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"official" Geocaching Site?


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I considered posting this in the gc.com website forum but believe it belongs here, as it has nothing to do with the functionality of the site.

 

The title of the home page for geocaching.com is "Geocaching - The Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Site." Says who? I don't know of any association or government agency that even has the authority to designate any one site as the "official" geocaching site, so it appears that TPTB have taken it upon themselves to make that designation.

 

This is certainly the most popular caching site, but it's not the only one. Promoting it as the "official" online home of the the game is misleading and just plain false.

 

I suggest that they remove that designation from the title of the home page and anywhere else it appears.

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Geocaching is a phrase that was invented by Groundspeak. While anyone can go hide a box in the woods and start a website to promote it, they cant call it geocaching. Just like I cant go start a software company and call it Microsoft.

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Geocaching is a phrase that was invented by Groundspeak.

 

Not true.

 

In any event, he legally registered the name, and has the right to use it in any way he sees fit.

 

I don't believe that's true either, which is why Navicache can use the term.

Edited by briansnat
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I considered posting this in the gc.com website forum but believe it belongs here, as it has nothing to do with the functionality of the site.

 

The title of the home page for geocaching.com is "Geocaching - The Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Site." Says who? I don't know of any association or government agency that even has the authority to designate any one site as the "official" geocaching site, so it appears that TPTB have taken it upon themselves to make that designation.

 

This is certainly the most popular caching site, but it's not the only one. Promoting it as the "official" online home of the the game is misleading and just plain false.

 

I suggest that they remove that designation from the title of the home page and anywhere else it appears.

Why does it bother you?

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...and the pot is stirred.

 

Hey... let's start a campaign to force the Ringling Brothers to stop calling their business the Greatest Show on Earth!

 

Just because you have issues with it doesn't mean Groundspeak doesn't have the right to make that declaration. As a point of fact, you can have several sites make that same declaration.

 

Does it make it right? Who cares?

 

I'm here not because they are the "Official" site... I'm here because they list the most and since then, because I made many friends here.

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[snip]... I suggest that they remove that designation from the title of the home page and anywhere else it appears. [/snip]

And I am sure that Jeremy et al could offer some suggestions on certain things that they would like to see you do too. :lol: That said, what does it matter. GC.om/Groundspeak certainly has the lion's share of the 'caching public as members, so it seems like a not unreasonable claim. Besides, without an overall governing authority, who's to say that they aren't the official site? :D

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I suggest that they remove that designation from the title of the home page and anywhere else it appears.

I strongly disagree.

 

And if they did remove that statement I suspect one of the other sites would immediately grab it and plaster it all over their pages.

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I considered posting this in the gc.com website forum but believe it belongs here, as it has nothing to do with the functionality of the site.

 

The title of the home page for geocaching.com is "Geocaching - The Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Site." Says who? I don't know of any association or government agency that even has the authority to designate any one site as the "official" geocaching site, so it appears that TPTB have taken it upon themselves to make that designation.

 

This is certainly the most popular caching site, but it's not the only one. Promoting it as the "official" online home of the the game is misleading and just plain false.

 

I suggest that they remove that designation from the title of the home page and anywhere else it appears.

I could not disagree more. :D

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Thing 1: "Hey, Thing 2, I think I smell a troll!"

 

Thing 2: "Nah, you just need to light a match...and lighten up on the frijoles"

 

Thing 1: "I'm not kiddin man. There is some serious troll stench in the air."

 

Thing 2: "You're just paranoid because someone made an inflammatory statement and then vanished from the thread....umm, hmm, ok, *fans the air*. Someone hurry up and hang up one of those Christmas tree thingies!" :D

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I'm the official nosepicker of my own nose. I haven't heard, seen, nor had any offers to pick my nose. I haven't registered this title, but take my word for it I AM.

 

I don't have a problem with it GC.COM calling themselves the offical "Geocaching Site". If you do have a beef, kindly point me in the right direction to where I can find the offical site. As far as most people are concerned, it is THE official site.

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Thing 1:  "Hey, Thing 2, I think I smell a troll!" 

 

Thing 2:  "Nah, you just need to light a match...and lighten up on the frijoles"

 

Thing 1:  "I'm not kiddin man.  There is some serious troll stench in the air."

 

Thing 2:  "You're just paranoid because someone made an inflammatory statement and then vanished from the thread....umm, hmm, ok, *fans the air*.  Someone hurry up and hang up one of those Christmas tree thingies!"  :D

I'm not trolling. I posted the original message while drinking my morning coffee, then got ready for work and drove there (here).

