What makes a geocache?

[+tozainamboku]

When I started geocaching there were often threads in the forums about whether virtual caches or locationless caches were really caches. Some people wouldn't do them (or would do them but not log them), while others were of the opinion that if they counted in the find count they were "officially" geocaches. Back then if you attended an event you logged a Found It log. Many people would only post a note for an event because they hadn't actually found anything by attending the event.

 

I pretty quickly decided that the online log was not really a find but a WIGAS (Woohoo, I get another smiley). That became particularly clear when people started having additional requirements for logging an online find on their caches. It's always seemed strange to me to use Geocaching.com statistics to define what is a geocache.

 

Then there is the issue of alternative geocaching sites. It seemed clear to me that if I went looking for a cache that was only listed on another site and I wanted to log online, that I would do so on the site where the cache was listed. But some people seemed so obsessed with using statistics to define what is a cache, that they looked for ways to log caches from different sites in one place. Since Groundspeak wasn't about to allow logs for caches that weren't listed on Geocaching.com (and may not have even met Geocaching.com guidelines for listing) some people simply dismiss alternative sites as "not geocaches". I know that Groundspeak would like to "own" the word geocache and have the definition be restricted to caches listed on Geocaching.com, but the fact is that the word geocache predates Groundspeak and Geocaching.com (if by only a few months) and most people would define it so that many of the alternative sites are geocaching sites.

 

Even on Geocaching.com there is disagreement on what is a cache. I'm really enjoying watching the debate on lab caches. ("If they don't count in milestones and other statistics they're not geocaches." Boom! Groundspeak adds them to milestones and other statistics and now it's, "If they're not in the 'My Finds' pocket query, they're not geocaches.")

 

I don't follow this statistically based definition of geocache. Perhaps someone can explain the need for such a definition. Remember though the line that Mark Twain attributed to Benjamin Disraeli - "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

[+Roman!]

By definition a geocache needs to consist of a container but as far as geocaching it gets confusing, I consider virtuals and earth caches as caches, I wouldn't consider locationless caches as caches. I never considered the old challenges as caches and I never accepted the lab caches as caches and come the update in a few days I still won't.

 

The I heart geocaching threw me off, I'm sure a few people did some cool things but I'd bet most created them and swapped with someone and just logged them from home.

 

Maybe that would be a criteria, you can't rightfully log it without leaving your house.

Edited May 31, 2014 by Roman!

[+lamoracke]

Personally I never said a lab cache was not a geocache because its not in the "my finds" download, I just said I wish it was because its a pain in the butt for it not to be. I still do them and have enjoyed them.

 

To me, anything is a geocache that this site says is something to count. Some types I like better than others. Many folks do not do benchmarks either but I have liked finding them once in a while and they do not count in my statistics however the web site allows me to attach pictures and document the ones I have found. However, lab caches should either be fully integrated or separate, like benchmarks.

Edited May 31, 2014 by lamoracke

[+JPreto]

As you put it, is an event a cache? Why add it in my finds account?

 

Actually for me the number of finds should be called something like "assets" or "trophies" because they can be "finds" (for caches) or "attended" (for events) or "solved" (for lab).

 

Opinions... opinions...

[+NYPaddleCacher]

By definition a geocache needs to consist of a container but as far as geocaching it gets confusing, I consider virtuals and earth caches as caches, I wouldn't consider locationless caches as caches. I never considered the old challenges as caches and I never accepted the lab caches as caches and come the update in a few days I still won't.

 

In the context of the game we play called geocaching, and using the the geocache listing service provided by Groundspeak, virtuals, earthcaches, webcam caches, locationless, and event caches are all geocache types, because that's what Groundspeak defines as geocaches. Anyone can come up with some other semantic interpretation of geocache but the only one that really matters, if you're playing using the Groundspeak geocaching listing service is Groundspeaks definition. Lab caches are a type of geocache as well, because GS has defined them as a cache type as well.

 

Geocaching Challenges were not a type of geocache. Groundspeak never claimed that they were a type of geocache, just as they never claimed that waymarks or benchmarks are a type of geocache.

Edited June 1, 2014 by NYPaddleCacher

[+Roman!]

