Polling West Tennessee Geocachers

[+Spencersb]

Just wanted to solicit some opinions, from my fellow West Tn cachers. Took a six mile hike today with several of the "locals," and as you can imagine, you've got time to talk about a lot of stuff on a six mile hike! The question came up about GOWT. No, not because our feed hurt, although they did , I mean GOWT, Geocachers of West Tennessee, soon to be immortalized on the official GOWT coins that Primofam was kind enough to spearhead for us.

 

During that discussion, it arose that GC.com doesn't consider us a "recognized organization." Question is, is there any interest in making us one?

 

All right, I can hear all of the Memphis people groaning...I'm NOT talking about recreating the Middle Tennessee concept here, that's too organized! I'm just talking about having a logo, maybe an email list, and an "official" contact, a point person for communicating with other orgs and GC.com. We "might" consider membership cards. We might have a meeting...once...every year or so.

 

I'm not politicking for the job (what job?), I just want to see what everyone else thinks.

 

You may fire when ready...

 

Edited for crappy typing!

Edited November 14, 2004 by Spencersb

[+bitbrain]

I'm cool with GoWT. It sounds as good as the Disorganization of MidSouth Geocachers.

 

Besides, with you as our leader, what could go wrong?

 

/cue bulldozers

[+southdeltan]

GC.com doesn't recoginize any group officially YET. That project is still in the works.

 

I'd stay away from mailing lists, setup forums instead. You'll have a lot more participation.

 

Php-Nuke or CPG-Nuke are good options for a complete website system. If that's above your abilities there are plenty of free forums out there as well.

 

If you build it, they will come.

 

I imagine if you had forums specifically for WT, you'd have a lot more participation than you do on the GC.com forums.

 

sd

[+Bartster]

I wouldn't mind being a part of an 'organization' or 'disorganization' or whatever, as long as it doesn't cost me anything (or much $, anyway), and I don't get kicked out for missing meetings. If it moves toward more of a time committment, my involvement with the group will wane, but not my 'caching activity. With everything I already commit my time to, I don't have much time left for caching, much less civic groups. If others want to step up and take the reigns, I'll support you. I do think it's a good idea to have some sort of group from West Tn that can voice a collective opinion, from time to time, for what it's worth.

 

Everyone who votes for spencersb for president, stick out your tongue!

 

 

[+Spencersb]

With everything I already commit my time to, I don't have much time left for caching, much less civic groups. I do think it's a good idea to have some sort of group from West Tn that can voice a collective opinion, from time to time, for what it's worth.

 

I agree, Bart, most of us (except Hoot Owl of course )are already too busy to even cache as much as we want to, let alone attend a bunch of useless meetings! I'm thinking something more rudimentary, maybe a simple website, membership cards, a couple of central contacts. Surely we have someone that can help set up a simple website if we can secure a cheap host. I know how to use them, but know nothing about designing them. Southdeltan's Nuke ideas are greek to me, I know what they are but nothing about using them.

 

As you say, this would be just some way of giving "us" a "voice". Any membership fee would be pocket change, if anything at all, can't imagine we'd have many expenses besides webhosting. Last time I had my own site, it was $15 a month, domain name registration and all. WWW.GOWT.ORG is available, btw.

 

I'd also like to see us develop some sort of cacher's code of ethics, a (strictly) voluntary set of guidelines; trade even/up or don't trade, CITO when you can, pledge to maintain your hides, promise to put some thought into them instead of just chucking a hide-a-key at a guardrail and hoping it sticks, that kind of stuff. Maybe some other groups have been there/done that.

 

A local group would be a nice place to refer someone like that reporter that contacted some of us a few weeks ago. Wonder if we'll ever see an article in the CA?

 

Bit seems to think I have access to heavy equipment, can you use a backhoe to build a website?

