What Do You Think About Premium Caches?

[+Jessex]

Due to the disappointing destruction of our "Branching Out" cache (GCJEE3)

in Essex all our caches will now be accessible to premium members only. We

have reason to believe our "Branching Out" cache was deliberately vandalised and hope that upgrading our future caches (as well as all our existing caches) to premium level will curtail the problem. We realise that "premium member's caches" are in the minority on the listing and we are going to do this for a trial period. Please let us know what you think of this idea? Do you think it should it be

encouraged or discouraged? Please note we are not rich kids(!) and realise

that all caches should be accessible to everyone, but should this be at the

risk of losing a cache to an inexperienced or malicious cacher?. Should we

take this risk into account and just accept that caches we put out may be

destroyed albeit innocently? Or should we try to protect them by opening

the field of play to "experienced" cachers only? This is of course assuming

that premium members are responsible and experienced! If we get enough "No"

votes we shall of course revert the log pages back to non-premier. Finally,

we enjoy placing and finding caches through Geocaching.com and are pleased

to support the work they do with our membership. So it may be best to have a few premium caches out there anyway. What do you think?

[+Bill D (wwh)]

I'm sorry to hear that your cache has been trashed - I had one stolen twice in two months and decided to archive it. I don't however, think that members only caches are the answer, nor would I want to see more members only caches - indeed I'd like to see less.

 

a. Anyone who wants to see details of your members only caches can do so for one pound sixty three pence at the current exchange rate. All they have to do is set up a monthly direct debit for membership then cancel it after the first payment. I don't think a one-off payment of one pound sixty three is going to put any determined cache-trasher off.

 

b. Was the cache trashed by someone who got the details from gc.com, or did they find it by chance? If the latter then making caches members only doesn't help anyway.

 

c. I feel very strongly that people shouldn't have to pay to find caches. I'm not a premium member. I haven't been working since some operations last year, and money is extremely tight. Yes, membership is less than two pounds a month, but bills already exceed income and I can't afford to add to them. Oh, I hear you say that petrol for caching costs more than a few pounds a month. Indeed it does - that's one of the reasons why I'm doing so little caching. If the majority of caches became members only, then in my present situation I would simply stop caching altogether.

 

d. If the majority of caches were members only, then the supply of new blood to caching would dry up. How many people are going to take out premium membership in order to see if caching's for them?

 

As a side note, there's one cache which I've found which has since been made members only. I find it extremely annoying that I'm not allowed to view the cache page even though I've found the cache. But that's a digression. As I said, I'm sorry the cache got destroyed, but I don't think more members only caches is the way to go.

 

Edit: typo

Edited May 27, 2004 by Bill D (wwh)

[+Renegade Knight]

Most people who I've introduced to geocaching came with me on a trip or two. They knew if they liked it or not. MOC would reduce theft. It won't stop it.

 

I do think having to provide some amount of personal information in order to seek caches or even having to sign up with an email account (like non premimum members do ) would also reduce theft by cache maggots.

 

You have to be a member to list a cache, why not require at least the minimal membership to seek it?

[+MarcB]

I don't however, think that members only caches are the answer, nor would I want to see more members only caches - indeed I'd like to see less.

There's only four or five at the moment I think

[Deego]

I have not done a members only cache, because I have never seen any near me.

 

But I have no problem with them. As long as I am caching I will pay to be a member. Its the cheapest part of this hobby.

 

Brian

Edited May 28, 2004 by Deego

[+wildtrekker]

a. Anyone who wants to see details of your members only caches can do so for one pound sixty three pence at the current exchange rate. All they have to do is set up a monthly direct debit for membership then cancel it after the first payment. I don't think a one-off payment of one pound sixty three is going to put any determined cache-trasher off.

I agree here that making it a members cache would not prevent a cacher trasher if they use the site to find them.

 

I do have a members cache in my area, set by me. I don't think there should be lots of them, but it's a nice feature to put up a bonus cache for those that help support GC.com.

 

So long as they are less than 1% of caches and serve as an added reward for Paying members, then I have no problem with them

[+Chris n Maria]

We have 1 members cache - which is only a members cache for a very good reason that has nothing to do with trashing.

 

It might help reduce the chances of the cache getting trashed but it seems to reduce visits quite a bit as well.

 

Chris

[+klaus23]

I had this discussion with someone recently -

 

I paid up for premium membership because, as Deego said - it's the cheapest part of the hobby. Yes, there's car running costs and the price of the GPS, but when you look at something like mountain biking, or sailing, or even football, then you'll be paying out money each month for equipment maintainance, marina fees, referees fees, pitch rental etc.

 

So, when I weigh up paying a few euro a year to contribute to a site that gives so much back to it's members, then I really don't have a problem with that.

 

When I joined there weren't many benefits avaliable to Premium Members, apart from the pda downloads and access to premium caches.

 

I had toyed with the idea of placing a premium cache but in a way I feel that I would be imposing a choice I made on someone that would like to find it. Of course, as wildtrekker said, it's a nice reward to paying members, but when I weigh it all up I get great satisfaction out of people visiting my cache(s) - and, as a Premium cache would reduce visits by about 90% then it would be counter-productive.

 

Not everyone can afford to spend the money on the membership, and I probably would never have started if I had to pay for a start-up membership, so why deny people the opportunity to find your caches. At the end of the day, most cachers get a cache nicked or thrashed sometime. It's part of life.

 

And remember - it may be a Premium Cache- but is it well hidden?

 

Although there may be a minority of people trashing caches from the co-ords on the web - but most thrashed caches are in plain view or badly hidden, or easily stumbled across.

[+Volvo Man]

I've got no problem with MOC's, as long as there are enough free ones about to keep the newcomers flowing.

 

On the trashing point, if somebody pays the fee, there is going to be positive record of their identity. If that person is then found to be trashing, they can be banned.

 

I would suggest that when making a cache MOC, it should be moved to a new location closeby, so the experience doesn't change, but those with old downloads will not be able to find it.

[+wildtrekker]

On the trashing point, if somebody pays the fee, there is going to be positive record of their identity. If that person is then found to be trashing, they can be banned.

It will still be hard to find the culprit though. I can see everyone that has looked at my Cache on GC.com as it is a members cache, but only a few of those have actually visited the cache.

 

I guess it will be suspiciouse if there is a prem. memb. that has no finds, but other than that...

 

I too have had a cache trashed and what I really had to ask myself is could it have been found by accident?? Yes was the answer for my cache, so I moved the cache a 100 feet, in to a better spot and reset it. Time will tell

[+Jessex]

Thanks to everyone that gave some useful points of view. We have now decided to leave our caches as they remain for the time being and perhaps will make up a few new Premium Member ones in addition just to see how they do. We accept that a proportion of caches just go missing for whatever reason, annoying, but that's geolife! Hope to see some of you guys in the field (so to speak). Dawn & Peder (Jessex)