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Use of favorite points


ottieolsen

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In my short time geocaching I have noticed many premium member cachers in my area that don't give out any favorite points. A couple I have noticed only favorite caches that they have adopted. Is this a common practice of refusing to use favorite points? If so why? To me it's a joy to use them to say "thank you for your effort".

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In my short time geocaching I have noticed many premium member cachers in my area that don't give out any favorite points. A couple I have noticed only favorite caches that they have adopted. Is this a common practice of refusing to use favorite points? If so why? To me it's a joy to use them to say "thank you for your effort".

 

I don't know why some are stingy with the favorite points. I use them to encourage more of the top 10%.

 

Running out of favorite points is lousy though, as I hate taking them back for redistribution. :ph34r:

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I don't give many favorites (I do give some, and I'm working on it), so I'll answer the question. And I have several reasons.

 

When I started playing, favorites did not exist. I kept a list for myself of favorites so that I could watch their activity. But I seldom felt the need to share that publicly.

 

When favorites were introduced, I didn't feel the need to go back through all my finds and divvy them out. Without giving them to my previous finds, how fair would it be to give them to my future finds? So I still rarely do.

 

Favorites to me are personal opinions. What I like in a cache might be different than someone else. And I'm fairly picky as to what is my favorite. While I earn 10% favorite points, I probably only award about 1-2% as true favorites.

 

I know there are some cachers that care about how many favorite points they get; I will occasionally give them points just to keep them happy. But they generally want points because of being clever. I actually prefer a good parking space, a nice walk, and a decent sized container in good shape to be more to my 'favorite' style. I generally give points for the whole experience, and missing any of these factors will negate my favorite status.

 

Also -- my appreciation of a cache is generally shown by what I write in my log. The 'favorite point' is not particularly descriptive as to what I liked about it.

Edited by fuzziebear3
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In my short time geocaching I have noticed many premium member cachers in my area that don't give out any favorite points. A couple I have noticed only favorite caches that they have adopted. Is this a common practice of refusing to use favorite points? If so why? To me it's a joy to use them to say "thank you for your effort".

 

"Favorite points" were a rather late addition to the game.

 

Some people simply don't know about them.

 

How common is not using them? That would be impossible to determine.

 

How useful are they? I've seen people give a favorite point simply because they were "first to find". So, to me, it's a research project to see why a cache has favorite points, to make the stat useful to me.

 

B.

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When you accrue one FP for every ten caches, someone's not getting a "Thank you for your effort".

We had around a hundred FP banked at one point and we'd FP'd maybe one in fifty.

Rare these days to find caches that were a favorite.

When they first came out, we Favorited many (now archived) hides we did years earlier.

 

We're seeing folks favorite caches simply because they were FTF.

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to say "thank you for your effort".

That may be part of the answer. Different people have different ideas of what makes a cache a "favorite".

 

When the Favorites system began, I looked at previous caches and placed all of my Favorite points. A bunch of those caches were since archived (yet still are my favorites, go figure). And I receive a new point to place, based on a formula. So now a cache must be pretty amazing to get that point.

 

Some web sites (Netflix for example) have a point system that recommends products based on one's ratings, factoring the ratings of others. If "Favorites" worked like that, they may provide valuable information about which caches to hunt. As of now, a "Favorite" is just a dot.

Edited by kunarion
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In my short time geocaching I have noticed many premium member cachers in my area that don't give out any favorite points. A couple I have noticed only favorite caches that they have adopted. Is this a common practice of refusing to use favorite points? If so why? To me it's a joy to use them to say "thank you for your effort".

 

I don't know why some are stingy with the favorite points. I use them to encourage more of the top 10%.

 

Running out of favorite points is lousy though, as I hate taking them back for redistribution. :ph34r:

 

I agree. I too try to be liberal when it comes to giving out FPs, in order to encourage better hides.

But some people take pride in not giving them out, or giving very few.

I've even seen COs that ask for FPs on their cache description but are rather lax when it comes to giving out FPs.

