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How Long To Approve New California Caches?


dzdiver

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Just curious if other recent California cache placers could tell me how long it took to get their cache approved. It is now coming up on 72 hours and it has not been approved and no notes have been added to the log. Not a gripe at this point, just curious. Thanks.

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Here in S.Cal I submitted a cache after midnight last night. When I got up this morning a little after 7, the reviewer (WestCoastAdmin) already reviewed it and found some problems. After I corrected the problems with the listing it came back apporved in less then 15 minutes. This guy is really on the ball!

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Caches need to go through the following to get approved.

1. you write up the cache page and hit enter.

2. The cache approver gets the cache in his queue, that long line of caches waiting to be approved.

3. The approver is a VOLUNTEER They look at cache submissions in their free time, when they don't have to fulfill family obligations, health obligations, work obligations, social obligations, and caching addictions. Usually they will approve them in batches.

4. The cache approver sits down to look at your cache page. Does it follow the guidelines? Did you submit all pertinent information? Did you get the proper permission when/where needed? Is it a multi cache? Did you supply ALL the coordinates for ALL the stages? Were you clear in you cache description? Did you add a note to the approver to explain any parts that might be difficult? Did you rate it correctly? Is it on public property? If so, is it very close to the property line, possibly causing some question as to the actual position of the cache? Did you send a nasty e-mail to your volunteer approver asking where the #$%^&*( is my cache approval? (sure way to slow it down!) Did you start asking other apporvers for help, thus slowing down the whole process across the board?

5. The approver looks at your page, does the research and says yes, ORsends you questions for clarification, and waits for you to respond, then does this again until the questions are answered.

6. Your cache gets approved.

 

Approvers don't just look at a cache page and say OOOOooohhh how pretty! And then stamp it with a seal of approval. They have to make sure that everything is up to snuff. Some areas have stricter park regulations than others. Do you live in such an area? Did you place the cache in a National Park? A National Wildlife Refuge? Or some other area where caches are not allowed? Give the guy or gal a chance, they are working for free.

 

Do a search using your assistant up in the top right corner (log in 1st) for "how long for approval" and see what comes up. Mostly the best advice I can give you is just be patient. I have had approvals take days, and some only an hour. It all depends on your approvers free time. Good luck. Then you will have to sit and wait for the first finder. Then you'll be waiting for the second finder. Then you'll wait for your first travel bug visitor. Then you'll wait for the first picture to be posted to your cache page gallery. Then you'll wait for the first time you run into a cacher while maintaining it........ So much to look forward to!

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72 HOURS!!! Here in New Jersey I've been waiting over 6 weeks for approval! They don't even return E-mail inquires.

Oh.... P.S. If this happens make sure you are not replying ot the e-mail the approver may have sent you. They will never ever never not no way no how ever see that e-mail. All approver e-mails tell you where to send the response to. You can't reply to e-mails sent from them. So WoodenCanoer, check on that. Could that be what's happening to you?

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72 HOURS!!! Here in New Jersey I've been waiting over 6 weeks for approval! They don't even return E-mail inquires.

NJ Admin usually approves very quickly. Most of the time within 24 hours, sometimes within an hour or two. There must be a problem with your cache. Has it been archived and is there a note explaining why on the page? Also, if you contact him via e-mail, do you include the waypoint ID, or link to the cache page? Many people e-mail the approvers asking for an update on their cache and don't tell the approver what cache they are inquiring about. With hundreds of caches a week to approve, they have no idea what you are talking about and have to research it...which means it goes to the bottom of the list, as they try to get the easy ones out of the way.

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I had a cache sit for 10 days a few weeks back. I didn't want to bug the approver so I let it sit, but then I got curious. There were hundreds (if not a thousand or more) caches posted after mine that had been approved. Caches of all types - micro, regular, mystery, virtual, etc... So I started doing an analysis of how long caches sit in various states. I looked at the state of the last few 1000 caches (automatically via some simple unix scripts). I don't have the numbers with me, but what I recall (I can go back and dig up the numbers if anyone really cares):

 

Most get approved in a few days.

About 10% get archived.

About 10% just sit there. They can sit there for a long time.

 

The approvers will approve the easy ones first. If there is something obviously wrong with it, it gets a note and gets archived. If the approver thinks the cache is probably ok but might take a while to check, they can leave it sitting in their queue - it doesn't get archived, it doesn't get a note attached to it - it doesn't get anything. They mean to get around to it, but the steady onslaught of new caches makes it easy for them to put off doing the hard approvals. For example, if a cache is a multi-stage cache each set of coords need to be checked.

 

In my case, I did finally send an email to an approver who had done some of my other caches. I asked if he could see if my stuck cache (I supplied a link to make it easy for him) had a problem. He checked it out and it got approved.

 

Personally, I think the approvers should not approve new caches if they have old ones in their queue. They all have to get approved or archived eventually, so they may as well do them in the order they come in. It really should be FIRST IN, FIRST OUT.

