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Useless Hints

Jamie Z

By Jamie Z
in General geocaching topics

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9Key

+9Key

Posted
Posted

 

I've seen entire areas of the forest trashed because of lack of clues or bad clues. I e-mail the Cache Owner when I see this. Sometimes they care, sometimes they don't. Much good fortune to those who care and take steps to stop the destruction.

To those who don't care and just send nasty e-mails back, may all the clues that they find be meaningless.

 

I came across a cache like this today . The hint said

 

Don’t trample the ferns as you spy under there.

 

There must have been close to 50 ferns surrounding GZ..which was never really known as my GPSr zeroed out in 5 different spots distancing roughly 75 ' apart . And the ferns looked like as herd of elephants had been through there . The cache was found hiding under a log and a piece of bark

 

The irony in this is the cache is part of a series that centers around locations that were special to the CO in their childhood . If that's the case and you were the CO , would you not do your best to insure the area took as little damage as possible by cachers by supplying a hint that was USEFULL rather than complete BS ???

 

My log on this cache reflected my disgust and in a round about way suggested that if the CO truly cared about the area then the cache should be moved to stop the damage or archived

Well done! :laughing:
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ngrrfan

+ngrrfan

Posted
Posted

Just added to the Knowledge Books:

Geocaching → Review Process: Hiding a Geocache → Additional Cache Hints

http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?p...page&id=222

The information is great. What should be added, and told to reviewers, is that "bad hints", such as the examples given, will be grounds for not approving a cache.

 

We have one hider here that thinks the hints area is for parking coords, or other useless information.

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NicknPapa

+NicknPapa

Posted
Posted

My personal favorite isn't even a hint, it's the very first line on the description.

 

"Go over foot bridge to end of paved walk. Take the center trail(it is the most traveled)"

 

We went probably 1/4 mile past the foot bridge on the paved trail before I turned the GPS on (trying to save batteries as they were getting low) and noticed that we had gone WAY past GZ. Turned around and went back to the foot bridge and found one trail (of sorts) that went the right direction and we did find the cache but I think the description is probably years overdue for an update. (the hint for this one was actually really good once we got into the right area).

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Aidt

Aidt

Posted
Posted

"Ha Ha! I took the Cache away again, immediately after it was reviewed!"

"Add George W. Bush's birthday to the given coordinates"

"If You are standing in the rain, fighting the mosquitos and swear, there are three possibilities: A) You should have chosen better weather, B) You completely lost Your way, C) You didn't search hard enough"

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phillies26

+phillies26

Posted
Posted

"Hudson, Taylor, Dean" -That one was a lightpole cache hint.

"If you need a hint on this one, you weren't there. :)" -Granted, this one was a virtual, but we still spent 20 minutes finding the darn thing.

"thgil" - I have no idea about this one, and that's after I decrypted it.

"Where the money goes?" -Keyholder on the back of a sign, don't get this hint

 

These are just a few of the ones I've seen, will post more later.

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phillies26

+phillies26

Posted
Posted

One that got to me today:

 

"To get to Cache #1 faster, don't let your GPS tell you where to go."

 

I can see how this would be helpful if you read it before you went, but I wasn't happy to read this after already bushwacking a tenth of a mile to within 20 feet of GZ.

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Postholedigger

+Postholedigger

Posted
Posted

It's so much fun decrypting a hint only to find:

 

"Sorry. No hints/clues."

 

"If you need a hint maybe you need to find another hobby,"

 

This one was odd and the guy who placed the cache is the nicest guy around but I found it only because of the hint that said:

 

"It's across the street"

 

It was literally across the street from where the coordinates lead you. I have no idea how/if people who don't use the hint make the find.

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EdrickV

+EdrickV

Posted
Posted

I know this hint was meant to be useful, but it turned out to be useless to me:

On the ground. Look for the tree just north of the double-tree.

1. "On the ground." Well, the ground in that area was kinda swampy with lots and lots and lots of holes in it. (I have no clue why.)

