Action: Visited

[+danbfinder]

I looked for a thread which included this topic and couldn't find one. Fairly simple question from a newbie:

 

I have been geocaching for the last few months and have moved along several travel bugs. I use the "visited" function as I go to some small local caches until I reach a place which matches more closely the "goal" of the bug. I like the fact that this shows the full path of the bug.

 

However, the people who have picked up those bugs (who have much longer history on the site than me and many more 'found' caches/bugs) are not using the "visit" option. I think it's kind of a bummer b/c all the travels of the bug are lost.

 

Is it just me?

 

What is the etiquette surrounding this?

 

thank you

[+Kacher82]

I generally post a "visit" log if I had the trackable on me (in my pocket or hand) when I found the cache. I remember picking up one trackable that had a tag attached, asking that it not visit anywhere. I respected the owner's wishes, and simply dropped it off as soon as possible. With my own TBs, I like to see where all they've been, whether they were dropped off or not.

 

I would probably not post "visits" on every cache if I found a large number before dropping the TB, as it gets to be a bit tiresome scrolling through several pages of "visits" looking for the last time it was dropped.

[+kunarion]

I use the "visited" function as I go to some small local caches until I reach a place which matches more closely the "goal" of the bug. I like the fact that this shows the full path of the bug.

That's fine. If your "Visits" don't become causes for concern -- the TB Owner wondering if you're ever going to place it into a cache -- it will be OK with most people. Check the Mission, some TBs specify that you may bring it on as many Visits as possible.

 

However, the people who have picked up those bugs (who have much longer history on the site than me and many more 'found' caches/bugs) are not using the "visit" option. I think it's kind of a bummer b/c all the travels of the bug are lost.

Cachers don't always carry Travel Bugs to caches. If it likely won't be a suitable cache to place it, I may leave the TB at home, and won't log a Visit. I retrieve a TB with a plan on where I may place it, and a couple of special caches it will Visit along the way. I think it's more fun for a TO to see photos and decent logs than just read that "it went to these intermediate places". So I go for quality over quantity, and that's been working out pretty well.

Edited July 12, 2013 by kunarion

[+Harry Dolphin]

I consider 'Visited" to be meaningless drivel that clogs up the trackable's page, and the "View Past Trackables" page and makes them unusable. "Oh. I dropped a trackable in that cache. Let me check to see if it has moved. Oh. Someone had 'visited' 143 trackables to that cache. I'm not going to waste my time searching." And likewise "Where has the trackable gone since I logged it into the cache?" "Oh. It has visited 162 caches .14 mile apart. I'm not going to waste my time searching." And the trackable owner does not get notification (thank goodness).

Useless, worthless clutter. One of the worst mistakes that GS has ever made.

[+dprovan]

Some people visit every TB they're carrying to every cache they visit. Some people, like me, find routine visits annoying. I use visit once in a while, but not regularly. I normally drop a TB within a day or two of picking it up, so if I'm planning to drop it but don't find a suitable cache on a given day, I might have it visit one cache that reflects that day's fun or fits into the TBs theme or mission. I always edit the visit log to discuss why this TB is visiting this cache, so my rule of thumb is that if I don't have anything interesting to say about the visit, the TB doesn't visit.

[+suchanana]

trackables come along with me usually on my adventures, so they visit the caches also, usually as part of a travel bug gang...

they pose for pix at interesting locations and get a bit of mileage added to their numbers...sounds like a win-win to me...

[scidawg]

Here is my 2 cents, and an example, in my opinion of how visiting should not be done. As a previous poster said, if the visit ties in with the mission, is meaningful or interesting, by all means visit and say something about it in the log. Add a picture. Tell the story.

 

On the other hand, here is a bug I moved awhile back, TB4JWBG. Not long after I dropped it, it was picked up, and visited to about 250 caches over a year, mostly in the same area, with not one word written in any of the logs until the final drop. Not much interesting about that, IMHO.

[+dprovan]

trackables come along with me usually on my adventures, so they visit the caches also, usually as part of a travel bug gang...

they pose for pix at interesting locations and get a bit of mileage added to their numbers...sounds like a win-win to me...

The non-win side are all the logs conveying no useful information. Someone trying to look at the TB to see where it's been has to go through hundreds of empty log entries all in the same area and demonstrating no real movement. Someone looking at a cache to see what TBs have actually been in the cache has to deal with a list of hundreds of TBs that have never really been in the cache but were only visited because the owner was carrying them.

