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The Rise Of Lame Micros


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Don't blame me!

 

I'm not the guy who waypointed an ordinary manhole cover and decided that it should be a virtual cache.

 

 

and so what if it is a vert. Time and time again, the voice of reason has shown through... Dont do em! i dont do a lot of verts, yet I DO NOT PRECLUDE ANYONE FROM DOING THEM BECUASE THEY AREN'T MY CUP OF TEA.

 

I'm not the guy who invented the idea of posting a pic of a jeep and the coordinates where it was seen to score a point in the game.

 

if you so worried about stats, go to keenpeople

 

I'm not the guy that is hiding a magnetic hide-a-key on the bottom of a dumpster behind the gas station or a film canister in the shrubbery beside the mall parking lot.

 

i hid one in a light pole, a lot of people thought it was clever and had fun with it. what got your drawers in knot

 

The persons who charge that I am just whining should more carefully consider the reason for the complaints. 

 

you have no legitimate reason to complain, channel your geocaching efforts away from micros and you can put the kleenex away.

 

I will not care when and if there is a serious crackdown on micros because of too many lame ones being hidden but the persons who are most affected such as persons who live in populated places and the physically challenged had better hear the alarm and step forward with some ideas for keeping them viable. 

 

i fail to see why the burden is on us. there is, so far, a small minority of folks 1. complaining about micros and 2. WHO FAILED TO SEE THE REPROCUSSIONS OF ALL THE COMPLAINING ABOUT VIRTS. perhaps opening your mind and seeing the truth would set you free

 

The problem, as I see it, is that the purveyors of lame micros can hide ten stupid ones in less time and with less effort than you can hide one good one.

its interesting how your vision is limited by blinders. unfortunately, the same is true for normal sized caches, yet i dont see you beating your chest and crying endlessly over that issue. how come?

 

It is a shame that I should miss yours on account of the others but that is probably what is going to happen.

 

only if whiners like you dont find something else more constructive to do with your time.

Edited by dboggny
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As I sit here close-minded and wearing blinders, with my drawers in a knot, and worried about the statistics while crying into my kleenex and complaining about nothing because I have nothing better to do, I am reminded that these forums are a waste of time. I have nothing more to say on this subject.

 

Excuse me, I have to go stick a cache on a light post somewhere.

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As I sit here close-minded and wearing blinders, with my drawers in a knot, and worried about the statistics while crying into my kleenex and complaining about nothing because I have nothing better to do, I am reminded that these forums are a waste of time. I have nothing more to say on this subject.

 

Excuse me, I have to go stick a cache on a light post somewhere.

buy buy now, don't let the door hit ya in your butt :ph34r:

 

Keystone the only rights here are the rights given. I'm surprised constant whining about how geocaching works is a given right. But, not my site.

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As I sit here close-minded and wearing blinders, with my drawers in a knot, and worried about the statistics while crying into my kleenex and complaining about nothing because I have nothing better to do, I am reminded that these forums are a waste of time. I have nothing more to say on this subject.

 

Excuse me, I have to go stick a cache on a light post somewhere.

Questmaster, what do you want? You were already told a simple solution to your problem. PQ's and Watcher to filter out the micros. But you don't want to do that, becuase it would take a little of your time and effort, from what I have been able to grasp. Instead you want to complain about the existance of the micros. Plenty of people like them, why not just let it go?

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As I sit here close-minded and wearing blinders, with my drawers in a knot, and worried about the statistics while crying into my kleenex and complaining about nothing because I have nothing better to do, I am reminded that these forums are a waste of time. I have nothing more to say on this subject.

 

Excuse me, I have to go stick a cache on a light post somewhere.

Seriously dude....there's some kind of attachment issues here. Either let it go and leave, or let it go and stay.

 

Nobody needs to beat the dead horse into the ground, nature will do that job for you. Clearly your stand is against micros. Filter them out, don't seek them out and your problem is solved. Nobody is going to change the rules just to make one group happy over another, so don't waste the time trying. Plenty of people support micros, me being one of them.

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Nobody is going to change the rules just to make one group happy over another, so don't waste the time trying. Plenty of people support micros, me being one of them.

 

Really? Wasn't it the vocal minority in the forums that basically brought about the end (so far at least) of the locationless, and the severe crackdown on virtuals?

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Well, if you call the admins/gurus at Groundspeak a 'small' group of people, then perhaps I could be in the wrong. But I'm not getting into the debate over forum minorities and global caching again.

