on your schedule.  Cool.  Perhaps you could try emailing your reviewer with the most convenient time for you so that they can better plan their publication times. 

 

Might also help if you announce to the other cachers in your area where it'd be most convenient for them to hide caches for you to find first, so you can maximize your efficiency.

 

:rolleyes:

Geez, sarcastic much?

I NEVER said I wanted caches published at time specifically for ME.  Did you even read my post?

I said:  "But why not VARY the publishing times AT LEAST SOMEWHAT during the day, such as around 10:00 am?  11:00 am?  12:00 noon?  3:00 pm?  5:00 pm?  As I said, some people have schedules other than 9 to 5 and would like a chance to be FTF.  But the publishing "schedule" is BIASED TOWARD THOSE who get up early in the morning.

So, as a response you offer sarcastic comments about wanting the publishing times designed just for me.  Meanwhile, what's already occurring is a variation of what you accuse ME of.  The new postings are virtually ALWAYS posted at the same time, thus benefitting those on that schedule.  Every single new geocache "conveniently" fits THEIR schedule.  What I suggested is that times be VARIED, so that cachers on ALL SCHEDULES would have an EQUAL opportunity.  NOT just me.

Again, geez.  The title of this thread asked for what irks us the most.  I gave an honest, politely-worded reply.  And got smart-a** comments in return.  I guess I have a new answer for what irks me the most: smart-a** forum members.

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1 hour ago, Spacemann Spiff said:

I NEVER said I wanted caches published at time specifically for ME.  Did you even read my post?

The new postings are virtually ALWAYS posted at the same time, thus benefitting those on that schedule.  Every single new geocache "conveniently" fits THEIR schedule.  What I suggested is that times be VARIED, so that cachers on ALL SCHEDULES would have an EQUAL opportunity.  NOT just me.

Again, geez.  The title of this thread asked for what irks us the most.  I gave an honest, politely-worded reply.  And got smart-a** comments in return.  I guess I have a new answer for what irks me the most: smart-a** forum members.

I believe that was you received was a little push back, and then first-hand information from a VOLUNTEER reviewer that caches are published to "conveniently" fit the schedule of the VOLUNTEER reviewers, many of whom have actual paying jobs and lives that require their time and come before publishing caches. 

Unlike the Found It = Didn't Find It thread, this thread does indeed invite discussion of the things which irk us. A volunteer reviewer offering up information in an attempt to help you better understand how things work (so that they might irk you less) is far from "smart-alec"... I found it quite beneficial. 

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4 hours ago, Spacemann Spiff said:

I NEVER said I wanted caches published at time specifically for ME.  Did you even read my post?

I did, all of it.  The part that jumped out was the last line, that you didn't quote above:

Quote

Whenever there's a new cache published in my area, someone has almost always already found the cache before I even get out of bed.

It didn't come across as making the playing field fair for all, it came across that you were tired of missing out on FTF and wanted the reviewer to rearrange their life so you could sleep in and still bag a FTF.  Hence my sarcasm.  If that's not what you meant, then so be it, and I stand corrected.

Edited by hzoi
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21 hours ago, Keystone said:

What irks me most as a site volunteer is people who tell me how to organize my day, without paying me.  From 9:00 to 5:00, however, I *love* the people who pay me!

To cover those hours between 5:01 and 8:59, you could always set up a secret paypal account to accept bribes payment from those requesting specific times for cache publishment. That would be a win win for both of you. :P

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15 minutes ago, hzoi said:

Bribe is such a dirty word.  Payment is neutral but impersonal.  Why not consider it a gift?  Baksheesh, if you will.

In some African countries they call it "encouragement" or "a token of good will".

 

 

Edited by on4bam
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When you think that the cache might be in a hard-to-access spot, but you're just not sure.  I'm generally willing to climb up or down an unusually steep hill to make a find, but I don't like the idea of taking that risk and then discovering the cache was actually someplace much easier to grab!

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6 hours ago, MysteryGuy1 said:

When you think that the cache might be in a hard-to-access spot, but you're just not sure.  I'm generally willing to climb up or down an unusually steep hill to make a find, but I don't like the idea of taking that risk and then discovering the cache was actually someplace much easier to grab!