 

Although really, I think the biggest downside is that people that have all the TBs they're carrying visit caches seem to think they're doing such a good deed that they can keep other people's TBs forever.

[+6NoisyHikers]

We "visit" trackables to a few caches while they are in our care, but these are always done manually, with a proper log explaining where we were and what we did and most often with a picture of the trackable at the site. If you scroll through the logs for Evil Annoying Noisy Monkey, you'll see what we mean. Note that all of the pictures in the gallery are ours!

[+kunarion]

Someone looking at a cache to see what TBs have actually been in the cache has to deal with a list of hundreds of TBs that have never really been in the cache but were only visited because the owner was carrying them.

If it's the TB Owner who's doing TB Visits, that doesn't bother me. Some cachers don't want to risk losing their own TB by leaving it in a cache, and the "Visit" log performs the Drop & Retrieve correctly.

 

If the holder knows the TO enjoys seeing lots of "Visits", that's fine, too.

[+kunarion]

trackables come along with me usually on my adventures, so they visit the caches also, usually as part of a travel bug gang...

they pose for pix at interesting locations and get a bit of mileage added to their numbers...sounds like a win-win to me...

Pictures and stories assure the TO that the Trackables are still in play. But if you're still carrying the TB around months later, I begin to get concerned that it will never leave your possession... and that if I say anything, that I'll get the passive-aggressive reaction of many: "Just for that, I'll [less than 'doing the TO a favor' plan goes here]".

 

Once a cacher starts the "Took It To" thing with one of my TBs, it's doing that for many caches, for a long time, stuck like that, with no indication when it will ever be placed. So the effect that the OP is seeing, boring old "Take a TB, place it in a cache", is a good thing. All of my TBs have "Don't Keep Me" imprinted (I checked to be sure ), so by default, the idea is: Don't Keep TBs. If you can't seem to part with them (for whatever reason), just do "Discovers" instead of taking.

 

And while the OP may miss all those "Visits", you definitely don't want that never-ending Visit loop to start. It's nerve-wracking, and it's weird.

Edited July 12, 2013 by kunarion

[+Semper Questio]

I don't play the trackables game often, but when I do have trackables with me when I go to a cache, I always log them as visiting that cache. I have never had a travler owner complain. Quite the contrary, I have received many emails of thanks for doing it so the owners see the travleers are moving and can follow along with their movements...precisely the reasons I do it.

 

Also, I ALWAYS try to move trackablea along as quickly as I can find a good place to put them so, unless I am on a string of caches in which I don't feel good about leaving trackables, there are not that many visits between the grab and the drop.

 

That being said, I too get irritated by people that hold on to trackables for a seeming eternity, visiting them at dozens, if not hundreds, of caches as if the trackable is their personal mileage tracker. This is a blatant abuse of the visit log, is selfish, and it is (at best) a disservice to the trackable owner.

[+kunarion]

I don't play the trackables game often, but when I do have trackables with me when I go to a cache, I always log them as visiting that cache. I have never had a travler owner complain. Quite the contrary, I have received many emails of thanks for doing it so the owners see the travleers are moving and can follow along with their movements...precisely the reasons I do it.

I send a nice email of thanks, after some mass of Visits, once my TB is eventually placed. Maybe I'm encouraging the practice.

 

Anyway, I think sometimes a "thanks a lot" email is more a sigh of relief than enthusiastic support. You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Filthy, germ-infested flies. In your honey. Nevermind, I've forgotten my point.

Edited July 12, 2013 by kunarion

[+Semper Questio]

I don't play the trackables game often, but when I do have trackables with me when I go to a cache, I always log them as visiting that cache. I have never had a travler owner complain. Quite the contrary, I have received many emails of thanks for doing it so the owners see the travleers are moving and can follow along with their movements...precisely the reasons I do it.

I send a nice email of thanks, after some mass of Visits, once my TB is eventually placed. Maybe I'm encouraging the practice.

 

Anyway, I think sometimes a "thanks a lot" email is more a sigh of relief than enthusiastic support. You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Filthy, germ-infested flies. In your honey. Nevermind, I've forgotten my point.

