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Why Are You (still) a Cache Owner?


colleda

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Browsing some cache descriptions after work one day this week and I came across this hide. My first reaction was that this is so brilliant and creative, and I really want to hunt for this cache!! This cache incorporates so many of my favorite aspects of geocaching - hiking, lonely caches, long multis in the woods, a puzzle, and a sublime creative twist. 

 

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Yes, it's logs like those that more than make up for the TFTCs, dots and strange millennial-speak ones like "easy dubs, y’all cappin bout this being hard". These two on one of my waterfall caches really made my day, especially since one of the loggers can sometimes be a bit hard to please:

 

image.png.8e4a6ba712225513d1395316521f07b0.png

 

Then there was this log on one of my challenge caches from someone who really "got" what had inspired the challenge:

 

image.png.c858a53846d7e8212645c3d6e74d45ad.png

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I love solving and creating puzzle caches.  Unfortunately in my area, people don't seem to like puzzle caches that much.  I put in a huge effort into one puzzle series and hardly anyone found them.  Eventually I archived them and stopped creating puzzle caches.

 

My two most recent caches are mystery caches that are very well received, they aren't difficult puzzles but have great finals.  https://coord.info/GC7EDCM has about 70% FP and https://coord.info/GC85DWK has about 80% FP.  Final containers were suggested by the muggles I worked with to put these together, they had better ideas than I did!

 

I just sort of lost interest over time with hiding caches.  Now I'm more into hosting events.  My recently GIFF event was hosted in a movie theater and had about 100 attendees.  That takes a lot of effort to put together (along with actually creating films that are shown in GIFF) so for now I'll be more of an EO than a CO.

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I agree, the awesome logs some people leave is a big reason I am a cache owner. 
I also enjoy creating the puzzles and caches I enjoy to make them available for others. There is genuine fun had in making some caches even if they are never or even seldom found. This is the case with some of my mountainous caches or ones with tough puzzles or rock climbing elements. But those are the ones with the all time greatest logs.

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Awesome logs are the best reason to keep placing new caches.  Placed my first cache on 5/26/2002 it's still active and gets good logs.

 

Got this log on one of my gadget caches made my day.

 

"Every now and then I discover a cache that really stands out as a personal all-time favorite cache, and this is one of them. I don't know if the idea is completely original but I don't care; it is very, very clever and the work that went into the construction of the container is outstanding; I especially like the cleanup instructions and extra tool. Not only does this one receive an FDF favorite point but it is being placed in MY PERSONAL FAVORITES bookmark list,

 

 

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On 12/5/2021 at 7:34 PM, lee737 said:

Those sort of logs do make it worthwhile, and make up for the 'Found it', 'easy', 'TFTC', '.' type logs that are all too frequent....

And, it's specific to the cache, and doesn't feel like copy/pasta.

It could have looked something like:

"Today myself and Dean from TeamEdwards thought we would tackle all the caches around the Ridge and Two beaches series, and this was one of them..
Was a fantastic day out despite the horrible weather.
Thank you to all the COs for the time and effort you have put into the caches we found."

 

So good on them for that!

If only more people would be as much effort into their logs as the cache owners they thank for all their effort put into their caches...

 

On 12/6/2021 at 10:13 AM, GeoElmo6000 said:

I love solving and creating puzzle caches.  Unfortunately in my area, people don't seem to like puzzle caches that much.  I put in a huge effort into one puzzle series and hardly anyone found them.  Eventually I archived them and stopped creating puzzle caches.

 

 

Around here, it wouldn't sit unfound until everyone who gets help and coordinates from other people have found it. You get a few logs from people who solved the puzzle, then a swath of groups who find it mentioning nothing about the puzzle, then the finds slow as the not-so-connected may occasionally solve and find them. :P

 

On 12/6/2021 at 10:13 AM, GeoElmo6000 said:

I just sort of lost interest over time with hiding caches.

