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Anybody ever doubt your cache existed?


Macro

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Just wondering if this happens to others. I helped place a cache last year that is a pretty hard find. Most of the people that search for it never find it. In 6 months, only 3 people ever did, and two of them were this week. At first (before BassoonPilot proved them wrong) many began accusing us of faking it....that the cache never even existed. Even today, I know that some people have their doubts.

 

This ever happen to you?

 

Here is the cache I am referring to....

Yes, it really does exist! (you just can't find it) icon_biggrin.gif

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This kind of happened with the first cache I placed. As soon as it was posted, a couple of cachers in the area went to look for it and logged that it was gone. I went out later in the week, and found it, but not exactly where it was originally placed. The location is on a point at a popular ice-fishing lake, and I figure that some ice-fisherman took a shortcut across the point, saw a rubbermaid container full of neat stuff, took it home, read the notice, and then put it back. I still replaced the container with an ammo can which is harder to spot unless you know what you're looking for. Happy cachin'!!! 15T

 

www.1800goguard.com

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quote:
Originally posted by macro:

Just wondering if this happens to others. I helped place a cache last year that is a pretty hard find. Most of the people that search for it never find it. In 6 months, only 3 people ever did, and two of them were this week. At first (before BassoonPilot proved them wrong) many began accusing us of faking it....that the cache never even existed. Even today, I know that some people have their doubts.

 

This ever happen to you?

 

Here is the cache I am referring to....

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=8249 icon_biggrin.gif


 

I think most new cachers and some old caches just dont understand the rating system. Its not the systems fault its pretty clear. However, it took me a few caches before I knew exactally what to expect. Also the fact that some cache hiders dont take the time to understand the rating system doesn't help either. A cache with a terrain rating of 1 1/2 and the cache was on a tree branch over a 20-30 foot drop. icon_eek.gif

 

Read over a few entries. Some people expected to find a difficulty rated 4 1/2 cache in less than an hour? Some people thought that a terrain rated 2 1/2 cache was going to be a hard cache to get to? See what I mean. Peoples expectations are NOT in line with the actual cache ratings.

 

- Lone Rangers

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You were asking from a cache owner's perspective, but from a finder's perspective, there have been a couple of caches that left me scratching my head, but I never went so far as to question the cache's existence.

 

But that may change . . . I've noticed one cache where the seekers say the area doesn't resemble the description or clues at all. It was placed by an unknown name, so if the logs are correct, is this a beginner's mistake, or some kind of joke?

 

With apologies to macro and his team, caches like this definitely cause people not to seek caches placed by owners with little "visible" experience.

 

I've noticed another cache or two where cache hiders have hidden tiny objects (apparently) extremely well, while providing minimal information. Caches like that cause an area to become badly torn up. I noticed recently that the owner of one such cache initiated a thread complaining that someone had trashed one of his cache sites looking for a cache. While I certainly don't condone the behavior of the cacher who trashed the area, I suggest the cache owner is largely responsible for the problem.

 

The solution I've arrived upon is to budget a specific amount of time for a search based on the difficulty rating, and if I haven't found the cache when time expires, or if an area looks like it would be disturbed/damaged by a search, I walk away and don't look back.

 

[This message was edited by BassoonPilot on April 10, 2002 at 05:57 AM.]

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quote:
Originally posted by BassoonPilot:

With apologies to macro and his team, but caches like this definitely cause people not to seek caches placed by owners with little "visible" experience.


 

I agree with you on this. One of the problems we had before you found it was that people assume that we were newbies since we had no "finds". I think that puts people off unless there are many complimentary logs on the page. Of course we have many finds, we ust log them individually, and not to the Team_Epitome account. We reserve that account for compilation efforts that tend to be harder. As Team_Macroscopic, I have only placed one, relatively easy cache so far (although I am planning a few more for this summer).

 

Also, I agree that it is up to the cache placer to keep people from tearing up the environment. We try to make it clear what is, and what is NOT required to find the cache. I often gripe about micros placed in wooded areas with no clues...its an invite to rip the place apart.

 

The real key I have learned, is to place a quality cache. If you build it, they will come. If you build it well, people will talk about it. Hopefully that is what we've done.

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One time I went to find a new cache that hadn't been found yet. The difficulty was rated pretty low, but I spent over half an hour scouring the area for the cache, and there weren't that many places to hide one. Even using the clue the hider left didn't help. I wrote the hider, and it turned out he had transposed some digits when posting the cache. I went back with the correct coordinates, and easily found the cache.

 

So occationally, if I am having a hard time locating a new cache, I will question it.

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quote:
I wrote the hider, and it turned out he had transposed some digits when posting the cache.
Yeah, done that, twice icon_frown.gif I now make a point of downloading the waypoint for my new caches from the website and loading them into my GPSr to make sure the waypoint actually is where I hid my cache. The other side of that one is to make sure I download the waypoints just before going on a hunt, and not relying on waypoints downloaded a while back. I spent a while ten days back hunting caches for which I had positions that were hundreds of yards out....

 

Purrs... LazyLeopard http://www.lazyleopard.org.uk

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Alluvial Material is your cache? Wow! Congrats for placing such a challenging cache. If I remember, I was the first to search ...and get stumped by it. sigh_2.gif

 

I must admit that I had doubts about its existance in the beginning as I was one of those cache newbies that tore up the place in the beginning. newbie.gif

 

I hope to venture out there soon to tackle it again soon but I am a WWW (warm weather wussie!).

 

I looked on the cache page today and someone isnt happy in not finding the extra prize you left behind... angry.gif

 

9929_1400.gif

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quote:
Originally posted by The Artful Dodger:

Alluvial Material is your cache? Wow! Congrats for placing such a challenging cache. If I remember, I was the first to search ...and get stumped by it. http://www.scubaboard.com/images/smilies/sigh_2.gif

 

I must admit that I had doubts about its existance in the beginning as I was one of those cache newbies that tore up the place in the beginning. http://www.scubaboard.com/images/smilies/newbie.gif

 


Hi TAD

I love thoose newbie smiley faces! v. cool

 

Peregrinus

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...I'm going to get off it again just a wee bit. I think it is funny when people just assume that the cache is missing, plundered, etc., because they can't find it, or they state "Coordinates must be off" when 6 people walk right up to it, but they can't seem to find the bugger. icon_rolleyes.gif

 

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

Go! And don't be afraid to get a little wet!

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