DNF--->>Found it!

3.8k · August 13, 2003

When I search for a cache unsuccessfully, I always post it as a no find. For the record, if I find the cache in the future, I leave the DNF and log a find. I'm curious as to how other geocachers handle DNFs.

==============="If it feels good...do it"================

**(the other 9 out of 10 voices in my head say: "Don't do it.")**

.

1.6k · August 13, 2003

Can you define a legimate DNF?

I leave both.

3.5k · August 13, 2003

Every time you post a "Did not find" an angel gets his wings!

Bret

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.

When a man found it, he hid it again." Mt. 13:44

8k · August 13, 2003

I voted that I post a DNF and leave it if I later find the cache.

But it is a little more complicated than that. I only post a DNF if I got to the cache site and looked and couldn't find the cache. Even then if I know I will be back to search again I sometimes will not log a DNF. A DNF is a indication to the cache owner and other searchers that the cache may be missing. So I don't log unless I think the cache may be missing. I may still come back to search again. I will certainly come back and search again if either someone else finds the cache in the interim or if the owner emails me that cache is still there.

Finally, there was the DNF I logged when I found what appeared to be a piece of the cache container (the lid of a TicTac box). The owner responded that I had indeed found the remains of her cache and told me that I could take credit for a find. So I changed the DNF log to a find.

東西南北

Why do I always find it in the last place I look?

August 13, 2003

I leave a DNF, but when I go back and find it I return to my post, Edit the post, and change it to a Found, I leave my post about not finding it and add about Finding it.

I wondered what others did also, I saw some that had 2 logs on a cache, but I thought multi logging a cache was not to be. Unless that is multi logging the same cache.

So I log it DNF, then change it to Found after I find it.

I bought a GPS. Now I get lost with style.

August 13, 2003

Honest Engine Cache

Here are some great DNF entries for you. Local cacher decided to drive the rest of us batty for a few days.

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

I have never been lost. Been awful confused for a few days, but never lost!

N61.12.041 W149.43.734

August 13, 2003

If I don't find one but have the intention of going back to try again within a couple of days, I won't post anything. Otherwise I post a DNF and leave it, even, if later, I log a find.

Team Kender - "The Sun is coming up!" "No, the horizon is going down."

9.5k · August 13, 2003

There are three criteria I follow to post a DNF:

1. I absolutely and completely give up on the search.

2. I think I find a discovered/plundered cache and post a note until I'm advised that I was wrong - then I'll change it to a DNF.

3. It might be a cache I tried to find in passing and don't think I'll be getting back to it anytime soon.

I will not post a find unless I can leave some evidence on the log that I was indeed there or unless the owner advises I can go ahead and change my note to a found. Having micro labels to put on the log helped in one case when I forgot my pen. Now I carry a Cross keychain Ion pen.

I will re-edit my DNF into a find, but I also leave the previous history there with the date it was entered so that the whole story is together. (Unless there is a significant amount of time that passed between the DNF and the Found It.

Cheers!

TL

August 13, 2003

I just logged a DNF on a micro. I didn't have a clue (figuratively nor literally) or a description so I spent about a half hour looking in an area with lots of nooks and crannies.

When I logged the DNF, I made it clear that I was searching blind so that the cache owner wouldn't feel the need to run out and check up on the cache.

Mickey

Max Entropy

More than just a name, a lifestyle.

August 13, 2003

We've logged a couple of DNF's after searching for a couple of micros we couldn't find. Then after our third or fourth searches, when we finally found them, I just edited the log to say we found them.

August 13, 2003

I usually leave my DNFs after I go back and find the cache. The times that I've deleted them have been because I didn't think they added any usefull information. You didn't have an option for "usually" so I didn't vote.

Og

Prophetically Challenged (or is that Pathetically?)

August 13, 2003

If I know I won't be in the area again for at least a few weeks, I'll post a DNF.

If I know I'll be back to search again in a few days, I'll post a note saying I was there, but will be back again to finish the hunt later.

Unless they have something interesting and worth taking up bandwidth for, they usually get deleted once I find.

August 13, 2003

I leave a DNF, but when I go back and find it I return to my post, Edit the post, and change it to a Found, I leave my post about not finding it and add about Finding it. I do the same as Dream Alchemist and a lot of the time, I e-mail the cache placer to find out if it is really missing or if I was really off and not even close to being in the right area.

[This message was edited by pdumas on August 13, 2003 at 01:02 PM.]

August 13, 2003

If I got to the coord's, and my GPS is functioning O.K., and I took a fair amount of time to look around, I log a DNF and leave the DNF even if I go back again.

