Travel bugs online

[+signseekers]

I keep getting emails saying cachers have discovered one of my trackables  online. 

I did not put my trackable online so cannot understand how cachers discover it online. 

Can anyone offer an explanation.

[+kunarion]

42 minutes ago, signseekers said:

I keep getting emails saying cachers have discovered one of my trackables  online. 

I did not put my trackable online so cannot understand how cachers discover it online. 

Can anyone offer an explanation.

 

Did you post a picture with the Tracking Number in view, or was the number published?

 

[EDIT: I looked and have not found it posted]

Edited August 3, 2017 by kunarion

[+SeattleWayne]

I didn't even know someone could find a trackable online. 

 

Oh, I see what's happening now. Nevermind. 

Edited August 3, 2017 by SeattleWayne

[+on4bam]

Maybe a picture of your TB is posted with the tracking number visible or the tracking number has made it onto a list that's shared (like on one or more facebook groups). If you are confident that your TB was not really discovered but the trackingcode was obtained somewhere you can always delete the log(s).

 

BTW, on a local forum someone asked for a list of TB tracking numbers in order to have enough TBs "discovered" to be able to log a Challenge cache.

 

[+Manville Possum]

1 minute ago, on4bam said:

 

BTW, on a local forum someone asked for a list of TB tracking numbers in order to have enough TBs "discovered" to be able to log a Challenge cache.

 

 

They should just join the group there that shares tracking codes.

[+SeattleWayne]

6 minutes ago, on4bam said:

Maybe a picture of your TB is posted with the tracking number visible or the tracking number has made it onto a list that's shared (like on one or more facebook groups). If you are confident that your TB was not really discovered but the trackingcode was obtained somewhere you can always delete the log(s).

 

BTW, on a local forum someone asked for a list of TB tracking numbers in order to have enough TBs "discovered" to be able to log a Challenge cache.

 

So basically someone sees a tracking code on the TB on a Facebook post or something, and they log it as discovered? That seems a little outside of the rules for logging a TB. TB's are to be found in caches, am I right? 

[+Manville Possum]

5 minutes ago, SeattleWayne said:

So basically someone sees a tracking code on the TB on a Facebook post or something, and they log it as discovered? That seems a little outside of the rules for logging a TB. TB's are to be found in caches, am I right? 

They share tracking codes by the hundreds. Check out this site to log them all at once.

[+SeattleWayne]

13 minutes ago, Manville Possum said:

They share tracking codes by the hundreds. Check out this site to log them all at once.

Huh. I see on there that "coming soon" to log all geocaches. 

[+kunarion]

24 minutes ago, SeattleWayne said:

So basically someone sees a tracking code on the TB on a Facebook post or something, and they log it as discovered? That seems a little outside of the rules for logging a TB. TB's are to be found in caches, am I right? 

 

It's a bad idea to "Virtual log" TBs while they are traveling cache to cache. "Virtual logs" make it difficult to track a TB.  The "discoveries" are all about seeing a number on the web.  This can get a TB locked, TBs that people bought for travel.  The owner may have to lock it.  I don't know for sure that GS still routinely locks them, but I'm sure the option remains.

But Owners can do what they want.  They could publish the number just for this purpose, and many do.  They could have a decal on their car or clothing.  But, yeah, if I only see in on the Interwebs, that's not enough for me.  I must at least see the item in person.  I have a trackable Geocoin number for my car, and if anyone wants to hold the actual Geocoin, I can get it for them. It's in the car.

Edited August 3, 2017 by kunarion

[+SeattleWayne]

5 minutes ago, kunarion said:

 

It's a bad idea to "Virtual log" TBs while they are traveling cache to cache. "Virtual logs" make it difficult to track a TB.  The "discoveries" are all about seeing a number on the web.  This can get a TB locked, TBs that people bought for travel.  The owner may have to lock it.  I don't know for sure that GS still routinely locks them, but I'm sure the option remains.

But Owners can do what they want.  They could publish the number just for this purpose, and many do.  They could have a decal on their car or clothing.  But, yeah, if I only see in on the Interwebs, that's not enough for me.  I must at least see the item in person.  I have a trackable Geocoin number for my car, and if anyone wants to hold the actual Geocoin, I can get it for them. It's in the car.

