Favourite points

[+UKCacheMag]

It seems many cachers who are premium member are squirreling our favourite points. 

 

Are we too lazy to award them? Are the quality caches fewer and far between?

 

Would it be an idea to prompt us to use up our allocated points before more are issued?

 

Perhaps we should cap our allocated lot at say 20?

 

What are your thoughts?

[+TeamRabbitRun]

29 minutes ago, UKCacheMag said:

It seems many cachers who are premium member are squirreling our favourite points. 

 

Are we too lazy to award them? Are the quality caches fewer and far between?

 

Would it be an idea to prompt us to use up our allocated points before more are issued?

 

Perhaps we should cap our allocated lot at say 20?

 

What are your thoughts?

 

You can find plenty of healthy and heated discussions here about this topic.

 

Without rehashing it all, our thoughts are that they're not, as you say, "OUR" favorite points. 

 

They belong to the people who've earned them to dole out, revoke or ignore as THEY see fit, based on how they choose to award them or not.

 

[+simon_cornelus]

I don't think this would be a good idea. What if you first log several powertrail caches. But want to save your points for something Else... Also some people are premium but don't award favorite points...

 

[+GeoElmo6000]

I have 66 favorite points to give.  I award them to caches that I think stand out, due to the cache container, experience in finding the cache, or whatever.  Unfortunately I've found some amazing caches so now the bar has been set high for favorite points.  

 

As a cache owner, I try to create great geocaching experiences for people, and if I'm successful, the favorite points will follow.  My last two active caches have over 70% favorite points so I'm starting to figure it out finally.

[+SamLowrey]

I'm always wishing I had a few more.

[+UKCacheMag]

1 hour ago, TeamRabbitRun said:

 

 

I use the term "our" in relation to us as cachers and how we have accumulated them....

[+kunarion]

2 hours ago, UKCacheMag said:

Are we too lazy to award them? Are the quality caches fewer and far between?

We first must find a vast selection of caches.  Otherwise, how do you know a favorite one when you see it?  I sometimes look back on caches I found (sometimes even caches I DNF’d), and pick a few standouts.  I hope everyone’s not on a hurry to get FPs on their caches.  I need to first find other caches for comparison.

 

What if I find a bunch of super awesome caches in a row?  Gotta have FPs on hand in that case.

 

Anyway, it’s a little late for TPTB to change the way FPs are created.  Otherwise, we’d have to start from scratch.

 

 

 

Edited June 7, 2021 by kunarion

[+Harry Dolphin]

59 minutes ago, kunarion said:

What if I find a bunch of super awesome caches in a row?  Gotta have FPs on hand in that case.

 

Yes.  There's a local who posts "Wish I had a favorite for this cache."  I have a number that I have not given out.  284.

[+kunarion]

5 minutes ago, Harry Dolphin said:

 

Yes.  There's a local who posts "Wish I had a favorite for this cache."  I have a number that I have not given out.  284.

I used to dole them all out.  Then future caches were out of luck. 

[+cerberus1]

3 hours ago, UKCacheMag said:

It seems many cachers who are premium member are squirreling our favourite points. 

Are we too lazy to award them? Are the quality caches fewer and far between?

Would it be an idea to prompt us to use up our allocated points before more are issued?

Perhaps we should cap our allocated lot at say 20?             What are your thoughts?

 

I don't think any are "squirreling" them, they either give them to caches they liked, or don't.  What would they save them for ?   

 

Curious how lazy one would have to be to not click on that little Add Favorite link.   

I do agree that "quality" (to me) caches are fewer and far between.  1.5 in a row hides are old hat (for me), and I'd need a bit more for a FP...

 -   I've now only looked at terrain 2 and up for a start, and only areas of green on the map.

We feel we did fine before FP were created.  Good logs were fine with us  Something that many haven't seen in some time...

When we first received our "awarded" FPs, we first gave them to caches from years ago.  They were our favorites, and still are today.

[+barefootjeff]

5 minutes ago, cerberus1 said:

I do agree that "quality" (to me) caches are fewer and far between.  1.5 in a row hides are old hat (for me), and I'd need a bit more for a FP...