2. "Look for the tree north of the double-tree." Um, what exactly is a "double-tree" in the first place? And in the second place, my smartphone's GPS just couldn't narrow GZ down in that particular woods so there were tons of things that might have been "double-trees" but I still couldn't find anything.

 

On a nearby cache, neither the description or the hint were much help:

Traditional give and take cache.

 

Additional Hints (Encrypt)

Park in airport lot.

 

(I'm going to assume "traditional give and take cache" means an ammo can, but I don't know for sure as I never found that cache either. It's name was the biggest hint, but the most obvious place to search was crawling with what looked like fire ants, and I couldn't find anything anywhere else.)

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GoldenPheonix

+GoldenPheonix

Posted
Posted

What honestly bugs me is when a hint says for example " nano under light pole on corner". It's called a hint not a just tell me where it is. Also one like. " cache is one of them there tiny things that stick to metal" No need for slang that makes me waste time... not that a magnetic or nano is really hard though and I don't need the hint. Also sometimes it bugs me when it'll say magnetic. I've gotten to the point where I know the encryption for it! I know several cachers who have boycotted GRM's, key hides and , C&D's, and I will do the same too especially if the hints dont' improve. Don't even get me started on caches without hints...

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WHAP

+WHAP

Posted
Posted

I love my GPS for this (Magellan Explorist 310); it automatically decrypts the hints for me right on the GPS, so at least I don't waste time decrypting worthless clues. Doesn't help that the clues are worthless, but at least it only took me a few button pushes to find that out.

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Silverstar98121

+Silverstar98121

Posted
Posted

Don't even get me started on caches without hints...

There is one cacher in this area who never provides hints. Half the time he doesn't even provide a long description. The last one of his I tried referred me to an archived cache from another cacher. I'm new at this game. I live in an urban area, and am constantly hunting nanos and minis. I need more clues, not less.

 

Oh, and don't get me started on attributes. This guy doesn't give any attributes, either. You have no idea where you are going or what's there. I'm in a wheelchair, and use public transportation to get around. I'd like to know if it's available. And then there is the one the other day that was marked wheelchair accessible. And the path to the coordinates is lovely. However, the cache itself is apparently in a stand of tall grass on a slope. I'd need a 13 year old boy to find it.

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Harry Dolphin

+Harry Dolphin

Posted
Posted

Don't even get me started on caches without hints...

There is one cacher in this area who never provides hints. Half the time he doesn't even provide a long description. The last one of his I tried referred me to an archived cache from another cacher. I'm new at this game. I live in an urban area, and am constantly hunting nanos and minis. I need more clues, not less.

 

Oh, and don't get me started on attributes. This guy doesn't give any attributes, either. You have no idea where you are going or what's there. I'm in a wheelchair, and use public transportation to get around. I'd like to know if it's available. And then there is the one the other day that was marked wheelchair accessible. And the path to the coordinates is lovely. However, the cache itself is apparently in a stand of tall grass on a slope. I'd need a 13 year old boy to find it.

 

Hints are not required. Nor are attributes. Would you like the CO to hold your hand? Or are you just feeling entitled? Is the cache rated 1 for terrain? If so, it is wheel chair accessible. If it is not, then it is not necessarily handicapped accessible. The other one cited: with tall grass, is improperly rated. For that one you have a valid complaint.

If you don't like caches without hints or attributes, then don't hunt for them. There! That was simple. Enjoy.

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terrkan78

+terrkan78

Posted
Posted

Don't even get me started on caches without hints...

There is one cacher in this area who never provides hints. Half the time he doesn't even provide a long description. The last one of his I tried referred me to an archived cache from another cacher. I'm new at this game. I live in an urban area, and am constantly hunting nanos and minis. I need more clues, not less.