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When favorites were introduced, I didn't feel the need to go back through all my finds and divvy them out. Without giving them to my previous finds, how fair would it be to give them to my future finds?

 

When they first came out I think I went back about 1 year of my previous finds. Longer than one year didn't feel right to recommend the cache, because I lot could happen in a year. One of the important things about favourite points is that they are about recommending the cache to future finders (Help Center: "Since the point of Favorites is to recommend great caching experiences to others"). Lots could change in +1 years, the cache could be in rough shape, the owner might have stopped caching, the area changed. But some of the older than a year got an FP if the logs currently indicated the caches were still being cared for and appreciated.

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When they first came out, I took a bit of time to use mine. Every once in a while I take a look at recently found caches and see if there are any deserving ones.

 

A lot of cachers had tons of points to give out, but just couldn't be bothered to sift through and assign all of them. It's not a big deal.

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How useful are they? I've seen people give a favorite point simply because they were "first to find". So, to me, it's a research project to see why a cache has favorite points, to make the stat useful to me.

I agree that some people use favorite points in ways that aren't particularly useful to others. Overall, however, I find it quite helpful to use favorite points as one of my filters when I want to seek interesting caches. They aren't the only filter I use, and I don't use them blindly.

 

That said, it doesn't bother me if someone declines to award favorite points or awards them sparingly. Usually, enough others award them to make favorite points a helpful tool for my purposes.

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How useful are they? I've seen people give a favorite point simply because they were "first to find". So, to me, it's a research project to see why a cache has favorite points, to make the stat useful to me.

 

B.

 

So true. I've seen an FP for FTF quite often. That's why I never give a cache with one FP much credence. Generally it needs 3 or more.

 

I'm also wary of micros with many FPs. So often they are the same-old-same-old -- a nano in a lock, a hollow bolt, a centrifuge tube in a dollar store plastic toy.

 

 

Some (hopefully most) COs like having more happy finders (especially if it's a cache type that people tend not to visit - multis, puzzles). FPs help advertise a good cache.

 

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I just follow my gut. If the cache was notable in the sea of caches around it, I'll award a favorite point. What I found after years of having them is that I appear rather stingy; I still have many points available to give, but just don't meet many caches that I feel are really notable.

 

I have gone back through my entire find history and then awarded some favorites looooong after the fact. If a cache I found since the beginning of my career jumps out at me as one where I can recall the location, the cache, and the experience as notable, I have gone back in and given a point.

 

What this means is that many caches that are "old" might not get many favorite points. They may be off the beaten path, were hidden long enough ago that the FTF race is looooooooooong over, and it may end up being a more lonely cache. When a cache is in a high-traffic area, or a cache has become a pilgrimage site for some odd reason or another, it will always see a larger percentage of FPs awarded just because. I can't say I like that way of awarding points (FTF on a LPC, really?), but that's my preference. I cast no shade whatsoever on those who use their points the way they like.

 

Then again, I rarely cache using FPs as guidance. My PQs seldom, if ever include them, because I like to read the descriptions, look over the area it is placed in, and then make judgement if it is a cache I want to seek. FPs rarely come into account for the way I seek caches, but I know others use them, so I'll still award them when I find a cache that I think was notable or remarkable to me.

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to say "thank you for your effort".

That may be part of the answer. Different people have different ideas of what makes a cache a "favorite".

 

In a perfect geocaching world, if everyone would follow the instructions put out by Groundspeak....."Since the point of Favorites is to recommend great caching experiences to others." Then everyone would be on the same page.

If I was FTF at a lamp post cache in a Walmart parking lot, what am I recommending? Do I really think that the average cacher is going to enjoy finding a film canister under a LPC in front of the Walmart entrance?

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One of the important things about favourite points is that they are about recommending the cache to future finders (Help Center: "Since the point of Favorites is to recommend great caching experiences to others").

I've seen that line only once, in regards to why you can't favorite events.