 -   I've now only looked at terrain 2 and up for a start, and only areas of green on the map.

 

I'm in an area where there are no power trails, and parking lot caches and "1.5 in a row" hides are rare. The landscape is probably a major factor in that, being a coastal area with a relatively small population and fringed by an ancient sandstone plateau eroded by wind, running water and the sea to provide a rich smorgasbord of cache hiding places. 42% of the caches around here are terrain 3 or higher, with the small and regular sized containers both outnumbering the micros by a good margin. As a result, I'm in a constant battle between wanting to give a deserving cache an FP and not having any available to give. Right now I'm at that sweet spot of not having any available FPs while my bookmark list of pending FPs is also empty. So far this year I've found 60 caches and given out 5 FPs so there must be another one due soon, I guess, but my dashboard tells me I have to find another three caches before I'll have another point available.

 

The last FP I gave, which was a few weeks back, was to Skull Rock (GC6CNRN), a terrain 3.5 ammo-can traditional out at the end of a spur in the Watagan Mountains. That was a fun cache at a pretty impressive rock formation, with some good hiking and rock-hopping to get out to it, so that's the sort of thing that will get a certain FP from me even if it has to go on my pending list for a while.

 

[+K13]

 If you want people like me, with 239 FP "squirreled away", to award them, then have the CO in my area place some caches worthy of a FP. Just remember that the standard of worthiness is MY subjectivity, not yours.

[+mraudrey]

If you want to find geocaches worthy of favorite points, look for caches hidden by COs who have a high favorite point to hide ratio. The best CO I know of around where I live is WarNinjas with almost 8 points per hide.

[+niraD]

6 hours ago, kunarion said:

Anyway, it’s a little late for TPTB to change the way FPs are created.  Otherwise, we’d have to start from scratch.

This is worthy of being repeated.

[+CachedIronSkillet]

I save up FPs incase I travel to a location that has multiple gadget caches.  That isn't to say that I only award favorites to gadgets , but I would guess that an original gadget has a REALLY good chance of getting one from me.  I gave 40% of the caches I hit last Sunday favorites.  I don't think of the saved points as a waste - it's fun money I just have not spent yet.

[+simon_cornelus]

I'm always short on favorite points, but I always try to have some available to hand out.

 

I think favorite points are a personal indication for which caches I liked the most.
If you look back at your list of favorite caches after a few years of caching it's like a trip down memory lane.
they are an indication of which caches were the most fun to me at that time/place.

 

The first of a certain type of hide might get a favorite point, so is it better than the 10th? No, but this "first" one was special to me.
Same with handing out favorite points to CO's who are friends. Maybe it's their first hide making it special for you as a friend/finder...
All these things are reasons why the system is personal.
But on the other hand, it is also an indication that can be useful to others.

 

On vacation I regularly choose which caches I want to search or even which locations I want to visit based on this system.
However, the number alone does not always say everything, but in combination with good logs with foto's and the percentage of favorite points they sometimes make a great indication of interesting places to visit. Because of this, geocaching and in some ammount also this favorite point system is responsible for visiting certain places I would never have gone otherwise.

The difference between CO's is remarkable, some spontaneously thank you for handing out a favorite point. Others ask why they didn't get one...
As a CO I don't put out caches to get points but getting one is always nice of course.

[+barefootjeff]

5 hours ago, mraudrey said:

If you want to find geocaches worthy of favorite points, look for caches hidden by COs who have a high favorite point to hide ratio. The best CO I know of around where I live is WarNinjas with almost 8 points per hide.

 

It depends on your taste in caches. Around here, the caches that get the big numbers of FPs are the ones at tourist hotspots, particularly around Sydney Harbour. That's great if you're a tourist visiting Sydney, but for someone like me who grew up in Sydney, I've found a lot of them are pretty mundane when you take away the tourist aspect. There's one cacher who owns a few high-FP caches around the harbour and tourist precincts whose FP to hide ratio is 30, but the one of those I found during the Cache Carnival promotion a couple of years ago was just an MKH in a guard rail, albeit one with a harbour view.

