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Boring log entries


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This is the first time I've initiated a topic. Please be kind. Keep all rock throwing to a minimum.

 

As a cache owner, I am happy whenever someone visits my cache. Recently, there's been a rash of entries like "1/24 for the day. Thanks." or only "tn/ln signed log". I prefer entertaining and descriptive log entries especially on the virtual log. It's my reward for setting up the cache.

 

Out of curiosity, why do geocachers make simple, short and dull log entries? Is it really asking too much for there to be one sentence about how you found it quickly while your partner was looking at another location, or the dog that wouldn't leave you alone while you looked, the hummingbird you saw as you looked... You get the idea.

 

Till a voice, as bad as Conscience, rang interminable changes

On one everlasting Whisper day and night repeated -- so:

"Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges --

"Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go!"

 

Rudyard Kipling , The Explorer 1898

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Personally, I think it depends on the cache location. Some caches are just plain boring. Some are to out in the open to spend the time logging, and trying to be discreet. But the ones that are out of the way and hidden from view get a little more descriptive logs. Thats just my theory!! Seeker of Fine Caches!!!

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I think when people go on caching binges, like "number 3 of 24 for the day", it's a challenge to write a unique log entry for each cache. To overcome this, I jot a few notes after each cache that will remind me of something unique to say in the log, plus what I took and left. I also try to give feedback, so my field notes will say "nice hide" or "damp" or "logbook full" to remind me to include that.

 

As a cache owner, I sure appreciate lengthy logs... I consider it a compliment. And a short log is sometimes like a slap in the face.

 

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Some mornings, it just doesn't pay to chew through the leather straps. - Emo Phillips

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quote:
As a cache owner, I sure appreciate lengthy logs... I consider it a compliment. And a short log is sometimes like a slap in the face.

 

I posted a "Found it. TNLN" log the other day. The reason I did was because there were some things about the cache I didn't approve of. I e-mailed the owner and expressed my concerns privately rather than airing it publicly.

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Personally, to me, it depends on the cache location and weather. Sometimes there is really no easy way to leave a long log. The logbook is flimsy, there is no where to write, it is pouring rain, the pen/pencil is in non working order, a number of things. If a cache is left in a little park that takes all of 5 minutes to find, what is there really all to write. Also as mentioned some caches are just in a bad, overcrowded area making it near impossible to spend time in an area. I would guess my log quality would match the cache quality.

 

There was a young maid from Madras

Who had a magnificent a$$;

Not rounded and pink,

As you probably think---

It was grey, had long ears, and ate grass.

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I generally try to write at least 3 sentences, and guess I have been lucky that most of my cache finds have been eventful. I am not an overly talkative person myself, though some who have read my logs may disagree, as some of them have been quite long. I guess if one tries hard enough they can turn any experience into an informative log, here is an example of one rather uneventfull find that I managed to find something to say about.

Writing logs takes time, however, and I guess that after an exhausting day of 20+ caches, people don't want to sit down for an hour or more and write logs. Assuming that navigating to the cache page and typing a log takes 5 minutes (I try to devote about this much time to a log at least), 20 caches could take almost 2 hours to log. Like the Leprechauns, I have found that it helps to write down a list of every cache found that day and what I T/L; I then only write a few at a time over a couple days. I generally find that I don't quickly forget any of the interesting details.

 

...Not all who wander are lost... unless the batteries in their GPS die, their maps get ruined by rainwater when their pack leaks, and they find themselves in a laurel thicket. Then, they are probably lost.

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Some caches are boring? They all are. Come on. A box of McToys in the woods... OooOOohhhh I gotta go find me one of those! Wooo Hooo!

 

Actually people write "simple, short and dull log entries" because they are "simple, short and dull"

 

We all can't be the life of the party or we would develop a higher standard for dull.

 

All my log book logs are exactly that. Just the facts, and boring. Online I have my moments of good logs and boring stories about a wrong turn. That's my style and I can't change even if I have to, I guess.

 

=====================

Wherever you go there you are.

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I try to keep my time with the cache open to a minimum, because of the possibility of being discovered. There are lots of people in these woods it seems.

 

I am going a better job with the on-line logs, though. After all, the on-line logs are the things the cache owner sees on a daily basis. And I can sit at my PC and post a nice story.

