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Should geocaching HQ place a temporary cache outside their building until the offices open up.


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For many geocachers, a highlight of a visit to Seattle is to visit Geocaching HQ and earning a special icon for visiting GCK25B, Geocaching Headquarters.  Obviously, HQ has been closed for over a year due to the pandemic.  At the time of this writing, HQ remains closed as is the ability to earn the HQ icon.  Should Geocaching place a temporary cache outside the building for cachers to sign until they are ready to open up their offices.  This seems like a no brainer.  If you check the cache logs, you will read so many frustrated cachers who are visiting HQ and not able to earn the icon.  What do you think? 

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8 minutes ago, Scaber said:

For many geocachers, a highlight of a visit to Seattle is to visit Geocaching HQ and earning a special icon for visiting GCK25B, Geocaching Headquarters.  Obviously, HQ has been closed for over a year due to the pandemic.  At the time of this writing, HQ remains closed as is the ability to earn the HQ icon.  Should Geocaching place a temporary cache outside the building for cachers to sign until they are ready to open up their offices.  This seems like a no brainer.  If you check the cache logs, you will read so many frustrated cachers who are visiting HQ and not able to earn the icon.  What do you think? 

I think that is a reasonable suggestion.

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When I was there for the 2013 Block Party, the cache that's normally indoors was outdoors for the day, and the offices were closed.  I've been back since and logged the cache inside the office.  HQ is in an office building so it wouldn't be unreasonable for a cache to be outside their doors.  I wouldn't ask for "the" cache to be put outside the office with no one around, when it could get muggled!

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THE cache that could be muggled, I totally understand the need to protect that thing. But some sort of stand-in available during the duration of the pandemic and office shut down to make that rare icon type would be fantastic.
With the locationless caches we have recently had a few people breaking the record of 12 icon types in a day. Having this back on the board makes it get interesting. I figure someone could thread together 16 if they were determined and planned well with events.

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Baer2006, that is a super important point. A stat icon may be nice to the way some people play the game, but it shouldn't take away from the magic of visiting Geocaching HQ. Well, it would be magic to me to visit HQ. During business as normal you can buy souvenirs, take photos, peek through the glass into the offices... Sure currently we can order souvenirs from the geocaching shop online, but in my humble honest opinion I feel it would serve as a great reminder of my visit to have the icon. I would try to have it fall on a milestone, like 2000. 
And not gonna lie, it would be cool to see one less icon type I haven't found. 
Is that weird of me to think this? I don't know. I'm not too introspective.

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5 hours ago, baer2006 said:

I hope that GS doesn't give in to the stats crowd. As @colledasaid, "visit HQ" means visit HQ, and not just standing in front of the building. That's why it is a "special" cache. HQ will re-open their offices one day, just be patient.

 

Will they? 

 

I'm a software developer at a university library and last worked in my office on March 11, 2020.   Since I'm not a "front facing" worker (I don't work directly with our patrons) there has been no reason for me to work from my university office. We've had a number of meetings to discuss how we will work post-pandemic and most of have said that they're fine continuing to work from home.   I wouldn't be surprised if they're considering *not* re-opening their offices.

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3 minutes ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

 

Will they? 

 

I'm a software developer at a university library and last worked in my office on March 11, 2020.   Since I'm not a "front facing" worker (I don't work directly with our patrons) there has been no reason for me to work from my university office. We've had a number of meetings to discuss how we will work post-pandemic and most of have said that they're fine continuing to work from home.   I wouldn't be surprised if they're considering *not* re-opening their offices.

Well, if GS do not re-open their offices, then a "GC HQ Office cache" will, by definition, no longer be possible. Some may find this sad, other won't care, but if GS management decides whether they can do without an office (to save the money for the space), maintaining a single "special cache" is probably not at the top of the priority list.

 

And BTW, I'm a software developer too, and also have been working from home since March 2020. However, our top management has made it very clear, that this will not be permanent ;) .

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15 hours ago, Scaber said:

For many geocachers, a highlight of a visit to Seattle is to visit Geocaching HQ and earning a special icon for visiting GCK25B, Geocaching Headquarters. 

Obviously, HQ has been closed for over a year due to the pandemic.  

 

Stats...   :laughing:

Some folks have "bypassed" means to get a smiley, souvenir, or icon, all for stats. 

Even Groundspeak "recreated" a long discontinued cache type because of the whining "we don't have that icon..." for stats.

Give it a rest.  Some people are still in their homes.  Many are still working from home.   

"Nearby" HQ (I feel) isn't the same as visiting HQ...

 

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4 hours ago, bflentje said:

It would be about as exciting as visiting an office space. I've done it both indoors and when it was outdoors. I got about the same enjoyment from both.


If you think the value of that icon is only from being at that location, then I don't know what to say.

 

The idea of the OP here is basically the equivalent to saying we should have event caches where people just drive by a spot in their cars and log it.  No, that is not an event.  And no, signing a log in the street outside of the building in which HQ is located is not a visit to HQ.

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19 hours ago, fizzymagic said:


If you think the value of that icon is only from being at that location, then I don't know what to say.

 

The idea of the OP here is basically the equivalent to saying we should have event caches where people just drive by a spot in their cars and log it.  No, that is not an event.  And no, signing a log in the street outside of the building in which HQ is located is not a visit to HQ.

