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How to "Dip"?


EmzyJanezy

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Hi

 

I understand the concept of "dipping".  However, are geocachers genuinely physically "dipping" a TB or a part of it into each geocache, or do they just have to have it on their person at the time.  Or do they even have to have it with them - the latter would seem a bit fraudulent.

 

I have found TBs which I'd like to "dip" a while and would just like to check I'm gonna be doing it properly!

 

Also see my own TBs are being dipped by somebody which excites me far more than it should!

 

Thank you.

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9 minutes ago, EmzyJanezy said:

I understand the concept of "dipping".  However, are geocachers genuinely physically "dipping" a TB or a part of it into each geocache, or do they just have to have it on their person at the time.  Or do they even have to have it with them - the latter would seem a bit fraudulent.

I have found TBs which I'd like to "dip" a while and would just like to check I'm gonna be doing it properly!

Also see my own TBs are being dipped by somebody which excites me far more than it should!

 

Not sure you're kidding or not, but maybe this is a regional thing.  We called it "dipping" years ago, well before there was the "Visit" option.   

You had to use the Drop log, putting it into the cache's inventory, then the Retrieve log to take it back into your possession.  

The "Visit" log simply shortened that.  :)

 

Some here say they physically lug trackables with them cache-to-cache.  We haven't seen anyone do it.

They're on your inventory, and the "action" box for trackables is always under your log.  You have options I guess.

We like to keep records accurate, so on the day of the only Visit logs I ever wrote,  I had the trackables with me.

 

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No, I wasn't kidding at all.  I'm sorry if my message might have come across like I was having a joke.

 

The person who currently has three of my trackables is logging them as "dipping them".  He has included photographs of the trackables with the caches.  I presumed this is what you were supposed to do when you visit them as opposed to leave them at home and log them as a visit even though you don't have them on your person when you are out geocaching.

 

I'm still fairly new to geocaching and we have found some cute trackables we would like to take along with us and photograph as per the trackable's instructions, but if I am visiting the caches with them I just wondered what the normal protocol is.

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I'm one of these people cerberus1 hasn't seen yet. I carry a small old camera pouch with trackables in my possession with me in my backpack which also has all the stuff I might need while out caching. However, I do NOT "dip" (or better let visit) these trackables in every cache we find. I will drop them (leave in a cache) if the container is big enough and is in "a safe place" (which means, I think TBs will probably not get stolen). I will only let trackables visit when I can have them travel a large distance (as in, take on holiday, across borders...).

I have a note on my own sole surviving TB to NOT "visit all" as it only creates page after page of "took it to" logs by the same cacher and adding just a few 100m distance between caches. I actively delete these "took it to" logs just leaving 1 per day.

 

 

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I'm not sure what the "normal protocol" is anymore.

 

If the cache you're going to is an interesting one, or if the scenery is nice, or if it helps the TB with its goal, go ahead and "visit" it to the cache with pictures. This is usually appreciated by the trackable owner - pictures show that the TB is in good shape and actually DID visit that cache (as opposed to sitting in a junk drawer at home).

 

Mindless "visits" without pictures are not so good.

 

I generally only "visit" a TB to one or two caches in a day's caching, to avoid the long list of meaningless "visits". And I try to include a picture of the TB at or near the cache location. :)

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3 hours ago, EmzyJanezy said:

I understand the concept of "dipping".  However, are geocachers genuinely physically "dipping" a TB or a part of it into each geocache, or do they just have to have it on their person at the time.  Or do they even have to have it with them - the latter would seem a bit fraudulent.

I've never seriously thought about whether everyone agrees on this, but I dip when the TB is in my pocket. I do try to remember to take the TB out to take a picture of the TB in the environment around the cache, but I often forget to do even that much, and I don't typically actually put the TB anywhere near the cache.

 

I am reasonably sure there are people that dip TBs all the time even though they don't actually have them with them. I also consider that something of a fraud, although I have to admit that a couple times I've realized I forgot to actually put a TB in my pocket even though I visited a great cache for it, so I'll lie about it, but it's just a special case, not something I'd do habitually.

