Jump to content

Travelbug Log Question


mksamelson

Recommended Posts

I picked up my first travel bug today and logged the pickup.

 

When I make other finds, do I need to log the TB "visited"?  or will the system know that since it was in my possession it too "visited" my new finds and show up under the TB activity log?

 

Thanks in advance.

Link to comment
8 minutes ago, cerberus1 said:

"Visited" will be in the drop-down for you to include it in your Found It log.    :)     Log explained here. 

I included the link, as you didn't say if you were using a GPSr, or app.   Both are included. 

It says in that link "Visit, take a trackable to a cache but keep it with you when you leave" which really confuses me. 

Edited by NightFall806
Link to comment
1 minute ago, NightFall806 said:

It says in that link "Visit, take a trackable to a cache but keep it with you when you leave" which really confuses me.

What's confusing?

"Drop" means that you left the trackable there.

"Visit" means that you took the trackable there, but didn't leave it there ("keep it with you when you leave").

 

Note that many trackable owners don't like getting dozens or hundreds of content-free Visited logs. Personally, I post Visited logs only when the cache is relevant to the trackable's goal. For example, one trackable had the goal of traveling to playground caches. However, most of the caches near playgrounds that I found were much too small to hold the trackable. So I would post a Visited log, and add a photo of the trackable to the Visited log. But I didn't have the trackable visit any of the regular (non-playground) caches that I found during that time, because they weren't relevant to the trackable's goal.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
5 minutes ago, NightFall806 said:

It says in that link "Visit, take a trackable to a cache but keep it with you when you leave" which really confuses me. 

 

I don't think every cacher is lugging a toy story Woody trackable from cache to cache. Leaving 'em in a car or at home instead.    :)

 -  But if you do, It simply stays in your pocket.     You're just "visiting".      ;)

 

I don't feel "visit" has much purpose, and it's annoying to many.  Just an easier way to Drop, then Retrieve  to caches found.

Holding on to them longer than a couple weeks ("Wheee!  Look at meeee! That's eight caches found today.")  the biggest complaint.

 -   Using the Trackable  Owner's property as a personal mileage marker...

 

Link to comment
47 minutes ago, NightFall806 said:

So it's kinda like you take it to a geocache but didn't drop it off at that cache?

Exactly.

 

Some people have a personal trackable that they have visit every cache/event that they find/attend. The main reason for this seems to be tracking one's "mileage" as though one traveled from one geocache/event to another, without doing anything else in between. This is fine since it's your own trackable.

 

Some people grab trackables and then drop them in dozens (perhaps hundreds) of caches before finally dropping them off somewhere. As mentioned previously, this annoys some trackable owners.

 

Some never post Visited logs. As I mentioned earlier, I post Visited logs only when they're relevant to the trackable's goal. And there are probably other variations as well.

Link to comment
4 minutes ago, niraD said:

Some people grab trackables and then drop them in dozens (perhaps hundreds) of caches before finally dropping them off somewhere. As mentioned previously, this annoys some trackable owners.

 

Some never post Visited logs. As I mentioned earlier, I post Visited logs only when they're relevant to the trackable's goal. And there are probably other variations as well.

 

Also very annoying when I look at the trackables in the "View Past Trackables" on a cache page.  One cacher just visited 45 trackables!  

  • Upvote 1
  • Helpful 1
Link to comment
7 hours ago, NightFall806 said:

So it's kinda like you take it to a geocache but didn't drop it off at that cache?

If the cache visited is in a nice or interesting, spot TB owners often would love to see a photo of the trackable but take care not to have the code visible in the photo.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
12 hours ago, niraD said:

Some people grab trackables and then drop them in dozens (perhaps hundreds) of caches before finally dropping them off somewhere. As mentioned previously, this annoys some trackable owners.

 

Yep, can be pretty tedious.  If I have TBs with me, I tend to dip them into (i.e. visit) caches that show their journey without the turn-by-turn directions.

Link to comment
On 7/10/2019 at 12:41 AM, colleda said:

If the cache visited is in a nice or interesting, spot TB owners often would love to see a photo of the trackable but take care not to have the code visible in the photo.

I took a TB that was a plastic, 2" tall lion to Rome and did a visit with  the Lion TB at the cache at the colosseum.  There was no way that the TB was going to fit into the film container there, so just a visit with a couple of photos became part of it's history.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment

Anyone remember Flat Stanley?  A book about a guy who got flattened by a steam roller or something, and he was able to fit inside and envelope to be mailed all over the world.  Schools picked up on this as a project, where kids would color and laminate a Flat Stanley and send them to friends and family around the world, who would take Stanley to various places and photograph him there before sending him back.  I see the "Visit" option like that: A way to track where the TB has been before returning it.  I personally HATE "Visit" logs.  I want to see the actual travels of the TB not just where the current holder has been.  To me, it seems almost childlike to show where the TB has "visited," like going from place to place should somehow be exciting.  Do you actually take the TB out, dip it into the cache, and care?  I find that these logs really muddy up the TB page.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
6 minutes ago, Ageleni said:

Anyone remember Flat Stanley?  A book about a guy who got flattened by a steam roller or something, and he was able to fit inside and envelope to be mailed all over the world.  Schools picked up on this as a project, where kids would color and laminate a Flat Stanley and send them to friends and family around the world, who would take Stanley to various places and photograph him there before sending him back.  I see the "Visit" option like that: A way to track where the TB has been before returning it.  I personally HATE "Visit" logs.  I want to see the actual travels of the TB not just where the current holder has been.  To me, it seems almost childlike to show where the TB has "visited," like going from place to place should somehow be exciting.  Do you actually take the TB out, dip it into the cache, and care?  I find that these logs really muddy up the TB page.