 

A curt "Thanks a lot." would be taken as sarcasm at this end, but I've never gotten a response of that nature. Now if those I've heard from were just being polite, that may well be. In any case, I've never had anyone ask me to not log visits for their traveler.

[+Sagefox]

However, the people who have picked up those bugs (who have much longer history on the site than me and many more 'found' caches/bugs) are not using the "visit" option. I think it's kind of a bummer b/c all the travels of the bug are lost.

 

Yep, we've been logging trackables for over 10 years and I seldom "visit" trackables to a cache. When I do, as others have said, it is because that visit is significant to the trackable in some way, goal or no goal. Even then, I only log one or two visits. I don't anticipate doing this more than a few times per year.

 

Visits work well for personal trackables kept by the owner as a record of where the owner has been, or, for cachers like Max B On The River who takes TBs to Europe visits a cache or two and then brings them back and drops them in another cache with his cool tag attached.

 

Many people think that multiple visits in one area serve no purpose other than to clog up the trackable page. It is maddening to want to check the traveler's history to see if it met a goal or what states it was actually left in only to find that two different cachers each posted 20, 30, 50, or more, visits.

 

You are most likely just posting three or four visits but I still do not see much benefit to the trackable especially if those are local caches.

 

I would prefer the trackable to be left in caches. That is a real visit.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

...or, for cachers like Max B On The River who takes TBs to Europe visits a cache or two and then brings them back and drops them in another cache with his her cool tag attached.

Fixed that for ya...

[+whh0]

I have only "visited" a cache, when a tb wanted to travel to a certain location eg golf club or railway stations and all the ones available in those locations were micros. Must say it personally also drives me mad when I have to plough through 10 pages or more of visited logs.......

[+Sagefox]

...or, for cachers like Max B On The River who takes TBs to Europe visits a cache or two and then brings them back and drops them in another cache with his her cool tag attached.

Fixed that for ya...

 

Oh my!

 

I didn't know. Even better!

[+worstcaster]

Usually if I visit, it is as described above, an interesting area or significant mileage move. I've had one of mine were the person holding it did a power trail and resulted in 3 pages of visited logs all 0.1 miles apart. One trackable I do use visited for all the time is a geocoin I got as a FTF prize with my son. It is not released into the wild. I use it to track caches I have been to with my son. I don't visit it if I am caching alone. I currently have a trackable in my inventory were the owner requested that it not be visited. I was going to drop it on Friday but the "small" cache I found turned out to be a micro. As per the owner's request on the TB page I did not log a visit. Without the request I probably would have because it was a 100 mile jump with pictures of the area taken.

Edited July 14, 2013 by worstcaster

[+travelmom42]

I don't play the trackables game often, but when I do have trackables with me when I go to a cache, I always log them as visiting that cache. I have never had a travler owner complain. Quite the contrary, I have received many emails of thanks for doing it so the owners see the travleers are moving and can follow along with their movements...precisely the reasons I do it.

 

Also, I ALWAYS try to move trackablea along as quickly as I can find a good place to put them so, unless I am on a string of caches in which I don't feel good about leaving trackables, there are not that many visits between the grab and the drop.

 

That being said, I too get irritated by people that hold on to trackables for a seeming eternity, visiting them at dozens, if not hundreds, of caches as if the trackable is their personal mileage tracker. This is a blatant abuse of the visit log, is selfish, and it is (at best) a disservice to the trackable owner.

[+travelmom42]

I agree that it is frustrating to see dozens or hundreds of visits posted for a trackable without any concern for the goal of the trackable. I am fairly new to geocaching and when I picked up my first geocoin I felt a responsibility to help it achieve it's goal (to visit all 50 states). Since it started in Florida and I was going to NC I took it along and searched for a place to leave it. We were near VA so we crossed the state line and logged a visit for the coin at a cache there. Then found a spot in NC to drop it. I watched it for a few weeks and was pleased to see it picked up, only to watch it visit caches in NC dozens of times so far while being held by the person who picked it up. I just don't think that's fair to the cache owner who wants to see it go from state to state. I also think the person logging those visits must not be posting the logs in anything close to real time (or maybe not actually visiting them all for real); being familiar with the area it seems unlikely for the number of visits to be achieved in the time given. It's also pretty boring when the logger posts the same narrative for ten or twenty caches and does not personalize any comments specific to the cache. I may be too idealistic, but I appreciate the "honor system" nature of this hobby and only wish more people would play that way. Wishful thinking, I know...

