Travel Bug Sheets?

[+n5psp]

Up until about a couple of weeks ago I would log found TB's and found a link to print out a sheet with their goal and related info, stuck some 100% rag grade paper (so water won't ruin it so fast) in the laser printer, and printed them.

 

These were dutifully paired with the TB's that were given brand new freezer rated (extra thick) ziplock bags before sending them on their way.

 

However, today I got around to processing another TB or two and the "TB sheet" seems to have just lost its link.

 

So I'm thinking - maybe that isn't a default thing, so I went back to some older bugs on the watch list that I'd already printed sheets for in the past, and couldn't find where to re-print those either - even with the tracking number to pull up the page.

 

Does anyone know what happened?

 

It was a VERY handy feature for travel bugs found with no attached information on where they wanted to go, especially for the next person to find it. I like to know if a TB is eastbound or westbound (or some other direction like just log me into a lot of caches for mileage) so it doesn't go in the wrong direction.

 

This sheet was SO much better than printing out the web page, or copy/pasting into Word to get it onto a single page.

 

Or have they moved the link? I've got 2 TB's sitting on my monitor right now that need new papers and a fresh bag that doesn't leak so they can move along this weekend.

[+MrCOgeo]

Just so you don't think you are crazy, as of now I checked and the option is gone. TPTB are probably working on something and it will hopefully be back. That's my guess anyways

[+ZackJones]

n5psp: It might be a good idea to post a note in the geocaching.com web site forum asking why the link was removed. I'm with you, I hope it returns soon!

 

Zack

[+n5psp]

Ahhh. At least there's some confirmation that indeed the link was removed. I'll see about posting a note in the web site forum and see if there's a timetable for when some equivalent will be on-line again.

[+fly46]

In the meantime, you could always just type out a sheet

 

Bug Name:

TB Tag Number:

TB Goal:

 

It would work just as well.

[+planetrobert]

or type

 

http://www.geocaching.com/track/sheet.aspx?guid=

 

AND your tb's guid which is the long letter/number sting at the end.

 

lilke...

 

http://www.geocaching.com/track/sheet.aspx...5b-20432fccdd12

[+flask]

if you have one of my TB's i will thank you not to add a sheet or a ziploc. it drives me NUTS when well-meaning people do me this "favor".

 

and if anyone finds one of my bugs that has been similarly "helped" please remove the bug sheet and the ziploc. any other items that have been added are fine with me. engraved tags are acceptable. IF i tag one of my bugs, that's how i do it. if i wanted it to have a "bug sheet", i'd have given it one.

 

and i RESENT that this sort of thing is a default behavior. placing a link to the prinout on the TB page implies by default this is the preferable thing.

 

ewwwww.

[+fly46]

if you have one of my TB's i will thank you not to add a sheet or a ziploc. it drives me NUTS when well-meaning people do me this "favor".

 

and if anyone finds one of my bugs that has been similarly "helped" please remove the bug sheet and the ziploc. any other items that have been added are fine with me. engraved tags are acceptable. IF i tag one of my bugs, that's how i do it. if i wanted it to have a "bug sheet", i'd have given it one.

 

and i RESENT that this sort of thing is a default behavior. placing a link to the prinout on the TB page implies by default this is the preferable thing.

 

ewwwww.

Why would that bother you? They're protecting the bug and helping it along it's goal. How often does someone grab a bug and then find out that they're not going to help it on it's goal?

 

Feel free to add something like that to my bugs so long as it's not permanent.

[+MrCOgeo]

All right flask you got me on this one, I would be interested in knowing why this would be a bad thing?

 

I could understand it from the view point that you spent your own money on the bug so it is yours and you don't want anyone messing or damaging it.

I could understand it from the view point that you don't want to contribute further to trash, junk and useless pieces of garbage out in the wild.

I could understand it that the TB doesn't have a specific goal or you aren't overly worried about it reaching that goal.

 

I could understand it...but at this point I don't.

 

Any help is appreciated.

[+AuntieWeasel]

All right flask you got me on this one, I would be interested in knowing why this would be a bad thing?

I don't feel as strongly about it as flask, but I agree. I've got two out and two in waiting, and none of the objects are susceptible to damp. They all have instructions on the same ring with the dogtag.