To expand on this, I have a gripe about CO's who don't put reasonable Terrain ratings on caches. I've done T1.5 caches that are a mile hike with a 500 foot elevation change. Not dramatic, but please don't make it seems like its a pleasant stroll in your neighborhood park.

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2 minutes ago, igator210 said:

To expand on this, I have a gripe about CO's who don't put reasonable Terrain ratings on caches. I've done T1.5 caches that are a mile hike with a 500 foot elevation change. Not dramatic, but please don't make it seems like its a pleasant stroll in your neighborhood park.

On the flip side, I've found T1.5 caches that were a short stroll from parking, but only after I had spent hours getting to the cache site some other way.

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17 hours ago, niraD said:

On the flip side, I've found T1.5 caches that were a short stroll from parking, but only after I had spent hours getting to the cache site some other way.

One of the stupidest things I ever did while caching was to walk through a swamp, destroying my sneakers in the process, to find a cache that ended up being a short walk from the street.  If only I'd been able to find that street before I got out of the car...

Edited by MysteryGuy1
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6 minutes ago, MysteryGuy1 said:

One of the stupidest things I ever did while caching was to walk through a swamp, destroying my sneakers in the process, to find a cache that ended up being a short walk from the street.  If only I'd been able to find that street before I got out of the car...

Back in the day, that kind of stuff happened to us quite a few times. Can't begin to tell you how many wrong turns we made in the car and how many times we came in from the wrong way. GPSR mapping and satellite imagery has made all that a thing of the past. Actually, it kind of irks me that this mapping stuff has made geocaching too simple now. :(

 

 

 

 

 

J/K,,,  Mapping/navigation on the fly are things i'm glad to have these days. B)

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4 hours ago, MysteryGuy1 said:

One of the stupidest things I ever did while caching was to walk through a swamp, destroying my sneakers in the process, to find a cache that ended up being a short walk from the street.  If only I'd been able to find that street before I got out of the car...

I have done that so many times and I feel stupid every time. It usually happens when I use my Nuvi to figure out the best route to drive to the coordinates instead of taking the time to look at a satellite image to figure out the best approach.

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On 25/08/2017 at 3:41 AM, Team Christiansen said:

I have done that so many times and I feel stupid every time. It usually happens when I use my Nuvi to figure out the best route to drive to the coordinates instead of taking the time to look at a satellite image to figure out the best approach.

Yesterday I did a virtual T1 that required a climb of some 400 steps up a mountain. And another today, again a T1, That required a steep climb up steps to find a monument. No wheelchair access was available for either.

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On 8/24/2017 at 1:41 PM, Team Christiansen said:

I have done that so many times and I feel stupid every time. It usually happens when I use my Nuvi to figure out the best route to drive to the coordinates instead of taking the time to look at a satellite image to figure out the best approach.

In my case, it was stage 2 of a multi, so I had no idea until I found stage 1 where I'd be going.  Otherwise, your approach would have helped greatly.

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2 minutes ago, njsk8rdan said:

What irks me, I read the post about Premium Membership being worth it. I was getting bored with all the LPC's and guardrails so I bought a 1-year membership. The first PMO that I pull up to...a LPC! :mad:

:laughing:      I agree. 

Anyone who thinks a cache that someone just tagged a pmo on is  special is in for a rude surprise.  As far as premium membership, I'd think pmo hides are at the bottom of reasons for that membership.  Most want it for pqs and stuff...

You don't say if you're using the geocaching app, but your premium membership now affords you step away from that 1.5 terrain limitation, to search caches far from those lpcs and guard rails, if you desire.

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21 minutes ago, njsk8rdan said:

What irks me, I read the post about Premium Membership being worth it. I was getting bored with all the LPC's and guardrails so I bought a 1-year membership. The first PMO that I pull up to...a LPC! :mad:

FWIW, I consider access to PMO caches to be one of the least useful benefits of premium membership. Actually, I don't think of it as "access to PMO caches" as much as I think of it as "ability to ignore the distinction between regular and PMO caches".

I find other benefits (e.g., bookmark lists, PQs, and full access to the API) to be much more useful.

