Strange account holders

[+Deepdiggingmole]

I am aware of some folk having more than one account, for separating hiding and finding in some instances

but what is the guideline, if any, on for example a stuffed toy, or any inanimate object having an account.

I came across this on one of my caches and thought it odd to have a stuffed toy having it's own account, surely that is more suited to being a travel bug.

I can not see how a stuffed toy which cannot sign logs etc can legitimately log finds on caches - and if the purpose is to simply catalogue it's journey with it's owners then, as I said earlier being a TB is just as suitable .

 

[+Smitherington]

I am aware of where a support animal has an account.  Extra logging for the owner to do but not a problem apparently. 

[+Deepdiggingmole]

29 minutes ago, Smitherington said:

I am aware of where a support animal has an account.  Extra logging for the owner to do but not a problem apparently. 

Yea, same applies though - it doesn't matter if the owner has extra work logging that accountee doesn't sign the log, so shouldn't be logging finds online anyway 
Any caches found by them are simply 'this stuffed toy' or 'pet animal' was with me when I found the cache - where does any of that qualify as finding caches !

[+Smitherington]

Dogs can be trained to sniff out all kinds of things. May get one that finds clean dry log sheets and forget the rest. 

[+barefootguru]

Wait till they start hiding caches for their owner to find…

[+JL_HSTRE]

2 hours ago, barefootguru said:

Wait till they start hiding caches for their owner to find…

 

I know of one pet that does log events attended (and the occasional cache found) with the owners. The pet has nearly 200 Finds (the owner more than 20,000).

 

The pet account has also been the owner of almost 100 geocache listings over the years.

[+kunarion]

8 hours ago, Deepdiggingmole said:

I can not see how a stuffed toy which cannot sign logs etc can legitimately log finds on caches - and if the purpose is to simply catalogue it's journey with it's owners then, as I said earlier being a TB is just as suitable .

 

 

I have two stuffed animal mascot TBs, and while they have excellent penmanship, I've never seen either one look for a cache, let alone find one.  They come on some caching adventures, but are Trackables only, not Geocachers.

 

https://coord.info/TB7DN7J

https://coord.info/TB90VHW

 

 

Edited June 8 by kunarion

[+The A-Team]

A local well-known canine had 27 finds (including a shared FTF) and 2 hides (including hosting an event). I never saw any harm in that. I don't see it as being much different from a parent logging on behalf of an infant cacher.

[+Deepdiggingmole]

12 hours ago, The A-Team said:

A local well-known canine had 27 finds (including a shared FTF) and 2 hides (including hosting an event). I never saw any harm in that. I don't see it as being much different from a parent logging on behalf of an infant cacher.

Not arguing the difference - just querying the logic of a stuffed toy and any inanimate object having an account, when most cachers would make them TBs 

[+niraD]

1 hour ago, Deepdiggingmole said:

Not arguing the difference - just querying the logic of a stuffed toy and any inanimate object having an account, when most cachers would make them TBs 

Given that photos for virtual caches can be a photo of a "personal item" rather than a photo of the actual person, it doesn't seem that big a stretch for someone who wants to remain anonymous to write the account profile from the perspective of the "personal item" rather than from the perspective of the actual person.

[+JL_HSTRE]

1 hour ago, niraD said:

Given that photos for virtual caches can be a photo of a "personal item" rather than a photo of the actual person, it doesn't seem that big a stretch for someone who wants to remain anonymous to write the account profile from the perspective of the "personal item" rather than from the perspective of the actual person.

 

There's a bit of a difference between your online account being a fictional character/persona versus having both a regular account and a pet account. The former is a kind of anonymity; the latter is basically a sock puppet.

 

I have a friend who caches sporadically and writes their online logs in LOLcat.

 

If more geocachers were young people, instead of retirees, there would probably be more people playing a character with their main account.

[+Deepdiggingmole]

3 hours ago, niraD said:

Given that photos for virtual caches can be a photo of a "personal item" rather than a photo of the actual person, it doesn't seem that big a stretch for someone who wants to remain anonymous to write the account profile from the perspective of the "personal item" rather than from the perspective of the actual person.