 

I wouldn't be angry if someone bagged them and tagged them, but I released them the way I wanted them found. If they get separated from their instructions at some point, or if I send out something in a bag that needs to be in one and it gets separated, I might be grateful. But a bug in its own bag always strikes me like...leaving the plastic on the furniture (with apologies to anyone here who has left plastic on the furniture).

 

I certainly don't mind putting the bug in the bag with the book, though.

[+flask]

but I released them the way I wanted them found. If they get separated from their instructions at some point, or if I send out something in a bag that needs to be in one and it gets separated, I might be grateful. But a bug in its own bag always strikes me like...leaving the plastic on the furniture (with apologies to anyone here who has left plastic on the furniture).

 

that's EXACTLY it.

 

i've had mine added to and painted or whatnot, but only bag-and-tag bothers me.

 

for me the pleasure is serendipity. all these people marching around issuing orders about the critical missions of TOYS rub me the wrong way. so i counter the best way i know how: i release my bugs without instructions. and then some well-meaning schmoes come and attach instructions. inavariably they think they're doing me a favor.

 

my next travel bug is going to have the goal of accumulating as many ziplocs and bugsheets as possible.

 

want to do my TB a favor? post a picture of it. write an interesting log.

[+n5psp]

or type

 

http://www.geocaching.com/track/sheet.aspx?guid=

 

AND your tb's guid which is the long letter/number sting at the end.

 

lilke...

 

http://www.geocaching.com/track/sheet.aspx...5b-20432fccdd12

The bug sheet link just re-appeared this evening.

 

The specific one I was trying to print a sheet for was found bagged, with barely legible instructions scrawled in Sharpie on the bag and looked a bit travel worn.

 

Was going to put him in a nearby convenient geocache on the way in to town this evening and discovered that cache has been muggled - again.

[+Nero]

Ne too! i dont want extra crap hanging from my TB's or them put in bags!! that totally annoys me! if i had wanted that i would have done so to begin with. i want them the way they are so they travel, when you add big tags and bags they are bigger and bulkier and means they will travel less!!!!

 

personally i rarely ever pick up a bug unless it will fit in a micro, because i dont regularly hunt for amo boxes or big caches. thats my 2 cents.

[+TeddyTexas]

Well, I am one of "those" people who add tags to TBs without one IF I find out that its goal makes sense that it have one. For instance, I just picked up a TB and when I got home I found out that it wanted to go to cemeteries and/or haunted houses. BUT, I had ALREADY dropped it off in another cache that same day while I was still out geocaching. So, a couple of days later I went back and got the TB, added a tag, and now I will go looking for a cache in a cemetery (I don't like haunted houses) to leave it in.

 

However, I did contact the owner before I did this and he said:

 

I was not aware of the card idea because most of the bugs I have found did not have one. I have two bugs in my possession now and will add cards to them before I send them on their way.

 

I also have another TB I picked up that wanted pictures taken at school signs throughout Texas. If people don't know what a TBs goal is when they pick them up, then don't you think that this just causes confusion?

 

I do try to make the tag the size of a business card and it is laminated and has a hole to put the chain through. Here are a couple of examples:

 

http://img.Groundspeak.com/track/log/30bcb...50d7199dfe9.jpg

http://img.Groundspeak.com/track/log/f11da...ca4a322c247.jpg

http://img.Groundspeak.com/track/log/e3c93...7c81d560ee3.jpg

 

If someone really doesn't want a tag on it, why don't they just add a note asking the next person who picks it up to remove the tag if they find out one has been added?

 

Thanks for listening!

[+ZackJones]

Sometimes I bag and tag but I always post something in the log before I do. Check out this example for Diabetes Aware Bear (scroll down to 6/30/04 log)

 

I figure if the TB owner doesn't want me to bag and tag they'll reply to my post with instructions not to.

 

Zack

[+flask]

oy. because of bag-and -tag schmoes i've just had to spend the better part of an hour tracking down all my TB's and sending out emails to the current holders aking them if there are and blasted bugsheets attached and asking for their removal.

 

so when you think you're doing a lovely thing and saving me some trouble, in fact you're creating it in my case.

