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When did I find this cache?


Roman!

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I think I'm going for a 1 year streak but my immediate area is pretty empty so I've been looking at some strategy like one cache before midnight, one after to keep the streak going although not finding the one before midnight would suck (and no, I would not fudge the time).

 

I stumbled on this technique: firstly, when you find a traditional, multi, puzzle, Wherigo, letterbox you know exactly when you found it but with earthcaches and/or virtuals you can find a bunch one day but email the info days, weeks, months later so you don't really have to go out and find a cache each day. I would not do this to keep a streak going, would you?

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But what's stopping you from going for 500 caches in power trails, and waiting to log them? You could do that for one day and have almost two years of a streak for just one day of caching.

 

Personally I believe in logging the cache the day I find it, it's black and white for me. the earthcache trick has some shades of gray, I've seen co that request you do not log the cache till they approve your answers.

 

I guess we could discuss various tricks and whether or not you'd do them, so my answer for both so far is I wouldn't.

Edited by Roman!
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Sounds too much like work to me 😜

 

What does, getting of my butt and outdoors once a day?

 

I had a 138 day streak when I first started and it ended because I just didn't feel like going out that day, there's no guarantee I'll make it a year but if I do then I had fun.

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Like many others, I started a streak on August 1, 2013, because of the "30 Days of Geocaching" promotion. I'm having fun with it, and it's Day 324. I'm going to stop after 366 days.

 

During my streak, I've played the before midnight/after midnight game three times. I chose two caches very close to each other, and with D/T ratings of 2/2 or lower, so in case I couldn't find the first one, the second cache was a backup that I could find before midnight. Never needed it.

 

I would *never* log a cache on a day other than when I found it - whether earthcache, virtual, power trail or otherwise.

 

The closest I came to making an exception: challenge caches. Since you can sign the logbook for a challenge cache at any time, you can hold off on logging online until you've met the requirements of the challenge. So, for example, I did a trail of challenges for each month: have a cache find on each day of January, have a cache find on each day of February, etc. I signed all the cache logs in April, but I didn't qualify for the May and June challenges due to having gaps in each month on days I had not yet logged a find on a cache. For the month of May, I finished the requirements on May 23rd. I chose to log my online find as a second find on May 23rd, after logging a traditional cache that same day. But, I thought about using the challenge cache as my find for May 24th. I don't think I'd snicker at the ethics of someone who chose to log the challenge on the following day.

 

The May Challenge Cache

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I think I'm going for a 1 year streak but my immediate area is pretty empty so I've been looking at some strategy like one cache before midnight, one after to keep the streak going although not finding the one before midnight would suck (and no, I would not fudge the time).

 

I stumbled on this technique: firstly, when you find a traditional, multi, puzzle, Wherigo, letterbox you know exactly when you found it but with earthcaches and/or virtuals you can find a bunch one day but email the info days, weeks, months later so you don't really have to go out and find a cache each day. I would not do this to keep a streak going, would you?

I wont't name anyone...but someone did. It was so funny because it was like 450 miles away from their home. Get this...they got over 1000 days streak going. :laughing:

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I would literally have to make at least a 60-70 mile round trip EVERY DAY to keep a streak going...that, to me, goes WAY beyond the point where it ceases to be fun. Plus that's a heckuva lot of gas.

 

I'm with SwineFlew....I could save that gas money and make a nice weekend road trip instead.

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Like many others, I started a streak on August 1, 2013, because of the "30 Days of Geocaching" promotion. I'm having fun with it, and it's Day 324. I'm going to stop after 366 days.

 

During my streak, I've played the before midnight/after midnight game three times. I chose two caches very close to each other, and with D/T ratings of 2/2 or lower, so in case I couldn't find the first one, the second cache was a backup that I could find before midnight. Never needed it.

 

I would *never* log a cache on a day other than when I found it - whether earthcache, virtual, power trail or otherwise.