The very first line on Favorites says, "Geocaching Favorites is a simple way to track and share the geocaches that you enjoyed the most."

 

In the section on archived hides, they say, "There is nothing wrong with leaving a Favorite Point on an archived geocache if you prefer it."

- An archived hide has nothing to do with future finders...

 

I take Favorites to be a simple way to track and share geocaches that I enjoyed the most.

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The OP asked why cachers didn't award Favorite points. For me, the FP is awarded to those caches that match 'the instructions' from Groundspeak....."Since the point of Favorites is to recommend great caching experiences to others." Sadly, many of the caches out there are not ones I would recommend to others.

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There is no requirement that one has to assign favorite points. Don't paint as evil those who do not use them. I still have 28% of mine unused.

What worries me is the high number of favorite points on caches that break the guidelines. Yes. You've never seen that hide before. That's because it's illegal. Ten favorite points on a sheet of plastic velcroed to a wall, where you sign the back of the plastic? That violates several guidelines.

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The OP asked why cachers didn't award Favorite points. For me, the FP is awarded to those caches that match 'the instructions' from Groundspeak....."Since the point of Favorites is to recommend great caching experiences to others." Sadly, many of the caches out there are not ones I would recommend to others.

Sounds like a corollary to what others are saying about why they do award favorite points. :anibad:

 

Like you and others have said, the problem is when the FPs are used to "mark" FTF caches, or caches that are generally not notable as a "great caching experience" for others. I like to think of the Tribute Plaque in Oregon. Notable as the "first site" of geocaching, but really not that notable a cache or hunt. In fact, the cache has gotten worse over time as TBs go missing, swag is degraded, and the cache isn't notable beyond the fact that it is a pilgrimage site. In terms of "don't miss this one" caches in the area, I can think of many which deserve the level of favorites that cache receives. Yet, those caches don't get the level of traffic, or the adoring pilgrims coming to log the find to net anywhere near enough FPs to get on someone's radar if they are traveling or trying to find notable caches "worth" looking for in the area.

Edited by NeverSummer
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In my short time geocaching I have noticed many premium member cachers in my area that don't give out any favorite points. A couple I have noticed only favorite caches that they have adopted. Is this a common practice of refusing to use favorite points? If so why? To me it's a joy to use them to say "thank you for your effort".

I skimmed the other responses, which are good, but my answer is simply that many cachers don't think about it. Some haven't thought about it enough to even decide whether or not to use them. Some never think about it when they're filing a log. Me, I'm at the near end of the don't-think-about-it spectrum: I don't think about it on each and every cache, but when I'm writing up a found log for an exceptionally good cache, it sometimes occurs to me that I could give it a favorite point.

 

It's possible that your area has an unusual cultural slant against them. In my area, any really good cache is going to get plenty of favorite points even though there are many that don't give them out.

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Some people are stingy with favorites. I probably give too many out. A metal ammo can filled with swag gets one from me. There isn't anything clever about it, but it is what I like. My significant other gives out favorites for clever hides or cute containers.

 

A lot of people give favorites to virtual caches. Some virtual caches are in places that most people don't know about and are truly deserving of a favorite. Others are in unbelievably obvious spots (Example: Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas) and I can't figure out why they get tons of points.

 

I do have a question about archived caches. Is it poor form to recycle favorite points you gave to archived caches? I can see 2 sides of that argument.

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That may be part of the answer. Different people have different ideas of what makes a cache a "favorite".

 

In a perfect geocaching world, if everyone would follow the instructions put out by Groundspeak....."Since the point of Favorites is to recommend great caching experiences to others." then everyone would be on the same page.

 

I do not agree at all. There are huge gaps between my own favourite caches and the caches I would recommend to the majority of my fellow cachers.

In your perfect geocaching world, you also would require that everyone likes the same thing.