[+Flowee]

I just had my first TB go from Chicago to past the Grand Canyon on vacation with a cacher, and enjoyed all the "visits" logs along the way to see its progress between here and the cache it was dropped in. It would have been far more boring to see one big straight line between here and there and not see all the states and cool sights it visited.

[+-CJ-]

Since situation with trackables is rather special in our area I don't leave them in any geocaches around here. They come with me to my country, make several visits to caches and then I retrieve them to outside the country. So, it is for the safety reasons. After all, I rarely take any trackables from containers. A trackable with a mission to visit Russia is an exception.

[+The Blorenges]

Since situation with trackables is rather special in our area I don't leave them in any geocaches around here. They come with me to my country, make several visits to caches and then I retrieve them to outside the country. So, it is for the safety reasons. After all, I rarely take any trackables from containers. A trackable with a mission to visit Russia is an exception.

 

Do trackables disappear quite quickly if they're lucky enough to get into a Russian cache? Are there many geocachers in your area and do they understand how trackables are meant to travel?

 

MrsB

[+-CJ-]

Do trackables disappear quite quickly if they're lucky enough to get into a Russian cache? Are there many geocachers in your area and do they understand how trackables are meant to travel?

 

There are not so many geocachers that play at geocaching.com in Moscow. I know many of them in person and they are responsible folks that won't mix a TB with a souvenir. However there's a Russian geocaching website with about the same level of activity at Moscow geocaches published at this resource. Trackables are almost unknown in this community. There were two attempts to implement the idea of trackables at the Russian website, one with a "national branded" TBs and one with Geokrety (neither are supported at geocaching.com AFAIK). Both initiatives had very weak response. So many people still know nothing about trackables (despite my educational efforts in a Russian geocaching blog). There are several caches in Moscow that have been cross-posted to both websites so these containers could be visited by geocachers from both audiences. But it is more important that newbies at geocaching.com are mostly those who have already tried playing at the Russian website so they sometimes use their original understanding of the game when they start visiting geocaching.com caches. See, it's rather complex. Another trouble is that we have a geocaching thief here in our capital who has been active for more than a year. This is why we are worried about trackables not being left in containers in the city. There's an option to leave trackables in TB hotels that are close to airports but it looks more reasonable not to travel so far (Moscow is really a large city with crazy traffic) but pass trackables to some geocacher in the city during his/her staying in Russia.

 

Outside Moscow the situation is not much better because there are not so many caches at all. I've placed a number of them outside Moscow but very few geocaches fit into geocaching.com strict standards. In other regions geocaching is relatively active in Saint-Petersburg, there have been no vandals there as far as I know but they have not many geocaches there too. Other regions mostly lack any geocaches.

[+The Blorenges]

Do trackables disappear quite quickly if they're lucky enough to get into a Russian cache? Are there many geocachers in your area and do they understand how trackables are meant to travel?

 

There are not so many geocachers that play at geocaching.com in Moscow. I know many of them in person and they are responsible folks that won't mix a TB with a souvenir. However there's a Russian geocaching website with about the same level of activity at Moscow geocaches published at this resource. Trackables are almost unknown in this community. There were two attempts to implement the idea of trackables at the Russian website, one with a "national branded" TBs and one with Geokrety (neither are supported at geocaching.com AFAIK). Both initiatives had very weak response. So many people still know nothing about trackables (despite my educational efforts in a Russian geocaching blog). There are several caches in Moscow that have been cross-posted to both websites so these containers could be visited by geocachers from both audiences. But it is more important that newbies at geocaching.com are mostly those who have already tried playing at the Russian website so they sometimes use their original understanding of the game when they start visiting geocaching.com caches. See, it's rather complex. Another trouble is that we have a geocaching thief here in our capital who has been active for more than a year. This is why we are worried about trackables not being left in containers in the city. There's an option to leave trackables in TB hotels that are close to airports but it looks more reasonable not to travel so far (Moscow is really a large city with crazy traffic) but pass trackables to some geocacher in the city during his/her staying in Russia.

 

Outside Moscow the situation is not much better because there are not so many caches at all. I've placed a number of them outside Moscow but very few geocaches fit into geocaching.com strict standards. In other regions geocaching is relatively active in Saint-Petersburg, there have been no vandals there as far as I know but they have not many geocaches there too. Other regions mostly lack any geocaches.