 

and the more people suggest that i place a TAG on it asking people not to put TAGS on it, the more i think that people are nuts. see, if i'd wanted to spoil the look of the thing with all that nonsense, i would have included it. and if i wanted to spoil the look and sound of my bug page, i'd have put little marching orders there.

[+TeddyTexas]

I do believe that it is a "preferable thing" to place a Travel Bug Sheet on a TB, and I really don't understand why you would resent keeping people informed.

 

What about the people who go out for a full day/weekend/week of geocaching and don't have access to the internet to check on what the TBs goal is? I don't want to hold onto TBs just to have to wait to get on the internet to go to its page to find out what its goal is!

 

Isn't the purpose of a TB to have a goal of some kind, even it is just to go from cache to cache?

 

Should I assume that everyone who doesn't tag their TBs don't want tags, or perhaps they didn't realize that the Travel Bug Sheets were available?

 

If you don't want to add a Travel Bug Sheet then at the VERY least put its goal SOMEWHERE on the TB. A lot of people who like to FIND TBs would certainly appreciate it.

 

Thanks,

TeddyTexas

[+flask]

my GOAL for my TBs is to find out where it goes without interfering with it. if you don't want to take the chance of picking it up, don't pick it up.

 

what i don't get is why peope here are so resistant to the idea that my wishes with regard to my TB are respected. if my goal was only to move by contiguous states and only by left-handed people, everybody would fall all over themselves trying to accomadate it, putting little tags on it and all.

 

i simply don't want tags. it's a really simple request. at first i didn't resent it until people started telling me to get over it, because if i didn't want a tag i should have attached a tag that said so. oy. do you people work for the government?

[+TeddyTexas]

No, I don't think that people who add Travel Bug Sheets work for the government, BUT I do think that to ease the confusion about TBs there should be some consistency. I LIKE to find TBs and help them along their way. Why are some people so resistant to the idea of some conformity? This isn't rocket science and geocaching should be fun and include everyone who wants to try to find caches with TBs.

 

What am I supposed to say to my 9 year old grandson who helps me find a TB only to find out that we don't know its goal? Perhaps I should say - "We can't take this TB because we don't know what it wants to do and if we go to another cache today we probably wouldn't want to leave it there because what if it's the wrong kind of location for what this TB wants to do."

 

This is silly. A TB is not a secret agent, and as such it should be tagged in some kind of an OBVIOUS manner to let people know its goal. If a person who owns the TB doesn't want to spend hours tracking down their TBs to ask people to REMOVE tags that have been added by people trying to lesson the confusion, then ADD SOMETHING TO YOUR TB BEFORE releasing it to let others know its goal. Isn't that easier and less confusing and probably will cause less resentment from TB owners?

[+n5psp]

I do try to make the tag the size of a business card and it is laminated and has a hole to put the chain through. Here are a couple of examples:

 

http://img.Groundspeak.com/track/log/30bcb...50d7199dfe9.jpg

http://img.Groundspeak.com/track/log/f11da...ca4a322c247.jpg

http://img.Groundspeak.com/track/log/e3c93...7c81d560ee3.jpg

 

If someone really doesn't want a tag on it, why don't they just add a note asking the next person who picks it up to remove the tag if they find out one has been added?

 

Thanks for listening!

I like that sized tag, especially since I have access to a luggage tag laminating machine. Did you copy/paste the goal of the TB from the web page, or from the sheet, or other?

 

I prefer to print things for geocaches with a laserjet and use a rather expensive grade of paper that is much more resistant to moisture damage.

 

Inkjet printed anything just runs even with light dew condensation, and many cheap papers tend to come apart.

 

After printing it out and trimming it to size, a coat of acrylic plastic varnish on both sides tends to be about as good as lamination as long as it's not exposed to direct sunlight.

 

I agree about the importance of attaching something about the goal to a TB.

 

It's like the address headers on an ARRL radiogram. When someone receives formal radio traffic, the ham who receives it during a traffic net then has the responsibility to pass the traffic along. If he's in Midland, TX and the recipient is in Odessa, TX, he's not normally going to next pass the radiogram to someone in San Francisco, or someone in Miami, or in Newfoundland. He's probably not going to pass it on a "long-haul" HF net, but pass it on a local VHF/UHF net or by packet.

 

While moving travel bugs is nowhere near as structured as moving amateur radio traffic, if the message has no instructions, it's difficult to "handle" it properly.

