From basic to premium

[+walram08]

Is it possible for a basic member (co) to upgrade his caches to premium caches without becoming a premium member himself.?.

[+frostengel]

1 hour ago, walram08 said:

Is it possible for a basic member (co) to upgrade his caches to premium caches without becoming a premium member himself.?.

 

What do you mean with "premium caches"? If you are referring to "premium member only" (which does not make a cache premium) then the answer is: no.

At https://www.geocaching.com/help/index.php?pg=kb.chapter&id=132&pgid=175 you find the PMO feature as a feature listed for "premium cachers" (they aren't more premium than others).

 

Why do you want to force others to pay to see your caches while not paying yourself?

 

Best wishes

Jochen

 

 

 

Edit: I now see that you are premium member so you must ask for someone else? One work-around might be that you list the caches PMO and let the other cacher adopt the cache. But still the question remails: why?

Edited August 22, 2020 by frostengel

[+walram08]

Thanks for the answer. It is what i thouhgt. The reason why  is that we are two premium members who created a basic member ship account sone years ago for 8 caches in our home town. The last month we get a lot logs from basic members.  many times  not even a tftc but only “found it” or “.”  Indeed just a dot. And that we don,t want any more.

Though one of us is going to adopt the trail and will make the caches premium anyway.

[+frostengel]

23 minutes ago, walram08 said:

many times  not even a tftc but only “found it” or “.”  Indeed just a dot. And that we don,t want any more.

 

I'll fully understand that. Have you contacted the new cachers and talked to them about the situation: about the logs, about the owners being human beings who made an effort with the hide, about "good" and "bad" logs, about logging underway using a smartphone in comparison to logging at home with more time!?

If no one tells them they won't learn that it is bad and they will proceed with these logs.... And I still hope there might be a learning curve if someone tells them. But if no one talks to them how should they know?

[+Max and 99]

4 hours ago, walram08 said:

Thanks for the answer. It is what i thouhgt. The reason why  is that we are two premium members who created a basic member ship account sone years ago for 8 caches in our home town. The last month we get a lot logs from basic members.  many times  not even a tftc but only “found it” or “.”  Indeed just a dot. And that we don,t want any more.

Though one of us is going to adopt the trail and will make the caches premium anyway.

Those basic members can log the exact same thing if you make the caches Premium Only. The exact same logs! Do you realize that? I think you are under the impression that if you make the caches PM only, basic members can't log "." 

They can.

[+frostengel]

8 minutes ago, Max and 99 said:

Those basic members can log the exact same thing if you make the caches Premium Only. The exact same logs! Do you realize that? I think you are under the impression that if you make the caches PM only, basic members can't log "." 

They can.

 

That's true but probably they won't. Their logs indicate that they use a smartphone and probably the official app and I don't think they read anything about the game - they just go out hunting the caches the app shows them. To find and log PMO caches they had to invest more time in understanding the hobby. I would take a bet that they won't find out PMO caches exist - and if they ever do I am sure they have found out about better logs, too. ;-)

 

By the way: I list difficult multi and mystery caches as "protection" - works very well. :-)

[+Max and 99]

1 minute ago, frostengel said:

 

That's true but probably they won't. Their logs indicate that they use a smartphone and probably the official app and I don't think they read anything about the game - they just go out hunting the caches the app shows them. To find and log PMO caches they had to invest more time in understanding the hobby. I would take a bet that they won't find out PMO caches exist - and if they ever do I am sure they have found out about better logs, too. ;-)

 

By the way: I list difficult multi and mystery caches as "protection" - works very well. :-)

I agree. Hopefully we're both right about the situation.

[+cerberus1]

6 hours ago, walram08 said:

The reason why  is that we are two premium members who created a basic member ship account sone years ago for 8 caches in our home town.

The last month we get a lot logs from basic members.  many times  not even a tftc but only “found it” or “.”  Indeed just a dot. And that we don,t want any more.

Though one of us is going to adopt the trail and will make the caches premium anyway.

 

I understand it's an irk of yours, but do you really think just because someone paid to be pm their logs will be better ?     

Guess I don't understand how TFTC is okay, but "Found It"  (just what that smiley is called...) isn't.

In these forums is a brand-new person to the hobby, asking the most basic of questions, and they joined as a premium member.

We're seeing long-time premium members leaving basic logs now, as if they forgot to go back after dumping their cache note.

BTW... any basic member can log a pmo cache by using one of the alternate methods.  We show new people we take under wing how.