 

Some people (I admit I'm one of them) don't care for miles of mindless dips, so my rule is to only dip when I have a good reason, and I define "good reason" as a reason that's worth going back and editing the visit log to explain. Typically I'll dip a TB once a day. In the log, I'll describe where I'm caching and something about the cache being visited. Often I give a quick explanation for why I didn't drop the TB anywhere that day. It sounds like a lot, but in practice it's just a sentence or two in most cases. Not many people edit the visit logs at all, though.

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4 hours ago, EmzyJanezy said:

I understand the concept of "dipping".  However, are geocachers genuinely physically "dipping" a TB or a part of it into each geocache, or do they just have to have it on their person at the time.  Or do they even have to have it with them - the latter would seem a bit fraudulent.

 

For someone else's TB, if I didn't bring it to the cache spot, I don't log a "Visit".  And if I do, there's likely a posted photo and a decent online log.  I can't guess whether or not kidnappers of hundreds of TBs never to be released to a cache, no human-typed logs nor photos, are physically carrying all of them to every cache container.  Oh, wait, I can guess. :ph34r:

 

But I've never checked to see if Dragonride fits into a cache container, and I don't carry him along a mountain trail to the cache spot.  Yet he visits caches, go figure. :)

 

Edited by kunarion
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4 hours ago, EmzyJanezy said:

The person who currently has three of my trackables is logging them as "dipping them".  He has included photographs of the trackables with the caches.  I presumed this is what you were supposed to do when you visit them as opposed to leave them at home and log them as a visit even though you don't have them on your person when you are out geocaching.

 

I'm still fairly new to geocaching and we have found some cute trackables we would like to take along with us and photograph as per the trackable's instructions, but if I am visiting the caches with them I just wondered what the normal protocol is.

 

For my TBs, I would prefer that one person does not carry mine around, photos or not.  Imagine having a son and someone takes and keeps him.  But hey, you are sent a "took-it-to" note once in a while, so you know he's OK.  Relax, it's not creepy or weird for cachers to hoard everyone's TBs to themselves, because "there are logs, so that means that it's OK".  Or so I'm told. B)

 

Even if giving the takers the benefit of the doubt, and being happy that the TB is in "safe hands" and "going to cool places", remember this:

TB Owners are not notified of "Visits".

 

I check my list of unloved TBs, and often see that one has instead been traveling the world.  One went from Atlanta, to a castle in Scotland, then immediately back to a cache in Atlanta.  Robotic "Took It To", no photo.  Was it even in Scotland at all?  How does that guy feel about me not acknowledging the special trip he made to a castle in Scotland just for my TB?  Until my TB is eventually placed into a cache, I don't always notice all the way cool "Visits".  It must be disappointing to the takers to do all that work.  But pretty much all of my TBs have text to "place it into a cache and log the drop", specifically not to carry it around with you.  Groundspeak's official policy in big bold letters in the App and everywhere else, should be that, without specific text on the TB description to the contrary, that you never keep others' TBs, that you place them into as safe a cache as possible (hint-hint, you took it from a safe cache, there it is, "big enough for a TB to fit"), no carrying TBs around forevermore.  But Groundspeak has other agendas. :ph34r:

 

 

Edited by kunarion
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On 6/18/2018 at 6:17 AM, on4bam said:

I'm one of these people cerberus1 hasn't seen yet. I carry a small old camera pouch with trackables in my possession with me in my backpack which also has all the stuff I might need while out caching. However, I do NOT "dip" (or better let visit) these trackables in every cache we find. I will drop them (leave in a cache) if the container is big enough and is in "a safe place" (which means, I think TBs will probably not get stolen). I will only let trackables visit when I can have them travel a large distance (as in, take on holiday, across borders...).

 

 

On 6/18/2018 at 6:49 AM, TriciaG said:

I generally only "visit" a TB to one or two caches in a day's caching, to avoid the long list of meaningless "visits". And I try to include a picture of the TB at or near the cache location. :)

I'm in this same camp.  I do carry TB's in a ziploc in my "geo-bag" so I can take photos as appropriate, and log visits.  But not every cache, and not every TB at every cache.  Just select ones, to show mileage, and I hope the visits and photos assure the TO that their bug is still active and traveling.  I recently brought back several from our East Coast travels and will be dropping them in caches back here in CA as I find ones that are large enough.

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