Geokarma

[+Kai Team]

In the context of giving back to the game, and setting aside arguments over cache quality for the moment, should everyone who seeks caches also hide caches? If so, is there a "good" ratio of finds to hides?

 

I've been thinking about this lately and it seems that a 25 or 50 to 1 ratio is about right - i.e. I should try to hide and maintain one cache for every 25-50 that I find, with an upper hide limit of what I can effectively maintain.

 

What are other people's thoughts about caching karma?

[+AuntieWeasel]

If so, is there a "good" ratio of finds to hides?

I really wanted to hide earlier than I did, but I very much wanted to make good hides. The sort of caches I most like to hunt, in locations I can regularly maintain. Unfortunately (but, of course, fortunately) I live in a cache-rich area -- all my favorite parks were long since taken.

 

I had done a hundred before I hid one. I've now got a whole two, and I'm pleased with them both, but neither one is the long hike in the woods I love best.

 

I never dreamed it would be so hard to find where the public hiking land is. Between city, state and national parks and privately-managed trusts, there are all sorts of great public places, but I can't find one easy source to tell me where.

 

Some of these things show up on topo maps, some don't. Some show up on hikers' web sites or mailing lists, some on state park websites, some on the sites of private land trusts. What I've done so far is look for 'cache-blank' areas in places easy for me to visit, then start tunnelling down for more information. Including driving around aimlessly.

 

I like hiding. I'd up that ratio considerably if I could, but it's just not that easy.

[+wolves shepherd]

For me, hiding just doens't seem to make sense. I have to move every couple of years with my job plus I don't have a great deal of time to cache. If I hid I'd eat up most of my cachable time maintaining and then have to archive or handoff.

 

There have to be other ways to "give back" any ideas?

[+mozartman]

Man, I guess I was too eager! I placed my first cache after I found like my 10th cache! and right now I only have 30 finds but I have 4 caches hidden... and people seem to like them, mainly because of locations, the caches themselves are nothing special, pretty typical.

 

I think people shouldn't feel any pressure but should do what is right for them... some people like hiding them and have more time for maintenance, some do not... you have to figure out what you can realistically do and what you can't. I am probably at my limit right now... that's my two cents.

[+AuntieWeasel]

There have to be other ways to "give back" any ideas?

CITO. Write interesting logs. Help newbies on the forums. Introduce somebody to the hobby. Trade up. Clean up nasty looking caches. Replace leaky containers. Carry extra log books or nice new Ziploc bags. Make an interesting web site.

 

Or don't worry about it. The phrase "give back" always makes me think "but I didn't take anything away!" And you didn't. You don't have to "give back" nothing

[+cachew nut]

Or don't worry about it. The phrase "give back" always makes me think "but I didn't take anything away!" And you didn't. You don't have to "give back" nothing

Gotta love these discussions about karma or even the Butterfly Effect.

[+Mudinyeri]

Hmm ... my son and I hid our first cache after finding only one. I'm not sure we can keep up the 1:1 ratio but I think it would be nice to keep it around 1:10 or 1:15 ... all in keeping with giving back.

 

Of course, I may include some McToys in my hides so that would bring me bad Karma according to some. Still I know kids love 'em and a lot of kids 'cache in my area so I don't feel bad about it.

 

Some day I plan to put together a real challenge cache targeted at adults. Don't worry McToy haters, it won't have any McToys in it - maybe a new GPSr, compass, first aid kit, $100 bill and some golf tees.

Edited November 8, 2004 by Mudinyeri

[+TresOkies]

There is no ratio, plain and simple, and don't feel pressured into maintaining some artificial number. Place as many as you wish and no more than you can maintain. If you like to find and don't really like to hide, feel no guilt, although please show your appreciation to the hiders by maintaining the quality of the caches you do find.

 

Three years ago we felt like we needed to maintain a certain level, just so that there would be decent coverage. With so many people active in geocaching these days, we are more than covered (at least in the urban areas of the US). I would prefer it if everyone maintained one or two really good caches than a bunch of mediocre ones.

[+nfa]

As we have seen in some of the reponses to the original post, geodogma often chases geokarma down the block yipping and trying to bite the tires...

[+AtoZ]

I have a 1 to 10 ratio so far but I enjoy making new hides. I do not just drive down the road and throw a ammo can in some bushes. I try to make an entertainment value so it take time and planning and a very active imgination. I think it is better not to hide if alls you do is place a film container in a bush on some street corner. But if you like to make it interesting then go for it. Most my hides are difficulty of 3+ and the ones that aren't have a theme or some point of interest.

cheers

[+The Puzzler]

There have to be other ways to "give back" any ideas?

Just keep on playing.

Trade fair with interesting items.

Share the sport with others.

