+spicyquiche Posted July 22, 2019 Share Posted July 22, 2019 (edited) Hi all, I am fairly new to geocaching. I just got Premium yesterday after (very) casually caching for almost a year and have been adding caches to lists, and am going caching for the first time as a premium member tomorrow! However; as I was adding caches to my lists, I noticed a few saying the CO checks the logs and deletes finds. I have been signing logbooks with my real name instead of my geocaching.com username, but after seeing caches like that I am wondering if this is wrong? I always have multiple people in my caching party and we all sign with our names while I am the only person who signs with the app. I don't want my finds to get deleted because I used my name instead of my usernname. So, tl;dr for people who dont want to read my long-winded explanation: Am I supposed to sign logbooks with my real name or my account name? I'm sorry if this has been asked before. Edited July 22, 2019 by spicyquiche 1 Quote Link to comment
+colleda Posted July 22, 2019 Share Posted July 22, 2019 (edited) Always sign using your account name on the off chance that the CO checks the and is unable to reconcile the signatures. If the CO does question and or deletes one of your finds you would need to yell him/her the name you actually signed and that should sort it. Also, if you believe there is insufficient room on a micro log sheet or scroll for your signature it is quite ok to abbreviate. E.g. "spicy" for "spicyquiche". Edited July 22, 2019 by colleda typos 1 Quote Link to comment
+Max and 99 Posted July 22, 2019 Share Posted July 22, 2019 You should use your username on the log, and abbreviated is OK if there isn't much room. Because we are CONTROL's top agents, The Chief insists that we only use our usernames, not our real names! I hope you enjoy a new geocaching adventure with a premium account. Have fun! P.S. If by chance your log gets deleted (I rarely see this happening), just explain to the Cache Owner (CO) that you signed your real name. I wouldn't worry about it too much. 1 Quote Link to comment
+Touchstone Posted July 22, 2019 Share Posted July 22, 2019 I've always used my Username. Like Max said above, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Most cache owners I've met are pretty reasonable. 1 Quote Link to comment
+niraD Posted July 22, 2019 Share Posted July 22, 2019 Like others, I always sign with my account name ("niraD"). With that said, I signed the first 4 with my real name, because I hadn't created a geocaching.com account yet. And then I signed a number of caches with my original geocaching.com account name, before changing my geocaching.com account name to niraD. And there have been a few times when I've gone geocaching with a group, and instead of signing everyone's individual names, we signed only a single team name (e.g., "GBA ECR" for the Geocachers of the Bay Area Evil Cache Run). So it's no big deal. And it's easy enough to explain to any CO who asks that you signed with your real name. Or to mention in your log that you were part of a team that signed with a team name. Or whatever. 1 Quote Link to comment
+spicyquiche Posted July 22, 2019 Author Share Posted July 22, 2019 Thank you all for the replies! I think I will have my usual party members get accounts and/or sign with a team name so it's a little easier in the case of a CO who checks logs. I'll mention the other users/team name in my logs from now on as well Quote Link to comment
+cerberus1 Posted July 22, 2019 Share Posted July 22, 2019 You enter the game/hobby by creating an account with a user name. Most COs who check logs would expect to see the user name that's logging the find online, in their cache log. We'd sometimes take new folks without accounts with us, and most write in their real name simply because they don't have any idea what to "call themselves" yet. Later, if they opened an account and claimed those caches as finds, they know to write "was with cerberus1 and signed my real name" when they back-dated that find. Easy for the CO to see our name, and realize that name on the same date is probably it (if the CO checks...). 2 1 Quote Link to comment
+colleda Posted July 22, 2019 Share Posted July 22, 2019 25 minutes ago, spicyquiche said: Thank you all for the replies! I think I will have my usual party members get accounts and/or sign with a team name so it's a little easier in the case of a CO who checks logs. I'll mention the other users/team name in my logs from now on as well Good to hear that you're introducing new players. On the rare occasion that I've cached with a team/group I always sign 'colleda', I prefer it that way. I also prefer caching solo but that's me, no other egos to contend with but mine. 2 Quote Link to comment
+niraD Posted July 22, 2019 Share Posted July 22, 2019 2 hours ago, cerberus1 said: You enter the game/hobby by creating an account with a user name. You do? I didn't. I entered the game/hobby by tagging along with someone else who had an account with a username, and who provided the necessary cache data to the rest of us. And I've introduced a bunch of people to the game/hobby, and none of them created an account with a username first either. Quote Link to comment
+Goldenwattle Posted July 22, 2019 Share Posted July 22, 2019 5 hours ago, niraD said: instead of signing everyone's individual names, we signed only a single team name If it's a big group that's a good idea having one group name, to save the log from filling up. I find that considerate. However, someone needs to list all the geocachers' names in their log, so that the cache CO can know who really was part of this group, and it's not some armchair logger seeing this and tagging along from their armchair, even weeks or more later, saying sorry, forgot to log until now. Quote Link to comment