 

But, imagine Joe Geocacher being a long-haul trucker who came from San Diego, just went thru El Paso, and now has stopped in Midland for his DOT mandated time. He gets up and still has a couple of hours before they will let him get on the road, so he does a geocache or two nearby. He encounters a travel bug. No clue whether it is eastbound, westbound, or wants to leave the country or what. So he leaves it there.

 

But with a "travel itenerary" - he suddenly knows that it's also eastbound and can pick it up, or that it's westbound or some other direction he's not going this trip, and leaves it for someone going that direction.

 

Or someone from Lubbock finds the TB, sees it's headed for Cleveland, and he's going to Dayton on business on Thursday. No sheet, he leaves it behind cause as far as he knows it might be going to Mexico City. A sheet, he picks it up, it ends up in his checked luggage, and then he does a good cache outside Dayton the next day, and it's now about 1200 miles closer.

[+flask]

if you have a problem with the concept of my bug, don't pick it up. if i wanted you to know the goal before you picked it up, i would tell you.

 

do i need a license to use a TB, or cacn i just release it and expect it to travel in the way i prefer. used to be there was some mystery. now there's all sorts of little bug fascists asking for more conformity.

 

try this line with your grankids: "let's pick it up and see where it's going!" wouldn't that be fun?

[+TeddyTexas]

Once again, I ask - why are some people so resistant to the idea of keeping other people uninformed? No, I don't think it would be fun to pick up an untagged TB and then go home and find out that the TB should have been left in the cache for someone else! Plus if it is not marked how would I even know that it belongs to someone who would rather not have a tag added?

 

I like how n5psp has given examples. I think this is the right idea:

 

While moving travel bugs is nowhere near as structured as moving amateur radio traffic, if the message has no instructions, it's difficult to "handle" it properly.

 

Anyway for those who are interested on how I do my tags; I just open the Travel Bug Sheet for the TB that needs a tag and then choose "Edit" followed by "Select All." Then I open up WordPerfect (although you could do this in any number of programs, i.e. Word, Publisher, etc.) and "Paste" the information into a text box that I have made the size of a business card. I can then change the size of the text and add bolding or whatever I want at that time. I print it on good quality paper on my Epson Stylus Photo 2000P printer that uses color ink that won't run if if gets wet. After the tag is printed I either laminate it by putting it in between 2 pieces of laminated film that I can cut to size or into another laminating product that is already the size of a luggage tag. I then use a hole punch to add the hole to run the TB's chain through.

 

By far, it seems like the majority of people have been very happy that someone has thought to be generous enough to take the time and effort to help their TBs along the way. I am sorry that there are people out there that resent this "interference." Hopefully I won't pick up and tag one of these people's TBs. If I do, I am sorry, but I believe in keeping people informed.

[+planetrobert]

I release weather resistant bugs, they have a goal but just traveling is a good option, if you can't help its goal, take it anyway and move it as long as you log it it is OK. 10,000 mile detour is better than sitting in a cache for a year or two.

 

I don't tag my bugs but if they get tagged i wont be "mad" i just ask that since they are weather proof PLEASE DO NOT bag them, tagging is ok i guess though.

Edited August 19, 2004 by ralann

[+flask]

Once again, I ask - why are some people so resistant to the idea of keeping other people uninformed? No, I don't think it would be fun to pick up an untagged TB and then go home and find out that the TB should have been left in the cache for someone else! Plus if it is not marked how would I even know that it belongs to someone who would rather not have a tag added?

 

I like how n5psp has given examples. I think this is the right idea:

 

While moving travel bugs is nowhere near as structured as moving amateur radio traffic, if the message has no instructions, it's difficult to "handle" it properly.

 

Anyway for those who are interested on how I do my tags; I just open the Travel Bug Sheet for the TB that needs a tag and then choose "Edit" followed by "Select All." Then I open up WordPerfect (although you could do this in any number of programs, i.e. Word, Publisher, etc.) and "Paste" the information into a text box that I have made the size of a business card. I can then change the size of the text and add bolding or whatever I want at that time. I print it on good quality paper on my Epson Stylus Photo 2000P printer that uses color ink that won't run if if gets wet. After the tag is printed I either laminate it by putting it in between 2 pieces of laminated film that I can cut to size or into another laminating product that is already the size of a luggage tag. I then use a hole punch to add the hole to run the TB's chain through.

