Useless Hints

November 10, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by Jamie Z:
Originally posted by Crusso:
The clue was more in the vein of "Do you honestly need a clue?"

Crusso,

(And I sure don't mean this as an attack) But that's the whole point of this thread. Do I honestly need a clue? Well.. if I'm decrypting the thing, then yes.

/QUOTE]

I wish more people only decrypted clues in the field.

I placed a cache that I thought would be *very* straightforward. I didn't even give it any clues. It gave coordinates and said "now, go 100 feet at X degrees from true north." For some reason, only one local cacher was able to find it, and he went right to it, and the other local cachers, including several of our local VIPs, couldn't find it at all. Damndest thing. I got tired of seeing log entries about them falling off banks, climbing trees, doing themselves all KINDS of bodily harm, in search of a cache that was utterly not meant to be a risk to life and limb. In the end, I added a hint. They still kept on their "can't find it, can't find it" chatter. I added a second hint. Ditto. I eventually wound up listing five hints, flagged in unencrypted text like "first hint", "second hint", etc. and by the time I'd gotten done, the fifth and final hint basically said "RIGHT HERE YOU LOONS, IT'S RIGHT HERE."

So, yeah, then they found it. But then the *really* annoying thing that all of you reading this could see coming a mile away happened: regular cachers from our area started showing up and posting entries that said "found it with no trouble in about thirty seconds." It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that they'd decrypted and read all the hints before starting out and had taken 100% of the challenge out of it.

I should have been able to see ALL of this coming in advance, but write it off to a lack of experience.

I haven't removed the hints yet because in my mind that cache is so, well, compromised. I should never have put in any hints at all, and while no one exactly held a gun to my head, I should have been firmer about letting the cache speak for itself as it was originally written up. After all, it *had* been found without hints.

-- Lemur (Jay)

1.5k · November 21, 2003

Ive lost track of the number of hints that have mentioned something like 'at the base of a pine tree' when there are no pines around, only cedars. And usually lots of cedars...

November 25, 2003

"The geocache is located under another geocache at the base of a pine tree but all this avail you no thing as you are not abled to find geocache as all your base are belong to us!"

5.9k · November 25, 2003

Ive lost track of the number of hints that have mentioned something like 'at the base of a pine tree' when there are no pines around, only cedars. And usually lots of cedars...

I guilty of that! Not in the hint but in the description. To me, everything that doesn't drop leaves in the fall is a "pine" tree.

Hey, I'm learning!

November 30, 2003

Try this one!

Additional Hints:

Whfg jung vf trbpnpuvat? Vg vf ohg n fvzcyr tnzr. Na ryrpgebavp tvmzb. Na vagrearg pbaarpgvba. Naq nyy gur rssbeg vg gnxrf gb yvsg gung svatre bss gur erzbgr pbageby naq chapu va n frg bs pbbeqvangrf naq gura cel lbhe ohgg bhg bs gur Ynml Obl naq sbyybj gur neebj. Lrg fbzrubj fhpu n frqragnel nccebnpu gb n tnzr jvgu fhpu yvzvgyrff cbgragvny frrzf... jryy... cht qbt jebat! Jul unat lbhefrys bhg gb qel bire fhpu qevooyr. Guvf vf Fbhgurea Pnyvsbeavn. Gur jrngure vf nyjnlf cresrpg. Anel n synfusybbq gb qnzcra barf qnl - hayvxr Arinqn. Lbh tbggn ybir Ynf Irtnf gubhtu. Chtf whfg ybir gur ohssrg sbyybjrq ol n qvc va n avpr pbby cbby. Gur pnpuvat bcgvbaf ner yvzvgyrff - fntr fpeho, zbagnva sberfgf, qrfregf, evcnevna unovgvng, heona cnexf ... gur onpxlneq. Unir nal bs lbh gevrq gur arj Fpbbol Fanpxf. Gurl unir 4 synibef naq ner dhvgr tbbq. Fher orngf gur ybj sng qbt gerngf sebz Fpvrapr Qvrg. Vg vf nznmvat jung lbh pna qb jvgu n pnpur gurfr qnlf. N fvzcyr yvggyr terra cynfgvp pbagnvare - lbh xabj V fher nz frrvat nybg bs gurfr guvatf gurfr qnlf - n ubg zryg tyhr tha, znlor fbzr rcbkl, n ebgbunzzre, fznyy ryrpgevp puvccvat tha, n yvggyr bkltra naq nprglyrar va gur cebcre cebcbegvbaf, n yvggyr cht xabj ubj... naq ibvyn n pnpur vf obea. V ernyyl yvxr zl Pyvssbeq. Ur'f n ovt erq qbt. Fghssrq bs pbhefr ohg arireguryrff V fgvyy yvxr vg. Rkprcg fbzrgvzrf ur'f gb ovt gb qent hc bagb gur orq. Bu jryy urer vf nabgure BgvfCht pnpur - Tbbq Yhpx!

