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Lame logging.


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Some of the best cachers leave funny and imaginative logs, but lately I've been getting lame logs in my hides, especially from nubies. Tftc, tfth, thanks, are all great, but I love to read logs online that give me at least a chuckle or give me some info on the loggers adventures. Please people, be a little more interesting in you're logs or else,"HULK SMASH!!!!" ?

Stay healthy and GOD bless.

Jesse aka hulk65

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7 minutes ago, Agents of STASH! said:

Some of the best cachers leave funny and imaginative logs, but lately I've been getting lame logs in my hides, especially from nubies. Tftc, tfth, thanks, are all great, but I love to read logs online that give me at least a chuckle or give me some info on the loggers adventures. Please people, be a little more interesting in you're logs or else,"HULK SMASH!!!!" ?

Stay healthy and GOD bless.

Jesse aka hulk65

That's the smart phone for you. Even the semi-illiterate now geocache.

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We were all new at this once, and I'm sure most of us did something that caused more experienced cachers to roll their eyes a bit.  For me, it was picking a terrible place to hide my first cache.  Thankfully, I got some constructive feedback and learned quickly.

 

On the other end of the spectrum, there are plenty of experienced cachers who use the same copy/paste log for all of their finds on a particular day, or trip, or ever.  Some are just about to the 4,000 character limit, presumably to make sure that cacher gets the best "log length" stat possible on project-GC or elsewhere.  Neato the first time you see it.  Tiresome the 2nd through 10th, and so on.  Since neither "TFTC" nor copy/paste word diarrhea logs are helpful, and both are best ignored, I'd rather see "TFTC" than the copy/paste logs full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.  If for no other reason than the TFTC posts are easier to scroll past.

 

Anyway.  The topic is short, generic noob logs.  Back to that.

 

Keep in mind most new cachers today use some form of geocaching app and may never have visited the site.  On the official app, you don't see logs unless you specifically open up the recent logs.  So new cachers might not realize anyone's reading these.

 

Perhaps a kindly worded note to these newer finders would help things.  "Howdy, thanks for finding our geocache, and welcome to geocaching!  Hope you're having fun so far.  I don't know if you realized, but cache owners get an email every time someone finds their cache, and everyone's found it logs are saved on the cache page.  We always enjoy reading stories about someone's experience.  It's up to you, but if you wanted to leave more descriptive notes, other cachers might enjoy hearing what you have to say."

Edited by hzoi
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1 minute ago, Goldenwattle said:
2 minutes ago, hzoi said:

Well, then just ignore my suggestion and light them on fire.  That'll fix it.

If you are being snarky, please don't. I did give your comments a favourite. I thought your suggestion of writing to them very nice.

More flippant than snarky.  But OK.

 

There used to be default language in the Groundspeak app for logs.  Something like, "That's one more find for me!"  I haven't explored other apps, but it's certainly possible there's one out there that has TFTC as the default log.

 

However a cacher arrives at the decision to log "TFTC," if they never learn it's a lame log, the problem will persist.  

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4 hours ago, Agents of STASH! said:

Some of the best cachers leave funny and imaginative logs, but lately I've been getting lame logs in my hides, especially from nubies. Tftc, tfth, thanks, are all great, but I love to read logs online that give me at least a chuckle or give me some info on the loggers adventures. Please people, be a little more interesting in you're logs or else,"HULK SMASH!!!!"

I support you encouraging people to think more about their logs, but not to threaten them if they don't, even in such a light hearted way. I think a lot of people don't think about the fact that their logs are really being read by other people that would find a more significant log interesting, so it's a good idea to mention it.

 

The trend is going the other way, though. At least in my area, it's not just newbies that write short logs. Although no experienced cacher would be caught dead with a mere "tftc", the "Out caching with X in the Y area" logs that some of the more experienced cachers have adopted around here aren't really any more interesting. But I guess I can understand: if you've written 100,000 logs over 20 years, the novelty of writing something creative for every one kinda wears off.

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On 4/23/2020 at 1:33 AM, dprovan said:

I support you encouraging people to think more about their logs, but not to threaten them if they don't, even in such a light hearted way. I think a lot of people don't think about the fact that their logs are really being read by other people that would find a more significant log interesting, so it's a good idea to mention it.

 

The trend is going the other way, though. At least in my area, it's not just newbies that write short logs. Although no experienced cacher would be caught dead with a mere "tftc", the "Out caching with X in the Y area" logs that some of the more experienced cachers have adopted around here aren't really any more interesting. But I guess I can understand: if you've written 100,000 logs over 20 years, the novelty of writing something creative for every one kinda wears off.

I still mostly write individual logs, except perhaps for power trails. Although even there, if one is a bit different, or there is some unusual landmark or something, I will add an individual comment after the basic script for that power trail. I will also inform the CO if there is a problem with the cache, which I have noticed, many don't. This is my last log for example: GC82WYR.