And post logs that are written with care and interest.

[+fly46]

A 50 to 1 ratio? If that's the case, I have 2.5x as many hides as I should.

 

I say play the sport the way you want to - and try to better it any chance you get.

[+nfa]

My part of the world (the Adirondacks in Upstate NY) has a low cache density, so my goal in placing/hiding caches has been to look for obvious gaps in type/difficulty/terrain and try to fill those gaps.

 

I'm a teacher, and am going to be teaching an intramural sport offering using the school's compasses and 6 GPSrs to teach orienteering and GPS navigation and geocaching.

 

nfa-jamie

[+necron]

I find it very hard to hide caches as i'm in the military and move quite often... I had one cache where my wife was living (she maintained it) but removed it as i moved again.

[+ZackJones]

I don't think there should be any requirement to hide a cache, ever. I've hidden 4 and archived one after it got washed away. My biggest fear is if there were some sort of find/hide ratio that we'd see even more crappy caches place just so folks could maintian the required ratio. A 25:1 ratio would require someone who has found 1000 caches to have hidden 40. That's a lot to ask, IMO.

 

Zack

[CoyoteRed]

You should only hide as many as you feel comfortable with.

[+MarcB]

We've got a thread like this going on in the UK forums at the moment - my cache ratio stands at 1:4.07 at the moment. Personally, it is the quality of caches that you hide and not the quantity that is important.

MarcB

[+CWalker]

Eh, I see nothing wrong with simply looking for caches, yet never planting one of your own. The key, I think, is to leave each cache you do find in the same, if not better, condition than you found it. This is my goal at least. Clean up the area, sprinkle some wildflower seeds about, remove dirty, filthy trinkets, and replace with items of distinction and merit.

[+Renegade Knight]

It's all relative. Some people can get a kick out of hiding caches. Others being cache angels and providing the dry log, or replacing a zip log bag. etc.

 

There is no real rule about it. I've done over 50 hides (some adopted out) and have about a 10 to 1 ratio. That ratio is falling because I'm now interested in more elaborate caches. I've got a night cache I'm working on. I just went and got a bunch of slate tablets and ordered special paint. I'm not done yet, It won't be ready until the spring. However it will be a cut above normal whent it's done.

 

I'm working on another cache that has been 6 months at the back of my mind. When it comes out, I'm hoping that a few cachers will think it's the most fun they have ever had chasing down a cache. It might be 6 more months before I can pull it together.

 

Do what you can, with what you have, as you can. It's enough.

[+Snoogans]

My numbers show 278, although it's really more like 300 found. (Still logging caches from my vacation.) I have hidden 32. I am just above a 1 in 10 ratio, but there hasn't been any planning involved. It just worked out that way.

 

I enjoy being a hider equally if not more than being a finder. I'm not nearly as excited about a new cache to find as I am for a new cache that I have hidden. I just hid two this weekend and I haven't found a cache since mid August.

 

There have been many threads like this. (Some very negative.) What amuses me are the people that hold others to their own standards. They think that if you don't participate in EVERY part of the game that you are somehow taking from it. Some hope to find validation in their feelings of superiority to those that don't hide caches. I don't get it, but it does provide entertainment.

[+Kai Team]

There have been many threads like this. (Some very negative.) What amuses me are the people that hold others to their own standards. They think that if you don't participate in EVERY part of the game that you are somehow taking from it. Some hope to find validation in their feelings of superiority to those that don't hide caches. I don't get it, but it does provide entertainment.

Indeed it does. I started the thread because, as I said, "I've been thinking about this lately and it seems that a 25 or 50 to 1 ratio is about right". Although it was implied, I should have added "for me" (I'm at 27:1 right now, and it feels about right, for me).

 

I was curious how others think about the issue, and I assumed that there would be diversity of opinion (there always is in the forums) I would have been disappointed (and astounded) if there was a unanimous chorus of: "The correct ratio is 23.7 to 1". I had no intention of imposing a rule on others, and appreciate that no one else who's posted to this thread has tried to do that!

 

The comments about the other ways people "give back" besides hiding caches, and the reasons they do this rather than that, have also been informative and in tune with my thoughts on caching karma. I would add that people who do nothing but look for caches respectfully (respectful of people, places and things) "give back" by protecting/maintaining/ehancing the reputation of geocaching.

[+fly46]

Another thing I do is that if I am going to trade for something that isn't an equal trade (with a good reason, and I've only done it twice) is to make sure the next cache I go to I leave extra stuff at...

 

IE, if the cache is too full to leave something of equal value (or anything at all), then if you even it out in the next cache you go to.

[+BigWhiteTruck]

Wouldn't the average ratio of finds to hides for the average cacher be equal to the average number of finds for the average cache?