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What Irks you most?


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23 hours ago, thebruce0 said:

Well of course, if you don't respond nicely, then you're not being nice. I didn't encourage anyone to respond NOT nicely. Why would anyone encourage that? The whole point was responding cordially, in a friendly manner, rather than just ignoring the person and brushing them off.  What irks me are people who do that. Whether in geocaching or life in general.  Lots of stuff in this thread irks some people and not others.

 

I said as much. And also said I'd rather not risk being the cause of offense by being what society generally considers unfriendly.  So if I can, I will reply and encourage a friendly interaction, even if the answer is not exactly what they want to hear.  Because that's how I'd like to be treated; so that's how I'll treat others.

 

Well yes, I'm raising the point that society generally considers people who ignore other people's requests entirely to be unfriendly. Do you disagree with that generalized assessment?  Do you think that ignoring someone is friendly?  I guess if you do then we'll never see eye to eye on that.  I'm not holding it against you. Do what you want.

 

 

Yowza :laughing:  But yes, forums and text-based internet discussions generally tend to bring the worst out in people. I do my best to leave that on the net because people tend to be very different in person.  I've seen many people able to be friends in meat-space but just not able to see eye to eye in online discussions.  It's possible to separate the two. Just need a thick digital skin ;P

 

 

Another example I just received:

 

q3Ph8dz.png

 

I blanked out the user name and the name of the cache.  

But you get the gist.  If I respond with a simple "no"...I'd be labeled rude.  If I don't respond, there is the slight chance this person might consider me rude. If I spend a couple minutes devising a response meant to not offend, I've not only wasted my own time, but there is still the chance they might consider my response rude.  About the only way they would not consider me rude is if I either straight out told them how to solve the puzzle or gave them enough hints to solve it, thus completely defeating the entire purpose of publishing a puzzle.  

 

No...to me, the easiest and best way to handle this is just to not respond.  It's the least amount of risk while still maintaining the integrity of the puzzle.  Call me rude, call me a jerk, but I stand by my reasoning.  You can worry all you want about how others will perceive you.  Not my style.

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16 minutes ago, J Grouchy said:

I blanked out the user name and the name of the cache.  

But you get the gist.  If I respond with a simple "no"...I'd be labeled rude.  If I don't respond, there is the slight chance this person might consider me rude. If I spend a couple minutes devising a response meant to not offend, I've not only wasted my own time, but there is still the chance they might consider my response rude.  About the only way they would not consider me rude is if I either straight out told them how to solve the puzzle or gave them enough hints to solve it, thus completely defeating the entire purpose of publishing a puzzle.  

 

No...to me, the easiest and best way to handle this is just to not respond.  It's the least amount of risk while still maintaining the integrity of the puzzle.  Call me rude, call me a jerk, but I stand by my reasoning.  You can worry all you want about how others will perceive you.  Not my style.

 

Speaking for myself, yes, I would craft a 101-style response about the puzzle. Why would I consider that wasted time just because I didn't want to risk offending? I don't see how you can jump to "wasted time" just by spending time to craft a response.  If they end up ignoring my nicely crafted response, I still don't consider it wasted time. I did my part at trying to keep the community a friendly place. The rest is on them.

 

But as I said, do what you want. I don't know how you came by your user name, but I presume I'm right in assuming it's a tongue in cheek name because of some choices you make that you are personally okay with which tend to come off 'grouchy' to others. *shrug* Maybe I'm wrong and it has no connection to any kind of attitude (if that's part of your real name then my apologies for assuming anything). C'est la vie. Thanks for the respectable chat. We'll have to agree to disagree. We see communication with people in different ways, and that's just fine.

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30 minutes ago, thebruce0 said:

But as I said, do what you want. I don't know how you came by your user name, but I presume I'm right in assuming...

 

You can presume and assume all you want, but it actually has nothing to do with my personality or how people who actually know me perceive me.  It's actually based on something much more mundane than that.

I could pull out the tired old adage about what it means to "assume"...but there's really no need. You will judge me based on a nickname and I can't really control that.  

