totvos Posted November 5, 2002 Share Posted November 5, 2002 Hello everyone, I would be interested to know how many Geocachers there are (the people, not the caches) in the "Golden Horseshoe" area, say between Niagara and Whitby. You don't have to be *exactly* within the region to answer "yes", but you would be willing to participate in searches in that area. If someone knows the answer (tens, hundreds, thousands?) then great. Otherwise, if you can answer the poll question, that would be also great. Thanks. Quote Link to comment
gm100guy Posted November 5, 2002 Share Posted November 5, 2002 This person has 2 posts and became active today. I need more information before I answer this poll. gm100guy http://members.rogers.com/gm100guy/cachepage.htm Quote Link to comment
Cache Canucks Posted November 5, 2002 Share Posted November 5, 2002 quote:Originally posted by gm100guy:This person has 2 posts and became active today. I need more information before I answer this poll. gm100guy http://members.rogers.com/gm100guy/cachepage.htm I think you just did ...the 'From' field that appears at the bottom of your own post. Better sleep with one eye open tonight, 'totvos' knows you're in Toronto ! Quote Link to comment
+Decodoppler Posted November 5, 2002 Share Posted November 5, 2002 quote:Originally posted by gm100guy:This person has 2 posts and became active today. I need more information before I answer this poll. gm100guy http://members.rogers.com/gm100guy/cachepage.htm Think gm100guy has a good point... why are you interested in this? Since you have just joined geocaching, I'll give you a free tip. Why not browse the caches in the Golden Horseshoe region and make a deduction for yourself... a poll is not going to help you in any case... What I mean is this, it will not give you an accurate answer to the type of question you asked... all it will tell you is: "Of the N geocachers who responded, X said they are in the Golden Horseshoe and Y said they were elsewhere in Canada... can't see the value in that. By the way, part of my job is designing surveys! And I am very curious as to the reason for doing this... simply can't see the point. Decodoppler Quote Link to comment
Cache Canucks Posted November 5, 2002 Share Posted November 5, 2002 quote:Originally posted by Decodoppler:"...Think gm100guy has a good point... why are you interested in this?..." Doh! Looks as though 'totvos' got you too (Unionville)! Holy crap, that means he now knows about 3 of us who live in the Golden Horseshoe area!!! I don't know about you guys, but I'm keeping my lights turned off and huddling in my basement tonight !!! Quote Link to comment
gm100guy Posted November 5, 2002 Share Posted November 5, 2002 I not letting geodog Gucci sleep tonight, I will be safe. And if that fails I still have my mean cat for back-up. gm100guy http://members.rogers.com/gm100guy/cachepage.htm Quote Link to comment
+Decodoppler Posted November 7, 2002 Share Posted November 7, 2002 quote:Originally posted by Cache Canucks: Doh! Looks as though 'totvos' got you too (Unionville)! Holy crap, that means he now knows about 3 of us who live in the Golden Horseshoe area!!! I don't know about you guys, but I'm keeping my lights turned off and huddling in my basement tonight !!! Hey... actually I live in Bracebridge and simply want people to think I'm a Unionvillan! Whoops...! Ok so he knows there are three or four geocachers in the GTA. Is that OK "totvos" ?? Quote Link to comment
totvos Posted November 7, 2002 Author Share Posted November 7, 2002 First off, my apologies to anyone that was put off by my question. Certainly, I had no intention of pi**ing people off. I have to say, though, that I am surprised at responses that suggested I was probing for too much personal info. I would have thought that saying "yay" or "nay" to living in a rather large geographical subset of Canada was not too personal a question. "Why" is a good question, and if that is a prerequisite for some of you responding, I will happily answer. I am considering setting up a GC competition in the area, and wanted to get a feel for the response that it might receive. A reasonable assumption, I felt, was that GCers in a particular region will be more likely to participate in an event in their region than someone that needed to travel a considerable distance (prize incentives notwithstanding). Now, am I expecting a poll to be 100% accurate? Of course not. But neither would scanning the forum for posts from people in the area, which will only give me posters and not lurkers, an equally fuzzy number. But if two people respond I am clearly not going to conclude that only two people live in this area. I will, though, need to figure out how much effort I am going to put into a competition for a unknown target audience. Why didn't I mention the competition at the outset? Simple. Because the idea is only half-baked, and rather than suggesting something that might not come to pass, I felt a more innocent question would be reasonable. So, no offence meant. If you feel inclined to respond to the poll, thank you for taking the time. If not, no problem and have a nice day. Quote Link to comment
