Reply from Robin Lovelock

[Guest Robin Lovelock]

A HREF="http://www.gpss.co.uk" TARGET=_blank>www.gpss.co.uk

and many register it each day.

 

 

I let them use GPSS for free in return for their completing the "Quiz" registration

questionaire which gives me valuable information on the changing

Worldwide GPS marketplace. e.g. right now, 80% of people who

have reached the stage of running GPSS "for real" with a GPS

have not heard of Geocaching. This is born out by my recent

discussions with senior members of the GPS industry: Garmin have

"woken up" to Geocaching - but most of the other major players

have not - but watch this space :-)

Most of the people visiting geocaching.com are existing geocachers,

but some are new recruits - many of whom have not yet purchased a GPS

- hence my wish to support Geocaching.

 

 

Why has Robin planted so many geocaches in such a short time ?

The quick, simple answer is that I wanted to do this while there

were still leaves on the trees and sunshine, so I could include

nicer pictures on geocaching.com - see discussion of "quality"

below. These caches are designed to follow the excellent example

set by our first find of "The Queen's Oak" - and serve as a good

example to others finding their first cache after discovering

Geocaching. Do I have a business motive ? Yes - some of us down

south may play a small role in UK Television and other media

taking an interest in Geocaching. I do have some track record

of being "lucky" in this process - see the

ASONTV Page.

As someone once said, "the more practise I get, the luckier I get" :-)

 

 

But now the most important subject of all: QUALITY.

 

 

Jeremy Irish and his colleagues of Grounded Inc. in the USA

do an excellent job of keeping www.geocaching.com running.

It is a fantastic web site, but the quality of the information

on it, and the places and geocaches that it leads you to,

are completely dependent on us - those who plant the caches. Those who

find the caches also contribute "value" to the web site,

with their reports appended.

 

 

This is where I believe there is a big difference of opinion:

what constitutes a "quality" geocache. I believe the three

important aspects of quality are:

• CACHE LOCATION: no disputes here, I think.
  
• CACHE CONTENTS: practically all of the Lovelock caches
  include an instant camera, and numerous books, toys and "goodies".
  Yes, I included a GPSS CD - I'm curious to see how many get
  taken - but these CD can also be used as beermats :-)
  
• CACHE DESCRIPTION: on geocaching.com - I've tried to include
  pictures and information of general interest - particularly to
  those who are not yet "hooked" on the sport.
  I'm trying to draw families away from their PC and into the "open air".
   
  

 

 

Perhaps the best defence I have - in my opinion at least - is

the geocaching.com website itself. My harshest critics in the

last few days seem to be NORTHUMBRIAN and MOSSTROOPER - I suggest

you take a browse through both their and my Cache entries,

and see who you think is making the greater contribution.

One of these is the moderator of the UK Newsgroup, I believe.

Some people will want to treck miles, along muddy paths, to

find a jar containing false teeth or a kidney stone :-) However,

we all know how difficult it can be to get our "other half"

to share our enthusiasm for a new hobby - let alone the children,

who may prefer the TV or PC indoors.

 

 

Let's have a few more "easy but interesting" caches out there - please.

 

 

NORTHUMBRIAN Geocaches:

 

>www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest_cache.asp?u=Moss+Trooper

 

 

LOVELOCK Geocaches:

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest_cache.asp?u=Robin+Lovelock

>http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest_cache.asp?u=Robin+Lovelock

 

 

There is, of course, space in the UK for ALL types of Geocache.

I'm sure the handful of 140+(?) geocaches now in the field will

be dwarfed by the numbers planted next year - and our recent contribution

of caches will be seen as a tiny "blip on the curve".

 

 

The most important thing, I would suggest, is for us to do our bit

of planting good quality caches, enjoy the sport - yes June and I will

be doing more of that now - and perhaps spend less time squabbling amongst

ourselves on the newsgroup ? :-)

 

 

I realise that this page of "defence" may do more harm than good to my

relationship with my critics, including MOSSTROOPER and

NORTHUMBRIAN, mentioned above - but I thought I owed it

to my "defenders". I'm prepared to believe that my critics

have "their heart in the right place" and hope that, with time,

they will change their opinion of me. I'd very much appreciate

direct contact, prefereably by 'phone on 01344 620775,

or email on GPSS@compuserve.com from these particular critics,

and I hope they will be happy to give me their real names

- I always prefer the direct approach.

