Bug: Cache suddenly became inaccessible

[+fizzymagic]

I have run into an interesting bug.  At least, I hope it's a bug.  My cache find count differed between Project GC and GC.com, so I investigated and discovered that a cache that I found has become inaccessible to me.  I submitted a bug report and received some nonsense about how it was just archived.  But no,  I cannot access the cache page and (it appears) that Project GC can also not access it on my behalf. I get the DNF page when I use the URL below.

 

The cache is GC3785B .

 

There is no reason I can see that that this cache page should have become inaccessible.  It was just a garden-variety traditional cache hidden in (I think) 2011.  It appeared in my My Finds PQ I submitted today, so the cache is still in the DB.

 

I gathered from the HQ response that the person there thought it was readable, which makes me think this is a permissions issue.  Can anyone else here see the cache page?  Reviewers?  Has some flag in the DB been modified so it's not accessible? Was this a glitch or on purpose?

 

Has anybody else seen similar behavior in the past?

 

[+kunarion]

Retracted, evidently.  
 

That cache and others are mentioned here:

 

[+fizzymagic]

Retracted, perhaps, but why?  Can I got and get caches retracted and screw up everybody's statistics?  Why would anybody even want that?  If for some reason the CO wanted the page contents deleted that could be done without retracting the cache!

 

14 minutes ago, kunarion said:

Retracted, evidently.  
 

That cache and others are mentioned here:

 

 

Edited November 14, 2019 by fizzymagic

[Moun10Bike]

Reading the retraction log (which was posted in 2012, BTW), it reads like it was accidentally applied to the wrong cache by the reviewer.

[+fizzymagic]

Oh!  Thanks!

[+Isonzo Karst]

I suspect you dealt with a staffer who  saw an archived cache, the last action log is now in the pane at the top of the page,  and simply missed the retract log. 

 

Just info for others seeing the thread, I have a find on a retracted cache. The stats on Geocaching.com include it: in my finds total,  my total of finds of that type, on that day, of that D/T rating etc. It does download (cache page and my logs)  in a MyFinds query.

 

API partners can not see it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 14, 2019 by Isonzo Karst

[+fizzymagic]

13 hours ago, Isonzo Karst said:

I suspect you dealt with a staffer who  saw an archived cache, the last action log is now in the pane at the top of the page,  and simply missed the retract log. 

 

Just info for others seeing the thread, I have a find on a retracted cache. The stats on Geocaching.com include it: in my finds total,  my total of finds of that type, on that day, of that D/T rating etc. It does download (cache page and my logs)  in a MyFinds query.

 

API partners can not see it.

 

I believe that is exactly what happened.  For some reason I just didn't notice it until now.  I vaguely recall that until recently my PGC and my GC stats matched, but it seems that I am mis-remembering.

 

There is an issue here, though -- new challenge caches require that there be a PGC checker for the challenge.  If there are caches that were found by a user but not accessible via the API, then potentially PGC could mis-report that you do not qualify for a challenge when in fact, you do.  Yes, I know that this situation is probably vanishingly rare and could easily be overcome by hand, but my OCD still doesn't like it!