Who's Counting?

[+DebnMil]

Does anyone know if there is a way to see how you are doing compared to other geocachers in your area? We would do it regardless of rank, just curious cause I saw someone who said they ranked X number in the country.

 

Thanks for any replies....We still newbies.

 

Debnmil

[+Team GPSaxophone]

There used to be a stats site, but the owner stopped maintaining it some time ago.

 

Currently, keenpeople.com is the only option we have. It is an opt-in stats site, but you have to update your own numbers. As such, it isn't very accurate and not very many people know about it.

 

The people that don't want stats would have you believe that it would be the end of caching if there was a "leaderboard". However, when we had such a leaderboard only the people that were interested in it watched anyway.

 

We used to cache much more when we could easily "keep tabs" on local cachers.

Edited June 10, 2004 by Team GPSaxophone

[+bons]

The people that don't want stats would have you believe that it would be the end of caching if there was a "leaderboard".

That's not true.

 

It's just that using the word "cheater" is already a weekly occurrance and quite honestly I could do without all the inane accusations, insults, and unsportmanslike behavior that I belief a new leader board would generate.

 

Sure, it' just a game or a hobby, but there are people who take it too seriously already and I don't want to be here when they start really accusing people of upping their find counds.

[CoyoteRed]

It would be nice if people compared each other on how well they treat others and maybe the quality of the caches they put out instead of a meaningless number that's far too easy to artificially inflate.

[+Lazyboy & Mitey Mite]

 

It's just that using the word "cheater" is already a weekly occurrance and quite honestly I could do without all the inane accusations, insults, and unsportmanslike behavior that I belief a new leader board would generate.

 

They call each other cheaters without a leader board anyhow. I enjoyed it and miss Dan's site.

[MustangPhreak&Phate]

Whooops!

Hi Debnmil and welcome to a great pasttime! (sport/hobby/adventure, whatever you choose to call it!)

 

As you can probably already tell you just opened a whole can of worms! The debate about stats is a long-standing issue and you will probably see some quite passionate comments about it. Don't take any of this personally, it is certainly not aimed at you specifically.

 

As was already mentioned you can check out keenpeople.com but doubt that it will give you much of an idea. In fact in for our area last time we checked it was mostly only the 'high numbers' folks that were listed.. don't let that discourage you!

Also I believe I saw somewhere that some of the local groups keep stats but one of the more experienced forum regulars would probably be more help to you there.

 

Anyway, just wanted to welcome you to the sport and warn you not to take any responses that might seem harsh personally. I only recently started posting and for the most part still lurk but the forums can sometimes be a rough place. Good luck to you!

 

BTW - If you are interested in seeing what all the hallabaloo is about you can do a search on "Leaderboard" or "stats" and that should give you ample reading. Enjoy.

[+RuffRidr]

The people that don't want stats would have you believe that it would be the end of caching if there was a "leaderboard".

That's not true.

 

It's just that using the word "cheater" is already a weekly occurrance and quite honestly I could do without all the inane accusations, insults, and unsportmanslike behavior that I belief a new leader board would generate.

 

Sure, it' just a game or a hobby, but there are people who take it too seriously already and I don't want to be here when they start really accusing people of upping their find counds.

This rarely happened when Dan's site was online. I don't see how that would change this time around.

 

--RuffRidr

[+Bjorn74]

Now that you can link to the Stats Graphic from your profile as a subscription member, many folks in our local group have that in their messages in the forums. It's sort of an opt-in way to show your stats to people you might "compete" with.

 

Curiously I've been with several people as they passed me in number of finds because I'd found nearly all the caches that were hit on the day. I watch their numbers to give myself a goal. That keeps me on the trails and away from the evil TV. A new definition for "Healthy Competition!"

[+The Leprechauns]

This rarely happened when Dan's site was online. I don't see how that would change this time around.

 

--RuffRidr

I was a daily addicted visitor to Dan's site while it was up. I don't miss it one bit! It allows me to focus more on the fun factor. This surprised me!

 

I had two observations in response to yours:

 

1. Yeah, not a *ton* of gripes about cheating when Dan's site was available as a tool to detect it. But there were some that I recall. You would see 20 logs from someone in the latest finds page for your area, check it out, and see something you didn't like in a log.

 

2. But since Dan's site disappeared in summer of last year, geocaching has continued its phenomenal pace of growth. I think Jeremy said that new records for site traffic, new accounts, cache hides and logs written are now being set every month, and it's way higher than last year's growth rate. Perhaps with that growth comes a higher number of cheaters, cache maggots and the other characters we like to complain about here in the forums.

[AC Student]

Those of us in the Sacramento area are lucky enough to have the Sacramento Area Geocaching Leaders page on Jeff Boulter's web site. He has a similar page for San Francisco Bay Area. I was close to breaking into the top 20 a few weeks ago but now I'm 28th and falling fast. Good thing for me that numbers don't matter.

[Find Now, Log Later?]

I could do without all the inane accusations, insults, and unsportmanslike behavior that I belief a new leader board would generate.

 

I think it's really, really funny that mentioning cheating is deemed "unsportsmanlike" but the actual cheating is deemed acceptable, because this is "only a game." How much trust/faith would you put in someone who cheats at a mere game?

 

I enjoyed Dan Miller's leaderboard, but I agree it's time had come and gone. The playing field is just too uneven.

[+Renegade Knight]

The people that don't want stats would have you believe that it would be the end of caching if there was a "leaderboard".

That's not true.

 

It's just that using the word "cheater" is already a weekly occurrance and quite honestly I could do without all the inane accusations, insults, and unsportmanslike behavior that I belief a new leader board would generate...

There is more forum angst over stats now that the leaderboard is gone, than there ever was when it was live.

[+Renegade Knight]

...geocaching has continued its phenomenal pace of growth. I think Jeremy said that new records for site traffic, new accounts, cache hides and logs written are now being set every month, and it's way higher than last year's growth rate. Perhaps with that growth comes a higher number of cheaters, cache maggots and the other characters we like to complain about here in the forums.

Good point. There are more of all types including the lower life forms. Too bad a side effect of this kind of behavior isn't sterility.