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Geocache of the Week - Exactly WRONG!


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On 10/18/2018 at 12:03 AM, learn2mine said:

I guess someone's always got to be around to pick on things... I think that looks great!

 

Yep, looks great.

 

But it ain't great!

 

As someone else said succinctly, "ZAP!"

 

Which is what would happen to a kid poking around in a real utility box.

 

An adult can make a mature decision about placing and seeking caches with an aspect of physical danger.

 

This cache appeals to kids and sets a bad example.  There are kids and teenagers involved in the game, and this cache scenario is off track... especially when highlighted and given extra publicity and accolades.

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The 2nd sentence in the blog states,  "From the outside, it looks like your typical, mundane utility box".

 

I normally go with the notion that it's up to finders to appraise the situation, look at the dangers that might be present, and/or assess their skill level before attempting a cache. In other words, it's on the finder if something goes wrong. But at the same time, COs have  a responsibility to not present a danger that a majority of people may not notice or recognize. Most adults would certainly realize this box was an exception but there's no doubt some people finding it would get it in their head that other similar boxes could be a cache. Or has been mentioned already, give copy cats the grand idea of trying to place their own cache in an existing utility box. 

 

This is a fun hide for sure but under the circumstances, I don't think it's a good one to promote. I imagine there are a few readers of the blog already making plans to raid a utility box near them!

Edited by Mudfrog
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On one hand, people in this thread are calling "people" stupid, while at the same time figuring they are smart enough to open a locked utility box so they can poke around inside.  I can't see how a field puzzle lock (with hints/instructions on the page) leads anyone to attempt to open every locked container anywhere around GZ.  How many cachers carry lockpicks (well, around here a few do since we had a lock-picking series of caches) just in case they need to open any lock they find.  Or do they carry crowbars to break in?

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56 minutes ago, The Jester said:

On one hand, people in this thread are calling "people" stupid, while at the same time figuring they are smart enough to open a locked utility box so they can poke around inside.  I can't see how a field puzzle lock (with hints/instructions on the page) leads anyone to attempt to open every locked container anywhere around GZ.  How many cachers carry lockpicks (well, around here a few do since we had a lock-picking series of caches) just in case they need to open any lock they find.  Or do they carry crowbars to break in?

 

Yes, but if we agree that people are not uniformly careful, safe and smart 100% of the time - and I think we can agree on that - then aren't there some utility boxes out there that are "openable" either because a worker forget to lock them or because the lock is starting to fail?!

 

The problem with this cache is that it helps promote an attitude of nonchalance and carelessness about utility boxes.

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11 hours ago, The Jester said:

On one hand, people in this thread are calling "people" stupid, while at the same time figuring they are smart enough to open a locked utility box so they can poke around inside.  I can't see how a field puzzle lock (with hints/instructions on the page) leads anyone to attempt to open every locked container anywhere around GZ.  How many cachers carry lockpicks (well, around here a few do since we had a lock-picking series of caches) just in case they need to open any lock they find.  Or do they carry crowbars to break in?

 

I've seen landscaped areas, plants and trees mangled. I've seen field puzzle caches destroyed because a cacher didn't want to take time to figure them out. And yes, I've seen forcibly opened utility boxes that caches were placed near. People will do all kinds of goofy stuff to get that smiley. 

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8 hours ago, Mudfrog said:

I've seen landscaped areas, plants and trees mangled. I've seen field puzzle caches destroyed because a cacher didn't want to take time to figure them out. And yes, I've seen forcibly opened utility boxes that caches were placed near. People will do all kinds of goofy stuff to get that smiley. 

 

Yep.

Worst we've seen was a military memorial plot of land that had all electrical covers hanging or removed (left on the pavers with the wires exposed), landscape blocks moved and not replaced properly, light covers (facing the flag) not tightened down, and even the flag pole was wobbling because only one screw was tightened enough to hold it upright.

The cache was outside that area (other side of the wall, hidden from the public - duh...), under a little  bush.

The CO was ticked to say the least, and was told by the landowner not to come back for future spots.

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I have found a few of these converted utility box hides in Europe.  All I have found so far are marked with geocaching symbols and require a key to open them, and contain no electric components. 

 

So far, these are much less concerning to me than micro caches that are hidden near wires under lamp skirts, on active electric transformers, or concealed on active electric or gas meters -- which outnumber these TB hotels by the tens of thousands.

