Long Grass Attribute

[+Dogmeat*]

Many times, I've gone for a cache that has been labelled as a park and grab and on the map it looks like it's just on the side of the road, but it ends up with a small trek through tall grass. On rainy days or days after it's rained, this just sucks. You get soaked. I know, that's part of the game, but sometimes I'm just going out for a quick find and I get there and end up having to change my clothes. I think a tall grass attribute would be great.

[+Semper Questio]

I had a real pithy response ready, but I think I'll be nice, enjoy my snowcone, and see how this plays out instead.

 

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Whereas it may be good... there have been many other suggestions asking for additional attributes. Some worthwhile, some not-so-much-so.

Personally, I see this one being lumped into the latter category. I mean, if it had recently rained, then you are probably gonna get wet in the grass. I believe that is a rule of nature.

 

Not trying to be snide, but other similarly purposeful suggestions have been declined. Icy roads; Slippery when wet roads; No parking because of steep grade; low limbs (yupper!) and the like. There were even some doozies that I simply forgot (because they were 'way out in left field). This suggestion does have some merit, but not quite enough, I think.

 

There is only so much room for attributes and you gotta admit, there are already loads of them to pick from.

 

 

Good 'nuf Semper Questio?

[+Walts Hunting]

Pithy answer: no

[+Harry Dolphin]

Oh. Poor boy! I think the 'ticks' attribute works well here. And in the winter, the CO has to change the attribute to 'short grass'?

It is your decision whether to go for the cache or not. Don't blame the CO for your indiscretion..

'Medium height grass' attribute for spring! "May flood during hurricanes." "Tall grass can be wet after rain" attribute?

If you choose to hunt the cache despite the long grass, who do you have to blame but yourself?

Ah! I needed this one: "Noisy cicadas every seventeen years may annoy you" attribute!

[team tisri]

Many times, I've gone for a cache that has been labelled as a park and grab and on the map it looks like it's just on the side of the road, but it ends up with a small trek through tall grass. On rainy days or days after it's rained, this just sucks. You get soaked. I know, that's part of the game, but sometimes I'm just going out for a quick find and I get there and end up having to change my clothes. I think a tall grass attribute would be great.

 

On rainy days you get to deal with the consequences of the rain. Otherwise you end up needing an attribute for the fact it might be muddy, or the path might be rutted in summer if the mud hardens, or all sorts of other transient things that anyone could have figured might be an issue if they stopped to think about it for a few moments.

 

If a cache is at the roadside then it could be on the guardrail or it could be a few feet off the road. Trying to come up with definitions at every stage to specify exactly what you're going to find when you get there is silly. If you plan a trip out wear suitable clothing and if you just stop off on your way somewhere while wearing full business dress accept that you might get to a point where you don't want to continue. Whether that's because of mud, rain, wet grass, wet bushes, thorns, steep slopes, whatever - it's up to you to decide how and whether to proceed.

[+Dogmeat*]

Ah, yes. I forgot the forums were filled with miserable old whiners that can't be civilized even over the internet.

 

Thank you, team tisri, for actually explaining it in a fashion that isn't attacking me or attempting to belittle me. Tall grass could be useful for other things, but I suppose you're right.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

I thought the responses were fairly civil... no words or terms like absurd; waste of server space, etc.

[+Dogmeat*]

I thought the responses were fairly civil... no words or terms like absurd; waste of server space, etc.

 

Yours was also not prickish. I somehow overlooked yours.

[+BlueDeuce]

I don't know. I guess I could consider it a possible maybe but really you aren't going to get that many people to use the option. At least not enough that you can avoid caches before you get within that last ten feet of vegetation. It's kind of the nature of the beast that geocaching is off trail. That's why I have a pair of gaiters.

[+tozainamboku]

I've previously stated my opinion that the implementation of attributes is not the best solution.

 

I think a tagging system would be better. Cache owners could assign whatever tags they wanted to their cache. If you wanted some common tags to be selectable you could have a list, but if someone didn't find what they wanted they could put something else. You might need a profanity filter or a way to report inappropriate tags, but this sort of abuse would likely be easily managed with bannanation of accounts the use tags in an inappropriate manner.

 

Search by tags is common on other websites and somewhat easier to use than include/exclude caches with/without certain attributes.

 

I would even like to see the ability to tag caches you find but don't own, though this could lead to abuse with spoilers or with characterization of caches based on personal likes or dislikes.

[team tisri]

Ah, yes. I forgot the forums were filled with miserable old whiners that can't be civilized even over the internet.

 

Even over the internet? A faceless medium like this brings out the hard man in more people than a face-to-face conversation.

 

Thank you, team tisri, for actually explaining it in a fashion that isn't attacking me or attempting to belittle me. Tall grass could be useful for other things, but I suppose you're right.

 

I see attributes as a way of warning about specific hazards that might be expected, or to give a quick-and-easy way of figuring which caches are most likely to be suitable for a given trip and which ones are best ignored. So for me if I see the "tree climbing" attribute I ignore the cache because I'm too fat to be climbing trees. If I see a "significant hike" I won't be put off doing the hike but I know it's going to take a bit of work to get there and I'll look at the area to figure if it's worth going for reasons other than the cache. If I'm going to spend the day hiking I want the destination to have some appeal over and above a hidden box I may not even find.

 

Likewise attributes like "takes less than one hour", "park and grab", "suitable for children", "wheelchair accessible" etc give a quick and easy indicator that the cache isn't going to involve a long walk, won't take you down a rutted path full of mudholes and probably can be done during your lunch hour even if you're wearing a three-piece pinstripe suit with polished Oxford brogues.

 

Even then if you have a very specific requirement (like "I'm dressed to impress and on my way to a client meeting") you'd do well to read the cache description and be ready to abandon the hunt rather than have to explain to the client why you're covered in mud and your suit is torn.