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I note you left out the rest of that paragraph where I said:

49 minutes ago, thebruce0 said:

Maybe I'm wrong and it has no connection to any kind of attitude (if that's part of your real name then my apologies for assuming anything).

 

So I'll reiterate that - it appears I'm wrong about the origin of your alias, so my apologies. Nonetheless:

 

50 minutes ago, thebruce0 said:

We'll have to agree to disagree. We see communication with people in different ways, and that's just fine.

 

I'll choose to err on the side of cordiality and not ignorance (in the literal sense of ignoring someone), and continue to enourage such an ethic, hopefully to help improve the general state of the community I interact with.

 

Because when someone ignores me, it irks me.

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On 7/10/2018 at 1:32 PM, dprovan said:

Except the comparable example would be the CO with the climbing cache refusing to answer questions about how to safely approach the climb or where to get permits. Having said that, there's no requirement the owner of a climbing cache provide that information, either, but it's easy to see how it might be viewed as similarly unfriendly.

 

A couple years ago I was thinking of doing a cache where the CO said "Take Road A to get to this cache."  Looking at the satellite view it looked like Road B would get there, and be a lot shorter, so I asked the CO if I could get there via Road B, and the answer I got was "Go ahead and try it if you want to."  I took that to mean "No" but I think it would have been a lot friendlier to say "No that doesn't go through." Or whatever reason.  Maybe I should have just assumed that, when told to take Road A, that was the only way to get there, but I have come across other situations where the directions specified one route just because that was the way the person always went from the direction of their home, and I was coming from another direction and there were other equally good routes.

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Much of the hassles in my area with folks trying to get "extra" help  (FTF maybe)  is to just put "I'll try to provide any additional hints, after the FTF has been grabbed.  Thanks for your understanding. :) " or similar on the cache page.  Seen on a lot of hides.   Easy to delete later.

Otherwise, it's simple to communicate what your "help" entails by including that information on the cache page. 

 

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1 minute ago, cerberus1 said:

Much of the hassles in my area with folks trying to get "extra" help  (FTF maybe)  is to just put "I'll try to provide any additional hints, after the FTF has been grabbed.  Thanks for your understanding. :) " or similar on the cache page.  Seen on a lot of hides.   Easy to delete later.

Otherwise, it's simple to communicate what your "help" entails by including that information on the cache page. 

 

Yeah that's a good way to help pre-empt the potential for angst. I know a number of COs who will not provide hints at all. But, at least they typically disclaim that up front and are friendly about it :)

 

However, I suppose another irk I find - listings that have in the Hint section: "not yet" or "not until ftf"... and it was published years ago, with oodles of finds since. argh! :laughing:

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2 hours ago, J Grouchy said:

But you get the gist.  If I respond with a simple "no"...I'd be labeled rude.  If I don't respond, there is the slight chance this person might consider me rude. If I spend a couple minutes devising a response meant to not offend, I've not only wasted my own time, but there is still the chance they might consider my response rude.  About the only way they would not consider me rude is if I either straight out told them how to solve the puzzle or gave them enough hints to solve it, thus completely defeating the entire purpose of publishing a puzzle.  

What if you just responded with, "What have you tried?"

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3 hours ago, Team Microdot said:
4 hours ago, J Grouchy said:

I blanked out the user name and the name of the cache.  

But you get the gist.  If I respond with a simple "no"...I'd be labeled rude.  If I don't respond, there is the slight chance this person might consider me rude. If I spend a couple minutes devising a response meant to not offend, I've not only wasted my own time, but there is still the chance they might consider my response rude.  About the only way they would not consider me rude is if I either straight out told them how to solve the puzzle or gave them enough hints to solve it, thus completely defeating the entire purpose of publishing a puzzle.  

 

No...to me, the easiest and best way to handle this is just to not respond.  It's the least amount of risk while still maintaining the integrity of the puzzle.  Call me rude, call me a jerk, but I stand by my reasoning.  You can worry all you want about how others will perceive you.  Not my style.

