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TimSkells

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One Geocaching organization with sub-chapters answering to a main org. would be best. I think COG - http://www.cogeocaching.org would make the best central main site as it is setup real well to deal with such matters

 

Too many caching groups going in different directions can spoil the fun when it comes to contacting parks, etc. (i.e., OKIC - http://www.okic.org and CACHE - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/c_a_c_h_e). Go visit both forums and you will see what I mean <_<

Edited by triplebocker
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thats still just central ohio and 3 states im talking about just ohio

I am also talking about OHIO!

 

Ohio needs just one organization to be the "mouthpiece" for the whole State. The orgs. I mentioned are basically SW Ohio organizations ... of course there are others regional orgs. in the State besides those. I'm just trying to say that all of the existing Ohio geiocaching orgs. need to unite as one. Simple as that.

 

Maybe I'm not understanding your original posting?

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yes thats what i mean we need jsut one ohio one not all these, cincy area, neogeo, nwo, central ohio, columbus

 

I saw we get just an OHIO one.

Exactly ... now all you have to do is get all these organizations to get together (and get along with each other) to come up with a common approach for the good of all cachers (and parks) <_<!

 

Maybe some of the other org. members will "chime in" with their thoughts?

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I don't think it will work. The regional concerns are quite different. The other parts of the state have some great caches and some really nice people but I'm not real interested in local problems from the Cincy area. I'm sure they don't care much for issues in Cleveland. If people want to know more, they can subscribe to those groups.

 

There is a fair amount of cross-pollinization anyway. We've got NWO and COG people subscribed to the NEO group. But, it's just a few. I subscribe to the NWPA group because Ashtabula county pops up in their forums from time to time.

 

There would be a benefit for a statewide group but I doubt a statewide forum would work. The problem with a statewide group is that someone has to have the time and motivation to pull it off. It can be hard enough keeping a regional group organized. Heck, it took a small miracle to design and get group aceptance on a logo for the NeoGeocachers. I could just imagine the headaches with creating a statewide organization.

 

Remember, a slick website doesn't make a smoothly functioning group.

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I agree with you, Runaround. Over at the COG site, we admins have been discussing the idea of an all Ohio site, because it's been brought up a few times here, and on a few of the "regional ohio" sites. My opinion on it is that it's really not necessary right now. Like you said, there is a lot of cross posting. I'm a member at every one of the Ohio sites. I don't really post much on the others because a lot of the issues really don't concern me, and I don't really have a right to post opinions about parks and stuff that I don't deal with on a regular basis.

 

Plus, if we did have an all Ohio site, we would still have a need for regional forums for events too. I mean I don't see someone from Cleveland, for example, having much interest in a small get together at a coffee house in Cincinnati. So for that person from Cleveland, the Cincinnati post would be pointless to them. Then, if you have an all Ohio site, with regional forums, then you more or less are back to where we are now with all of the regional sites. If I want to go to Toledo for an event, then I can easily just jump on over to the NWO site and see what's hoppin'.

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Mainly because there is no pressing statewide issue. In the neighboring states, a large percentage of the public land is under state control. The various DNR's control the parks, hunting areas, wildlife refuges, and forests. In Ohio, most of the public land is controlled at the county or city level, thus a regional issue.

 

Ohio has already determined policies for state parks and state-owned wildlife refuges. You can put a cache in a state park with the permission of the park manager. You cannot place a cache in a state-owned wildlife refuge.

 

Let's use Cuyahoga county as an example. With the exception of Edgewater park, a portion of the Mentor Marsh, and the CVNRA, all the land is controlled by the Cleveland Metroparks or the various cities. In Lorain County, the LCMP's and cities control everything except for Findley State Park and the Findley Wildlife Refuge. It doesn't make sense for someone from Columbus to discuss geocaching policy with the CMP or LCMP's. That's better left to someone from Westlake or Avon Lake.

 

If there was a sudden need for all of the Ohio groups to band together to solve some problem, I don't think it would be a issue. I also think COG would be the best group to do this. As Trippy1976 once said, just drop the C. Any statewide issue would be generated from Columbus and the folks that live in that area would be in the best position to negotiate with TPTB.

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but what if the forums had reginal things for everyone then a big main one to?

That's sort of what I was touching on in my post. That would be possible, but that's pretty much what we have now, with the exception of the single main site. Like Runaround said, right now there is no statewide issue, since the only statewide parks organization (ODNR) has already established rules regarding Geocaching.

