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paying membership elitist?

gonzogunner

By gonzogunner
in General geocaching topics

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The Jester

+The Jester

Posted
Posted

It is the United States Military that established, owns and maintains the world wide GPS. At some point in the 1990's the Military made a portion of the technology available to the general public. It was shortly after that when the "For Profit" business Geocaching.com emerged and organized this great sport. Thank you Groundspeak!

 

Original memberships were ONLY free ones as one should expect since it is quite probably illegal for Groundspeak to profit from the works of our Government who created GPS. It is further questionable that Groundspeak now profits from Premium Membership Only caches which are hidden on Public Lands. Now, I am no lawyer, but it is wrong that a public patron who pays an access fee to a park must also pay a fee to Groundspeak to search a geocache hidden there. I am not opposed to Premium Membership. I am opposed to Premium Membership Only geocaches.

 

Additionally, fewer and fewer trackables can be found in NON-premium member caches as these are moved out of "Public" circulation and into the realm of Premium. Perhaps the word "elite" is too offending, but how else could you describe this new "Class" of geocacher? I don't believe Groundspeak envisioned this ugly face when they created Premium Membership, but it is here and it is growing uglier by the day.

I'm surprised nobody commented on the bolded part. The US got the first system up, but Europe has their own system now and so does Russia.

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Mr.Yuck

Mr.Yuck

Posted
Posted

I look in the mirror and all I see is an emboldened self-anointed elitist. Where else can you get such a deal for only $30!

Golly. Plenty of places. Like here, for starters.

 

Ooooh, I got one that cost $30, but I'd get banned for posting it. :lol: Speaking of banned, is Roman currently banned? Because maybe this guy can win a premium membership from him. Hasn't he given away 3 so far?

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wmpastor

+wmpastor

Posted
Posted

I look in the mirror and all I see is an emboldened self-anointed elitist. Where else can you get such a deal for only $30!

Golly. Plenty of places. Like here, for starters.

 

Ooooh, I got one that cost $30, but I'd get banned for posting it. :lol: Speaking of banned, is Roman currently banned? Because maybe this guy can win a premium membership from him. Hasn't he given away 3 so far?

Roman!'s absence day after day is noticeable. I'm sure he could solve these issues!

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niraD

+niraD

Posted
Posted
Would you purchase a Premium Membership if it offered everything it now does except Premium Members Only caches?
Sure.

 

To my mind, one side-benefit of a premium account is that I can ignore the PMO status of caches. Well, I can mostly ignore the PMO status of caches. Occasionally I have to show friends with basic memberships how they can log PMO caches.

 

But either way, PMO caches are a very minor factor. There are other benefits of elitism premium membership that make it worth a dime a day to me.

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team tisri

team tisri

Posted
Posted

I just received this note from HQ, after having found only 6 non-PMO caches this month.

 

Welcome to the upper echelon of geocachers.

 

Sort of diminishes some of the the elite-ness of being a Premium Member. :ph34r:

 

You obviously didn't figure out what it takes to move from the upper echelon to the top echelon :ph34r:

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narcissa

+narcissa

Posted
Posted

The only thing worse than a needlessly bumped thread is a needlessly bumped thread with a really bad spelling error in the title.

Wow, I hadn't even noticed that until now! :wacko::lol:

Somebody fixed the spelling. :P

 

Whoever did that, thank you. It was driving me nuts.

 

--Larry

 

I suppose there's something a bit meta-elitist about nitpicking the spelling, but it was a bit of a blight on the screen.

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cerberus1

+cerberus1

Posted
Posted

30$ a year for a hobby that you can do when and wherever you want; I can't think if many things that represent better value than that. Why on earth should it be free at all?

Well, the owner did say a few times, "traditional geocaching itself will never be a pay to play service."

Of course that was many years ago, way before the skyrocketing prices of hamsters, feed, vet services...

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thebruce0

+thebruce0

Posted
Posted

30$ a year for a hobby that you can do when and wherever you want; I can't think if many things that represent better value than that. Why on earth should it be free at all?

Well, the owner did say a few times, "traditional geocaching itself will never be a pay to play service."

Of course that was many years ago, way before the skyrocketing prices of hamsters, feed, vet services...

 

It still isn't a pay-to-play service. And I believe it never will be.

We pay for additional benefits offered by Groundspeak while using their listing website, above and beyond the ability to play.

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Way Ward One

Way Ward One

Posted
Posted
Would you purchase a Premium Membership if it offered everything it now does except Premium Members Only caches?
Sure.

 

To my mind, one side-benefit of a premium account is that I can ignore the PMO status of caches. Well, I can mostly ignore the PMO status of caches. Occasionally I have to show friends with basic memberships how they can log PMO caches.

 

But either way, PMO caches are a very minor factor. There are other benefits of elitism premium membership that make it worth a dime a day to me.

 

Precisely my point! Premium Membership will thrive without PMO caches.

 

Within this thread, evidenced by others, are testaments of the divisiveness that PMO caches cause. Therefore, to eliminate just PMO caches will benefit our entire community.

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GeoLog81

+GeoLog81

Posted
Posted

Well, the owner did say a few times, "traditional geocaching itself will never be a pay to play service."

Of course that was many years ago, way before the skyrocketing prices of hamsters, feed, vet services...

 

He probably meant traditional geocaching and not the Groundspeak service.

