More Tb Ettiquite

[+coastalfinds]

I searched the topics looking for an answer, but, alas, found none. What is your opinion?

 

Is it wrong/unfair/immoral/against community ethics to revisit a cache you've already logged to grab a travel bug you've spotted online in the logs?

 

Let's say I can help a TB accomplish its goals and I see it pop up in a nearby cache I've already done. Do I leave it for a fellow cacher even though I can take it to its goal within days? Do I shamelessly tromp over to the cache, no GPS needed, and grab the ol' bug? What if it were a YJTB? Logged the cache two months ago, but now I see a jeep there? What are the guidelines?

 

What about TBs in one of your caches? You see that someone has dropped off an interesting or coveted TB/geocoin/other item. Can you "check on" your cache that day and grab it, or should you leave it for cachers to grab?

 

I haven't done any of these things - yet - I just wanted to get the opinions flowin'.

 

Cheers

Coastalfinds

[+IV_Warrior]

As long as you log your subsequent visits to the cache as "Notes" and NOT "Finds" it's fine.

 

Now, as far as your own caches, that's kinda up to you. Personally, I'm toward the edge of a group of cachers, and my caches don't get hit as often, as those cachers generally stay closer to home, so I tend to leave bugs in my own, to encourage others to make the trip out to mine. Now, if one gets "stranded" there for a while, I'd go move it closer to the "cache dense zone" to get it moving again. Sig items are another story, if I saw one of somebody I admired, I'd probably run out and grab it Same thing with geocoins, they're still a bit of a rarity around here, so I'd likely grab it, and maybe move it do a different cache of my own, just to get a chance to see it.

[+AuntieWeasel]

Is it wrong/unfair/immoral/against community ethics to revisit a cache you've already logged to grab a travel bug you've spotted online in the logs? 

Judging from the logs in my area, it would seems our more experienced cachers do an awful lot of bug moving in caches they've done long ago (logged as notes, yes). Logical, if you think about it...the longer you're at it, the farther you have to go to cache, but this is a way to play the game closer to home.

 

As the proud owner of two (count 'em, 2) TB's, with a combined mileage of zero, I'd not only not consider it a bad thing, I'd see it as an absolute public service. Especially if you play along with the mission, or take photos, or are going on a trip, or know a busy cache to stash it in.

[+kingsting]

I'd say that would be a good thing. I left behind two highly travelled bugs recently because I know at this time I won't be able to move them very far. If they're still there next month when I go on vacation, I'll head back and grab one to take along. I also may place another TB in a cache I visited before. I've seen two that were well hidden and nice and dry. A perfect drop off point for a TB.

[+BlueDeuce]

Since my caches are rural I'll place geocoins to help promote traffic, but there is no reason why you can't revisit a cache, includin your own, to help a bug towards its goal.

[+Eartha]

Go right ahead! Nothing wrong with revisiting caches, it's even nicer, if you do, to update the cache owner on the condition of the cache when you re-visit.

[+deltadawg]

what if someone that has already found a cache goes to the cache, takes a tb out of it without trading anything and then drops it in their own cache about 10 miles away, is this bad ettiquite? what if the tb had only been there a day or so?

[bodolad]

takes a tb out of it without trading anything

 

I think you should DEFINITELY leave a trade item, if you ever take something

out of a cache!

 

I revisit caches I've already logged, if there is a TB I'm interested

in seeing or like today....I went after an Alabama Geocoin (very nice I might add).

 

Just post a note rather than logging it as a 'find'. And as was mentioned earlier,

you can update the owner of the cache on its overall condition.

[+Nero]

i dropped off a yjtb in a cache last night and a cacher who had already visited the particular cache went back and took the jeep.. rather poor taste i would say, but ive done it too when i saw a geocoin in a cache i already visited.. what can ya do?

[+southdeltan]

I think you should DEFINITELY leave a trade item, if you ever take something

out of a cache!

