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Need feedback on this feedback that I received


ReToddy

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So I tried placing a simple geocache on a college campus outside the observatory building. The cache is attached underneath a metal electrical box (on further review I believe its simply a meter box) at a public location.  This is the reply that I received and frankly it rubbed me the wrong way as most of it, in my experience, is simply opinion and not factual.  I wanted to run it by the community for your feedback. Is this an acceptable location for a geocache?  I think yes but the reviewer clearly thinks No. (see cut and paste below, my submission is on bottom, review note on top). 

What are my reasonable options? Do I really have to go to the power company and the campus administration and get names and phone numbers for permission?

I also emailed geocaching.com from their web site with similar questions and have never received a reply. :-(

 

Thanks for your feedback...

 

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image.png.8feb673f085c71f22aee8e8ebe12c56b.png

 

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Sorry, but I'm inclined to agree with the reviewer on this. Although your cache is on the outside of the box and poses no risk, some finders might not realise that and try to prise it open or go poking around in places that are hazardous. Even if you say in the description that it's an MKH on the outside of the box, a lot of people don't read the descriptions on traditionals and will only look at the hint when their initial searching fails. And yes, the box is somebody else's property and, while the ground around it might be a public place, the box itself isn't. I doubt the electricity authority would give permission for the cache even if you could find the right person to ask, really it's just not a good place to put a cache and doesn't create a good impression of caching when someone from the electricity people comes along and discovers it.

 

There was one I did early in my caching career that had coordinates close to an unlocked utility box in a shopping centre car park. It turned out the cache wasn't in it and was some ten metres away (the CO later admitted to offsetting the coordinates to make it a harder find), but during the course of my search I was sorely tempted to open the box and start poking around. Thankfully common sense and a fear of being sprung by a security guard prevailed.

 

Is there nowhere else nearby you can put your cache? Does it have to be a magnetic key holder?

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I agree with the reviewer. College campuses are not the best places for geocaches. Think about if you were security for thousands of students and you saw a suspicious container. And I absolutely despise caches on electric boxes. I absolutely hate searching all around them although it sounds like yours is a very small and easy one. 

Although you do have a point about these things being the reviewer's opinion, I still think on a campus, permission should be given. 

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I've seen some around electrical equipment and it does worry me a bit.  But, at the same time, the Safety Sally's feel like a threat to humanity at times.  Do we really need to dumb everything down?  Where does it end?  Maybe we end up with nothing but lamp post caches?  Oh, but those could be considered "electrical" too.  Ooops.  

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12 minutes ago, SamLowrey said:

But, at the same time, the Safety Sally's feel like a threat to humanity at times.  Do we really need to dumb everything down?  Where does it end?  Maybe we end up with nothing but lamp post caches?  Oh, but those could be considered "electrical" too.  Ooops.

 

Or maybe it ends with caches that aren't placed on other people's property. Just a thought.

 

Are caches like this one really dumbing down the game? If so, I'm in the wrong game.

 

CacheGoingIn.jpg.2bcb6ad275e069f7cabea747c68723ef.jpg

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Whether or not you need permission to put it on the electrical meter/box, have you gotten permission to place the geocache on campus? At the very least, yes, you'd need permission to place a cache on a university campus.

Edited by TriciaG
added 2nd sentence
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14 hours ago, ReToddy said:

So I tried placing a simple geocache on a college campus outside the observatory building.

The cache is attached underneath a metal electrical box (on further review I believe its simply a meter box) at a public location... 

 

Thanks for your feedback...

 

I realize it may bug you, thinking maybe the Reviewer's going a bit further than normal, like it's a pet peeve, but the issue is permission.

The Reviewer even said they'd published it after you provide permission. 

Your example is sorta why caches are never "approved". I feel lab caches are rediculous, but if I was a Reviewer, I'd publish them.  :)  

You aren't saying you never got permission for any of your other caches, are you ?   If you did, it should be simple to ask as before. 

Some of ours (now archived) took us months to get permission.   

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5 hours ago, SamLowrey said:

I've seen some around electrical equipment and it does worry me a bit.  But, at the same time, the Safety Sally's feel like a threat to humanity at times.  Do we really need to dumb everything down?  Where does it end?  Maybe we end up with nothing but lamp post caches?  Oh, but those could be considered "electrical" too.  Ooops.  