November 30, 2003

Additional Hints: (Decrypt)

Just what is geocaching? It is but a simple game. An electronic gizmo. An internet connection. And all the effort it takes to lift that finger off the remote control and punch in a set of coordinates and then pry your butt out of the Lazy Boy and follow the arrow. Yet somehow such a sedentary approach to a game with such limitless potential seems... well... pug dog wrong! Why hang yourself out to dry over such dribble. This is Southern California. The weather is always perfect. Nary a flashflood to dampen ones day - unlike Nevada. You gotta love Las Vegas though. Pugs just love the buffet followed by a dip in a nice cool pool. The caching options are limitless - sage scrub, montain forests, deserts, riparian habitiat, urban parks ... the backyard. Have any of you tried the new Scooby Snacks. They have 4 flavors and are quite good. Sure beats the low fat dog treats from Science Diet. It is amazing what you can do with a cache these days. A simple little green plastic container - you know I sure am seeing alot of these things these days - a hot melt glue gun, maybe some epoxy, a rotohammer, small electric chipping gun, a little oxygen and acetylene in the proper proportions, a little pug know how... and voila a cache is born. I really like my Clifford. He's a big red dog. Stuffed of course but nevertheless I still like it. Except sometimes he's to big to drag up onto the bed. Oh well here is another OtisPug cache - Good Luck!

4k · December 4, 2003

Here's one for the books:

I worked on one in front of the computer the other day that took me almost 45 minutes, and when I was done, it could have just simply said, "Look in the hollow log.", but instead, it went on and on about following the trail past X tree, around X bush, another few hundred feet to where we met up with X on our last hunt, then turn X direction and go to X tree by X stump and look for X wildlife, etc........The info given about what trees and shrubs and stumps etc was not at all necessary to actually find the cache, the GPS led me to it with no trouble. I can understand if there is a specific path you must follow to keep from dropping off the edge of the earth, but this wasn't that type of situation. It was a simple find, simple terrain, TMI.

And there are several in this area that say, "No hint needed". Fine! If it's not needed, don't post that I don't need it!

December 4, 2003

Lemme run this up the pole . . .

I'm working on the cache description for a new micro I've placed. If you follow your GPSr, you arrive at a location on a wooden bridge. The cache is under the bridge, however.

I'm thinking of making the hint, "Three feet under." I don't think that's too much info, yet cryptic enough to puzzle some.

What do y'all think?

5.9k · December 5, 2003

Lemme run this up the pole . . .

I'm working on the cache description for a new micro I've placed. If you follow your GPSr, you arrive at a location on a wooden bridge. The cache is under the bridge, however.

I'm thinking of making the hint, "Three feet under." I don't think that's too much info, yet cryptic enough to puzzle some.

What do y'all think?

Works for me.

December 6, 2003

How about- "Do knot look low"

I spent an hour looking for this micro cache in Central Park... looking in tree knot's. Turns out the cache was under a stone, and the "knot" a mis-spelling.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

December 7, 2003

This one is compliments of a-pinapple

"There is one sure fire way to get to this cache right off the bat, but I won't tell you in a hint. I bet you thought that this was going to have a whole lot of helpfull information, didn't you. Well, you were wrong. I really hope you didn't decode this by hand, because it would really be a big waste of time. There are no hints that I can give you here- just that all you will need to know will be revealed to you on the hint page at Rhett's Run."

Isn't he nice?