 

The closest I came to making an exception: challenge caches. Since you can sign the logbook for a challenge cache at any time, you can hold off on logging online until you've met the requirements of the challenge. So, for example, I did a trail of challenges for each month: have a cache find on each day of January, have a cache find on each day of February, etc. I signed all the cache logs in April, but I didn't qualify for the May and June challenges due to having gaps in each month on days I had not yet logged a find on a cache. For the month of May, I finished the requirements on May 23rd. I chose to log my online find as a second find on May 23rd, after logging a traditional cache that same day. But, I thought about using the challenge cache as my find for May 24th. I don't think I'd snicker at the ethics of someone who chose to log the challenge on the following day.

 

The May Challenge Cache

 

I have thought of this too as I have challenge caches I signed but not quite qualified for. IMHO the second you find the cache that qualifies you for the challenge is the second the challenge is "found" so it will always be your second cache that day.

 

I think I'm going for a 1 year streak but my immediate area is pretty empty so I've been looking at some strategy like one cache before midnight, one after to keep the streak going although not finding the one before midnight would suck (and no, I would not fudge the time).

 

I stumbled on this technique: firstly, when you find a traditional, multi, puzzle, Wherigo, letterbox you know exactly when you found it but with earthcaches and/or virtuals you can find a bunch one day but email the info days, weeks, months later so you don't really have to go out and find a cache each day. I would not do this to keep a streak going, would you?

I wont't name anyone...but someone did. It was so funny because it was like 450 miles away from their home. Get this...they got over 1000 days streak going. :laughing:

 

I think this is one strategy that is fairly commonplace for streaks.

Edited by Roman!
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But what's stopping you from going for 500 caches in power trails, and waiting to log them? You could do that for one day and have almost two years of a streak for just one day of caching.

 

That strategy IMHO is on the extreme edge of cheating.

 

Personal, I think the streak thing is a waste of time and money. For the amount of gas I need to spend, I can save it for a trip in another state. Its more fun to find caches that you want to find than to be force to find every cache closest to your home.

 

As i posted, I ended a 138 day streak because it was not fun, so far this one is and I have no problem ending it when it stops being fun. My goal is 366 days, it may be shorter, it may be longer.

Edited by Roman!
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Personally, I always log the find immediately, then when I get home I send the required info to the CO. No one has complained. Keeping track of what cache I found when, then trying to remember to log it once the CO has replied (lots of them are not even in the game anymore), is way too much work.

Edited by Andronicus
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A slight side question if I may?

 

Say you're on a streak, and you've got two unfound caches that are close by one another (say just over 0.1 miles)

 

If you find one, keeping your streak going for today, would you consider it a bit dodgy to do a little recce for the second one, even going as far as finding the actual container but not signing the log, then coming back another day to sign the log, and calling that your cache for *that* day?

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A slight side question if I may?

 

Say you're on a streak, and you've got two unfound caches that are close by one another (say just over 0.1 miles)

 

If you find one, keeping your streak going for today, would you consider it a bit dodgy to do a little recce for the second one, even going as far as finding the actual container but not signing the log, then coming back another day to sign the log, and calling that your cache for *that* day?

 

Again though, if your going to cheat, bend the rules, find loopholes, whatever you wanna call it, why not do it the way I suggested. IMO there's not much difference- it's either you actually found a cache each day, or you're logging a cache each day. If you want to do it without finding a cache each day, then why not make it easy?

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My style of caching and my health precludes me from trying for a streak. I don't want to feel I must go for a cache, when I don't feel like going for a cache. For someone else it may be a good idea, like going to the gym when you don't feel like going to the gym. All a matter of choice.

 

That being said I can understand why people like the idea of trying for a long streak.

 

If I were to try this, it would be when I found the cache. It wouldn't matter what day I logged it, if I found a cache on Thursday, and another on Friday, that would be a two day streak. If I found two caches on Thursday, I wouldn't feel right logging one on Thursday, and coming back on Friday to log the other.

 

If the cache requires I send something in to qualify, The cache find is still the day I found it, not the day I logged it.

 

Edited to say, if I went out before midnight, found a cache, then continued to find another just after midnight, that would be one day to me. Not two separate days. If the idea is to make sure I get out of the house on a regular basis it doesn't make sense that one trip counts as two.