 

We thought we'd be FTF on one in another state.  The other 2/3rds put her hand in where she saw a "container", and got knocked on her can.

Turns out either the FTF or the CO  decided to "make room", and moved wires outta the way, and some were no longer grounded.

We NM it with a warning to others, the CO had a hissy fit, and dismantled it. 

In the area a week later, and just for the heck of it stopped over, to see the wires were still like that. Guess maintenance didn't have a short/fire...

 

One possible FTF at a nice military memorial had every light n junction cover half on, screws missing. Outdoor outlets had two missing covers.

Someone even dismantled the flag stand , and the flag was leaning.  I took the chance to fix that, but NM for the other stuff.

Another was there before us that morning, admitting they had a multi tool to find it, but no luck. We were FTF.  It was in a bush...

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55 minutes ago, cerberus1 said:

 

We thought we'd be FTF on one in another state.  The other 2/3rds put her hand in where she saw a "container", and got knocked on her can.

Turns out either the FTF or the CO  decided to "make room", and moved wires outta the way, and some were no longer grounded.

We NM it with a warning to others, the CO had a hissy fit, and dismantled it. 

In the area a week later, and just for the heck of it stopped over, to see the wires were still like that. Guess maintenance didn't have a short/fire...

 

One possible FTF at a nice military memorial had every light n junction cover half on, screws missing. Outdoor outlets had two missing covers.

Someone even dismantled the flag stand , and the flag was leaning.  I took the chance to fix that, but NM for the other stuff.

Another was there before us that morning, admitting they had a multi tool to find it, but no luck. We were FTF.  It was in a bush...

Sometimes the CO really has to say what not to search, and likely in both the description and the hint. I dismantled a sprinkler once looking for a cache (which I didn't find) and it was really tricky to get it back together, because of a spring (springing about) in the mechanism. After much effort I managed :wacko: to put it back together, and I wrote about that in my DNF log. (Thank goodness the water didn't come on during that time!!) The next person also dismantled the sprinkler, but they wrote they didn't manage to put it back together. I imagined the stream of water shooting from that sprinkler next time the watering system was turned on :(.

The CO added for future searchers, the sprinkler was not the cache and don't search that.

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10 hours ago, Goldenwattle said:

Sometimes the CO really has to say what not to search, and likely in both the description and the hint. I dismantled a sprinkler once looking for a cache (which I didn't find) and it was really tricky to get it back together, because of a spring (springing about) in the mechanism

 

I found one of those when I first started Geocaching.  Spring-loaded, secured into the ground, very wet.  I decided it's a real sprinkler.  Now I try one only if it looks like a key holder fake sprinkler head (typically placed in a weird spot for a sprinkler).

 

sprinkler-1.jpg

 

I don't like poking around utility boxes.  I'm too... inquisitive?  I've tried to remove too many actual electrical protrusions.  Every little attachment looks like it could be a cache, and usually there are not many possibilities as "a likely Geocache".  You may say that it's just The Darwin Awards taking care of the situation, but there are a lot of logs on these kinds of hides where cachers have concerns about the potential danger.  So it's not just me. 

 

There are unique caches where the electrical box seems to hide no container (there's nothing to "test removing", you look & think for a while, and there it is), and they seem to endure.  But most of these get archived pretty quick.  A whole series around town at telephone equipment was archived before I found the first one.  The reason these big metal boxes in out-of-the way spots don't already have magnetic caches stuck on them is not so much because of "no permission".  They're in general a bad idea for a cache placement.

 

Edited by kunarion
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2 hours ago, kunarion said:

Now I try one only if it looks like a key holder fake sprinkler head (typically placed in a weird spot for a sprinkler).

I don't unscrew anything unless I'm sure its the cache, generally because I've removed it from wherever it was hidden and I'm holding it in my hands. I've found a few fake sprinkler caches that fit that rule. And magnetic caches like blank utility plates and fake signs fit that rule.

 

I found one electrical box cache that was well placed. It was a trailhead cache, on the side of a bulletin board shelter that displayed a park map, pictures of poison oak, and maybe a couple wildlife warnings. There was no electrical service anywhere near the trailhead, so it was obviously out of place once I noticed it. And the cover just opened; nothing needed to be unscrewed.

