Is signing challenge caches ahead of time and logging them later to maintain a streak against the spirit of a streak challenge?

[+LimpingGabriel]

I started geocaching daily about a month ago. I’m currently a university student full time in a fairly demanding program so I can sneak in around an hour or two each day maximum for geocaching. I can use public transportation during the school year but I do not have access to my own vehicle. I was thinking about the feasibility of reaching a 366 day streak to eventually fulfil a couple challenge caches, but I think it would get quite difficult but probably still be doable. This summer, there’s a good chance that based on my availability I could get to the point where I qualify for a couple dozen various challenge caches. The question is, would it be against the spirit of a streak challenge to sign these challenge caches ahead of time (as allowed) and then use these caches as a “bank” of sorts to log on days where I’m incredibly swamped throughout the year? I would personally be comfortable counting this as legitimate, but I was wondering if this is a faux pas in the community. What are your thoughts?

[+Max and 99]

1 minute ago, LimpingGabriel said:

I started geocaching daily about a month ago. I’m currently a university student full time in a fairly demanding program so I can sneak in around an hour or two each day maximum for geocaching. I can use public transportation during the school year but I do not have access to my own vehicle. I was thinking about the feasibility of reaching a 366 day streak to eventually fulfil a couple challenge caches, but I think it would get quite difficult but probably still be doable. This summer, there’s a good chance that based on my availability I could get to the point where I qualify for a couple dozen various challenge caches. The question is, would it be against the spirit of a streak challenge to sign these challenge caches ahead of time (as allowed) and then use these caches as a “bank” of sorts to log on days where I’m incredibly swamped throughout the year? I would personally be comfortable counting this as legitimate, but I was wondering if this is a faux pas in the community. What are your thoughts?

That depends on how you view the streak: is it a finding geocaches streak or a logging streak? 

[+lee737]

I think it is against the spirit of a streak…

[+NanCycle]

Not only is it against the "spirit" of a streak, I considered it so lame that I unfriended someone who was doing it.

[+lee737]

1 hour ago, Max and 99 said:

That depends on how you view the streak: is it a finding geocaches streak or a logging streak? 

By a logging streak, do you mean just gradually logging finds you have found in the past, on successive days, so you've typed a log each day?? I don't see the point....

[+LimpingGabriel]

32 minutes ago, NanCycle said:

Not only is it against the "spirit" of a streak, I considered it so lame that I unfriended someone who was doing it.

Good to know. I appreciate the feedback.

 

I guess a follow-up question is - when does the challenge cache find count as "found"? Is it the exact day you start meeting the requirements, the day you sign it, or the day you log it?

[+HHL]

8 minutes ago, LimpingGabriel said:

the day you sign it

 

[+lee737]

16 minutes ago, LimpingGabriel said:

when does the challenge cache find count as "found"? Is it the exact day you start meeting the requirements, the day you sign it, or the day you log it?

 

I just log them as I notice them qualified.... after our mega week, we've qualified for four more, so I just logged them last night. This wasn't to boost our count for the souvenir, we're already over 500 for April.... 

[+niraD]

25 minutes ago, LimpingGabriel said:

I guess a follow-up question is - when does the challenge cache find count as "found"? Is it the exact day you start meeting the requirements, the day you sign it, or the day you log it?

I rarely post logs the same day that I find the cache and sign the log. But I use field notes drafts to keep track of my finds, so I can date the logs with the date I found the cache and signed the log.

 

Challenge caches are no different. I date the log with the date I found the cache and signed the log. (But I don't pre-sign challenge caches that I don't qualify for either.)

[+BirdSearcher]

Many people will ‘write a note’ when they find the cache (and sign the cache log) , then log it online as ‘found’ when they have fulfilled the requirements (which could be years later) This would be noted as such in the online log. Most challenges will say if they are ok with this in the description of the challenge. 