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On ‎10‎/‎20‎/‎2018 at 9:32 PM, Mudfrog said:

 

I've seen landscaped areas, plants and trees mangled. I've seen field puzzle caches destroyed because a cacher didn't want to take time to figure them out. And yes, I've seen forcibly opened utility boxes that caches were placed near. People will do all kinds of goofy stuff to get that smiley. 

Is there any proof it was geocachers that did the vandalism?  I'm not trying to say geocachers are saints (impossible since we're all human) but I've seen lots of damage done that has nothing to do with geocaches.  It's like complaining about someone hiding a cache by a homeless camp, when the camp happened after the cache was placed (gee, can we blame cachers for homeless camps? :wacko:).   

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57 minutes ago, The Jester said:

Is there any proof it was geocachers that did the vandalism?

 

I believe without proof. They have a motive and no alibi. It is known that geocachers are not very good to return objects back to the same place and same direction where they found them. It takes just some geocachers to open an utility box and then leave it open without the lid.

 

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12 hours ago, arisoft said:

 

I believe without proof. They have a motive and no alibi. It is known that geocachers are not very good to return objects back to the same place and same direction where they found them. It takes just some geocachers to open an utility box and then leave it open without the lid.

 

Ahh, guilty until proven innocent.  Seems like a cynical attitude to take. 

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On 10/20/2018 at 10:32 PM, Mudfrog said:

 

I've seen landscaped areas, plants and trees mangled. I've seen field puzzle caches destroyed because a cacher didn't want to take time to figure them out. And yes, I've seen forcibly opened utility boxes that caches were placed near. People will do all kinds of goofy stuff to get that smiley. 

Obviously the most likely person to do this would be geocachers! A good lesson to remember how things were and leave them the way they were when you left! Even leave them better than when you found them by doing cito!

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20 hours ago, The Jester said:

Is there any proof it was geocachers that did the vandalism?  I'm not trying to say geocachers are saints (impossible since we're all human) but I've seen lots of damage done that has nothing to do with geocaches.  It's like complaining about someone hiding a cache by a homeless camp, when the camp happened after the cache was placed (gee, can we blame cachers for homeless camps? :wacko:).   

 

Sure,  we all know that anyone is capable of creating problems. At the same time, I doubt there are very many non cachers breaking nto utility boxes just for the fun of it.  When a cache gets compromised by a muggle, it usually gets scattered or stolen. A geocacher on the other hand, will try to piece the cache they broke back together and rehide with logbook and any trinkets still in place. Landscaped areas, same thing,,,muggles don't routinely come along and tear up areas just for the heck of it. It does happen but the odds are that a cache hidden well in a landscaped area will result in a torn up landscape area because of cachers wanting to desperately find that cache. 

 

Note: I've personally witnessed the first and third situations. 

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4 hours ago, Keystone said:

Chevy = Chevrolet = Commercial

Donkey Kong = Pop Culture = Published

 

OK, I get that, but that's an AWFUL thin line.

I'm not arguing or trying to re-litigate here, but in my opinion my usage was a pop-culture reference.

 

Is there a real difference between "I spent Sunday cruzin' in my Chevy" and "I spent Sunday playin' Donkey Kong"?

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24 minutes ago, TeamRabbitRun said:

 my usage was a pop-culture reference.

 

I can easily understand your point here and I believe your intention was sincere. This kind of decisions are very subjective. Here we have a cache "Buick Or Oldsmobile, Boys Stalk" which has two car brand names. No problems detected by a reviewer who has know to be very strict about the guidelines. For us these are more like a pop culture than commercial things.

Edited by arisoft
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Re things get destroyed by geo-cachers looking for a cache; the CO needs to be more aware of this potential when they hide a cache, especially hard to find ones with inadequate hints, and not hide them in such places. Use some imagination of what might happen, and don't think it's easy to find (as some COs think) just because YOU know where it is. Unfortunately some COs show lack of imagination by hiding in these places.

An example I came upon. A hard to find cache hidden either on a bridge or in the nearby garden. (Don't know, never found it.) No hint from memory, to direct to the right place, so the garden was suffering. If I had found the cache and it wasn't in the garden, (or if it was in that poor garden too) I would have likely written something in my log, warning others to keep out of the garden, but I don't know where it was. I myself pulled the sprinkler apart and then discovered it was real. I took ages getting that back together with the tricky internal spring. Unfortunately, the next finder also pulled the sprinkler apart, but they weren't able to put it back together, so I guess when the sprinkler came on there would be a fountain. The CO, to give them credit, did then add a warning it wasn't the sprinkler, but still not a suitable place for a tricky cache, because of potential damage. Tricky caches should be reserved for places that can't get damaged.