+Decodoppler Posted November 7, 2002 Share Posted November 7, 2002 quote:Originally posted by totvos:First off, my apologies to anyone that was put off by my question. Certainly, I had no intention of pi**ing people off. SNIPPED A LOT So, no offence meant. If you feel inclined to respond to the poll, thank you for taking the time. If not, no problem and have a nice day. Well, first off, you might be taking yourself a mite too sreiously if you think you pissed us off... I don't think you affected us at all. We were simply wondering why someone would poll us with a rather strange question and then had some fun with it... That's part of the spirit of these forums and indeed Geocaching in general. This is fun. Think about it... spending 6 or 700 dollars plus gas money to find trinkets! We're stange people aren't we. Anyhow, back to you and your poll. Why not ask people if they are interested in a competition. Lay it out on the table and give people an opportunity to make an informed decision... rather than playing cat and mouse... or whatever. My thoughts are simply that a competition focused on Geocaching is kinda redundant... Some cachers already are in a competition... some aren't. Unless you have some kickass new way to go about this thing... which I'd love to hear... I can't imagine what you have planned... but then I don't have much imagination. DD out Oh, and thanks for wishing me a nice day... I appreciate that quite a lot. Oh, jeez... another thought. You mentioned "Lurkers" in your last posting... Can't say I've come across any... well, more than the odd one... lurkers here would be people who don't have any logged finds or caches. Other than that, everyone else participates. [This message was edited by Decodoppler on November 07, 2002 at 04:19 PM.] Quote Link to comment
Cache Canucks Posted November 7, 2002 Share Posted November 7, 2002 quote:Originally posted by Decodoppler:"...Well, first off, you might be taking yourself a mite too sreiously if you think you pissed us off... I don't think you affected us at all. We were simply wondering why someone would poll us with a rather strange question and then had some fun with it..." Yup ...what he said. Quote Link to comment
+yorelken Posted November 7, 2002 Share Posted November 7, 2002 Originally posted by totvos: "Why" is a good question, ). Sure is, since, by your profile, you have absolutely no experience with this. Quote Link to comment
gm100guy Posted November 8, 2002 Share Posted November 8, 2002 been there and done that gm100guy http://members.rogers.com/gm100guy/cachepage.htm Quote Link to comment
BullZie Posted November 11, 2002 Share Posted November 11, 2002 I don't want to add any mud to the mud that has already been slung, but maybe you should check out a few more caches than 0 before suggesting a competition. Now, I am up for a competition, which seems to be the jist of what everyone else is saying, but again, how can you create a competetion without ever being to a cache? BTW, I am in St Catharines and do travel all over the place for caching. Bullzie Quote Link to comment
+Decodoppler Posted November 15, 2002 Share Posted November 15, 2002 I think we've lost our new friend... wonder if s / he will post the results of the poll... Quote Link to comment
Cache Canucks Posted November 15, 2002 Share Posted November 15, 2002 quote:Originally posted by Decodoppler:"...wonder if s/he will post the results of the poll..." Umm... isn't that what clicking on the 'Results' button gives you...? Quote Link to comment
+Decodoppler Posted November 18, 2002 Share Posted November 18, 2002 quote:Originally posted by Cache Canucks: quote:Originally posted by Decodoppler:"...wonder if s/he will post the results of the poll..." Umm... isn't that what clicking on the 'Results' button gives you...? Well, yessir... What I guess I should have asked was: "I wonder if s/he will post the decision s/he makes as a result of the poll." I'm still curious about this competition idea... can't imagine what it's all about. Take care Quote Link to comment
Cache Canucks Posted November 18, 2002 Share Posted November 18, 2002 quote:Originally posted by Decodoppler:"...What I guess I should have asked was: 'I wonder if s/he will post the decision s/he makes as a result of the poll'. I'm still curious about this competition idea..." You've been losing sleep at night too, haven't you...? Wondering if it's safe to turn on the lights and come out of your basement, huh...? Seeing 'totvos' behind every bush, right...? Waiting for the 'other boot to fall' so to speak...? I know... I know... if I don't 'suck it up' myself, I'm going to run out of KraftDinner and Freshie soon . Do you think 'totvos' would spot me if I snuck out and ducked into one of those 24-hour grocery stores at 3AM...? Maybe we could start GeoCaching again, just as long as we did it at night (...without using the backlight on our GPSrs, you can see those freakin' things from 100 yards y'know!). Geez, life was so much simpler before 'totvos' began his incessant campaign to hunt us all down and... and... and... and... I can't even bring myself to type the words... [This message was edited by Cache Canucks on November 18, 2002 at 02:15 PM.] Quote Link to comment
Cache Canucks Posted November 18, 2002 Share Posted November 18, 2002 quote:Originally posted by Decodoppler:"...What I guess I should have asked was: 'I wonder if s/he will post the decision s/he makes as a result of the poll'. I'm still curious about this competition idea..." You've been losing sleep at night too, haven't you...? Wondering if it's safe to turn on the lights and come out of your basement, huh...? Seeing 'totvos' behind every bush, right...? Waiting for the 'other boot to fall' so to speak...? I know... I know... if I don't 'suck it up' myself, I'm going to run out of KraftDinner and Freshie soon . Do you think 'totvos' would find me if I snuck out and ducked into one of those 24-hour grocery stores a 3AM...? Quote Link to comment
+Decodoppler Posted November 19, 2002 Share Posted November 19, 2002 quote:Originally posted by Cache Canucks:You've been losing sleep at night too, haven't you...? Wondering if it's safe to turn on the lights and come out of your basement, huh...? Seeing 'totvos' behind every bush, right...? Waiting for the 'other boot to fall' so to speak...? FUNNY BITS SNIPPED [This message was edited by Cache Canucks on November 18, 2002 at 02:15 PM.] Way too much caffine dude! While you're here though, recommended caches down in your area??? I expect to be down that way later in the week and need a quick and interesting fix... suggestions please. Quote Link to comment