[+Gibbenator]

:angry:

 

I think SD has a point with the forums. We rode on the coat-tails of MemphisTW.org for a while with some loose forums but if we had our own domain with Php-Nuke or something similar, I think things may become a little more organized and we'd have a common place for posting and polling. Most folks in other regions surrounding us already have a forum home so to speak. We as a group are still using the good ol' GC.com forums. Nothing wrong with that, hey, it's free. Anybody know of a place that would host us for a little bit of change? Just a thought........

 

I'm FOR organizing to promote the sport locally and to have a common posting place for questions or concerns that pertain particularly to our region, but I have to agree that it doesn't need to be anything like MTGC.

[Canadian Bear]

Well, this will be my first forum posting! Thanks Spensersb for asking, and once again spearheading a worthwhile discussion.

 

I like the idea of an increased level of organization in West TN. To be honest, the Internet side of things is not a big deal for me; I already have no time. But I feel a bit more organization might enable us to 1) attract more people to geocaching, and 2) give advocacy to our hobby with area park rangers and community groups. That side of things is of interest to me.

 

Just my two cents . . . Canadian though they may be, and therefore worth 1/3 less!

[+tnicemgr]

Thanks for the request to get involved. Yes I am for doing something for West Tennessee. When I first got introduced to this Rzncain had been doing some reading up and wanted us to start something up around our area. Of course we did not know what all might be involved and after the meeting we had in Jackson it may be more to it then we wanted. I will support this in any way and time that I have to devote to this great sport. The only thing is currently we do not have alot of active cachers from Dyersburg. Some of the earily caches were placed by someone outside the Dyersburg area. Since then I have placed a few to try to draw more attention to the sport in this area. If we could organize thisWest Tn geocachers group we might could also set up a display/or training session in local areas trying to get more involvement and also learn more about the sport and the equipment. I will be the first to sign up for training because I just got my new GPS legend color in and need to figure out how to use everything. I also vote for spenser or hoot or Bartster or bit or gibb or well anyone that will get it started and keep the fire burning. I think it is nice to have a gathering every so often just to get new ideas and get fired up all over again. Maybe three or four/ year. Have a special topic to talk about and just get to know people better. I realize that we already have the funky -four and now it sounds as Canadian Bear now is part of the Funky -Five from the Memphis area. It's hard to compete with that in our location. I'm in just let me know where I can help. Also by the way if any one is interested I have a brand new Magellan Meridian Gold never been used for sale. Just get back with me if interested Thanks.

Edited November 15, 2004 by tnicemgr

[+Tuck Sackett]

Here is my tongue for Spencersb. My feelings are almost identical to those of Bartster with a dash of Gib and a bit of Bit. With a "name" and some literature it could open doors to allow us to place caches places where we have trouble placing them now. It might also help if we want to promote the sport with a display at a wellness fair or do a presentation to a group (its the teacher coming out of me). I would like a local forum for a selfish reason. I would use it to find someone to go caching with me when I go after some of the more backwoods caches as a safety factor, that would relieve some of my wife's stress. She likes it better when I am with someone else and sends the rewards with me. Count me in. I will do whatever I can to help.

 

One of the Five

[+primofam]

That's me voting for SpencerSB. Well, I guess being the "Inventor" of the GOWT name, I will put my 2 cents worth in. I am in favor of being formally organized. I agree with many of the quotes. I don't have that much extra money to offer (especially if I don't sell all these coins!!!) but I think it is worth. I like the website idea. Neat to know that GOWT.org is not taken yet. I agree with the setting up of guidelines about trade items and the general way you leave a cache. It always warms my heart to think there is a travelbug waiting for me and when I get there, someone has traded it for a copy of a dollar bill!!! Not picking on anyone but we do need to put more thought into our trades to keep the quality of our caches up and up.

 

I understand that with more folks being in Shelby county that the "hub" would be near there. Would love for it to be closer to home but I can deal with that .

 

Thanks for bringing this up SpencerSB.

 

P.S. Everyone keep ordering GOWT geocoins.

 

Get me some GOWT Coins!!!!