 

All of this ^^^

 

1 hour ago, TriciaG said:

What if you just responded with, "What have you tried?"

 

That's probably what I have would have done.  I might also have added, "How much of a hint to do want?" and would thank the geocacher for expressing interest in my puzzle cache.

 

When someone asks for help without giving any other information I also wonder, as someone suggested earlier if it's someone that wants to solve the puzzle, or is just looking for the solutions so that they can go find it and increase their find count.  When I see something like "I have no idea where to start" it sometimes might indicated that there's a bit too much moon logic in the puzzle.  It may also indicated that they haven't spent much time actually solving puzzles.  Something I see fairly often is, "I can't figure this out...I have looked in the source code and don't see anything".   Sure, there are some puzzles that will put the puzzle in the source code (e.g. as commented out html) but if that's all someone knows about solving puzzle caches, they're not going to get very far on *most* puzzles.    

 

I also frequently see something like "I need to solve this puzzle...I will be in the area soon".  First, nobody needs to solve every puzzle (or find every cache).   Some puzzle are very difficult and are intended to be hard to solve and make take days, weeks or months to fully solve it.  For a high difficulty puzzle I would *expect* that it should take a considerable amount of time to solve it.  

 

The primary reason that I would respond with "What have you tried?" rather than not respond at all is that an "unresponsive CO" is often seen as an invitation to find a solution elsewhere (asking someone that has already solved it).    I'd rather give the solution to someone that asks if that encourages them to ask the CO first before looking elsewhere for the answer.

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1 minute ago, Team Microdot said:

 

To what end?

 

Only to encourage those that wan't to find puzzle caches to give the creator of that puzzle the opportunity to decide how much help they want to give.   Some people like the mental challenge of a difficult puzzle.   I would think that a cache owner that creates puzzle cache does so with the intent that those that find the cache, actually solve the puzzle (and, ideally, understand how the puzzle needs to be solved).  Getting "help" on a puzzle from someone else might circumvent the intent of the CO, and potentially result in a CO deciding they don't want to put the energy into any more puzzle caches if most people are only looking for the solution (rather than solving the puzzle).  If that happens, those that enjoy the mental challenge of a difficult puzzle lose.

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2 hours ago, TriciaG said:

What if you just responded with, "What have you tried?"

 

Again...it's drawing me into a conversation that likely ends up with someone who isn't really interested in puzzles getting upset that I didn't spoonfeed them the solution.  I just don't get into that from the start.

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Obviously there are a lot of feelings and opinions on the subject of puzzle solvability and providing help.

 

Maybe publishing is were additional scrutiny is required. Earth caches  are in a way peer reviewed by experts in the field. How about a peer review process for puzzles. It could be setup regionally so local cachers do not get to see the inner workings of the puzzle and get the experience of solving and finding the cache. Those puzzle "experts" volunteers get the benefit of solving challenging puzzles and providing feedback to the puzzle owner, is this solvable with the given information. Is the solution correct, no typos and the like. Feedback on the difficulty for initial publishing. 

 

Though this only helps part of the problem. You can not force a CO to do anything. If they don't want to help you have a choice solve it on your own, ask others for help, or move to ignore list. Personally I'd hope the CO would provide some help like have a stored canned 2nd hint they could provide. Feel free to ignore the folks that just want the answer, IMHO.

 

 

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11 hours ago, J Grouchy said:

Another example I just received:

 

q3Ph8dz.png

 

 

If I received that, and the person asking wasn't someone I know, I might offer them a few links to the educational puzzle-solving websites or perhaps the Geocaching Toolbox if that's relevant, particularly if they appeared to be a newbie. Most of my puzzles have thinly-veiled hints either in words or phrases in the description or html comments in the source, which I'd be happy to give them a nudge towards. I'm also reminded of one of my university lecturers whose initial response to questions like that was always, in his wonderful Irish accent, "Go away and think about it." When you did that and came back to discuss your thoughts, he'd be more than happy to provide whatever help you needed to develop an understanding of the topic.

