Cache Owner

[+boothie103]

I am a newbie of only three months experience. Introduced to the game by a friend who had moved a few thousand kilometres a way some years ago. He came back for a visit and introduced me to this insidiously addictive game. I am a full time carer for my wife and have embraced the game as an outlet and relief valve.

I have 201 finds and 19 hides based on local history all of which have had great responses by geo cachers finding them. Of the 201 finds I have found, the majority have been around for more than three years. Some over 12 years. A good majority of them need maintenance with the log being the biggest problem. The best ones I have found have been the ones that have been around less than a year. Adopted caches are by far the worst and cut up post it notes as logs do not cut it for me.

I have had one need maintenance log which was my own fault using cheap hides which I fixed the next day. I have placed needs maintenance logs on caches which are still in place. Unfortunately, to me, it appears the older the hide the more complacent the CO is and the longer it takes to remedy issues. For example, rather than put a needs maintenance, I messaged the CO that there was a problem, the next day the cache was archived and the CO never even bothered to contact me.

The other aspect is the number of caches owned and the distance from the CO home base. The further the cache is from home base, the neglect is worst. The number of caches also appears to dictate the quality of the cache. This is only my observation and not a generalisation, so please do not lynch me on this one, I consider it a valid point.

So I would suggest that I am being super critical as a newbie, but at least I am trying to put this from a newbies perspective and saying that I have learnt from others mistakes and will only hide what I can comfortably handle.

[+hzoi]

how about first time hiders are required to Host a CITO Event, regardless of the number of Finds they have, before they're allowed to submit a geocache Listing?

 

No thanks. While our goal is to eventually host a CITO, it just has not been feasible to do so in the 8 1/2 years we've been caching. It would be more than a little insulting to force me to host a CITO at this point before I'm allowed to publish another cache.

Well, my post was more directed at new users, and a bit more germane to the topic, but I find it curious that you perceive volunteering your time to those agencies that take care of our public lands as an insult?

I may have glossed over the "first time hiders" bit.

 

If it helps to satisfy your curiosity, the last 15 years of my time has been spent volunteering to give my life to protect all of our lands and people, as well as other tasks and duties that can keep me in the field for weeks at a time. Hopefully, that makes up for my failure to spend the few hours I get to be off duty hosting a CITO.

[+ConsHaltonCache]

Honestly, I think the idea that you should shy away from NM logs and send private e-mail is part of the problem. Once a community decides that going public by posting NMs is a bad idea, the best solution is lost. Yeah, some people might react negatively to any NM -- I hear: I've never run into anyone like that myself -- but the fewer NMs posted, the more negative they appear to everyone. Better to go ahead and post NMs and deal with the consequences. As time goes on, the bullies will be corrected or banned, and the glass jawed COs will leave. What remains is a community using NMs and NAs for the healthy notification system they were designed to be.

 

If a cache has a problem the CO needs to be told about, then it has a problem everyone should know about.

 

Agreed 100%

 

A number of times now I have posted a NM and the cache has promptly be archived. Really don't understand that and makes me a bit sad but that's the CO choice...I will continue to post NM if it is needed. I really wish everyone would use the NM and NA as needed! (usually mine are after multiple "found it" logs stating problems and that it needs maintenance or such in the log but no one actually did a NM log!?)

 

PS: also as a cache OWNER it bugs me when people DO NOT tell me something is wrong! I want to know so I can fix it and not disappoint cache visitors with a moldy log book!

Edited September 28, 2015 by ConsHaltonCache

[+L0ne.R]

Honestly, I think the idea that you should shy away from NM logs and send private e-mail is part of the problem. Once a community decides that going public by posting NMs is a bad idea, the best solution is lost. Yeah, some people might react negatively to any NM -- I hear: I've never run into anyone like that myself -- but the fewer NMs posted, the more negative they appear to everyone. Better to go ahead and post NMs and deal with the consequences. As time goes on, the bullies will be corrected or banned, and the glass jawed COs will leave. What remains is a community using NMs and NAs for the healthy notification system they were designed to be.

 

If a cache has a problem the CO needs to be told about, then it has a problem everyone should know about.

 

Agreed 100%

 

A number of times now I have posted a NM and the cache has promptly be archived. Really don't understand that and makes me a bit sad but that's the CO choice...I will continue to post NM if it is needed. I really wish everyone would use the NM and NA as needed! (usually mine are after multiple "found it" logs stating problems and that it needs maintenance or such in the log but no one actually did a NM log!?)

 

PS: also as a cache OWNER it bugs me when people DO NOT tell me something is wrong! I want to know so I can fix it and not disappoint cache visitors with a moldy log book!

 

Agreed 100%.