 

DustyJacket

Not all those that wander are lost. But in my case... icon_biggrin.gif

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Well if it's a boring cache then my log has to be fiction? To me a boring cache will get boring logs. I have a boring cache, guess what kind of logs I get. I also have a few 4.5 caches, get great logs from the same people. Also if I have 16 more logs to do, it will be short and sweet. If you want great logs then get creative in your hides (not saying that you don't)....Roadster just makes up doot as he goes, it's the beer talkin. icon_wink.gif

 

Rino 110

MeriGreen 128

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My written log will usually be short, but I'll go into some detail on the online log. If it's a lame cache though, I won't have very much to say, so it's little more than "TNLN. Thanks!" (if you get one of these from me, it means I thought your cache stunk like a clam rotting in the sun).

 

As a cache owner, I appreciate the interesting logs, but some people just don't care to write much.

 

"It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues" -Abraham Lincoln

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For me it's simple, the more I enjoyed the cache, the better my log entry. Really crummy caches get the "Found it. TNLN."

 

As for my own caches. I've seen all kinds of logs. Usually the cachers I know personally leave better logs. The rest vary considerably.

 

Besides, after a couple of dozen times, entries like "Found it. Great Coords. Cool Container. Awesome Hike. Really neat park I didn't know existed. Kids loved it. Brought the dog. Took matchcase. Left hair curlers. Thanks for the hunt." can seem quite dull.

 

Now where did I park my car??????? monkes.gif

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quote:
Originally posted by BrianSnat:

My written log will usually be short, but I'll go into some detail on the online log. If it's a lame cache though, I won't have very much to say, so it's little more than "TNLN. Thanks!" (if you get one of these from me, it means I thought your cache stunk like a clam rotting in the sun).


 

Sheesh - I'm beginning to think that Brian is some alter ego of my subconscious. What he said.

 

The only thing that I'll add is that sometimes I try to be kind, but put in phrases that other cachers may catch on to: "This would be a great cache for my five year old to learn how to use a GPS" might actually mean that the cache was boring and incredibly easy - almost too much so. Kinda like "but she has a really nice personality."

 

Markwell

Chicago Geocaching

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You can definately tell how much fun I had on the cache hunt by the length of my log entries, and mine range from 'baged it, taged it' to several paragraphs describing an amazing adventure, complete with pictures.

But then agan, I would never go hunt 24 caches in one day either. I'd much rather spend that time hunting one interesting cache that takes all day to get to, than hunt 24 caches that leave me feeling cheap and sleezy at the end of the day. icon_wink.gif

 

skydiver-sig.gif

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"We never seek things for themselves -- what we seek is the very seeking of things."

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

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quote:
Originally posted by Tsegi Mike and Desert Viking:

 

Out of curiosity, why do geocachers make simple, short and dull log entries? Is it really asking too much for there to be one sentence about how you found it quickly while your partner was looking at another location, or the dog that wouldn't leave you alone while you looked, the hummingbird you saw as you looked... You get the idea.


 

1. Some people are not writers/documenters by nature, or

2. Some caches are not that inspiring, or

3. Nothing happened beyond the stepping out of the car and the finding of the cache, or

4. If you found a bajillion caches in a day, it would take too long to write a long log for each one.

 

Could be any or all of those.

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quote:
Originally posted by skydiver:

I'd much rather spend that time hunting one interesting cache that takes all day to get to, than hunt 24 caches that leave me feeling cheap and sleezy at the end of the day. icon_wink.gif


Yeah, me too! Of course, those 24 memorable cache days kick butt! icon_wink.gif I generally leave decent length logs and on days when I cache more that 10, it might take me more than an hour to enter all the logs. If I was cool like Kablooey, I would figure out how to log my entries from the cache site. I'm not sure if I would write more or less in that situation. I certainly wouldn't have the problem of forgetting stuff if I logged them when they happened instead of at the end of the day. Lucky for me Joani takes notes at each cache site which jogs my memory when I go to log the finds.

 

--Marky

"All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer with a backlit GPSr"

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Yes, we could write total fiction:

 

"The Men In Black have been following me to this information drop. I have retrieved the microdot, and will make rendezvous with the submarine in 45 minutes. ETA to orbital station, 6hrs.

-- Special Agent"

 

"No, you didn't get the microdot. We were here first, you got the normal McDonald's Happy Meal Hamburglar.

-- Men In Black"

 

"Geocaching: the perfect sport for introverts!"

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I always note something positive, but some caches make me want to just go off like. Drove 60 miles to pick up the TB...which was taken 5 months ago and not logged out of the cache. found the cache "Beautiful Spot" cache had a broken Mctoy, a used golf tee, the packing of other taken cache items and heat melted candy.At least i didn't cut myself on a rusty pocket knife or find an indecent TB......lol

 

 

See You In the Woods!!!