If I just print out instructions for a cache, and swing by on my way home from work w/o my GPS to see if I can find it with the clues in a few minutes of searching, I don't see any benefit to log a DNF, since I really didn't look.

If I drive by and look out the window of my car as I pass the spot where I think the cache probably might be, from the description, I wouldn't log it.

In other words, if my efforts don't do anything to help others determine whether a cache is difficult to find, or perhaps missing, I don't see any reason to log it.

If I go back later, and find it, and the reason I missed it was because the clues were deliberately misleading, I pull out my sidearm, shoot it full of holes, and log a DNF.

I hope that someday we will be able to put away

our fears and prejudices and just laugh at people.

2.6k · August 13, 2003

If I looked and couldn't find it, then I log a DNF.

If I go back and didn't find it again, I log a DNF again.

Each time I go back I log what happened until I find it.

Few exceptions.

A few days ago in the mountains I went for 2 caches that required a 10 mile off road bike ride, I found the first. The second was a multi, found the first part, plugged in the final coords but couldn't find it. Since it was supposed to be easy to find I assumed I plugged in the coords wrong but I didn't have enough energy or daylight left to go back to the first stage..... so I logged a note.

george

"No one goes to The Valley of the Dead. That's why it's called The Valley of the Dead."

5.3k · August 13, 2003

Like George said.

In my experience, cachers just starting out think of DNFs as "failures."

But most of the more experienced cachers I know are just as proud of their DNFs as they are of their finds, if not more so.

So if you don't want to be perceived as a "newbie," always log your DNFs!

38.2k · August 13, 2003

My personal rule is that if I plug in the coordnates and hit "go to" and do not get the cache...no matter what the reason, I log a DNF.

Of course I'll explain the reason for the DNF in the log, so the owner and others are aware that it was some boneheaded move on my part that kept me from finding it.

I always leave the DNF, because its part of the history of the cache and often involves a funny story.

"Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he'll sit in a boat and drink beer all day" - Dave Barry

August 13, 2003

You mean we're supposed to be *looking* for something out there? Oh! Now this makes sense!

Ever notice how anyone that caches more than you do is a maniac, while anyone that caches less than you do is an idiot? -Dru Morgan

5.7k · August 13, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by fizzymagic:
But most of the more experienced cachers I know are just as proud of their DNFs as they are of their finds, if not more so.

I don't know if proud is the correct word, but I'm certainly not ashamed of my DNFs and posting DNFs provides very valuable feedback to the cache owner and future finders. Certainly, some of my DNFs are more memorable than many of my finds.

--Marky

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

August 13, 2003

I post a DNF and then if I find it later, I change the DNF to a Found, but I append my Found text to the previous DNF text.

August 13, 2003

I post a DNF using the BrianSnat system. When I post a 'found it' I reference my previous, unsuccessful attempt. And leave the DNF.

So far I've had no ill effects from posting DNFs honestly, I recommend it.

_________________________________________________________

If trees could scream, would we still cut them down?

Well, maybe if they screamed all the time, for no reason.

Click here for my Geocaching pictures and Here (newest)

38.2k · August 13, 2003

quote:
I post a DNF and then if I find it later, I change the DNF to a Found, but I append my Found text to the previous DNF text.

Why?

"Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he'll sit in a boat and drink beer all day" - Dave Barry

1.1k · August 13, 2003

I too post a DNF if I made the effort to stop and really look. If I latter find it, I change the log to a find and add to the text already there.

Why you ask? I feel that the reason for posting DNF's was 1) to inform the cache owner there might be a problem, 2) to inform others there might be a problem and 3) to let all know that the cache may be more of a challange then it might appear to be. Posting then latter changing the DNF achieves all these and maintains the history of the cache as well as keeping the number of logs under control.

August 13, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by CYBret:
Every time you post a "Did not find" an angel gets his wings!

I thought when this happened, God killed a kitten?

August 13, 2003

Many of the really good cache find stories are greatly enhanced by the cacher's previous DNF logs. I leave my DNFs & log a fresh entry for each attempt at finding a cache.

August 13, 2003

We've had two DNF's that were simply gone (plundered or stolen). We added one as a find when it was replaced by the cacher and we tracked it back down, and another we had to leave unfound since we had to leave before the cache was "fixed."

August 13, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by BrianSnat:
Why?

No excuse, just the way I've been doing it.

2.6k · August 13, 2003

I think changing a dnf to a found is a bad idea. For the following reasons.

1) It doesn't generate a new email to the cache owner to let them know it has been found.

2) It places the cache history out of order. Imagine you log a dnf, the next person logs a dnf, the next person logs a dnf, you go back and change your dnf to a found. Now the cache is obviously there but it looks like the cache hasn't been found in a while.