 

As far as the locationless issue, I'm glad that happened. I did a few locationless caches, and just didn't enjoy them, because there was no challenge in finding something that met the criteria of the ones I've done. To me, it wasn't Geocaching. Besides the fact that someone with any skill at Photoshop could mock up some locationless 'proof', and I doubt that anyone is going to take the time to verify the existence of the area in question after submission.

 

Virtuals are one of those 'meh' issues. There are some places that deserve to be a virtual, and may not be due to the rules. Am I going to stop caching in protest of this? Nah. There's tens of thousands of grandfathered virtuals and other traditional and micro caches still in existence for me to find. Will I become worm food before finding all the current caches in the world? Hardly. They have been cracked down on, not banned.

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I don't think there should be any rules on microcaches, or any cache for that matter. If you don't like it, tough. Someone took the time (maybe not as much time & effort as you would like) to create the cache, and there are many many many lame caches out there-- not just microcaches. Determining if a cache is lame depends on each person's opinion.

 

Its all about the hunt, not the cheezy cheap prizes found in a container either.

 

Some people just take a container, throw some cheap $.02 items in it, toss it in the bushes and post the coordinates. Personally, this isn't challenging enough for me and a waste of time, but for some people this is what they like. Think of the children-- maybe a child placed the cache or is the one hunting for it.

 

I do think there should be more options/criteria to describe each cache for online searching though...

 

BTW: my first & only placed-cache was a night microcache, and it was all about the hunt, which is why it was a micro. The final container was pretty slick and it tricked a lot of people even though we had the area clearly marked.

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I'll admit, I haven't followed this thread very closely since I responded to it early on. I have to wonder though, was it necessary that we start talking about this topic in terms of rules? I think we've managed to get by pretty well with the rules we've got so far and certainly don't think we need a "Lame Micro Rule." I would just like us to make sure we put some thought into what we're doing when we hide a cache.

 

In the incident I cited earlier, I wrote a cache hider and asked why an Altoids tin was used in a setting (deep in the woods) where a bigger container would have worked fine. The response I got was (quoting), "1) I've been doing this on a shoestring and haven't bought anything bigger, 2) I never know until I go out where I'm going to put something, and 3) I never thought about it!! I will reconsider this one and maybe replace it very nearby with something bigger."

 

I guess all I'm asking for is what this cacher recognized, she had simply never thought about it before.

 

If (as so many people have said) "it's all about the hunt" then that means that (conversely) "it's all about the hide." I love urban micros and I've even found some very exceptional rural micros (needle in a haystack type). However, the exceptional rural micros were ones that were carefully thought out and placed with the intent to drive the finder nuts.

 

Bret

Edited by CYBret
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Really? Wasn't it the vocal minority in the forums that basically brought about the end (so far at least) of the locationless, and the severe crackdown on virtuals?

 

Was it? I though it was people getting out of hand by trying to list rotting animal carcasses, sneakers in the woods, fence posts and flag poles as virtuals and I think the Yellow Jeep cache was the "icing on the cake" that soured TBTB on locationless caches.

 

One theme I see in this thread and many others is "If you don't like lame ______ (fill in micro, locationless, virtual) caches, just don't hunt for them". The trouble with this is that you often can't tell if the cache is a waste of your time until you get out there and look for it.

Edited by briansnat
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Really? Wasn't it the vocal minority in the forums that basically brought about the end (so far at least) of the locationless, and the severe crackdown on virtuals?

 

Was it? I though it was people getting out of hand by trying to list rotting animal carcasses, sneakers in the woods, fence posts and flag poles as virtuals and I think the Yellow Jeep cache was the "icing on the cake" that soured TBTB on locationless caches.

 

One theme I see in this thread and many others is "If you don't like lame ______ (fill in micro, locationless, virtual) caches, just don't hunt for them". The trouble with this is that you often can't tell if the cache is a waste of your time until you get out there and look for it.

Actually, I think it was a little bit of both. There were those who attempted to create some really bad virtuals, and there were those who questioned any virtual they thought was "uninteresting", resulting in a two pronged problem.

 

IF the same standards were applied to physical, traditional caches, MANY would be done away with.

 

Again, results may vary....lol.