 

Oh, and don't get me started on attributes. This guy doesn't give any attributes, either. You have no idea where you are going or what's there. I'm in a wheelchair, and use public transportation to get around. I'd like to know if it's available. And then there is the one the other day that was marked wheelchair accessible. And the path to the coordinates is lovely. However, the cache itself is apparently in a stand of tall grass on a slope. I'd need a 13 year old boy to find it.

 

Hints are not required. Nor are attributes. Would you like the CO to hold your hand? Or are you just feeling entitled? Is the cache rated 1 for terrain? If so, it is wheel chair accessible. If it is not, then it is not necessarily handicapped accessible. The other one cited: with tall grass, is improperly rated. For that one you have a valid complaint.

If you don't like caches without hints or attributes, then don't hunt for them. There! That was simple. Enjoy.

That was an awfully harsh response to someone's first post in the forum. Especially considering this is a thread full of people complaining about hints and the poster was merely doing the same.

 

Silverstar, it bugs me, too, when people don't give hints. If I'm looking for the hint, it's because I really need it. But I prefer no hint over the "just use your geosenses" type hint. By the time I look at the hint, I've already checked everywhere my geosenses told me to look. The hint might as well say, "If you're reading this, you clearly got no geosenses!" :D

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Harry Dolphin

+Harry Dolphin

Posted
Posted

That was an awfully harsh response to someone's first post in the forum. Especially considering this is a thread full of people complaining about hints and the poster was merely doing the same.

 

Silverstar, it bugs me, too, when people don't give hints. If I'm looking for the hint, it's because I really need it. But I prefer no hint over the "just use your geosenses" type hint. By the time I look at the hint, I've already checked everywhere my geosenses told me to look. The hint might as well say, "If you're reading this, you clearly got no geosenses!" :D

 

Ah. I thought this thread was about bad/useless hints. (See title of thread.) Hints are not required. Nor are attributes. Taking a CO to task for not supplying something that is optional reeks of enitlement. If Silverstar does not like someone's caches, then she should just ignore them.

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eagsc7

+eagsc7

Posted
Posted

I agree, I have not come across any real bad ones yet but am waiting my turn. Any stupid "clues" like those stated so far should be left unencrypted or just left out!

 

On my only hide, I had a few lines of clues, intersections of logging roads then the actual cache clue. On each line, I told what the clue was , like [intersection1], [Parking for climbers], and [Cache clue]. I'll probably will follow suit on the second. at least a person would have half an idea what he is unencoding beforehand. Seem like a good idea?

 

The closest I ever got to a 4.0 in College was my blood alcohol content.

 

No. Directions are supposed to go in the Long Description, and the Hint is to go in the Hint field. I ALSO make sure to have the actual Hint in the first 24 spaces. Reason is that MANY people use GSAK and Some use %hint in the sendto feature. My eTrex has a max of 24 characters for the Hint to show in the Comments field...

 

The Steaks

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Eralon

+Eralon

Posted
Posted

At ground zero, of a particular cache I visited FOUR TIMES, there was a metal guard rail, along with a small cluster of young cedar trees.

the clue was a single word: MAGNETIC

 

But of course the microcache was covered in camo tape with a magnetic backer, and a washer nailed to a tree.

 

This sort of deception is not to my liking... nor is the idea of harming the tree. Isn't caching supposed to be non-invasive?

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Harry Dolphin

+Harry Dolphin

Posted
Posted

At ground zero, of a particular cache I visited FOUR TIMES, there was a metal guard rail, along with a small cluster of young cedar trees.

the clue was a single word: MAGNETIC

 

But of course the microcache was covered in camo tape with a magnetic backer, and a washer nailed to a tree.

 

This sort of deception is not to my liking... nor is the idea of harming the tree. Isn't caching supposed to be non-invasive?

 

Yes. That is against the guidelines. Bring it to the attention of the reviewer.

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Ike 13

+Ike 13

Posted
Posted

Planning for a power run so I like to go ahead and look at hints and boil them down to something usefull in the Usernotes section for printing. Here's a few gems.