I just like finding them in caches. 

[+Manville Possum]

2 minutes ago, kunarion said:

 

This can get a TB locked, TBs that people bought for travel.  The owner may have to lock it.  I don't know for sure that GS still routinely locks them, but I'm sure the option remains.

 

 

The owner can lock them, Groundspeak gave us that option a few years ago. I seldom see them get involved with TB's anymore. They are ours, GS just hosts the site to track them.

[+kunarion]

1 minute ago, Manville Possum said:

I seldom see them get involved with TB's anymore. They are ours, GS just hosts the site to track them.

 

The servers now can handle a buh-zillion logs. 

I'd imagine that if creative fakers begin to use mass-logging by PC and the site gets slow, GS might just consider a little locking that day.

[+cowgirl68]

I quit the travel bug portion of the game years ago (except I have a couple that were gifts that I have sent out to make their way in the world).  Why would someone want to mass-log a bunch of travel bugs? Is there a side game going to see how many bugs you've logged?

[+kunarion]

7 minutes ago, cowgirl68 said:

Is there a side game going to see how many bugs you've logged?

 

I can't speak for everyone, but there is a local Challenge Cache where you must move or discover 500 Trackables, in order to fulfill the Challenge.  I discover more than the average locally, yet after 8 years, I'm still not at 500.  Unfortunately, all my logs are real.

[+cerberus1]

2 minutes ago, cowgirl68 said:

I quit the travel bug portion of the game years ago (except I have a couple that were gifts that I have sent out to make their way in the world).  Why would someone want to mass-log a bunch of travel bugs? Is there a side game going to see how many bugs you've logged?

There's a couple of third-party sites that include trackables in stats.  All about da numbers !  

IIRC, there are/were a couple challenge caches with trackable totals as a goal. 

[+cowgirl68]

4 minutes ago, cerberus1 said:

There's a couple of third-party sites that include trackables in stats.  All about da numbers !  

IIRC, there are/were a couple challenge caches with trackable totals as a goal. 

Interesting.  Thanks!  

[+on4bam]

2 minutes ago, kunarion said:

 

I can't speak for everyone, but there is a local Challenge Cache where you must move or discover 500 Trackables, in order to fulfill the Challenge.  I discover more than the average locally, yet after 8 years, I'm still not at 500.  Unfortunately, all my logs are real.

The challenge I mentioned seems to need 1200 (TBs not coins) after 11 years I have 1160 trackables moved/discovered (TBs+coins) and they are also all real logs. I think about 100 were seen at the few events we attended. It's a lot of fun taking pictures of a bag full of TBs one by one and discovering a few are unreadable when checking the photographs when back home

I guess logging TBs from a list is as much fun as logging fake founds on caches

 

 

[+RufusClupea]

I happened across my first TB yesterday, and had planned to spend the next day or two reading up on them to learn the right thing(s) to do about/with it.  After reading this thread, all I want to do is get rid of the thing and hope I never find another one again.  It seems whatever the original intent/purpose, it is now moot and pointless--just another piece of swag.

Edited August 3, 2017 by RufusClupea

[fendmar]

4 minutes ago, RufusClupea said:

I happened across my first TB yesterday, and had planned to spend the next day or two reading up on them to learn the right thing(s) to do about/with it.  After reading this thread, all I want to do is get rid of the thing and hope I never find another one again.  It seems whatever the original intent/purpose, it is now moot and pointless--just another piece of swag.

I would suggest to try not letting others actions influence your game. Moving bugs around can be a really fun part of the game.

[+cerberus1]

7 minutes ago, RufusClupea said:

I happened across my first TB yesterday, and had planned to spend the next day or two reading up on them to learn the right thing(s) to do about/with it.  After reading this thread, all I want to do is get rid of the thing and hope I never find another one again.  It seems whatever the original intent/purpose, it is now moot and pointless--just another piece of swag.

Many of us still move trackables along as intended.  The actions of others don't deter us. 

[+Team Christiansen]

3 minutes ago, fendmar said:

I would suggest to try not letting others actions influence your game. Moving bugs around can be a really fun part of the game.

