Can HQ do anything to help?

[+lee737]

Our area seems to have a rather virulent cache-smasher.

Not your average random finds/vandalism by kids - this seems to be a muggle with a premium account systematically destroying caches. 

There has been a 15 cache power trail wiped out, we have had 6 or 7 also, all in a similar timeframe in the past few months it seems.

Two of ours were gadgets that involved solving puzzles to find the gadget, then operating the gadget for coordinates to GZ, with WP1 and GZ being destroyed. One of ours involved needing to bring ice along to the cache before the gadget would give directions to find GZ, both locations destroyed.

 

It would be helpful if someone from HQ could indicate if it is worth us preparing a list of caches for them - I would bet these caches were all navigated to with a phone app in a similar period, but not logged, and would almost certainly be a new premium member. If HQ would be prepared to look at this and act if a culprit stood out, I'll go to the effort, otherwise I won't expend any more....

Thanks....

[+SamLowrey]

This has always worried me.

[+cerberus1]

6 hours ago, lee737 said:

Our area seems to have a rather virulent cache-smasher.

Not your average random finds/vandalism by kids - this seems to be a muggle with a premium account systematically destroying caches. 

 

It would be helpful if someone from HQ could indicate if it is worth us preparing a list of caches for them - I would bet these caches were all navigated to with a phone app in a similar period, but not logged, and would almost certainly be a new premium member. If HQ would be prepared to look at this and act if a culprit stood out, I'll go to the effort, otherwise I won't expend any more....

 

Curious... Would you happen to know how many hundreds of users clicked on those caches since they were published ?

I'd think this is similar to why PMO audits were finally canned... Innocent people blamed.

 - For example, when we started, we were accused by many locals for being cache thieves.  Shunned at events.

Newbies, we just happened to show before/after a cache was grabbed.  Many were PMO.

It turned out we caught the guy, the outline of the pack a giveaway.  A PM, he thought caches were "litter", but only ammo cans.  Right...

Odd that not a single person ever apologized to us...

[Johannis10]

9 hours ago, lee737 said:

It would be helpful if someone from HQ could indicate...

Vandalism is not nice, I'm sorry for you. Unfortunately, I also had vandalism problems with several of my caches. The reasons for vandalism are different. The suitable countermeasures are therefore not always the same. Hope you find a suitable solution. I think you will have to find a solution without GS., but there are many solutions that you can implement without GS. I wish you success.

Best wishes

Johannis10

[+colleda]

13 hours ago, lee737 said:

Our area seems to have a rather virulent cache-smasher.

Not your average random finds/vandalism by kids - this seems to be a muggle with a premium account systematically destroying caches. 

There has been a 15 cache power trail wiped out, we have had 6 or 7 also, all in a similar timeframe in the past few months it seems.

Two of ours were gadgets that involved solving puzzles to find the gadget, then operating the gadget for coordinates to GZ, with WP1 and GZ being destroyed. One of ours involved needing to bring ice along to the cache before the gadget would give directions to find GZ, both locations destroyed.

 

It would be helpful if someone from HQ could indicate if it is worth us preparing a list of caches for them - I would bet these caches were all navigated to with a phone app in a similar period, but not logged, and would almost certainly be a new premium member. If HQ would be prepared to look at this and act if a culprit stood out, I'll go to the effort, otherwise I won't expend any more....

Thanks....

In what area is this happening?

[+lee737]

31 minutes ago, colleda said:

In what area is this happening?

Newcastle - at least 7 of ours have vanished/been destroyed in the past 2 months, and that 15 cache trail out Minmi way....

 

[+colleda]

6 hours ago, lee737 said:

Newcastle - at least 7 of ours have vanished/been destroyed in the past 2 months, and that 15 cache trail out Minmi way....

 

I had a quick look and saw a couple of Found It logs mentioning, log only, smashed or only magnet found but no NMs logged.

Seems like many locals here are not logging NMs. Are you finding that Lee?

[+lee737]

2 hours ago, colleda said:

I had a quick look and saw a couple of Found It logs mentioning, log only, smashed or only magnet found but no NMs logged.

Seems like many locals here are not logging NMs. Are you finding that Lee?

Definitely. We'll investigate and fix if anyone mentions a problem in their log, but we've hardly ever had a NM logged....

[+Ragnemalm]

AFAIK HQ can do nothing, or little. They are responsible for what goes online, but the caches are our responsibility.

 

We have had some cases of cache sabouteurs. One was in my home area, a kid who started stealing all caches (at least the asy ones). The solution was to make all caches premium and then the problem disappeared.

 

Another case was a TB hotel, which was repeatedly sabotaged and quite a few TBs were lost. (My guess is that they are in the nearby bushes somewhere.) The solution was to move it and make it a bit harder to spot.

 

A third case was a unique cache I made, and put in what I thought was a discrete place where nobody goes. First version, rather primitive, might look like trash. Muggled. OK, so I made a new, in a neat hand-made box. Content gone, box found smashed. Hopeless case, archived and made a new one in a tougher place, but not as unique any more. Felt so-so, but at least the saboteur didn't find anything more to destroy.

 

Generally, the trick is to give the sabouteur nothing to sabotage for some time. Deactivate all caches and take them in. Here is one case where HQ could possibly help: To allow these caches to be inactive for extensive time, preferrably several months, so you don't have to archive and re-submit every single cache. Can HQ accept that?

[+ecanderson]

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=game+camera&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

 

[+NanCycle]

10 hours ago, Ragnemalm said:

Here is one case where HQ could possibly help: To allow these caches to be inactive for extensive time, preferrably several months, so you don't have to archive and re-submit every single cache. Can HQ accept that?

