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Geocachers Gone Bad


The_Brownies

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Years ago, in gradeschool, we had a program called "Self-Managers", in which students were rewarded for behaving.

 

In my opinion, if you aren't mature enough to play nice with others, you should be drawn and quartered. Maybe even minced. Mmm, minced. icon_razz.gif

 

Why should Groundspeak be put in a position of making behaviour policy? Isn't that what society is for?

 

snazzsig.jpg

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Years ago, in gradeschool, we had a program called "Self-Managers", in which students were rewarded for behaving.

 

In my opinion, if you aren't mature enough to play nice with others, you should be drawn and quartered. Maybe even minced. Mmm, minced. icon_razz.gif

 

Why should Groundspeak be put in a position of making behaviour policy? Isn't that what society is for?

 

snazzsig.jpg

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quote:
Originally posted by The_Brownies:

What should happen to geocachers who have a grudge against another cacher, and that cacher causes the one cacher to quit the sport all together?


 

Sorry, I'm lost. Who's got a gruge against whom? What's going on here?

 

Charlie

"One should never begin a journey by heading in the wrong direction."

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quote:
Originally posted by The_Brownies:

...that cacher causes the one cacher to quit the sport all together?


If someone quits, it sure isn't because of someone else. Someone can irritate me, but they sure can't make me quit doing something I like.

 

People's actions and emotions are up to them, not someone else.

 

Jamie

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This forum comes about from an incident that just recently happened to a cacher we'll call Sam. Sam was placing a lot of caches, and enjoying the game. However, another cacher, we'll call George, does not like Sam, and he was doing what it takes to give Sam a hard time. I.e. writing nasty logs. Telling other cachers mean things about Sam, etc. Sam said enough and quit the game while George, who caused the stink, is still playing the game.

 

Now you see where I'm coming from, what do you think should happen to George? Does ground speak need to impliment a cacher complaint hotline? You get the jist.

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Well, Bin Laden and the Al Qaeda know how to deal with such malcontents, but, then, that is not our way. You have to allow the "Georges" of our world some reaonable latitude in order for the US to remain what it is - land of the free. Supposedly, part of the lessons learned in our beloved land is reasonable tolerance and the development of skills to effectively deal with the Georges in the land.

 

Now, if you don't like this philosophical approach - then obviously, we all kill George by collectively smacking him on the head with our GPSr units, and hang his worthless body on a tree that has the waypoint well advertised - anyone else wanna make trouble?

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Thank you for your input. Maybe you do not think it is groundspeaks responsibility to do anything. "Let them take it up with the authorities" you say. What are they going to tell them. "He wrote bad things about me in his log". They'd laugh that person out of the station. Not entirely, that person could sue the other person for defamation of character. Personally I think this whole incident was kind of stupid. Not only did we loose a good cacher, but some really cool creative caches.

 

Honestly, I think the two parties probably should have worked it out, either in a civil manner, or person to person. From what I have just been told they have done just that. But sometimes, it might be necessary to give misbehaving children a little reminder, just who is in charge of the game, and if they do not want to play by the rules, then they should be removed from the game. Wouldn't you agree?

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quote:
Originally posted by The_Brownies:

But sometimes, it might be necessary to give misbehaving children a little reminder, just who is in charge of the game, and if they do not want to play by the rules, then they should be removed from the game. Wouldn't you agree?


 

I think the concerned parties should have to ro-sham-bo for the right to stay on the site. icon_biggrin.gif

 

snazzsig.jpg

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quote:
Originally posted by The_Brownies:

But sometimes, it might be necessary to give misbehaving children a little reminder, just who is in charge of the game, and if they do not want to play by the rules, then they should be removed from the game. Wouldn't you agree?


 

I think the concerned parties should have to ro-sham-bo for the right to stay on the site. icon_biggrin.gif

 

snazzsig.jpg

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since sam left is george even still interested?

perhaps sam should come back and they should stay away from each other. im surprized usally, in my experience, when one cacher doesnt like another they stay away from each other, sort of an "i wont visit your caches, you dont visit mine" grudge.

 

and just because i have to know:

was what george saying true or what? why did the cachers george talked to not say "hey your nuts!, sam's a nice guy"

if george was leaving these entries why didnt anyone do something, like black them out or have the logs deleted.

 

if it bothers you that sam left, and according to you sam's a good person, why dont you try to get sam to come back, or send a polite but firm letter to george telling her/him that they are causing problems and you want them to "knock it off".

and no i dont think Groundspeak needs a hotline, it would get abused why to much. every 10 seconds someone would call in with a troll sighting or claim that their cache was looted and they know "who dunit".