Natureboy1376

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I guess what started me off with this topic is a local cacher who writes only tn/ln on every log for every cache no matter how good or bad the cache is. It did feel like a slap in the face the first time I saw it on one of my caches. I've always tried to write something nice about every cache no matter how lame. It just seems like good etiquette to me. Good caches get a big write up or something really unique. I just wanted to understand the thinking behind succinct log entries.

 

Till a voice, as bad as Conscience, rang interminable changes

On one everlasting Whisper day and night repeated -- so:

"Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges --

"Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go!"

 

Rudyard Kipling , The Explorer 1898

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quote:
Originally posted by georgeandmary:

The more interesting the cache, the more interesting the log. Unless something really stands out there's not much to say after you've found a few hundred.

 

A lot of my logs are short, a few are really long. Depends on what happened during the hunt.

 

george

 


 

Yup, Exactly.

 

texasgeocaching_sm.gif

"Trade up, trade even, or don't trade!!!" My philosophy of life.

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I like writing detailed online logs. They're fun. However, for the last couple of weekends we've been doing some very quick 1/1 urban caches, ten or twelve a day, and by the end of the day I've forgotten all but the highlights. I should probably take notes about which widget I exchanged for which mini-frog, but since I do note my exchanges in each physical cache log, I figure that reiterating it at home isn't completely necessary (provided I didn't take anything so thrilling a cacher might hunt that cache specifically to snag it).

 

I will go on at some length about a cache I truly enjoyed (or, at times, really hated), or a hunt on which something interesting happened. Some of these micros were getting a bit mundane, though, so I had very little to say about them. I did feel guilty about leaving some one-liner logs yesterday -- I think of logs as payback for the cache placer, and possibly something interesting or useful for those who follow us to read. I know when we finally place a cache, we'll be looking for the logs with interest.

 

I like reading other people's cache logs at home, so "TNLN, thanks!" is boring for me as well, but there's another extreme where the cacher needs to tack on several notes to complete the story. Unless they met Bigfoot, got bitten by a rattlesnake, and were rescued from the site by helicopter, there's hardly a cache hunt in the world that deserves a log that long. Excessively long and chatty logs get a bit dull too... though at the end of the day, I'd rather err on the side of verbosity. Obviously.

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I write very little in the logs if anything but my name ( I don’t write well ) I click and paste on the cache page ( I don’t type good ), and I expect no more than that on my own caches. If you want someone to write a essay say so , like you can not hunt this caches unless you write a 1,000 words about how great it was. I am sure there will be cachers lining up to hunt it. There all kind of good folks out there caching but that does mean that they like to write a lot, or know how to express themselves. I just put something in the cache the same thing every time and never take anything out that way I do not have to remember what I did because I do not even like writing notes to myself .And last I do not hide caches for praise I hide them because I like to. JOE

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Joe,

I hope you did not take offense at my topic or comments because I did not mean to offend anybody. I am always glad when anyone visits my caches no matter how few words they write. I just wanted to know why some people write so little. You and others have given me some reasons. Our team has met a lot of cachers on the trail and they are all great people. Thank you for taking the time to explain your reasons to me.

 

That moss-covered bucket I hailed as a treasure,

For often at noon, when I returned from the field,

I found it the source of an exquisite pleasure.

 

Samuel Woodworth The Old Oaken Bucket

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TM&DV:

quote:
why do geocachers make simple, short and dull log entries

 

I think all short and dull log entries should be banned. icon_biggrin.gif

I also think this frog thing should be banned too. frog.giffrog.giffrog.gificon_confused.gif

 

But seriously folks, if a cache hunt is interesting that my log entry is more likely to be. Of course there are those times when a quick departure is required by the risk of cache exposure, or in one case last week-skin exposure to skeeters. icon_wink.gif

 

These changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes;

Nothing remains quite the same.

Through all of the islands and all of the highlands,

If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane

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Some people are just plain simpletons. Take me for example, I have no idea what the phrase below means???

 

quote:
Originally posted by Tsegi Mike and Desert Viking:

 

Till a voice, as bad as Conscience, rang interminable changes

On one everlasting Whisper day and night repeated -- so:

"Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges --

"Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go!"

 

Rudyard Kipling , The Explorer 1898


 

"Heck, that scares me and I'm fearless"

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quote:
Originally posted by Tsegi Mike and Desert Viking:

Is it really asking too much for there to be one sentence about how you found it quickly while your partner was looking at another location, or the dog that wouldn't leave you alone while you looked, the hummingbird you saw as you looked... You get the idea.


