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Unsolicited help from CO


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There are two COs in my area who, whenever I log a DNF, write to me telling me where the cache is.  (One even uses photos with the cache circled.)  I find this very odd.  I like it when COs give help when asked (not that I have ever asked, but I think it's cool that some do), but it sort of ruins the game for me when I open up a message and get told where the cache is before I get a chance to go back and ponder it some more.

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16 minutes ago, Ageleni said:

There are two COs in my area who, whenever I log a DNF, write to me telling me where the cache is.  (One even uses photos with the cache circled.)  I find this very odd.  I like it when COs give help when asked (not that I have ever asked, but I think it's cool that some do), but it sort of ruins the game for me when I open up a message and get told where the cache is before I get a chance to go back and ponder it some more.

Are they using GC Messaging? Blocking them would prevent future spoilers thru Messaging. Or ignore their messages since you don't like getting spoilers? Or say in your log that you look forward to trying again and don't want any hints or help! Or ask them nicely to not send you hints unless you ask for them? Just some ideas. 

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1 minute ago, Max and 99 said:

Or say in your log that you look forward to trying again and don't want any hints or help!

 

I like this one.  I wouldn't want to block them from being able to write, since I always enjoy hearing from fellow cachers.  But yeah, maybe I could add an "I'll figure this out on my own next time" note to my DNFs.

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We've seen that in some areas, and figured they have an agreement (maybe at an event or FB) with each other. 

Maybe it shows you're accepted by the community.    :)

There was a newer person who only had a couple finds and was overly helpful.  Possible I guess they wanted to be friendly with the locals.

I rarely go back after a DNF.  Sometimes if it's a stage in a high-T multi.   Lately COs are just archiving them when there's issues...

Someone emails I thank them,  with a  respectful note that I don't play that way. 

We don't take advantage when the CO says to claim a cache not there that we DNF either.  To me it's just a smiley. 

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I am that helpful CO who sometimes supplies another hint for my caches, especially after a second DNF, to established geocachers. Only once have I had a rude reply; every other has been grateful and thanked me and often in the log too. I was very surprised that someone didn't want a hint, as this was most unusual. I am grateful when people log their DNF, as many don't. This was a way to reward them for doing that. Some who haven't logged DNFs have contacted me asking for another hint, but I have refused, telling them I haven't noticed their DNF. "Whatever rocks your boat," was one reply. (They still have never logged that DNF.) I think I might have replied, "What rocks my boat, is that after that rude reply I am not helping you now."

 

After that one rejection of my help, I mostly ask now if those who logged a DNF want more help in finding the cache. No one else has said no.

 

Edited by Goldenwattle
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2 hours ago, Ageleni said:

There are two COs in my area who, whenever I log a DNF, write to me telling me where the cache is.  (One even uses photos with the cache circled.)  I find this very odd.  I like it when COs give help when asked (not that I have ever asked, but I think it's cool that some do), but it sort of ruins the game for me when I open up a message and get told where the cache is before I get a chance to go back and ponder it some more.

I've also received a complete puzzle spoiler when I sent email asking whether my approach was on the right track. Most owners of puzzle caches are pretty good about giving gentle hints, so it was a surprize to get a spoiler like that.

Edited by niraD
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I figure the CO is providing me the experience. I read the description he wanted me to read, I go to the location he wanted me to go to, I use the hint he wanted to give me. If he also wants to give me additional information after I reported my DNF, that's just one more aspect of how he wants me to experience the cache. More power to him. I usually forget the advice by the time I get around to looking for that cache again, anyway.

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10 hours ago, niraD said:

I've also received a complete puzzle spoiler when I sent email asking whether my approach was on the right track. Most owners of puzzle caches are pretty good about giving gentle hints, so it was a surprize to get a spoiler like that.

 There is one of those puzzle caches in Ireland that requires geocachers  from a dozen or so different countries to visit the web site to different parts of the final coordinates.   I posted a log indicating that I was looking for coordinates from different people and someone from Germany sent me the complete solution.  When I have had a request from someone for help on one of my puzzles I give hints that will hopefully get someone going in the right direction with and open invitation to contact me again if they need more help, and that I'll provide whatever help they need to solve the puzzle.

