Survey: Spoiling geocaches?

[+PISA-caching]

Those of you who do Waymarking AND geocaching might have been in the following situation: You do a multi or mystery cache and find something that would make a great waymark. But this thing is part of the riddle in this cache and if you create the waymark you also create a spoiler for the geocache. How would you cope with this problem?

A: I don't do geocaching and therefore unintentionally might create spoiler.

B: If possible I will prevent to spoil with a little photoshop work.

C: I create the waymark without caring about the geocache, because most geocachers will not find the waymark anyway.

D: I forbear from creating the waymark, if there is no way to create it without spoiling the geocache.

E: Other...

Multiple choices allowed and any additional comment is welcome. Lately I have been in this situation a few times and therefore I'm curious what others think.

[+T0SHEA]

A: I don't do geocaching and therefore unintentionally might create spoiler.

C: I create the waymark without caring about the geocache, because most geocachers will not find the waymark anyway.

I guess both of these would apply to me. Not that we've ever run up against such a dilemma - well, to our knowledge, anyhoo... ..for all I know I've wercked dozens of mystery caches.

Keith

[+elyob]

D: I forbear from creating the waymark, if there is no way to create it without spoiling the geocache.

However, many times I have used a waymark to help me cheat at the geocache.

 

[+Manville Possum]

C: I create the waymark without caring about the geocache, because most geocachers will not find the waymark anyway.

 

Most existing Virtuals are already Waymarked with spoilers, and many of those that are spoiled have inactive owners. Multi and ? type caches may rely on something interesting enough to WM, and just recently I used Google Earth as a spoiler to a vitrual cache, it has pictures posted at the coordinates.

Bottom line, if a geocacher wants to cheat, internet research likely already exists. Waymarking is the best cheat tool I have found so far.

As for geocaches that I visit, just like my WM's, I can provide photo proof of visit with my logs. 

I have to go with C, because Geocachers don't even look at this site. And E, because people share coordinates after FTF.

[+Isonzo Karst]

C.

I've created few waymarks, but once stood and watched someone take photos and info to create a waymark that would spoil a cache of mine. Skip to penultimate stage, get final....

I decided not to worry about it, said nothing,  and I was right. No one ever though to use the waymark to skip stages of the cache.

 

 

 

[+fi67]

For me it is simply A and C. I certainly would not want to spoil anyone's fun on purpose. But I do never visit the Geocaching site (and maybe other location and web based games I have never heard of). I don't even know what a multi or mystery is and I have no desire to learn it.

[+cerberus1]

 We don't know anyone in our area who waymarks, or has even discussed it as an easier means to find a certain geocache. 

  I'd bet there's a couple who might use that option if they knew about it.  

So I guess if there was anyone , it'd be "C".    

[+MountainWoods]

C

[+T0SHEA]

6 hours ago, BK-Hunters said:

A: I don't do geocaching and therefore unintentionally might create spoiler.

C: I create the waymark without caring about the geocache, because most geocachers will not find the waymark anyway.

I guess both of these would apply to me. Not that we've ever run up against such a dilemma - well, to our knowledge, anyhoo... ..for all I know I've wercked dozens of mystery caches.

Keith

We started out being geocachers and enjoyed it and had a large group of local geocachers we became friendly. We attended events and went geocaching together. Things were so much different when we moved to a new area. Our geocaching days lasted almost 10 months. Then we discovered Waymarking and on July 22, 2012 we posted our first waymark. It is just over 6 years now and we are still posting new waymarks, though we hardly ever visit. 

Now when we plan a new Waymarking adventure, I do use geocaching as an aid to find locations that I might otherwise have missed. Very rarely will I look at multi or mystery caches as coordinates are not provided, no help there. BTW: we rarely look for the cache I used as a tool to find waymarks. 

[+iconions]

I plead C.  When I have my Waymarking hat on, I'm Waymarking.  When I'm geocaching, I'm geocaching, although nowadays, I'm only caching challenge caches and those caches that allow me to finish challenge caches.  I got yelled at by an owner of a virtual back in '06 when I published the Kansas marker, but like I told him, there are other locations out on the interwebs to get an image of that marker.

[+Tuena]

D  I completed an Earthcache recently where I could have waymarked the final location under 2 categories but wont be doing that.

I used a waymark at a prominent geological location to get the answers for an Earthcache. At the time it had about 12 views, now has 33! Obviously word got out but not from me. 

