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Removing Missing Tb's From Cache Page


funhunters

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I have tried to find an answer to my question but I just can't seem to find it out there. I am the owner of a TB hotel that has two bugs listed that really aren't there any longer. I visited the cache and saw that one was logged as taken but a non-geocacher and the second but is not mentioned anywhere. I emailed both of the TB's owners and got no response. Is there a way that an owner of a cache can take the bugs of the list so that people will not go looking for them? I have searched the TB's pages for a way to take them off but don't find anything. I did just leave a note on the TB's pages to say that it was MIA as of now. Thanks!

Funhunters

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If you posted a note does that mean that you have the travel bug number? If so I think you could grab them and put them into one of the various TB graveyards that exist. If not I don't think there is anything you can do except keep trying to contact the owners and trying to get them to remove the bugs. Good Luck :unsure:

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You could try contacting the last couple bug finders and if you’re lucky they might still have the number.

 

Personally, I would try to get the numbers now, but I probably wouldn’t take any actions for at least another month or two. Some people don’t take action as fast as we might like them to, whether it be the bug finder or the bug owner. I’ve sent emails to cachers that have taken months before I got a response. Sometimes that’s just the way it is.

 

Like I said, it is just my opinion, but I wouldn’t be considering giving up hope or taking action for at least three months total.

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Unfortunately I never had the TB's numbers. It has been a month now since I first contacted the owners. Oh well, guess all I can do is wait to see if the owners will remove them...guess I am justing being picky about my cache page being accurate. :unsure: I have been to many caches that said there was a TB but there was not. I guess we all just get use to that. Thanks for the input!

Funhunters

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I've seen this as a geocaching.com feature request SO many times...

 

Hey Groundspeak!

Any chance that cache owners may be able to boot a bug to an "unknown location" anytime soonish?

 

ALSO: would the database - as currently designed - allow for the eventual addition of a feature where geocachers themselves can "vote the bug off the island". I mean some sort of feature where x number of cachers (say 3 or 5) can click a "(name) bug is not here" alert button or something, then the bug goes to "unknown location" status? Or is the database design so that this sort of feature just cannot be added without a whole lotta re-configuration?

 

(X number of cachers would be needed instead of just one to keep the "boot this bug" feature from being abused.)

 

My bet is that Groundspeak is having too much trouble taking care of the server load before being able to add stuff like this... but it IS a thought. ;)

Edited by Sparrowhawk
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I was looking for this question/answer in this forum.....

 

I am busy tonight marking caches near where I will be vacationing in July, and got all excited to see a TB in one of the caches near my coord search. Knowing that this is a pretty remote area, I thought there might be a good chance to find this TB and move him along. When I open the cache page I see note after note saying that the TB is no longer in the cache.

 

I'd like to see this feature too so that caches can be as accurate as possible.

 

P.S.

 

Would it be good form to e-mail the TB owner and ask him to grab the bug and move it to a graveyard ? - just a thought.

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I have two bugs that have vanished! I don't know what to do about them. Any help?

If it is like the above problem, contact the cache owner. The paper log may have info that is not on the website.

It a cacher took it, and it is in limbo, contact the cacher in possession.

 

After that hope for the best; expect the worse :)

 

Good luck with them...

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Hey Groundspeak!

Any chance that cache owners may be able to boot a bug to an "unknown location" anytime soonish?

 

ALSO: would the database - as currently designed - allow for the eventual addition of a feature where geocachers themselves can "vote the bug off the island". I mean some sort of feature where x number of cachers (say 3 or 5) can click a "(name) bug is not here" alert button or something, then the bug goes to "unknown location" status? Or is the database design so that this sort of feature just cannot be added without a whole lotta re-configuration?

 

(X number of cachers would be needed instead of just one to keep the "boot this bug" feature from being abused.)

I think you've hit the nail on the head. Those are great ways to help us owners who don't like inaccuracies on our listings. I have four bugs that need to be 'voted out' of my cache...

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Marking a bug missing (moving it to "unknown location") removes it from any caches and it can be retreived in the future if it shows up again. Moving a bug to a TB graveyard cache has been deprecated because it adds (many) miles to the bug's travels.

Edited by brad.32
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There's already an 'area' for lost and deceased travel bugs. I recently came across it after a TB I'd picked up 'came back from the dead' !

