Tb Without Information Sheet

September 6, 2004

I'm guessing this isn't new but I'm sure you'll tell me if it isn't. Lately I have found some TB's without information sheets. I know I can bring them home, log in and find out the details but while I'm out there I'm making a decision on whether or not to take it. I don't know where the bug is going so I'm not sure it's a good idea to take it. All TB's should have info sheets.

24.7k · September 6, 2004

If you want to take a TB do so. When you get home read it's goal. If you can help then by all means help. If you can't then get it back in circulation.

If you have a bug without a sheet, the owner can't expect anything different and probably doesn’t

All bugs don’t need a sheet as bugs are owned by individuals who have their own tastes and preferences. Some think a sheet is tacky. Others would never release a bug without one.

September 6, 2004

OK. Works for me.

September 7, 2004

All bugs don’t need a sheet as bugs are owned by individuals who have their own tastes and preferences. Some think a sheet is tacky. Others would never release a bug without one.

Tacky? Really?

1.1k · September 9, 2004

All bugs don’t need a sheet as bugs are owned by individuals who have their own tastes and preferences. Some think a sheet is tacky. Others would never release a bug without one.

Tacky? Really?

absolutely!! i find it rather anoying when i open a cache and find a huge ziplock bag with some tb and a huge laminated card attached. and yes its tacky!!

as far as im concerned ALL bugs/tb's missions are to travel, either in local caches or elsewhere, but travel. so grab what ya want, take it home and read up on it.

September 21, 2004

when i set out to go caching, i generally look up what tb's are in the area, and i'll see what their goals are before i pick it up. if i happen upon one, i may or may not pick it up (moods differ) and decide later whether i can help or not. if i can't help, it goes out in a local cache in a few days. if i can help, i email the owner and let them know when.

--april

2k · September 21, 2004

when i set out to go caching, i generally look up what tb's are in the area, and i'll see what their goals are before i pick it up. if i happen upon one, i may or may not pick it up (moods differ) and decide later whether i can help or not. if i can't help, it goes out in a local cache in a few days. if i can help, i email the owner and let them know when.
--april

I'm with you April. I check on the bugs mission before I go out caching.

1.2k · September 21, 2004

as far as im concerned ALL bugs/tb's missions are to travel, either in local caches or elsewhere, but travel. so grab what ya want, take it home and read up on it.

Soooo... if you are on a trip hundreds of miles from home, and you find a bug with no tag, it's perfectly fine to just grab the thing and fly it home, even if it loses months of travel towards a goal in a completely different direction? Expecially when it WAS pretty close to it's goal?

Hmmmm... what is honestly tackier and really more annoying, completely messing up a TB's mission for a long time or just having some little laminated card attached to it?

Edited September 21, 2004 by Sparrowhawk

8.8k · September 21, 2004

Some travel bug owners do not want anyone to add a laminated tag or even a plastic bag to their travel bug. If you know ahead of time that there is a travel bug in the cache, check it's mission before you head out. If you find one in a cache with no instructions, you can still feel free to take the travel bug. You never know how moving a bug will help it in the long run, but moving is better than sitting.

22k · September 21, 2004

Assuming the sheet hasn’t been lost, A TB without a goal sheet either has no specific goal, or the owner wants you to learn about the goal on line. Either is fine as long as the owner with the on line goal understands that without a sheet there is an increased chance that the bug will stray off target. If I am confused about the purpose of the TB, I just have to decide how badly I want it. If I take it and later find I can’t fulfill the requirements, I doubt I’m going to be making a special trip to put it back in the same place. If it was that important you better include some goals with it.

I personally do add a goal sheet, even ones without goals, specifically so that cachers aren’t wondering whether they should take it or not. So far my bugs have been waterproof and have a luggage sized laminated tag which helps cut down on care requirements. Is it a good idea to include one? Eh, maybe, that’s debatable, but I don’t think we should be telling people they HAVE to include one.