[+PISA-caching]

Thanks for all your feedback. So, iconions, you own a Waymarking hat? ;-) Well, I'm the guy who runs around with two hats most of the time. My partner isn't interested in Waymarking at all, but she likes geocaching. So, we often go out to find geocaches, but my camera is always at hand in case we find an interesting waymark. Today we did a little tour and found 5 geocaches and I took pictures for around 25 waymarks. My choices are:

B: If possible I will prevent to spoil with a little photoshop work.
I did that with this waymark, that would have given one of the answers of this geocache. I just had to remove one number and it's not a big loss of information for a waymark visitor, but if I had to remove more, I would change to option C:

C: I create the waymark without caring about the geocache, because most geocachers will not find the waymark anyway.

I also think ... no, I KNOW that the vast majority of the geocachers has no idea of Waymarking. Whenever I tell a geocacher, that there is a link "all nearby waymarks on Waymarking.com" in every geocache description I hear something like "never seen that" or "really? what is Waymarking?". From time to time I'm asked for help with a geocache and if I know that waymarks can help to solve a geocache, I draw their attention to that link and add "and by the way, if you take photos for the geocaching log, you can also log that waymark", but most of the time their Waymarking visit counter remains a zero. :-(

[+PISA-caching]

1 hour ago, Tuena said:

D  I completed an Earthcache recently where I could have waymarked the final location under 2 categories but wont be doing that.

I used a waymark at a prominent geological location to get the answers for an Earthcache. At the time it had about 12 views, now has 33! Obviously word got out but not from me. 

Respect! I think I would do that only if it was another not so interesting waymark in a category, in which I already have lots of waymarks. In any other case I would go for photoshop work or ignoring the geocache. When it comes to Waymarking, I tend to become greedy and reckless. :-)

[+ripraff]

I photo-shopped a waymark to prevent a spoiler, removing text from a tombstone photo. I have found waymarks that can be used as spoilers, often signs. It makes it easy to do the coordinates from home instead of on site, they can be entered beforehand. Many waymarkers are cachers, few cachers are waymarkers. We are a couple who do both, but one prefers Waymarking, the other caching. We do joint trips that are both. It depends on whether the spoiler is really an issue. If it is a virtual or a multi it might be, it would allow people to post without being there, or to bypass steps. If it just is 2 steps the first a sign giving you coordinates to the real cache, I don't see a problem, you still have to find the cache, it just lets you do the setup ahead of time. If people are that much into numbers that they would cheat on a virtual and not go there, it is kind of sad. I can see the advantage of skipping steps, now that long hikes are an issue, but I don't care about caching enough to bother. So the answer is three answers, I change waymarks, I don't think most cachers are going to look for waymarks, and sometimes it just doesn't matter. I take it case by case.

Edited August 9, 2017 by ripraff

[+The Leprechauns]

On ‎8‎/‎5‎/‎2017 at 11:09 AM, Isonzo Karst said:

C.

I've created few waymarks, but once stood and watched someone take photos and info to create a waymark that would spoil a cache of mine. Skip to penultimate stage, get final....

I decided not to worry about it, said nothing,  and I was right. No one ever though to use the waymark to skip stages of the cache.

The exact same thing happened to me (except for the part about witnessing it in person).  My favorite hidden cache of all time is a complex four-stage multicache.  Most people fail at stage three, where the clue to find the final cache and logbook is provided by a plaque on a stationary object at a very random spot in the middle of a forest.  Within months of Waymarking.com's launch, someone posted that stationary object as a waymark.  Moreover, they said right in the waymark description that finding this object was vitally important to completing one of the several caches in that park.

I was disappointed, but like Isonzo Karst, I took no action.  It lowered my opinion of Waymarking, however.

[+T0SHEA]

The same can be said about Geocaching.  Things happened, lost trackables, some caches destroyed, other stolen, even found body excrement in one. I took no action. It lowered my opinion of Geocaching, however.

[+Manville Possum]

41 minutes ago, BK-Hunters said:

The same can be said about Geocaching.  Things happened, lost trackables, some caches destroyed, other stolen, even found body excrement in one. I took no action. It lowered my opinion of Geocaching, however.

 

I've had more problems with other Waymarkers than Geocachers, and there is far less Waymarkers.

Keeping on topic, I have used links to the Waymarking site on my multis.  Also WM'd a few EC's. One site don't spoil the other because the information is out there.

[+Manville Possum]

I have found a few spoilers to multi caches in cemeteries on the Find a Grave site while researching Waymarks.

[+T0SHEA]

Off the topic and not even Waymarking, but here's a new game we could play:

Collect all the forum icons used by Manville Possum. There must be dozens of 'em.

Keith

[+Manville Possum]

11 hours ago, BK-Hunters said:

Off the topic and not even Waymarking, but here's a new game we could play:

Collect all the forum icons used by Manville Possum. There must be dozens of 'em.

Keith

 

It makes no less sense to me than Waymarking other images on things like postcards, stamps, and wine bottles. 

You may also find Geocaching Souvenirs of interest. 

Edited August 13, 2017 by Manville Possum
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