Suggestion To Improve Geocaching As A Hobby

[+Imajika]

Okay, maybe I did get the wrong idea from the post and following replies. I thought it meant that caches should be archived for no other reason than they have been around 'long enough'. I do apologize and must explain that I am on meds for a broken toe right now and I not 'all there' right now!

 

So everyone ignore my post. :lol:

 

Maybe I should take a nap and stop posting. LOL!

[+sbell111]

This argument that caches should be archived once all the 'locals' have found it makes me laugh. Who are these 'locals'? All active cachers within 5 miles of me? 20 miles of me? What about the twenty new cachers that will be active once Christmas rolls around? Who said the cache was just for 'locals'? There are plenty of people who pass through and might like to find this cache. I know I like to find caches in other areas, even though I'm not a local.

 

Archiving caches is not a solution for not having enough caches to find. Look further from home. Hide a few more. There are still plenty of places to hide them , I'm sure. Get your friends involved in the hobby. Maybe they'll hide a few.

 

Archiving caches, however, results in less caches, not more. There is no reason that a well maintained cache should ever have to be archived.

Edited September 5, 2004 by sbell111

[+BlueDeuce]

This argument that caches should be archived once all the 'locals' have found it makes me laugh. Who are these 'locals'? All active cachers within 5 miles of me? 20 miles of me? What about the twenty new cachers that will be active once Christmas rolls around? Who said the cache was just for 'locals'? There are plenty of people who pass through and might like to find this cache. I know I like to find caches in other areas, even though I'm not a local.

 

Archiving caches is not a solution for not having enough caches to find. Look further from home. Hide a few more. There are still plenty of places to hide them , I'm sure. Get your friends involved in the hobby. Maybe they'll hide a few.

 

Archiving caches, however, results in less caches, not more. There is no reason that a well maintained cache should ever have to be archived.

Would you believe that I don't disagree with you?

 

I'm going on a family picnic right now, so when I can I'll outline the idea on email so we don't bother people with the minor details until later. Fair enough?

[+strikeforce1]

I thought it meant that caches should be archived for no other reason than they have been around 'long enough'.

 

Hey Imajika, first off, get well soon.

As Co stated in another thread, think of new caches to place.

Yupp, give those painkillers a hand, they work great. Their my candy - not by choice - for over 10 yrs.

 

And yes, you are right!

It meant that caches that are around long enough, would get archived!

 

Remember: "Your two cents" are worth a lot more than someone's $2 bill, that nobody wants. Your two cents make sense.

And you shouldn't need to apologize, for your opinions, either .

 

And if my caches only get hit once or twice a year, so be it. They still mean a lot to me, for finding the hiding place! SF1

[virgo91967]

It seems to me that the general consensus on this matter is that placing 'expiration dates' is not needed and not wanted by most for it would not improve the quality of the sport but just add extra work ( not fun) to the cache owners with the only side benefit being higher numbers. It ahould the responsibliity of any cacher with hides to maintain them and to retire them on a case to case basis as determined by local conditions.

 

There , how ya like dem apples?

Told yall i ought been a politician

I am KING of the run on sentence!!!

Edited September 5, 2004 by virgo91967

[Dreadnought]

Some areas are being saturated with caches. There are only so many parks. As more people begin geocaching they would like to hide one but since the area is saturated its hard to hide one in an origanal location. So we end up with lame caches, multicaches placed in a .5 acre park next to someones back yard. It should be up to the hider to determine if he should archive a cache or not. Give someone else a shot.

If you have a cache that is getting old. Remove it, archive it, and wait awhile if no new caches are placed in the area you can feel comfortable placing a new one in that area. Be a good sport about it. Any new caches in your area will be easy finds to pad your stats.

[+BlueDeuce]

nevermind

Edited September 6, 2004 by Elf Danach

[+Team Perks]

Looks like I missed the initial feeding frenzy on this cache, but thought I'd chip in and add my two cents.

 

I don't have the time, or desire, to move a cache a few feet every few months, write a new cache page, etc. What benefit is that going to do other than allow people to find what is basically the same hide over and over and over? If I had to replace all of my 50 or so active caches every few months, I'd have to just archive them. So instead of people having those 50 caches to find, there would be zero.