 

By contrast, a cacher local to me has hidden some awesome higher-terrain caches, many of which are nudging 100% FPs, but because they get few finders his FP to hide ratio is only 7. His last three hides have received 4 FPs from 6 finds, 3 FPs from 3 finds and 1 FP from 1 find respectively, that last one being an EC published in 2017 that's a full day (or perhaps two-day would be better) wilderness hike.

 

If you like the quick-fire touristy cache then, yeah, that system might work well, but if you're like me and prefer caches that take a fair bit of time and effort to complete then the very best of those will be ones with only a handful of FPs because they only ever get a handful of finds.

Edited June 8, 2021 by barefootjeff

[+RobinsonClan56]

I am in an area that is full of magnetic nanos and skirt-lifters.  There are a handful of COs that are more creative, but even then each of them tends to develop a "signature" to their hides (meaning - oh, this is Amy's hide, she generally finds an old log and hides a camo'd vitamin bottle.)  I don't currently have that many FPs, but as a rule I am pretty stingy with them.  I want a great location or hide that is truly unique or creatively difficult (typical location but atypical container, or typical container hidden in an atypical way.)

[+JL_HSTRE]

I once ran out of Favorite points, but that was years ago. I still hand them out when i find a noteworthy cache. I've had times where I awarded them to several consecutive finds and other times when I found a bunch of caches in one day without giving any FPs because none was noteworthy.

 

I don't think a cap on unspent FPs would help at all.

[+cerberus1]

On 6/7/2021 at 2:22 PM, UKCacheMag said:

What are your thoughts?

 

I like the looks of some of the long-walk series around me.  A few I've done already. 

On the last one I gave a FP for the series I just experienced.

We've been to enough series and multis that had stages missing, to be happy when one's actually maintained.   

Some people gave the first cache a FP, not knowing if they'd even be able to do it in it's entirety.  Others gave every...single..one a FP.

One FP given, or seven, who's correct ?  They all are.  It their FPs.

By the Help Center Favorite points are a "simple way to track and share the geocaches that you enjoyed the most."

[+Ed_S]

On 6/7/2021 at 1:57 PM, TeamRabbitRun said:

 

They belong to the people who've earned them to dole out, revoke or ignore as THEY see fit, based on how they choose to award them or not.

 

Along those lines, there has been the occasional cache in the past that I would have given more than one Favorite  point if I could have.

 

[+lee737]

I tend to squirrel away about a dozen FPs. This way I can give out 5 in a row if I want to, sometimes I'll give one to a newbie for a not-so-special cache if it looks like they are keen and have made some effort in the cache somehow. I do recycle FPs from caches that are archived by reviewers with inactive COs, so that helps give out more too....

[+barefootjeff]

46 minutes ago, lee737 said:

I do recycle FPs from caches that are archived by reviewers with inactive COs, so that helps give out more too....

 

Of the 134 caches I've given FPs to, 18 have been archived and 4 of those by a reviewer, but I still consider them to be amongst my favourite experiences so I'm reluctant to recycle the FPs. However, seeing as I've only found two caches this month and I'm still languishing on 0 FPs available, maybe I'll have to become a bit more pragmatic.

[+cerberus1]

7 hours ago, lee737 said:

I do recycle FPs from caches that are archived by reviewers with inactive COs, so that helps give out more too....

 

We were considering that at one time, since most of our FPs out were on long-archived caches.  They were our favorites...    

But a cacher close to home died, and we realized that "inactive" might not be a fault of the CO.

I was a bit simpler on the subject, that at the time the caches with FP were one of our favorites, and will remain that way.   

[+thebruce0]

For the most part, I award favourites for caches that stand out in my experience, caches that I think are cream of the crop generally speaking, caches that provided a memorable personal experience, and about the biggest outward-thinking reason is if I think the cache owner went above and beyond in their own efforts (like they're a newer cache owner, or I know their other caches) to make a stand-out geocache relative to their own standards, even if in the grand scheme it's not super special. That last one is treating the FP more like a 'reward' than a personally subjective mark of quality or a memory. 

 

And as mentioned above, we have SO many powertrails and fairly standard, typical geocaches in my area that I've accrued hundreds of FPs still to reward. Chances are, when I reward one, it means something about it really stood out - the experience, the container, the location, a personal memory, or a cache owner's efforts.