By definition a geocache needs to consist of a container but as far as geocaching it gets confusing, I consider virtuals and earth caches as caches, I wouldn't consider locationless caches as caches. I never considered the old challenges as caches and I never accepted the lab caches as caches and come the update in a few days I still won't.

 

In the context of the game we play called geocaching, and using the the geocache listing service provided by Groundspeak, virtuals, earthcaches, webcam caches, locationless, and event caches are all geocache types, because that's what Groundspeak defines as geocaches. Anyone can come up with some other semantic interpretation of geocache but the only one that really matters, if you're playing using the Groundspeak geocaching listing service is Groundspeaks definition. Lab caches are a type of geocache as well, because GS has defined them as a cache type as well.

 

Geocaching Challenges were not a type of geocache. Groundspeak never claimed that they were a type of geocache, just as they never claimed that waymarks or benchmarks are a type of geocache.

 

You're absolutely right.

 

The challenges did, for a few ugly days, count as a find in your stats.

 

As for the lab caches, my option, since I do not see them as real caches, is not to find or log them.

[+tozainamboku]

In the context of the game we play called geocaching, and using the the geocache listing service provided by Groundspeak, virtuals, earthcaches, webcam caches, locationless, and event caches are all geocache types, because that's what Groundspeak defines as geocaches. Anyone can come up with some other semantic interpretation of geocache but the only one that really matters, if you're playing using the Groundspeak geocaching listing service is Groundspeaks definition. Lab caches are a type of geocache as well, because GS has defined them as a cache type as well.

What Groundspeak defines is what can be listed and what can be logged online. But so far nobody has been able to answer why being WIGAS-able = geocache.

 

I probably wouldn't have asked the question if not for the fact that some people have issues with lab caches. For some people it seemed that getting a smiley was enough to make lab caches geocaches. Others had to wait till lab caches counted in milestones on the statistics page. Other are still not sure. Lab caches are still different from other Geocaching.com caches: they aren't included in the My Finds pocket query, they aren't subject to the same guidelines, they're temporary, etc.

 

Groundspeak defines what can be listed on the Geocaching.com site (are lab caches even listed on Geocaching.com?), how these listings can be logged online, and then what statistics the logs participate in. I don't see how this makes a good definition for what is a geocache. I don't see why the caches listed on the blue squirrel site aren't geocaches or even the QR codes on the Voldermort site (the one who must not be named). These are just caches that I cannot include in my statistics here.

 

I'm guessing that the real question for some people is not "What makes a geocache", but "which statistics should something participate in". Maybe I just find it confusing when people use the word "geocache" as a synonym for "counting in certain statistics".

Edited June 1, 2014 by tozainamboku

[+JPreto]

I'm guessing that the real question for some people is not "What makes a geocache", but "which statistics should something participate in". Maybe I just find it confusing when people use the word "geocache" as a synonym for "counting in certain statistics".

 

In my opinion, geocache is "container based". Virtuals, EarthCache, events, labs, cam, etc... are not geocaches for me since they don´t have a container and a logbook to physically sign.

[+GeoBain]

My simple answer: Anything that I feel like finding, I will look for. Anything I don't feel like finding, I will not look for.

 

What you call it is of little concern to me. Whether or not it counts in someone's statistics is of little concern to me.

 

I continue this hobby because I like finding places and things. Sometimes I find both; sometimes only one; sometimes neither. But the main thing is I enjoy getting out of my house.

[+Ethankwolfe]

I've never done any EarthCaches, but there are a few nearby I've been meaning to complete and log. From what I've seen (around myself at least), EarthCaches have some pretty specific criteria to count as a log (visit, answer questions about the area, prove you were there, etc), and even if there's no physical log, there's still the element of visiting a location based on GPS coordinates and creating a lasting "log" of it, albeit in the form of questions emailed and photos stored on a phone.

 

Seems like as long as someone's willing to go through the trouble to set one up, and other people want to keep visiting the location and searching for details, it keeps the spirit of caching.

 

I don't know much about the other types mentioned, though.

[+WarNinjas]

I know the lab cache I found and the one I set up were real and we really had to get out of the house to find them. I know others that didn't do it that way and some that did. I think it was a real cache the way we did it. Not saying I like them as caches or not but we did it right and had fun with it.