 

I didn't expect you to say anything. I am talking about my own experience. Inside or outside HQ, the experience for me was the same. It's not that I don't love the gang that brings me the hobby I enjoy so much. But I work in an office that does software development so for me it didn't compute to being some life-changing experience. But I'll take the icon because that's what some of us do.

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12 hours ago, The_Incredibles_ said:

We are not supposed to traveling right now anyway. Why would it be needed? If you live in Seattle, you can wait. If you don't, why are you in town doing touristy things?

Because not every where has a travel ban or restrictions. We drove out to Kansas for Mingo Madness a couple of weeks ago, and the various states ranged widely on the Covid guidelines - some were strict with masks & distancing, other's more relaxed and a couple were, more or less, not using masks at all.  So don't judge to whole world by your local regulations (we're from Washington State and had about the tightest regulations for the trip).

We took our trailer and living in a RV is pretty much isolating in itself.  No more interaction with people at the RV camps then a grocery store (often less).  So we had no qualms about doing "touristy stuff" as long as we followed local guidelines.

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2 hours ago, The Jester said:

Because not every where has a travel ban or restrictions. We drove out to Kansas for Mingo Madness a couple of weeks ago, and the various states ranged widely on the Covid guidelines - some were strict with masks & distancing, other's more relaxed and a couple were, more or less, not using masks at all.  So don't judge to whole world by your local regulations (we're from Washington State and had about the tightest regulations for the trip).

We took our trailer and living in a RV is pretty much isolating in itself.  No more interaction with people at the RV camps then a grocery store (often less).  So we had no qualms about doing "touristy stuff" as long as we followed local guidelines.

 

For me it's not just about official restrictions. I just think it's poor taste to be traveling right now. And if they put a cache outside, Groundspeak would be saying its OK to travel. Visiting stores, staying in hotels etc, there's still the risk of spreading COVID. Maybe as you live in an RV the risk is extremely low, but not all people who are traveling will take the same precautions as you.

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25 minutes ago, The_Incredibles_ said:

For me it's not just about official restrictions. I just think it's poor taste to be traveling right now. ... not all people who are traveling will take the same precautions as you.

 

It's also important to consider the people and businesses that live/operate out of (southern) Fremont. I'm not fully convinced that they will be comfortable with swarms (?) of people showing up in their neighborhood, desperate to claim a meaningless virtual sticker for a website they (don't) care about.

Edited by Hügh
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20 hours ago, The_Incredibles_ said:

We are not supposed to traveling right now anyway. Why would it be needed? If you live in Seattle, you can wait. If you don't, why are you in town doing touristy things?

From the CDC website "If you are fully vaccinated, you can resume activities that you did prior to the pandemic. Fully vaccinated people can resume activities without wearing a mask or physically distancing, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance."  https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated.html

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A friend of mine was qualified for the olympics in Tokyo. Sadly the olympics were postponed. He went to Tokyo nevertheless, and on the day his event should have taken place he was outside of the stadium. No other competitors were there. He is currently sueing the international olympic commitee because they don't want to award him the gold medal for the event.

 

 

;)

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13 hours ago, Scaber said:

"If you are fully vaccinated, you can resume activities that you did prior to the pandemic. Fully vaccinated people can resume activities without wearing a mask or physically distancing, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance."

 

"Please don't come to Geocaching HQ; we are closed" sounds like "local business guidance" to me. Let's respect that and let them decide when they're comfortable inviting guests back into their space.

Edited by Hügh
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Thank you for that comment, Hügh.  I know that Geocaching HQ Lackeys are very much looking forward to the day when they can return to the office.  That hope has been expressed publicly in HQ's blog and the videos/podcasts linked from the blog.

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20 hours ago, The_Incredibles_ said:

 

For me it's not just about official restrictions. I just think it's poor taste to be traveling right now. And if they put a cache outside, Groundspeak would be saying its OK to travel. Visiting stores, staying in hotels etc, there's still the risk of spreading COVID. Maybe as you live in an RV the risk is extremely low, but not all people who are traveling will take the same precautions as you.

I was reacting to your "We shouldn't traveling now" and "why are you doing touristy things".  As Scaber pointed out, there are less and less restrictions, so we have no qualms about traveling and doing touristy things.  But while doing so we follow local guidelines.  If a place is closed we don't go there - whether it's GC HQ or the visitor center at the dam in Flaming Gorge, Utah (don't know if it was covid or too early in season, they weren't stocked inside, but we did enjoy the outside exhibits).  Even within a state the guidelines vary, in Colorado we went to a Golden Corral in Denver - masks required and gloves for dishing up food;  in Grand Junction the Golden Corral didn't require masks and no restrictions for dishing up.  I just thought it was big jump from "GC HQ is closed, so you can't find the cache" to "You shouldn't travel or be in town doing touristy things".

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19 hours ago, fizzymagic said:

 

Yes, but one place that does have restrictions is the building containing HQ.

Yep, and that's a local restriction that we would follow (not that it bothers us, as we live just a short ways away).  "Not every where has restrictions" does not preclude some places do have restrictions, I thought it was obviously implied.  See my Colorado example above.  

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