 

Nevertheless, no matter what Groundspeak will do, it won't affect the whole geocaching, only the part of it covered by the Groundspeak portal (even if it's about 90% of all caches - don't know the exact number, just guessing).

 

There are many other forms of 'elitism', such as posting quiz or multi listings only in foreign languages. It's quite a nice way to limit audience as well.

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cerberus1

+cerberus1

Posted
Posted

Well, the owner did say a few times, "traditional geocaching itself will never be a pay to play service."

Of course that was many years ago, way before the skyrocketing prices of hamsters, feed, vet services...

 

He probably meant traditional geocaching and not the Groundspeak service.

 

Nevertheless, no matter what Groundspeak will do, it won't affect the whole geocaching, only the part of it covered by the Groundspeak portal (even if it's about 90% of all caches - don't know the exact number, just guessing).

 

There are many other forms of 'elitism', such as posting quiz or multi listings only in foreign languages. It's quite a nice way to limit audience as well.

Isn't that what's written?

My post was merely an answer to a question.

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niraD

+niraD

Posted
Posted
Within this thread, evidenced by others, are testaments of the divisiveness that PMO caches cause. Therefore, to eliminate just PMO caches will benefit our entire community.
Well, it would certainly benefit me. One of the uses of PMO status is to hide caches from Muggles with Apps™. If PMO status is no longer available, then more caches will be listed as multi-caches and mystery/puzzle caches (which I enjoy). Of course, that doesn't help those who don't enjoy multi-caches and mystery/puzzle caches, but so it goes. And the caches that would be archived (or not listed in the first place) would no longer benefit anyone.

 

But hey, you got rid of (a fraction of) the elitism in geocaching.

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narcissa

+narcissa

Posted
Posted
Within this thread, evidenced by others, are testaments of the divisiveness that PMO caches cause. Therefore, to eliminate just PMO caches will benefit our entire community.
Well, it would certainly benefit me. One of the uses of PMO status is to hide caches from Muggles with Apps™. If PMO status is no longer available, then more caches will be listed as multi-caches and mystery/puzzle caches (which I enjoy). Of course, that doesn't help those who don't enjoy multi-caches and mystery/puzzle caches, but so it goes. And the caches that would be archived (or not listed in the first place) would no longer benefit anyone.

 

But hey, you got rid of (a fraction of) the elitism in geocaching.

 

This is the sort of elitism I prefer. Any chump can scrape together $30.

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Chrysalides

+Chrysalides

Posted
Posted (edited)

Geocaching itself is a form of elitism. After all, you can only geocache if you have leisure time. And as we all know, time is money. Therefore, we should eliminate this form of elitism by banning geocaching.

 

Come to think of it, so is posting in the forums...

Edited by Chrysalides
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tozainamboku

+tozainamboku

Posted
Posted (edited)

Come to think of it, so is posting in the forums...

Yeah. But it's no longer elitist to change your forum title. As of two updates ago, basic members were given this ability. My opinion is this has depreciated the value of my premium membership and I am due a refund. :ph34r:

Edited by tozainamboku
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BAMBOOZLE

+BAMBOOZLE

Posted
Posted

I'd like to see them raise it to $50,or at least add a platinum member level. :ph34r:

 

+ 1.....$50 + hide X amount of caches + X amount caches found = experienced cacher and IMO the type cacher I want handling my caches and TB's......I'd change all mine to PLATINUM ONLY CACHES.....also need to lock it down, eliminate back door logging, etc.

 

Lets cull the herd folks.

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ras_oscar

+ras_oscar

Posted
Posted

Everybody has their own opinion, here's mine; As a premium member, I help to support the hardawre, software and time that is required to install and maintain the equipment we all rely on. If someone chooses to participate without paying, I consider them as my guest. I intend to be a good host, welcome them and help them along where appropriate. I expect them to be good guests, learn and flllow the established rules. Like many, I started as a nonpremium member and ultimately made the personal decision to become a PM later.

 

The idea that PM caches are elitist is IMHO just wrong. The term elitist is properly applied only to us double secret platinum members.

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cheech gang

+cheech gang

Posted
Posted

Everybody has their own opinion, here's mine; As a premium member, I help to support the hardawre, software and time that is required to install and maintain the equipment we all rely on. If someone chooses to participate without paying, I consider them as my guest. I intend to be a good host, welcome them and help them along where appropriate. I expect them to be good guests, learn and flllow the established rules.

 

I commend you on this well thought out approach!

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4wheelin_fool

4wheelin_fool

Posted
Posted

I'd like to see them raise it to $50,or at least add a platinum member level. :ph34r:

 

+ 1.....$50 + hide X amount of caches + X amount caches found = experienced cacher and IMO the type cacher I want handling my caches and TB's......I'd change all mine to PLATINUM ONLY CACHES.....also need to lock it down, eliminate back door logging, etc.

 

Lets cull the herd folks.

 

First the listings were spammed with senseless disposable micros, and now the site is being spammed with app using muggles. Another tier would not hurt a bit.

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Mr.Yuck

Mr.Yuck

Posted
Posted

Call me a super sleuth who's procrastinating with clean-up projects :P , but I noticed that the thread originator is now listed as a premium member.

 

What do you make of *that*??! And where is that person so we can hear their latest thoughts on the subject?! ;)

 

No, I am the super sleuth. :laughing: The OP was apparently already a premium member, who owned PMO caches before starting the thread.

 

Bumping the "paying membership elitist?" thread will make for loads of fun though. :ph34r:

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