 

By far, it seems like the majority of people have been very happy that someone has thought to be generous enough to take the time and effort to help their TBs along the way. I am sorry that there are people out there that resent this "interference." Hopefully I won't pick up and tag one of these people's TBs. If I do, I am sorry, but I believe in keeping people informed.

...so you're saying that the proper way of handling it would be to handle it against the owner's wishes?

 

if people need to be so extremely informed that they have to alter my TB in a fashion that is distasteful to me to save them a little anxiety about whether or not i will be pleased about how they move it, then their anxiety is all for nought. i am already displeased that it's been tagged. from that doing i don't care how you move it.

 

from that point i just want you to move it somewhere where i can get in touch with comeone who will remove the trash.

 

so, if you're going to take the trouble to tag my bug, please put your note on a gold plated twenty dollar bill. be sure to use high quality prinitng and a very dense image so you use lots of ink. don't use your home laminator; take it somewhere (preferable a really long way from your house so you have invested significant time into it as well..) get it professionally done. attach it to my bug with good strong zip ties, the expensive kind.

 

THEN i'll track it down and get somebody to remove the tag. and i will also make fun of you in the process.

 

now you get to have a whole other kind of anxiety. isn't that fun? why not just send and email and ask? when somebody asks me, i appreciate it and am always kind and polite.

[+TeddyTexas]

Don't you think the POLITE thing to do would be to inform others BEFORE they pick up your TB? The way you want to do this seems to be against the grain so to speak. You want the person who picks up your TB to do all this work that could SIMPLY be alleviated by adding something to your TB telling others what it wants to do!

 

At this point I feel that you are just wanting to prove your point and are not really listening to what common sense seem to dictate in this matter. I think some people are thinking only of themselves and not about what seems to be more a matter of courtesy than anything else.

 

Perhaps people who don't want to tag their TBs should have a signature travel bug (one that is always the same) so everyone will know who it belongs to and to NOT pick it up and tag it as this causes great distress to the owner.

 

I am an office manager at a tax office and I have seen the consequences of people's actions who try to dictate what they will or won't do. It isn't pretty.

[+AuntieWeasel]

Don't you think the POLITE thing to do would be to inform others BEFORE they pick up your TB?

But, see, that's a little circular. How can he (I'm assuming flask is a he) tell people beforehand? On the TB's own page. But if people are reading the TB's page, then the question of a mission sheet wouldn't come up in the first place.

 

I'd probably replace a baggie if I found a TB in a nasty, ratty one. But if a bug comes without instructions, I write the mission in the logs (online and paper). You know, "this is larry, he's trying to get to Seattle." If there are no instructions and I don't know the bug's mission, I usually leave it.

 

It means that people who don't put instructions on their bugs won't see them move as much, meaning it's part of the learning process and the natural "economy" of TB's.

[+fly46]

<--- has a headache

[+CrimsonWrath]

Wow. Like a soap opera.

 

Or a broken record.

 

Popcorn anyone?

[+TeddyTexas]

This is like a broken record. I am about done listening to it.

 

But, see, that's a little circular. How can he (I'm assuming flask is a he) tell people beforehand? On the TB's own page. But if people are reading the TB's page, then the question of a mission sheet wouldn't come up in the first place.

 

If flask wants no tags on his TBs then perhaps he could always use the same kind of TB (sort of a signature TB) and let other people know on his profile what they look like. That way if someone like me were to pick up and tag one of his TBs once and then were asked (or demanded) to remove the tag, then I can assure you that I would NEVER want to be put in the position of picking up one of his/her TBs again. Isn't geocaching supposed to fun? I think TBs really add to the enjoyment of this activity. I am having a hard time understanding why anyone would want to make this so difficult to send TBs on their way to their intended goal (and I find it interesting that flask doesn't really respond to my questions).

 

Again, what I am talking about is telling people beforehand ON THE TB itself (i.e. a tag or some other way that the owner would approve of) what their TB's goal is. I think people very rarely look on the internet and check out a TBs goal BEFORE they go out geocaching and find the TB and retreive it from a cache. I guess ideally this would solve everyone's problem, but I don't think that is going to happen too frequently.