 

Actually I wish someone would ask me that question on my most recent puzzle cache, published in February, as it's only had two finders (both in the first couple of weeks, one of whom asked for a nudge with the final step). It's getting rather lonely sitting up on the hilltop. If my nudges help them understand the processes in solving it and they then go out and enjoy the bushwalk and cache, that seems like a win-win, even more so if that experience opens their eyes to solving other siimilar puzzles. It's surely better than them staring at the page with blank eyes for half the night and then muttering something profane about BFJ and his stupid bloody puzzles!

 

Having said that, if someone were to come straight out and just ask for the solution, I'd probably tell them to go away and think about it. I'd still respond, though, as if I don't receive a response to something I start to wonder whether my email or the CO's response was gobbled up by a spam filter or if the Message Centre has hiccuped or if I've somehow offended them. I'd much rather just get told, "Sorry, I can't help you" than be left wondering.

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On ‎7‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 3:40 PM, J Grouchy said:

 

Again...it's drawing me into a conversation that likely ends up with someone who isn't really interested in puzzles getting upset that I didn't spoonfeed them the solution.  I just don't get into that from the start.

 

When I'm PM'ed for a "leetle hint" on a cache (and if I'm delivering such hints), I provide hints, and then the actual coordinates to the cache, "Don't look if you want to figure it out yourself!".  Otherwise, there's another PM, "OK, I don't understand Step 3".  Then they can't figure out "Step 4".  Then the rest, until I provide the location on a silver platter.  Cool.

 

Nobody's complained when I send too many spoilers. ;)

 

When I PAF a friend about cache he doesn't own, he tends to not remember that cache at all.  So that's another way to do it.  It's only slightly more irksome when someone writes to collaborate on a cache puzzle, and I provide what I've figured out so far, and they finish solving it and go get FTF.  "Yay! I found It!"  And then after that they don't remember that cache at all. :mad:

 

But don't ask me for logical steps to the solution, if nobody else has solved it.  I didn't understand much of that puzzle.  I simply made assumptions at a step or two, and that plan somehow panned out. 

 

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On 7/10/2018 at 11:43 AM, IceColdUK said:

 

I don’t see it as an obligation.  I’m more often flattered that people are stretching themselves to attempt my puzzles.  And I prefer that they are contacting me rather than previous finders - I think it reduces the chances of my mysteries being converted to trads.

 

Particularly when a puzzle is new, I’m really interested to see whether I have the difficulty rated correctly, and these conversations seem to be the best way to find out.  Constantly amazed at the different ideas people come up with on a puzzle that I thought was just so obvious! ;-)

 

I’ll try to respond in a day or two, and so far, fortunately, I’ve never had anyone feeling in any way entitled to a better level of service.  I’ll give nudges not solutions, but I’d rather give a really big nudge than have the cacher give up.  I appreciate that other COs approach this differently.

 

Prior to the FTF, I won’t give any clues to individuals, but I will make changes to a puzzle (e.g. add hints), if necessary, based on feedback received.  Either at this stage or later, if I don’t want to give out hints, I’d still respond politely to messages - good manners, surely?

I own a few dozen puzzles and am always happy to give nudges. I'm often baffled by logs along the lines of "I have no interest whatsoever in... [football / Jeremy Clarkson / Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells] as if I've ruined their lives by getting them to research something different. Humph. Must get back to that boring bell-ringing sequence puzzle...

 

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On 7/13/2018 at 9:02 PM, dprovan said:

"No, sorry, I don't give out hints for that cache." Hard to see how that could be considered rude.

 

Ummm...yeah, I actually CAN see how that could be taken as a rude response.  

 

Are you really not seeing it that way?  

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16 minutes ago, J Grouchy said:

 

Ummm...yeah, I actually CAN see how that could be taken as a rude response.  

 

Are you really not seeing it that way?  

But I see how it would be considered rude to demand or expect hints! Feels so millenial, entitled.... I may have worked really hard on making that mystery, why should I just give it away to you?

