is the pencil a problem?

[+gggl]

I happened to be a TTF but I only had a pencil with me and I thought that someone could delete my log from the logbook and write his.

sorry for the bad english but i'm not native speakers

[+lee737]

I'd hope not..... we usually grab a photo of the log when we get FTF, not so much to stop forgers, just because.... do that...

 

[+ChriBli]

I have yet to see someone having the audacity to hijack an FTF the way you suggest. You'd have to be a pathologically FTF-obsessed jerk to do something like that. The closest thing I've seen is someone claiming to be FTF because there was no online log yet, and what was written on the logstrip was unreadable. That person quickly backed down once the real FTF sarcastically welcomed him to his claim in his log. I think that cache is still without formal claim for FTF today.

[+MNTA]

I kind of wish GS would enhance the "geo-fencing" as a way to certify that you were indeed in the area when logging the cache. But that only says you were close.  Also what about folks that log from home or logging after a long hike. Lots of problems with that idea.

 

Snapping a picture is the only way you truly have to prove you found or not. Though many times this can be a spoiler. Haven't gotten to the point where I take a picture of each cache I find. As the smiley reward is only virtual after all. Capture the important ones.

 

Fortunately, I have never had a problem only had one EC log deleted because my answers were incorrect as I had guessed the answers as the sign it referenced had been removed. The answers can be found by google and map work on a computer not in the field with no cell service.

[+lee737]

3 minutes ago, MNTA said:

I kind of wish GS would enhance the "geo-fencing" as a way to certify that you were indeed in the area when logging the cache. But that only says you were close.  Also what about folks that log from home or logging after a long hike. Lots of problems with that idea.

When I found my first cache, I asked my friend - 'how do they really know I was there?' - he said - 'I think it is just honesty based...' - I thought.... 'weird...'....

 

It would be easy for the armchair raiders to spoof geo-fencing.... and what about remote caches with no data access?

I thought once about an 'unlock code' that could be in a cache, a bit like a TB code, to prove you were there - but then they would get passed around in lists/photographed into logs, and some CO's would forget to put it in altogether (some can barely manage a logsheet!), write it illegibly or on a scrap of paper that would be no good after the first rain.

I do think though, with thoughtful/motivated COs and ethical players, that the unlock code would work well, but if everyone was so ethical, they wouldn't be needed anyway!!

 

I think the current system is pretty good.....

[+lee737]

8 minutes ago, MNTA said:

Snapping a picture is the only way you truly have to prove you found or not.

Yep.... I take a lot of logbook photos, especially for remote/far from home, unloved/difficult to access caches..... it can be eye-opening at the lack of signatures when you compare to the online log at times.....

[+ChriBli]

I think the original question was if there is a risk that the STF erases the FTF's pencil-written log and writes his own name at the top of the log list, and then proceeds to claim to be FTF. To me, this is unheard of.

[+cerberus1]

2 hours ago, gggl said:

I happened to be a TTF but I only had a pencil with me and I thought that someone could delete my log from the logbook and write his.

sorry for the bad english but i'm not native speakers

 

Did you mean FTF?   If you have people in your area so serious about the side game, maybe...

We've yet to see that happen, though have seen some "claim" FTF thinking no one else would bother knowing that, and they were running late.

One in a state over did it a few times.  They finally were laughed out of the hobby.

Curious though...  Do you feel FTF is that important to ask?  Thanks.  

[+CAVinoGal]

If we are the FTF on a find, we typically take a photo of the "virgin" log with out signatures (stamps) as a backup and proof that we were the first to sign the log.  I have never come across someone erasing the FTF to claim it themselves.  That would be a pretty desperate geocacher to feel the need to do that, I would think.  Sure, we like to get the FTF, but we share if someone else shows up at the same time, or as we are signing the log.  And if someone gets there first, so be it, we can still claim the find! it's just not that big a deal to us.  And I don't see anyone in our local caching area doing that, even the well-known FTF hounds we expect to be first at most new caches that get published.  

[+barefootjeff]

I generally sign logs with a brand-name ballpoint pen as I've found that's the most reliable on all manner of logs, except the sloshy lumps of pulp that nothing else will leave a mark on either. But I leave a pencil in my own caches (for those who forgot their pen) as pens don't survive long in caches through our hot summers. For those caches that are likely to get more than a handful of finders, I include a sharpener as well. I'd never even imagined that someone would try to erase someone else's signature in the log.

[+Vooruit!]

22 hours ago, cerberus1 said:

 

Did you mean FTF?   If you have people in your area so serious about the side game, maybe...

We've yet to see that happen, though have seen some "claim" FTF thinking no one else would bother knowing that, and they were running late.

One in a state over did it a few times.  They finally were laughed out of the hobby.

Curious though...  Do you feel FTF is that important to ask?  Thanks.  

In some areas, an STF (second to find) and TTF (third to find) are also a thing. With it come terms like podium (meaning being one of the first 3 to find the cache), 'gold', 'silver' and 'bronze' (being the FTF, STF or TTF respectively) and 'tin' (meaning not being on the podium). Ah, it's all fun and games, nothing to take that serious.

Edited April 23, 2022 by Vooruit!

[Ranger Fox]

Most people sign with ink because it tends to last longer than pencil.  I have seen many cache logs and occasionally see that someone wrote with a pencil.  You are fine.  Also, since you are new, it is unlikely you will be caught up in whatever rivalries or pettiness might be in your area, if any is.  No one will erase your name on the log.  Your signature might rub off over time, but that's all.  Continue to enjoy the game.

[+barefootjeff]

7 minutes ago, Ranger Fox said:

Most people sign with ink because it tends to last longer than pencil.

 

There are a couple of prominent cachers around here who use a water-based pen in a distinctive colour to sign the logs. At the first sign of moisture, their signature turns into a colourful smudge and eventually disappears entirely.

[+fuzziebear3]

On 4/22/2022 at 6:45 PM, MNTA said:

I kind of wish GS would enhance the "geo-fencing" as a way to certify that you were indeed in the area when logging the cache. But that only says you were close.  Also what about folks that log from home or logging after a long hike. Lots of problems with that idea.

...

NO GEOFENCING.  I log when I get home, I write nice logs, I hate using my phone.  I like caching in areas that don't have cell coverage.  If you want fences, go play the m game.

[+barefootjeff]

5 hours ago, fuzziebear3 said:

On 4/23/2022 at 8:45 AM, MNTA said:

I kind of wish GS would enhance the "geo-fencing" as a way to certify that you were indeed in the area when logging the cache. But that only says you were close.  Also what about folks that log from home or logging after a long hike. Lots of problems with that idea.

...

NO GEOFENCING.  I log when I get home, I write nice logs, I hate using my phone.  I like caching in areas that don't have cell coverage.  If you want fences, go play the m game.

 

There's also a vertical element in cache placement that geofencing wouldn't take account of. Tree-climb caches are an obvious example, but there are also some like this one of mine that's in a crevice in a vertical cliff face:

 

 

You can get to zero metres on your GPSr by standing on the top, but that's a much easier task (and less fulfilling) than finding the way down, getting inside the crevice and locating the container.