 

As far as archiving them when the "locals" have found them, how do you define a "local"? I've found all of the caches I'd consider to be local to me, and I'm fine with that. And I don't really think it would matter to the guy who goes out and finds 3 or 4 caches a couple times a year. I can't think of a single person in my area who would benefit.

[gpstrekkers]

Warning, I'm going to ramble a bit. I feel that there should be no set time on a cache. The particular area in which we cache is not saturated. We've done caches that are a fairly long walks and somewhat rough terrain, but I've got to see places that I didn't know existed in my neck of the woods. I've checked back on some of them to read the logs after we have been there. What I sometimes see is a cache may go 2-3 months before someone else finds it and they go on about the view or something else unique about it. That is what I feel is important to the cache hider.

 

Back when I first received a gps for buying an atv in '96 or '97(Magellan 2000) I just kinda tinkered around with it. Then I set it aside. When the Meridian series was introduced, I knew I had to have that Platinum model. With mall gift certf. in hand after christmas. I walked out of Radio shack with new toy in hand and wife just sighing. So after a month or so I was on the internet looking for info on this model and came across this site gpsinformation.net and at a link at the bottom was geocaching. After a couple of clicks on the mouse I yelled to my wife "we've got a new hobby".

 

Time is our problem. There is always alot of family stuff going on. Kids in sports. And now more driving time is going to be a factor. I can see how an area with alot of caches could be redundant. But that may appeal to those who like numbers. I know I was starting to get envious of those with tons of finds and wondering, how do they find the time? For some folks hobbies come and go. But, I do think that there are enough good hiders out there to keep the sport fresh. We introduced a couple to geocaching. They now own a gpsr and loving the adventure it brings. I say, if its possibe, take someone along. They may really like doing it. Also, it's possible they may end up being good hiders or have access to good hiding areas.

 

Anyhow, nuf said...tired of typing.

[+SquirrelNutKins]

My suggestion is aimed at turning caches over and to get existing ones re-hidden at new locations so that veteran goecaches have local caches to hunt

 

No...please God No...anything but that....

 

About a year ago I really slowed down geocaching after completing about 125 sorties...certainly not because there were not any more caches to find, but there is only so many "micro" caches that one can take. In the early days, a Geocache was placed because there was something of interest that a person wanted others to enjoy...later the opposite seemed to occur (hey, there is a abandoned parking lot behind a building next to the freeway...perfect place for a Geocache)...and with this the quality of the cache seem to go down. Not all new Geocaches are this way, but it seems to be a disturbing trend. Having to go a refind a gladware in these locations because it has been moved from one nettle bush to the next 200 yards away will definately drive more people away.

 

New caches come on line, but not with the regularity with which I would like to go geocaching.

 

which of the existing 4917 Geocaches and the 20 to 50 new Geocaches that appear weekly and are within a 100 mile radius of Davis, CA are you referring to?

 

I noticed some threads here in the forums that suggest that losing interest, when there are few new local caches, is common.

 

If you were to look at the other threads, I would venture to say that you could find the same number or more threads that would indicate poor cache quality is the loss leader, not the quantity of caches in an area.

 

And many of the folks who have lost interest are not here to speak for or against the proposal. I suspect I will be joining them in a few months.

 

Hynr, you have made so many suggestions in the last month or so indicating your frustration with this website. Maybe you *should* take a break, do something else, then come back. Remember, this is a leisure time activity...it is a game...you are supposed to have fun...relax....

[+StarBrand]

I feel the need to add my "rural" perspective here. Driving 200 miles (roundtrip) to get 1 or 2 caches is common for me and several local cachers. If we want more than 15 - 20 finds we are forced to drive distances to them. Also, I travel to towns 200 - 300 - 500 miles a way to grab caches - some that I have kept my eye on for a year or two. My first geocache had no finds for 7 weeks. It had less than 15 in the first year and stands at less than 50 finds after 2 1/2 years. Another of my caches sits under up to 20 feet of snow 10 months a year. An expiration date on these would be a shame. Get with your local groups and encourage "churn" if you want but realize that 70% or more of the landmass out there is far from saturated and for many finding 20 to 50 caches a year is all we want to do. I would hate to see some kind of random zigzag movement just to beef up stats for glory seekers. If I had to rehide - rewrite every year or so on my 41 hides, I would never have time to find any new ones. By the way how's a better than 4:1 ratio?? (I have to or no one around here would have anything to search for!!!)