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To my mind, the main problem here is the permission to hide a cache on campus. That's not for seekers or for the reviewer: that's because *you* are sending people there to look for a cache, so *you* should want to be sure you're not telling them to do something they shouldn't do. Yes, it will be disappointing if you don't get permission, but that's exactly why you should ask.

 

The electrical box issue is less clear cut, but I'm not going to worry about it until you have permission from the college. I will mention that the reviewer threw in the word "knowingly", which I take as acknowledgement that some people hide things on electrical boxes but don't mention it to him. That explains why you've probably seen some around your area even though the reviewer wouldn't have approved them if he'd gotten full disclosure.

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Thanks for the reply's.

 

I will see if the college has a policy against placing geocaches which seems like the easier tact than finding some random employee who will say "sure you have my permission to place a geocache outside the observatory building if you want.". Hopefully that suffices.

 

What really rubbed me the wrong way is a reviewer saying they wont approve caches on anything that has electricity because they don't like those types of hides, even tho GeoCaching.Com has zero rules against it. Seems to me like they are making up cache placement rules instead of following the written rules. Yes, some caches are family friendly, and some are definitely NOT.  I have found approved caches on the sides of cliffs, up in tall trees, under roads in culverts, deep in the middle of the woods, in the middle of a swamp, etc, all examples of what some parents would not consider kid friendly. 

 

All utility boxes that I have seen are closed and locked. A meter box is just a glass faced meter with a box around it. Nothing dangerous about them as they are located all over public spaces and don't have any markings on them to indicate they are dangerous (because they are not).

 

That's my thoughts.

Hey, is there any way to appeal what a reviewer says or are the volunteer reviewers the final word. Period.

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5 minutes ago, ReToddy said:

 

Hey, is there any way to appeal what a reviewer says or are the volunteer reviewers the final word. Period.

 

You can submit an appeal but it's not a big chance you'll win.  But if you believe in this cache and your right to hide it there, go for it.

 

Here's a link with info: https://www.geocaching.com/help/index.php?pg=kb.chapter&id=97&pgid=476

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4 minutes ago, ReToddy said:

What really rubbed me the wrong way is a reviewer saying they wont approve caches on anything that has electricity because they don't like those types of hides, even tho GeoCaching.Com has zero rules against it. Seems to me like they are making up cache placement rules instead of following the written rules.

 

Is that what they said? I don't see anything in the original note you posted about their like or dislike of hides on electric equipment.

 

I do see that they are concerned that you perhaps didn't have permission to hide a geocache on electrical equipment - and based on what you write, it does not seem you had permission prior to hiding your cache on electrical equipment. So it would seem they were prescient in that respect.

 

10 minutes ago, ReToddy said:

Hey, is there any way to appeal what a reviewer says or are the volunteer reviewers the final word. Period.

 

You are always welcome to appeal a volunteer reviewer's calls to Groundspeak, using the "Contact Us" link that I believe is at the bottom of every page on the site.

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image.png.061f55b57a57c57f500e8579346ed2af.png

 

The reviewer didn't say its against geocaching rules to place a cache on or near electrical equipment, just that they, personally, don't publish them.  I have gotten several caches published that were on or near electrical equipment. But they were approved by other volunteer reviewers. 

 

I guess I am OK with getting permission. But that seems more like an artificial barrier to this cache than real concern or knowledge that this location requires permission first.  I don't believe it does as there are other published caches on this campus and nothing in the description states that they received permission to place the cache.

 

Oh, and thanks for the reply's.  Always learning :D

 

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10 minutes ago, ReToddy said:

The reviewer didn't say its against geocaching rules to place a cache on or near electrical equipment, just that they, personally, don't publish them.

 

"...unless the owner of that equipment (the local power company, usually) has given permission."

 

Have they?

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It sounds like it is OK to place caches near electrical equipment in your location, with permission.

 

One thing about universities, don't assume any electrical equipment you see on campus is owned by the university. I've worked at a couple universities, and the local power company has their own transformers and switching equipment located on campus. 

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4 hours ago, ReToddy said:

I will see if the college has a policy against placing geocaches which seems like the easier tact than finding some random employee who will say "sure you have my permission to place a geocache outside the observatory building if you want.". Hopefully that suffices.

The approach I've used for locations that haven't already had official geocaching policies has been to ask who I should talk to about getting permission. I don't ask "random employees" for permission. But I do my best to find someone who might know, and then ask that person who I should talk to.

