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Can we talk about this representation of misinformation?


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Sorry for the vague title, I didn't know how else to address this.

So, I know there's a lot of talk about Geocaching and YouTube, and there's been a sort of agreement as far as I can tell that as long as you don't really post spoilers about a cache and it's specific location, for the most part all is well.

Well, there's a pair of YouTubers whom I occasionally watch called MoreJStu that make all kinds of vlog type videos, several of which have recently included geocaching.

At first I had no problem with what they were posting. I figured if it got some more people interested in our hobby, that's great!

But then they posted this video today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEub1s5AXUI 

There is so much misinformation in it about geocaching that I was nearly yelling at my screen. I think it's okay that they're wanting to share a geocache with the fans, there's nothing wrong with that.

Except they show where they pack snacks into the cache and encourage others to come out and trade snacks too.

Not only that, but they practically bury the cache. It's one thing to hide it with some foliage, but they literally made a hole to put it in.

I'm not here to get them in trouble or anything, but I just hate the fact that they're demonstrating behavior against the rules of Geocaching to their 2.7 million subscribers...

They also make it kind of known that in more than one video they usually don't trade swag, only take it.

If you look on the comments on their vids, you constantly see things like "Ya'll inspired me to start geocaching!" and "Because of ya'll I'm building a geocache fort!". Which is great, except the majority of their followers are young kids who I know aren't going to read any of the rules before going out and geocaching, which will just create more problems... 

What are ya'll's thoughts?

 

Edited by omgubler
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People are going to do what they do. They still have to go through the publishing process if they use Geocaching.com to place their cache. Hopefully, seasoned cachers will come across their cache and call out any of the things they're doing wrong. 

Assuming just because they have followers of a young age won't be following any of the rules is a little extreme, in my opinion. 

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@SeattleWayne I didn't mean they wouldn't be following any of the rules, it's just more likely they won't read the rules. And c'mon, I'm usually one to look for the best in people and assume the best, but you can't tell me it's not that far-fetched. When I mean young, I mean most of their watchers are middle school age. Do you really believe the majority are going to bother with the rules and guidelines before going out? In my experience kids in that age range are the known for caring about rules. There's tons of stories about beginners taking the cache home with them and other things.

And just because people are "going to do what they do" doesn't make it right...

My main point I'm trying to make is that I wish someone with as large of an audience of them would know what they're doing/ be followed up on all rules before spreading out the wrong information.

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Odd that I haven't heard all this talk of geocaching and youtube, nor an agreement with another site.

   Please explain.   Thanks.  :)

I don't believe enough people actually watch others geocaching (some deemed "professional" were still boring...) to affect the hobby.

 - But, if you feel there may be an issue, contacting Groundspeak directly through the Help Center is a good option.

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@cerberus1 I used to read a lot of forum posts about it that I found searching about geocaching and youtube on Google, and I've seen some (sometimes heated) discussions on places such as Reddit and YouTube. Several of them are smaller YouTubers defending themselves and such, but I've seen arguments from both sides, including stuff about commentary from Groundspeak themselves, no official rule on it, etc, etc. To be honest I looked it up a while back ago and don't remember all of the details (nor do I really know the official story).

And I don't believe there to be an issue worth reporting, I was just curious of other's thoughts, and was trying to make a small point. But if ya'll don't believe it to be that big of an issue, then I'll just take that and turn a blind eye.

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10 hours ago, omgubler said:

@SeattleWayne I didn't mean they wouldn't be following any of the rules, it's just more likely they won't read the rules. And c'mon, I'm usually one to look for the best in people and assume the best, but you can't tell me it's not that far-fetched. When I mean young, I mean most of their watchers are middle school age. Do you really believe the majority are going to bother with the rules and guidelines before going out? In my experience kids in that age range are the known for caring about rules. There's tons of stories about beginners taking the cache home with them and other things.

And just because people are "going to do what they do" doesn't make it right...

My main point I'm trying to make is that I wish someone with as large of an audience of them would know what they're doing/ be followed up on all rules before spreading out the wrong information.

