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The Perks of Platinum Membership


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Since its inception, the first and second rules of Platinum Membership have been, “You don’t talk about Platinum Membership”.

 

In fact, with all due respect to Chuck Palahniuk, that’s where that phrase came from.

 

But, over the past year or so, it’s been alluded to, referred to, discussed, joked about and denied throughout these forums. Well, it’s time to open the gates on this and give the members who are merely ‘Premium’ something to which they can aspire.

 

While it’s true that the membership criteria and application / selection process must remain strictly confidential with virtually no upgrade path for most, sometimes it’s fun to just wave red flags.

 

Here in my office, I don’t have the original vellum-printed membership packet that Jeremy brought to my house in New York, so I’m working strictly from memory, listing the features I’m most familiar with through frequent use.

 

If anyone has their list handy, please respond with the membership benefits I’ve missed. Feel free to include anecdotes about what Platinum Membership has done for you.

 


  •  
  • Text-Message / Phone-In Cache Submission
  • Cache Submission Page Reviewer-Selection Drop-down List
  • 264 foot / 80.5 meter Cache Separation Guideline
  • Access to the Following Exclusive ShopGeocaching Gear:
    • Tree Nails
    • Groundspeak-Branded 'Electric Meter' Cache Containers
    • Groundspeak-Branded Trackable Post-Hole Diggers
    • Groundspeak-Branded Trackable "Reviewers’ Bowls", including an introductory small-size bag of Kibble

    [*]PlMO Caches – Platinum Member Only - "For that extra peace of mind."

    [*]"Hidden Waypoint" Viewing

    [*]"Reviewer Notes" Viewing

    [*]24-Hour Puzzle-Help Hotline

    [*]'Vacation' Caches

    [*]'DNF' Map Icons

    [*]ACTUAL Frogs On-Demand

    [*]ROT-14 Hint Generation

    [*]'Any Log Edit' Feature – (For Logs on Your Own Cache Pages Only, of course)

    [*]Registered Power-Trail Mass-Logging Window

    [*]Bi-Annual Lilypad Website Developer Conference Attendance with Travel Voucher

    [*]Annual “Find Count” Credits – "Thanking you for your membership!"

    [*]Two Annual Cache Unarchiving Credits

    [*]One Annual "Get Out Of Jail Free" Credit for Forum Transgressions

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Are dues payable in cash, or is it strictly Bit-Coin only?

 

It's a substantial one-time sum that most would need to pay with a bank draught.

Ah, okay, I thought it would need to be done with "stealth required."

 

There's some stealth I suppose. The man who took my payment arrived at a designated street corner in a non-descript black sedan. I got into the backseat, they drove me around while we completed the transaction, and then they dropped me off a couple of blocks away.

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Are dues payable in cash, or is it strictly Bit-Coin only?

 

It's a substantial one-time sum that most would need to pay with a bank draught.

Ah, okay, I thought it would need to be done with "stealth required."

 

There's some stealth I suppose. The man who took my payment arrived at a designated street corner in a non-descript black sedan. I got into the backseat, they drove me around while we completed the transaction, and then they dropped me off a couple of blocks away.

If I send you $5,000 by PayPal, could you get it to the right person?

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Are dues payable in cash, or is it strictly Bit-Coin only?

 

It's a substantial one-time sum that most would need to pay with a bank draught.

Ah, okay, I thought it would need to be done with "stealth required."

 

There's some stealth I suppose. The man who took my payment arrived at a designated street corner in a non-descript black sedan. I got into the backseat, they drove me around while we completed the transaction, and then they dropped me off a couple of blocks away.

If I send you $5,000 by PayPal, could you get it to the right person?

 

If my bank had a 'draught' I'd be worried : those places should keep the doors securely closed ...

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Are dues payable in cash, or is it strictly Bit-Coin only?

 

It's a substantial one-time sum that most would need to pay with a bank draught.

Ah, okay, I thought it would need to be done with "stealth required."

 

There's some stealth I suppose. The man who took my payment arrived at a designated street corner in a non-descript black sedan. I got into the backseat, they drove me around while we completed the transaction, and then they dropped me off a couple of blocks away.

If I send you $5,000 by PayPal, could you get it to the right person?

 

My commission is 15%.

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1469214204[/url]' post='5598549']
1469205820[/url]' post='5598505']
1469205764[/url]' post='5598504']Are dues payable in cash, or is it strictly Bit-Coin only?
It's a substantial one-time sum that most would need to pay with a bank draught.
Huh... A few strips of gold pressed latinum worked for me.

Enough strips, and they raise your membership level to gold-pressed Latinum.

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I bet if they did really offer Platinum membership for $500 a year, hundreds would actually buy it. :laughing:

 

It would be a bargain considering the trips using the Groundspeak private jet fleet, the Groundspeak black helicopters, and the service where lackeys will stick their hands in spider and snake-infested cache locations.