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21 hours ago, ReToddy said:

<...>

 

I guess I am OK with getting permission. But that seems more like an artificial barrier to this cache than real concern or knowledge that this location requires permission first.  I don't believe it does as there are other published caches on this campus and nothing in the description states that they received permission to place the cache.

 

<...>

 

 

 

Seriously? Pardon me for being a little short on this, but EVERY cache requires permission.

In its current form, the cache permission page has a checkbox that asks you if you have permission to place the cache.

 

There are NO exceptions to that.

 

22 hours ago, ReToddy said:

<...>

 

...as there are other published caches on this campus and nothing in the description states that they received permission to place the cache.

 

<...>

 

Doesn't matter. Past practice in GeoCaching means nothing. First, because just because it doesn't SAY SO on the cache page, that doesn't mean that permission wasn't obtained. Second, 'permission' wasn't always emphasized as much as it is today.

 

Yes, it's true that GS clearly provides LISTING SERVICES ONLY and takes no responsibility for what's frequently a dangerous hobby, but they'd be foolish for not making you (us) clearly state that we have permission, if only to save their donkeys.

 

22 hours ago, ReToddy said:

<...>

 

All utility boxes that I have seen are closed and locked. A meter box is just a glass faced meter with a box around it. Nothing dangerous about them as they are located all over public spaces and don't have any markings on them to indicate they are dangerous (because they are not).

 

<...>

 

 

As for "all utility boxes being closed and locked", um, no. I see them open and unlocked all the time.

 

Slightly differently, I once did a cache in the Home Depot parking lot in Oneonta, NY. It was under the baseplate of a lamppost, WITHOUT a skirt.

Peeking under there, there was a space between the concrete base and the plate, where the cache was shoved. You could ALSO see the wires for the light as they passed up from the concrete into the pole. In fact, the cache was jammed into them!

 

People are STUPID. They will poke at, open and disassemble ANYTHING they think might hold a logbook, so relying on electrical equipment to be locked is irresponsible.

 

There was a pretty serious debate here a while back about the use of utility boxes, and nothing has changed my mind. Put all the GC stickers you want on them; if you point people at "safe" equipmenty-looking things, you're training them that equipmenty-looking things are fair game, and somebody's lawn will never see water again.

 

 

 

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So you are saying that every geocache requires permission? Even the ones placed under a street lamp skirt in a parking lot needs permission; Every geocache stuck to a guard rail needs permission; Every geocache placed in a bush on the side of Wal-mart needs permission; placed in a bus stop shelter needs permission, etc., the list goes on and on.  Is that really what we are doing?

 

I have gotten permission, many times, to place geocaches at locations that have a policy requiring permission to place. US Army Corp of Engineers property, certain city parks, etc., but for places that, as far as I know, do not have policy against geocaches or rules for geocache placement. I just make my hide then hit submit. More often than not, they are approved without any drama or fuss. 

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1 hour ago, ReToddy said:

So you are saying that every geocache requires permission?

 

Yes. From the guidelines: "By submitting a cache page, you agree that you have all necessary permissions from the landowner or land manager to hide your geocache at that location."

 

There are places with published geocaching policies that grant permission for any caches that meet certain criteria. In those places, as long as your cache meets those criteria, you have permission.

 

There are certainly caches where the owner does not have the required permission. I have seen such caches archived very quickly once it was made clear that permission had not been granted.

 

The "frisbee rule" is followed by many cache owners, but it is not actually part of the guidelines.

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On 11/11/2021 at 10:59 AM, ReToddy said:

I will see if the college has a policy against placing geocaches which seems like the easier tact than finding some random employee who will say "sure you have my permission to place a geocache outside the observatory building if you want.". Hopefully that suffices.

I know it's a pain, but don't try to get around it. The only way you can confirm that the college has no policy against geocaches is by finding a person authorized to say they have no such policy. Guess what? That's the same person that can give you permission if permission is required.

 

On 11/11/2021 at 10:59 AM, ReToddy said:

All utility boxes that I have seen are closed and locked. A meter box is just a glass faced meter with a box around it. Nothing dangerous about them as they are located all over public spaces and don't have any markings on them to indicate they are dangerous (because they are not).