I never said it's right. I'm saying that you can't stop people from doing what they do. 

There are plenty of seasoned geocachers that fail to follow simple guidelines as well. 

Contact Groundspeak if you think it's doing damage to the game. It's not that I don't think it's a big issue, it's just that Geocaching has been around for almost 20 years, and I'm sure there were concerned cachers like yourself when the iPhones came out, and when Twitter came out and Facebook, and all these social media outlets that gave major exposure to the hobby. It pulled in an influx of people who saw a Youtube video or a Twitter tweet that maybe was depicting the game in the wrong light...but the game has survived. I'm sure whatever happens with these guys and there geocaching fort, in the end, everything will be alright. B):lol:

 

If someone wants to build a geocaching fort, and hide a geocache in it, more power to them. It's a lot better than a rock wall cache. :rolleyes:

Edited by SeattleWayne
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11 hours ago, omgubler said:

 

I'm not here to get them in trouble or anything, but I just hate the fact that they're demonstrating behavior against the rules of Geocaching to their 2.7 million subscribers...

 

 

Ignore them and don't bring attention to them by calling them out in the forums. I don't watch geocaching on YouTube for reasons you have pointed out. They do it for attention, and you got played.

  • Upvote 2
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Similar to Manville Possum, I believe bringing more attention to them (this is an international forums...) actually does more damage than if just left to themselves.  

This has little to do with me, I don't go on every social site to see that stuff.    :)

 - But if you feel it's an issue, then the Help Center link from earlier would be the place to express any concerns you have.

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1 hour ago, Manville Possum said:

 

Ignore them and don't bring attention to them by calling them out in the forums. I don't watch geocaching on YouTube for reasons you have pointed out. They do it for attention, and you got played.

Yep. The best thing anyone can do regarding caches being placed against the rules is log a NM/NA. 

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14 hours ago, omgubler said:

What are ya'll's thoughts?

They're making a mistake, so someone should discuss it with them. You, perhaps? It sounds like they just don't know any better. The violations you mention aren't contentious. There are very obvious and easily explained reasons for not putting food in caches, for example, so it's just not possible for a discussion of that issue to ignite a flame war. The reasons for not burying a cache are a little harder to explain, but they're still clear.

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15 hours ago, dprovan said:
On 8/15/2017 at 11:48 PM, omgubler said:

What are ya'll's thoughts?

They're making a mistake, so someone should discuss it with them. You, perhaps? It sounds like they just don't know any better. The violations you mention aren't contentious. There are very obvious and easily explained reasons for not putting food in caches, for example, so it's just not possible for a discussion of that issue to ignite a flame war. The reasons for not burying a cache are a little harder to explain, but they're still clear.

It seems to me that a good place to express concerns would be the comment section of the YT page.  Unless those guys read the forum, talking about it here isn't going to change anything.

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Yep, post a clear and concise comment describing the problem, provide links. Anyone who understands what they're doing wrong and sees it may vote it up. The more people vote up the 'correction' to the video, or the more thumbs down it gets, the more likely the youtuber will notice and hopefully consider it.

It's unlikely, at best, that Groundspeak can/would do anything about a video on a 3rd party website.

But if there are GCs revealed in the videos, and you spot something wrong, you could post a note to the cache page to let the next people know there may be food in the cache, but this is moving more towards the 'cache police' mentality, which isn't recommended. The cache and CO are likely innocent to the youtuber, so really involving them is risky.

The youtuber wants attention. It's not bad to give it to them IF the direction is better for the community, so make use of their visibility - either they are not accepted as much if they fight against rules and etiquette, or others will see valid (and respectable) criticism of their actions and come to understand good etiquette and rules more appropriately.

Demonstrate a positive community, and why some actions are 'bad' for the hobby (and definitely point to the guidelines for official support).  If they place caches which are against the guidelines, and the video publicly reveals it being against the rules, I wouldn't be afraid of reporting it to a reviewer and linking to the video so they can make a proper judgement.

Edited by thebruce0
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