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I bet if they did really offer Platinum membership for $500 a year, hundreds would actually buy it. :laughing:

 

It would be a bargain considering the trips using the Groundspeak private jet fleet, the Groundspeak black helicopters, and the service where lackeys will stick their hands in spider and snake-infested cache locations.

 

My understanding is that it's no longer necessary to physically visit the cache - a virtual visit is enough. The lackey videos the find as it's happening, so you participate in real time. You can direct the lackey on which way to turn, which lamppost skirt to lift, etc. - OR you can rely on the lackey's expertise to find the cache faster. It's up to you. It's true concierge service.

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Did any other Platinium members not receive the puzzle email? Maybe because I didn't autorenew my platinum membership?

 

GCHQ47 - wo ist die Mail?

[/Quote]

 

People around the world are asking the same question. And the answer is simple - if ya wanna ride the train, ya gotta buy your ticket!

:anibad:

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Well now that the word is out (despite the feeble attempts by 'some' to discredit the validity of this) I guess I can tell you that the real perk for me are the Platinum Member ONLY events. If you think the "hey click-me" links on the side of your average newsgroup page are juicy, disturbing or weird, you clearly are not a PtM and I pity you.

 

A small, but often overlooked perk is that at standard events the organizers have to supply cushioned seating for PtMs or risk their event not being recognized after the fact. I had a long argument with a preposterous owner/organizer about a year ago about this. He didn't believe me and well... Let's just say, one does not mess with the PtMs. Period.

At Mega- and Giga events there are the lounges which are kept free of the pesky PMs or even the regular member rabble. Zones of tranquility and at least 5 of the 7 deadly sins.

 

And for clarification, as a PtM I actually did NOT receive the puzzle-spam-email that went out to the PM and regular member plebs, I (of course) received the solution directly.

 

Of course I would have never shared all of this unless someone (you, thread starter) had not geo-leaked the secret. Well that and as long as no one knows about the super-secret-handshake we will be fine anyway...

 

Thore

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Well now that the word is out (despite the feeble attempts by 'some' to discredit the validity of this) I guess I can tell you that the real perk for me are the Platinum Member ONLY events. If you think the "hey click-me" links on the side of your average newsgroup page are juicy, disturbing or weird, you clearly are not a PtM and I pity you.

 

A small, but often overlooked perk is that at standard events the organizers have to supply cushioned seating for PtMs or risk their event not being recognized after the fact. I had a long argument with a preposterous owner/organizer about a year ago about this. He didn't believe me and well... Let's just say, one does not mess with the PtMs. Period.

At Mega- and Giga events there are the lounges which are kept free of the pesky PMs or even the regular member rabble. Zones of tranquility and at least 5 of the 7 deadly sins.

 

And for clarification, as a PtM I actually did NOT receive the puzzle-spam-email that went out to the PM and regular member plebs, I (of course) received the solution directly.

 

Of course I would have never shared all of this unless someone (you, thread starter) had not geo-leaked the secret. Well that and as long as no one knows about the super-secret-handshake we will be fine anyway...

 

Thore

 

The swag bags at PtM events are the best. Better than the Oscars!

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Each person is special and doesn't need to be treated like a pieceof meat.

[/Quote]

Become a member and you'll be welcomed as a unique individual. B)

Hey, WM , with the typo I spotted your quoted source as being from another thread about 'generic permission letters'!

 

Well, you've earned your badge! :anibad: So I'm busted for "cross-threading"? ;)

 

This thread has always been lighthearted, hasn't it?!

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Each person is special and doesn't need to be treated like a pieceof meat.

[/Quote]

Become a member and you'll be welcomed as a unique individual. B)

Hey, WM , with the typo I spotted your quoted source as being from another thread about 'generic permission letters'!

 

Well, you've earned your badge! :anibad: So I'm busted for "cross-threading"? ;)

 

This thread has always been lighthearted, hasn't it?!

 

You betcha!

 

I just mention it in case you were trying to make a point over there.

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Personally, I'm looking forward to the "Platinum Members Only" excursions to the Ranbow Vents and ISS caches. See you in 2018 and 2020, respectively!

That will give bragging rights for sure, but claustrophobia may be an issue for many (but not for tough military types). B)

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Among many other perks (see above), we Platinums get Mapbox Outdoors maps on the cache page, not Google like the rest of you riff-raff. (Due to a bug, for a few days everybody got to see those maps, but that was quickly rolled back to preserve the class structure. They made up a story about it being a "test" to cover their tracks.)

 

And we Platinums (always capitalized please) get not just one, but two maps on each cache page, just like the good old days for the rest of you.

 

Oh, and when we change the choice of map, for Platinums it remembers that setting for next time. Always has, hah.

 

I never liked that first-born anyway...

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Feel free to include anecdotes about what Platinum Membership has done for you.

 

Nice try. I still have no comment.

 

It would require a very special App to do all that for you.

[/Quote]

 

Another oblique hint at the answer to all your problems, Platinum Membership!

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