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On 4/22/2020 at 5:33 PM, dprovan said:

The trend is going the other way, though. At least in my area, it's not just newbies that write short logs. Although no experienced cacher would be caught dead with a mere "tftc", the "Out caching with X in the Y area" logs that some of the more experienced cachers have adopted around here aren't really any more interesting. But I guess I can understand: if you've written 100,000 logs over 20 years, the novelty of writing something creative for every one kinda wears off.

 

That's why I try to log from the field whenever I can, or at least take some short notes if I don't have enough reception or battery life to log on the spot.  Otherwise it would be all too easy to fall into the trap of copy/paste logs if I was sitting at the laptop trying to remember which one this particular cache was again.

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On 4/22/2020 at 9:16 AM, hzoi said:

On the other end of the spectrum, there are plenty of experienced cachers who use the same copy/paste log for all of their finds on a particular day, or trip, or ever.

 

You just sparked a memory for me. There used to be a small group of cachers just like this in my area prior to my recent long hiatus. It got to the point that if I ever saw their logs in my email from caches I had been watching or something, I'd just immediately delete the emailed logs from my inbox. They're logs (each person and every single log) were word for word exactly the same. Always. So you're right...it's not always new cachers.

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On 4/22/2020 at 6:54 AM, Agents of STASH! said:

 ... lately I've been getting lame logs in my hides, especially from nubies.

Tftc, tfth, thanks, are all great, but I love to read logs online that give me at least a chuckle or give me some info on the loggers adventures.

Please people, be a little more interesting in you're logs or else,"HULK SMASH!!!!" ?

 

 

Skipped the "best cachers" part...      

 

When we first started, the other 2/3rds was asked if I could stop the wordy logs.  Most others only a sentence or two.

It wasn't like there were so many cachers at the time either ...  And the "numbers" crowd didn't catch on for a couple years yet.

 - So not sure why it bugged them so much, but I didn't change it anyway.    :D    

Now that there's stats on third-party sites for  "log length" , with so many cut n paste logs of the same emoji-riddled blather for word/character count, that's probably why we haven't had anyone complain about my logs in some time...

 

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I always made the effort.  After reading this from one of BlueStarsForever's caches I try even harder:

 

Quote

The only enjoyment the placer gets from this cache is the log you write, so please tell me about your experience. TFTC is not very enjoyable, nor is seeing the same copy and paste time after time as you find my hides.

 

On the paper log I rarely write anything other than date and name.  Partly because I'm self-conscience about my handwriting.  And partly I'm usually worried about being caught in flagrante delicto.  I have read other's while on the trail and that is a treat.  One 50 cal. had some travel diary someone left in there from a trip they took to NYC some 10 or more years prior and it was really neat to thumb through.

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On 4/27/2020 at 9:40 AM, hzoi said:

 

That's why I try to log from the field whenever I can, or at least take some short notes if I don't have enough reception or battery life to log on the spot.  Otherwise it would be all too easy to fall into the trap of copy/paste logs if I was sitting at the laptop trying to remember which one this particular cache was again.

That is why I like the draft feature.

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I am this person. I'm a noob that didn't understand why I had to write something every time I logged a find. With no guidance, fear of posting something I shouldn't and little thought on the matter I settled into TFTH. Sometimes adding specifics if there was something particularly enjoyable or if I added something to the cache.

As a matter of fact, this is the first time I have ever logged into the website and not the mobile ap. I am so thankful for seeing this post. It will help me to be a better logger in the future.

On ‎4‎/‎25‎/‎2020 at 8:51 PM, Goldenwattle said:

I still mostly write individual logs, except perhaps for power trails. Although even there, if one is a bit different, or there is some unusual landmark or something, I will add an individual comment after the basic script for that power trail. I will also inform the CO if there is a problem with the cache, which I have noticed, many don't. This is my last log for example: GC82WYR.

Thank you Goldenwattle for adding an example. This was very informative for me. More so than just listing what people don't want to see in the logs.

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5 hours ago, michael_candles said:

I am this person. I'm a noob that didn't understand why I had to write something every time I logged a find. With no guidance, fear of posting something I shouldn't and little thought on the matter I settled into TFTH. Sometimes adding specifics if there was something particularly enjoyable or if I added something to the cache.

As a matter of fact, this is the first time I have ever logged into the website and not the mobile ap. I am so thankful for seeing this post. It will help me to be a better logger in the future.

 

You can edit a previous log to add more of a story. When I started caching, I used the web site, and even there it's not clear that anyone reads logs. So I just looked at a bunch of cache logs and settled on the common one, “TFTC”. But if that's not good etiquette for a log, it, it's not good on my previous logs, either. So, I edited a little more into my previous logs, but no spoilers, of course.

 

Today I type very abbreviated “Drafts” into GyPSy or the phone, then edit them on the web site into logs specific to each cache (no cut-n-paste identical logs from me). Some caches are the “TFTC” kind. But usually, something happened at some point in the hunt, so that's what I type.

 

But The App is so sparse, I also invite people to check out the web site.  On a couple of my easiest caches, I mention caches that don't show up in the App, and how to go find them using The App.  Maybe it will help beginners understand that there's a whole Geocaching community out there.  And cool stuff beyond just The App.

 

 

Edited by kunarion
I had to take the midnight train going anywhere.
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