Logging Your Own Caches

July 27, 2004

I have seen on a recent cache that we visited Fly, Fish, and Ride (but couldn't find) that the cache owner has logged his own cache as a find. (Look at the last log on the page). Is this acceptable?

July 27, 2004

They might not know that you just post a note for that kind of stuff, but if they are doing this knowingly then it is wrong, You cant find your own caches ! Might want to Email them and let them know.

38.2k · July 27, 2004

Its not a practice that is generally accepted by the geocaching community. Some newbies do it out of ingorance and I bet some people just accidently hit "found it" instead of "write a note". Of course there are probably some cheezy numbers hounds who do it to crank up their find counts. How can you find something when you already know where it is?

Edited July 27, 2004 by briansnat

July 27, 2004

Its not a practice that is generally accepted by the geocaching community. Some newbies do it out if ingorance and some cheezy numbers hounds do it to crank up their find counts. But how can you "find" something when you already know where it is?

Yeah that was what I thought, it just struck me as odd when I saw the log.

July 27, 2004

I emailed him about this we'll see what he says.

July 27, 2004

I'm not mad at him or anything, I was just wondering if it was acceptable...

July 27, 2004

Me niether, I just made it sound like he overlooked it.

22k · July 27, 2004

I emailed him about this we'll see what he says.

5 bucks says it was an oops. I bet he meant to post a note and then scolled the selection without noticing.

July 27, 2004

ya, thats what i am guessing, but we all look out for each other.

22k · July 27, 2004

doh, actually I retract my bet. They did it in Feb too. Ok maayyybe they scrolled it then too. :rolleyes:

July 27, 2004

or maybe we should burnhim at the steak! :rolleyes:

2.1k · July 27, 2004

I believe the appropriate response is to tear someone like this a new rear. I have sent him a vociferous e-mail telling him as much and I suggest you all do the same!

Psych. Geez. :rolleyes:

22k · July 27, 2004

hmmmm steak. I think I'll go have one for lunch. No point in dogging this cacher for something that doesn't affect me. See ya'll

July 27, 2004

I just got a reply from him, he didnt know that posting a note was an option, I told him it is too late and all the Approvers are on their way to his house to behead him and sacrifice him to the Geocaching God!

July 27, 2004

On a similar note, I cache as part of a team. We regularily cache together, and have placed a few caches as part of the "Team". Some caches we have placed as the team, but most we place independantly of the other members.

Would you say that it is appropriate to find one of your own team member's caches if you didn't assist in the placement of that cache in any way?

2.5k · July 27, 2004

To him his own, I suppose. I certainly wouldn't do it, but who knows.

Kinda like a cache I saw recently - the cache owner's husband was the first finder. Not something I would ever have done, either, but to him his own.

July 27, 2004

Would you say that it is appropriate to find one of your own team member's caches if you didn't assist in the placement of that cache in any way?

Thats a bit different, but are your #'s all just go to the team? Or do you all have individual accounts?

38.2k · July 27, 2004

Would you say that it is appropriate to find one of your own team member's caches if you didn't assist in the placement of that cache in any way?

Sure it is. My wife has found a number of my caches. The ones I've placed without her. When I go on a maint trip, I hand her the GPS and watch the fun. It's hard not opening my mouth when she takes the wrong trail, or spends 20 minutes searching nowhere near the cache.

She has her own account though. If we both shared an account, I wouldn't let her log a find, just because it doesn't look right to others.

July 27, 2004

Would you say that it is appropriate to find one of your own team member's caches if you didn't assist in the placement of that cache in any way?

Thats a bit different, but are your #'s all just go to the team? Or do you all have individual accounts?

We all log our finds individually. We are all quite a long distance away from each other, so logging our individual finds as a combined team effort would seem silly IMO. Of course if we find a cache together, everyone that participates in the find/no-find logs it as their own.

3.9k · July 27, 2004

Uh oh. Logging your own caches is NOT acceptable?

JMB's find count yesterday: 510

JMB's Find count today: 3

I can't believe I've been doing this wrong all this time. :rolleyes:

1.8k · July 27, 2004

Would you say that it is appropriate to find one of your own team member's caches if you didn't assist in the placement of that cache in any way?

Thats a bit different, but are your #'s all just go to the team? Or do you all have individual accounts?

We all log our finds individually. We are all quite a long distance away from each other, so logging our individual finds as a combined team effort would seem silly IMO. Of course if we find a cache together, everyone that participates in the find/no-find logs it as their own.

