Updates to Challenge Cache Guidelines

[+Geocaching HQ]

Today, we made two updates to the Challenge Cache Guidelines to clarify a few issues related to the Time-Limited section of the guidelines.

 

Added to the “Acceptable” column of the Time-Limited section:

• Finding some number of caches per month, provided the number is cumulative over all years. Example, 100 finds in Januarys.

 

Added to the “Not Acceptable” column of the Time-Limited section:

• Requiring more than one find on any day or calendar date, even if cumulative. Example, find 5 caches for every date of the Finds for Each Day of the Year grid.

 

These updates represent the guidance we have given since 2016 whenever related challenges have been appealed to Geocaching HQ. However, we have seen an uptick in appeals for these types of challenges, so we felt it was important to add the guidance to the public guidelines.

 

The general purpose of the Time-Limited guidelines is to ensure that cachers can pursue challenges at their own pace. It was determined that cumulative monthly challenges meet that standard because, for example, when pursuing a challenge to find 100 caches in January, a cacher has 31 days to work on it this year, then another 31 days next year, and so on. However, challenges requiring multiple finds for every date of the Finds for Each Day of the Year grid were deemed to violate the Time-Limited guidelines because a cacher only has one day each year to work on each date’s requirement of finding multiple caches.

 

We have also removed several notations about which guidelines were added in 2016 or early 2017. These notations were helpful in the months after the new guidelines were announced, but are no longer as necessary.