 

When you're surrounded by thousands of fairly similar geocaches, having hundreds of FPs to give out certainly doesn't mean one is 'squirreling' them. It could just mean there's not a lot of uniqueness or creativity in the local region's cache landscape, relative to the quantity of caches available to find...

[+Ragnemalm]

10% caches I most want to recommend, for whatever reason. All there is to it IMHO.

[+CachedIronSkillet]

On 6/7/2021 at 10:59 PM, mraudrey said:

If you want to find geocaches worthy of favorite points, look for caches hidden by COs who have a high favorite point to hide ratio. The best CO I know of around where I live is WarNinjas with almost 8 points per hide.

 

How/where are you finding this?  I know I do well on this scale, but want to search for others outside of my area.

[+brodiebunch]

If I could give ours away I would as this is not an aspect of the activity we participate in.

 

We assigned about 10% of them then I got bored doing that. 

 

If I really like a geocache, I leave a post that is longer than "Thanks!" and maybe post a photo. 

 

A favorite point here is the equivalent to the heart on Instagram or a like on Facebook-meaningless in the scheme of life. 

 

Edited July 15, 2021 by brodiebunch

[+mraudrey]

3 hours ago, CachedIronSkillet said:

 

How/where are you finding this?  I know I do well on this scale, but want to search for others outside of my area.

It's not an available stat AFAIK. I just look at a CO's profile page, note the number of fav points and number of hides, then use a calculator. It's interesting to check around your area and see how the prolific hiders stack up. I'm happy to be above 4:1 myself, but I don't own many hides. I try to place good ones and I'll never hide a power trail.

[+Ragnemalm]

On 7/14/2021 at 11:59 PM, brodiebunch said:

A favorite point here is the equivalent to the heart on Instagram or a like on Facebook-meaningless in the scheme of life.

Not the way I see it. An FP is a recommendation, to other cachers to try the cache, and, also important, to tell the CO that the cache is good and therefore worth maintaining and keeping. No FP = downvote, uninteresting, don't bother keeping it. TFTC and copy-paste logs are also downvotes as I see it because yes, a good log counts, but not numerically.

 

So I tend to archive caches with no or few FPs. It is the only measure I have on whether a cache is worthwhile or not.

[+Ragnemalm]

On 6/8/2021 at 4:59 AM, mraudrey said:

If you want to find geocaches worthy of favorite points, look for caches hidden by COs who have a high favorite point to hide ratio. The best CO I know of around where I live is WarNinjas with almost 8 points per hide.

Doesn't the % FPs say more? 8 FPs on a hide with 200 finds is not as convincing as 8 FPs on a cache with 10 finds.

[+Ragnemalm]

On 6/8/2021 at 12:29 AM, cerberus1 said:

I do agree that "quality" (to me) caches are fewer and far between.  1.5 in a row hides are old hat (for me), and I'd need a bit more for a FP...

I totally agree on that - most of the time. 1.5/1.5 petlings generally don't make it, and I often skip them becacuse they are not interesting.

 

But it has happened that we found an FP-worthy 1.5/1.5. We found a short trail, 4-5 caches in a nice area including a tree climbing cache (yes, bring them on!), but the first was 1.5/1.5 so we just walked past it to get to the tree climbing cache.

 

But they we noticed, it had something like 20 FPs! OK, let's give it a chance! And indeed, it was very nice, just easy. The CO quickly positioned himself as the best in the area, so we need to have some FPs saved before visinging any of his caches.

 

That is an exception, though. Usually, 1.5/1.5 and thereabout are just a petling at face height or a film canister behind a sign. No FPs unless the location justifies it.

 

I do "squirrel" some FPs, but I have too few since I am actively looking for good ones. I got the suggesting to take a power trail to get a bunch to spend, but no, I am not power trailing! Not my style. Thus, I always have too few.

[+colleda]

When I give a FP it's a message from me to the CO that I enjoyed the cache for whatever reason - nothing to do with sending any message to other cachers. The cache itself may be rubbish but it could have been at a nice scenic spot. It may be because it was a tricky/clever hide. It may be because I liked the cache container. It may be because the spot invoked some pleasant memories from the past. I have never ever sought out a cache on the basis of FPs.