I tend to agree with your attitude and would prefer reviewers left it to COs and seekers avoid doing anything dangerous. Having said that, electrical boxes do concern me enough that I understand their position even as I disagree with their decision. It's easy to say "they're completely safe" based thoughts of a perfect electrical box. But the restriction is worried about *all* electrical boxes, locked and opened, brand new and falling apart. In addition, you're likely thinking about the situation when the cache is in place. When the cache is missing, now that closed and locked door or switch plate or loose wire or anything else that you would have ignored if you'd found the cache become possible hiding places to be investigated. That opens you up to the danger of messing with something shocking, but it also opens up the box to damage by you trying testing if that door's *really* locked or that plate is *really* fixed in place.

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6 hours ago, ReToddy said:

So you are saying that every geocache requires permission? Even the ones placed under a street lamp skirt in a parking lot needs permission; Every geocache stuck to a guard rail needs permission; Every geocache placed in a bush on the side of Wal-mart needs permission; placed in a bus stop shelter needs permission, etc., the list goes on and on.  Is that really what we are doing?

 

Sure.  It's written in the guidelines that by submitting a cache page, you got permission.  Simple.  We got permission on every cache we've had.

One area where everyone assumed permission was given, it wasn't official, and all our caches in a series were taken by a deputy warden.

The other 2/3rds went with another cacher to our largest landowners HQ by appointment (to fit them in their monthly meeting), and got it officially.

It turned out that "deputy" was an ammo can thief we nailed more than a year earlier when he was in college. He doesn't work there anymore...

So yeah, if a policy isn't written in the Geocaching policies wiki , don't assume.  Get permission.   :)

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I  worked at a local Vo Tech college not long ago. A geocache was published on the property. I went out there and found it and removed it. Then got into an argument with the reviewer about it not being allowed on school property. As far as he was concerned it was public property so it was ok. I then informed him that all public School property was No trespassing allowed. Students or those who have business at the school only are allowed on school grounds. Also there are signs stating NO TRESPASSING ALLOWED. Not all property is accessible to the public, that is public property, I can show you many plots of state land with NO TRESPASSING signs posted. I then ordered him to archive that hide. Yes he did archive it.  Did I have authority to do that? Oh yes I did as a state employee it was my responsibility to do so. Now as far as electric boxes go. It is unlawful for the general public to open any electric box or access panel. They do not need a no trespassing sign on them. to open one is considered vandalism and trespass. Only the owner or an authorized person is allowed to open. I will assume this to be the law in all states. Homeland security has also ordered that any person messing with a utility control device to be arrested. This would include fire hydrants, here in Minnesota we are not allowed to hide a geocache on one. Does this sound overboard? Some would say yes, but that is the world that we live in today, thanks to September 11 2001.

So please lets all think before we hide geocache.

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15 hours ago, Mn-treker said:

As far as he was concerned it was public property so it was ok. I then informed him that all public School property was No trespassing allowed.

...

Not all property is accessible to the public, that is public property, I can show you many plots of state land with NO TRESPASSING signs posted. 

Exactly, public property versus public access.

 

At my land grant university, we are older than the state we are in. The property is owned by the regents, not the state. However, we have a Federal Depository library on campus, so we have to allow public access.

 

As an aside, my university does offer a class in geocaching. 

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15 hours ago, Mn-treker said:

.... Also there are signs stating NO TRESPASSING ALLOWED. Not all property is accessible to the public, that is public property, I can show you many plots of state land with NO TRESPASSING signs posted.

 

Me too.  There's numerous new public properties near me, that if you went by the "no trespassing" signs, you'd never enter. 

They simply haven't all been removed yet...   :)

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1 hour ago, Goldenwattle said:

Child playgrounds and nearby areas, should be added to that.

 

These days, playground areas are often intended for all ages and not just kids. For example, the Peninsula Recreation Precinct here includes an enclosed toddlers' play pen, swings, a merry-go-round, a climbing wall, flying fox, skateboard rink, BMX track, bike paths, football/cricket fields, tennis courts, basketball court, picnic tables, electric barbecues, a cafe and an adjoining patrolled surf beach.

 

RecreationPrecinct.jpg.8a310ab41b1e24e372fb7aa4bde999af.jpg

 

I have a multi set there (GC879J3), with virtual waypoints at the various activity signposts scattered around the area and the final in the bushland to the left of the picture. It's an area that's used just as much by adults as kids and I really don't see why it should be problematic.