 

:D:lol::ph34r:

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I think a lot of the problems could be alleviated if cache hiders were more informed about what they were doing. I'm certain many of them never spent much time in the forums. There is a lot of

"best practices" information in here about what / where / how to hide something which I'm sure not everyone has thought of before they became enthusiastic enough to place one; they just wanted to get a cache out there while they were psyched. I know I've put about two weeks of exploration and thought into my (soon to be) first cache, and that's been part of the fun for me - knowing others would enjoy the location and hunt; but I know I can benefit from feedback of those who will find it - maybe it will turn out to be too easy (Hope not!)

 

I'm wondering if the majority of folks who were frustrated by "lame" caches (be they virtual, micro, or traditional) took the time to express their thoughts (in a contsructive way!) to the cache owner. Maybe its just my optimism, but I would think most cache owners would appreciate it, and want their caches to be enjoyed. And if that didn't work, would the approvers have been helpful in resolving the issue? If I find a lame 1/1 cache I don't get too upset about it. If I find a 3/3 which is 10 feet off a trail in an unhidden shiny box, I'd be bummed and send a note to the owner. Same goes for a film cannister where an ammo box would do.

 

I realize "to each his own" is strongly applied to what sorts of caches tickle a fancy, but I'm curious... Has there been poor response from the cache owners, or just a lot of frustration without communication which built up to this lively thread?

 

<ducking>

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If a vocal minority held any sway with TPTB, they would have relaxed the restrictions on virts and locationless a long time ago. They have taken waaaay more grief over their tightening the of the rules on these caches then they would had they let things stay the way they were.

 

In fact, if the vocal minority had any power at all, we'd have a stats site, the ability to see who is watching your caches and the end of MOC's.

Edited by briansnat
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Mentioning in a constructive way that the micro you just found was lame might let peer pressure do what rules and regs can't. The micro in the woods is uncool, but if the majority says that they are fine, by positive log entries, then so be it. It would be more constructive for those that dislike a particular cache type to either avoid them, or suggest a better way to the owner.

 

Micros have their place. No rules should be added.

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"I am ready to make a buzillion bucks. I have developed a piece of software that not only filters out caches by container, but will let you know if you are going to enjoy the find. It also tells you which movies you will like and what kind of wine you will enjoy. "

 

Point 1) How the heck will I know if my cache is something you will enjoy finding? The two pack a day guy probably won't like a cache on top of a mountain. Maybe a cache is placed by a garbage choked pool to make you think.

 

"We got a bunch of stuff off the free table at a garage sale put it in a cardboard box wrapped in a garbage bag. Then we hid it under the only bush within 100 feet of the coordinates. What do you mean it's lame? "

 

Point 2) Lame is in the eye of the beholder, haven't I heard that before?

BTW I happen to think the crayon colored placemat is a fair trade for the golfball from a trade show, they both ment something to whoever put them into the cache.

 

"Guess I'll spend my lunch in my cubicle again, sure wish there was a cache I could do today. "

 

Point 3) There aren't many caches around here of any kind. I do 'em all. And I've pretty much cached out the area. I am now restricted to caching on weekends when there is time for a car ride out of town. I'd love a few micros I could do on my lunch hour or after work. Carefull what you wish for, micros could actualy be banned.

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Someone should start a site www.similartoGConlynolamemicros.com for those that dislike micros. While there at it, a www.cachingwithstatsandlimitlesslamevirts.com might be in order.

 

How about www.cachingsitethathasademocraticgovernmentandholdelectionsfor theadmin.com?

 

Sounds pretty silly, huh? :(:D:D:D

Edited by Bloencustoms
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Its all about the hunt, not the cheezy cheap prizes found in a container either.

 

 

I think that statement highlights why there’s such a disagreement. You see, for me and I’m sure many others, the hunt is of secondary importance. For me, what is of primary importance is the quality of the hike or learning of interesting locations. This could be the location of a little know historical artifact or simply a bike ride on a previously unknown trail. I can sum it up this way: I much prefer a four mile hike in some scenic woods culminated by a 15 minute search for the cache than spending an hour and a half searching for a micro in the parking lot of the trailhead.

 

That said, I can appreciate that micros have their place and I would not want to see them banned. A couple of my memorable hunts were micros. However, as I said before, when deciding to hide a micro, we should all take a few extra minutes to determine if the location is appropriate (many aren’t) and if the hide has a good purpose. The purpose could be a challenging hunt or a unique location or even for CITO reasons. However, scattering micros around to insure that every intersection in town has a cache is not a good purpose. I would hate to see this game implode under it’s own weight.

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