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33 minutes ago, The Jester said:

I replied to one DNF years ago - their log indicate they were lost on what else to do - with a hint and further help in Rot13.  If they wanted/needed it, there it was.


When asked for help on my puzzles, I’ll give a gentle nudge and, often, something a little more in ROT13 - with a challenge to resist! ?

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This seems like an appropriate thread for this question: I have a series of caches that feature nice views along a remote dirt road. No cell service most of the way. Coords bounce around and can be tricky. I hate for folks to take the long drive up the mountain, only to log DNFs due to sketchy coords. In the descriptions, I included a pic of the view taken from the area as an extra hint. GZ is not shown. Would you consider this too much of a spoiler? Heres an example:

GC6ZDJR

 

clearday2b.jpg

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41 minutes ago, G0ldNugget said:

This seems like an appropriate thread for this question: I have a series of caches that feature nice views along a remote dirt road. No cell service most of the way. Coords bounce around and can be tricky. I hate for folks to take the long drive up the mountain, only to log DNFs due to sketchy coords. In the descriptions, I included a pic of the view taken from the area as an extra hint. GZ is not shown. Would you consider this too much of a spoiler? Heres an example:

GC6ZDJR

 

If there's any chance of no cell service, I might pre-load caches for off-line use, in which case I almost never see a photo, using The Official App on my iPhone 8.  So a photo might not help.  If the description specifies that the photo is the cache location, I might specially save it in advance.

 

Anyway, based on logs for that cache, it seems like that photo is not much of a spoiler. B)

 

Edited by kunarion
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2 hours ago, G0ldNugget said:

Would you consider this too much of a spoiler?

 

I did a similar thing on my multi GC664DZ. All but the first waypoint are in a narrow steep-sided gully  where a GPSr won't get much of a view of the sky, so coordinates vary as much as plus or minus 15 metres. The helper photos show what you'll see when close to those waypoints and final, with the objects hidden within the area of the photo. The area also has no phone coverage (this is mentioned in the description) so I did get one DNF when someone didn't prepare themselves.

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I'll offer up some unsolicited help but it will never be a spoiler.  I have a cache that is relatively easy to solve but a bit harder to find.  You go to a cemetery, get some numbers off a headstone, plug them into a formula and get the final stage, at a tree.  There's an "obvious" hiding spot right in front of them and many newer (and a few more experienced) cachers think that's it and log a DNF.  However, the T rating is a 2.5 and the walk over is on grass and the occasional tree root that has popped up over the years.  Instead of telling them where it is, I'll suggest that they take a look again at the T rating and see if they can figure out where it's supposed to be.

 

The same goes for other caches of mine that someone has DNFed, especially if they're newer.  It will never be a spoiler but it will be an extra hint not mentioned in the description that will hopefully lead to a find.  If it's a harder D cache, I'm far less likely to offer up unsolicited help.

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On 5/23/2020 at 11:50 PM, niraD said:

I've also received a complete puzzle spoiler when I sent email asking whether my approach was on the right track. Most owners of puzzle caches are pretty good about giving gentle hints, so it was a surprize to get a spoiler like that.

 

I sometimes bounce around whether to shoot a message to the owner or a previous finder for a tip on a puzzle. I think it's a thing to be thankful for if a cacher contacts the CO for help; I think spoiling puzzles is much more rampant from cacher to cacher, so at least the CO gets to choose... it's an interesting dilemma = ) But yeah, whether it's another cacher or the CO, please don't just spoil the puzzle if I only ask for a tip. And even then if you're not the CO, please don't spoil the puzzle unless you know the is okay with it or doesn't care, heh

 

 

On 5/24/2020 at 1:50 PM, Viajero Perdido said:

In a similar vein, I'll sometimes reply with a "scroll far down for a more explicit hint", followed by a few hundred newlines, and finally the near giveaway.  They don't have to scroll if they don't want...