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5 minutes ago, barefootjeff said:

 

These days, playground areas are often intended for all ages and not just kids. For example, the Peninsula Recreation Precinct here includes an enclosed toddlers' play pen, swings, a merry-go-round, a climbing wall, flying fox, skateboard rink, BMX track, bike paths, football/cricket fields, tennis courts, basketball court, picnic tables, electric barbecues, a cafe and an adjoining patrolled surf beach.

 

RecreationPrecinct.jpg.8a310ab41b1e24e372fb7aa4bde999af.jpg

 

I have a multi set there (GC879J3), with virtual waypoints at the various activity signposts scattered around the area and the final in the bushland to the left of the picture. It's an area that's used just as much by adults as kids and I really don't see why it should be problematic.

Most children's playgrounds in Canberra are for children alone. We would call what you show, a sports field. Playgrounds here are scattered through the suburbs. Still, even in your example, the cache should be placed away from the little children's section. Not under the roundabout, slippery dip, etc, or on the nearby bench.

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40 minutes ago, Goldenwattle said:

Still, even in your example, the cache should be placed away from the little children's section. Not under the roundabout, slippery dip, etc, or on the nearby bench.

 

The waypoints are posts like these:

 

Posts.jpg.33ad7570272ef9e3e88eb04a02bdb024.jpg

 

which are placed around the various activity areas in the easten part of the precinct near the cafe.

 

Waypoints.jpg.d1ce920df6446d530a6c0520a45676dd.jpg

 

The final is in a hollow tree base in bushland near the creek on the western side of the precinct.

 

I'll likely be archiving it soon as funding has now been approved for converting a substantial part of the area into a skateboard theme park, with the bulldozers likely to move in sometime next year. In any case, some of the signposts are starting to fall into disrepair and I noticed today while at the cafe that the plaque at the listed coordinates is becoming badly corroded and may soon be unreadable.

 

 

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On 11/18/2021 at 8:16 PM, Mn-treker said:

Also there are signs stating NO TRESPASSING ALLOWED.

 

No Trespassing should mean No Geocaching.

 

I occassionally see active shopping plazas posted No Trespassing, which I find odd because it's rare that No Trespassing isn't synonymous with Keep Out. Nevertheless, that No Trespassing sign (or No Loitering) strongly implies to me that an activity like geocaching is unwelcome.

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6 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

I'll likely be archiving it soon as funding has now been approved for converting a substantial part of the area into a skateboard theme park, with the bulldozers likely to move in sometime next year. In any case, some of the signposts are starting to fall into disrepair and I noticed today while at the cafe that the plaque at the listed coordinates is becoming badly corroded and may soon be unreadable.

This forum really needs a "Sad" response. :sad: That sounds like a fun geocache.

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On 11/7/2021 at 6:45 PM, SamLowrey said:

I've seen some around electrical equipment and it does worry me a bit.  But, at the same time, the Safety Sally's feel like a threat to humanity at times.  Do we really need to dumb everything down?  Where does it end?  Maybe we end up with nothing but lamp post caches?  Oh, but those could be considered "electrical" too.  Ooops.  

 

How about we just hide boxes in the woods?

 

It's not even just a safety issue. There's a suspicion issue - might appear as if people are attempting to steal wiring. More importantly I've seen a lot of damaged equipment near geocache locations. It has been too often not to suspect overzealous seekers are responsible for some of it. Panels that people have attempted to pry open being the most common. Same thing occurs with sprinklers.

 

8 hours ago, Goldenwattle said:

And yet I still continue to find caches on those. Child playgrounds and nearby areas, should be added to that.

 

Playgrounds have long been prohibited. They still sneak through occasionally when they're not mentioned by the CO and not obvious on the Google Map.

 

I recall finding one years ago that got published because the coords were off. It wasn't on the playground, but it was too close. Fortunately that morning was a school day and the playground was empty.

 

 

 

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Just a note. I see the restrictions about not in school property and am not exactly sure why. But in spite of seeing some good places to hide a cache refrain from doing do. Nevertheless, I know of two public school complexes that have property attached which belongs to the school system - environmental teaching areas that have active cache's. And one college property that has  few caches on its property. And another public school is adjacent to a park system, with several caches.

 

One has signs no admission while school is in progress , but I know joggers and walkers do not pay attention. And the caches either now active or archived are not really near the place where students are.