Edited by uxorious
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If you find one, keeping your streak going for today, would you consider it a bit dodgy to do a little recce for the second one, even going as far as finding the actual container but not signing the log, then coming back another day to sign the log, and calling that your cache for *that* day?
I've done reconnaissance as part of my current streak, when I've visited the site of a D5 cache to see what kind of special equipment was needed. Later, I returned with the necessary equipment and made the find. I logged it just the same as I would have if I weren't maintaining a streak.

 

I haven't done "reconnaissance" though. I haven't pre-found any caches. I haven't merely held off on the signing of the log in an effort to save the pre-found cache for later.

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A slight side question if I may?

 

Say you're on a streak, and you've got two unfound caches that are close by one another (say just over 0.1 miles)

 

If you find one, keeping your streak going for today, would you consider it a bit dodgy to do a little recce for the second one, even going as far as finding the actual container but not signing the log, then coming back another day to sign the log, and calling that your cache for *that* day?

When on a streak, it sometimes takes great discipline to find just one cache and skip the ones in the same area. If the caches are near my commuter route, I save them for weekdays when I'm pressed for time, and pick them off one at a time. From caching in this way for my streak, I'm finding I have a greater appreciation for each individual cache, and I'm writing better logs.

 

If I scout out one of the nearby caches, searching for it but not finding it, then that's a DNF. And I would never intentionally DNF a cache. I like to find caches.

 

So, the most I will do is recon for the best parking place and access to the cache on a day when I have extra time, so that the details will be in my memory on a day when I have a half hour free to find my daily cache between work and an evening obligation. Sure, you can do that from the maps but nothing beats onsite reconnaissance. What looked like a roadside park and grab turned out to be a cache at the bottom of a steep cliff, accessed from a different road. But I would never get out of the car and search for the cache unless I had intentions of finding it.

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Now you know why I don't do streaks. I actually believe most people do what you describe.

 

I'd like to think most don't but I'd bet a few couldn't find that one cache just before midnight but logged it as if they did anyways.

 

But what's stopping you from going for 500 caches in power trails, and waiting to log them? You could do that for one day and have almost two years of a streak for just one day of caching.

 

That strategy IMHO is on the extreme edge of cheating.

 

Just on the edge of cheating, or actually cheating?

 

I was trying to be polite.

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Now you know why I don't do streaks. I actually believe most people do what you describe.

 

I'd like to think most don't but I'd bet a few couldn't find that one cache just before midnight but logged it as if they did anyways.

 

But what's stopping you from going for 500 caches in power trails, and waiting to log them? You could do that for one day and have almost two years of a streak for just one day of caching.

 

That strategy IMHO is on the extreme edge of cheating.

 

Just on the edge of cheating, or actually cheating?

 

I was trying to be polite.

 

Answering the question would be polite.

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Isn't it a bit odd to worry about what other people think of rules that you've decided you're going to abide by?

 

Accepting that in the game known as geocaching, people make up all sorts of rules for themselves as they go along, it's still important to remember that this thread relates not to some set of arbitrary rules - but to actual, real, true whether they fit with your caching goals or not, FACTS - and whether people will try to bend those facts to fit with their personal geocaching goals.

 

And even if it is odd to worry be interested in other people's views on the subject - it does at least provide a topic for discussion here in the forums - and forums kinda rely on topics for discussion :ph34r:

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But what's stopping you from going for 500 caches in power trails, and waiting to log them? You could do that for one day and have almost two years of a streak for just one day of caching.

 

That strategy IMHO is on the extreme edge of cheating.

 

Just on the edge of cheating, or actually cheating?

 

It is cheating. But that's my point-if doing it with one cache is OK, why not all of them? And if you're gonna cheat, make it worth while. Delayed logging is delayed logging-be it one day or 360 days.

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I see this going on around my area. I work all over the place so the streak is mainly easy for me most days. I have been on a "vacation" working on my house this weeks so it has been harder and had to solve some puzzles. Our streak is legit and one signed every day. If I had to miss a day I would just let the streak go. It is way over what would probably ever be needed for a challenge, it is just fun for us now.

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But what's stopping you from going for 500 caches in power trails, and waiting to log them? You could do that for one day and have almost two years of a streak for just one day of caching.

 

That strategy IMHO is on the extreme edge of cheating.

 

Just on the edge of cheating, or actually cheating?