[+CAVinoGal]

7 hours ago, LimpingGabriel said:

The question is, would it be against the spirit of a streak challenge to sign these challenge caches ahead of time (as allowed) and then use these caches as a “bank” of sorts to log on days where I’m incredibly swamped throughout the year? I would personally be comfortable counting this as legitimate, but I was wondering if this is a faux pas in the community. What are your thoughts?

 

OK - let me preface this by saying my husband and I challenged ourselves to find a cache every day in 2018 (we started geocaching in March of 2017), so, we cahllenged ourselves to streak for at least a year.  We had our own rules for what qualified as a "find", and since this is all unofficial, it's whatever works for you.  If you want your stats to show consecutive days of logging finds, and you "save" the challenges you have qualified for to log as a find on those crazy busy days, then your stats will reflect that ... consecutive days of logging a find. As you said, YOU would be comfortable logging this as a legitimate "find" on one of those busy days, and unless people dig into your profile, your stats will relect xxx consecutive days of finds.

 

The "spirit" of a streak is different though, in my opinion.  When we set our goal to find a cache every day of 2018 (eventually ended up with a few days at the end of 2017, and we continued into 2019 to finally NOT FIND a cache after 404 days, WHEW!!!!) we said we had to go out and find a cache every one of those days.  We didn't count events (our own personal preference) or challenges that we could CLAIM on a specific day.  We had to go out and find a cache we could log (Virtuals and Earthcaches we did count, as you had to go to the location and DO something) as found EVERY DAY.  Our own rules, YMMV.

1 hour ago, BirdSearcher said:

Many people will ‘write a note’ when they find the cache (and sign the cache log) , then log it online as ‘found’ when they have fulfilled the requirements (which could be years later) This would be noted as such in the online log. Most challenges will say if they are ok with this in the description of the challenge. 

 

All the challenges I have signed, I have treated in this manner.  I go back to them, and when I see that I have met the challenge, I will log a find then.  I don't change my write note log, I reference it, and the date I signed it, then claim the smilie when I qualify.  It might actually be months past the actual date I fulfilled the challenge, but whenever I realize I've met the challenge I claim it as Found.  The CO's that publish challenge caches in this area are good with that method, and that's been the way we "learned" to deal with challenge caches in this area.

 

Good luck with your streak - however you choose to attain it!

[+MartyBartfast]

IMO doing what you suggest is no different to finding a trail of Trad caches in a day, but then logging them individually over several different dates. BTW I also know of cachers who will gather the criteria for Virtuals and Earthcaches while out, but will save them to log at another time in order to keep a streak going, that also seems shonky to me.

 

 

9 hours ago, LimpingGabriel said:

when does the challenge cache find count as "found"?

For me I log a note on the day I found it, then when I qualify I change that log to a find, with a comment that I now qualify, but leave the log date as the date I found it.
Some will log the found date the day they qualify, which is OK, but to log the find on some other random date to keep a streak going seems wrong to me.
 

[+baer2006]

For me, the "spirit" of a caching streak is to go out and find a cache every single day. Therefore, should I ever attempt a streak (which I definitely will not ), I would date your find of challenge caches to the date when I physically signed the log.

 

However, I know that some (many? most??) "streakers" don't follow such strict guidelines, and resort to (in order of IMHO increasing lameness):

- logging Virtuals and Earth Caches not when they were on site, but when they finally send there answers to the CO.

- logging physical caches on a different date than when they signed the log

- asking cacher friends to enter their name in logbooks from them, and then logging this as an own find

- outright fake logging

 

Occasionally, questions come up like "And what if I get sick for a few days?". My answer usually is "Well, then streak ends."

 

[+thebruce0]

11 hours ago, lee737 said:

just log them as I notice them qualified.... after our mega week, we've qualified for four more, so I just logged them last night. This wasn't to boost our count for the souvenir, we're already over 500 for April.... 

This is where the seal on the can of worms breaks...  It can be a nuanced argument.