 

So, I am back to the original reason for the Travel Bug Sheets: COMMUNICATION, BEING INFORMED. The owners need to put tags or whatever on their TBs before placing the TB in its first cache. Make it small, make it big, put it in a baggie, don't put it in a baggie, BUT at the very least let other people know what your TB's goal is when they find it and want to send it on its way again!

Edited August 19, 2004 by TeddyTexas

[Pto]

The owners need to put tags or whatever on their TBs before placing the TB in its first cache.....Make it small, make it big, put it in a baggie, don't put it in a baggie, BUT at the very least let other people know what your TB's goal is when they find it and want to send it on its way again!

 

Purely opinion. To me, the "Travel Bug" printed on the tag should be enough. Its #1 goal is To Travel.

 

If anyone is confused, they need not take it from the cache. Simple. Or take it, then check the Bug page Before dropping it again.

 

I dont understand why this is such a Big deal to some, that they feel the need to force this on others- We all participate in our own way, and most of us hate being told what to do.

[+AuntieWeasel]

Look, it's absolutely clear that your intent is to do something nice for people by making a goal sheet or passport for their bugs and I have no doubt a great many TB owners would agree with you. It must be puzzling and annoying to find that some don't. I don't want to punish a good deed to the point of churlishness...but surely the default position should always be not to alter a bug without asking, even if the alteration is something nice, like a repair..?

[+n5psp]

I release weather resistant bugs, they have a goal but just traveling is a good option, if you can't help its goal, take it anyway and move it as long as you log it it is OK. 10,000 mile detour is better than sitting in a cache for a year or two.

 

I don't tag my bugs but if they get tagged i wont be "mad" i just ask that since they are weather proof PLEASE DO NOT bag them, tagging is ok i guess though.

Now I like the idea of weather resistant travel bugs.

[+CrimsonWrath]

Look, it's absolutely clear that your intent is to do something nice for people by making a goal sheet or passport for their bugs and I have no doubt a great many TB owners would agree with you. It must be puzzling and annoying to find that some don't. I don't want to punish a good deed to the point of churlishness...but surely the default position should always be not to alter a bug without asking, even if the alteration is something nice, like a repair..?

Ding! Ding! Ding!

 

We have a winner!

[+globalgirl]

...but surely the default position should always be not to alter a bug...

Ding! Ding! Ding!

 

We have a winner!

 

Aaaaaaaa-MEN! Precisely.

 

Clearly flask's point is - it's HIS dang TB thankyouverymuch, and the DEEfault should be: Thou shalt do NUTHIN' w/ a TB unless you KNOW what the owner wants.

 

What IS it with you folks who keep arguing the point? You persist in whining about how HE should do this and that to guide you, how HE needs to be polite, how HE needs to communicate, yada yada. Poppycock! It's HIS TB. and it's YOU who needs to (jeepers-kriminy!) simply ASK before you go tweakin' a TB, period.

 

It's real simple (read-my-lips): if YOU haven't taken the trouble to look up the TB's mission before you started pokin' in the cache - and you find one w/o a tag.

 

JUST LEAVE THE BLOODY TB BE!

 

Trust me, somebody else (a bit more uh, conscientious) will have gone to the trouble to look up the TB's mission, and will kindly take it and move it - WITHOUT NO STUPID INSTRUCTION MANUAL ATTACHED!

 

geesh, pass the tylenol fly46...

[+wildlifeguy]

Sorry but I have to agree 100% with Flask on this one. I don't like added sheets. As I stated in a previous thread, I have 12 bugs based on the characters on South Park. They were designed to fit into micro caches (35 mm canisters). Adding a goal sheet, feathers, your mothers underwear will make it impossible for the bug to go! Also, some well intentioned idiot placed one of my bugs with the wrong sheet!!! Now my WLG Eric Cartman bug is travelling around southern Germany with the sheet for my WLG Ike Broflowski. THis is why I like the idea of ASKING THE OWNER before changing the bug.

 

I think it was flask who stated in the other thread "if you can take the time to print a card and attach a bag, you have the time to ask it this would be a welcome gesture"

 

WHere is the common courtesy of an email???

 

Peace!