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2 hours ago, Gill & Tony said:

When I first started caching I did a hike with my daughter and we found a very clever hide.  I tried to give an FP but I wasn't premium.  So I immediately signed up to give it an FP and have been premium ever since

I got my PM account, first for the PQs, second for the bookmark lists. Had one since 2003. 

What irks me is when COs make all their caches PMO with no redeeming added value. I can see if they put some effort into their hide and want to decrease the risk of it being mishandled by new cachers, but a film canister in a parking lot, or a salvaged chap stick tube in a tree? I get the feeling they do it for the spy list to see who's looking at their caches. 

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1 hour ago, L0ne.R said:

What irks me is when COs make all their caches PMO with no redeeming added value. I can see if they put some effort into their hide and want to decrease the risk of it being mishandled by new cachers, but a film canister in a parking lot, or a salvaged chap stick tube in a tree? I get the feeling they do it for the spy list to see who's looking at their caches. 

I agree, and what they fail to understand is, the many ways to bypass that audit makes it useless for whatever their intentions are.

We were falsely involved in a couple issues with others hides over that audit, simply because I clicked on their cache.

Still don't do them, but I look at many here, with the CO not having a clue... 

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After finally reading the whole thread I see that I am guilty of three of the most "popular" irks. Found it TFTC logs, not logging DNFs, and not logging NMs. Well now I know, and I hear knowing is a certain percentage of the skirmish. ;)

I have a new irk, my own dumb luck. This weekend I went to park with multiple caches. After walking about a mile up a trail and arriving at a lake that I see has a dirt road and parking nearby at sit down at a picnic table. There's no one around except for a single fisherman. I'm about 100 feet from a cache but I sit and chill and take in the nice view (after all, that's what this hobby is all about). I enjoy the nice breeze, drink some water, smoke a cig. No sooner than I stand up, field strip the cig, start walking toward the cache, three muggles pull up and start fishing about fifty feet from GZ. *heavy sigh*

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Yesterday my phone rang 3 or 4 times, the person wasn't on my list (no name) so I disregarded.

After insulating the garage, checked my email, and  I got one from someone I sorta know that said "Help!".   Thinking they may be stuck in a tree or hurt somewhere, clicked on it first.

Turns out to be someone who didn't know how to project a waypoint,  but headed out anyway.   It seems they spent hours rambling, thinking they'd somehow luck out .  Frustrated, paf'd everyone they could, well... because it just had to be found now... 

One of the few here who'll paf for a ftf at times too, many are "found" with a call because it's taking too long to "find" it.     Hopefully some day if in a real bind they're able to find someone, since "fool me once..."  has passed here....

We help a lot on ours, but they (as well as most here)  know that I don't think it fair to give away other's caches.  They should be contacting the COs.

 - Times on my phone jive, so what "irks me most" is,  someone gave them my private number.

 

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Throwdown caching just baffles me. There is clearly a DNF log. Yet people do not find the cache and instead of logging it appropriately, they place their own and still log a find. That's just wrong to me. It helps no one and does nothing for the game. In the last month I've found one cache that had the real cache and a throwdown at GZ and I've been to two other geocaches that were throwdowns. When I get to a cache with a throwdown, I don't even know how to log it. Log a DNF and a NM? Remove the throwdown and log a DNF and a NM? Sign the log and log a find? I really don't know how to approach this situation. I really don't understand this phenomenon. It's a real dark spot on the game right now.

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I dislike most micro-caches and hate micro-micro caches or micro-micro-micro caches. What are they for? They don't fulfill geocaching's original vision. If you can't place a proper container, the place should be made available as a virtual/earth cache or through Waymarking.com...

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On 02/10/2017 at 8:28 PM, rui_curado said:

I dislike most micro-caches and hate micro-micro caches or micro-micro-micro caches. What are they for? They don't fulfill geocaching's original vision. If you can't place a proper container, the place should be made available as a virtual/earth cache or through Waymarking.com...

Virtual caches and earthcaches don't fulfil geocaching's original vision, either.

I would much prefer to be taken to an interesting location by a blinkie than be taken to a random boring location by an ammo can.

What is any cache for?  Ask 20 cachers and get 21 different answers.

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Definitely T.B. thieves it is very discouraging when you have sent out two travel bug s a year apart with the same goal only to have them picked up and not released again. People who do that should be have their account suspended and be banned for life

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