4.5k · December 7, 2003

How about- "Do knot look low"

I spent an hour looking for this micro cache in Central Park... looking in tree knot's. Turns out the cache was under a stone, and the "knot" a mis-spelling.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Thanks Klaus for a real hint. I logged two no finds at that cache so I'm going back a 3rd time now to look once more. After the snow melts, that is.

December 15, 2003

Additional Hints:

"It's under a rock, but that's really no hint unless you turn over every rock in the area"

December 18, 2003

Lemme run this up the pole . . .
I'm working on the cache description for a new micro I've placed. If you follow your GPSr, you arrive at a location on a wooden bridge. The cache is under the bridge, however.

I'm thinking of making the hint, "Three feet under." I don't think that's too much info, yet cryptic enough to puzzle some.

What do y'all think?

Can't wait to read the log about the cacher who spent an hour in the creek looking for the cache three feet underwater. :lol:

December 18, 2003

This has been my favorite hint so far. "On the ground" I don't know what I would have done with out that information. :lol:

2k · December 18, 2003

My favorite was a hint (well kind of a hint) that I read about in a log of one of the caches that I visited. This cache required that you solve some math/science problems to get the combination for a lock that you needed to open to get to the cache. Here is a portion of the log: “When we got to the cache location, there was a problem with our second number. I called [The Cache Owner] on the RealEstate Finance hotline to see if he could help. [The Cache Owner] wanted to know if I had the atomic chart in front of me. Yeah Right!” Rocket Man

I ................ can't ................... stop ........................ laughing!!!!!!

2.6k · December 19, 2003

This has been my favorite hint so far. "On the ground" I don't know what I would have done with out that information.

Not to look in the tree or in the niche on a wall? :mad:

2.3k · December 21, 2003

My favorite was a hint (well kind of a hint) that I read about in a log of one of the caches that I visited. This cache required that you solve some math/science problems to get the combination for a lock that you needed to open to get to the cache. Here is a portion of the log: “When we got to the cache location, there was a problem with our second number. I called [The Cache Owner] on the RealEstate Finance hotline to see if he could help. [The Cache Owner] wanted to know if I had the atomic chart in front of me. Yeah Right!” Rocket Man

ROFL!!

You mean you don't keep the atomic chart on your Handheld??

Jeez its right there on mine next to the star charts of all the constellations!

December 21, 2003

A lot say "have fun"

Can't they just post that in regular text. It's not like it's secret.

4k · December 21, 2003

How about this one: Go down X highway and turn off at the 3rd from the last crossroad.

3rd from the last?!? So, I gotta drive to the last turnoff, and count them backwards from there?

Reminds me of the way one of our EMS dispatchers used to give directions: Go south on the road that runs past Jed's old farm, turn left where the old cottonwood used to be, and drive four miles past the wheat field where Herb Nobody got his combine stuck last year.

Usually, the patient died of old age before we decyphered those directions.

December 21, 2003

This is one hint I had recently: 1. Close to getting hitched. (But not quite, so there’s no need to climb on or under the farm wagon.)

2. Bush

The problem was there was no bush at those coordinates, Just a bare spot surrounded by ground cover in this planting in a park. Now I just checked and this cache is disabled till the owner can check it today or tomorrow.

I think some one stole the bush! the ftf said there was no bush and on the log was written HAHA.

4k · December 22, 2003

This is one hint I had recently: 1. Close to getting hitched. (But not quite, so there’s no need to climb on or under the farm wagon.)
2. Bush

The problem was there was no bush at those coordinates, Just a bare spot surrounded by ground cover in this planting in a park. Now I just checked and this cache is disabled till the owner can check it today or tomorrow.

I think some one stole the bush! the ftf said there was no bush and on the log was written HAHA.

Someone stole the bush?!?!?!? Well, it is almost Christmas.....I suppose they probably needed a Christmas tree!

9.4k · December 22, 2003

Lemme run this up the pole . . .

I'm working on the cache description for a new micro I've placed. If you follow your GPSr, you arrive at a location on a wooden bridge. The cache is under the bridge, however.

I'm thinking of making the hint, "Three feet under." I don't think that's too much info, yet cryptic enough to puzzle some.

What do y'all think?

