+NetworkCacher Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I received a fundraising email from the Geological Society of America for the Earthcache Fund, signed by Geoaware. Curiously, I don't recall ever providing my geocaching email address to the GSoA. Here is a link to the online version of the email, Earthcache Fund letter. Did anyone else receive this email? Here is a portion of the appeal: We have set up a special EarthCache Fund within the GSA Foundation and are asking you to consider supporting the fund. Donations are tax deductible to US residents. The way you can donate and the different levels of support are found in this EarthCache Fund document. Cachers who support the fund at different levels will receive different benefits, such as discounts to EarthCache Mega Events, merchandise and more. Quote Link to comment
Pup Patrol Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I received a fundraising email from the Geological Society of America for the Earthcache Fund, signed by Geoaware. Curiously, I don't recall ever providing my geocaching email address to the GSoA. Here is a link to the online version of the email, Earthcache Fund letter. Did anyone else receive this email? Here is a portion of the appeal: We have set up a special EarthCache Fund within the GSA Foundation and are asking you to consider supporting the fund. Donations are tax deductible to US residents. The way you can donate and the different levels of support are found in this EarthCache Fund document. Cachers who support the fund at different levels will receive different benefits, such as discounts to EarthCache Mega Events, merchandise and more. Dear EarthCacher The EarthCache program, part of the bigger game of geocaching and administered by the Geological Society of America has just celebrated it's amazing 10th birthday. We could not have come this far and had such wonderful success without the support of EarthCachers around the globe. It is a fantastic program and we would like to see it continue to grow over the next ten years. I am writing to ask if you would be interested in helping us to grow the program by helping us to raise funds during 2014 that will allow us to further support geocachers who enjoy the unique offerings of EarthCaches. We have set up a special EarthCache Fund within the GSA Foundation and are asking you to consider supporting the fund. Donations are tax deductible to US residents. The way you can donate and the different levels of support are found in this EarthCache Fund document. Cachers who support the fund at different levels will receive different benefits, such as discounts to EarthCache Mega Events, merchandise and more. What would your support allow us to do: • Develop the EarthCache Academy - an online learning adventure where EarthCachers can learn more about Earth Science so they can better develop and appreciate EarthCache sites around the globe. • Increase the support given to cachers who run events based on Earthcaching (stickers, pins, coins and other materials to hand out at events). • Increase the support given to cache owners by GSA staff and provide more tools to enable cache owners to better meet the guidelines. • Create a better experience at International EarthCache Events by bringing in more relevant guest speakers, activities and fields trips while not increasing the costs. • Increase our presence at teacher/museum conferences so we can train educators on how to use EarthCaches in their teaching. ...and more. Please consider supporting the EarthCache Fund. Your support will be displayed on our web pages so others can see your commitment to the continued growth of EarthCaching. I look forward to seeing you involved in the wonderful world of EarthCaches in our 10th year! Kindest regards, Gary Geoaware Quote Link to comment
Pup Patrol Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Become an EarthCache Supporter http://higherlogicdownload.s3.amazonaws.com/GEOSOCIETY/b3916154-92dd-4ad2-a384-a932fbab86cd/UploadedImages/EarthCache/EC10Support.pdf Quote Link to comment
+suchanana Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 somewhere in the very tiny small print of my gc.com premium membership agreement i probably gave away my email address to "approved" third parties...but i don't have to like it... this so smacks of SPAM with its' $ request, no matter that i enjoy earthcaching, and would probably support it anyhow... Quote Link to comment
+cerberus1 Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 (edited) this so smacks of SPAM with its' $ request, no matter that i enjoy earthcaching, and would probably support it anyhow... If less than a membership here, I'd probably agree, but with a starting supporter membership of "up to" a hundred bucks... For us, that's five bucks for each we've found. - And no more waterfalls, springs, or other similar options for us to put out our own. The Earth is more than rock. Edited January 22, 2014 by cerberus1 Quote Link to comment
+ODragon Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 somewhere in the very tiny small print of my gc.com premium membership agreement i probably gave away my email address to "approved" third parties...but i don't have to like it... I'm going to guess (and hope) you are wrong. I believe that the e-mails are from one of the following ways: -Old EC submissions required your e-mail (it was done though their site) -The Masters programs require you to include an e-mail address -There have been a number of EC surveys people have filled out that required an e-mail address -I'm guessing attendees at the mega-events provided their e-mail addresses for registration Quote Link to comment
+ODragon Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Its funny, I got the e-mail twice (probably registered different things under different e-mails). Not once did I think about complaining I got it; I read it, hit delete and moved on. Quote Link to comment
+Traditional Bill Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 somewhere in the very tiny small print of my gc.com premium membership agreement i probably gave away my email address to "approved" third parties...but i don't have to like it... I'm going to guess (and hope) you are wrong. I believe that the e-mails are from one of the following ways: -Old EC submissions required your e-mail (it was done though their site) -The Masters programs require you to include an e-mail address -There have been a number of EC surveys people have filled out that required an e-mail address -I'm guessing attendees at the mega-events provided their e-mail addresses for registration These all sound like reasonable explanations. I'm assuming I got the email due to my masters submission. I actually considered donating, but I realized it's too tough of a time right now to donate to the earthcache fund. Quote Link to comment
+ODragon Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I received a fundraising email from the Geological Society of America for the Earthcache Fund, signed by Geoaware. Curiously, I don't recall ever providing my geocaching email address to the GSoA. You did, I see the EarthCache Master: Bronze Level badge on your profile. somewhere in the very tiny small print of my gc.com premium membership agreement i probably gave away my email address to "approved" third parties...but i don't have to like it... You also have the EarthCache Master: Bronze Level badge on your profile. Masters program submission form requires an e-mail. Quote Link to comment