Yes - but the person remaining anonymous is still taking ownership of that account - the fact that many of us use weird caching names is not to dissimilar to that !
Having your own account where you record all your finds and then having an additional account for a teddy bear which you carry round with you also then recording those same finds IS stretching it

[+Deepdiggingmole]

1 hour ago, JL_HSTRE said:

If more geocachers were young people, instead of retirees, there would probably be more people playing a character with their main account.

I'm a retiree - don't you think my ID and avatar are a character :-) 

[+niraD]

1 hour ago, Deepdiggingmole said:

I'm a retiree - don't you think my ID and avatar are a character :-) 

You mean you aren't a small burrowing insectivorous mammal with dark velvety fur, a long muzzle, and very small eyes?

 

I am shocked! Shocked, I tell you!

[+cerberus1]

On 6/7/2025 at 12:01 PM, Deepdiggingmole said:

I am aware of some folk having more than one account, for separating hiding and finding in some instances

but what is the guideline, if any, on for example a stuffed toy, or any inanimate object having an account.

I came across this on one of my caches and thought it odd to have a stuffed toy having it's own account, surely that is more suited to being a travel bug.

I can not see how a stuffed toy which cannot sign logs etc can legitimately log finds on caches - and if the purpose is to simply catalogue it's journey with it's owners then, as I said earlier being a TB is just as suitable .

 

We know of dozens of people with accounts set up for their (one when she was just born, and in a carrier) children.

The parent needs to handle everything. the finding, the logs (at the cache n online), any Trackables.... 

Some parents have Trackables (Geocoins mostly) with that kids name as Owner, visiting it to every cache they went with Mom/Dad on.

We've given away some for that purpose.  When that kid's older, they have a record of every cache 'found' if they want to continue the hobby.

Other than one's human and the other isn't, what's the difference?  Or is that where you were going with this...   

[+The A-Team]

3 hours ago, niraD said:

You mean you aren't a small burrowing insectivorous mammal with dark velvety fur, a long muzzle, and very small eyes?

 

I am shocked! Shocked, I tell you!

 

"On the Internet, nobody knows you're a... mole?"

[+Bear and Ragged]

22 hours ago, Deepdiggingmole said:

...  having an additional account for a teddy bear which you carry round with you also then recording those same finds IS stretching it

 

Wondering if it's a teacher, or grand-parent/aunt/uncle etc, that uses the bear to 'tell' a story to youngsters?

[+Deepdiggingmole]

On 6/9/2025 at 9:05 PM, cerberus1 said:

 

We know of dozens of people with accounts set up for their (one when she was just born, and in a carrier) children.

The parent needs to handle everything. the finding, the logs (at the cache n online), any Trackables.... 

Some parents have Trackables (Geocoins mostly) with that kids name as Owner, visiting it to every cache they went with Mom/Dad on.

We've given away some for that purpose.  When that kid's older, they have a record of every cache 'found' if they want to continue the hobby.

Other than one's human and the other isn't, what's the difference?  Or is that where you were going with this...   

Yea - I am aware of many kids having accounts even babies - though it is a bit far fetched that a baby can search for a cache and sign a logsheet and then log the find - oh! wait they can't. 
Recording every cache they found - well! not really - they were in a papoose or similar when an older person went caching - hardly a record of every cache they found, its a record of every cache their parents found   
However you are right - there is a difference, a much bigger difference when it comes to a stuffed toy !!! 
 

[+Deepdiggingmole]

4 hours ago, Bear and Ragged said:

 

Wondering if it's a teacher, or grand-parent/aunt/uncle etc, that uses the bear to 'tell' a story to youngsters?

Nope, not in the instance I have seen - just a stuffed toy that gets the same credit in logging finds as all us humans that actually do find the caches 

[+Deepdiggingmole]

On 6/9/2025 at 8:10 PM, niraD said:

You mean you aren't a small burrowing insectivorous mammal with dark velvety fur, a long muzzle, and very small eyes?