I'd recommend a cache like that one

http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC54V09_alle-meine-entchen?guid=59a0f47a-955a-4846-bf9e-39b9479e8dd1

to 90% of the cachers while such caches would end up on my personal anti favourite list if it existed. The issue with what you cited above is that a cache can end up in a wonderful experience for one cacher and in a desastrous one for another.

 

I do not think that favourite points are a decent means to thank the cache owner for the effort.

 

It's much easier to award a FP to the (often not that special) bonus cache of a series of 9 traditionals than to a single multi caches with 10 stages as by finding 10 caches one gets a new FP.

 

In my opinion, the introduction of FPs has contributed to a development in my area I do not appreciate at all.

 

Cezanne

Edited by cezanne
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Some folks do not give favorite points because they do not want to feel like they are playing favorites, they do not make friends feel bad for not giving them on that cache but not on another. I am not saying I agree with this but this is how a couple of friends of mine feel. Do not know why others do not.

 

The practice of removing favorites on archived caches is one I do not understand. 25% or more of the caches I have found are archived. We have 10% favorites to use if you remove them on archived caches then in theory you could favorite 20% of the active ones. I do not see why saying you no longer like a cache because its gone, you liked it at the time, it was one of your favorite 10% but now its just gone. I still like Shawshawk Redemption and its not in theaters anymore.

 

Personally I do not use all my favorites. I am more stingy than the 10%, my ratio is like 6%. Just is, no real reason. I often do not give favorites if a cache is in my mind, against cache guidelines (ie buried or a nail in a tree) or for other reasons.

Edited by lamoracke
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I do have a question about archived caches. Is it poor form to recycle favorite points you gave to archived caches? I can see 2 sides of that argument.

Nope.

We don't, as they were our favorites.

We wouldn't remove it just to bank points for others.

 

I remove FPs from archived caches when I need more. The way I see it, I can't recommend that cache anymore since it can't be found. What I do is remove the FP and put that cache on a Shared Public List I call "Archived Favourite". I want to acknowledge the good work of the cache owner, and keep a list of them for posterity.

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I still like Shawshawk Redemption and its not in theaters anymore.

 

But I can watch SR on Netflix or get the DVD. When a cache is archived, a new finder can't go out and experience it.

 

No but a list a those caches some favourited can be used to obtain a clue about which type of caches someone appreciates. This will help others to decide whether if the caches favourited by cacher X have a decent chance to end up as caches they would enjoy. In some areas where I'm not often I'm familiar only with a few caches and many of them are old archived ones. If those are eliminated from FP lists I end up clueless and without any possibility to make comparisons and to decide whether the owner of the FP list has similar preferences than myself.

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What worries me is the high number of favorite points on caches that break the guidelines. Yes. You've never seen that hide before. That's because it's illegal.

 

Yes, buried caches seem to accumulate a lot of favorite points. Then the finders hide a buried cache saying "we found one like this and thought it was a great idea so we're hiding one too." And more favorite points result, leading to more buried caches.

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I still like Shawshawk Redemption and its not in theaters anymore.

 

But I can watch SR on Netflix or get the DVD. When a cache is archived, a new finder can't go out and experience it.

 

No but a list a those caches some favourited can be used to obtain a clue about which type of caches someone appreciates. This will help others to decide whether if the caches favourited by cacher X have a decent chance to end up as caches they would enjoy. In some areas where I'm not often I'm familiar only with a few caches and many of them are old archived ones. If those are eliminated from FP lists I end up clueless and without any possibility to make comparisons and to decide whether the owner of the FP list has similar preferences than myself.

 

And its removing the history of a cache to remove its favorites, one's own history of caches they like and for other people. If all 700 favorite points on the Ape cache was removed, folks might not know how cool it was to have done it.