3) It's easier to see the history of a cache by just looking at the happy and sad faces instead of actually going back and reading each log.

george

"No one goes to The Valley of the Dead. That's why it's called The Valley of the Dead."

August 14, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by captnemo:
...as well as keeping the number of logs under control.

Has there ever really been a problem with the number of logs?

_________________________________________________________

If trees could scream, would we still cut them down?

Well, maybe if they screamed all the time, for no reason.

Click here for my Geocaching pictures and Here (newest)

3.8k · August 14, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by bitbrain:
Many of the really good cache find stories are greatly enhanced by the cacher's previous DNF logs. I leave my DNFs & log a fresh entry for each attempt at finding a cache.

BINGO. same here.

~robert

Notice: Driver carries less than $20 cache.

1.3k · August 14, 2003

If I get out of the car, it gets a log, find or not. And it stays as posted. However, I don't like to clutter up the page with DNF's for subsequent failed attempts. If something novel happens, I might post another one, but I'd hate to make a cacher check on a cache if there was nothing wrong with it. When (if) I find it. I just make a whole different log for the find, and leave the DNF there. It's part of the cache page, why delete it?

"Chock full of essential vitamins and waypoints"

1.5k · August 14, 2003

I don't take well to DNFs, because I don't like to fail. But, I've become adept enough at finding caches (even 1/4"x3/8" ultra micros) that I typically bat 1.000 or VERY close to it when caching because I don't often give up. If I search every conceivable area and don't see a single sign of where a cache might have been, I'll log a DNF. A cache that I didn't find but plan to come back and check again in the next day or so I'll log nothing unless the return trip yields a result one way or the other.

Brian

Team A.I.

August 14, 2003

if you don't find it before you leave the area it is a dnf. if you find it later log a find, but that doesn't change the dnf entry, so leave it be as it is part of the history of the cache. no shame in logging a dnf. happens to all of us at some time. -harry

1.5k · August 14, 2003

You left out some other options.

A couple of times I've posted a DNF only to go back shortly thereafter and find the cache. If there have been no other logs in the mean time, I will change the DNF to a find and leave the original note in tact.

On some of my DNF's I've changed it to a Note once I've found the cache, so as to not discourage other searchers.

I will NEVER delete a log. Change it maybe but never delete.

1.8k · August 14, 2003

As I posted in the Northwest forums on January 31:

quote:
My general rule is that if I punch 'go to waypoint' on my GPS, then the hunt is going to either get a 'Found' or a 'Not Found' log. The only exception is when I'm searching for the a non-final step of a multicache.

Blocked by high water? Discovered the park was closed? Forgot the printout? Distracted by a playground? No boat? Disuaded by a crazy-man? I've used all of these as reasons for 'not founds.'

I also write up repeat visits and other stuff related to the specific caches as notes.

More recently, I logged a note, a not found, and a found on the same cache on the same day. First a , pointing out that the cache was 45 feet away from an archived cache of mine. Second, a , when it turned out I needed hip waders to get to the cache. And third, , after I'd returned home and gotten hip waders later that night, getting a First Find.

WWJD? JW RTFM.

1.3k · August 14, 2003

I always leave DNFs posted, even if the reason is really dumb. Someone might extract some amusement from those. But my personal criterion for DNFs is it's a DNF only if I arrive at ground zero and don't find the cache. Otherwise, it's a note.

3.8k · August 15, 2003

Seems we are mostly in agreement on this topic. I think the historical progression is an important part of cache logs, as indicated by several posters on this thread. Thanks, all for the participation.

==============="If it feels good...do it"================

**(the other 9 out of 10 voices in my head say: "Don't do it.")**

.

August 15, 2003

Ive logged my share of dnfs. My first log was a DNF. I just went out with coordinates and figured it would lead me right to the cache. When I read the page it was obvious where it was. I found it eventually, but left the first log. It also gives you a better caching history when you list all of your logs.

Ive logged a dnf because I got to the cache too late because of my own stupidity, etc..

If I get out of the car and head out to find the cache, and dont find it, I always log a dnf. Now, if Im scoping an area, and determine that I dont have time, its too crowded, it starts raining, etc., I will not log a dnf.. maybe a note if it adds any useful information for the next person.

August 15, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by Dru Morgan:
Ever notice how anyone that caches more than you do is a maniac, while anyone that caches less than you do is an idiot? -http://www.theheavenlyhost.com/geocache

Now this got me laughing so hard! Otherwise this day suck, our company is laying off once more, but you, my friend, are clearly a MANIAC! ;-)

Vielen Dank!

_____________________________

... where is it?

DNF--->>Found it!

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