 

I'm not sure how to word this question without sounding mean, so I want to let you know upfront, that's not my intent, I'm really just curious, and the internet is a poor medium to convey intentions. Anyhow, what exactly do you think an all Ohio site would accomplish?

 

Finally a slight thread hijack, here are the ODNR rules as stated in a letter. Just wanted to get 'em back up here since I know there are a lot of new folks out there after the holidays. I'll probably bump the original thread as well.

 

Geo-Caching Tips for ODNR Properties

 

If you are considering establishing a cahce on prpoerty owned or managed by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, (State Parks, State Forests, State Nature Preserves, State Wildlife Areas) please adhere to the following guidelines to avoid legal complications and/or prosecution:

 

1. ALWAYS consult the locak facility manager for permission BEFORE establishing a cache. Many are eager to help determine safe, scenic, and fun locations.

 

2. Traditional caches are NOT permitted on State Nature Preserves or Wildlife Areas - virtual caches only. Illegally placed caches will be removed.

 

3. If you do not know how to contact a local facility manager, please contact the following staff:

 

State Parks - Phil Hoffman - (614) 265-6561

State Forests - Don Karas - (614) 265-6694

State Nature Preserves - Don Demmy (614) 265-6453

State Wildlife Areas - Jennifer Windus - (614) 265-6330

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Mainly because there is no pressing statewide issue.  ...

OK, fair enough and you've definately got a point there.

 

I do see a problem when there is more than one organization in an area of the State "butting-heads" with each other, though. That's where they need to work together prior to meeting with the local county & city parks to discuss geocaching policies and not individually. Pretty soon these parks will just get fed up with the inconsistencies and bickering between clubs that do not see "eye-to-eye" and are not willing to discuss issues amongst themselves B)

 

Not sure whether my thoughts count since I'm just a newbie. I guess I'm sort of a by-stander looking-in trying to assess things before I get too serious about Geocaching :D I am willing to listen, though :unsure:

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I do see a problem when there is more than one organization in an area of the State "butting-heads" with each other, though.  That's where they need to work together prior to meeting with the local county & city parks to discuss geocaching policies and not individually.  Pretty soon these parks will just get fed up with the inconsistencies and bickering between clubs that do not see "eye-to-eye" and are not willing to discuss issues amongst themselves :unsure:

The current system works since there is no overlap in the clubs. If we had two competing groups in Northeast Ohio, that would be a problem. As it is, there is the NEOGeocachers with 160+ member accounts and Cleveland Geocachers with 5 or less. The local park management folks know the NEOGeocachers and know how to get in contact with us. I don't see an issue with headbutting anywhere. The biggest problem we have is getting some of the parks groups to call us back. Lake County and Summit County have banned geocaching and won't even discuss it.

 

The rest of the state is essentially conflict free with the possible exception of Cincy. I think OKIC and another group might overlap. To be honest I'm not familiar with the situation down there.

 

The folks at COG have done a great job with the state. If you want to get anywhere with the state you need to meet with them on their turf. That means Columbus, not Cleveland. I don't feel any special urge to get on I-71 to fight with the folks in the statehouse. Besides, there's no need. If I'm going to Columbus, I'd rather go geocaching.

 

There's nothing stopping anyone from creating a statewide group other than the necessary motivation, time, patience, energy, and enthusiasm. It takes a lot of energy to create a group and I'm not sure it would be successful when the geocachers in the state don't see a need. Someone could easily put together a flashy website with a forum but that doesn't mean the group has any organization or leadership.

 

If we had groups with conflicting territories and policies, it would be a different situation.

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I think this topic is done and proven. lol

I think you're right. However I personally am not totally closed to the idea. I know it probably seems that way, but I guess I just wanted to clarify. I can't speak for anyone but myself when I say this, but I think that an All Ohio group will happen one day, but I don't think it's something we're ready for in the near future. Kinda like Xenophon10k said in another thread, there really isn't an issue right now that requires something like this. On the other hand, as Trippy said in that same thread, having a state wide group has really helped bring Geocachers together in MI. So it's not all about parks and whatnot. It would be nice to have something going BEFORE there becomes an issue with a group such as the ODNR also.

 

I guess what I'm looking at is, with the COG, we've only really been around since Feb '03. Most of that time it was just an informal group anyhow, more of a name than anything. We then got a Yahoo user group that was started by WVAbackpacker, and finally Bjorn74 was kind enough to do all the work, and start the forums we have now. So we are still in our infancy and just starting to get organized. I think that things are going very smoothly now, however it would be nice to get past some of the growing pains that are sure to come before we have to suddenly deal with those issues on a statewide level.