Keystone Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 somewhere in the very tiny small print of my gc.com premium membership agreement i probably gave away my email address to "approved" third parties...but i don't have to like it... this so smacks of SPAM with its' $ request, no matter that i enjoy earthcaching, and would probably support it anyhow... Actually, the Geocaching.com Privacy Policy protects you from solicitations like this one. Geocaching.com did not provide a list of email addresses for this purpose. So, if you are troubled by the solicitation, you should contact the GSA. Quote Link to comment
+cheech gang Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 The email has an UNSUBSCRIBE button at the bottom. Knowing my opinion of earthcaches, I doubt I would have knowingly subscribed in the first place, I'm curious how they sourced these email addresses. Quote Link to comment
Neos2 Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 From time to time, the GSA will contact those of us who have provided them with our email addresses to make us aware of special offers, give us shop updates, and so forth. If you do not wish to receive these mailings, simple click on the the unsubscribe at the bottom. Since this really isn't an EarthCaching issue and has nothing to do with Groundspeak, I'm closing this thread. Quote Link to comment
Moun10Bike Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 I've reopened this topic to give people a forum in which to discuss this. To reiterate, Groundspeak did not provide customer emails to the EarthCache team for this purpose (or any other purpose). As far as we are concerned, sharing geocacher emails in this way would be a significant violation of our privacy policy. Quote Link to comment
+funkymunkyzone Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 I'm going to go out on a limb here and say "so what?" We're all geocachers and it was geocaching related. I doubt GSA got anyone's email address by any means other than collection through the masters programme, etc, no covert ops - which means you probably just forgot you gave it to them. Just hit unsubscribe if you don't want any more such emails. Quote Link to comment
+ChileHead Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 I got it, read that they were soliciting for money, was a bit annoyed and deleted it. It could be I gave the GSA permission to spam me at some point when I signed up for one of the earthcache programs, but I think it's pretty lame of them to do so. Quote Link to comment
+geodarts Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 I'm going to go out on a limb here and say "so what?" I am out on the same limb. It's a GSA program. It needs funding. People who support earthcaching might be interested. Or they might not. I get funding appeals from a number of groups that I am involved with, but this did not seem like spam to me. If it did to you, the unsubscribe link might be a good option. Quote Link to comment
+Carbon Hunter Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 I'm going to go out on a limb here and say "so what?" I am out on the same limb. It's a GSA program. It needs funding. People who support earthcaching might be interested. Or they might not. I get funding appeals from a number of groups that I am involved with, but this did not seem like spam to me. If it did to you, the unsubscribe link might be a good option. Good point. Yep I get a lot of spam mails every day. It really is my decision whether I support or not. But I must admit on the upper end of the appeal (core level) - I reckon only corporates could be providing that kind of funding. Quote Link to comment
+tomtwogates Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Its funny, I got the e-mail twice (probably registered different things under different e-mails). Not once did I think about complaining I got it; I read it, hit delete and moved on. +1 have not lost any sleep either Quote Link to comment
+Manville Possum Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 (edited) I got it and replyed that I am no longer interested in EarthCaches after the last guidelines changes, I liked the old ones better because of the "wow" factor and I am not interested in the subject of geology. I jumped through my last hoop getting one approved a few years ago, and now they want my support? Edit to add: Thanks to Moun10Bike reopening this topic to give people a forum in which to discuss this. Edited January 25, 2014 by Manville Possum Hunters Quote Link to comment
+me N u Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 We live in the UK, so how come we cannot take part in the recent survey (USA residents only) BUT we are allowed to send money? Quote Link to comment
Neos2 Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 We live in the UK, so how come we cannot take part in the recent survey (USA residents only) BUT we are allowed to send money? Did you see this post in the thread about the survey? Quote Link to comment
+funkymunkyzone Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 We live in the UK, so how come we cannot take part in the recent survey (USA residents only) BUT we are allowed to send money? Did you see this post in the thread about the survey? I'll answer because even though I'm not bothered about receiving the email, I do have the same opinion as 'me N u'... I understand (now, after it was explained) that the survey was done by some US crowd other than the GSA and it had wider objectives outside caching, and yadda yadda, but it was very poorly explained when announced: Please help us to learn more about EarthCachers and EarthCaching by completing our online survey. The survey is part of a study to learn more about who participates in EarthCaching, why they participate, and what they learn. (etc) That opening statement made it a bit of a slap to then find out only US opinions mattered. Apparently creating and owning the 10th most earthcaches for any caching account in the world, including one that made 'Geocache of the Week' didn't make my opinion worth anything. Like I said, now I understand... Cheers Quote Link to comment
Neos2 Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 I understand (now, after it was explained) that the survey was done by some US crowd other than the GSA and it had wider objectives outside caching, and yadda yadda, but it was very poorly explained when announced: I can understand how that could be. Lesson learnt, hopefully: full details should be provided along with the announcement. Quote Link to comment
+suchanana Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 I've reopened this topic to give people a forum in which to discuss this. To reiterate, Groundspeak did not provide customer emails to the EarthCache team for this purpose (or any other purpose). As far as we are concerned, sharing geocacher emails in this way would be a significant violation of our privacy policy. kudos for reopening the topic Moun10Bike - in my old EC submission prior to GSA i did provide my email and already have taken the necessary unsolicited steps... the "so What" factor comes into play when gc.com gave me a place to give my opinion/aka whining, using these forums as a means of discussion/entertainment after being cooped up inside on way-too-many days with below-zero cabin fever... Quote Link to comment
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