Edited November 15, 2004 by primofam

[+Spencersb]

Okay, great input! Thanks to all, and please continue to post. Two questions:

 

Does anyone know where we could get webhosting? Yahoo does it, and pretty cheaply ($12 a month), but the capabilities are pretty limited.

 

Does anyone know any of the leaders of other organizations who could give us some tips on getting started?

 

I appreciate the tongues ...um, wait, that didn't sound right! I mean I appreciate the VOTES. I can and will help spearhead the startup and serve in some "capacity", but I'd rather not be the president, or emperor, or whatever we end up calling him/her. I want to avoid even the appearance that I started this ball rolling just so I could be the big cheese!

[+southdeltan]

Okay, great input! Thanks to all, and please continue to post. Two questions:

 

Does anyone know where we could get webhosting? Yahoo does it, and pretty cheaply ($12 a month), but the capabilities are pretty limited.

 

Does anyone know any of the leaders of other organizations who could give us some tips on getting started?

Yes, and Yes.

 

I'll send you an email.

 

southdeltan

[+Tuck Sackett]

Spencersb,

You might want to check out these sites for ideas and /or possible contacts

 

http://webpages.charter.net/awhitster/poisonoakcachers

 

http://www.coloradogeocaching.com/

 

http://www.houstoncachers.org/

 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SATXgeocachers/

 

Hope this will help.

 

Tuck

[+Spencersb]

Thanks, Tuck. Once I got home and out from behind my bank's firewall I was able to access the sites just fine. I'm checking on a hosting service now.

 

Next question: What features would you want the website to have? What do you NOT care anything about having? Here's my thoughts:

 

Yes: Forums, email (at least a way to contact the leadership directly from the site), a calendar for coordinating event and meetings (what few we'd have), a membership database

 

Maybe: Links to other sites

 

Don't care: Stats

 

NO!: banner ads or popups

 

Any other ideas?

 

Tks!

[+Bartster]

How about a place to recommend caches that are particularly worthwhile, whether they are in West TN or not. They could be sorted by state.

 

That was just my initial thought.

[+Jamie Z]

Since I was asked to respond to this thread, I will. Otherwise I would have only observed.

 

I'm in the minority that I have little interest in "promoting" geocaching. That aspect of forming a group doesn't interest me.

 

With regards to having an organization to assist with permission, etc, I like that idea. I think GC.com fills this function well, but a local group/website couldn't hurt.

 

I like that this is not a Memphis group, but rather a group that includes Memphis.

 

If there were meetings occasionally, I'd probably like to attend for the social and beer-drinking benefits.

 

In general, I am opposed to forming an organized group. However, I can see the merits of such group, therefore I'd probably be partially involved. In fact, I have a few items I'd like to bring up at the next meeting.

 

Jamie

[+Spencersb]

How about a place to recommend caches that are particularly worthwhile, whether they are in West TN or not. They could be sorted by state.

 

That was just my initial thought.

Great idea! I have NO clue how to make a website do that!

 

Seriously, before we get much further, we're going to need a webmaster. I just don't have the skills to do it. I'm willing to front the website (as long as we're still just talking about $10-20 a month, I'm not independently wealthy, or even DE-pendently wealthy), but We'll need someone to set it up and run it. This could be the expensive part unless we have someone in the area who knows php-Nuke and MySQL. Those seem to be the most popular suggestions I'm getting.

 

Any volunteers?

 

Anybody want to volunteer someone else?

[+Spencersb]

I hate going into a lot of detail out here in the open , but until we get our own website with our own forums, I guess it beats spamming the email boxes of all the cachers I know!

 

I'd like some input from the group on the "rules". In general, the fewer the better, but we've got to have a few. Here's my initial thoughts:

 

1. Membership will be free. What do you think about offering "Founding Member" status to the first few who sign up and pay a nominal fee, $5-10, just to get us some cache...I mean, cash, to set the website up, buy supplies to make membership cards (which I can do), etc? Maybe then offer "Charter Member" to anyone who signs up in the first 3-6 months?