 

Until the next message when the answer is suddenly a line above a new text message ;) Sometimes the best way to obfuscate a solution is to sandwich it between innocent text or just encrypt it easily.

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I flew somewhere once where there were some very difficult puzzle caches. I knew I wouldn't be able to do many of the puzzles. I met the CO of some of the caches (and they maintain the rest) while they were visiting the Australian mainland for a MEGA. They told me if I wanted help to ask, and if I couldn't manage them they would give me the final coordinates, as they wanted them found. After I arrived there I was shown how to do one of the puzzles. It was layers of puzzles; way beyond me. The CO took me through them all the way to the final. I was able to log all the caches, but only because of lots of help. Most of the puzzles there are found with lots of help, so it seems most cachers get this help, if they say hello to the friendly CO while visiting.

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Awesome. Some wouldn't let themselves log those, but I'd say I'd do just what you did. And I'm guessing it was a very educational experience (even if you didn't retain all the knowledge needed to solve them, heh, at least you were exposed to the process and enlightened). That's where I find the value.  But for anyone who won't log a puzzle cache unless they solve the puzzle (just like people who personally "need" to sign their own name on a log to mark it found), well, all power to ya. =P

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On 5/24/2020 at 3:18 PM, Ageleni said:

 

I like this one.  I wouldn't want to block them from being able to write, since I always enjoy hearing from fellow cachers.  But yeah, maybe I could add an "I'll figure this out on my own next time" note to my DNFs.

 

Or just have a quiet word with each of the "offenders" telling them that you understand they are trying to be friendly and helpful, but that you'd rather they didn't send you such spoilers unless you ask.  I'm sure they would understand. :)

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On 5/24/2020 at 12:59 AM, dprovan said:

I figure the CO is providing me the experience. I read the description he wanted me to read, I go to the location he wanted me to go to, I use the hint he wanted to give me. If he also wants to give me additional information after I reported my DNF, that's just one more aspect of how he wants me to experience the cache.

 

That's a good way of looking at it, thanks.

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Yesterday I received a fairly detailed DNF from a newbie on one of my caches:

 

Quote

Not sure if it's because I attempted this alone or if it's because I'm fairly new to it all, but this was very very hard. I was there searching for a solid 2 hours before the sun started setting and I had to give up. I think because of the tree coverage it was also hard for the GPS, or at least my phone, to pinpoint the place I had to be so for the first hour or so I was kind of searching a 15 metre radius of where it originally told me I should've been because it kept saying I was 8m away once I turned off the trail. Other than that it is a beautiful spot that I enjoyed, although I dont think I've cursed that much in a while...I'll definitely be giving this another crack soon.

 

I was pretty sure from this that she never actually reached GZ, which is one level down from the top of the ridge where the trail goes, so I went out there this morning to take a photo of a feature to look for on top which is pretty much directly above GZ and sent that to her along with a description of the route I use to get from the trail to GZ. There are other ways to come at it but that seems to be the easiest for me. I didn't give away anything about the hide itself beyond what's on the cache page so I hope I wasn't spoiling anything for her, anyway she replied thanking me so hopefully next time she's in the area she'll be able to erase that blue frown from her map.

 

Oh, and for the record I did check on the cache itself and it's safe and snug in its hiding place.

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1 hour ago, barefootjeff said:

Yesterday I received a fairly detailed DNF from a newbie on one of my caches:

 

 

I was pretty sure from this that she never actually reached GZ, which is one level down from the top of the ridge where the trail goes, so I went out there this morning to take a photo of a feature to look for on top which is pretty much directly above GZ and sent that to her along with a description of the route I use to get from the trail to GZ. There are other ways to come at it but that seems to be the easiest for me. I didn't give away anything about the hide itself beyond what's on the cache page so I hope I wasn't spoiling anything for her, anyway she replied thanking me so hopefully next time she's in the area she'll be able to erase that blue frown from her map.

 

Oh, and for the record I did check on the cache itself and it's safe and snug in its hiding place.