 

It was an old computer. But it knew what to do. While my partner looked in the opposite direction it took the opportunity to charge up its capacitors. The dog was old and hadn't seen a new trick for years, let alone learn one. There was a time when this dog would have loved to urinate against a tree, a lampost maybe or even a fire hydrant. But now it was old. The computer had received a wetting from the old dog in the past. At first it had been no big thing. Eventually old age had taken its toll on the insulation and it was no,longer impervious to the yellow rain. As the dog discharged, so did the capacitors. The resulting double summersault and half twist was the final new trick performed by the dog.

Nice cache, saw humming bird, TNLN

 

Lance

It's dark and we're wearing sunglasses.

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The length of my online logs is proportional to the enjoyment I have hunting the cache, whether I find it or not. I feel that a well crafted cache deserves credit in the form of a descriptive log. The physical logbook gets little more than name and date from me. I find it very difficult to balance a logbook on my knee and write legibly with insects droning perilously close to my head. I write enough to let the owner know I was there, then recount my experience online.

 

eyes.GIF

"Searching with my good eye closed"

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It has not been mentioned in this thread, but adding a line or two about the cache condition can make the log entry not so short, and provide the cache owner, and subsequent seekers, with valuable information as well. Statements like, 'cache very full, think small to trade', or, 'Could use a new ziplock bag for the log book' give worthwile information about the cache. Don't get me wrong, when I particularily like a cache, or had an experience I would like to share about the find, I put that in my log as well. But even a cache you are not thrilled with may benefit from something you might have to say.

 

"Could be worse...could be raining"

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Look up a few of our cache logs... My wife tells me I'm a story writer, not a cache hunter... I like putting down all the things we did on the way in or out from a cache. That's what makes it interesting and fun... It's also amazing that our kids can tough it out as long as we can. The oldest is a boy 11 then a girl 7 and another girl 5. Let me tell you, it makes for an intersting time every time.

 

Jon.

 

Shayl.gif

 

Come visit us on the web!!

The JJ&C Railroad

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quote:
Originally posted by nincehelser:

Some of us just don't have much to say.

 

I'm not a talkative person by nature, except when inspired, then I might get kind of wordy. It just takes quite an experience to get me going.

 

George


 

I agree. I would rather say what I have to say on my electronic log when I get home and log my finds. I don't like standing near an open ammo box in the middle of the woods in the rain (or whatever) filling out log books. I like to get in, find the cache and get out before I'm spotted. (This coming from aguy who has had the cops called on him three times,

 

But it does depend on the cache. If there's a place to sit down out of sight where I can write I'll put more than just a "Found it!" entry.

 

Jolly R. Blackburn

http://kenzerco.com

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Transport yourself back to high school and remember yearbooks. Your good friends probably wrote paragraphs in yours about all the good time you had that year. The people you didn't really know all that well probably wrote, "Have a great summer." So what's the moral...short log entries means people don't really like you personally....or wait, maybe there is another one here...hmmmm...

 

Grrrrrrrrr...

jackbear

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quote:
Originally posted by Tsegi Mike and Desert Viking:

I've always tried to write something nice about every cache no matter how lame. It just seems like good etiquette to me.


 

Although I totally understand how you're trying to be nice and polite with this practice, and that's and admirable quality, I disagree with the practice entirely.

Certainly, if you honestly liked the cache, then say so. Doing so will encourage that cache placer, and others, to place more like it, which you will probably like also.

Whether or not you should criticize a cache you don't like probably depends a lot on your personality as well as what you didn't like about it (i.e. did it break some rule like being on private property, or was it just not your cup of tea). That should entirely be decided on a case by case, cacher by cacher, basis.

However, actually complimenting a cache you don't like only encourages people to place more caches exactly like it, which are just more caches you're not going to like.

One of the most poorly placed caches I've ever been to has logs from people saying what a great place it is to put a cache. I honestly believe those are just people following the same rule you are, which is to say something nice about every cache, regardless of how lame it was. But the cache owners have used those logs a 'proof' that some people actually like that kind of cache.

Imagine a scenario where you're about to go out on the town with a couple friends, and have a big booger hanging out of your nose. One friend tells you how absolutely fantastic you look, and then the other mentions the booger. Next time you want an opinion on your appearance (or anything else for that matter), which friend's advice are you going to seek? The one who just tells you what you want to hear, or the one who tells you the truth. Now switch roles, and decide which of the two friends you would be.

 

skydiver-sig.gif

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"We never seek things for themselves -- what we seek is the very seeking of things."

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

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