Challenge Idea - Last To Find

[+colossians3man]

I occasionally look through my old finds, and noticed that I am the last one to find dozens of caches. In fact, I made a spreadsheet of caches for which I am the last to find, and I have now recorded 130 caches. I was thinking this could be a good Challenge Cache. Of course if you just went on a big Geo Trail and found 100 caches that might be unfair, so I could put certain date parameters on it like one of the following:

• "To qualify for this challenge, you need to be the last finder on 100 caches and the most recent "last finder" cache must be at least 30 days ago." or 
• "To qualify for this challenge, you need to be the last finder on 25 caches and the most recent "last finder" cache must be at least 6 months ago

 

I would like some feedback if the community thinks this would be a good idea for a Challenge cache. 

If people think this would be a cool idea, who do I talk to about writing the code for it?

[Keystone]

Have you discussed your challenge cache idea with your Reviewer? I'm not sure that the concept meets the Guidelines, because the challenge criterion is dependent on the actions (or inaction) of other geocachers, including the cache owners of your "last to finds."  The proposed time limit may also be problematic.

 

If you do want a challenge checker (for this or any other challenge idea), you need to request it in the Project-GC forum.

[geoawareUSA9]

3 hours ago, colossians3man said:

I made a spreadsheet of caches for which I am the last to find, and I have now recorded 130 caches. I was thinking this could be a good Challenge Cache.

 

The pessimist in me says that a great way for one to qualify for this would be to go find a bunch of caches and then have them - oh no! MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEAR. What are the odds? Clearly a muggle stalker.

[+Hügh]

11 minutes ago, Keystone said:

I'm not sure that the concept meets the Guidelines, because the challenge criterion is dependent on the actions (or inaction) of other geocachers, including the cache owners of your "last to finds."

 

I think it would violate:

 

Quote

14. Positive Challenge Criteria

NOT ACCEPTABLE: Competition rather than achievement. Examples: challenges based on "First to Finds" or lonely caches are competitions.

 

[Keystone]

Right.  FTF's and Lonely Caches are examples of challenges that are dependent on the action or inaction of others.

[+Hügh]

Just now, Keystone said:

FTF's and Lonely Caches are examples of challenges that are dependent on the action or inaction of others.

 

Ah, I see what you meant by that now.

[Captain Clorox]

10 minutes ago, geoawareUSA9 said:

The pessimist in me says that a great way for one to qualify for this would be to go find a bunch of caches and then have them - oh no! MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEAR. What are the odds? Clearly a muggle stalker.

 

Or, just create a sock puppet account to hide caches  that you find but then archive 30 days later.  Less blood on your hands.  The blood is on your socks.  I recommend Clorox bleach for that.

[+thebruce0]

Also it would still only be able to go by date, not by log ID/order.  50 people could it one day and the actual last to find could have posted their log as the 2nd person that day. No way for the script to know who was actually last; it could only flag all 50 as "last to find on the closest date to Archive". But then all it takes is one person to mis-date a find log to invalidate all those 'qualifications'. Thus the guideline about being affected by others' actions.

[+barefootjeff]

Here's another example, though admittedly rare, of where it could come unstuck. Back in March, I received a DNF log on one of my older caches and, as it was a fairly easy traditional to spot, I went to check and found that it had gone. It had had a good run so I decided to archive it, but a few weeks later I returned to the mountain with the idea of perhaps creating an Adventure Lab along the walking trails. About 50 metres from the old cache's hiding place, I passed a tree and saw something suspicious in its hollow base which turned out to be my lost cache. I explained the situation to our reviewer and asked if he could unarchive it, which he did, so the cache is back in play and the previous last-to-find is no longer last-to-find.

[+Isonzo Karst]

Strikes me as just a random stat. It's not something you achieve, nor is something you can 'work on'.   Well, it can be worked on via the   proposals offered by USAGeoaware9 and Captain Clorox. =;-o  but I don't think that's what you were aiming for. 

 

Also, i see no benefit to waiting 30 days or 6 months after archive to qualify. Nothing about that makes it more or less unfair. 

[PS LOVE THE CAT]

11 hours ago, Captain Clorox said:

Or, just create a sock puppet account to hide caches  that you find but then archive 30 days later.  Less blood on your hands.  The blood is on your socks.  I recommend Clorox bleach for that.

 

Edited December 15, 2022 by PS LOVE THE CAT

[+dprovan]

Not practical. Progress towards the goal gets wiped out for reasons having nothing to do with what the seeker does. The number goes up and down all the time, and there's essentially nothing the seeker can do to ensure progress. Well, nothing that actually reflects the challenge, anyway.

 

As it happens, it also violates the rules and would never be published, but that wasn't the question.

[+colossians3man]

Thanks everyone for your advice. I didn't know about the "not a competition" rule and you're right it's not something you work toward. It would just be snapshot in time, and pretty random. Oh well. 

[+Michaelcycle]

On 12/14/2022 at 10:20 PM, Captain Clorox said:

 

Or, just create a sock puppet account to hide caches  that you find but then archive 30 days later.  Less blood on your hands.  The blood is on your socks.  I recommend Clorox bleach for that.

A visit from the Captain! Nice to know you haven't retired to that big laundromat on the beach.

I just enjoyed a brief stroll down memory lane by reviewing some old posts by the chlorinated superhero. Unfortunately, despite the site indicating that there are three pages of his missives, only one can be accessed. I suspect that the other two pages were lost in the Off Topic purge.

[geoawareUSA9]

On 12/17/2022 at 6:15 PM, Michaelcycle said:

A visit from the Captain! Nice to know you haven't retired to that big laundromat on the beach.

 

The Captain will live on in our hearts forever.

 

And our lint traps, probably.