WOW, 2 hours :o!! Much more patient than me :lol:.

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45 minutes ago, Goldenwattle said:

WOW, 2 hours :o!! Much more patient than me :lol:.

 

She hasn't visited the website since soon after joining last month, so may have just seen it on the app while holidaying in the area and not realised it's a terrain 3.5 or what that entailed. Then, having made the trek out there into the wilds, didn't want to give up. The highest T-rating she's found to date is a 2, most are 1.5s and all suburban hides.

Edited by barefootjeff
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1 hour ago, Goldenwattle said:

WOW, 2 hours :o!! Much more patient than me :lol:.

Other than multi-stage caches, I don't think I've spent more than an hour at a time searching for a cache. There's a D4 "hidden in plain sight" cache that I found on my 7th attempt though, each of the previous 6 attempts representing half an hour to an hour of searching. That's my record so far for a traditional cache.

 

I've spent more time than that completing some of the multi-stage caches I've done, but I especially enjoy those epic multi-stage caches that take a few hours to complete all the stages. And then there are the puzzle caches that take a while to come up with the solution...

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1 hour ago, niraD said:

each of the previous 6 attempts representing half an hour to an hour of searching.

I hope you logged a DNF for each of them :). I would have, as long as I actually searched.

 

So many finds I read, "Found on my second/third/ forth/ seventh attempt, and NOT one DNF ever:mad::rolleyes:.

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the only time I have been offered unsolicited advice I was searching for about 20 minutes for a cache that was 500 yards off a trail. A couple arrived and said: i'm the Co would you like a hint? the coordinates are a bit off. I'm here to do maintenance I politely declined, and aborted my search and moved on so they could do their maintenance.

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10 minutes ago, ras_oscar said:

the only time I have been offered unsolicited advice I was searching for about 20 minutes for a cache that was 500 yards off a trail. A couple arrived and said: i'm the Co would you like a hint? the coordinates are a bit off. I'm here to do maintenance I politely declined, and aborted my search and moved on so they could do their maintenance.

I would have been grateful for the help and thanked them. Then we would have likely had a nice chat as happens usually in those situations. (Like a mini- meet.) As they say the coordinates are off, I would have likely taken a set of coordinates to assist them as well, but it would have been up to them whether they used my coordinates or not. I have given coordinates to some people who seem to struggle with this, and they have used them.

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On 5/23/2020 at 9:55 PM, Ageleni said:

There are two COs in my area who, whenever I log a DNF, write to me telling me where the cache is.  (One even uses photos with the cache circled.)  I find this very odd.  I like it when COs give help when asked (not that I have ever asked, but I think it's cool that some do), but it sort of ruins the game for me when I open up a message and get told where the cache is before I get a chance to go back and ponder it some more.

 

First world problem. Just delete the message.

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I had a CO send me an unsolicited offer for a hint on one of his particularly hard caches that I'd DNFed quite a few times. Oddly enough he said "I could give you a hint but it won't help you." (Would that even qualify as a hint?? ?) Anyway, I politely declined and said I was stubborn and wanted to figure it out on my own. I continued to agonize over this cache not understanding why I couldn't find it. I research his hint, I studied logs, I poured over every inch of the area. (Others were DNFing it too). And then out of the blue I got an email from a fellow Cacher who much to my surprise outright told me where it was! My initial irritation at the helpful casher turned to anger at the CO. I have not gone back to the cache since even though I now know where it. It was a huge disappoint for the time I put into it. *smh* 

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On ‎6‎/‎16‎/‎2020 at 10:00 AM, PlantAKiss said:

"There sounds like there is more story to this"

 

Why? Because I didn't tell what what made me angry about it?

Why did actions of Cacher B make you angry with Cacher A (CO)?

 

As a performing magician of 40 years, there was two reasons I wouldn't tell you (collective) how a trick was done.  One, it was so complex to explain you would get upset thinking I was making it up; two, it was so simple you would get upset that I fooled you so easily.  Could your angry be related to the second reason?

 

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