 

I think this thread is so fun. Everyone has their opinions on the unspoken rules of the game (and unspoken rules of society in general). I guess they’re “unspoken” because they’re not absolute and for every opinion, there’s going to be a differing one somewhere.

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The one that's really rude, is the one that does not reply. At least it appears you reply. I only have one puzzle (an easy one) and I have chosen to give hints to people who I feel have attempted it but are stuck. I also will give extra help with finding a traditional too, to some people. Not to people who won't log DNFs.

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6 minutes ago, Team Microdot said:

 

Ah - OK.

 

I expect the people you don't help think you're rude.

I have been asked about the puzzle and fortunately I haven't had to refuse anyone. Same with a multi a few have asked me about. Some people have trouble reading an inscription. No-one has asked me for the traditionals. I am the one who has offered help there, such as another hint, so no-one thinks me rude.

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So, in summary:

1. Someone who doesn't answer may be perceived as rude or, at the very least, unobservant of the fact that they've received a message.

2. Someone who answers briefly and succinctly that they do not give out hints may be perceived as rude.

3. Someone who writes out a carefully worded response about not giving out hints may be perceived as rude.

4. Someone who responds with a vague and not terribly helpful hint may be perceived as difficult or even possibly a bit rude.

5. Someone who responds with a generous hint likely will not be considered rude, but threatens the integrity of the puzzle they created for people to solve.

6. Someone who responds with a complete spoiler hint or even the final coordinates themselves will not considered rude, but gives up all pretense that it's necessary to actually solve the puzzle they created for people to solve.

 

I guess I don't see how one can really win.  They've either wasted time on a puzzle, wasted time on a response, or neither one but made people upset anyway.

 

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27 minutes ago, Goldenwattle said:

The one that's really rude, is the one that does not reply.

:D

If someone wants me "immediately", they have to call.  Only a handful of people have emailed over the years.  Most want to text.

I don't text, and rarely have anything other than a flip phone with me when out (I play to get away from that stuff :-) .

I also won't respond to "unknown" callers.  If I give you my number, you're in the address book.

Most calls I've received over the past ten years have been to voice mail, as they're unknown callers.

 'I'm here at (pick yours, or another's cache...) right now,  and I need to know where it is" isn't gonna be responded to anytime soon...

 - If that's rude, tough.  What steps were made to get my once-private number?

Sometimes I'll email when I get home, with a "sorry I missed you, what help do you need?" to find most times they got hold of another almost immediately after calling me anyway. 

I was only a temporary inconvenience.  :)

 

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I think everyone understands that there are societal norms (that means not everyone agrees, just to pre-empt some inevitable "but not me"s) for what's considered cordial, friendly, nice, and rude, unfriendly, standoffish.

 

You can be considered rude by ignoring someone outright.

You can be considered rude by not giving someone a response they want, even if you're friendly about it.

 

I'd wager that the former is much more likely than the latter.  I'd rather be considered rude by the latter case (individual) than the former (societal). Being the initiator, I'd rather have an experience of the latter than the former. So, yes, I will continue to be someone who responds to requests, even if it's not what they want to hear, and I will continue to encourage that sort of cordial ethic for general human interaction.

Because what irks me is unfriendliness (which does not just mean hearing what I want to hear), especially in this geocaching hobby.

Edited by thebruce0
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5 hours ago, Team Microdot said:

 

Ah - OK.

 

I expect the people you don't help think you're rude.

 

Over in a Puzzle Help FB group someone said that if someone can't solve a puzzle that they should first try asking someone that solved it for a hint.  I wrote that, no, the first thing one should do is contact the CO and ask for help.  They responded that "the rules don't say we have to contact the CO", and basically that if I wasn't going be nice, and helpful on the group when someone asks for help on a puzzle that I should just shut up.  I thought that was pretty rude.

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8 hours ago, J Grouchy said:
On 7/13/2018 at 6:02 PM, dprovan said:

"No, sorry, I don't give out hints for that cache." Hard to see how that could be considered rude.

 

Ummm...yeah, I actually CAN see how that could be taken as a rude response.  

