First Cache: Unaproved

[spydero99]

my first cache was unapproved, here is the letter:

 

Log Date: 8/3/2004

Greetings From Geocaching.com

 

Because you have no finds or hides you will need to let me know, do you hunt under a different login name, or with some else and what is there login name, its very strange for someone to place a cache like this one with out finding one. Since this is your first time hide not being sure of the coordinates that you posted someone could end up on private property

 

Because of problems in the past with caches placed in or near a home in a residential neighborhood with cachers wandering into yards where the coordinates were off or just a bad satellite day or whatever. We do not approve any like this sorry

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i have no where else to put one, everything around me is private property, i even placed it on my property, the only place i really have is a lake 30 mins from here

 

HELP!?!?!

[+5¢]

One must find before the approvers will believe what you are telling them is correct. By finding caches it shows you know how to use your gps properly. It shows you have seen some caches and can look back and say man that really isn't a good idea when I make a cache I won't make the same mistake. Finding caches is kinda like a resume, the more you good stuff have the better your chance to get the job.

[+briansnat]

I think the approver was concerned that a cache was placed in an area that appears to be questionable, by someone with no track record on this website.

 

If the cache was placed in an area like a park, or forest, it probably would have been approved. If you had a track record of finds and hides (i.e. experience) it probably would have been approved.The location of the cache apparently set off some alarms in the mind of the approver and the fact that it was placed by an apparent total novice was reason enough for the approver to deny the cache. Try e-mailing the approver (including a link to the cache) and discussing it with him. You might be able to allay his concerns and get approval.

Edited August 4, 2004 by briansnat

[+Robespierre]

I know a lake too. You ought to go there.

[+Akulakat]

I don't understand how you can expect to hide anything if you never have found anything. Finding caches is a different experience for almost every type cache. You need this knowledge to be able to hide a cache with confidence.

 

I would not approve it either based on what we know.

[+tirediron]

There is also the question of responsibility when placing a 'cache on private property. The laws are different everywhere, but in most places in North America, a person searching for a 'cache on your property and injuring themselves could at the very least make life legally difficult for you. Not to say that most 'cachers are litigious, but it could happen.

 

And, has been said a few times already, it's a good idea to have a few finds under your belt, just so that you can get an idea of the different techniques involved. Don't let one little note put you off - come up with a workaround. This is a great hobby!

[+wvcoalcat]

Here's one that fits this situation that seems to have slipped through.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...ef-6efbea76ec29

[Keystone]

I beg your pardon, but your example has little to do with the topic being discussed here. The cache you link to involved making trips to several cemeteries to obtain virtual clues, leading to a traditional cache placed at the last church location. The owner stated to the reviewer (me) that permission had been obtained from the Board of Elders for the placement of the cache. That is very different than a cache placed in the front yard of the owner's house in a densely populated residential area. I scrutinize that type of hide fairly carefully -- far less so than I did in the cache you linked to.

 

The owner said nothing about the cache not being physically in place. That is a newbie hider's error, not something that "slipped through."

[+wvcoalcat]

I apologize Keystone. I should have thought before I posted that. I didn't mean to imply that a mistake was made. As the cache is in my area I was looking at it and noticed the hiders had no finds either.

Sorry.

[+The Commissar!]

FWIW, I think it does illustrate a good point though...

 

That experience makes us better able to hide an approvable cache.

 

(Notice that I DID NOT say hide a better cache!)

 

In the listing linked to above, had the hider had more experience, he/she would have known to either check the appropriate box on the submittal or not submit the cache page until the cache was actually hidden.

[+Spencersb]

I, too, got all excited when my GPSr arrived and hid a cache before actually finding one. I got an almost identical email (are you in Tennessee?). I took it for what it was: an honest effort by a volunteer approver to make sure he didn't see log after log of DNF's saying "How the #%^& did this thing get approved?" Or has one of the problems listed in the other replies (Headline: "LOCAL MAN SUED OVER GPS 'GAME'") Or having someone hide a cache, then find 2 or 3, lose interest, and the hidden cahce gets abandoned.

 

I cached that weekend, found about 8 or ten, which gave me some ideas, so that the next time I tried to get it approved, it was a MUCH better cache than I had planned at first. The approver's response? "Looks like you have done your homework." Approved! Another 82 finds and another hide later, I'm still having a blast!

[+parksville prowler]

Hi! My son's first cache was a total bust - got approved when it wasn't actually there and someone claimed to have found it when it was sitting on the kitchen table - should have locked the doors, I guess. We got all weird and tried to apologize to everyone who got stung by wasps, etc., but when I wrote the forum I got all sorts of supportive emails saying don't sweat it, we all make mistakes, move on. Our next cache wasn't approved either - too close to another. But he perservered and hunted and learned and now has a successful cache and we discovered this forum. So ignore what doesn't work for you and learn from what does and it is just cool that you were enthuiastic. No harm done, try again!

[+JohnnyVegas]

The approver may want to know your location in order to make sure it is not a vacation cache.

 

Find some first so that you know how to hide one. A freind of mine hid a few when he had only found one or two. I went to find one a few months after he hid it, It was not really hidden, I could not believe it was still there, It was a large pill bottle with no camouflage at all, hanging under a pick nick bench next to a parking lot. I spoted it from 150 feet away. The Velcro was hardly working anymore, so I stappled some new velcro to the table and wraped some black paper around the cache and put some new velcro on the bottle.