+CAVinoGal Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 I've signed using my account name, CAVinoGal, or CAV if space is tight. When hubby and I go together, we use our own geo names, or SL2 if space is tight (our "real names" both have initials SL, so our team log name is SL2). When we do sign as SL2, it's mentioned in our logs that we "signed as SL2". We've never had it questioned. Quote Link to comment
+barefootjeff Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 On 7/22/2019 at 6:13 PM, Goldenwattle said: If it's a big group that's a good idea having one group name, to save the log from filling up. It depends on the logbook. This one, about the size and thickness of a Stephen King novel, is on a T3.5 cache that's only had 39 finds to date, with most of those during last year's mega not far from there. Replacing a full logbook will be something for the CO's great-grandchildren to worry about. 1 1 Quote Link to comment
+cerberus1 Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 13 hours ago, barefootjeff said: It depends on the logbook. This one, about the size and thickness of a Stephen King novel, is on a T3.5 cache that's only had 39 finds to date, with most of those during last year's mega not far from there. Replacing a full logbook will be something for the CO's great-grandchildren to worry about. We had larger in our 50cals, and now they're "retired". Logbooks like that are something to relish. Crayola hard-cover drawing books, folks really drew in them. Others left poems, long logs, and a couple pressed flowers in them. Now that those days appear to be over, where most might get a full signature if you're lucky, we went to 4x6 rite in rain notebooks. I use a newer hard-cover drawing book for letterbox hybrids now ... if there's a stamp.... 1 1 Quote Link to comment
+barefootjeff Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 2 hours ago, cerberus1 said: Now that those days appear to be over, where most might get a full signature if you're lucky, we went to 4x6 rite in rain notebooks. I always try to use the biggest logbook that'll fit into the container and people here do respond by adding a bit of a write-up to their signature, although I haven't come across any poems yet. These are the first three entries in the logbook of one of my recent hides: 2 Quote Link to comment
+The A-Team Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 1 hour ago, barefootjeff said: I always try to use the biggest logbook that'll fit into the container and people here do respond by adding a bit of a write-up to their signature, although I haven't come across any poems yet. I do that too. Therefore, when I hid a 200-litre container, I used an appropriately-sized logbook and pen. I haven't checked it recently, but there may be some poems in there. 1 5 Quote Link to comment
+TeamRabbitRun Posted July 25, 2019 Share Posted July 25, 2019 I have a "Library" cache, where the container is a fake book on a shelf. One finder was apparently so enamored of or thankful for a staff member who gave him some guidance, that this is his log.... (I fuzzed out his moniker 'cause I don't have permission to identify him.) 1 2 Quote Link to comment
+bflentje Posted July 25, 2019 Share Posted July 25, 2019 On 7/22/2019 at 12:52 AM, niraD said: You do? I didn't. I entered the game/hobby by tagging along with someone else who had an account with a username, and who provided the necessary cache data to the rest of us. And I've introduced a bunch of people to the game/hobby, and none of them created an account with a username first either. another thread off topic again. good grief 1 Quote Link to comment
+niraD Posted July 25, 2019 Share Posted July 25, 2019 3 minutes ago, bflentje said: another thread off topic again. good grief Quote Link to comment
+barefootjeff Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 I did a 3/3 puzzle cache today which ended with a long hike to an intriguing location. The CO asked not to give anything away about GZ in the online logs so most people have left quite a long log, half a page to a page, in the physical logbook. Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted August 6, 2019 Share Posted August 6, 2019 When I started geocaching I signed my geocaching name and my real name for the first few finds. This was in 2001 when there were not a lot of geocaches. Shortly after logging my first find I received an e-mail "Hi Brian are you related to X and Y? " Yep X is my brother and Y is my father I answered. It turned out that the CO was friends with my brother and dad and served on the same police dept. with them. It's certainly a small world when the CO of your first find in geocaching knows your family. Especially considering that back the there were perhaps 20 geocachers in the entire state. 1 Quote Link to comment
+Harry Dolphin Posted August 7, 2019 Share Posted August 7, 2019 Hmm... My first find was on a Briansnat cache. Didn't meet him for a few years afterward. But that cache got me hooked on geocaching. Wow. That was fifteen years ago! Quote Link to comment
+NightFall806 Posted August 13, 2019 Share Posted August 13, 2019 (edited) On 7/21/2019 at 8:47 PM, spicyquiche said: Am I supposed to sign logbooks with my real name or my account name? Your username. But don't worry if you already put your real name. Edited August 13, 2019 by NightFall806 1 Quote Link to comment
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