+Harrald Posted March 15, 2002 Share Posted March 15, 2002 Recently I went to check on a cache I had found a while ago. I noticed that the more recent posts stated that the cache was missing. It was! I e-mailed to the owner and informed him of the missing cache. He e-mailed me back and thanked me for checking. The above happened about 3 weeks ago. I have kept an eye on the cache page and it's still not archived. I posted a note to the page stating that it was missing. The cache is in an urban park near my place of employment. There are at least three of these missing caches in this park that aren't archived. My questions are Should "I" take it upon myself to contact geocaching.com to ask for an archive? If so how long should I wait? Thanks in advance ==================================== As always, the above statements are just MHO. ==================================== Quote Link to comment
+glenn95630 Posted March 15, 2002 Share Posted March 15, 2002 Since the hider emailed you back, I think you should assume that the hider is planning on replacing the cache. Give the hider at least 3 months. Quote Link to comment
BassoonPilot Posted March 15, 2002 Share Posted March 15, 2002 quote:Originally posted by glenn95630: Since the hider emailed you back, I think you should assume that the hider is planning on replacing the cache. Give the hider at least 3 months. Just out of curiousity, why do you recommend allowing 3 months? Quote Link to comment
Jeremy Posted March 15, 2002 Share Posted March 15, 2002 Can't they just make the cache inactive, and activate it when it has been replaced? They have that functionality. 3 months is a heck of a long time to have a cache listed that isn't there. With the new function they should make it inactive immediately. Just let me know which one and I'll do that now. Jeremy Quote Link to comment
+Web-ling Posted March 15, 2002 Share Posted March 15, 2002 If you got a response from the owner,it's their responsibility to either fix, disable,or archive the cache. I'd just keep bugging the owner. If you don't get a response from the owner after several emails, assume the cache is abandoned, and contact Jeremy. Quote Link to comment
+Jamie Z Posted March 15, 2002 Share Posted March 15, 2002 Too late now, Web-ling. Jeremy already knows. Jamie Quote Link to comment
+Macro Posted March 15, 2002 Share Posted March 15, 2002 I have noticed lately that many geocachers are taking it upon themselves to police other peoples caches. I say give the owner the opportunity to deal with their own creation. I think its great that everyone want to keep things from getting neglected, but you have to give the owner some time to replace the cache. On the other hand, the very least the owner could do is at least post a message on the cache description page letting others know whats going on. Quote Link to comment
+sbukosky Posted March 15, 2002 Share Posted March 15, 2002 After a few no finds, the cache owner should check that the cache is still there, verify the coordinates and post that he did maintenance on his cache page. Otherwise, people are wasting time, gasoline and getting frustrated. If it appears the cache owner is not living up to those expectations, I see no reason not to point it out to Jeremy and ask that it be dealt with. Steve Bukosky N9BGH Waukesha Wisconsin Quote Link to comment
+Web-ling Posted March 15, 2002 Share Posted March 15, 2002 quote:Originally posted by sbukosky: After a few no finds, the cache owner should check that the cache is still there, verify the coordinates and post that he did maintenance on his cache page. Otherwise, people are wasting time, gasoline and getting frustrated. If it appears the cache owner is not living up to those expectations, I see no reason not to point it out to Jeremy and ask that it be dealt with. Steve Bukosky N9BGH Waukesha Wisconsin If there are several logged "Not Found" logs, and someone doesn't bother looking at the cache page to see the frowny faces, it's their own fault if they waste gasoline looking for it. At least email the cache owner and give them some time to deal with it. Jeremy has enough to do without wading through additional e-mails, archiving a cache, then having to un-archive it because the cache owner fixed it. I absolutely agree that the owner * SHOULD * check that the cache is still there, verify the coordinates and post that he did maintenance on his cache page. But sometimes life gets in the way between "should have" and "did." Unless I've made a real effort to contact the owner, and given them some time to rectify the situation, I'm not going to bother Jeremy. Quote Link to comment
Eric O'Connor Posted March 15, 2002 Share Posted March 15, 2002 What if member cachers were given *one* virtual token. This token could be used to mark a cache that's not theirs, but is suspected of being MIA. With only one token, people couldn't toss these out willy-nilly but the use would send up a red flag icon that would notify other cachers that a problem may exist with this cache. This would be different than the standard not found in that it would only be used when the owner failed to respond in a timely manner. I carefully worded email would be sent to the cache owner stating that they have thirty days to resolve the problem. This might free up Jeremy and crew from playing wet-nurse to those cachers who've lost interest. This would also be a form of rating caches but limited to just a few cases of neglect. Quote Link to comment
+glenn95630 Posted March 16, 2002 Share Posted March 16, 2002 quote:Originally posted by BassoonPilot:Just out of curiousity, why do you recommend allowing 3 months? My goal was to reduce Jeremy's workload. Other than Cho, did anyone else state a specific duration? Since Jeremy thought 3 months was too long, I change my answer to 4 weeks. Quote Link to comment