 

While this is generally the way people handle logging challenges:

7 hours ago, BirdSearcher said:

Many people will ‘write a note’ when they find the cache (and sign the cache log) , then log it online as ‘found’ when they have fulfilled the requirements (which could be years later) This would be noted as such in the online log. Most challenges will say if they are ok with this in the description of the challenge. 

 

...there are plenty of times that someone may find a challenge cache on vacation, sign it, and then forget about it for a few years. When they realize that they now qualify for the signed challenge, but have zero clue when that occurred, they'll log it found on that date. 

 

It's a problem with this 'black sheep' of physical geocaches, having this effective "ALR" that makes the "Found It" log not actually mean what it implies. Typically on a physical geocache the Found It implies the cache was visited on that date and successfully signed. But everyone knows with challenge caches you can't expect to infer that accurately from its log history. We tend to scroll until we see a Found It log (or a Note) that describes the person's physical visit to the cache, since so many are "Found previously, just qualified today" sort of logs.

 

However, this:

2 hours ago, MartyBartfast said:

IMO doing what you suggest is no different to finding a trail of Trad caches in a day, but then logging them individually over several different dates. BTW I also know of cachers who will gather the criteria for Virtuals and Earthcaches while out, but will save them to log at another time in order to keep a streak going, that also seems shonky to me.

 

...I would say is not a good comparison. Any other physical cache type still gives the Found It log the same meaning: It was physically visited and signed that day. So dating a Found It log on a date where the cache was not physically visited was objectively misleading and inaccurate.

 

The issue stems from the fact that the Found It log on Challenge Caches doesn't/can't imply with the same certainty what it implies with every other physical cache type.

 

That said, it still comes to the 'spirit' of the challenge cache. With legitimate find logs being posted on dates it was not physically signed, and there being legitimate reason for Found It not being the date a user actually qualified, one can only trust a user is playing by the 'spirit' of the cache type. A CO I'd say wouldn't have the right to delete the log of someone who didn't seem to log the Found It on a) date signed, b) date qualified, c) date realized qualified. If the user qualified (any date) and signed the sheet, then the log would stand.  It does kind of leave the room open for the additional situation of d) fudging the date that "I realized I qualified", for the sake of a streak.

 

Is it worth throwing a fit over? Not really. But it does beg the question of the integrity of the user logging it if known that it's to maintain a streak.

 

I've had a couple of instances of that in the past (realizing qualified on some past date), but on those dates, I'd try to also go and find a cache, just so the streak doesn't rely on the inferred legitimacy of a logged challenge cache someone could come along and argue I was "dishonest" about.

 

So it comes back down to 

13 hours ago, Max and 99 said:

That depends on how you view the streak: is it a finding geocaches streak or a logging streak? 

 

The spirit of the streak to me means challenge caches aren't a rock solid "Find" in geocaching terms. If it's dated the same day I qualified, that means I had to find a cache that day to qualify anyway. But if it's dated for having discovered I qualified long ago, then really there's been no "Find" on that date and isn't in the spirit of the geocaching streak, even if the date of the log is not actually dishonest.

 

How would you handle that date if you were faced with it? Log it anyway and claim the continued streak on that find alone? Log another cache to lock in the date for the streak? Or do the work find out the actual date you qualified, then log it on that date? (That is another option, but not always worth the effort depending on the complexity of the challenge; YMMV)

[+terratin]

13 hours ago, LimpingGabriel said:

Good to know. I appreciate the feedback.

 

I guess a follow-up question is - when does the challenge cache find count as "found"? Is it the exact day you start meeting the requirements, the day you sign it, or the day you log it?

I don't log ahead of fulfilling the challenge, thus for me what counts is the date that I fulfilled the challenge and found the cache.

[+JL_HSTRE]

If I qualified when I found the challenge cache or the same day, I log the Find with the same date Found. 

 

If I qualified after signing the log I will log the Find dated either the day I qualified (after all other Finds for the day).

 

OP demonstrates why GeoStreaks are pointless. Most geocachers have to fudge their logging to keep their streak going. The few that can honestly Find a cache a day for months are either in very cache dense areas, constantly traveling to new areas, or helping themselves with sock puppets.