 

IMHO ;)

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72 HOURS!!! Here in New Jersey I've been waiting over 6 weeks for approval! They don't even return E-mail inquires.

I looked at your submission. There are in fact several notes on the page where you have been discussing the cache with NJ Admin. I see that they gave up trying to get their concerns across to you and have asked someone else to look at your cache. I will send NJ Admin an email and ask them what is going on and see if I can help later on tonight.

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It was over 3 weeks before he looked at it the first time somewhere on the site I saw 48 -72 hours which is what I mentioned on the Forum. Someone DID mention 72 hours but 3 weeks is much longer in my book, that was the point of the post!Sure there were issues but I believe they are fixed now. I changed it to a Traditional cache instead of trying to make it a Multi, a proximity problem should be rectified too as the nearest cache is over a mile away, I changed the difficulty to reflect the need for a boat so as I have asked twice now what's wrong with it now? And yes I've seen on the E-mails where it says not to reply directly and haven't. If it started out as a Multi is there a reason I can't just change it to a Traditional or must I still try to make it conform to the standards of a Multi? I also asked him how to just delete it and I'll retrieve the box and forget it but he wouldn't even tell me how to delete the page! If he was so fed up trying to get the cache approved you would think he would jump at the chance to tell me how to get rid of it! I'll just go get it ASAP (maybe not until next weekend though) and then they can deal with the page. Now I have to figure out how to get rid of my membership! As I told NJ ADMIN I do have a life beyond a stupid Geocache and it's just not worth all this aggravation. Is it not supposed to be FUN? Some of you people must be on Condo community boards with their crazy regulations and power trips, How sad you have nothing better to do, Bye! ;)

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I think GC.com needs to delete the 48-72 hours thing. People dont realize approvers are volunteers and if it takes 3-6 weeks, well thats still faster than most processes at a government agency. Its a game, Im happy mine are "approved" at all. Imagine the sport if nothing was approved.

 

48-72 hrs isnt a promise, but an estimation. So many people take it literally. It reminds me of a parent telling their 5 year-old, "well..maybe we can go there sometime." And when the family runs out of time to go to that place the child says "you promised!" and starts a fit. Then the parent learns to just say no everytime.

 

GC.com should put, "approval generally takes 2-3 years." And when it comes back in 4 days, the cacher will be suprised! ;)

 

WoodenCanoer, Im sorry, but you have a lack of respect for the approvers hard work. Maybe geocaching isn't for you. In your one post you insulted the approvers, the kind people here in the forums, and the creators of geocaching.com. Im sorry you feel the way you do. But I guess we all cant please everyone...right? There will always be that one in a hundred.

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I do appreciate the fact that the approvers are volunteers and hopefully have a life other than being an approver. I just did not have any idea how long it is currently taking in Northern California for cache approval. I had a veteran cacher check my cache page for obvious errors. She found none. I feel confident that the cache will be approved without any significant problems.

 

Patience is a lesson that I am still learning. I hope that this will not be a test! ;)

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If your approver is the same as mine (Hemlock), you have a great approver. I think that approver may be away this weekend (I sent an inquiry about one of my caches) but you can pretty much bet it will be done within a week.

 

Be thankful and have patience ;) I know you are eager to get it approved and get your first find :D . Its a fun game, isn't it?

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My last cache (here in Northern Cal) took a little over a week get approved. No notes or questions, and I didn't bother the approver.

 

I was patient and it was approved without comment (which means I did everything right!) on the 8th or 9th day. I'm very happy with the approval process.

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Just thought I would let everyone know the outcome of my cache approval.... Mtn-Man approved my cache in just a little bit over 72 hours. Thanks Mtn-Man! And the cache has now been found by some friends and co-workers! We are the proud owner of a new cache! (GCK08J) ;)

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My son had one approved in less than 6 hours today...

we were up helping daughter/sister paste up her hisotry project and submitted the cache at about 2 am. When I got to work this morning at 7:30ish it was already up and ready to go.

<_< YAY and Way to go, approver! We love our guy! :mad:

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Just thought I would let everyone know the outcome of my cache approval.... Mtn-Man approved my cache in just a little bit over 72 hours. Thanks Mtn-Man! And the cache has now been found by some friends and co-workers! We are the proud owner of a new cache! (GCK08J) <_<

You are very welcome. I asked Hemlock if I could assist a bit. That is one nice thing about the team we have. If one person is taking a long weekend or something others are always willing to chip in. Thank you very much for your note.

:mad:

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I guess things are back on track--I just had a multi approved in less than 24 hours!

 

Just letting you know since my last note supported the longer wait times.

 

Thanks to all the approvers for their hard work at home while we're all out exploring new placements, and caching.

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I guess things are back on track--I just had a multi approved in less than 24 hours!

 

Just letting you know since my last note supported the longer wait times.

 

Thanks to all the approvers for their hard work at home while we're all out exploring new placements, and caching.

Thank you for this post.

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