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Lab caches. Why are they caches?


Harry Dolphin

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This has been mentioned in several fora.  If Lab Caches cannot be logged on Geocaching.com, why are they considered caches?  I have clues to several lab caches, but would have no way to log them.  If the cannot be logged on Geocaching.com, then they are NOT caches.  They should either be moved to that other area, with Waymarking.  Or, there should be a way to log them on Geocaching.com.  

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And why are they "Labs"?  They've evolved out of the "Lab Cache" concept of being a test container for a variety of experience experiments with a simple verification mechanism... Now they are, well, Adventures. Adventure something. The "Lab Cache" label made people think these test containers were actual geocaches, when they were temporary experiences typically run at events. They became so popular that people now expect them and enjoy them as their own thing. But they're still considered 'caches'.

 

IMO, they're statistically much more like Benchmarks.  And it kind of bugs me that one single Adventure reward many muiltiple +1 geocache finds... it's a very odd setup that's never really sat well with me. But I'm just zis guy, you know?

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I never considered them caches due to the fact that they don't add to the find count (unless that's changed).  I jumped on board the intercache (and still have it out) and the AR cache (still out) because those met the standards for being a find once completed and signed, although they fall under the unknown umbrella.  There aren't many of those types of caches in my regional area but it appears there are many new Adventure thingy-s that have been created and many people seem to enjoy, more than both AR and intercache caches.  I never have done one and I didn't do any of the "challenges" that came out either.  

 

Another thing I don't understand is that you can't even filter for them on the "new" map.  If they were truly caches, they'd be on the filter selection list.

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10 minutes ago, coachstahly said:

If they were truly caches, they'd be on the filter selection list.

 

That's why I say they're more like Benchmarks. There are no logs. Cache stats are generated from cache listing to which Found It logs are attached. Benchmarks are basically a hack, appended to the calculation of find counts, but there are no cache properties to include in any other stats than the smiley count.

 

Caches are listings, and cache finds are generated by Found It logs. Adventure Labs are neither, and tracked separately, but the completion count is tacked on to whatever stat can be appended (the smiley count) just like Benchmarks.

 

I'm OCD when it comes to stats being consistent :) I download my Finds PQ and it doesn't match the profile stats.  You can disable the AL counts being included in stats though, which is good. But it still bungs up other people's stats :P

 

And really not that it matters because it's not competition, but now people's "find" counts are getting inflated from new AL's being created with many 'stages' each giving a +1.  Theoretically, someone could have 2000 finds, on 500 geocaches... that's just really weird.

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