 

The manager and owner know about the cache.

 

Why is this the hint and not in the description

 

BYOP to sign the log.

 

One all modern cachers know to BYOP so if you feel the need to mention it at least do it in the description so there's a chance they read it before they get there.

 

You are looking for a geocache :)

 

Really! I had no idea!

 

Nearly 20% had a useless hint :rolleyes:

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Mr.Yuck

Mr.Yuck

Posted
Posted (edited)

My favorite useless hint is: "none needed" :rolleyes:

 

I've always been partial to ABAR, which decrypts to "none". What part of "if you don't have a hint, leave it blank" don't people understand? But of course at 12 pages, I'm going to guess I've posted that particular opinion in the past. :lol:

 

Not unlike 75%+ of the world's nanos being listed as "other" or "not listed", I'm of the opinion useless hints could be nipped in the bud before publishing, and definitely are in some areas. But that is just my opinion, of course. :o

Edited by Mr.Yuck
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Zenock

+Zenock

Posted
Posted

I want to say that I appreciate the "Too Easy" , "Honestly", etc... type hints.

 

I know everyone says they are a no no and are frustrated by them. But when I'm looking for a cache sometimes I over think things. After doing the easy things... I start making it much much more complicated. If I get a "Too Easy" hint. I tell myself. Whelp looks like the cache is gone, pack it up, and log a needs maintenance post.

 

"Too easy" decrypted in the field ain't that hard. I can do it in my head and after seeing it a few times, I don't even have to decrypt those words. I know them on site.

 

So is it the general feel that a hint should tell you explicitly where to find the cache? Or should a hint be a hint, something to make it a little easier.

 

No need to get wet... would tell me "it's not in the water". Under a rock in a field of rocks tells me... "Don't worry about the trees". Honestly any hint someone is willing to give, I take as a bonus. Even if the hint is simply, "None" which tells me don't over think this one. I'll take whatever you give me... even if it isn't helpful.

 

Final note, I've had hints that I initially thought were a waste of my time but gave me the answer when I looked at the area I was in a second time.

 

If you don't like the way a person gives a hint, then the next time you see a cache by the person don't go look for it.

 

The hider doesn't owe you anything and you don't owe the hider anything. If he gets enjoyment from hiding and doing the hints the way he does them, so what. I get the frustration of looking for a cache you can't find and desperately wanting a hint, but getting something that doesn't seem to help (or just doesn't as the case may be.) But it is what it is. How bout every post include a video of exactly how to get the cache so you don't have to look at all?

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mm&i

+mm&i

Posted
Posted (edited)

One hint I came across belongs to a cache in or near a loosely built stone & boulder wall. The wall is only a few years old. It had a lot of large open cavities to probe but the stones tended to shift positions easily which led to me getting several bruised badly fingers and a blood blister or two. The boulders, however, were too big to move by hand.

 

After 20+ pain-filled minutes of fruitless searching, I cried 'uncle' and decoded the hint only to be given this:

 

"no way jose, good try"

 

My mental replies to the CO about that hint were many. A few were even NOT swear words.

 

Then after searching a little more and receiving a nearly-tear-inducing injury, this time from a tree branch, I bolted out of there completely disgusted with the hide. The wall was a nice looking one, but everything else about the hide's location was very sub par so I'm not even sure why the CO placed the cache there in the first place except maybe to torture their fellow cachers. And if the cache wasn't in the wall, then the hint should say that. AND so future cachers don't obtain bruises or even possibly a broken hand!!

Edited by mm&i
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BBWolf+3Pigs

+BBWolf+3Pigs

Posted
Posted

And if the cache wasn't in the wall, then the hint should say that. AND so future cachers don't obtain bruises or even possibly a broken hand!!

 

In our neck of the woods, we have miles of 200 year old stone walls. Most cachers try to avoid hiding in them, just so they don't get torn about. And we usually state right in the listing "not in the stone wall".

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