 

[+niraD]

6 hours ago, Ragnemalm said:

Not the way I see it. An FP is a recommendation, to other cachers to try the cache, and, also important, to tell the CO that the cache is good and therefore worth maintaining and keeping. No FP = downvote, uninteresting, don't bother keeping it.

Nonsense. Not giving a Favorite Point is not a downvote. It's just saying that the cache isn't in the top 10% Or for some premium members, the top 9%, or the top 8%, or whatever.

 

This isn't Lake Wobegon, where all the caches are above average--and not just above average, but in the top 10%.

 

6 hours ago, Ragnemalm said:

TFTC and copy-paste logs are also downvotes as I see it because yes, a good log counts, but not numerically.

Sometimes a TFTC log or a copy-paste log has nothing to do with the cache. Sometimes they're just the way someone learned to (or decided to) post logs.

[+barefootjeff]

6 hours ago, Ragnemalm said:

Not the way I see it. An FP is a recommendation, to other cachers to try the cache, and, also important, to tell the CO that the cache is good and therefore worth maintaining and keeping. No FP = downvote, uninteresting, don't bother keeping it. TFTC and copy-paste logs are also downvotes as I see it because yes, a good log counts, but not numerically.

 

So I tend to archive caches with no or few FPs. It is the only measure I have on whether a cache is worthwhile or not.

 

I enjoy almost all the caches I do, in fact I can only think of one out of the 1342 I've found that I really wished the CO hadn't hidden, but I can only award FPs to 10% of them. That doesn't mean the other 90% are rubbish, no way!

 

The measure I use on whether a cache is worthwhile or not is what people write in their logs. I recently got this in a log on one of my caches:

 

Quote

I was surprised to see a new published cache on the Central Coast and since the only plans we had for the day were chores around the house, I thought why not have a crack at a FTF. And I do enjoy a cache from BFJ, they are always of the highest quality.
Great theme, nice puzzle which taught me something new, and a lovely bush setting. ✅✅✅

We took the short but steep option on approach, and soon had the GPS down to 0m.
Today's patient was eager, with mouth already open wide, and kindly allowed us to look around without slamming shut. The cavity was promptly located, signed and restored. Covered my tracks on the way out, expecting another finder to not be far away.
As we were enjoying the walk through the reserve we continued up to the picnic area and found another cache comfortably with no muggles around due to the road closure.
From here we lapped up the downhill terrain back to the car, by jogging as quick as possible.

Thanks for a new hide Jeff!

 

The logger is a PM but didn't give it an FP. He doesn't do a lot of caching these days and is pretty selective in the ones he does, but out of those he can still only give FPs to a tenth of them. It's the way the system works and I'm sure his lack of an FP doesn't mean he's downvoting it or thinks I should archive it.

[+CachedIronSkillet]

A favorite point IS a recommendation to other Geocachers to try the cache.  This doesn't make most unfavorited caches bad... but special caches get favorites and we all know it. If a cache has been out for a long time and doesn't have a single favorite, there is a very high probability that it is a "blah" and if it is more I try to note that in the log.  In the future I'm going to try to rectify the situation by granting a favorite, even if the cache isn't something that would reach my former recommendation threshold.  From now on if I judge the cache to be Top 20% but it has no favorites that will be good enough for me to grant one.

 

7 hours ago, Ragnemalm said:

An FP is a recommendation, to other cachers to try the cache, and, also important, to tell the CO that the cache is good and therefore worth maintaining and keeping. 

 

So I tend to archive caches with no or few FPs. It is the only measure I have on whether a cache is worthwhile or not.

 

While I do not agree that lack of a favorite is a downvote, I wish more people had your attitude towards owned caches.  I usually explicitly set out to build and place caches worthy of favorite points.  Some are cool locations or hides, but many are more than that.  And wouldn't it be a better hobby if more cache owners tried to make quality caches?  Yes, it takes work.  Sometimes it even takes money.  But it is rewarding to get notes from people about how their dad or their daughter explicitly asks if I have any new caches out. (I've got both of these messages) 

Edited July 16, 2021 by CachedIronSkillet

[+brodiebunch]

Moral of the story:

 

Geocache the way we want to. 