 

quote:
Originally posted by The_Brownies:

This forum comes about from an incident that just recently happened to a cacher we'll call Sam. Sam was placing a lot of caches, and enjoying the game. However, another cacher, we'll call George, does not like Sam, and he was doing what it takes to give Sam a hard time. I.e. writing nasty logs. Telling other cachers mean things about Sam, etc. Sam said enough and quit the game while George, who caused the stink, is still playing the game.

 

Now you see where I'm coming from, what do you think should happen to George? Does ground speak need to impliment a cacher complaint hotline? You get the jist.


 

whack.gif

 

[This message was edited by welch on September 06, 2002 at 08:15 AM.]

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"Hello is Jeremy there? I've got a complaint about a somava***** who should be banned from geocaching."

 

"No Jeremy isn't here. He's out in the back cleaning off his country/folk music CD's. They were full of oily fingerprints from the potato chip party we had in his cubicle . Can I help you? Matter of fact I was hired for just this purpose. I use to be a child psychologist. Then I got bit by the geocaching bug and thought I could apply my skills to the pathological geocacher. There are a lot of them out there, you know."

 

"No kiddin’'? And I thought I was the only one having a problem."

 

“Oh no. Just the other day I got a call from a very distressed woman who hasn’t seen her husband in 7 months. She said he told her he was just going out for the newspaper. When he didn’t come home she first thought he’d run off with a chesty blonde neighbor he always seemed to have an eye for. But then she checked around and found his GPS was gone too. Battery charge was gone as well. Didn’t take her long to put 1 and 1 together. They got his picture on a milk container. Then there was the cacher who called me one evening from his cell phone in the woods. His GPS batteries went dead just as he started bushwhacking. He was having a nervous breakdown right in front of some oak tree. Disturbed my writing – I’m working on a treatise for the American Psychological Association – it’s about the pathological geocacher. I sub-titled it “Geo-Nut”. Kind of catchy don’t you think? It’s not a professional description but it should sell more books when I adapt it for commercial publication. Maybe I can sell the movie rights afterwards. Who knows? So how can I help you?”

 

“Oh never mind. Sounds like you got your hands full. I’ll calm done again once I start reading the posts on my cache pages. I find that works better than a double vodka martini.”

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The name game is not going to come into question here. The things being said by George were not true, and George has since appologized, but Sam is not sure he wants to forgive and forget. Depending on the things George said to Sam, it might take a while for things to get better. I guess they will have to work it out for themselves.

 

Anyway, it is clear from the feedback that I'm getting that Groundspeak does not need to spank George, but it is a shame that this sort of thing ever happened. It takes away from the true nature of Geocaching.. Fun and Adventure.

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If this were my site, and I became aware of someone whose conduct was clearly detrimental to the enjoyment of others, there is no question that I would revoke his/her authorization to use the site. Deleting legitimate finds of a player because of a petty disagreement, is in my mind the type of unnacceptable behaviour for which I would give a warning on the first occasion and turf him for good on the next. If such behaviour is allowed to become the norm, the popularity of this site is bound to diminish.

 

You may not agree with what I say, but I will defend, to your death, my right to say it!(it's a Joke, OK!)

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I believe it was a little bunny named Thumper who said "If you can't say somethin' nice about somebody, don't say nuthin' at all" And if George can't say somethin' nice we should thump him! 50 lashes with a wet gps lanyard. George I hope you truly did apologize. Sam, I hope you can forgive. I hope all derogatory logs were deleted. I hope you can all start over. I hope you know what a fine game you are ruining with your childish ways, George. Get over it, get on with it, get out there and make nice. I just can't believe this actually happened. I thought all geocachers were cool. icon_rolleyes.gif

Cache you later,

Planet.

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I believe it was a little bunny named Thumper who said "If you can't say somethin' nice about somebody, don't say nuthin' at all" And if George can't say somethin' nice we should thump him! 50 lashes with a wet gps lanyard. George I hope you truly did apologize. Sam, I hope you can forgive. I hope all derogatory logs were deleted. I hope you can all start over. I hope you know what a fine game you are ruining with your childish ways, George. Get over it, get on with it, get out there and make nice. I just can't believe this actually happened. I thought all geocachers were cool. icon_rolleyes.gif

Cache you later,

Planet.

