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Who is watching my caches?


shellbadger

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I have 50+ trackable-capable caches and I try to keep travelers in all of them.  All my caches are Premium Member Only and most are rural, at roadsides.  A few of them are now 10 years old, the youngest is a year old.  My containers have a good many repeat visitors because other cachers know there will be a bug or two to carry away. 

 

Over the years, a trackable will just vanished from most of them.  However, a pattern is starting to develop.  Some of the containers lose proportionally more trackables than others, and it is not a difference in container traffic.  Fifteen of my caches (30%) have watchers, one cache has two. 

 

What is the purpose of permitting someone other than the owner to watch a cache?

 

Is there a way to identify the watchers? 

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5 hours ago, shellbadger said:

What is the purpose of permitting someone other than the owner to watch a cache?


I’ll typically add a new cache to my watchlist, if I’m interested in tracking the FTF.  Similarly, I’ll watchlist an event if I’m not sure that I can attend, but want to be notified of the Will Attends, mainly to act as a reminder as the event approaches.

 

 

5 hours ago, shellbadger said:

Is there a way to identify the watchers? 


No.  Similarly there is no way of knowing who’s private lists your cache is on.

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7 hours ago, shellbadger said:

What is the purpose of permitting someone other than the owner to watch a cache?

 

I'll watch a cache that I have DNF'd, to see if it gets found, fixed, archived, etc.  Our son has several caches near us that he placed when he was living at home.  He now lives an hour away, but I like to watch those just to keep tabs on activity, and nip any issues before they become larger problems for him.

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20 minutes ago, CAVinoGal said:

DNF

I have had a DNF and logged it, but often I am the first DNF, as many don't log their DNFs. (The worse place I have found for that...NZ.) However, I have noticed on some caches that haven't had a find for sometime before I logged a DNF, a higher number of people watching this cache than usual. Then I am tempted, when logging my DNF, to mention that lots of people are watching this cache and that can indicate other DNFs, but they weren't brave (maybe next time I should write, considerate) enough to log their DNFs. This is so those DNFers can read this. DNFs would be a big reason for people watching caches. If lots of people are watching a cache and there hasn't been a find for awhile, maybe the cache needs checking, as those inconsiderate cowards weren't brave enough to log a DNF. "What will people think if I log a DNF! Gasp, horror!" :rolleyes::blink::anicute:         :laughing:

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9 hours ago, shellbadger said:

I have 50+ trackable-capable caches and I try to keep travelers in all of them.  All my caches are Premium Member Only and most are rural, at roadsides.  A few of them are now 10 years old, the youngest is a year old.  My containers have a good many repeat visitors because other cachers know there will be a bug or two to carry away. 

 

Over the years, a trackable will just vanished from most of them.  However, a pattern is starting to develop.  Some of the containers lose proportionally more trackables than others, and it is not a difference in container traffic.  Fifteen of my caches (30%) have watchers, one cache has two. 

 

What is the purpose of permitting someone other than the owner to watch a cache?

Is there a way to identify the watchers? 

  

We used to hear of hoarders putting caches on watch for trackables.   Some holding dozens of property not there's.

Most we noticed lately were hoarding them to place in their own caches.  One just recently admitted to hoarding trackables for their "tb hotel".

 

The "purpose" is simply notifications.

If I watch a cache it's usually a high D/T, and I'd like to know who follows.  I remove it afterwards.

We used to put caches on watch when we'd start new trackables.

 

You can't identify watchers because it's a privacy issue.  They are just watching your cache, not a person.

We do know of a couple people who asked on the cache page if a watcher would email them, but never heard of a response.

 - They want to watch the cache, not have an interaction with the CO... 

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24 minutes ago, cerberus1 said:

If I watch a cache it's usually a high D/T, and I'd like to know who follows.  I remove it afterwards.

Similar for me, except I put a watch on all my cache finds, so I know who follows after, and then I remove it. An exception is power trails. I might only put a watch on one or two of those, not all of them. I also keep a watch on caches that I have dropped a TB off in, so that I can read, "Picked up the TB' and know who has it, because some people are slow to log TBs, if they do at all. Then if they don't log it, I can give them a nudge.

I also watch a couple of a friend's caches, as he can be slow to react to maintenance.

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OK folks, thanks for the comments.  Re using the watch feature, I am only a marginal cacher so the applications you describe are not things I have learned to do.  I maintain my own caches and make travel bugs, that is the kind of caching I do.  I guess I will have to either move containers or learn to treat the disappearance of 30 trackable a year as overhead.

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45 minutes ago, shellbadger said:

OK folks, thanks for the comments.  Re using the watch feature, I am only a marginal cacher so the applications you describe are not things I have learned to do.  I maintain my own caches and make travel bugs, that is the kind of caching I do.  I guess I will have to either move containers or learn to treat the disappearance of 30 trackable a year as overhead.