2.6k · September 21, 2004

If I'm caching around home, I'll take any bug that strikes my fancy unless it is tagged and I know I can't help it towards its goal. Then when I get home I'll pull it up and If I can help it towards it's goal I will. If not, I'll get it back into a cache as soon as I can and let someone else have a go at it.

If I am caching away from home where I have internet access and more caching to do, I'll do the same thing, but If I don't have access, or if I am not sure I will have another opportunity to cache in that area later, I won't take an untagged bug.

just my 2/100

September 21, 2004

My TBs don't usually have goal sheets, I just don't feel a need for it, either pick it up or not. They may have goals, but they are long-term and not the point really. The journey is much more fun.

I agree that it should not be any sort of requirement. After all, some of my favorite bugs have been tiny ones that fit in micros, but a info sheet would be too big.

September 21, 2004

my tbs don't have goal sheets either, but they also don't have particularly specific goals either. one wants to hop around (superfroggies) one wants to be in states near water (wind & ocean, though may have been lost to hurricane ivan while in destin beach), one wants to bring solace to any cache (weeping buddha) and the one that does have a specific goal is barkley the wonder pup, but he wants to see the NFL cities, and there are so many of them that i don't know that it matters where he starts off going. :laughing:

--april

1.1k · September 22, 2004

as far as im concerned ALL bugs/tb's missions are to travel, either in local caches or elsewhere, but travel. so grab what ya want, take it home and read up on it.

Soooo... if you are on a trip hundreds of miles from home, and you find a bug with no tag, it's perfectly fine to just grab the thing and fly it home, even if it loses months of travel towards a goal in a completely different direction? Expecially when it WAS pretty close to it's goal?

Hmmmm... what is honestly tackier and really more annoying, completely messing up a TB's mission for a long time or just having some little laminated card attached to it?

like i said already, a bugs goal is forst to travel, and the stated goal second. IMO...

I never tag my bugs, even ones with specific goals.

heres one of mine thats a perfect example...My Bug

its goal is to travel to maine, a local cacher grabbed it up in a cache and moved it to Quebec Canada! i said Cool, it went 2400+ miles!! i hope it reaches maine some day, but at least its traveling...

Heres another one of mine MTS TB

it wants to travel around the country visiting other transit systems (its a local transit keychain on a tb tag) instead of around the country, its in sweded now! cool, it went 5000+ miles to another country!!

i unfortunately dont get to cache as much as id like, i have family and i work 10 hour days and get little sleep at times, so its cool to just see the emails that my bugs are moving! especially to tother countries! im 29 and have never been out of the US! unless you count mexico, which is hardly worth counting, right next store and not even a passport is needed, so i dont consider that travel out of the country..

anyways, enjoy the game however you want to play it.

1.1k · September 22, 2004

Just because a TB has a goal sheet attached doesn't mean it will always travel in the proper direction. One of my TB's Zack's Mustang started off in SC and was supposed to go to San Antonio, TX. It left SC and went to Delaware and from there to California. At least it's moving. My other mustang Andrew's Mustang hasn't made it out of the starting cache yet

Zack

3k · September 22, 2004

Just because a TB has a goal sheet attached doesn't mean it will always travel in the proper direction.

I would go so far as to say few TBs with a goal sheet attached travel in the proper direction or achieve their goal.

But there's no harm in trying.

1.9k · September 22, 2004

if i find an untagged bug.... ill grab it.... if i find a find a tagged bug and i can either help it or atleast NOT hart it's mission ill grab it.

no tag = fair game to move as you please.

September 22, 2004

as far as im concerned ALL bugs/tb's missions are to travel, either in local caches or elsewhere, but travel. so grab what ya want, take it home and read up on it.

Soooo... if you are on a trip hundreds of miles from home, and you find a bug with no tag, it's perfectly fine to just grab the thing and fly it home, even if it loses months of travel towards a goal in a completely different direction? Expecially when it WAS pretty close to it's goal?

Hmmmm... what is honestly tackier and really more annoying, completely messing up a TB's mission for a long time or just having some little laminated card attached to it?