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I had a problem with geobuddy claiming my caches were dangerous. he fell & hurt his head because the cache was placed on unstable ground, another time he got bit by a snake on another hunt. He also logged 3 other finds, and never had any problems, then he disapeared.

 

I was quite annoyed and a few people who keep tabs on favorite caches emailed me how ridiculous this all sounded. Now I suspect I know who this is & why they did but I've no proof so I never pursued it.

 

One day I notice a forum entitled "beware the geobuddy fraud" another person who saw this crap for what it was publically came out & said watch out for him. The average response was that this guys logs sounded fake, they seemed out to get me, and that this guy was phony as a $3 bill. I eventuallly decided to try & see if I could feret out any info, and asked jeremy if the email address matched the email address of any other geocaching acct. turns out the guy used my own email address but @yahoo.com. that was enough for jeremy, who pulled the logs & cancelled the account.

 

My point is that if someone is out to get someone or make life miserable it'll be pretty obvious. bear in mind though that there are two sides to every story. in theory, geobuddy could've really gotten hurt, but no one really believed it. this person who was being harrassed, I don't know the specifics, but if it's true that they were being unfairly maligned, then I would, as an outsider, let that person know that i felt they were being rude, or (and this is the most likely option) I would ignore them. Silence speaks quite loudly.

 

bill

 

alt.gif

 

www.gpswnj.com

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In the old days, people set their GPSr's to N31 42.830 W110 3.995 and dealt with it.

 

OK Corral

 

Today, we should have better means at our disposal. Isn't Geocaching supposed to be fun? We shouldn't take any aspect of it seriously, or it becomes a chore, not a game.

 

Whenever I am really annoyed at a post or some such in this forum, I get steamed for a second, and then I realize "Why worry so much? We are discussing a game... keep it lite-hearted."

 

I don't go to a ball game to start arguing Foreign policy with the person sitting next to me; I'm there to have a good time. Same here...

 

-Joel

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quote:
Originally posted by Mr. Snazz:

Is that you, sbell?...


 

Forgive me, I've been out of town for a few days and haven't checked this forum.

 

Why do you think this is me?

 

My screen name is Sbell111. I only use the one name. In case you haven't noticed, I don't have any qualms about putting my name to my ideas. I also don't live in Washington.

 

As for this issue, I think anyone that systematically attempts to make a geocacher's life hell should be dumped by the site. I should think that everyone would know that this is my point of view based on my recent experience.

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Sbell, its good to see you back! Was hoping that you didnt get discouraged and maybe had even thought about leaving the game...

 

And speaking of game, I dont buy into the "this is just a game and it doesnt matter" theory. We wouldnt play if it didnt matter! Sure its not the end of the world when someone doesnt play by the rules, but i myself wouldnt want to even play if there were no guidelines to follow and people did whatever they wanted (as in deleting legitmate find logs). Just like with all games, isnt this a place for us to strive to do our best, win (find the booty) and then feel good about our accomplishments?

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I'm a bit behind on responding to this one, but I did get the email a while back that x was bothering y and causing y to quit the game out of frustration. The question was raised as to what Groundspeak's responsibility would be with harrassment.

 

My response was, the first step is to, ah, tell me about it and provide information (like email logs) so I can read what is going on. I would then respond to the individual and ask them what their beef is and try to resolve it. In this case I have yet to get any of these email records (other than a one sided email from z to y).

 

If the individual is being harrassing and threatening, doing something illegal, etc., I'll take action against the user (such as banning their account, or perhaps sneering menaciningly at the computer screen).

 

I honestly don't know what else I can do. This "Groundspeak has got to do something about y" idea is a bit difficult for me to stomach, however. I can't control people's temperments, especially in the realm of random emails and anonymous rudeness. Frankly, just work on your own tolerance and dismiss x as a stinking loser. It works for me. Of course I get more emails than the average bear, so my skin may be a bit thicker than some.

 

Jeremy Irish

Groundspeak - The Language of Location

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quote:
Originally posted by The_Brownies:

This forum comes about from an incident that just recently happened to a cacher we'll call Sam. Sam was placing a lot of caches, and enjoying the game. However, another cacher, we'll call George, .


 

come one now... everyone knows that georges are upstanding individuals. George Washington, George Bushes, George Clooney, Curious George, George of the Jungle.....

 

all good guys if you ask me... How about Glen. Everyone knows Glens are evil.

 

george

 

Remember: Half the people you meet are below average.

5867_200.gif

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