 

And that right there is why it's worth the effort to write better logs. /:) When the community supports the lowest common denominator (letting things slide, and not promoting a good positive community activity), things are bound to go downhill, it's inevitable. Each community needs people to prop up how good every aspect of the hobby can be, and show the every little extra bit of effort benefits everyone, directly or indirectly.

blargh.

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14 hours ago, thebruce0 said:
On 12/7/2021 at 2:13 AM, GeoElmo6000 said:

I love solving and creating puzzle caches.  Unfortunately in my area, people don't seem to like puzzle caches that much.  I put in a huge effort into one puzzle series and hardly anyone found them.  Eventually I archived them and stopped creating puzzle caches.

 

 

Around here, it wouldn't sit unfound until everyone who gets help and coordinates from other people have found it. You get a few logs from people who solved the puzzle, then a swath of groups who find it mentioning nothing about the puzzle, then the finds slow as the not-so-connected may occasionally solve and find them.

 

I'm surprised to see I have 74 puzzles with corrected coordinates that I haven't found yet, though I guess the long COVID lockdowns here along with the almost constant wet weather of back-to-back la Nina summers contributes to that. I mean no disrespect to those puzzle-setters, it's just that almost all are an hour or more of travelling from home and a fair few have terrain that looks pretty challenging. Last Sunday I finally found a puzzle that I'd solved nearly four years ago, a T4 bushland hide in a part of northern Sydney that I don't visit very often. If I don't mention the puzzle in my log, it's probably because I solved it so long ago I've forgotten what it entailed.

 

The small group of cachers I hang out with often collaborate on puzzles, bouncing ideas off each other with occasional hints from COs or previous finders, but there's no just handing out of coordinates. Likewise I haven't seen swathes of groups with handed-out coordinates going through my own puzzle hides, they don't get enough finds for that to have happened.

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1 hour ago, barefootjeff said:

 

If I don't mention the puzzle in my log, it's probably because I solved it so long ago I've forgotten what it entailed.

 

The small group of cachers I hang out with often collaborate on puzzles, bouncing ideas off each other with occasional hints from COs or previous finders, but there's no just handing out of coordinates. Likewise I haven't seen swathes of groups with handed-out coordinates going through my own puzzle hides, they don't get enough finds for that to have happened.

Sometimes there isn't much in the log but as a CO I receive a message/mail with an extra thank you.

This is also nice and useful for puzzles because then they can speak freely without spoilers.

A short log just remains a short log, it doesn't say anything about whether or not the person solved the puzzle or not.

 

I agree, that awesome/nice logs people leave are a reason to continue to maintain and create new ones.

Group of people helping each other out to solve a puzzle is always better than passing coordinates.

 

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Along with what seems to be a majority in this thread, my main motivation for being a CO are logs from cachers who had a good time with my cache.

 

Most of my hides are puzzle caches, and of course I also have the "problem", that after the initial solvers, you the "usual suspects" exchanging coordinates, and after that, the find rate trickles down to almost zero. BUT ... the keyword here is "almost". Every now and then (maybe only once a year) a log does come in, and that's often from a relatively newbie, who is also interested in puzzles and actually solved mine. And of those logs, nearly all mention the puzzle favorably. That's why I keep these caches active. Also, the hides were chosen to be super-friendly for maintenance ;) (sturdy container, muggle-safe location), so it doesn't hurt if it lies around lonely in the woods for years.

 

For my multi caches, there is an additional motivation: I had so much effort and fun creating them, I simply cannot bring myself to let them die ;) . Even if the log rate is very low, I only archive them if it has become physically impossible to maintain them.

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Like others have said above, the feedback is important. Good logs which tells me something, not just "we logged 100 caches today and this was one of them". Just a few relevant words and it makes me feel happy. Photos often make it even better, not least for the more daring ones, high T ones.

 

FPs are nice, but I think the really good log tops it. Of course, the two often come together.

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