My caching partner in a wheelchair insists that the TB actually touch the cache before and if he logs a visit to the cache.

 

Of course I remember Flat Stanley and Classroom mascots who would travel with students on their vacations.

Link to comment
2 hours ago, Ageleni said:

Do you actually take the TB out, dip it into the cache, and care?

 

Not sure about the *care* part, but yes: TBs physically accompany me, frequently posing for photos nearby.

Edited by VAVAPAM
attribution correction
Link to comment
3 hours ago, Ageleni said:

To me, it seems almost childlike to show where the TB has "visited," like going from place to place should somehow be exciting.  Do you actually take the TB out, dip it into the cache, and care?

I dip others' trackables only if the cache is somehow relevant to the stated goal of the trackable. In that case, I also post a photo of the trackable at the location. For example, one trackable wanted to visit playground caches, but was too big to fit in most of the caches I found that were near playgrounds. I dipped that one in a LOT of playground caches, and included a photo with each one, but I did not dip it in any of the other caches that I found while carrying that trackable.

Link to comment
On 7/22/2019 at 5:26 PM, Ageleni said:

Anyone remember Flat Stanley? <snip> I see the "Visit" option like that: A way to track where the TB has been before returning it.  I personally HATE "Visit" logs.  I want to see the actual travels of the TB not just where the current holder has been.  To me, it seems almost childlike to show where the TB has "visited," like going from place to place should somehow be exciting.  Do you actually take the TB out, dip it into the cache, and care?  I find that these logs really muddy up the TB page.

Yes, I remember Flat Stanley ... school projects with my kids ... is Flat Stanley still a thing?

 

I do "visit" TB's to caches, but not every TB to every cache.  I am selective, and often (not always, but often) take photos of specific TB's at specific caches in keeping with the goal, or if a TB owner has requested photos.  I only carry a half dozen or less with me at any one time - it's too hard to keep track of more than that for my feeble brain!  Our recent road trip, I started out with 6, intending to leave them all in Southern CA, and maybe pick up a few to bring back north with me.  

 

I did manage to drop all of them before returning home, and I have 4 new ones in my inventory, taking photos along the way and looking for a good place to drop them off.  Hopefully the pages are interesting, with photos and a journey, not just random visits.

Link to comment

As a TB owner, I prefer to have the visits logged, better all than none. I have several TBs sitting in someone's backpack or sock drawer and despite the cachers' vow to take the TBs on cache travels, no visits have been logged. Sometimes a friendly reminder gets the TB moving again, sometimes not. I'm due to send out some secondary reminders, wish me luck. If they are getting visit logs, at least I have some assurance it has not gone missing.

 

So - in answer to the original question - No traveler logs occur automatically, if you decide to pick up a traveler visit to your heart's content and drop somewhere appropriate (CAVinoGal has a good method), or just leave in place and discover. 

Link to comment
3 hours ago, kribnkrew said:

If they are getting visit logs, at least I have some assurance it has not gone missing.

No, you really don't. Some people just get in the habit of visiting every TB the system thinks is in their inventory into every cache they find. Those visits offer no assurance whatsoever that they still know where the TB is.

  • Upvote 1
  • Helpful 1
Link to comment
3 hours ago, kribnkrew said:

As a TB owner, I prefer to have the visits logged, better all than none.

 - snip -

If they are getting visit logs, at least I have some assurance it has not gone missing.

 

Not true at all.  "Visit" logs merely need that code to keep "visiting" for years.  Just sitting in the trackable inventory, but gone for some time.

We've seen a few now that just act as the hostage taker's current holder's personal mileage tracker.  This is someone's property...

We've bumped into a couple of those "forty trackables visiting every cache I find" guys, and most didn't even have water

  • Funny 1
  • Helpful 1
Link to comment
3 hours ago, dprovan said:

No, you really don't. Some people just get in the habit of visiting every TB the system thinks is in their inventory into every cache they find. Those visits offer no assurance whatsoever that they still know where the TB is.

^This

Just recently, I retrieved a couple of trackables from a cache. When I went to log the retrieval on the site, I discovered that the previous holder had forgotten to drop them and both trackables were still listed as being in their possession. Since the time that they found that cache, they had continued to blindly visit the trackables in every cache they found, so the records for those trackables didn't reflect reality and the owners wouldn't have gotten an accurate picture of where their trackables were.

  • Helpful 1
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...