 

I don't leave items if I take a TB. TB's aren't trade items, they're not intended to be kept. I help them move from cache to cache from time to time, but I've never felt that leaving a trade item or another travelbug was a requirement. I've noticed that I'm not alone in doing this either.

 

sd

[+BlueDeuce]

I think you should DEFINITELY leave a trade item, if you ever take something

out of a cache!

 

I don't leave items if I take a TB. TB's aren't trade items, they're not intended to be kept. I help them move from cache to cache from time to time, but I've never felt that leaving a trade item or another travelbug was a requirement. I've noticed that I'm not alone in doing this either.

 

sd

I agree - Not a trade item.

Edited August 3, 2004 by Elf Danach

[+planetrobert]

I think you should DEFINITELY leave a trade item, if you ever take something

out of a cache!

 

I don't leave items if I take a TB. TB's aren't trade items, they're not intended to be kept. I help them move from cache to cache from time to time, but I've never felt that leaving a trade item or another travelbug was a requirement. I've noticed that I'm not alone in doing this either.

 

sd

I agree - Not a trade item.

dittos here too

[+ZackJones]

i dropped off a yjtb in a cache last night and a cacher who had already visited the particular cache went back and took the jeep.. rather poor taste i would say, but ive done it too when i saw a geocoin in a cache i already visited.. what can ya do?

Why would you consider this is practice in poor taste? I see nothing wrong with it, especially given how few YJTB's there are out there.

 

Zack

[+ZackJones]

what if someone that has already found a cache goes to the cache, takes a tb out of it without trading anything and then drops it in their own cache about 10 miles away, is this bad ettiquite? what if the tb had only been there a day or so?

IF by doing that the cacher is helping the bug accomplish its mission I don't see anything wrong with that practice. I have done similar things in the past. If I can help a bug on its mission I will.

 

Zack

[+BlueDeuce]

I think you should DEFINITELY leave a trade item, if you ever take something

out of a cache!

 

I don't leave items if I take a TB. TB's aren't trade items, they're not intended to be kept. I help them move from cache to cache from time to time, but I've never felt that leaving a trade item or another travelbug was a requirement. I've noticed that I'm not alone in doing this either.

 

sd

I agree - Not a trade item.

dittos here too

Doh! it just hit me! Now I know why people are leaving used ticket stubs. They are trading up.

[bodolad]

Had no idea I'd be in the minority with that thought...

trading items for Travel Bugs

 

But I CAN'T change! I'm gonna swap items for bugs!

 

And I'm NOT gonna download waypoints... or buy mapping software...

can't make me and I ain't gonna do it...

Edited August 4, 2004 by bodolad

[+fly46]

Had no idea I'd be in the minority with that thought...

trading items for Travel Bugs

 

But I CAN'T change! I'm gonna swap items for bugs!

 

And I'm NOT gonna download waypoints... or buy mapping software...

can't make me and I ain't gonna do it...

LOL! I don't download waypoints either, but I also don't trade for bugs...

 

UNLESS YOURE AT A TRAVEL BUG MOTEL.

If you go somewhere specifically designed for bugs, it's usually good taste to trade bug for bug, although it's not a set in stone requirement.

 

 

And yeah, like everyone said... Absolutely nothing wrong with revisiting a cache - for any reason, not just for a TB, just don't log it as another find.

[+Leapin' Lizards]

Seems like a new cache gets buzzed fairly frequently for a while, then when all the locals have logged the cache, it sits lonely and forgotten unless a cacher from out of the area comes through and visits it. So yes, I'm all for visiting caches simply to move travel bugs. That's a whole different "game within a game" and we have returned to our own caches to pick up and move a bug that seems to be languishing.

 

We don't consider bugs trade items, but if it looks like the cache swag needs help, we'll generally always drop something in, whether we take anything (besides the bug) or not.