[+cerberus1]

9 hours ago, Ragnemalm said:

Not the way I see it. An FP is a recommendation, to other cachers to try the cache, and, also important, to tell the CO that the cache is good and therefore worth maintaining and keeping.

We've seen guard rail and lamp post skirt hides with numerous FPs. Most have seen FTF put a FP on them "just because".

 - A group we know FPs each other's cache because they're in their group.  

Groundspeak itself says FPs are " a simple way to track and share geocaches that you enjoyed the most."  That's all.

 

 

[+cerberus1]

2 hours ago, CachedIronSkillet said:

. If a cache has been out for a long time and doesn't have a single favorite, there is a very high probability that it is a "blah" and if it is more I try to note that in the log. 

In the future I'm going to try to rectify the situation by granting a favorite, even if the cache isn't something that would reach my former recommendation threshold. 

 

Works for you... Great.    For us (now), if a cache has been out a long time and doesn't have a single favorite point, there's a reason.

 - Anyone who found mountain '00-'02 caches that were rusted-shut cookie tins wrapped in black plastic can attest.    

We realize that FPs weren't even a thing until December 2010 as well, and we were one of only a couple that FP past caches found.

But since FPs are based on caches I enjoyed, I'm not gonna give a FP "just because".  

[+CachedIronSkillet]

I never said "just because" but throwing a favorite point at an old cache that is better than 80% of the caches I encounter is my way of marking things I'd recommend.  This isn't a fight - I'm not arguing that others are doing something wrong.  I am saying that it is USUALLY pretty obvious when a cache is good.  Sure, people can team up to obscure this but that is something that is detectable in many cases.  

 

Are we talking in circles now?  I'm starting to wonder if there is anything constructive left that has not been said...

[+NanCycle]

Too many of the caches I see with a large percentage of FPs are the ones that break guidelines--Buried underground, holes drilled into telephone poles and fence posts, etc.  I do not give FPs to these caches.  

[+barefootjeff]

9 hours ago, CachedIronSkillet said:

If a cache has been out for a long time and doesn't have a single favorite, there is a very high probability that it is a "blah" and if it is more I try to note that in the log.

 

Many caches that are part of a series don't get any FPs simply because of the one-in-ten availability of points. lee737's Atom series of science-based puzzles is a good example, I enjoyed them all but was only able to give an FP to one simply because I don't have enough available FPs to do more than that. Likewise colleda's Fernleigh Track series along a rails-to-trails bike path, which was an enjoyable extended bike ride that took me several visits to complete. But even good enjoyable caches that aren't part of a series can get overlooked in the FP stakes, like this one by Samuel737 on the Great North Walk in the Watagan Mountains, placed near where the trail heads down off the ridge into the Congewai Valley. The cache itself is just an ordinary Sistema but it does the job of keeping its contents clean and dry, note also that it has a proper logbook and not just a scrap of paper.

 

 

It'd consider this to be a good quality cache in a worthy location, but such caches are pretty much par for the course in this part of the world. Being in a fairly remote location, it's only had 20 finders in its four years of life and, judging by those logs, everyone found it to be an enjoyable cache, just not awesome enough to spend an FP on it.

 

It's much the same for this one of mine that I placed about a year ago, which has had 19 finds but only 1 FP.

 

 

This is similar to Samuel's one, a Sistema container in a scenic bushland location, but it's only a short unspectacular walk from the road so there's nothing of the wow factor about it to earn regular FPs. I never expected it to, it was just a location I came across while wandering around during last year's COVID lockdown and thought it would make a nice spot for a cache in an area that doesn't have very many caches. I'd much rather blah caches like these than no caches at all.

Edited July 16, 2021 by barefootjeff

[+CachedIronSkillet]

Those are NOT Blah caches and they're the reason I sit on so many favorite points.... were I able to do them I'd spend a lot on them.  Those are great caches.  Maybe I'm in a low-quality area.