[+niraD]

4 hours ago, thebruce0 said:

The issue stems from the fact that the Found It log on Challenge Caches doesn't/can't imply with the same certainty what it implies with every other physical cache type.

Sure it can. Just don't find the cache and sign the log until you qualify for the challenge. Or if you can't help pre-signing the logs of challenge caches you don't qualify for yet, then date your Find log on the date you actually found the cache and signed the log.

 

Problem solved: challenge caches are then no different from any other physical cache.

[+thebruce0]

30 minutes ago, niraD said:

Sure it can. Just don't find the cache and sign the log until you qualify for the challenge. Or if you can't help pre-signing the logs of challenge caches you don't qualify for yet, then date your Find log on the date you actually found the cache and signed the log.

 

Problem solved: challenge caches are then no different from any other physical cache.

 

If you change the way every user logs challenge caches, then sure. That was not what I was saying. The way challenge caches are handled means: the Found It log on Challenge Caches doesn't/can't imply with the same certainty what it implies with every other physical cache type.

 

And you are allowed to log either the date you signed the log, or date you qualified, and technically any date after, otherwise a rule for logging challenge caches would be to determine and include the exact date that you qualified for the challenge. This is not a requirement. So, for challenge caches, how would HQ adjudicate a disagreement about a Found It log that does not lie on the signing or qualification date? Probably 'just let it go, if the user has found it and qualifies'.  I don't see HQ trying to determine if a user is just 'fudging' their found date to qualify for a streak unless there were a very very good reason to do so.  And no, it should be clear I'm not advocating for that as a legitimate strategy. I'm just saying that the ALR nature of challenge caches in the realm of physical cache logging leaves room for people to fudge their streaks, and it becomes a matter of integrity and conscience. 

 

ETA: IMO the 'spirit' of challenge cache logging would be to log the Found as soon as you have both the log signed and task qualified. But that end date isn't a hard requirement, if the qualification date (falling after the signing) isn't reasonably determinable. 

Edited April 14, 2023 by thebruce0

[+CAVinoGal]

2 hours ago, JL_HSTRE said:

OP demonstrates why GeoStreaks are pointless. Most geocachers have to fudge their logging to keep their streak going. The few that can honestly Find a cache a day for months are either in very cache dense areas, constantly traveling to new areas, or helping themselves with sock puppets.

We were able to do 404 days for a couple of fortuitous circumstances.  We ARE in a cache dense area, we probably could do another streak with some effort because we still have several hundred unfound caches within a 50 mile radius.  We probably won't because, well, we did it once and that was sufficient for us!  It was work at the end, and we are retired, and want to ENJOY the hobby, not do it because we have to.

 

During that year, we also traveled, spent time on the East Coast, and went to Mexico (got a new country!).  While at home, if new caches were published close to home, we would save those for bad weather or under the weather days.  Once a trail of 5 or 6 caches was placed about 2 miles from us.  It took us months to log them all, one a day spread out over those "Ugh, we need to go out and get a cache today" days.

 

And during that year, if we did log an EC or Virtual (usually while traveling) we would also log a traditional as well on that day - I could look back and see exactly how many days we had both EC/Virtual or an Event as well as a Traditional/Multi/Puzzle with a log signed that day. We did not use sock puppets, or have others sign logs for us, we did the work ourselves and completed the 404 days with a great sigh of relief and satisfaction that WE DID IT!  And we've slowed considerably since then; we still enjoy geocaching, we have goals and challenge ourselves.  No more streaks though....we've had our fun with that one!

[+MNTA]

The investment in some extreme challenges in time, gas, and effort can be significant. Only qualifying after years of effort.

 

Initially I only signed challenges after qualifying. The problem is yes I want the reward of the smiley. Seeing many caches become archived prior actually signing happened more times than I care to admit. So doing thing this way only allows the major finders who have enough caches found to qualify early in the cache lifecycle. 