Ha! I almost couldn't find a cache that was named '6 feet under' because I didn't know I was on a bridge

2.3k · December 22, 2003

This is one hint I had recently: 1. Close to getting hitched. (But not quite, so there’s no need to climb on or under the farm wagon.)
2. Bush

The problem was there was no bush at those coordinates, Just a bare spot surrounded by ground cover in this planting in a park. Now I just checked and this cache is disabled till the owner can check it today or tomorrow.

I think some one stole the bush! the ftf said there was no bush and on the log was written HAHA.

Someone stole the bush?!?!?!? Well, it is almost Christmas.....I suppose they probably needed a Christmas tree!

FTF!! Signed log, left McToy and Took Bush!

February 3, 2004

Oh well here is another OtisPug cache - Good Luck!

My favorite OP hint simply said "Do you really need a hint? Do you really?"

I had to resort to using the hint, and yes I found the cache. Probably because after reading that hint I wasn't going home until I did!

5.6k · February 13, 2004

Aside from the "it's too easy for a clue" hints the two that had me pulling my hair were:

"If you can hear traffic, you're close" - it was on an embankment next to the freeway - gee, my GPSr told me that!

"** 12/03 NOTE: This clue may not be valid anymore, please read log entries for additional clues. **" - So now I have to decrypt some log entries that I don't have with, besides the rest of the clue referenced the photo also. Just great to read while standing in the middle of the forest - you think wi-fi reaches here?

On the other side of the coin, there is a craze around here of "it's suppose to be hard, so no clues." This is in the discription, so it's not a surprise, but on 3+ diff caches...

February 17, 2004

I figure the poor sucker is LOST if he needs the clue, so when I leave one, it tells where the cache IS, His car I can't help him with.

Edited February 17, 2004 by Bo Peep and the Sheep

5k · March 13, 2004

Fortunately, I didn't have the time to search for this one, but if I'd gotten there and read this clue, it wouldn't have helped much.

Just remember the Home of the Worlds Biggest Fish Fry, the Eiffel Tower, Flowers and the largest OAK tree. GO VOLS!

Jamie

March 13, 2004

After my wife decrypted this one I was glad I did not need it:

"I have two favorite Randy Newman songs. One is "Birmingham". The other applies to this cache."

I spent over an hour researching Randy Newman songs, I still had no clue how this hint could help.

The cache was hanging 6 ft up in the only tree in the field, any guesses?

Answer in a few days

Cache by same person at a creek with a 9 ft tall bank.

Elevation two six zero feet

My RINO read 277 feet at the top of the bank and 278 feet at the bottom.

GEO.JOE

March 13, 2004

Just remember the Home of the Worlds Biggest Fish Fry, the Eiffel Tower, Flowers and the largest OAK tree. GO VOLS!

Jamie

That's Paris, TN also home of Hank Williams, Jr.

When I get those caches completed I'll let you know if the hint was helpful.

GEO.JOE

1.4k · March 14, 2004

"I have two favorite Randy Newman songs. One is "Birmingham". The other applies to this cache."

Didn't he do "Short People" - a song slamming the "vertically challenged"? I would have been hunting low if I read that clue.

March 14, 2004

"I have two favorite Randy Newman songs. One is "Birmingham". The other applies to this cache."

Didn't he do "Short People" - a song slamming the "vertically challenged"? I would have been hunting low if I read that clue.

It was short people.

After an hour of searching Randy Newman songs I did not get that one. Good job.

Geo.Joe

2.2k · March 14, 2004

i swear i will strangle the next hider who leaves a encrypted hint that says, "no hints needed"

1.4k · March 14, 2004

After an hour of searching Randy Newman songs I did not get that one. Good job.

Nah, old age. I remember that song. In fact I think it's the only song of his I know.

i swear i will strangle the next hider who leaves a encrypted hint that says, "no hints needed"

Decrypt? You don't reconize it by sight?

March 15, 2004

"Short people, got no reason"

to hunt this cache cause they can't reach it. At least that is how I read this one.

5k · March 30, 2004

I haven't hunted this one, but this sure looks like one of those, "Gee.. I got this far with my GPS, but thanks anyway" kind of hints.

Walk the trail until it forks, take the right fork, PLEASE stay on the trail...WATCH FOR SNAKES....you will come to the WINGED ELM, Just past the winged elm you will find a small bird house around the path..you are now really close and WATCH FOR SNAKES..

Watch for snakes. That's a good hint.

