+unicyclist Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 GCB7B4there is not technicly a hint on this cace but the description takes the fun out of it. Quote Link to comment
+GeoJunkie Posted January 11, 2006 Share Posted January 11, 2006 I'd rather have that description than the ones where the whole description is: "It's an ammo can" and the hint is something like "No Hint" Quote Link to comment
+wvcoalcat Posted January 21, 2006 Share Posted January 21, 2006 (edited) Nevermind, Hint updated. Edited January 21, 2006 by wvcoalcat Quote Link to comment
+Wandering Bears Posted January 21, 2006 Share Posted January 21, 2006 Coalcat, read my log. The coords for the micro were off. Quote Link to comment
+wvcoalcat Posted January 21, 2006 Share Posted January 21, 2006 Coalcat, read my log. The coords for the micro were off. Gotcha WB. Gonna hit a few of your new ones today. Saw your log and congrats. Gonna hit that one too. Saw the hint changed so I edited my post. Quote Link to comment
+Wandering Bears Posted January 21, 2006 Share Posted January 21, 2006 I hit pres-mon today, as well. Quote Link to comment
+Confucius' Cat Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 i agree those that purport to be a clue but instead are an insult or a "PHHHHT" are very annoying. But whether or not to give a meaningful clue basically is decided by the philosophy of the cache owner and the reason for the hide. If their philosophy is to make it a serious challenge, then no clue is warranted. If their philosophy is that their caches be found and enjoyed, then there really should be a "spoiler" clue in the encrypted space. Lesser clues and parking coordinates belong in the unencrypted space. Quote Link to comment
"Paws"itraction Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 Well, yes, C-A-C, but unfortunately "bad" clues on otherwise excellent caches give other, newer hiders the idea that useless hints are a Good Idea. We have had one hider that loves to put things like "No, really, DON'T go to the listed coords" in the hint section of a puzzle cache with "DO NOT GO TO THE LISTED COORDS" in the cache description. Since then, we've had a few others start that practice as well. Otherwise they're excellent caches, but that's starting to drive me nuts - if I take the time to decrypt the hint, I don't want to waste my time decrypting only to find out that it says "don't go to the listed coords! Really! I mean it! The cache isn't there!" Quote Link to comment
+beejay&esskay Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 The above coords are 100+ feet off. Surprise! It is a puzzle cache, but I find this kind of "hint" pretty irritating. Quote Link to comment
+mizdeeds Posted February 18, 2006 Share Posted February 18, 2006 Some more gems I found this morning while using GSAK: The additional hint is located deep down in the pit of your stomach. Don't park on a hwy. There is plenty of safe parking on pubic land if you approach it right. one hundred miles <snip> Ummmm... wouldn't that hurt? A couple I've run across: "Yes, It's there" (I wouldn't be here if it wasn't!) "Near a tree, I know, real helpful" (at least he knew) I'm still pretty new to geocaching so I usually decrypt the hint at home when I'm reading the cache pages on the computer. When I print them, I leave them encrypted, and decrypt again out in the field if I need to. (yes, I do have that bad a memory!) I usually skim the logs too. Good thing too, once the logs contained information with corrected coords. Miz Quote Link to comment
+alexrudd Posted February 28, 2006 Share Posted February 28, 2006 (edited) no hint necessary. He was right, as it was a very easy hide, but still... EDIT: I read a hint once (on the cache page) that said something to this effect: "This cache is huge, spraypainted orange, and bolted to my front porch. You can see it from 100 feet away. If you can't find it, you are blind and need to find a seeing-eye dog to find caches for you." Edited February 28, 2006 by alexrudd Quote Link to comment
+Team GeoCan Posted February 28, 2006 Share Posted February 28, 2006 I had a clue, it said Plaese do not lock your Bicycle to the cache, and then claim you can't find it. The Cache was a 6 inch diameter bright yellow POLE stuck in the summit of a hill, right outside the windows of a Dennys. I had several reports of people locking their bikes to it, or "finding it by leaning on it or sitting on it." Quote Link to comment
+GeoJunkie Posted February 28, 2006 Share Posted February 28, 2006 I had a clue, it said Plaese do not lock your Bicycle to the cache, and then claim you can't find it. The Cache was a 6 inch diameter bright yellow POLE stuck in the summit of a hill, right outside the windows of a Dennys. I had several reports of people locking their bikes to it, or "finding it by leaning on it or sitting on it." That sounds like a pretty good hint to me! Quote Link to comment
Geocrew 44°85° Posted February 28, 2006 Share Posted February 28, 2006 I admit I'm guilty...not all my hints are useless. I only do it with caches that are easy finds (one star difficulty) Sometimes I they fit the theme of the cache. Example: A Monty Python Quest for the Holy Grail themed cache Hint:"Brother Maynard, bring up the holy hand grenade." Just something silly to add to an otherwise simple find. Quote Link to comment