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I don't award many favorite points because many of the caches I've found aren't necessarily worthy of them, IMO. I usually give them for creativity, the work needed to go into actually creating the hide (as well as maintaining it), the experience I had at a particular cache, or the experience I had that day with a group. I gave a favorite point to a so so cache in Sep/Aug if 2014. It was the gentleman who visited with me (an Anabaptist whose family lived on the land adjacent to the church cemetery) and told me about the history of the land, his parents, great grandparents, and great great grandparents. It was a really neat experience and for that, I gave it a favorite point. I usually know right away if the cache is deserving of a favorite point. The majority of the finds I've had are nice, but only some have really stood out in my mind. I've found myself awarding a few more recently as it appears some of the caches I've found have gone up in quality. Either that, or my standards have changed!

 

One I wish I could give MORE favorites to is Barney Smith's Toilet Seat Museum. What an amazing experience and a great person to talk with!

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I still like Shawshawk Redemption and its not in theaters anymore.

 

But I can watch SR on Netflix or get the DVD. When a cache is archived, a new finder can't go out and experience it.

 

No but a list a those caches some favourited can be used to obtain a clue about which type of caches someone appreciates. This will help others to decide whether if the caches favourited by cacher X have a decent chance to end up as caches they would enjoy. In some areas where I'm not often I'm familiar only with a few caches and many of them are old archived ones. If those are eliminated from FP lists I end up clueless and without any possibility to make comparisons and to decide whether the owner of the FP list has similar preferences than myself.

 

And its removing the history of a cache to remove its favorites, one's own history of caches they like and for other people. If all 700 favorite points on the Ape cache was removed, folks might not know how cool it was to have done it.

 

But it could mean that deserving active caches do not get favorite points if someone runs out of FPs. From this discussion it seems like a rare event to run out. But I do and I think it's more important to help finders find active caches that they might enjoy finding.

 

Cezanne, I think that someone will get a very good idea of the caches I like by looking at the 200+ active favoured caches on my FP list. But that's why I like to keep a public 'Archived Favorites' list too. That way anyone looking to see what archived caches I thought were good can have a look at the list.

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Some people are stingy with favorites. I probably give too many out. A metal ammo can filled with swag gets one from me. There isn't anything clever about it, but it is what I like. My significant other gives out favorites for clever hides or cute containers.

 

A lot of people give favorites to virtual caches. Some virtual caches are in places that most people don't know about and are truly deserving of a favorite. Others are in unbelievably obvious spots (Example: Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas) and I can't figure out why they get tons of points.

 

 

I agree.....in a day of increased numbers and declining quality we give a favorite to ALL ammo cans as well as any others that rise above average and we still have hundreds of favorites to hand out.

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I recently got a premium membership, so I have only had the power of favorites for a few weeks so far, and I have only awarded two so far. One on a little free library, and the other on a lamppost puzzle. Shocking? Well the awesome part about it is that it had a Simon game attached to it and you had to play the online Simon to get the coords for it, giving a fun experience. I award points if they put a smile on my face for the rest of the day

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Rare these days to find caches that were a favorite.

More than one post has suggested that the overall level of caches is down and therefore very few caches "deserve" a favorite. I see a problem. "Favorite" to me means by definition "favorite of those available." In our last 100 finds we each received 10 favorite points. There *are* 10 caches that were better than the other 90, even if those 10 are not epic. So I try to use my points as I earn them, even if it is a difficult subjective decision, and even though some of my early favorites might not get a favorite point from me today. (I don't take back the points.)

 

If we say favorites are only for those we would recommend, can we really say we would recommend none?? If that's the case, maybe we all should stop caching and just watch those YouTube videos of epic caches in England. :ph34r:

 

I try to keep one or two points in reserve so I don't have to pass up an award for the next great cache. However, if I visited several epic caches in a row, someone would be deprived of a well-deserved favorite point.

 

If favorites points are awarded so subjectively, are they worthless? No. They are a useful screening tool. I especially use them when traveling.

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One way I will sometimes use our favorite point that I never hear anyone say, and it might be the wrong way to use them. I have awarded a few favorites to caches I can't find or puzzle I can't figure out and end up contacting the CO. If they are extra helpful in solving the puzzle I cant figure out or finding the cache I can't find I will often throw them a favorite. Most times it is really a favorite anyways when you have that moment of realizing what you did wrong not to find it and how great of a idea the hide was.