I would have to vote the card is tackier...

22k · September 22, 2004

Tacky or not, don't forget that laminated tag is also going to help when someone wants to keep your cute little toy with a cute little dogtag as a trade item. They aren't checking for anything on line.

Edited September 22, 2004 by Elf Danach

September 23, 2004

Tacky or not, don't forget that laminated tag is also going to help when someone wants to keep your cute little toy with a cute little dogtag as a trade item. They aren't checking for anything on line.

And exactly how is that going to help? If the want to keep it they will simply remove the tack little laminated tag, the little TB tag you spent $4 on, and give that cute little toy to their cute little 4 year old...

22k · September 23, 2004

Tacky or not, don't forget that laminated tag is also going to help when someone wants to keep your cute little toy with a cute little dogtag as a trade item. They aren't checking for anything on line.

And exactly how is that going to help? If the want to keep it they will simply remove the tack little laminated tag, the little TB tag you spent $4 on, and give that cute little toy to their cute little 4 year old...

Well obviously if they intentionally take it. I'm talking about the people who don't understand it's a travel bug.

Snoogans' TB longevity strategy #4. Just the tag, in most cases, is not enough. TB goal sheets, the TB page, or a TB Passport, really let it be known that the item in question is in fact private property that has been left in public trust.

Edited September 23, 2004 by Elf Danach

September 24, 2004

Tacky or not, don't forget that laminated tag is also going to help when someone wants to keep your cute little toy with a cute little dogtag as a trade item. They aren't checking for anything on line.

And exactly how is that going to help? If the want to keep it they will simply remove the tack little laminated tag, the little TB tag you spent $4 on, and give that cute little toy to their cute little 4 year old...

Well obviously if they intentionally take it. I'm talking about the people who don't understand it's a travel bug.

Snoogans' TB longevity strategy #4. Just the tag, in most cases, is not enough. TB goal sheets, the TB page, or a TB Passport, really let it be known that the item in question is in fact private property that has been left in public trust.

Does the tag not say Travel Bug on it any more?? Seems like the "I did not know it was a TB" excuse really holds no water. This is right up there with people that find 2 caches then immediately hide 10. Learn the game, read the guidelines, play like you know what you are doing...

22k · September 24, 2004

When ‘it’s obvious’ is enough for people without common sense to follow directions then I will agree with you. Until then I’ll do it my way and you do it yours.

22k · September 24, 2004

Ok, that was pretty much a flame response, but I said it so I have to stand behind it.

My point is that travel bugs live a precarious life. If you want to increase the chance of longevity you have a few options. Granted those options may increase your chance by a small percentage, but of those options, adding a tag is to magnify the directions listed on the gc.com provided dogtag. If that won’t do it, I don't know what will. I picture parents allowing their children to rummage through the toys without giving their kid’s selection a cursorily glance. A flag might catch their attention. I don’t think that tags will protect your bugs for years, but if you want to increase your odds, add one.

If you read my early post I said “Is it a good idea to include one? Eh, maybe, that’s debatable, but I don’t think we should be telling people they HAVE to include one.” I seriously don’t think that an extra tag is absolutely necessary and if you don’t want to add one, then don’t. Several bugs I have found without added tags I've managed to pass on without delay. But if you are looking for every extra chance to keep your bug in circulation, then it might be a good idea to advertise that this object is more than a trade item. If you don’t think it’ll help…ok, then don’t take my advice, but don't tell me there is no room for improvement.

Edited September 25, 2004 by Elf Danach

1.1k · September 27, 2004

As an avid TB player who travels for a living, and thus loves to carry TBs to different parts of the USA and Canada and put mega mileage on every TB I move, here's my $.02:

"Goal tag" or not, if you release a TB out into the "world", you take your chances. I take and move every single TB I find, and I either move them to another cache promptly, or I hold them (not an unreasonable time, but maybe a few weeks if applicable) until I have a high-mileage trip coming up (and I make it a point to advise the TB owners whose TBs I'm holding that I have them and that they're in good hands awaiting a high-mileage trip), and if I can help them toward a goal, I do (case in point: http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=7623 ), and if not, I still take 'em anyway and move them along SOMEWHERE (nearer to goal or not), and hope another finder can help it along after I drop it.