This already exists.  A cache can be Temporarily Disabled.  With sufficient, reasonable explanation, "temporarily" could last several months.

[+colleda]

On 6/29/2021 at 9:50 AM, lee737 said:

Newcastle - at least 7 of ours have vanished/been destroyed in the past 2 months, and that 15 cache trail out Minmi way....

 

Looks like a couple of my Fernleigh Track caches have been hit. Going out this morning to check.

[+coachstahly]

On 6/28/2021 at 5:04 AM, lee737 said:

One of ours involved needing to bring ice along to the cache before the gadget would give directions to find GZ, both locations destroyed.

 

I'm curious to know how this one works.  If you'd rather not share here, then feel free to send a private message.  I'm always interested in learning about new ways to cache and I've never heard this before.

[+lee737]

1 hour ago, coachstahly said:

 

I'm curious to know how this one works.  If you'd rather not share here, then feel free to send a private message.  I'm always interested in learning about new ways to cache and I've never heard this before.

It was an electronic gadget, an arduino microcontroller and an LCD screen, with a temperature probe, all housed in an ammo tin. Once the temp probe had been brought down to 2 or 3 degrees, directions to the final would be displayed....

 

[+TeamRabbitRun]

On 7/4/2021 at 3:36 PM, ecanderson said:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=game+camera&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

 

 

Love it! BearCams are a great invention for all sorts of reasons.

 

My neighbor put one at the bottom of his driveway to catch the mailbox-bashing $#@!%#$ that swung by every few months.

 

(Turned out to be teenagers in a car at 2:00 AM. Speeding by, one would sit up in the passenger car window swinging a baseball bat. I suggested replacing with a NESTED pair of bigger-and-smaller mailboxes, with the space between filled with concrete. Try again, kids!     He declined.)

 

Anyway, my point is, once you put out the bearcam and have a great picture of the offender, then what? Tell the cops that this kid in the photo messed up something you left out in the woods?   

 

There's no enforcement activity that HQ can carry out. Cancel their membership?   OOOoooohh!

 

The 'authorities' won't do anything (maybe give YOU a ticket for littering!) except if the cache is on YOUR property, and even then what's the charge? What are the damages?

 

Public shaming? Want to escalate that war? Direct confrontation? There's already a demonstrated disrespect and a disregard for good behavior; be careful!

 

I wish we had a better solution. Most likely, every incident is different and each dirtbag's motives are as individual as the creative hides they mangle. 

 

 

[+cerberus1]

20 hours ago, TeamRabbitRun said:

... my point is, once you put out the bearcam and have a great picture of the offender, then what?

 

Yep.  And that's if they even found their game-cam still there upon return.   

We know we aren't the only ones that spotted game-cams well-before they spotted us.  See them a lot in game lands here.

If I spotted a game-cam not watching at least a game trail, I'd look around to see what's it's after too...

Hikers here get real upset about the idea of mom or the kids being  photo'd going potty...

- The state has seen their cams go bye-bye for that reason, and now include signage due to legal challenges.  

 

[+lee737]

23 hours ago, TeamRabbitRun said:

Anyway, my point is, once you put out the bearcam and have a great picture of the offender, then what? Tell the cops that this kid in the photo messed up something you left out in the woods?   

 

There's no enforcement activity that HQ can carry out. Cancel their membership?   OOOoooohh!

 

The 'authorities' won't do anything (maybe give YOU a ticket for littering!) except if the cache is on YOUR property, and even then what's the charge? What are the damages?

 

Public shaming? Want to escalate that war? Direct confrontation? There's already a demonstrated disrespect and a disregard for good behavior; be careful!

 

I wish we had a better solution. Most likely, every incident is different and each dirtbag's motives are as individual as the creative hides they mangle. 

Yep.... the whole trailcam idea is a fun concept, but hardly practical/worthwhile.....

[crackedgeocache]

On 6/28/2021 at 5:04 AM, lee737 said:

Our area seems to have a rather virulent cache-smasher.

Not your average random finds/vandalism by kids - this seems to be a muggle with a premium account systematically destroying caches. 

There has been a 15 cache power trail wiped out, we have had 6 or 7 also, all in a similar timeframe in the past few months it seems.

Two of ours were gadgets that involved solving puzzles to find the gadget, then operating the gadget for coordinates to GZ, with WP1 and GZ being destroyed. One of ours involved needing to bring ice along to the cache before the gadget would give directions to find GZ, both locations destroyed.

 

It would be helpful if someone from HQ could indicate if it is worth us preparing a list of caches for them - I would bet these caches were all navigated to with a phone app in a similar period, but not logged, and would almost certainly be a new premium member. If HQ would be prepared to look at this and act if a culprit stood out, I'll go to the effort, otherwise I won't expend any more....

Thanks....

the person might of gotten the coordinates from the geocahce app and then  navigated there using another gps app

[crackedgeocache]

On 6/28/2021 at 11:59 AM, cerberus1 said:

 

Curious... Would you happen to know how many hundreds of users clicked on those caches since they were published ?

I'd think this is similar to why PMO audits were finally canned... Innocent people blamed.

 - For example, when we started, we were accused by many locals for being cache thieves.  Shunned at events.

Newbies, we just happened to show before/after a cache was grabbed.  Many were PMO.

It turned out we caught the guy, the outline of the pack a giveaway.  A PM, he thought caches were "litter", but only ammo cans.  Right...

Odd that not a single person ever apologized to us...

how did you catch the theif

[+SoonerCardsFan]

There is a local cacher that has had a number of hides stolen recently. He has even been contacted by the thief who asked for things like an ammo box for "ransom". The cacher contacted HQ and was told such issues were between cachers and they would not get involved.