Jamie

Edited March 30, 2004 by Jamie Z

April 29, 2004

I did a cache pretty recently, that had some "false" hints in it... u should have seen the look on my face when it said, don't swim in the pond, think b-4 u act... and that in the center of town with no water for miles around...

It turned out to be a joke, and i have to admit, there was a pond... x-ept it was just a few inches wide... really funny guys...

The cache container made up for the cofusement... what a wonderfull find that was.

I don't mind false hints if they were meant to be funny.... It's not so funny if the area has changed due to renovations and stuff like that, so keep an eye on your cache to make sure those things don't occur. It's always quite a dissapointment.

May 6, 2004

The clue for my last DNF was along the lines of "in some bramble and thorns near the rabbit holes", now I don't know much about bunnies excavation habits but parts of the bank were like gorgonzola cheese

But I will find it .....oh yes !

1.2k · June 7, 2004

From a cache I couldn't find...

Here's the clue:

Additional Hints (Encrypt)

I hope my cords are right!

June 7, 2004

How about these:

NO HINTS ITS AS EASY AS IT IS

CHEAT! NO HELP HERE

Co-ordinates are spot on

Just off the path

June 7, 2004

I absolutely hate hints that are meaningful after you find the cache. That's not helping me right now, with mosquitos biting me and or it's raining or freezing.

I also don't like cutesy sayings. Show me your wit in the description, don't leave me hanging while I'm out in the woods.

June 7, 2004

Svaq vg Sbby! :rolleyes:

June 17, 2004

This one is from Tube Torcher

NO WAY MAN!!!

June 22, 2004

I absolutely hate hints that are meaningful after you find the cache. That's not helping me right now, with mosquitos biting me and or it's raining or freezing.
I also don't like cutesy sayings. Show me your wit in the description, don't leave me hanging while I'm out in the woods.

Here here! Ugh - I was just grumbling about this very thing yesterday, only it wasn't in freezing rain, it was dang hot and dusty! We don't every use the clues until we are really stumped, and then to take the time to decrypt the dang thing out in the field and get a smart comment is really frustrating. :tongue:

June 22, 2004

:tongue: Picky, picky, picky.. Gads if the hints always led you to the cache what fun would it be. How about this clue, well several I had this spring in N.M.:

Hidden under a large rock.

Great clue, if there weren't 8 million other large rocks at the site. And how large is large?

Hey, enjoy the hunt.

June 23, 2004

I don't necessarily want the hint to tell me right where the cache is, I just want a dang hint, a clue, something to help me out if I'm stuck! If I didn't need a hint, I wouldn't take the time to decrypt the dang thing. :lol:

2.6k · June 23, 2004

Gads if the hints always led you to the cache what fun would it be.

After e.g. two hours of resultless searching, I'd say a good hint is prone to increase fun. :lol:

June 23, 2004

On a recent cache I could not find was this clue,

"You can email me after you have looked."

ARRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!

Yeah Right 100 miles from home.

As a rule I don't have accesss to e-mail while in the field.

Edited June 23, 2004 by runner_one

June 24, 2004

This was actually a good hint misused (I was reminded by the "Under a large rock" in a field of rocks).

The hint was something like:

Directly under the large dead cedar tree growing out of the side of the large rock

With a hint like that it should be a piece of cake, right? Not for me. Tree canopy was limiting my GPS accuracy, but I got around 20' away and there was a pile of large rocks with a large dead cedar tree growing right out of the side. My GPS was showing 35' accuracy, so I set to work.

30 minutes later, after crawling under the rock, poking the leaves, putting my hand in dark crevices filled with spiders, and finding many interesting forms of life (ticks, mosquitos, millipedes, etc.) I gave up, gathered up my stuff and as I turned to go, saw *another* large dead cedar tree growing out of the side of a large rock about, oh, 20' away just like my GPSr was telling me.

Took me about 1 minute to find the cache directly under it. Doh!

June 25, 2004

Posted this to another thread earlier, but it's just as applicable here, too.

To the hider's credit, this wasn't actually an encrypted hint, but plain-text in the description field of the cache page. There were no encrypted hints.

You will need to move more than one rock to retrieve the cache.

Thanks for the tip...

(We found it though!)

Useless Hints

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