 

Another is adjacent to the school building, and I am only making an assumption with this one that it is connected to the school statement somehow. If not, it is still real close. A cacher would be seen looking for either cache there. I do have a few questions of whether these two caches are permissible due to school restrictions, but I am the only one to log a find there, we will see what transpires.

 

And I know of several caches on the outside of an electrical box or meter. No danger exists with any of them. And a few fake electric fixtures are seen. One cache I did have a question about, even after I did find it, was in a public park inside an electrical control box. I had looked all around the outside, and checked a few attached receptacles in case they were fakes. I opened the panel -- no lock--to look inside, a few times over a few visits I do know, but saw nothing obvious - I was looking for something magnetic. But then I did spot it. There is no danger involved here, no electrical part is open or touchable,  but I can see why people log they are not going to even try once they see where it is -  but part of the name of the cache is "Electric" so that clue them. 

 

I have no idea as to whether the CO gave a good description of the location to the reviewer in each case, but the reviewer in our area I noticed is pretty particular of safety of cachers when  reviewing a cache. 

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2 hours ago, Jayeffel said:

Just a note. I see the restrictions about not in school property and am not exactly sure why.

 

Well, if you've been keeping up with the news, there's a college professor that feels pedophilia should be renamed, claiming it is not immoral for adults to be attracted to children.  He's "on leave" now...

There was one on a "nature walk" built by an Eagle Scout nearby us.  We did it in the Summer, when it first came out.  

  You had to park in front or alongside of the school, and walk around it to access, and It was archived when school started.

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On 11/21/2021 at 6:00 AM, Jayeffel said:

Just a note. I see the restrictions about not in school property and am not exactly sure why.

The way I'd put it is that school grounds are universally forbidden because that makes it a hard and fast rule. The decision for the reviewer is binary; arguments are impossible. I admit that I've run into a few cases where that made a perfectly reasonable place for a cache off limits, like in an adjacent park that was technically school property, but not often enough for me to think that it's a mistake to have this as a simple, hard and fast rule. In other cases I think GS goes too far forbidding things just to avoid conflict, but this case I think it's a reasonable tradeoff.

 

The rule only applies to schools for kids. Colleges can have caches if the college gives permission.

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17 minutes ago, dprovan said:

The way I'd put it is that school grounds are universally forbidden because that makes it a hard and fast rule. The decision for the reviewer is binary; arguments are impossible. I admit that I've run into a few cases where that made a perfectly reasonable place for a cache off limits, like in an adjacent park that was technically school property, but not often enough for me to think that it's a mistake to have this as a simple, hard and fast rule. In other cases I think GS goes too far forbidding things just to avoid conflict, but this case I think it's a reasonable tradeoff.

 

The rule only applies to schools for kids. Colleges can have caches if the college gives permission.

I just never read or heard anything concerning geocaches on school grounds restrictions, other than don't do it. 

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On 11/7/2021 at 9:44 PM, cerberus1 said:
 
  On 11/11/2021 at 12:51 PM, ReToddy said:

<...>

 

I guess I am OK with getting permission. But that seems more like an artificial barrier to this cache than real concern or knowledge that this location requires permission first.  I don't believe it does as there are other published caches on this campus and nothing in the description states that they received permission to place the cache.

 

<...>

 

 

 

Seriously? Pardon me for being a little short on this, but EVERY cache requires permission.

In its current form, the cache permission page has a checkbox that asks you if you have permission to place the cache.

 

There are NO exceptions to that.

I realize it may bug you, thinking maybe the Reviewer's going a bit further than normal, like it's a pet peeve, but the issue is permission.

The Reviewer even said they'd published it after you provide permission.

 

Feedback on the feedback on the feedback of the feedback.
It is definitely an irritating barrier to have to ask for permission from landowners and all other necessary parties but I agree with the rules, it is necessary. There have been a lot of issues between landowners and geocaching in the past. The game could be at risk in entire areas if people hide caches with reckless abandon and get us in hot waters. For example - unknowing trespass on property even without 'no trespass' signs in Idaho can now result in jailtime.

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This is the case. Most universities are pretty concerned about safety of students and placement of objects on grounds for which they are liable. Even if there is an extension of a secluded area the grounds are mostly reserved for students and faculty. The last thing they want are people on campus grounds who have no business being there. We’ve had incidents with armed trespass on our campus.  It’s really not the best selling point. 

 

For them it’s a two part problem. Safety and Liability. Get permission.

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