 

Are you really not seeing it that way? 

No, I'm really not seeing it that way. I can imagine -- although just barely, to be honest -- someone being so unreasonable they'd consider "no, sorry" to be rude, but I don't really care that much about people that can't be reasonable.

 

As you've pointed out, some people can be offended by anything, so it's ridiculous to take that as a standard because it leads you to the position you find yourself now: no answer. Instead, I advocate the lessor standard of not offending people that are being unreasonable. If I walk up to someone on the street and ask them if they know where Main Street it, if they say "No, I don't", I can't be offended. If they can't even be bothered to respond, it's reasonable for me to consider them rude. (Although, needless to say, I would also be rude if I got mad at them for not responding.)

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10 hours ago, cerberus1 said:

:D

If someone wants me "immediately", they have to call.  Only a handful of people have emailed over the years.  Most want to text.

I don't text, and rarely have anything other than a flip phone with me when out (I play to get away from that stuff :-) .

I also won't respond to "unknown" callers.  If I give you my number, you're in the address book.

Most calls I've received over the past ten years have been to voice mail, as they're unknown callers.

 'I'm here at (pick yours, or another's cache...) right now,  and I need to know where it is" isn't gonna be responded to anytime soon...

 - If that's rude, tough.  What steps were made to get my once-private number?

Sometimes I'll email when I get home, with a "sorry I missed you, what help do you need?" to find most times they got hold of another almost immediately after calling me anyway. 

I was only a temporary inconvenience.  :)

 

I send a 'message' to the cache owner when I get home, as although I have a phone which I could email someone from, I tend hardly to use it. I send the 'message' with the intention of returning to the cache later, if I get some extra hints. (Which I myself am usually willing to give for my caches.) In the caching community here, most people who contact me, I at least know the name, even if I have not met them at an event.

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On ‎12‎/‎07‎/‎2018 at 2:05 PM, thebruce0 said:

 

Oh! Oh! Also, trackable codes being published so the world can 'discover' them without any effort.  And Facebook groups behind closed doors that do it and encourage it knowingly without having the TB owners' permission.

I'm not a big trackable tracking guy, but that also irks me.  Getting codes just to post another discover log defeats the purpose of actually discovering them and that really is something that's just about the numbers. But sharing them without the owners' knowledge? Tantamount to publishing puzzle solutions (to many TB owners at least).


That happened to one of my TBs.  Somebody posted the code on Instagram without my knowledge so I'm getting countless  'discovered' logs.    I've had to add a note to the TB's description page in various languages saying that all 'discovered on internet' logs will be deleted which has reduced the number of logs a bit but I still get them.

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On 11/07/2018 at 2:34 PM, J Grouchy said:

So please...point to where I have "slapped people down".

 

My apologies; this wasn’t intended as a personal attack, it was just my knee-jerk reaction to what I saw as a pattern of negativity on this thread.  I prefer to be part of a community that encourages its members.

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2 hours ago, IceColdUK said:

 

My apologies; this wasn’t intended as a personal attack, it was just my knee-jerk reaction to what I saw as a pattern of negativity on this thread.  I prefer to be part of a community that encourages its members.

To be fair, this is a thread about things that irk people. Other threads (especially those in the Getting Started section) are more encouraging.

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My current irk is people who don't read cache descriptions. I own a challenge cache with a requirement for 20 finds having the "takes more than 1 hour" attribute, with bold text in the description emphasising that you must both sign the logbook in the physical cache and qualify for the challenge before logging a find online. Nup, I just had someone log a find with only 3 qualifying caches under their belt. They're a PM with close to 400 finds over several years, including mysteries and an EC, and have 21 hides of their own, so hardly a raw beginner. I've messaged them explaining what challenge caches are and asking that they change their log to a note until they've qualified, so we'll see if I get any response.

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9 hours ago, niraD said:

To be fair, this is a thread about things that irk people. Other threads (especially those in the Getting Started section) are more encouraging.