Doesn't sound like a problem to me. :rolleyes:

6.5k · July 27, 2004

Uh oh. Logging your own caches is NOT acceptable?

JMB's find count yesterday: 510

JMB's Find count today: 3

I can't believe I've been doing this wrong all this time.

Dude you got 507 hides out there?!!

Why isn't your name up in lights next to King Boreas'? :rolleyes:

Oh wait I see, you only have 169 hides and you have logged each of them 3 times.

Edited July 27, 2004 by wimseyguy

July 27, 2004

Would you say that it is appropriate to find one of your own team member's caches if you didn't assist in the placement of that cache in any way?

Thats a bit different, but are your #'s all just go to the team? Or do you all have individual accounts?

We all log our finds individually. We are all quite a long distance away from each other, so logging our individual finds as a combined team effort would seem silly IMO. Of course if we find a cache together, everyone that participates in the find/no-find logs it as their own.

Sounds good to me ! :rolleyes:

July 27, 2004

I emailed him about this we'll see what he says.

Hey fireman, leave the policing to the cops! :rolleyes:

July 27, 2004

Well if the Fireman were as bad as the cops around here this whole county would be ashes!

July 27, 2004

You're not serious are you?? I would NEVER even consider logging my own cache as a find.

However, it's just a game . . . play it the way you want. If you want to cheat (if it is cheating) . . . go to it . . . I'm not keeping score.

Anyhoo . . . happy caching and stuff! Afterall, that what it's about right? Oh! That and the numbers . . . it's all about the numbers. :rolleyes:

July 27, 2004

I have seen on a recent cache that we visited Fly, Fish, and Ride (but couldn't find) that the cache owner has logged his own cache as a find. (Look at the last log on the page). Is this acceptable?

YES - It's absolutely acceptable since this is only a game :rolleyes:

July 27, 2004

YES - It's absolutely acceptable since this is only a game

Hmmm. Most games have rules, and most folks expect the rules to be followed.

Based on the answers so far, it seems safe to say that the generally accepted rule here is, 'No, it is not.'

But I'm more than open to listening to arguments as to why the answer might be different than I think it is.

1.1k · July 27, 2004

I've spotted a few newbs here in there logging their maint visits as "Finds". I usually drop them a polite "No offense, but since I noticed you're relatively new to our game, I thought I'd let you know..." note advising them that it's a "Geocaching culture" thing to log your maint visits as "Note" logs and not "Found" logs.

Although I never meant for it to be "manipulative", I've found well-placed use of the phrase "Geocaching culture" in notes like that is almost 100% effective, and almost always elicits "Thanks for letting me know that, I appreciate the help" notes in reply.

-Dave R.

Edited July 27, 2004 by drat19

July 27, 2004

Where is the rule that says no? Come on guys! Nobody gets hurt if anyone logs his own cache as find. If it makes people happy, why not?!?

And the rules are more like guidelines anyway

Captain Barbossa

2.1k · July 27, 2004

Nobody gets hurt, but everyone gets confused. Some of us would like a day when we can compare a cache to another cache and get valid results (most finds, etc). If a cache has 300 finds and 20 of them are the original hider...and then since nobody introduced him to using a note, he goes to 20 other caches to get TBs after already logged them as finds..and relists as a find...he's now garbled 21 different caches' stats.

On top of that, someone may want to scan back to see the last time the cache owner had maintained their cache and they are less likely to find that information if it's posted in the way of a find.

The system has a tool for doing what they are trying to do and there's no reason not to explain how to use the tool correctly so that other uses for that tool aren't ruined in the long run.

July 27, 2004

I have logged finds on two of the caches that I own, however they were logged correctly. I became the owner by adopting them some time after my find.

In my case the log is valid and you will also see that later I only leave notes when I visit my caches

July 27, 2004

What if you go to do maintenance on your own cache and it takes you 15-30 minutes to find it because it was moved from where it should have been? Now I haven't done, but god knows I deserved the "found it" for that cache!

July 27, 2004

What if you go to do maintenance on your own cache and it takes you 15-30 minutes to find it because it was moved from where it should have been? Now I haven't done, but god knows I deserved the "found it" for that cache!

:rolleyes:

1.4k · July 27, 2004

I emailed him about this we'll see what he says.

Hey fireman, leave the policing to the cops!

Ummm, we police ourselves.

Interesting. He hasn't changed it to a note yet.

July 27, 2004

Ummm, we police ourselves.