I've logged and moved over 350 TBs, and I have received exactly ZERO complaints from TB owners, even if I've moved a TB thousands of miles further away from its "goal". I logged the grab and drop correctly for correct mileage credit and correct accounting for its location. That's all any TB owner has any right to expect.

If any TB owner were to Email me with a complaint that I moved it "too far from goal", that TB owner would get the following response from me: You release a TB out into the world, you take your chances. I logged the TB properly, that's as much as you can ask from anyone (and frankly, MORE than you can hope for, given how many newbs take TBs and don't learn how, or can't comprehend, the simple "extra steps" required to log them correctly).

End of rant...

-Dave R. in Biloxi, MS

2.5k · September 28, 2004

I had a TB that I released on July 3 with a goal sheet. It made it most of the way to it's goal by July 17th, with only one other cacher (the one that got it with it's goal sheet). From that point, it had 6 or 7 weeks to go 60 miles to complete it's goal.

Now, either it lost it's sheet or the next cacher was either a butt or didn't know what he was doing, but from where it was, it was taken 300+ miles out of its way, dropped in a cache, and not logged in. Another cacher found it later while doing routine maintenance.

Sheets are only helpful if they don't get ruined/lost/not read/taken/etc.

Now then, chances are if it doesn't have a sheet, the owner doesn't care if it gets moved anywhere.

And as a bug owner, I'd rather have a bug moved out of the way than have it sit for 3 months and not get logged.

September 29, 2004

Seems to me, if you're worried about moving a bug in the wrong place, and didn't find the goal sheet attached, don't get it. Leave it for someone that can see the sheet before caching to get it.

I religiously check TB's in the caches that I am headed to after picking up a TB that can only go in 5's on the difficulty scale or FTFs. I don't necessarily do it for the bugs sake, but my sake too.

VW

8.8k · September 29, 2004

A new tag design is being made up. Any comments you want to make on the design should be stated now. Check out this thread.

October 13, 2004

While I don't have an info sheet on my own TB, I must admit it would be handy. I recently brought a TB down to Florida that had been bouncing around Alabama before falling into my hands in GA. The TB's goal was to make it to the Springfields in the US, of which Florida has two. I took the TB to within 30 miles of one of Florida's Springfields, and just yesterday noticed that someone picked it up and carted it 200 miles back up into Alabama, where there is not a Springfield. So, the lack of a mission card (or the finder's ignorance of the online goal) led to the TB going back in the wrong direction. Not the end of the world, but perhaps a little frustrating.

Yeah, while I'm at it:

[rant]it's is a contraction for it is, ie: it's traveling. Since you would not say "it is goal," you also wouldn't say "it's goal," you'd say "its"[/rant]

2.6k · October 13, 2004

I, too, check on TB's I'm likely to run into before I set out on a caching day. And I'd think twice before I took an unlabeled bug on a long trip.

On the other hand, if a bug has a very specific mission, it would behove the owner to tag it before releasing it. What I do is trace the outlines of the dogtag onto a bit of cardboard, cut it out and write its mission on it with what has been described as my "little teeny tiny psychotic handwriting." Works a treat, and it actually adds to the look of the thing. We'll have to see if those tags get moldy or smelly with time.

Of course, I don't much care if my bugs stay on-topic (though I really enjoy it when people play along).

October 18, 2004

Yeah, while I'm at it:

[rant]it's is a contraction for it is, ie: it's traveling. Since you would not say "it is goal," you also wouldn't say "it's goal," you'd say "its"[/rant]

are we an english major?

i was, and i do the same thing. it also grates on my nerves with the many forms of "there" ... there. hehe. :anitongue:

Tb Without Information Sheet

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