Jump to content

Responding to Earth caches


mmmm0000

Recommended Posts

My guess is that you'd need to have a conversation with HQ to see if they could lift the email throttle on your Basic Membership so that you could properly maintain your Earthcaches and respond to the emails.

Another option would be to post your email address on the Listing page, although the Guidelines restrict the manner in which people are required to communicate with the cache owner, so you might still get people responding through your Profile anyway.  I'd be a bit hesitant with posting my *real* email address on the Listing page, so I might be inclined to set up a free throw away account, just in case it ended up on some marketing list and resulted in tons of spam.

Edited by Touchstone
  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
9 hours ago, mmmm0000 said:

I am now beginning to get about 10 visits to our Earth caches a day. Great. But I need to send these guys the answers and I seem to be restricted to 7 answers at a time. How can I increase the number of answers I can send out at a sitting?

I support responding to earthcache finders with a confirmation.  (For the record, it's not a requirement, but I think it's a best practice.)

The message center throttle only kicks in if you send seven messages in rapid succession, doesn't it?  Try sending five, taking a beat to do something else, then send the next five.

 

Edited by hzoi
Link to comment
On 10/18/2017 at 1:02 PM, hzoi said:

I support responding to earthcache finders with a confirmation.  (For the record, it's not a requirement, but I think it's a best practice.)

This may be going a bit off topic from the OP's question, but it does address a question I have had.  I've only done a few EC's, only 2 CO's, one on the East coast, and part of a series onthe West coast.  Finds logged, answers and photos submitted within a day or so of visting the cache sites and doing myour research.  Weeks, months have gone by.  The logs are still there, but I have heard nothing from the CO's.  In some cases I wasn't sure of my answers, gave my best guess and hoped I got it right.  

So, NOT A REQUIREMENT to respond to submissions, but "best practice" - how many CO's of EarthCaches do actually respond to right or wrong answers.  It would be nice to know if I did actually learn the lessons or if I missed the mark!!

Link to comment

I think I have responded to everyone who has sent in answers on my EC's.  Sometimes it's just a "Congratulations, job well done" kind of message, sometimes it's a little explanation of what they were confused about, etc.  While it may not be a requirement, I find it the courteous thing to do. Cache owner's choice.

I know that I also don't always get a response when I submit answers for EC's that I have found.  But I stop worrying about that after a week or two.

Link to comment
18 hours ago, CAVinoGal said:

So, NOT A REQUIREMENT to respond to submissions, but "best practice" - how many CO's of EarthCaches do actually respond to right or wrong answers.  It would be nice to know if I did actually learn the lessons or if I missed the mark!!

That's why I do it with ours.  Not all earthcache COs do.  I certainly see it more often with earthcaches than with virtual caches.  Apparently ours are low traffic enough that it's not overwhelming -- I'm guessing if an earthcache got logged as often as, say, GCZ8H7, it would be at least a part-time job to write back every time.  (Using that example, that CO's profile indicates that they normally won't respond unless the answers aren't correct.)

As a finder, I assume for the sake of argument that I got an earthcache or virtual right if I don't hear anything, but it's still nice to see.

Link to comment
On 10/28/2017 at 3:12 AM, hzoi said:

As a finder, I assume for the sake of argument that I got an earthcache or virtual right if I don't hear anything, but it's still nice to see.

I have logged the EC's as finds, and they haven't been deleted, but I have heard nothing from the CO either ... so yes, I "assume" I got the credit for doing the EarthCache.  It would be nice to get an acknowledgement.

We are planning to visit Yosemite later this week and do some of the virtuals and EC's there, so we'll see how responsive those CO's are - those caches have been around for quite a awhile.

Link to comment
15 hours ago, Team Microdot said:

I always respond to those who submit answers for our EC's.

I enjoy most those opportunities to let people know they did a great job and that their considered and detailed answers are a joy to read.

It can be less fun when the answers suggest little thought went into them.

Yes, for the latter category, I try to stick to simply thanking them for visiting our earthcache.  Like Mom used to say, if you can't say anything nice . . .

Link to comment
29 minutes ago, hzoi said:

Yes, for the latter category, I try to stick to simply thanking them for visiting our earthcache.  Like Mom used to say, if you can't say anything nice . . .

I tend not to do that.

I tend to ask them what led them to their incorrect conclusion and then see if I can nudge them in the direction of a correct conclusion - and to understand why that conclusion is correct.

I want them to learn the Earth Science lesson.

Hopefully they see my additional effort as a nice response.

Link to comment
20 minutes ago, Team Microdot said:

I tend to ask them what led them to their incorrect conclusion and then see if I can nudge them in the direction of a correct conclusion - and to understand why that conclusion is correct.

I correct them if they are wrong, sure.  If they are right but are trying to answer in three words or less, then I put about as much thought into my response.

Link to comment
6 minutes ago, hzoi said:

I correct them if they are wrong, sure.  If they are right but are trying to answer in three words or less, then I put about as much thought into my response.

I don't correct people.

I tell them which answers are correct and which are incorrect and encourage them to reconsider and address the latter.

Link to comment
On 10/31/2017 at 11:33 AM, Team Microdot said:

I don't correct people.

I tell them which answers are correct and which are incorrect and encourage them to reconsider and address the latter.

Yes, that's probably how I should have worded it.

14 hours ago, Neos2 said:

Just checking in and looking around...

Howdy!

Link to comment
On 10/18/2017 at 6:30 AM, mmmm0000 said:

I am now beginning to get about 10 visits to our Earth caches a day. Great. But I need to send these guys the answers and I seem to be restricted to 7 answers at a time. How can I increase the number of answers I can send out at a sitting?

I'm confused.  Why are YOU sending answers?  Shouldn't they be sending answers to YOU?  

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...