Especially when deciding what cache to go to next if it can further the bug along its articulated mission (if any). I like those that ask you to take pictures of the bug in a national park, or near military bases, or even Volkswagen bugs and Jeeps.

Edited August 3, 2017 by Team Christiansen
grammar

[+on4bam]

25 minutes ago, RufusClupea said:

I happened across my first TB yesterday, and had planned to spend the next day or two reading up on them to learn the right thing(s) to do about/with it.  After reading this thread, all I want to do is get rid of the thing and hope I never find another one again.  It seems whatever the original intent/purpose, it is now moot and pointless--just another piece of swag.

It's still fun to find a TB, take it along and drop it in another cache. It's not because others bend the original purpose of trackables you can't just act the way you're supposed to.

 

[+CAVinoGal]

1 hour ago, RufusClupea said:

... all I want to do is get rid of the thing and hope I never find another one again.  It seems whatever the original intent/purpose, it is now moot and pointless--just another piece of swag.

As previous posters said, don't let others deter you from enjoying this part of the game.  I'm planning a trip later this summer from California to NY and Florida.  I've been collecting a few bugs whose intent is to travel, to visit all 50 states, to head back Europe, etc - so I will take them with me and hope to place them in caches 3000 miles closer to their goals.  I've picked them up at events, and been selective in taking them so that I CAN fulfill their goal.  

I do pay attention to the goal, visit them in "qualifying" caches, I do NOT visit them to every cache I find.  And I will drop them where appropriate.  I'm not sure if I will ever release any of my own, but if I come across ones that I can help on their way, I will do so.

If you choose not to get involved in that aspect, that's OK  It does add some "responsibility" to the play, I feel.  I've got this bag of trackables that goes with me and I'm always thinking which ones I have that could be "dipped" or dropped off ... and there will always be more cachers behind you to move the bugs along if you choose not ot.

[+jellis]

The other way they get the codes is guessing. They find just one and change the numbers and doing a hit a miss. When they find one they list it. I have had some of mine that have gone missing for over 10 years and pop up on a list.

[+GO Geiger]

5 hours ago, jellis said:

The other way they get the codes is guessing. They find just one and change the numbers and doing a hit a miss. When they find one they list it. I have had some of mine that have gone missing for over 10 years and pop up on a list.

We just recently had 2 people log one of our trackables that has been activated, but had not actually left the house since we bought it about 2 years ago.  The log was something along the lines of "saw this trackable in a cache, on the road, or at an event."  I think each of the loggers had been in the game for only a few years and each had over 5000 trackable finds/discoveries.

Needless to say, since they were either guessing at numbers or had entered our house and rummaged through the not-so-easy-to-find "big book of trackables that don't actually travel" the logs were quickly deleted.

I have not had the chance to go back and audit the rest of our trackable logs.  But I will... some rainy day when I have nothing better to do.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

19 hours ago, SeattleWayne said:

So basically someone sees a tracking code on the TB on a Facebook post or something, and they log it as discovered? That seems a little outside of the rules for logging a TB. TB's are to be found in caches, am I right? 

Typically, "Finding" a TB would mean retrieving it from a cache, but one can also "grab" a TB from another player.  Discovering a TB would also imply actually having it hand long enough to see it and write down the tracking code.  Many years ago, while caching in Rome I met a couple of geocachers from Germany that were trying to find a way to access a cache I was trying to get to as well.  We looked around a bit and found that access to the area had been blocked off but talked a bit and showed a few TBs each of us was carrying to discover them.  That's one way for which  I think the "Discover" log was intended.  TB swap tables are often set up at events and are often used to discover a few TBs even if you might not grab one to move it along.  When I visited GC HQ there was a group of geocachers standing around "the cache" which held lots of TBs.  They were going through every one and writing down TB codes in a notebook.  I signed the log book but spent most of the time chatting with other geocachers and a couple of lackeys.  

[+hzoi]

9 hours ago, jellis said:

The other way they get the codes is guessing. They find just one and change the numbers and doing a hit a miss. When they find one they list it. I have had some of mine that have gone missing for over 10 years and pop up on a list.