 

So I will only work on challenges that I have presigned.

 

If challenge caches were it's own cache type. GS could do a lot of things to keep things consistent. But that will never happen I fear.

 

I don't plan on ever doing a streak again after 423 days I gave it up and was so happy to have control of my life back. I found caches on every day, with the flu, ice storms, Christmas. Saved nearby LPC for emergencies. Prefound a few hard ones (Looking back I suppose that was cheating but visited again to sign) Does not really matter this is all about my enjoyment no one elses. Which is why not a fan of streaks any more. Do what you makes you happy. 

 

 

[+niraD]

22 minutes ago, MNTA said:

If challenge caches were it's own cache type. GS could do a lot of things to keep things consistent. But that will never happen I fear.

Yeah, now that there is a "Challenge cache" attribute, it's unlikely that we'll get a separate type for challenge caches.

 

Personally, I'd like to see the completion of challenge requirements separated from logging a cache. Allowing challenge caches to keep their (geocaching related) Additional Logging Requirement creates an awkward exception to the rule guideline that "Caches can be logged online as 'Found' after the geocacher has visited the coordinates and signed the logbook." I hate explaining that to new geocachers.

 

But the idea of replacing challenge caches with some sort of online achievement/badge system didn't get much support 10 years ago. Today, since new challenge caches are required to have automatic checkers, it would be easier to migrate challenge caches to a system of automatically awarded online achivements/badges.

 

Edited April 14, 2023 by niraD
punctuation

[+Vicious Cycle]

On 4/13/2023 at 2:03 PM, LimpingGabriel said:

I started geocaching daily about a month ago. I’m currently a university student full time in a fairly demanding program so I can sneak in around an hour or two each day maximum for geocaching. I can use public transportation during the school year but I do not have access to my own vehicle. I was thinking about the feasibility of reaching a 366 day streak to eventually fulfil a couple challenge caches, but I think it would get quite difficult but probably still be doable. This summer, there’s a good chance that based on my availability I could get to the point where I qualify for a couple dozen various challenge caches. The question is, would it be against the spirit of a streak challenge to sign these challenge caches ahead of time (as allowed) and then use these caches as a “bank” of sorts to log on days where I’m incredibly swamped throughout the year? I would personally be comfortable counting this as legitimate, but I was wondering if this is a faux pas in the community. What are your thoughts?

 

The fact that you're asking the question is proof in itself that the idea is "questionable". In other words, you're answering your own question simply by asking it. I know that sounds rather circular...and it is. But asking the question means that you're seeking the approval of others to perform a task that you yourself find morally questionable. So at this point I think you have to ask yourself if you’ll feel comfortable presenting to others an accomplishment which you did not actually accomplish.

 

Personally, I no longer place any value on Geocaching statistics because GeocachingHQ, in an attempt to make the game as accessible to as wide an audience as possible, has watered down (read: removed) the rules to the point that anyone can inflate their personal statistics through methods that many consider “cheating”. Keeping in mind that there is no cash prize for the number of souvenirs you have, nor is there any giveaways for filling in a Fizzy Grid, or completing a Jasmer Challenge, it really doesn’t matter.

 

So ultimately, it’s up to you. If you’re okay with storing up finds and logging them on different days than when you found them because you want to say you had a streak…knock yourself out. But just keep in mind, it won't carry the same meaning as someone who actually accomplished a real streak and made the effort to plan their finds very carefully so that they truly visited each of the caches on the day that they claimed as finds. No one is going to know except you. So you need to be the one who is comfortable with it...not anyone on this forum.
 

[Ranger Fox]

I consider the only day possible for you to log a challenge cache is whichever is later: the day you sign the physical log or the day you complete the challenge.  Since all modern challenges involve finding caches, the only real day to use a challenge cache is the day you sign the physical log since waiting for later means you would have found a cache on the same day that enabled qualification.  (And we're not going to complicate this by bringing my physical-only personal rule into it since some challenge caches can involve virtuals, events, earthcaches, etc.)