On a few occasions I have even had a CO offer to go to GZ and help me out. How could I not give them a favorite point after all the extra effort they did to help me find the cache.

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I farm favorite points by logging power trails and auction them off on eBay. It helps pay for gas and premium membership.

 

On a more serious note, I assign FP according to whether I enjoyed the cache. This is of course highly subjective and may be influenced by my mood that day. Unusual caches will usually get a FP from me as well.

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There is one cache with really alot of fav points that I never gave it a fav point.

 

GC30 is the cache.

 

Why? Very simple... its not being maintained by the CO. I lost track how many throwdowns that cache had!

 

In other words, if you get a fav point from me and let your cache downhill, that fav point will be taken away from you. :ph34r: I am always watching!

Edited by SwineFlew
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I use a real cache rating system (GCVote) so I don't see a point in assigning favorite points :) which is like ability to give a cache either 0% or 100% and even with this 0% you don't know whether cachers don't like the cache or just ignore the entire system.

Edited by Pontiac_CZ
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When I first started caching I spent a half hour looking for a cache that ended up in what I thought was an AMAZINGLY clever location: the 3rd floor of a parking garage, under a lamp skirt. Now that location is not quite so amazing any more. As I find more and more caches It becomes increasingly difficult to amaze me, although it does happen. To be honest, most of the time I forget I even have 351 favorite points to give out.

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When I first started caching I spent a half hour looking for a cache that ended up in what I thought was an AMAZINGLY clever location: the 3rd floor of a parking garage, under a lamp skirt. Now that location is not quite so amazing any more. As I find more and more caches It becomes increasingly difficult to amaze me, although it does happen. To be honest, most of the time I forget I even have 351 favorite points to give out.

Ok, understood that you're rarely amazed now as a jaded veteran. :ph34r:

 

But why be stingy with the favorites points? Rewarding the COs of good caches is a way of thanking them and encouraging quality. A favorite point is not saying this cache is amazingly epic. It's saying it's that a cache is one of the better ones, in the top 10%, and I especially enjoyed it.

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We've found just over 6100 caches, but I would not say that 610 were my "favorite" caches. I don't give them out automatically; I don't feel the need to stop every 10 caches, think, "Which one of these ten was the best of the set?" and award a point. We've given out not quite half of ours so far; it's more like a top 4%.

 

Had favorite points existed when we started, we would have awarded more, but several of our favorites from when we first started had been archived before FPs were implemented, and awarding those FPs would have defeated the purpose.

 

That said, this thread did inspire me to look back through our finds over the last few months to see if I was being too picky. I found that, for most of the caches I would have considered a "favorite," I had already awarded a FP. But I did spot nine or so I'd overlooked.

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It's simple, really: I give out a favorite point to my favorite caches. A favorite anything will change over time. A cache I loved two years ago may now be pretty pedestrian to me now. I have no problem taking a point back if I have changed my mind. I'm also pretty willing to hand them out, but somehow I still have like 33. I'm not going to "spend" them just to get rid of them, but the bar is set to a reasonable height for anyone to receive one from me.

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I was shocked to see that a cache we found had a lot of favorite points. It was a bolt in a parking lot of a beer store. Not a nice parking lot, either.

 

I got the impression that people gave it favorite points because:

 

--it was "unusual" at the time, or in their experience

 

--people like the cache owners

 

To me, it was disappointing to be taken to a beer store parking lot. And annoying to fidge around trying opening a bolt.

 

My interpretation of what makes a cache worth one of my favorite points is different than other people's.

 

 

B.

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I was shocked to see that a cache we found had a lot of favorite points. It was a bolt in a parking lot of a beer store. Not a nice parking lot, either.

 

I got the impression that people gave it favorite points because:

 

--it was "unusual" at the time, or in their experience

 

--people like the cache owners

 

To me, it was disappointing to be taken to a beer store parking lot. And annoying to fidge around trying opening a bolt.