+T-storm Posted March 16, 2002 Share Posted March 16, 2002 I am one of the folks that has reported a problem cache and asked Jeremy to archive it. Someone made a comment about folks taking it upon themselves to police others' caches. You bet! If the cache owner won't do it then the community of cachers had best do it if we don't want to increase the list of land managers who ban our activity. What if it's a multicache with other stages hanging out there? What if it's a badly damaged cache that is really only so much litter if it is not maintained? It's not as if anyone has suggested running out and yanking another's cache as soon as a problem is reported. What's being discussed is how cachers who find a problem can encourage cache owners to maintain the cache and how/when to determine that maintenance is just NOT going to occur. If a cache owner can be successfully contacted, there is no excuse for that person not to make a note on the cache listing that there is a problem and that it will be fixed or to archive it, whether with the new temporary feature or permanently. I can understand they can't get to it immediately every time. But my opinion is also that one should not set a cache that one could not physically visit or have a surrogate visit over a 4-6 week period. T-storm http://www.cordianet.com/geocaching Quote Link to comment
+Logscaler and Red Posted March 19, 2002 Share Posted March 19, 2002 My two cents worth would be that a MIA cache would be allowed five (five) not founds or four (4) weeks before automaticly archived. Cache owners not keeping track any closer then that to their caches are not being responsible or accountable to this game. A black eye is still a black eye no matter how we get it. Quote Link to comment
+Rusty & Libby Posted March 19, 2002 Share Posted March 19, 2002 quote:Originally posted by Rusty: Originally posted by T-storm: I am one of the folks that has reported a problem cache and asked Jeremy to archive it. Someone made a comment about folks taking it upon themselves to police others' caches. You bet! .. SNIP SNIP SNIP ... But my opinion is also that one should not set a cache that one could not physically visit or have a surrogate visit over a 4-6 week period. I totally agree. With spring coming (hopefully ) it is very important that cachers in areas that were snow covered get out and check their caches for damage. I would especially appreciate them posting a note that the cache was checked. As long as a cache is logged as found on a regular basis the owner can follow it there but I still like to check myself occasionally. Frowns do not always mean a cache is missing, I know of a couple caches that have a lot of frowns but they are still there just darn hard to find. If the person logging a frown only has a couple finds I take it with a grain of salt. There have been threads before on this subject but I still vote to force cache owners to periodically log onto each of their cache pages and confirm they are still accepting responsibility for them. A problem with just archiving someone elses cache is that potentially you may be abandoning a container of trash on public land somewhere. What kind of publicity will that cause? Rusty... Rusty & Libby's Geocache Page Quote Link to comment
+15Tango Posted March 20, 2002 Share Posted March 20, 2002 i agree that it isn't jeremy's responsibility to "wet-nurse" geocachers as a previous geocacher so elequently put it, it is the responsiblility of the cache owner to maintain their cache. ergo, one should place their caches where they are able to maintain them. this is a lesson i learned on my own the hard way--the first cache i placed was plundered within two days of my placing it, probably even before it was posted to the general public on geocaching.com. but since it is only a few miles from my house, i was able to throw a bunch of stuff in an ammo can in case i needed it and go to the site to check on my cache within a week--if i had placed the cache in an interesting place i saw while on vacation half a world away from home, i would have not been able to do so. 15T Quote Link to comment
King Pellinore Posted March 22, 2002 Share Posted March 22, 2002 the cache is the cache owners responsibility. That is clearly stated all over the site. If you find a cache that *in your opinion* is missing, damaged, unacceptable in some way, you should contact the cache owner. If the cache owner doesn't respond and you've tried repeatedly *at least three times?* over a reasonable amount of time *how much is reasonable?*, then contact Jeremy. If there are Requirements as to what state a cache should be in, how often it should be maintained by the owner, how far away from your house you can place a cache, how frequently the owner has to check their email, etc, then this should be stated somewhere.[P] For instance, my caches are difficult to find and I can get several no-finds in a row. The cache is there and it's fine, I've checked. So if I'm away for a month I'm going to come home and find all my caches archived? OTOH, I certainly want to know if my caches are ok (one currently isn't). To answer this question, put yourself in the position of the cache placer. How would you want someone else to treat your cache? King Pellinore Quote Link to comment
LazyLeopard Posted March 22, 2002 Share Posted March 22, 2002 It's not possible to come up with an automatic scheme that will satisfy everybody, or even one that'll work in most cases. One thing that can help (e.g. where the cache-owner is an overseas visitor) is for someone local (to the cache) who has found the cache in the past to take the time to re-visit it and report back... Purrs... LazyLeopard http://www.lazyleopard.org.uk Quote Link to comment
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