 

If you try to do something you don't believe is right, it'll gnaw at you for ages to come.  Do whatever you want.  A streak has no social value for me since it has long since become a way of life.  It's me versus myself on this, and I'm not going to give myself any excuse to self-denigrate me.  I tend to adopt as many restrictive yet fair rules as I can find.  Whatever you do, make sure you don't regret the decision.

 

---

 

Oh, crud, @Vicious Cycle, I don't actually plan things beforehand or make any special effort!  It's just based on wherever I feel like going on a given day.  Guess it's not a real streak.  (I'm joking with you--but being truthful that I don't plan.)

[+TeamRabbitRun]

On 4/13/2023 at 4:03 PM, LimpingGabriel said:

<...>

 

The question is, would it be against the spirit of a streak challenge to sign these challenge caches ahead of time (as allowed) and then use these caches as a “bank” of sorts to log on days where I’m incredibly swamped throughout the year? I would personally be comfortable counting this as legitimate, but I was wondering if this is a faux pas in the community. What are your thoughts?

 

There are very few ways to actually 'cheat' at this hobby, given the breadth of allowances and wiggle-room behind the 'You Play Your Way' plastic ethos.

 

In my opinion, you've found one.

 

[geoawareUSA9]

On 4/13/2023 at 4:03 PM, LimpingGabriel said:

would it be against the spirit of a streak challenge to sign these challenge caches ahead of time (as allowed) and then use these caches as a “bank” of sorts to log on days where I’m incredibly swamped throughout the year?

 

For purposes of challenges, a "streak" is normally defined as a period of time during which a cacher actually goes out and finds and logs caches on consecutive days.

 

That means, regardless of the weather, or illness, or helping out the kids with a science project, or the fact that the boss wants that report on their desk first thing Monday morning, the cacher is going out and finding caches, day after day.

 

Think of it like the Postal Service creed, but slightly modified. Something like: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these cachers from the swift completion of finding and logging their daily appointed cache."

 

So, yes. Banking challenge caches, which you've both signed and are qualified to log, in order to "find" them on a particular day, would most definitely be against the spirit of a streak.

 

On 4/15/2023 at 2:13 AM, Ranger Fox said:

I consider the only day possible for you to log a challenge cache is whichever is later: the day you sign the physical log or the day you complete the challenge.

 

I heartily agree.

[geoawareUSA9]

p.s. As to this point:

 

On 4/13/2023 at 4:03 PM, LimpingGabriel said:

I can use public transportation during the school year but I do not have access to my own vehicle.

 

When I was in college, I only gained access to a fine automobile such as this one in my second year.

 

During my first year, I rode a bicycle, which was much cheaper (and, as it turns out, more reliable) than the '86 Sentra.

[+Harry Dolphin]

My streak ended at 937 days, when two feet of snow closed down the state and public transportation.  I never considered cheating to extend my streak.

[+Goldenwattle]

On 4/14/2023 at 8:06 PM, thebruce0 said:

 

...there are plenty of times that someone may find a challenge cache on vacation, sign it, and then forget about it for a few years. When they realize that they now qualify for the signed challenge, but have zero clue when that occurred, they'll log it found on that date.

If the CO looks after their caches and checks logs, that runs the real risk their log will be deleted. If a few years later, many would not remember the cache well enough to describe it either if asked this. Logs fill up and are replaced, logs go missing. Anyone can claim they signed the log. I photograph logs when I check the cache, so that might provide proof of find, but not everyone does this.

_______________________________

As for when I sign challenges, I sign them as I find them and log a note if I don't qualify yet, and then add the caches to a list that I still need to qualify for. I don't leave these caches to go back to and sign when I have finally qualified. Some might be thousands of kms away. I sign them when there.

