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New to the cache game and had a question on good etiquette


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Hi All, I'm pretty new to this. I had heard about geocaching some years back, but at that time we lived abroad and there was no scene at all in the country we were in. However, we recently moved back home to the south coast of the UK, so my daughter and me have downloaded the app and just started finding our first few caches. So far so good, it's a lot of fun and a great thing to do together and as a family.

Enough of the intro, the actual reason I posted here is; Quite a few of the caches we have found have had really soggy log books, what is the right way to deal with this? So far we have done our best to wipe out the containers by getting a tissue in there and dry them as best we could, return everything as it should be and possibly add a new paper log. The issue I see with this is the old wet logs then most likely soak the new log and the cache is back to square one for the next finder So what is best practice? How do you all deal with it and what should we do? 

I hope what we have done so far is considered ok :)

Cheers Bozatron (Brian) 

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You've done well so far. :)

The letter of the law (err, guidelines) says you should "report a problem" when making your log. That's what it's there for. :) But some cache owners get bent out of shape if someone reports a full or soggy log with a "Needs Maintenance" or "Owner Attention Requested" log (whatever it's called now). So if you are sensitive to unwarranted criticism, you might decide to not do this. :unsure:

So, sign it as best you can, and if you have a camera with you, take a picture of the log and its condition. Then either mention it in your Found It log or in your comments when you report a problem. You can post the pic of the paper log in your online log, or keep it in case anyone asks about it.

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Water is is unfortunately a pernicious enemy. Add a scrap of paper if you must, but it is the cache owner's responsibility to maintain the condition of the cache's log sheets.

If you do not want to go as far as putting a "Need Maintenance" notice up, at least mention in your "Found It" log that the log sheet was soaked & unsignable. I mean, the CO should be reading the logs whenever people find/do not find their cache anyway.

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23 hours ago, Bozatron said:

So far we have done our best to wipe out the containers by getting a tissue in there and dry them as best we could, return everything as it should be and possibly add a new paper log. The issue I see with this is the old wet logs then most likely soak the new log and the cache is back to square one for the next finder

 

Not only that, the reason the original log is a soggy mess is probably because the container isn't doing its job of keeping the water on the outside, so the next time it rains your nice new dry sheet will become a soggy mess too. My general rule of thumb is, if the log is just slightly damp but still able to be written on without tearing it or clogging up my pen, I'll dry out the container as best I can, leave everything sitting in the sun for five or ten minutes and mention the dampness in my find log. With all the unusually wet weather we've been having over the last few years, even good containers can get a little damp on the inside and will often dry out of their own accord after a spell of warm sunny weather. But if the log is just a lump of soggy paper mache, I'll log an NM or, if there've been previous NMs about that problem with no response from the owner, an NA. As others have said, ultimately the responsibilty for the state of the cache rests with the owner.

 

Putting on my CO's hat, I'd welcome any NM logs about any issue someone has with one of my caches, no matter how trivial. My logbooks aren't meant to get wet so if one of them is, that means there's a problem with the container that I need to fix ASAP and the worst thing anyone could do, from my perspective, is just replace my logbook with whatever scrap of paper they happen to have and think they've saved bothering me. I want to be bothered if there's a problem. For me, keeping my caches in good condition is part of my job as CO and that starts with the initial design to try to make them as maintenance-free as possible and then promptly acting on any issues that do arise. But then, I only have 46 active caches, mostly in dry rock cavities protected from the weather, that rarely get more than three or four finds a year; I can imagine that someone with hundreds or even thousands of weather-exposed caches scattered about might have a different perspective.

Edited by barefootjeff
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Log as found. Log a Needs Maintenance log, or at the very least mention in your log that the log is wet. If you can't really sign it (they can be pretty disgusting after a while), take a photo and add to your log. If it is an ongoing problem with this cache, and there is already a NM log about this issue more than a month ago, and there has been no response from the CO, log a Needs Archived log asking a reviewer to check on things.

That is what I do, some people would think it is a bit hard.

The above is tempered a little for very old caches, especially if they are grandfathered in a national park around here.

 

Otherwise, we are better off without wet/crappy caches - it isn't that hard to make a cache that doesn't get soaked. And it isn't hard to fix if it does get water affected, like if someone doesn't close the container properly. CO's who don't fix caches promptly, or at least don't pipe in to the logs about what they will do - deserve to have their caches archived, and the map free'd up for someone else.....

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I will air dry the log if practical. 

 

I will mention the logsheet having issues in my Found log.

 

Whether I log NM will depend on the severity of the issue. Log ruined - soaked, covered in mold, etc? Definitely. Log has clearly been wet in the past but is dry now? Usually not, unless there is an obvious problem with the container.

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On 5/19/2023 at 9:20 AM, Bozatron said:

Quite a few of the caches we have found have had really soggy log books, what is the right way to deal with this? So far we have done our best to wipe out the containers by getting a tissue in there and dry them as best we could, return everything as it should be and possibly add a new paper log. The issue I see with this is the old wet logs then most likely soak the new log and the cache is back to square one for the next finder

So what is best practice? How do you all deal with it and what should we do? 
I hope what we have done so far is considered ok :)

 

Unfortunately (but good on you...) you're doing better than some long-time PM cachers...   :) 

We all know that the CO is responsible for maintenance.   Sometimes life gets in the way, and they might need just a bit of temporary help.

We carry Rite in the Rain strips (not a full log) in tiny zip lock baggies. 

 - They have more than enough lines to hold the cache a while until the CO can get to it.

We have a few bandanas with us most days, and just opening/closing the container might get grass n twigs inside, and we'll wipe that out.

Any serious maintenance we leave to the CO.  It's important (for the reason you're seeing) to leave a Needs Maintenance log.

Too few leave a NM, could be not wanting to "get involved" (maybe from issues in the past), but if the hobby is gonna survive, the last thing we need is brand-new members finding soaked or moldy pieces of carp.  That's not fun. 

 

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