 

My interpretation of what makes a cache worth one of my favorite points is different than other people's.

 

 

B.

 

I had hoped that the FP system was going to make it easier to weed through all the micros and find the gems. It is no longer the case. People love hollow bolts, and button nanos/centrifuge tubes/bison tubes stuck in toys. The toys can be fun but geez it's so easy to shove a centrifuge into a plastic frogs mouth, it's been done to death, and doesn't deserve double-digit favorite points. Plus they more often than not are in ho-hum sometimes unpleasant locations but still pull in the FPs. So I'm back to filtering out all micros.

 

For me, I've found that the FP system does a good job with finding good swag-size caches. I never get tired of finding an ammo can in the woods. :)

Edited by L0ne.R
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I was shocked to see that a cache we found had a lot of favorite points. It was a bolt in a parking lot of a beer store. Not a nice parking lot, either.

 

I got the impression that people gave it favorite points because:

 

--it was "unusual" at the time, or in their experience

 

--people like the cache owners

 

To me, it was disappointing to be taken to a beer store parking lot. And annoying to fidge around trying opening a bolt.

 

My interpretation of what makes a cache worth one of my favorite points is different than other people's.

 

 

B.

 

I had hoped that the FP system was going to make it easier to weed through all the micros and find the gems. It is no longer the case. People love hollow bolts, and button nanos & centrifuge tubes stuck in toys. The toys can be fun but geez it's so easy to shove a centrifuge into a plastic frogs mouth, it's been done to death, and doesn't deserve double-digit favorite points. Plus they more often than not are in ho-hum sometimes unpleasant locations but still pull in the FPs. So I'm back to filtering out all micros.

 

For me, I've found that the FP system does a good job with finding good swag-size caches. I never get tired of finding an ammo can in the woods. :)

 

I certainly do get tired of those.

 

For me, it's not necessarily about the whole 'experience', or the location + cache hide + cache container/quality = favorite point. Any one of those three is enough to garner a point from me. I've found really creative containers or well-camouflaged hides in otherwise uninteresting areas that I felt were worthy of a favorite point. I've found unremarkable caches hidden in really cool or interesting parts of town...or even boring old ammo cans tethered to trees where the hike in was the only thing worth the time.

 

"Swag size", in my opinion, is not itself worth much of anything to me. Sure, it's always nice to find a good sized cache with quality contents...but I don't just assume bigger container = better cache.

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I had hoped that the FP system was going to make it easier to weed through all the micros and find the gems. It is no longer the case.

 

Has that ever been the case? It appears to me that everyone defines gems differently.

 

 

For me, I've found that the FP system does a good job with finding good swag-size caches. I never get tired of finding an ammo can in the woods. :)

 

It might work well in your coin of the world. It would fail awfully in my area and other European countries.

Edited by cezanne
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When FPs first came out I looked back over all my finds and gave a favourite to all those which I remembered for a positive reason, since then I tend to give them out to those which I think I will still remember in years to come, consequently I've only given out about half of my allocation.

I also went back and gave out FP to some of my old finds. To earn a FP from me the cache has to be (1) fun to find. (2) Have that something (can't define what that is put know it when I see it). This applies to finds past and future.

 

I have a small number of FP I keep available so I have a FP available when I want to use one. :D

 

I rarely use FP to choose a Cache to find.

Edited by captnemo
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I had hoped that the FP system was going to make it easier to weed through all the micros and find the gems. It is no longer the case.

 

Has that ever been the case? It appears to me that everyone defines gems differently.

 

 

For me, I've found that the FP system does a good job with finding good swag-size caches. I never get tired of finding an ammo can in the woods. :)

 

It might work well in your coin of the world. It would fail awfully in my area and other European countries.

 

Is GCVote a better rating system in Europe? I like GCVote, but it hasn't caught on in North America. It looks really popular in Europe. Do you find you can rely on GCVote better than on the GC favorite point system?

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