 

I also wanted to let you know that I haven't been out to get you or anything, as it may seem like that, since I have been responding negatively to all of your posts about a state wide group. I also see you've been catching some flak around the forums here lately. That's not what I was trying to do, I just have a different opinion than you do, and wanted to state it. So please don't think that I'm only here to jump down your throat. That's not at all what I'm intending to do. :huh:

 

Finally, ALgeocacher, and anyone else for that matter, I just wanted to invite ya on over to the COG forums, if you're interested. Right now we do have folks from around the state there all participating in the discussion. So we're not going to turn you away just because you don't happen to live in or around Columbus. http://www.cogeocaching.org

Edited by Mr. 0
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the main benefit I would see would be getting better notification to the other area groups about the events going on in other regions.

 

We've had up to 100 people show up at some NEOGeo/CMP events, and there are plans for some other state-wide-type events and we would like to get the different groups together at these events.

 

But, since so many of us 'regulars' are cross-membered to all the regional groups, it's mainly a matter of getting the word out on the other regional forums about these big events.

 

NEOGeo is holding its 2004 planning meeting tomorrow, so hopefully we'll have a good idea what big events we will be doing this year, and will disseminate that information to the other near-by groups.

 

And even if you did have the state-wide group, I don't know if you'd reach as many people as if you got it out to all the regional groups...

 

Plus, it would mean one more group to follow; and I'm already on NEOGeocachers, NWOGeocachers, NWPAGeocachers, COGeocaching, TRIGO (Pittsburgh). Probably need to join one of the Cinti groups sometime, but the information is there, and hopefully we cross-membered regulars can work harder to get that info to all the groups... ;)

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If you want to feel like part of a bigger group in Ohio, you probably should sign up for our site. Even though we've still got fewer than 50 registered users, we have close to 35 posts and about 5 new topics each day. We have occassional messgaes from around the state and as far away as Oz (Australia, to those unaware). Some boards can't handle too much activity, but ours can handle it. People are nice and anything that seems mean is usually an inside joke (especially when the people are Brothers-in-Law) and gets cleared up quickly.

 

Any questions, just ask...

 

The Man Behind the Curtain at COGeocaching.org

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Just keep in mind that working with parks and affecting policy is not the ONLY benefit of a larger organization.

 

Larger events with larger attendance mean more fun for everyone. It's just easier to get to know each other. Easier to share ideas and news. Easier to work together and share the results than have 4 different groups trying to complete very similar projects.

 

I'm obviously biased, but it's worked great here and I still firmly believe it would benefit our neighbors to the south.

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Just keep in mind that working with parks and affecting policy is not the ONLY benefit of a larger organization.

 

Larger events with larger attendance mean more fun for everyone.  It's just easier to get to know each other.  Easier to share ideas and news.  Easier to work together and share the results than have 4 different groups trying to complete very similar projects.

 

I'm obviously biased, but it's worked great here and I still firmly believe it would benefit our neighbors to the south.

 

Trippy,

I agree with you about that. I mean I think that we could benefit from a statewide organization. However I don't think we're ready to make that step yet. Like I've said before some of us from the COG have talked about it, and we see it as something to think about for a little bit down the road. Right now we're still working hard to get Central Ohio more involved. For example the last CITO we did, there were 3 of us there. There are a lot of folks out there, but we just can't get them to be concerned or involved locally. In my opinion it'll be easier to get folks, especially newer folks involved, if we can get them involved locally first. That way they can get to know other cachers from the immediate area, and not be overwhelmed trying to jump into all of the varying issues, events, discussion, etc from all over the state. Then maybe next year or something, we can begin a transition into a state wide group.

 

On top of that, I think that we would actually need to do a little planning first. I think it would be a little foolish just jumping into this head long before testing the waters. I mean this is something that has really just come up, to my knowledge, with in the last couple of months. I think that we would want to get all of the groups together and discuss it at length before just going off and deciding to create a state wide group. So even if we were ready to start a state wide organization, it would be a little while working out the details.

 

Keep in mind, this is just my opinion and it really doesn't mean anything anyhow. ;)

Edited by Mr. 0
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yeah, as the year goes on, and we get more cross-attendance from group to group, we can chat with each other and figure out what form, if any, a statewide organization would need to have...

 

until then, the COG forums are probably the best place to go to deal with "Ohio" as an entity, because there are NWO people there, OKIC people, and myself and others from NEOGeo, and the COG faithful

 

So, it'll be a building process, but what we have in place right now will cover a lot...