That’s true, but we got here because somebody was irked by somebody else’s irk, and that just irked me! ;-)

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On 7/19/2018 at 10:36 PM, barefootjeff said:

My current irk is people who don't read cache descriptions. I own a challenge cache with a requirement for 20 finds having the "takes more than 1 hour" attribute, with bold text in the description emphasising that you must both sign the logbook in the physical cache and qualify for the challenge before logging a find online. Nup, I just had someone log a find with only 3 qualifying caches under their belt. They're a PM with close to 400 finds over several years, including mysteries and an EC, and have 21 hides of their own, so hardly a raw beginner. I've messaged them explaining what challenge caches are and asking that they change their log to a note until they've qualified, so we'll see if I get any response.

 

 

See...you're much more lax about it than you need to be.  I would have deleted it immediately.

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On 7/19/2018 at 7:36 PM, barefootjeff said:

I own a challenge cache with a requirement for 20 finds

 In concept, I understand what a "Challenge" cache is, however I looked on your profile to read it for myself. I was unable to find one categorized as a "Challenge" cache. It is listed as a "Mystery" cache. So if I am understanding it correctly "Challenge" caches are a form of "Mystery" cache and not a separate category. :o 

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13 minutes ago, BK-Hunters said:

 In concept, I understand what a "Challenge" cache is, however I looked on your profile to read it for myself. I was unable to find one categorized as a "Challenge" cache. It is listed as a "Mystery" cache. So if I am understanding it correctly "Challenge" caches are a form of "Mystery" cache and not a separate category. :o 

Yes, a Challenge cache is a type or subset of the Mystery caches, just as a Puzzle cache is. Here is a Help Center article explaining. Another type not listed in that article is the experimental AR cache.

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3 hours ago, BK-Hunters said:

 In concept, I understand what a "Challenge" cache is, however I looked on your profile to read it for myself. I was unable to find one categorized as a "Challenge" cache. It is listed as a "Mystery" cache. So if I am understanding it correctly "Challenge" caches are a form of "Mystery" cache and not a separate category. :o 

 

Yes, GC752YF. Challenge caches are listed as mystery caches with the word "challenge" in the title, except there are some puzzles with "challenge" in the title that aren't challenge caches. I agree, a separate cache type for challenges would make things cleaner.

 

Anyway, after getting no response to my first attempted contact and sending a follow-up email, the person concerned has now deleted their log.

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Still wish people would log DNFs.

While out yesterday we went after a few solved mysteries, one of which we DNF'd. I checked the logs of these mysteries (all in the same general area) and the logs even mentioned that they came to find mysteries solved during winter time. The same cachers logged/found the caches we did but none DNF'd the one we DNF'd. hard to believe they would just skip that one so I guess they just logged their founds and didn't log DNFs.

Now that I did log a DNF I'm sure the CO will check soon.

 

 

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44 minutes ago, on4bam said:

Still wish people would log DNFs.

That irks me too. I DNF-ed a cache that had not been found for six months, but my log was the first DNF. I worked out based on the previous logging frequency that there were likely about 20 missing DNFs. Within a day or so of my DNF a second DNF was logged. The CO checked and yes the cache was missing. They thanked me for logging the DNF. Not only did those non-loggers of DNFs not assist the CO to know the cache was missing, they were the cause of others wasting their time stopping for a missing cache. I have also seen 'found' logs saying something like, "Seventh visit and finally found it." But not one DNF log from them.

I really do think there are a lot of very insecure people out there who are too scared to log a DNF in case others think them silly. I say to them, get over it, log those DNFs and be helpful. It's also amazing how once someone logs the first DNF after a long period of no logs, suddenly there are a flood of DNFs. No, no, don't want to be first to log that DNF :rolleyes:.

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9 hours ago, Goldenwattle said:

That irks me too. I DNF-ed a cache that had not been found for six months, but my log was the first DNF. I worked out based on the previous logging frequency that there were likely about 20 missing DNFs. Within a day or so of my DNF a second DNF was logged. The CO checked and yes the cache was missing. They thanked me for logging the DNF. Not only did those non-loggers of DNFs not assist the CO to know the cache was missing, they were the cause of others wasting their time stopping for a missing cache. I have also seen 'found' logs saying something like, "Seventh visit and finally found it." But not one DNF log from them.