+RPW Posted February 28, 2006 Share Posted February 28, 2006 I only do it [useless hints] with caches that are easy finds (one star difficulty) Yeah, well, what may be a 1-star to you may not be so for the rest of us. However the problem I usually run into is a missing 1-star cache. I'll be looking around for many minutes getting more frustrated and finally break down to decrypt the hint. A useless hint is worse than no hint at all -- is the cache missing? is the hider clueless as to what difficulty levels are? am I completely blind? It would be nice to know without having to ROT-13 in the field. One person I cache with prints out his caches pre-decrypted. Personally I think this takes some of the fun out of the search. But after having to stand around in the rain decrypting a useless hint in the field I can see his point. Quote Link to comment
+Wandering Bears Posted February 28, 2006 Share Posted February 28, 2006 (edited) I too have an MP themed cache, and the hint is "Australia, australia, we love you, we love you!" But if one thinks about it for a minute... that might just be a hint, too. Edited February 28, 2006 by Wandering Bears Quote Link to comment
+wvcoalcat Posted April 9, 2006 Share Posted April 9, 2006 Oldie but still a goodie. "I don't think a hint is really required." Sure the cache is an obvious end of guardrail hide but sheesh, just because the field is there doesn't mean one HAS to type something there. Quote Link to comment
+RPW Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 Another oldie that I ran across this past weekend. Two simple words that made me wonder why bother? ... "not today". I guess the hider either always decodes his hints and/or has never had to decode a hint in the rain. Quote Link to comment
+Nuttycomputer Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 I came in contact with one that should have been in the main description... Especially since it was talking about safety concerns... What we need is a guidline and some rules that reviewers could possibly stop the cache for getting published. Quote Link to comment
+andGuest Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 Went to a cache today with the hint "stick with it, you'll find it". Thanks for the hint since you had that word in the title, and I kind of had an idea where to look. Guess how many sticks were in the area? Also are logs sticks? Pile of them at GZ. Also is a branch on a tree a stick? Plenty of them around making for all the ones on the ground. The bad part? I will go back and keep beating my head until I find it. Quote Link to comment
+Zork V Posted April 11, 2006 Share Posted April 11, 2006 I had great fun in NOT finding a micro cache, looked at the hint. "Its under the rail" I was looking on a steel bridge, the whole thing is made up of rails. Quote Link to comment
+Isonzo Karst Posted April 11, 2006 Share Posted April 11, 2006 (TREZNA) Fvaq Fvr Zhggrea? Vpu ova Vuara rvara Naunygfchaxg avpug trtrora! the first TREZNA decrypts as GERMAN the hint after it's decrypted is in German, and basically is variation of the old same - no hints for you. HOWEVER, I haven't been there - so it's possible that on site there will be something that will catch your eye just on the GERMAN alone..... i Quote Link to comment
+GeoJunkie Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 Yesterday, I was "fortunate" enough to hit two of my "favorite" varieties of useless hints. Thank goodness I was speed caching and decrypted before I went, or I'd have been upset! It is in the park on the west side of 120th street. Good thing to know when I've already parked my car and found the coordinates in the middle of the park on the west side of 120th street! None needed. Then why not leave it blank! Quote Link to comment
+flyingRfarms Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 hey guys im getting ready to set a few caches! thesea are my first so im going to try a few hints on you!! if the hint says "water resistant wood used in decks" would this mean anything to you? let me know before i set me cache!! Quote Link to comment
+NoLemon Posted April 19, 2006 Share Posted April 19, 2006 This "hint" is on a 3.5/1 cache: Some people have complained this is a very hard cache to find and log - that is by design. Some people might even consider this a "5" difficulty, which was also by design. There are easy micros everywhere, but this will be a challenge, on purpose! There is nothing like manually decrypting a long hint in the field and have the hint be no help what-so-ever. Quote Link to comment
+fizzymagic Posted April 19, 2006 Share Posted April 19, 2006 if the hint says "water resistant wood used in decks" would this mean anything to you? let me know before i set me cache!! Yeah. Redwood. Quote Link to comment
+Criminal Posted April 19, 2006 Share Posted April 19, 2006 if the hint says "water resistant wood used in decks" would this mean anything to you? let me know before i set me cache!! Yeah. Redwood. I was thinking sequoia. Quote Link to comment
+the hermit crabs Posted April 19, 2006 Share Posted April 19, 2006 if the hint says "water resistant wood used in decks" would this mean anything to you? let me know before i set me cache!! Yeah. Redwood. I was thinking sequoia. And I was thinking teak. Quote Link to comment
+flyingRfarms Posted April 19, 2006 Share Posted April 19, 2006 in my area it cedar!! Quote Link to comment
WMLostones Posted April 20, 2006 Share Posted April 20, 2006 How about "be careful of the cactus" here in Texas! Quote Link to comment