[+barefootjeff]

20 hours ago, colleda said:

When I give a FP it's a message from me to the CO that I enjoyed the cache for whatever reason - nothing to do with sending any message to other cachers. The cache itself may be rubbish but it could have been at a nice scenic spot. It may be because it was a tricky/clever hide. It may be because I liked the cache container. It may be because the spot invoked some pleasant memories from the past. I have never ever sought out a cache on the basis of FPs.

 

Yes, it's much the same for me. I give FPs to the caches I find most memorable, not as any recommendation to others as we all have different tastes. Even in the small group I hang out with, we each enjoy different aspects of the game: one is into gadget caches, another likes puzzles, a third likes forest caches and as for me, well, some might think I have a penchant for waterfalls and caves if my hides are anything to go by. So I suspect some of my favourites wouldn't especially appeal to them and some of their favourites wouldn't especially appeal to me, even though we do share a broad overlap in the caches we enjoy.

 

An extreme example of my favourites NOT being recommendations is one I favourited late last year. The cache itself, a 2/2.5 traditional, is a short scramble up through bushland near a foerest road in the Watagan Mountains and, at the time I attempted it, it hadn't received any FPs from its 17 finds. Also owned by Samuel737, it was similar to the one I mentioned earlier, a small Sistema container hidden in a location looking down through the trees into the Congewai Valley, and had I done it the way everyone else did, by driving up to it along the road and doing the short scramble through the bush to GZ, I wouldn't have given it an FP either. Nothing wrong with the cache or location, but nothing awesome enough to get it up into the FP stratosphere for Watagans caches. But at the time I'd had my fill of drive-up forest caches and was looking for something with a more challenging hike, so I opted to park down the bottom in the valley and hike up the Great North Walk from there, a distance of 5km horizontally and 400 metres vertically each way, effectively making it into a T4. The FP I gave was mostly about my journey, as it's a day I'll fondly remember even though I was pretty stiff and sore by the end of it, but I certainly wouldn't recommend anyone else trying it that way unless they were really into long steep hikes.

 

[+lee737]

12 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

like this one by Samuel737 on the Great North Walk in the Watagan Mountains, placed near where the trail heads down off the ridge into the Congewai Valley.

Thanks - that reminds us to get back out there and replace that one, it seems to have fallen victim to the fires of 2019/20, and was replaced by another cacher after messaging me....

[+geoBirder]

On 6/7/2021 at 6:08 PM, kunarion said:

I used to dole them all out.  Then future caches were out of luck. 

I've sometimes written "I owe you my next Favourite Point!" on a separate line below my log. Then when I earn an extra one, I award it and let the CO know I've done so. (Then I either erase the IOU sentence or sometimes add an Update with the date I added the FP.) Fun for me, but probably not for everyone. 😃

[+lee737]

4 hours ago, geoBirder said:

I've sometimes written "I owe you my next Favourite Point!" on a separate line below my log. Then when I earn an extra one, I award it and let the CO know I've done so. (Then I either erase the IOU sentence or sometimes add an Update with the date I added the FP.) Fun for me, but probably not for everyone. 😃

See, I'd probably forget to go back and give it - this is why I keep my dozen FP's in my buffer.....

[+mraudrey]

On 7/15/2021 at 11:25 PM, Ragnemalm said:

Doesn't the % FPs say more? 8 FPs on a hide with 200 finds is not as convincing as 8 FPs on a cache with 10 finds.

You are correct, and it does on a cache by cache basis. Older hides will likely have more finds and probably more fav points. That tells me that if a CO is still actively placing hides, the ratio says even more about how good their caches are. But yes, it's not a perfect metric. Use it if you like or don't. 

[+thebruce0]

There are various ways of 'rating' a cache.

1. Number of FPs.

2. % of FP to Finds.

3. Wilson score

The wilson score (via PGC) is even better, since 30 FP out of 100 (30%) finds may still be enormously better than that 6 FP out of 8 finds (75%). Wilson takes some other factors into consideration.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Found a cache in a cemetery today.  Gravesite for the cacher's late wife (and his in the future).  There is a hole drilled in the bottom of the monument, covered by a rock, with a bison tube inside.  Only a geocacher would drill a hole in the monument, to hide a cache!  48% favorites!  Got a favorite point from me!