Cache Canucks Posted November 19, 2002 Share Posted November 19, 2002 /Edit/: Whoops, after posting this, I took a look at the cache's log and noticed that you've already bagged this one... quote:Originally posted by Decodoppler:"...While you're here though, recommended caches down in your area??? I expect to be down that way later in the week and need a quick and interesting fix... suggestions please..." You might want to try your hand at this one. We're by no means 'high volume' cachers (and the majority of those we do hunt are while we're up at the cottage or elsewhere outside of T.O.), but we did hunt/find this particular cache earlier in the summer. It's located in the north central part of the city (directly south of the 401), is still 'current' (last logged late in October), and - despite the urban setting - involves a suprisingly pleasant wooded venue. The tricky part about this particular cache is determining where exactly to park your car and access the hiking trail. Your best bet is to bring a city map along and to do a 'map recce' before you set out. If the cache is hidden the way it was when we found it, it's quite creative (you can be right on top [beside?] of it without realizing it). Quote Link to comment
+Decodoppler Posted November 19, 2002 Share Posted November 19, 2002 Originally posted by Cache Canucks:/Edit/: Whoops, after posting this, I took a look at the cache's log and noticed that you've already bagged this one... I have but you're right... it is a fun one For some reason I thought you were down around St. Catherines.... Take care DD Quote Link to comment
totvos Posted November 22, 2002 Author Share Posted November 22, 2002 Hello again everyone. First to business. As you can all see for yourselves, only 12 people responded to the poll, of which 10 are in the area. Not exactly massive numbers to work with, but given all the extra noise my question generated, it may not be representative of what I ultimately wanted to find out, especially since there were 490 views of this thread to date. When I post the rules of the competition (yes, I am still going to do it), I will hopefully get a better gauge of interest. And I understand that my oblique question was not the best way to find out what I ultimately wanted to find out, so it is certainly worth more effort on my part and we'll see what we get. Now, at the risk of more "gentle ribbing", I would like comment on some of your responses since some of you are wondering out loud why I haven't been back. While in this particular case life simply got in the way and I have been busy with other things, I would not be honest if I did not say that some of your posts did make me question whether I should even bother. While I would not have characterized the "attack" to my first post as "brutal", as was suggested, some of the comments were not exactly welcoming either. One commenter on another thread that skewered someone (not without some justification, mind you) correctly observed that you have no way of knowing anything about me, beyond the fact that I had just joined this web site and have not found any geocaching.com caches. This has been used as justification for one or two of the more paranoid responses to my question, but I have also noticed that both in my thread and the other, it is used to judge my value as a poster. Indeed, you know nothing about me or my history, my navigational experience, or my experience with geocaching outside the formal "geocaching.com", and a "0 found/0 hidden" metric is simply not an accurate way to determine if what a person says is meaningful when they are new to the site. Benefit of the doubt is usually a pretty good rule to live by in a community that is striving to be inclusive, and "newbies" should not be made to feel apprehensive about participating. Please understand that the point of this is not to lecture you or to point a finger and cry "you hurt my feelings", but rather to give you the perspective of a new member to your site/forum. If this perspective helps some of you, great. To answer some of the other musings in that other thread: yes, I am a real person, no, I am not a child, I am a "him", and I picked "totvos" because it is my name. Anyhow, I really, really don't want to belabour this newbie issue. The important thing is that I am planning to work out in detail what I have in mind for this competition over the next several weeks, and will post it here and in the "Organized Geocaching" forum. I am looking forward to meeting some of you and competing against you, but in the meantime... ...have a nice day. Quote Link to comment
Cache Canucks Posted November 22, 2002 Share Posted November 22, 2002 quote:Originally posted by totvos:"...Now, at the risk of more "gentle ribbing", I would like comment on some of your responses..." Points well taken. I hope that, as I had pointed out in the other thread that I believe you're making reference to, you understand that my own comments here were making jest of the posts made in response to your own, not of it (I was actually among the first to have responded with a 'vote' to your poll). There was never any offence intended and, if any was taken, I do apologize. Had we all been sitting together over a beer and sharing the same conversation, I'm sure that you would have felt more than 'welcome' by the light hearted banter (sometimes things just lose something in the translation when posted in an online forum ...especially where dry humour is concerned). Cheers. Terry. Quote Link to comment
totvos Posted November 22, 2002 Author Share Posted November 22, 2002 Mmmmm, beeeeer. Quote Link to comment
Bearington Posted December 28, 2002 Share Posted December 28, 2002 YES I'm here Quote Link to comment
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