 

Here's most of a response to an e-mail I received from another cacher. It pretty much covers what I didn't mention when I was still half asleep:

 

> Were you kidding?  Trolling? Or dead seriouse?

 

I'm totally serious.

 

My bank offers a Visa card, but they don't claim that their website is the official Visa website. KFC doesn't promote themselves as the official chicken restaraunt. Ebay isn't the official auction site of the Internet. You can see what I'm getting at...

 

Jeremy's hubris bothers me trememdously when it bleeds over into the the presentation of his website. By using that one little word, he's making it appear to land managers, newbies and others that his implementation of the geocaching concept is the only "sanctioned" one. Sanctioned by whom? Who knows, but most people aren't going to question it. ("Of course it's true - I read it online!")

 

I doubt he's breaking any laws, but an "official" designation is usually given out by an entity with some type of authority over such things, and there is currently no such authority for geocaching.

 

With that said, let me give you a scenario where their self-designation could actually hurt them.

 

Let's say that someone from RenegadeCaching.com buries a cache in a national park. Joe Ranger catches someone digging it up and shoos them away. Afterwards, he sees the cache, opens it and reads a note inside saying that the box of knives and firecrackers is a geocache. He googles the term and finds the "official" geocaching website. Since it's the "official" site, the people running it must be responsible for the box he found, right?

 

It'd be easier for TPTB to disassociate themselves from these types of caches if they weren't the "official" geocaching site. Are problems like this scenario likely to be a big issue? Probably not. But as time goes on, gc.com restrictions tighten, other sites (including renegade sites) pop up, GPSrs become less expensive and more people (including undesirables) get on the bandwagon, the potential increases.

 

If they want to be the "official" caching site, they should help with the formation of an international geocaching association and submit their site as a candidate for the designated listing site. They'd probably get it. Of course, if they were to do that, they'd have to play by someone else's rules and I don't think they'd be willing to do that.

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[snip] I'm not trolling. I posted the original message ...[/snip]

 

[snip] see what I'm getting at... [/snip]

 

Jeremy's hubris bothers me trememdously when it bleeds over into the the presentation of his website. By using that one little word, he's making it appear to land managers, newbies and others that his implementation of the geocaching concept is the only "sanctioned" one. Sanctioned by whom? Who knows, but most people aren't going to question it. ("Of course it's true - I read it online!")

 

I doubt he's breaking any laws, but an "official" designation is usually given out by an entity with some type of authority over such things, and there is currently no such authority for geocaching.

 

With that said, let me give you a scenario where their self-designation could actually hurt them.

 

Let's say that someone from RenegadeCaching.com buries a cache in a national park. Joe Ranger catches someone digging it up and shoos them away. Afterwards, he sees the cache, opens it and reads a note inside saying that the box of knives and firecrackers is a geocache. He googles the term and finds the "official" geocaching website. Since it's the "official" site, the people running it must be responsible for the box he found, right?

 

It'd be easier for TPTB to disassociate themselves from these types of caches if they weren't the "official" geocaching site. Are problems like this scenario likely to be a big issue? Probably not. But as time goes on, gc.com restrictions tighten, other sites (including renegade sites) pop up, GPSrs become less expensive and more people (including undesirables) get on the bandwagon, the potential increases.

 

If they want to be the "official" caching site, they should help with the formation of an international geocaching association and submit their site as a candidate for the designated listing site. They'd probably get it. Of course, if they were to do that, they'd have to play by someone else's rules and I don't think they'd be willing to do that.

Darn and just when I was going to post that Safeway flyer with the special on Troll-chow in it... :lol:

 

Okay seriously... I see you're point and to some degree it has validity, but I think that you are taking it to an unlikely exterme. IMHO, this is much like a certain auto-manufacturer's recent commerical (I forget which one) who bills a particular model of car as "The offical car of .... broken curfews/frosh week/ et cetera.

 

Given that Geocaching is not something offically sanctioned by a recognized body (ie a Government) it is difficult for it to have anything "official" in the accepted sense of the word. I don't think that any court in the world (Jump in here any time Carleenp :D ) would find Jeremy and Groundspeak et al culpable for the actions of RenegadeCaching.com.

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:D I live in Reno Nevada, "the biggest little city in the world". Now he has me wondering. Is Reno the biggest little city, or just a small big city? At any rate, its time I started a campaign to have the city remove that title.

While I am at it, I will ask that Gilroy California, "the garlic captial of the world" do the same until it is actually designated by some entity that it is.