Whaaaat?  You mean they didn't really find the code from their notes and just can't remember where they saw it?

 

[+Manville Possum]

I have virtually discovered a few TB's on shop Groundspeak. Those may be locked now, I'm not sure.

[fendmar]

4 hours ago, hzoi said:

Whaaaat?  You mean they didn't really find the code from their notes and just can't remember where they saw it?

 

This can happen...just sayin'.

[+cerberus1]

On ‎8‎/‎3‎/‎2017 at 11:39 AM, SeattleWayne said:

So basically someone sees a tracking code on the TB on a Facebook post or something, and they log it as discovered? That seems a little outside of the rules for logging a TB. TB's are to be found in caches, am I right? 

I don't agree with this weirdness, but if you ever get bored, google "geocaching trackables and codes", and hit images... 

If you ever looked in the Help Center, there's a lotta mentions of "Please do not show this code in your uploaded photos or logs", and "Virtual trackables with virtual logs are not encouraged".

 - But then say, "It is up to the trackable owner to state if they allow this", and "To post “Discover” logs without physically interacting with the trackable is discouraged by Geocaching.com. However, some trackable owners enjoy a large number of logs, even if they are virtual logs".

So,  which is it?  

[+hzoi]

1 hour ago, fendmar said:

This can happen...just sayin'.

Oh, I know.  But when I get a bogus log on one of our TBs, 9 times out of 10, that's the weak sauce excuse they make.

[+niraD]

15 minutes ago, cerberus1 said:

If you ever looked in the Help Center, there's a lotta mentions of "Please do not show this code in your uploaded photos or logs", and "Virtual trackables with virtual logs are not encouraged".

And then there are examples like Geo-Caching Freak from GIFF 2015...

[+cerberus1]

1 hour ago, niraD said:

And then there are examples like Geo-Caching Freak from GIFF 2015...

Of course I checked your profile  first... 

Weirdest thing I've seen in some time ... and went for it.

[+niraD]

1 hour ago, cerberus1 said:

2 hours ago, niraD said:

And then there are examples like Geo-Caching Freak from GIFF 2015...

Of course I checked your profile  first... 

Yeah, it was a hoot at the GIFF 2015 event when that video was shown. One moment, everyone's quietly watching another GIFF video, and the next moment, everyone's scrambling for phones to snap photos of the screen.

[+noncentric]

6 hours ago, niraD said:

7 hours ago, cerberus1 said:

8 hours ago, niraD said:

And then there are examples like Geo-Caching Freak from GIFF 2015...

Of course I checked your profile  first... 

Yeah, it was a hoot at the GIFF 2015 event when that video was shown. One moment, everyone's quietly watching another GIFF video, and the next moment, everyone's scrambling for phones to snap photos of the screen.

Yeah, I saw that at the GIFF event I went to. I didn't bring out my phone, but just wrote it down on my hand. Looking at that TB, it looks like I discovered it on 11/8/2015.

[+redsox_mark]

I've seen some trackables which were meant to be discovered online.    One example was one of the GIFF entries a couple years ago, a video about a trackable which gives the code at the end.

I recently went to a Mega event, which had a trackable code saying "discover me" on their website.   

I know generally trackables are meant to travel, but I don't have any issue with examples like this.

People sharing list of "normal" trackables on the internet, that I'm not fond of.   As a trackable owner I like seeing my trackables moved or discovered, but I prefer not to have that "diluted" by lots of virtual finds with someone publishing the codes.

[+signseekers]

Thanks everyone for your comments. I guess my trackable was picked up by someone who decided to put it on online showing its code. It seems very odd...much better to find them in caches and move them on. Just think the people who put the trackables online should check with the owner first.  Happy caching everyone.

[+RufusClupea]

8 hours ago, signseekers said:

I guess my trackable was picked up by someone who decided to put it on online showing its code. It seems very odd...much better to find them in caches and move them on. Just think the people who put the trackables online should check with the owner first.... 

Or just not even think of putting them online at all...ever.  What a carppy thing to do.

Another reason I (personally--YMMV, and no judgments) don't want to have anything to do with the consarned things.