 

 

Many Thanks for taking the time to read this page.

 

 

Robin Lovelock, Sunninghill, Saturday 13 October 2001.

 

 

(full address and contact details on

CONTACT page)

 

 

------------------

Robin Lovelock

22 Armitage Court

Sunninghill

Ascot SL5 9TA

[Guest The Northumbrian]

I am not criticizing you as a person Robin only What you have done.Before you know it the high street shops will jump on the band wagon and we will find caches giving us 20p off a packet of cornflakes

As for my caches perhaps the value is only 3or 4 pounds but I dont think any of the Cachers on this forum are bothered by that. In my caches you also learn a little more of our great countries history as well as the gift of some of the finest views in the land

Apart from the bin bags at Gliders view

Respectfully

AVTRY SBEFGRE

 

------------------

The Northumbrian

 

[This message has been edited by The Northumbrian (edited 13 October 2001).]

[Guest JasonW]

a competitive sport, but I've done a wee bit of digging, and it appears that you're logging your own caches as "Found It", and even better when you fail to find the cache (as in this example) you log it as a find - could be confusing for the cache owner especially as in this case it appears that the cache may have been plundered between placing and the first visitor.

 

I (and I suspect a number of other people) have no desire to call you (at my/our expense) to listen to you justify your caching "diarrhoea". I also have no intention of driving 300+ miles to Surrey to bag all of your caches in a day (and I reckon it could comfortably be done in a 24 hour period) - you personally are running an enormous risk of getting geocaching a bad name in the UK with so many spread in such a small area - that will comprehensively wreck it for the other 100-odd people who are actively caching in the UK, and I'd forecast a bit of negative publicity for you & your business enterprise if/when it does. Have some social conscience please, and think twice about placing a cache close to an existing one.

 

The excuse that you can't reliably access this site also troubles me - either you need to sort out your PC or your ISP - it's been almost continuously available (availability is probably > 99.5%) through every connection I've used (and I habitually use 6 or 7 different UK & International ISPs, plus access from work) on a variety of browsers including (but not limited to) Internet Explorer (5.01, 5.5 & 6.0), Netscape (4.5 & 6.0) and Opera.

 

My suspicion is that you don't want to come here for fear of what you might find.

[Guest Moss Trooper]

latest plants have been touched. Does this mean there is a 20-mile area around Sunning hill has reached meltdown?

 

If Robin wants to reply to this then let him do it via the forum, NOT a cut and paste from his web page. And the comment about squabbling between us on the forum is not an issue, as he does not participate

 

The crux of all this is that he is using Geocaching to promote his business plain and simple, is not taking as active part in the hobby as he would like us to believe.

 

Phew.. that was a long one

 

Happy Cachin

 

[This message has been edited by Moss Trooper (edited 14 October 2001).]

[Guest Moss Trooper]

latest plants have been touched. Does this mean there is a 20-mile area around Sunning hill has reached meltdown?

 

If Robin wants to reply to this then let him do it via the forum, NOT a cut and paste from his web page. And the comment about squabbling between us on the forum is not an issue, as he does not participate

 

The crux of all this is that he is using Geocaching to promote his business plain and simple, is not taking as active part in the hobby as he would like us to believe.

 

Phew.. that was a long one

 

Happy Cachin

 

[This message has been edited by Moss Trooper (edited 14 October 2001).]

[+mongoose39uk]

I guess lively debate as always been part of the forum.

[+The Book Of Shadows]

Yes it is with any forum

[+Simply Paul]

A blast from the past. Some things belong there.

Edited November 6, 2008 by Simply Paul

[+The Hungry Caterpillars]

How odd,

And I have met two of the people involved!