 

It is cheating. But that's my point-if doing it with one cache is OK, why not all of them? And if you're gonna cheat, make it worth while. Delayed logging is delayed logging-be it one day or 360 days.

 

It can also be extremely unhelpful to the CO and other cachers as it may give a false indication of whether the cache is OK. For example: you find a cache in June, it goes missing in August and a couple of DNFs get posted, then you post your FoundIt log on 1 September.

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Now you know why I don't do streaks. I actually believe most people do what you describe.

I don't understand why what most people do would have any impact on your streak or what you might or might not do to extend your streak.

 

I would understand if you said you wouldn't have a streak challenge cache because you feel that people will do all kinds of funny stuff with their online logs in order to qualify for the challenge. Of course, I'd say that you might as well not have any challenges if you worry about stuff like that. ;)

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Now you know why I don't do streaks. I actually believe most people do what you describe.

I don't understand why what most people do would have any impact on your streak or what you might or might not do to extend your streak.

 

Not related. I don't do streaks because I hate them. I know for the (short) streaks I have done the temptation to take the very easy shortcuts was significant and really troubled me.

 

The second sentence indicated that since I find that temptation quite significant, and since I am much more restrictive on myself than other cachers I know in other ways, I believe that the vast majority of people who do streaks engage in those behaviors.

 

Other peoples' behavior on streaks has no impact on my desire to do or not do them.

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While a CO may ask you to wait for approval to log, you are not required to wait. I would always log an Earthcache so the "find" was the day I visited the site. I wouldn't wait to log it in order to extend a streak.

 

Actually you should log the "found it" log in the day you visited the place of the EC. There are some people that wait for approval of the CO to log it but it is a fake rule, actually the EC Guidelines say the exact opposite:

 

People do not need to wait for permission to log your EarthCache. Requiring someone to wait is not supported by the EarthCache guidelines. People should send their logging task answers to you, then log your EarthCache. When you review their logging task answers, if there is a problem, you should contact them to resolve it. If there is no problem, then their log simply stands.

Taken from here!

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While a CO may ask you to wait for approval to log, you are not required to wait. I would always log an Earthcache so the "find" was the day I visited the site. I wouldn't wait to log it in order to extend a streak.

 

Actually you should log the "found it" log in the day you visited the place of the EC. There are some people that wait for approval of the CO to log it but it is a fake rule, actually the EC Guidelines say the exact opposite:

 

Are you responding to a different post? I just said that I always log the Earthcache so the "find" is the day I visited the site. :blink:

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While a CO may ask you to wait for approval to log, you are not required to wait. I would always log an Earthcache so the "find" was the day I visited the site. I wouldn't wait to log it in order to extend a streak.

 

Actually you should log the "found it" log in the day you visited the place of the EC. There are some people that wait for approval of the CO to log it but it is a fake rule, actually the EC Guidelines say the exact opposite:

 

Are you responding to a different post? I just said that I always log the Earthcache so the "find" is the day I visited the site. :blink:

 

It´s not about YOU logging on the day you visited, of course I can read you saying that... it´s about ALWAYS logging on the day anybody visited not after a few days, like the OP said, to keep the streak on! B)

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This has got to be a trolling thread, I can't take your original post seriously at all. Find a cache a day for a year--if you can't, don't bother with the challenge. If your area is cached out for you, wait a year or two to start the challenge.

 

Trolling for what? This is a forum, without posts/threads there is no forum, what exactly ami trolling for?

 

troll

One who posts a deliberately provocative message to a newsgroup or message board with the intention of causing maximum disruption and troll

One who posts a deliberately provocative message to a newsgroup or message board with the intention of causing maximum disruption and argument

 

Seems like you're the troll.

Edited by Roman!
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Trolling as in "you can't be serious." You've introduced a topic for no other reason than to stir controversy because I don't believe that you are considering any such thing as what you're proposing in the OP. Your OP is about as deliberately provocative as you can get around here.

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For us, the main purpose of having a streak is that it means we always make time for a little breather to go find a geocache, every day. We're very busy with our work lives, and even just darting out for 15 minutes to grab a key holder on a guardrail is a little break for us to goof off for a few minutes and enjoy the game we love. If we're not actually finding geocaches each day, I don't see the purpose in maintaining a streak.

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