Edited April 22, 2023 by Goldenwattle

[+thebruce0]

7 minutes ago, Goldenwattle said:

If the CO looks after their caches and checks logs, that runs the real risk their log will be deleted. If a few years later, many would not remember the cache well enough to describe it either if asked this. Logs fill up and are replaced, logs go missing. Anyone can claim they signed the log. I photograph logs when I check the cache, so that might provide proof of find, but not everyone does this.

As you imply, if you don't record your signing then there'd be no evidence of the signing. As a CO, if someone write a note claiming they signed but don't qualify, practically speaking you're on the same 'hook' to verify signature in the log as a regular cache find. Being a challenge cache, you'd be kind of an idiot if you were to go to someone a year later, who noted their find, and tell them you can't find their signature after the log has been lost or replaced.  I think your anecdote is a very specialized situation, an exception to what I was describing as a general strategy people use.

 

32 minutes ago, Goldenwattle said:

As for when I sign challenges, I sign them as I find them and log a note if I don't qualify yet, and then add the caches to a list that I still need to qualify for. I don't leave these caches to go back to and sign when I have finally qualified. Some might be thousands of kms away. I sign them when there.

Same, exactly. And what I described was being on vacation, signing a bunch of hard challenges you don't yet qualify for, and wouldn't for perhaps a couple of years, noting that you've signed in, then checking again 2 years down the road to find you qualify. You are allowed to date it on the day you check, otherwise you would be required to determine the exact date you qualified and date the find log for then. That's not the case. So that ambiguity leaves room for 'fudging' the find log, for those whose conscience doesn't scream bloody murder if they do so.

[Ranger Fox]

On 4/21/2023 at 4:56 PM, Harry Dolphin said:

My streak ended at 937 days, when two feet of snow closed down the state and public transportation.  I never considered cheating to extend my streak.

I considered what I'd do if some sort of drastic winter weather happened to me.  I'd likely be walking several miles in an attempt to continue my streak.  I've been doing this ever since just before my first year geocaching anniversary, so it's something I do.  The walking through the snow would just be another story for me to tell.  Of course, living through some stories might not be delightful, but they make stories all the same.  And as long as the streak forces me to get out and do things and have experiences, it fulfills its purpose.  Last week, I visited an area where I was able to get some fairly nice photos of birds while going for a cache.  If I wasn't forced to go places due to a streak, I wouldn't have had that experience.

[+thebruce0]

Some people say "stop when it's no longer fun" - with the idea in mind of what 'fun' is to them. There are many of us that find 'fun' in the completion of a goal when a specific instance just is hard work, tough, and not what people might think as 'fun'.  So it's not so much a 'fun' factor to decide on, it's value, personal desire. If you're willing to do hard work, even when you don't feel like it, knowing that the greater goal has more value for it, then keep going.  If you're only in the streak for as long as geocaches themselves are, well, entertaining, to find, then stop when when you're no longer finding value in the pursuit.

 

I enjoyed doing my streak of 366 days even on days I didn't want to, because my value was in completing the goal I set for myself, not in the fun of individual caches.  So, set a goal, set a purpose, and pursue it.  Get the value out of it that you put into it. 

 

That's why I love challenge caches and souvenir promotions - not necessarily for the individual caches I find to earn them (because then yeah, it wouldn't be 100% "fun"), but for the fulfillment of achieving the goal i set out for. and the adventures had along the way are gems and exciting bonuses.:)

[+4wheeler]

Your streak, Your Rules.  Do it however you feel is right for you.  Want to go back and change your original note to a find then do that.  Want to log on the date when challenge was completed then do that.  Want to log on the date that you discovered that you have completed the challenge previously then do that.  These is no one more correct other that what you feel is right for you.

[+Mudfrog]

To answer the thread title's question,

Is signing challenge caches ahead of time and logging them later to maintain a streak against the spirit of a streak challenge?

 

The order of completion of a challenge cache doesn't normally matter. A person can locate the physical cache/sign the log first or they can qualify for the challenge first. Imo though, the date the last step is completed on is the date the cache is legitimately found. All good if this date happens to fall on a date needed to complete a streak. A bit lame if used for streak if it doesn't.