Field Puzzle Replacement After Finding

[+Mausebiber]

A word to the TO about the bottle and the bolt.

Find a location near a hut or something where cachers can sit and get bad weather protection. If it is cold and/or rainy it is no fun at all working with shivering hands on a small bolt and nut. All other participants just standing around for a considerable amount of time doing nothing (but giving good advice).  In a hut, they all can sit down taking a break while the bottle is going around

 

If you want to give some advice, a magnet sometimes helps a lot, keeping the bolt in place.

[+dprovan]

7 hours ago, arisoft said:

This is exactly what we are talking in this thread. What happens when you make a cache which is harder to reset than find. Will players reset it at all? I didn't.

Oh. OK. Sorry, I just couldn't believe it. To me, it's obvious you have to reset the cache. If I have any question about whether I'm going to be able to reset it, I leave it alone. I've goofed up before and discovered I couldn't reset a cache I thought I'd be able to, but it's very embarrassing and I apologized profusely.  Where possible, I came back with additional tools and time to reset it as soon as I could. I didn't understand that the culture in your area is more ho-hum about it. If you as the CO consider it optional, I guess there's no reason for me to argue. But I'd prefer you not spread the idea to my area since I like caches that are supposed to be retrieved with a tree climb to be actually in the tree, not sitting on the ground because the last seeker was told that putting it back is optional.

 

6 hours ago, Mausebiber said:

I believe, you got one right thing in mind, but you are writing something else.

"return the cache as found" is not always right or correct, see sample above where an open box is displayed. If I may reword this to:  "Replace the box the way the owner intended it."  Not always easy since sometimes we don't know what the owner had in mind, but very often we can use the cache description to hide the cache accordingly.

For this, too, it never occurred to me anyone would interpret what I said in any other way, especially in this context where we're taking for granted that the puzzle starts in the correct reset position. Although it sounds like we err in different directions: it's only in very obvious cases where I try to guess what the owner intended. If I am unsure, I return it as found even if I suspect it isn't hidden the way it should be. Then I explain in my log (or privately, if necessary) what I suspect is wrong so the CO can go look for himself. After all, I assume the CO will be as interested in understanding the problem that led to it being returned incorrectly as in getting the cache in the right place.

[+hal-an-tow]

On 1/26/2019 at 9:48 PM, Keystone said:

 

If you want to make a mystery cache, you'll need to add an element like MtnGoat50's excellent suggestion for a YouTube video.  If the cache is located at the coordinates posted at the top of the cache page, it's a traditional with a field puzzle attribute.

Unless it is a challenge cache. With a field puzzle attribute.

[+TwistedCube]

On 1/27/2019 at 5:14 AM, Mausebiber said:

A word to the TO about the bottle and the bolt.

Find a location near a hut or something where cachers can sit and get bad weather protection. If it is cold and/or rainy it is no fun at all working with shivering hands on a small bolt and nut. All other participants just standing around for a considerable amount of time doing nothing (but giving good advice).  In a hut, they all can sit down taking a break while the bottle is going around

 

If you want to give some advice, a magnet sometimes helps a lot, keeping the bolt in place.

I was thinking along the lines of a gazebo when I hide this. I'll probably place it underneath the steps or something.

[+CAVinoGal]

On 1/25/2019 at 6:07 PM, dprovan said:

<snip> ... the responsibility of every finder to do their best to restore the cache as found, including alert the CO if he can't get it back to square one.

 

On 1/25/2019 at 11:17 AM, kunarion said:

I'm one of the few who try to put it all back as intended.   Even if the previous cachers left a lock open "so it's easy for the next guy", I lock it so it's a puzzle again. 

 

We always do our best to "put it all back as we found it" - unless the state we found it is *obviously* not as the CO intended.  Then we'll look at the hint and previous logs and try to put it back as intended (entirely subjective, but we try).  In cases where we cannot, for whatever reason, I send a message to the CO stating the situation.  Yes, we have "broken" or "lost" containers, or made them impossible to retrieve.  We always own up to it, so it can be fixed ASAP for the future cachers.

 

As to the OP, a cache like this can be very challenging, both to the finders and to you, as the CO, to maintain it.  Making it PMO, and upping the difficulty level will weed out some seekers.  Just be prepared to do a LOT of oversight and maintenance!