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5 hours ago, Keystone said:

Chevy = Chevrolet = Commercial

Donkey Kong = Pop Culture = Published

"So bye-bye, Miss American Pie.
Drove my Chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry."

 

"Just a boy in a Chevy truck,
That had a tendency of gettin' stuck,
On backroads at night
An' I was right there beside him all summer long"

 

"I remember when rock was young
Me and Suzie had so much fun
holding hands and skimming stones
Had an old gold Chevy and a place of my own"

 

There you go: Chevy = Music = Pop Culture = Published

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Too bad they blogged about the Donkey Kong cache. It's confusing, it sends mixed messages to future hiders who may end up referring to something commercial thinking GCHQ is OK with it. And nowhere on the blog post does it say you can't screw a cache to a pole without explicit permission. There's nothing on the cache listing about permission given by the business to screw the cache into the post. Although, the cache is at a business and one would assume permission, but it could look to some geocachers like it's OK to screw cache containers into things. Anyone looking at the blog and not checking the cache listing and satellite view of google maps might also assume that it's OK to screw containers into things. All round, this Geocache of the Week is sending mixed messages. It could easily by cleared up (and made educational) with a paragraph of additional information in the blog post. 

Edited by L0ne.R
Sentences - made them clearer
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On 12/19/2018 at 4:25 PM, TeamRabbitRun said:

 

OK, I get that, but that's an AWFUL thin line.

I'm not arguing or trying to re-litigate here, but in my opinion my usage was a pop-culture reference.

 

Is there a real difference between "I spent Sunday cruzin' in my Chevy" and "I spent Sunday playin' Donkey Kong"?

 

I am not interested in blasting or debating Groundspeak because they "own" the game and I'd never win. But this inconsistency right here is what I am referring to when they read the answers to my questionnaire that I recently took. And why I am not likely to recommend the game to anyone I know. I only keep playing because I am weak.. and have nothing better to do.

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40 minutes ago, niraD said:

Looks like a pretty cool cache to me.

I kinda agree.  "Placed with permission" (and by who) a good thing too. 

We don't seek out those caches with "hotel" in the name  (we've seen too many issues), but this one would probably be visited (with no drops) simply because of it's location, while visiting the area.    

You know it's there...    :)

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4 minutes ago, cerberus1 said:

I kinda agree.  "Placed with permission" (and by who) a good thing too. 

We don't seek out those caches with "hotel" in the name  (we've seen too many issues), but this one would probably be visited (with no drops) simply because of it's location, while visiting the area.    

You know it's there...    :)

 

While the coolness factor doesn't trump the guidelines I don't see anything wrong with this one either.  I"ve never been to Liechtenstein so I don't know how close he box used resembles a utility box there but if you look at the photo gallery and old photo shows an "Official Geocache" sticker that makes it pretty obvious that it's not a electrical box.  Really good TB hotels are fairly rare but we've got one in town that is in the entrance to the chamber of commerce office.  It's well protected and one of the most favorited caches in the area.

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20 hours ago, TeamRabbitRun said:

<sigh>

 

https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2019/03/welcome-tb-hotel-liechtenstein-geocache-of-the-week/

 

Another promoted "Geocache of the Week" in a Utility Box.

 

...on an obsolete utility box, which contains no active utility equipment, is clearly labeled on the outside as a geocache, is published with permission by the local town, and (like all of the disconnected utility box caches I've come across) requires a key to access.

 

f966b078-d699-411d-9853-f2aea7ab0468.jpg

 

Quelle horreur.

Edited by hzoi
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4 hours ago, hzoi said:

and (like all of the disconnected utility box caches I've come across) requires a key to access.

There was a TB hotel that I found a while back that was a locked metal box, although I don't remember it looking much like a utility box, more like a big storage locker. Anyway, the key was hidden nearby, so the difficulty was based on finding the micro-sized hidden key.

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On 3/28/2019 at 10:28 AM, niraD said:

There was a TB hotel that I found a while back that was a locked metal box, although I don't remember it looking much like a utility box, more like a big storage locker. Anyway, the key was hidden nearby, so the difficulty was based on finding the micro-sized hidden key.

I think I found that cache today. Pretty cool. One of the advantages of moving to a new place get to find great new caches.  

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