[+CharlieP]

Revisiting a cache to pick up a travel bug is OK in some cases, even commendable if it is to help the bug to its goal ... but sometimes not OK. If the cache owner or another cacher has put a bug in a difficult cache to add an extra incentive, I think its bad form for a cacher who has done the cache to go back for the bug.

 

I will also make a comment on the issue of whether a TB is a trade item. When TBs first came on the scene, my impression was that they were not trade items ... the idea was just to move them around from cache to cache. It seems that in recent months there has been some disagreement on this issue. Largely because of that disagreement, I have not picked up many TBs lately. One reason is that I usually don''t trade or leave an item unless there is something in the box I would like to keep, e.g. a souvenir of the cache hunt, or unless a trade would inprove the mix of items, or the cache is getting thin. Then there is my desire to trade at least even ... which means I have to remember what I traded for the bug which at my age means making notes ... this is getting to be like work. On top of that is the responsibility to move the bug and not hold it too long. So, if you want (me) to move bugs, make it clear that they are not trade items ... I do this for fun and exercise.

 

FWIW,

CharlieP

[+BlueDeuce]

Revisiting a cache to pick up a travel bug is OK in some cases, even commendable if it is to help the bug to its goal ... but sometimes not OK. If the cache owner or another cacher has put a bug in a difficult cache to add an extra incentive, I think its bad form for a cacher who has done the cache to go back for the bug.

 

I will also make a comment on the issue of whether a TB is a trade item. When TBs first came on the scene, my impression was that they were not trade items ... the idea was just to move them around from cache to cache. It seems that in recent months there has been some disagreement on this issue. Largely because of that disagreement, I have not picked up many TBs lately. One reason is that I usually don''t trade or leave an item unless there is something in the box I would like to keep, e.g. a souvenir of the cache hunt, or unless a trade would inprove the mix of items, or the cache is getting thin. Then there is my desire to trade at least even ... which means I have to remember what I traded for the bug which at my age means making notes ... this is getting to be like work. On top of that is the responsibility to move the bug and not hold it too long. So, if you want (me) to move bugs, make it clear that they are not trade items ... I do this for fun and exercise.

 

FWIW,

CharlieP

Well, considering the bug was paid for and issued by someone else, what exactly would be considered an even trade that I would be (apparently) morally obligated to make? I'm not keeping the darn thing, so what do I owe the cache that happened to be holding it?

 

TBs are fair game. I can appreciate someone placing one to give incentive to visit a cache, but how am I supposed to know? Read the logs? "Dear cachers I have added a rule to this bug while it sits in this cache. Abide by what I say or else you bring shame on you and your family. "

 

And since I am on a roll, as for the bug for bug rule for Hotels, I might comply IF I have a bug and IF I feel like leaving it. Poopy on that silly rule, I say.

 

Okay, done for now. Bye!

[+n5psp]

Having found just about every cache nearby, I've gone back to many to either pick up or drop off a travel bug.

 

Like someone else said, new caches tend to get a flurry of finds in the first week or two until all the local cachers have had a weekend free to go find them, and then the traffic drops off.

 

However, with time one can figure out which caches are good "crossroads" type caches, and which ones are good for TB's going in a specific direction.

 

What I did over a year ago was to routinely add any TB's in any cache I've previously found (or new ones) to my watch list even if I never did handle them, and then just watch how fast they are picked up and how far they go.

 

This let me slowly build a statistical "big picture" of which caches were good ones to place a TB in, and which ones were more likely to end up MIA or muggled. I've now identified 4 caches that long-haul travelers tend to visit.

 

Of course past performance is no guarantee of future results. Your mileage may vary.

 

Joe Jet was one that was misplaced for 4 months when the transmission went out, but when I finally had time to do some more geocaching and put it in a good cache (that I've been to about 4 times) it quickly was picked up hopped all the way from West Texas to New Jersey in a short time.

 

This one of mine made it to Oklahoma but that was from an event cache.