 

so, let's give the local groups room to do what they are doing quite well, and things will grow from there...

 

if you want to join another group to say you are a member of The Ohio group, fine, but all the real work is being done by the local groups at the local level.

 

Cache well, and see you around the bend.

 

And personally, I still think Michigan would benefit is there was more regionalization instead of state-wide... If I go to Ann Arbor to go geocaching (as I did in 2002), would a group that is as active in Detroit as in Sault Ste Marie help me as much as a southern tier (Huron River Valley) group? I was fortunate in that i quickly was directed to Ann Arbor's ubercacher, but the thing I think MiGO lackes(or lacked when I was last fairly active with it), was regionalization... which the Ohio and PA models are covering well...

 

Glad it works (or you think it works) for Michigan, but that's no guarantee the same model will work (or is even good) for Ohio or Pennsylvania

 

But I think we're doing a good job, and we'll keep working at it...

Edited by SherwoodForest
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COG is Central Ohio, yes, but mostly only in name. If you went over there, and signed up you'd see there is discussion about everything. I'm not sure if you've been there, but if you haven't signed up, you can only see about 1/3 of the forums/topics there. We have several very active members from Cincy, Toledoish, Cleveland, Akron, Dayton....everywhere in Ohio, really.

 

See the COG is "Central Ohio Geocachers", that's our group. However the forums we use/host don't deal only with Central Ohio.

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COG is Central Ohio, yes, but mostly only in name. If you went over there, and signed up you'd see there is discussion about everything. I'm not sure if you've been there, but if you haven't signed up, you can only see about 1/3 of the forums/topics there. We have several very active members from Cincy, Toledoish, Cleveland, Akron, Dayton....everywhere in Ohio, really.

 

See the COG is "Central Ohio Geocachers", that's our group. However the forums we use/host don't deal only with Central Ohio.

eek kinda deceiving

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Well, yes and no. I mean the COG runs the forums, but a bunch of folks from all over Ohio signed up. Since we tend to get way off topic on about everything, there was no reason to try to restrict it to just Central Ohio.

 

If you're talking about how there is more there once you sign up...that was just to stop people from coming on and posting stuff as "guest". We saw that it could potentially lead to problems. If someone wanted to spam the board or something.

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Well, yes and no. I mean the COG runs the forums, but a bunch of folks from all over Ohio signed up. Since we tend to get way off topic on about everything, there was no reason to try to restrict it to just Central Ohio.

 

If you're talking about how there is more there once you sign up...that was just to stop people from coming on and posting stuff as "guest". We saw that it could potentially lead to problems. If someone wanted to spam the board or something.

What I really ment was the name central ohio but really for all of ohio

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Ohio isn't a huge state, most of the cross-posters have cached in central Ohio anyway, and thus would be a COG, even if they live 2 hours outside of greater Columbus.

 

The current organization of Ohio's groups and org's works alright, all save the issues here in Cincy (which is more of a clash of goals and ideas than territory).

 

I've stated in this same thread on the COG forums, that if each group published noticeable links to the other groups then we would reach the same outcome as having one main site. Almost a web-ring.

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I'll probably post seperately later, but for those with the stamina to stay with this topic, Deputy Dog informed me that we should expect him to join us at out January 25th get together and he is encouraging many Land Managers to join us then and next Wednesday. These are COG events only because they're in Columbus, but if you've got questions, consider making our 2004 Kickoff a priority event.

 

Come on into our forums for more details and a bit of other stuff.

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Well, yes and no.  I mean the COG runs the forums, but a bunch of folks from all over Ohio signed up.  Since we tend to get way off topic on about everything, there was no reason to try to restrict it to just Central Ohio.

 

If you're talking about how there is more there once you sign up...that was just to stop people from coming on and posting stuff as "guest".  We saw that it could potentially lead to problems.  If someone wanted to spam the board or something.

What I really ment was the name central ohio but really for all of ohio

Gotcha. Like I said, the forums are hosted by the COG, but lots o' people post there. We moderators don't tend to moderate anything w/in reason, so there are events, cache discussion, and all sorts of talk about stuff from all over the state.

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Almost a web-ring.

Or is that almost a Web-ling?

 

A state-wide organization would benefit all of us by pooling our efforts to work with state parks, etc. Also, anyone not living in an area that currently has an active club. Ohio is small enough that some state-wide events could be planned, possibly some sort of competition between clubs.

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