 

Thanks for the explanation.

 

MrsB

[+-CJ-]

Thanks for your interest

[+wolfchasers]

It's just really annoying when someone takes a trackable and visits hundreds of caches over the course of a year before finally dropping it into a geocache. Yes, it is a "travel" bug, but it would be nice to get it out into the world so other geocachers can participate!

[+J Grouchy]

Just don't get me started on the whole "discover" vs. "retrieve" thing. Ugh...they should never have even created the OPTION to "discover" a TB!!!

[+Dogmeat*]

I don't like how people "drop for distance" with TBs. Just visit the caches. We thought some trackables had been dropped close by. We went to find them and they were already gone because this guy dropped them and then picked them up.

[+Condorito]

I just had my first TB go from Chicago to past the Grand Canyon on vacation with a cacher, and enjoyed all the "visits" logs along the way to see its progress between here and the cache it was dropped in. It would have been far more boring to see one big straight line between here and there and not see all the states and cool sights it visited.

 

This is how I see it

[+E_ZIG_A]

I use the visit feature in two ways; to log my own personal Trackable through every cache I visit (that's fun, seeing the crazy moves and big distance!) and I log trackables I am carrying through any geographical moves or interesting caches. I include stories and photos.

[+The Sméagol]

We log all trackables as visited as we always have them by us and decide spontaneuous if the cache if suitable for one or another TB to be dropped into. And we would appreciate if out TBs are logged as visited as well. It is a bit frustrated to see 0 km in over 30 days on TB's map just because the cacher does not log it as "visited". Looks like TB would not travel at all.

[+Sagefox]

I agree that it is frustrating to see dozens or hundreds of visits posted for a trackable without any concern for the goal of the trackable.

 

Yes, regardless of whether there is a goal or not.

[+Sagefox]

We log all trackables as visited...

 

Have you read posts by people on this thread, as well as several others, who do not like multiple Visits by a single cacher? If not, it might be interesting to see some other points of view.

 

It is a bit frustrated to see 0 km in over 30 days on TB's map just because the cacher does not log it as "visited". Looks like TB would not travel at all.

 

Travel bugs have been around for a long time and prior to the Visit option they often sat for 30 day in a cacher's hands or in a cache. That was no big deal. They don't have to be constantly active.

 

A travel bug can sit in someone's trackable bag for 30 days but "Visiting" it to multiple caches, often within a small radius, doesn't mean anything significant happened to it. It is still just sitting in the bag.

 

I think Visiting any or all trackables in one's possession to multiple caches is something that people do just because they can easily do it. It is far more interesting to have different people move them.

[+The Sméagol]

Have you read posts by people on this thread, as well as several others, who do not like multiple Visits by a single cacher?

Yes. And we still would appreciate if others will log our TBs as "visited" every time. Even if "several others" do not like multiple visits, we do like. And we do not know if others like it or not. We cannot guess or read thoughts. If it is annoying for someone to see that their TB travels then description of TB could help? Write "please do not log my TB as visited multiple times".

[+Love Cachers]

We've had a few trackables that just want to travel. We've taken several road trips where we are passing through three or four states so we will dip (clicked on Visited button) those trackables in one cache per state then drop them off when we reach our destination. They get the mileage plus different states visits.

[+SirDonB]

I just got my first 2 trackables in the mail today... The Knight's Horse and The Knight's Stick... as per design, they will be logged as "visited" to each cache/event I go to. Once I get some out there for public release, I wont mind the visited logs either.

 

My two current TBs are for my personal collection and will be discover-able for others I meet out at GZ or anywhere I happen to be at that moment.

 

As to TBs I find along the way, once the are on my person, I will log them as visiting the caches I find as I go along. I do this because the TBs are usually kept in my geomobile (AKA "The Knight's Horse) and travel each mile with me. I also am not a numbers person so I only find 1-2 a day when I go out caching. I will take into account the TBs goal if there is one when finding a cache to place it in. I have a few favorites around me that I drop TBs in if I have not found and decided on a suitable cache that meets the goal and I have had it for more than a week.

 

I like the TB part of the game, and have a few idea's for some once I get ones I am willing to release into the wild. TBs are one thing I look for when out caching, some do the FTF game, I prefer the TB game. Just my thoughts