I really do think there are a lot of very insecure people out there who are too scared to log a DNF in case others think them silly. I say to them, get over it, log those DNFs and be helpful. It's also amazing how once someone logs the first DNF after a long period of no logs, suddenly there are a flood of DNFs. No, no, don't want to be first to log that DNF :rolleyes:.

Just yesterday I had a cacher message me that he could not find one of our caches. They mentioned finding a zip tie on a branch but no cache. I checked the cache page and found they had not logged the DNF. I'd gone past that cache that day while checking others of ours but didn't check this cache as it had a recent Found It. This morning I'll be going out to check on it. I thanked the cacher for messaging me and politely asked if they had forgotten to log the DNF. It has now been logged.

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14 hours ago, on4bam said:

Still wish people would log DNFs.

 

 

In my "newbie days" I didn't log DNF's - I wish now that I had!  Partly because I WAS a newb, and figured I would cause negative repercussions if I logged a DNF, and I figured I'd remember the cache and find it later.  Well, a year and 1000 finds later, I DON't REMEMBER all those DNF's I thought I would remember, and a bit of info on those would be helpful as we look at unfound caches and once we get to GZ, remembering that we have already been here, done that, and DNF!!!

 

So now I DO log my DNF's, with some info about how well we searched, or if we had reason to believe it was missing, or whatever.  It helps ME in deciding what and where to search for our COTD (on a goal to get at least one each day in 2018) and hopefully it gives info to the CO and future seekers that will be useful.

 

So yeah, log your DNF's.  It's actually kind of satisfying to FIND one after a few DNF's too - so there's that.

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There's two different people in two different states with two of my trackables that have had them for quite a while and they keep putting them in a cache and then immediately taking them out.  Most of these caches they're doing it with are just a few miles apart...but hundreds (or thousands) of miles from where they both started and hundreds of miles away from their intended destination.

 

I really want to message these people to tell them, "Just leave it.  STOP TAKING IT WITH YOU! Let someone else move it along!"  ...but I don't. The last time I did that (in a very polite manner, not like I just typed), the trackable mysteriously disappeared.

 

Come on people...these trackables each have goals. You're not helping. Stop hoarding trackables!

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9 minutes ago, PatrickD said:

Come on people...these trackables each have goals. You're not helping. Stop hoarding trackables!

 

Agree, sorta. 

Holding yours hostage since January isn't nice.  If they even still have it, and aren't just "log all" to each cache from inventory. 

I don't believe that the site expected this behavior  to happen with this log type,  and just wanted to help the many folks who'd "dip" trackables (Drop/Retrieve each cache) save some time.    

 - Am surprised it isn't on the burner to fix though (been a while) , since purchasing trackables must  bring in decent revenue...

The other 2/3rds had the same experience as you, and even offered in her mail an unactivated coin of their own, to find it was probably missing way before it "got lost from a cache".

 

Curious, do you place the goal (laminated or otherwise) with the trackable?

The reason I ask is,  I use a GPSr, and many times don't even carry my phone anymore.  I may not  know it's goal until I get it home.

 - But would attempt to steer it after reading the trackable's page.    :)

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1 hour ago, cerberus1 said:

Curious, do you place the goal (laminated or otherwise) with the trackable?

The reason I ask is,  I use a GPSr, and many times don't even carry my phone anymore.  I may not  know it's goal until I get it home.

 - But would attempt to steer it after reading the trackable's page.    :)

 

I usually do and make the instructions clear that "this is not a prize to keep".  I think I did with these too, but my memory is hazy.

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When you search for a cache and just can't find it and later turns out the person put it 30 feet from where it says.

I got lost in the woods one time looking for a cache that was 75 feet from where it was supposed to be I was so mad :(

 

I also got lost in a cemetary looking for a cache that was 1.5 miles from where it says it was..

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