+WeightMan Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 Hint: No need to call for help. We have come up with 2 more hints for this cache, so if you need them just ask. Happy hunting. No need to call, just ask. How I'm not sure since the cache owner was not there at the time I was looking for this one today. I did find it, but no thanks to the "hint". Quote Link to comment
+SUp3rFM & Cruella Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 At GCRE4J the hint is simply... Honestly, don't know what is it. The descriptions goes like this: You could find this cache with an arm behind your back... and more... This cache was assembled with my left hand so you can't expect anything fancy, or a pencil... The hint is amazing: ... really nice hints. Don't be lazy, look around a little bit harder. After all I placed this cache with one arm hanging from my neck. By the way, did you bring a pen? Really helpful, han? Quote Link to comment
+Belfrypotters Posted April 28, 2006 Share Posted April 28, 2006 The hint was "Not this time?" with a question mark. So we thought maybe it was some sort of real hint, and spent an extra half hour (on top of the half hour we'd already spent hunting for this forest cache) looking for anything that might be time-related. A tree that looked like a clock, or branches arranged like clock hands, or anything related to numbers on a clock, or a stick that could be a sundial, or... By the time we left, we were not only disappointed at not finding the cache, but we were considerably annoyed with the cache hider. I'd much rather have no hint at all than a useless hint or a sarcastic remark. Quote Link to comment
+roboknight Posted April 30, 2006 Share Posted April 30, 2006 I've given a few useless hints, but only to puzzle caches where I wanted the difficulty to be *HARD*. However, I have seen these given as hints: 1) Cache is under some deadfall Of course I was searching for the stupid thing after a huge windstorm the week before... 2) Between a rock and a hard place This was used on a cache in a rock bed... ha ha... 3) Look for a fallen log Same thing as for #1. 4) Near a beech tree Which of the 100 beech trees is it near? Is it near any of the ones where my GPS is bouncing to zero? Fortunately I haven't DNF'd but two or three (of course I've only got 130+ under my belt). Most of the hides in the area are easy enough that hints aren't usually necessary. Especially when you're driving up to a lamppost or guard rail, or walking up to a nice out-of-place pile of sticks or leaves. But all of this is why I just started decoding the hints before I leave. Why would I want to decode this crap out on the trail? I understand people want to make it more difficult on themselves and that is fine, but as people say, if there is going to be so much chaff to decode, then I don't feel guilty decoding it before I go. Quote Link to comment
+GeoJunkie Posted April 30, 2006 Share Posted April 30, 2006 I've given a few useless hints, but only to puzzle caches where I wanted the difficulty to be *HARD*. Why not just leave the hint blank? Those are the ones that are really frustrating...you're looking for a cache, you're running out of ideas, and you decide to decode the hint to see if you can get a gentle push in the right direction - lo and behold, you're reading something totally useless. Bottom line: If you want to keep the difficulty high and not give a hint, give no hint, not a useless one. Quote Link to comment
+wvcoalcat Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 After solving the puzzle and driving a maze of roads to find the final in a hidden city park, we ended up with a lot of signal bounce. We search for a bit then decide to cave in and get out the PDA for the hint. "Your favorite web search engine should be all the help you need." Huh? That's wonderful for the first stage. Besides no WiFi here and the laptop is .25 miles away. Found it anyway while muttering over and over again.. "Leave it blank. Leave it blank" Quote Link to comment
+Criminal Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 How would you like to decrypt all this: Part one resembles another first stage style that a multi cache used here in Jupiter near the river.Find where the arrow points to.#2 is a pill vile camo'd and hidden at a big big tree, now the tree is split in half and is not tagged for removal.# 3 is at a low hanging sideways growing palmetto away from any tortois 's tucked up under for hurricane protection. Quote Link to comment
+HomerJFong Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Since there seems to be heat generated towards hiders with poor hints, I wanted to run this one up the flagpole before my latest cache is approved. It is low difficulty. It is an ammo can in a fallen tree, and my hint is "If nobody was around, did it make a sound? Quote Link to comment
+mizdeeds Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Since there seems to be heat generated towards hiders with poor hints, I wanted to run this one up the flagpole before my latest cache is approved. It is low difficulty. It is an ammo can in a fallen tree, and my hint is "If nobody was around, did it make a sound? That's a good hint. I looked for a cache that had a similar hint, but shorter ("Did it make a sound?"). As soon as I got close to GZ, I was pretty sure it had to mean a fallen tree; which is exactly where it was. Quote Link to comment