 

As you probably already realize, it might not even be the "watchers" doing that.  Human nature and Occam's razor, we assume.   :)

To boot, if your caches are pmo, you now know that plunking cash for a pm doesn't make one more honest too...

We're seeing so many inaccurate trackable logs and movements (long-time players too...) that it really could be anyone that found the cache.

We noticed lack of trackable mentions around '09, when folks (for some odd reason) stopped mentioning swag trades as well.

Maybe it's just me, but if I'd lose 30 trackables a year, I'd stop feeding whoever the culprits may be for a while. 

We stopped at just a little over a dozen.   We have a couple hundred in safe-keeping now.  

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I do realize.  Several years ago I looked at profiles persons who had logged retrievals of my bugs but never dropped them.  By far most were newbies who seemingly had lost interest, but a significant number were also pmo cachers.  There are a surprising number of non-pmo cachers visiting my pmo caches...I know some of them and they aren't bad actors.  

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I hate to hear this, it sounds like the affliction that's taken over the central part of the state is spreading. When I was collecting counties in the panhandle I quickly learned that if I attempted one of your caches there was a 99.9% probability I would find it, it would be in excellent condition, and if a trackable was listed it would be in the cache. I have made at least one 500 mile round trip to drop off a special coin in one of your caches and after checking this morning I found the last one dropped a year ago is alive and well in Europe.

This thread reminded me to look at your activity page which I haven't looked at for probably two years. I appreciate the amount of time and effort you have put into collecting and presenting the amount of detail and number of photographs you've collected on your trackable items, I can't think of another owner that has done the same.

And no, I'm not watching your caches :D

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5 hours ago, 31BMSG said:

I hate to hear this, it sounds like the affliction that's taken over the central part of the state is spreading. When I was collecting counties in the panhandle I quickly learned that if I attempted one of your caches there was a 99.9% probability I would find it, it would be in excellent condition, and if a trackable was listed it would be in the cache. I have made at least one 500 mile round trip to drop off a special coin in one of your caches and after checking this morning I found the last one dropped a year ago is alive and well in Europe.

This thread reminded me to look at your activity page which I haven't looked at for probably two years. I appreciate the amount of time and effort you have put into collecting and presenting the amount of detail and number of photographs you've collected on your trackable items, I can't think of another owner that has done the same.

And no, I'm not watching your caches :D

 

Thanks for your kind comments.  I have lately noticed that cachers on the Texas Challenge mission seem to be selectively visiting my containers, which of course is the point. I maintain the containers as bait to increase the chances that  a trackable there might be noticed and taken away.  Every month or so I travel to containers that have been visited and restock them with new trackables.

 

My next report (in the next day or two) will show why I sent your trackable to England.  European cachers take way, way better of care trackables than we do here...bugs last longer move more frequently.

 

My containers give me an excuse to get out of the house and on the road.  I did the same thing with a hobby i had when I lived in the Rio Grande Valley. I did office work then but kept bees on the side.  I had bee yards scattered over four counties. Here, I have been retired since 2003 and have trackable-sized caches scattered over 10 counties and bison tube caches in cemeteries scattered scattered over 40+ counties. It is what this really old man does to stay busy.  More than you wanted to know, I'm sure. Thanks again.

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3 hours ago, shellbadger said:

 

Thanks for your kind comments.  I have lately noticed that cachers on the Texas Challenge mission seem to be selectively visiting my containers, which of course is the point. I maintain the containers as bait to increase the chances that  a trackable there might be noticed and taken away.  Every month or so I travel to containers that have been visited and restock them with new trackables.

 

My next report (in the next day or two) will show why I sent your trackable to England.  European cachers take way, way better of care trackables than we do here...bugs last longer move more frequently.

 

My containers give me an excuse to get out of the house and on the road.  I did the same thing with a hobby i had when I lived in the Rio Grande Valley. I did office work then but kept bees on the side.  I had bee yards scattered over four counties. Here, I have been retired since 2003 and have trackable-sized caches scattered over 10 counties and bison tube caches in cemeteries scattered scattered over 40+ counties. It is what this really old man does to stay busy.  More than you wanted to know, I'm sure. Thanks again.

I fully understand the reason that trackable went to England, I just recently changed the mission on my trackables in Europe asking that they not be returned to the US for exactly that reason.

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I tend to "watch" quite a few caches. I'll click the watch list if it's a cache that I want to try to find in the future, and I also watch some caches that I've already found just because I'm curious to see who finds it after me (especially if I have a TB in the cache...I want to see who picks it up, just out of sheer curiosity!)

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