Why is Pennsylvania the keystone state? They just made my list.

British Columbia, Canada has "Beautiful British Columbia" on their license plates. Who said it was beautiful? They now just made the list.

Sears is "Americas number one tool store". Who said. Man that bugs me. I think they should take that title off everything they print. If not I will call them as well.

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:D I live in Reno Nevada, "the biggest little city in the world". Now he has me wondering. Is Reno the biggest little city, or just a small big city? At any rate, its time I started a campaign to have the city remove that title.

While I am at it, I will ask that Gilroy California, "the garlic captial of the world" do the same until it is actually designated by some entity that it is.

Why is Pennsylvania the keystone state? They just made my list.

British Columbia, Canada has "Beautiful British Columbia" on their license plates. Who said it was beautiful? They now just made the list.

Sears is "Americas number one tool store". Who said. Man that bugs me. I think they should take that title off everything they print. If not I will call them as well.

Great idea!

 

I’ll join you as soon as I’m done with the “New AND Improved” protest.

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:D I live in Reno Nevada, "the biggest little city in the world".  Now he has me wondering.  Is Reno the biggest little city, or just a small big city?  At any rate, its time I started a campaign to have the city remove that title.

  While I am at it, I will ask that Gilroy California, "the garlic captial of the world" do the same until it is actually designated by some entity that it is.

  Why is Pennsylvania the keystone state?  They just made my list.

  British Columbia, Canada has  "Beautiful British Columbia" on their license plates.  Who said it was beautiful?  They now just made the list.

  Sears is "Americas number one tool store".  Who said.  Man that bugs me.  I think they should take that title off everything they print.  If not I will call them as well.

Great idea!

 

I’ll join you as soon as I’m done with the “New AND Improved” protest.

Who's taking care of "Worlds Greatest!"??

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I suggest that they remove that designation from the title of the home page and anywhere else it appears.

I strongly disagree.

 

And if they did remove that statement I suspect one of the other sites would immediately grab it and plaster it all over their pages.

I don't understand that. If one site can call itself offical, why would this prevent others from doing the same? :D

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I don't understand that. If one site can call itself offical, why would this prevent others from doing the same? 

 

Because then no one would really know which one was the official, official one. :lol:

Does any body really know what time it is? :huh:

Does anybody really care? :D:D

Edited by sept1c_tank
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I don't understand that. If one site can call itself offical, why would this prevent others from doing the same? 

 

Because then no one would really know which one was the official, official one. :D

Oh yes, wouldn't want to be confused by all the unoffical offical ones :lol:

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The original post is a rathole. You don't need governing bodies or associations of any sort to say "Aye, we voted and the majority says you can be considered the "official anything."" That's akin to saying "The Official Fan Club of (pick your star)" is sanctioned by any association or governing body when by and large they aren't.

 

By defacto, it can be considered the "official site" by several points:

1. It is usually the first location most people are referred to or go to on their own for information regarding this sport. More web sites point here and the media continuously mentions it as part of their side reports when they do stories on this sport.

2. It lists the most caches of all other sites. Arguments about not allowing this or that type of cache merely ratholes this point.

3. It has the largest membership - paid and non-paid of any other site in the sport.

4. All other sites with exception of one or two spun off from this site due to differences in policy.

5. I'll wager the same self-policing policies they use derived from this site.

6. We already have a loosely defined international association through these forums where everybody has an opportunity to air their differences, their opinions, their gripes, and their kudos for job well done. It may not be at the level you would like to see it at, but it is grass roots and that's the best kind there is.

 

I can go on but you get the general idea. You don't need an association to agree or sanction you to be an official anything. You only need them to agree that they consider YOUR site as official for THEIR organization. It's a paper title when this is done and nothing more.

 

The real problem is to have the association officially recognized by the governments they interface with to get past the real redtape issues that organizations like New York's DEC raise as a hindrance. Again, this is done at a grass roots level and is more effective as the numbers grow and are directly associated with the local community. An international association that recognizes which site is the official site still won't have any teeth until the grass roots level is recognized thus making that paper title cheap at best and only worth one use in the forest.

 

==edited for spelling==

Edited by TotemLake
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:D  Does anyone know for sure if these forums are official???

Well official chat is at 8:30 CST tonight and since the forums are on the official site and list the official chat, the forums must also officially be official. Or is that unofficially official? I don't know, all I know is that ticks are everywhere this year, I see log after log mentioning them. I bet they will be discussed in official chat too. :lol:

Edited by carleenp
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