+callalily54 Posted May 14, 2006 Share Posted May 14, 2006 In a cache located deep in the woods, after looking for a long time, I decode the hint and it says: See the finger? The rest should be easy. Ok, I think there is a sign with a hand on it or something like that. Nope. I look all around and try to use my imagination to see a tree or branch in some sort of finger shape. Another fruitless 1/2 hour of looking, and I say forget it and start looking up the next one in these woods and start for it. As I head off in the opposite direction, of course I find the one I was originally looking for and nothing around there looked like a finger. The next time I saw that cache hider, I asked about it. Well, it seems when he placed the cache (3 yrs ago) he thought one of the young trees looked like a finger! I showed him what a finger looked like. Quote Link to comment
LazyLeopard Posted May 28, 2006 Share Posted May 28, 2006 I've hunted a couple recently where the hint was unhelpful. At one, the hint, when decrypted, read thus: Will consider adding some hint here if there are more than 2 DNFs. There had been quite a few finds, but last time I checked, four folks had logged DNFs without subsequent finds... Then there was the hint that said: four metres from the main footpath under some logs and leaves. Looks helpful, but the cache turned out to be more than 20 metres from the footpath. Oh, and I just spotted a new relatively nearby cache which contains the text: As the puzzle is fairly easy I think, I will not be giving any hints for the moment Immediately under that there's a hint. When decoded, it reads: It's too easy However, the cache is marked as 3.5 difficulty, so clearly it isn't too easy... Quote Link to comment
+Team GeoCan Posted May 28, 2006 Share Posted May 28, 2006 if the hint says "water resistant wood used in decks" would this mean anything to you? let me know before i set me cache!! Yeah. Redwood. I was thinking sequoia. And I was thinking teak. Teak, ash, cedar, redwood, pine, birch, am I getting warm? Quote Link to comment
+cqedens137 Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 here is list of some useless hints i have had: "Didn't I just tell you there was a sign? Read." i did! "next to a palmetto bush" really which one "This is a now a THREE leg multi-cache. The first TWO legs are business cards taped to trees.Final location; Take the coordinates and subtract .106 and .222 respectivly." why do i need to waste my time with hunting for the cards? "was about four feet above ground" really? what about now? "gol" wtf? "Yup, the big boat." i can see the boat. what about the cache? Quote Link to comment
+Team LaLonde Posted June 5, 2006 Share Posted June 5, 2006 My son and I went on a 4.5/4.5 last Friday. After a very long and somewhat difficult hike we arrived at a waterfall complete with steep inclines, rock walls, rushing water, etc. We looked for a couple of hours and logged a DNF. The clue was. . . On the cliff behind a rock. Yeah, thanks! We'll go back for this one eventually. Quote Link to comment
+bumblingbs Posted June 5, 2006 Share Posted June 5, 2006 I thought I gave a cute clue, but apparently people didn't get it. I'm getting too old! The cache was in an old coastal military base that has been converted to a state park. I didn't want people trampling, I wanted them to go the right way. The clue was 'Archie'. The cache was not in the wood just to one side of the search zone, it was attached to the Bunker on the other. Oh, well... Quote Link to comment
Geopuckz Posted June 10, 2006 Share Posted June 10, 2006 the ones that just say "ammo box" well thats great but where is it????? it never gives clues to where it is or "look in the tree" when its a huge tree...well obviously look in there but where in the tree. I don't believe caches are hidden to be impossible to find but I do understand that people hide them b/c of muggles and others who can take the caches. But if they could at least give better hints more people would find the caches. Quote Link to comment
+astrodweeb Posted June 11, 2006 Share Posted June 11, 2006 "bring an extraction tool." ??? Out looking for this cache for an agonizing time, couldn't find it and decrypted hint to find that! That would have been nice to know before hand. DNF'd anyway. Ehh, maybe it's just sour grapes on my part. Quote Link to comment
+alexrudd Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 "This is a now a THREE leg multi-cache. The first TWO legs are business cards taped to trees.Final location; Take the coordinates and subtract .106 and .222 respectivly." why do i need to waste my time with hunting for the cards? Uh, to get the coordinates? You subtract .106 from the coordinates on the first card and .222 from the coordinates on the second. Nothing wrong with that, although it belongs in the cache description, not the hints. Quote Link to comment
+IowaAdmin Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 (edited) Another oldie that I ran across this past weekend. Two simple words that made me wonder why bother? ... "not today". I guess the hider either always decodes his hints and/or has never had to decode a hint in the rain. When I see a useless hint in a new cache that I am reviewing, before I publish it I send post this as a "note to the reviewer" which in these instances is actually a note to the cache owner: "The only other recommendation I will make is that you delete the text you placed in the hint field, since you're not actually giving a hint. It can be frustrating for some geocachers who spend the time at ground zero to decrypt a hint only to find there is no hint." In fact, I blogged about this just yesterday. Edited June 23, 2006 by IowaAdmin Quote Link to comment
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