 

I am shocked! Shocked, I tell you!

and I thought you knew !!!

[+Deepdiggingmole]

On 6/9/2025 at 1:09 AM, The A-Team said:

A local well-known canine had 27 finds (including a shared FTF) and 2 hides (including hosting an event). I never saw any harm in that. I don't see it as being much different from a parent logging on behalf of an infant cacher.

A dog hiding caches and hosting events - says all that needs to be said on this matter 

[+Deepdiggingmole]

On 6/7/2025 at 7:06 PM, Smitherington said:

I am aware of where a support animal has an account.  Extra logging for the owner to do but not a problem apparently. 

So that owner is simply logging their own finds twice - just using two accounts !

[+The A-Team]

I fail to see the harm that is coming from these actions. Maybe you can describe that for us? How has it negatively impacted you or other local cachers?

[+kunarion]

11 hours ago, The A-Team said:

I fail to see the harm that is coming from these actions. Maybe you can describe that for us? How has it negatively impacted you or other local cachers?

 

There was once a strict rule about "No Sock Puppets" in this Forum.  Whatever the reason was, it could easily extend to Geocaching logs.

 

Multiple "Find" or "DNF" logs on a cache affect which cache I may hunt, and it was suggested that a cacher is logging caches twice (once for himself, another for the dog).  Could two DNFs in a row suggest a cache problem?  I go and audit my caches to decide if finds are genuine.  It creates at least extra work for me if a random stuffed animal is "Signing the log".  Does the human always make the same log type as the dog does?  If I need to send a Message to the stuffed animal, will an actual human reply?  Do these guys at least also log that "this is [XXX]'s stuffed animal?

 

If 50% or more of the logs are sock puppets, could that count as a negative impact?  Sure, an entire caching group may do the same on every cache, but if they each bring "service animals" to also log it...  How many surplus logs can there be before there is harm coming?

 

I know there are plenty of real Geocachers who log and create weirdness by themselves.  I'm just pondering what happens when they double that number.

 

Edited June 11 by kunarion

[+Bear and Ragged]

20 hours ago, Deepdiggingmole said:

A dog hiding caches and hosting events - says all that needs to be said on this matter 

 

At one time, one of the reviewers was a dog...

(Or should that be a dog was a reviewer?)

[+JL_HSTRE]

On 6/10/2025 at 4:42 PM, Deepdiggingmole said:

A dog hiding caches and hosting events - says all that needs to be said on this matter 

 

Yes, a missed opportunity for the Air Bud film franchise. 

 

19 hours ago, Bear and Ragged said:

At one time, one of the reviewers was a dog...

(Or should that be a dog was a reviewer?)

 

It's a ruff job.

[+Deepdiggingmole]

On 6/11/2025 at 3:20 AM, The A-Team said:

I fail to see the harm that is coming from these actions. Maybe you can describe that for us? How has it negatively impacted you or other local cachers?

Sorry - I don't need mediation or a psychiatrist to challenge me about a question I have posed.
We have enough trouble with genuine humans not playing by the rules - not signing, armchair logging etc - but to have an inanimate object such as a stuffed toy claiming to find a cache, signing the logsheet etc etc is crazy 

 

[+GeoElmo6000]

3 hours ago, Deepdiggingmole said:

Sorry - I don't need mediation or a psychiatrist to challenge me about a question I have posed.
We have enough trouble with genuine humans not playing by the rules - not signing, armchair logging etc - but to have an inanimate object such as a stuffed toy claiming to find a cache, signing the logsheet etc etc is crazy 

 

As long as one account has not been created for the purpose of hiding caches for another account to make finds, including first to find bragging rights, I don't care who or what has an account, whether they are animal or vegetable or mineral, animate or inanimate.

 

I have "met" an inanimate object with an account and I was surprised when I discovered "who" was behind the account, but after an internal "huh" from me, I didn't think about it anymore.