... And people were upset by the default, " That's one more find for me!"...   

Edited August 22, 2020 by cerberus1
for...

[+barefootjeff]

7 hours ago, frostengel said:

By the way: I list difficult multi and mystery caches as "protection" - works very well. :-)

 

That used to work very well around here, but in the last six months practically all the newcomers have premium membership right from the start. I suspect there's some promotion for the app going on that's giving away free or discounted PM, as most show they've never visited the website and have no idea about cache types, D/T ratings or other subtleties of the game.

[+walram08]

On 8/22/2020 at 4:51 PM, Max and 99 said:

I agree. Hopefully we're both right about the situation.

What do mean by “under protection”.?

thanks for your reply.

[+walram08]

Thanks for the comments.

i contacted several of these new cachers about theirs logs. One of them  called me a grumpy old man  angry and even proposed to destroy the caches..

another one took a picture of the cache and placed  as log , had really no idea that there was a log book inside

if i have  to contact all these new ones i have to stop working.

most of them have no  idea of what geocaching means , they download the app  ,  the game is on  and nobody knows the rules.I am really an optimist but ......

[+cerberus1]

4 minutes ago, walram08 said:

What do mean by “under protection”.?

 

If you're referring to frostengel's post (Max and 99 didn't mention it...), simply making a cache over 2 in D/T, and other than a traditional often keeps the "weekend and done" kids away...  but only if using the "official" app, and they don't use the website.

The idea is that making the cache other than a traditional, and/or ratings over 2...and they won't be able to view them on the app.

 - But we're seeing new members becoming pm as they join, and basic members caching with a pm can log any cache found.

[+cerberus1]

3 minutes ago, walram08 said:

i contacted several of these new cachers about theirs logs. One of them  called me a grumpy old man  angry and even proposed to destroy the caches..

another one took a picture of the cache and placed  as log , had really no idea that there was a log book inside

if i have  to contact all these new ones i have to stop working.

most of them have no  idea of what geocaching means , they download the app  ,  the game is on  and nobody knows the rules.

I am really an optimist but ......

 

Welcome to the club.        "Grumpy old man" I would have been happy with, some of the things we were called.    

When the "Intro" app first came out, we had to chase down our ammo cans because the newbs thought they were supposed to "re-hide" them.

Luckily others found most, sitting alongside trails with no cover, and fortunately none were published.

That would have been interesting...     

This is what happens when things are absolutely free. 

It's about 50/50 here (whether they understand the hobby), and with no events because of this virus, little way to help them.

[+frostengel]

It seems to be really bad at your place. :-(

What I meant by "protected" (other than difficulty >2 or terrain >2 to make the "let's download the app" caches not see them with the app):

 

Most cachers start with traditional caches. They don't know about difficulty/terrain and probably they don't know about cache types either. ;-)

But if they do a long multi cache or they are able to solve a riddle and change the coordinates they must have taken at least some time reading about the hobby. If they go to the coordinates of one of my mystery caches or start at the multi stage 1 searching for the final box it is their problem. ;-)

 

I can't imagine any of my caches being found by someone who hasn't read about geocaching. I own a virtual (a long one!) and a mystery cache (d4.5, t4.5) where a nano cache is hidden at the listing coordinates (it's not the final) and I get bad logs there sometimes by beginners (and by cachers with 10k plus finds!) - and I usually find out that these logs are bogus logs and if they don' delete it i'll do. :-)

 

I don't need PMO status and get nice logs from normal members, too! :-)

[+cerberus1]

5 hours ago, frostengel said:

I don't need PMO status and get nice logs from normal members, too! :-)

 

Realizing it's probably a language thing, I think I agree...       Does this mean premium members are not normal  ?    

We've never made a cache pmo, and have gone through some real carp over caches and new folks.  Most get it.    

A local pm near us leaves the same, lengthy  cut n paste log on every cache, with maybe a sentence or two about the cache itself.

Their partner always leaves a "with xxxxxx" log on every cache.  

That's not something I'd want to teach to new folks.  The two above,  many here would be happy if they did just left a dot...    

[+frostengel]

4 hours ago, cerberus1 said:

Does this mean premium members are not normal  ? 

 

Obviously not - they are premium.

In fact some people  think so. ???

 

"Normal" member: one smiley log from the app.

"Premium" member: long copy and paste log to get the author badge.

 

Both type of members can have their own kind of nonsense log and PMO won't help in both cases I am afraid. 

 

(sent from my mobile phone with German auto correction - quite funny)