 

Have a look at Travel Bug Graveyard

 

Remember to leave some flowers . . :rolleyes:

The cache owner cannot do this without the TB number. Also, I have seen people log bugs out of the logbook but not online. They then won't reply to messages. Plus, like brad.32 said, that logs a bunch of miles... I think Sparrowhawk's suggestions for voting out or a cache owner being able to mark as missing would be perfect.

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I have two bugs that have vanished! I don't know what to do about them. Any help?

You can also mark them as 'missing'. I prefer this method. Moving the bug to a graveyard will screw up the mileage if the TB ever starts circulating again.

 

Out of 5 or 6 bugs I have out there, 2 have vanished. After repeated emails to the cachers who had them and NO responses, I marked them as 'missing'. They may be gone forever but if they ever make it back out into the world, at least their mileage won't be screwed up! :rolleyes:

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Thank you!!! It works!! My only further suggestion would be to have a 'write note' link come up automatically so that the cache owner can easily post an explanation. I went ahead and clicked 'found it? log it' then 'write note' to explain why it's status changed.

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I have tried to find an answer to my question but I just can't seem to find it out there. I am the owner of a TB hotel that has two bugs listed that really aren't there any longer. I visited the cache and saw that one was logged as taken but a non-geocacher and the second but is not mentioned anywhere. I emailed both of the TB's owners and got no response. Is there a way that an owner of a cache can take the bugs of the list so that people will not go looking for them? I have searched the TB's pages for a way to take them off but don't find anything. I did just leave a note on the TB's pages to say that it was MIA as of now. Thanks!

Funhunters

 

As a relative newbie I think the site could do with something to make it clear how to explicitly pick up a TB. I went looking for 3 of them in Devon only finding one (another cacher beat me to the other two) and it was only by chance that I found the formal method of telling the site I'd taken the bug.

 

Perhaps when logging the cache find the option to select which TB (if any) you took from a list would help, just as you have a list to show which TB you left behind.

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Perhaps when logging the cache find the option to select which TB (if any) you took from a list would help, just as you have a list to show which TB you left behind.

 

tisri,

 

I really like your suggestion of having a "retrieve TBs" pulldown on the cache "log your visit" page if one is logging a visit to a cache which contained one or more TBs. This would be a good way to introduce the TB logs to novice cachers, a reminder for experienced cachers, and a nice convenience for everybody. There would need to be a prompt for entering the ID tag number, but there should be some way to provide a box for that as well.

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I received a log email today because someone wrote a note for one of my bugs saying it was in a muggled cache so the bug is missing as well. I see the bug is in "unknown location" so the cache owner must have marked the bug missing.

 

I thought the new feature was a ... last resort ... in cases where the bug owner is unresponsive. The bug was "only" placed in the cache a month ago, so the thing that bugs me is that this FYI email/note was the first I've heard of that bug's changed status.

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I have a TB that was removed from a cache (noted in cache log), but there was no TB log. This was only 2 weeks ago. An email to the relatively new geocacher explaining how to log a TB hasn't worked yet.

 

As a TB owner, how long should you "leave a TB in a cache" when you know the TB has left the cache but has not been properly logged out?

 

As a cache owner, same question?

 

What is a reasonable time to wait before declaring a TB as officially missing?

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I have a TB that was removed from a cache (noted in cache log), but there was no TB log. This was only 2 weeks ago. An email to the relatively new geocacher explaining how to log a TB hasn't worked yet.

 

As a TB owner, how long should you "leave a TB in a cache" when you know the TB has left the cache but has not been properly logged out?

 

As a cache owner, same question?

 

What is a reasonable time to wait before declaring a TB as officially missing?

Good question! The same thing has happened to me. I, too, I e-mailed the taker and got no response. :(

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Unfortunately I never had the TB's numbers. It has been a month now since I first contacted the owners. Oh well, guess all I can do is wait to see if the owners will remove them...guess I am just being picky about my cache page being accurate. ;) I have been to many caches that said there was a TB but there was not. I guess we all just get use to that. Thanks for the input!

Funhunters

I am just being picky about my cache page being accurate.    :D  I have been to many caches that said there was a TB but there was not.

I know what you are talking about there is a cache in my neighborhood that claims to have had a TB in it since May 4, 2003 but it was removed 2 days later and never heard from again. :D But what can you do but remember that that TB icon does not always mean a physical TB at the cahce.

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As a cache owner I have the ability to remove a TB from my page, though I don't know exactlty how it's done. I'm going to post a note on the gc.com forum asking for instructions on how to do that. There's a few caches around here that have TB's listed that I know for a fact the TB's are gone ;)

 

Zack

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