Now, really... If we policed ourselves, we wouldn't be butting into the ways others want to play their game, would we? To keep it in context, I was merely poking fun at the fireman looking like he was doing cop work. As a matter of fact, there is a community nearby me where the public safety folks are both cops and firefighters.

And to keep this post on topic, I don't play my game by posting finds to the one, lonely cache I've placed so far. I really don't care how others play their game. My opinion is that the posting of a note is the proper way to post notes to one's cache. -Ken

July 28, 2004

I would say it's completely acceptable to log your own caches as found...

Provided of course that you are either amnesiatic, have Alzheimer's disease, or have had a frontal lobotomy.

July 28, 2004

How can you find something when you already know where it is?

I think that one little statement pretty much sums it up.

July 28, 2004

I found a cache once, the container had been found by geomuggles, opened & placed on top of a rock. Curiously, they didn't damage or remove anything - just opened it & left it on top of a large rock. It seemed obvious to me where it belonged, but that area was littered with bottles & other misc junk. It seemed to be regularly frequented by "all sorts".

So, I relocated it about 5 metres away.

The owner then jokingly said if he could find it could he log it as a find.

We all had a good laugh. It has since been found by other geocachers, safe & sound.

4k · July 28, 2004

There is no rule that says you can't. Is it proper etiquette? No. Nobody can tell me this changes anything or hurts anyone if a cacher logs a find on his own cache. So what? Big deal. If they want to do that, more power to them. Last I looked, there still was no prize for winning at geocaching. Perhaps they made an "oops' (I did when I hid my first one), or maybe they aren't aware that some folks are anal enough about it to throw a hissy fit, or maybe they just want to log their own cache. A simple note explaining it to them should suffice. If they don't want to change it, that's their business and nobody else's. Chill out, it's just a freakin' game. :rolleyes:

Edited July 28, 2004 by Sparky-Watts

3.5k · July 28, 2004

I'll confess....I logged my own event (The Finger Lake'n Good Event) as a find.....gasp...*choke*...I did it!!

Of course, I had my brother-in-law hide a cache especially for me at the event so I could feel justified in logging it. His hide....grrrrr...was worse than anything I would have come up with for him! Talk about sadistic!

Jerk.

Good thing he doesn't read the forums.

Bret

July 28, 2004

How about this scenario:

Accompany your mother on a maintenance check.

Find the cache is indeed missing.

Log it as a find.

Cache

1.8k · July 28, 2004

What if you hide a cache (really good) and then forget where it is? Then you have to use your GPSr and coords to find it again ... can you log it as a find, then?

24.7k · July 28, 2004

If you suffer from CRS I supposed you could log your own caches and mean it, but only if you could remember how to log. So I guess the problem would take care of itself.

July 28, 2004

I believe that the person that hid this cache just didn't know about notes. He (or she) logged a find when he deposited a travel bug in the cache, too.

July 28, 2004

I check on my caches at least 3 times a year, and each time I have to use the GPSr to find them! (Bad, eh?)

But I've never logged these checks as "finds" - I wouldn't feel right about it. I'd be cheating myself.

I have noticed numerous caches where the owner has done this, though. I'm glad this thread was started; I was beginning to wonder about the practice.

- hamgran

July 28, 2004

some folks are anal enough

And some aren't, but that's no reason to quit trying for perfection. :laughing:

38.2k · July 28, 2004

How about this scenario:

Accompany your mother on a maintenance check.

Find the cache is indeed missing.

Log it as a find.

Cache

So THATS how they get so many finds :laughing:

Edited July 28, 2004 by briansnat

July 29, 2004

What if you go to do maintenance on your own cache and it takes you 15-30 minutes to find it because it was moved from where it should have been? Now I haven't done, but god knows I deserved the "found it" for that cache!

Or what if you still :cry: can't find it after searching :tired: a long time and need to have the person who re-hid it last show it to you during a sushi-caching event, hmmmm? :tired:

2.5k · July 29, 2004

I'll confess....I logged my own event (The Finger Lake'n Good Event) as a find.....gasp...*choke*...I did it!!

Of course, I had my brother-in-law hide a cache especially for me at the event so I could feel justified in logging it. His hide....grrrrr...was worse than anything I would have come up with for him! Talk about sadistic!

Jerk.

Good thing he doesn't read the forums.

Bret

I'll log my own event cache and have absolutely no problem with doing that. But an event is a little different.

Logging Your Own Caches

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