 

2. No one has to attend anything. The only exception would be those who voluntarily accept a leadership position. We still don't HAVE to meet, necessarily, but if you're gonna lead, you gotta lead.

 

3. I'm no parliamentarian, but I suppose we need at a minimum, a president, a VP, a secretary (who should also be the webmaster and keep the membership database), and a treasurer (always keep the money separate). I suppose we need a charter, and it should specify how leaders are elected and what the succession order should be.

 

4. No one will be kicked out for anything, except really being a jerk! You know what I mean, trashing caches, trashing cachers (verbally, forum abuse, etc.), or placing a film canister under a light pole at Walmart (just kidding, sort of). The same kinds of things that would get you kicked off GC.com. There should be no minimum level of participation.

 

5. Since we won't have regularly scheduled meetings, the group doesn't need a "hub." As someone else said, the greatest number of cachers may be in/near Memphis, but this is a WEST TN group. I assume we all agree on basic geographic boundaries, for whatever they are worth, E to W between the rivers, and N to S between the state lines?

 

Lastly, PLEASE feel free to make ANY suggestions. If you don't want to do it here, email me at spencersb@aol.com. I certainly don't want to give the impression that I am hijacking geocaching from the folks around here that have been at this for years. I've only been at this for 6 months, I certainly don't have all the answers, or even know all the questions!

 

Happy caching!

Steve

[+bitbrain]

Since I was asked to respond to this thread, I will. Otherwise I would have only observed.

 

I'm in the minority that I have little interest in "promoting" geocaching. That aspect of forming a group doesn't interest me.

 

With regards to having an organization to assist with permission, etc, I like that idea. I think GC.com fills this function well, but a local group/website couldn't hurt.

 

I like that this is not a Memphis group, but rather a group that includes Memphis.

 

If there were meetings occasionally, I'd probably like to attend for the social and beer-drinking benefits.

 

In general, I am opposed to forming an organized group. However, I can see the merits of such group, therefore I'd probably be partially involved. In fact, I have a few items I'd like to bring up at the next meeting.

 

Jamie

Me too.

 

Except that I've worked with the folks at Shelby Farms and at the Olive Branch City Park System in organizing events and caching policies and have taken a CA reporter on a cache hunt for an article (along with CWL). So I suppose I've done a little bit of geocaching promotion.

 

I might have some points to bring up at a meeting, but I'll probably forget what they are before I arrive.

 

I hope our North Mississippi & East Arkansas friends will be welcomed, too.

 

If someone could get Sonoma to start caching again, he'd make an excellent webmaster.

[+Spencersb]

I hope our North Mississippi & East Arkansas friends will be welcomed, too.

 

If someone could get Sonoma to start caching again, he'd make an excellent webmaster.

My opinion is that membership should be open to anyone. Just because you don't live here doesn't mean you don't geocache here. Heck, I've got 26 finds in Washington State and a membership in their association for when I visit the mother-in-law in Seattle.

 

I don't know Sonoma, ya think he (she?) would be be interested?

 

How about Mitsuko, does she know php-Nuke?

[robertlipe]

Since you've said several times you don't want to be like MTGC, I'll resist the urge to give advice, but will offer help and answer any questions you have that I can answer. Feel free to ask.

[+bitbrain]

Since you've said several times you don't want to be like MTGC, I'll resist the urge to give advice, but will offer help and answer any questions you have that I can answer. Feel free to ask.

It's nothing against MTGC, Robert. We just aren't generally that organized about anything on this end of the state. Take a look at our local government situation & you'll see what happens when we try to be organized.

 

MTGC does a great job of working with the parks and educating the masses. I applaude you and Joe for your efforts there. Heck, Joe & SouthPaw attended the first geo-picnic we hosted here in the West and gave us some encouragement.

[+Tuck Sackett]

While I have never had the privledge of meeting Robert Lipe I would like to thank him and the other MTGC cachers for the good times I have had hunting their caches. I also appreciate his articles on using a Magellan GPSr. I will be needing even more help after Christmas when I get to unwrap my new Merigold.

 

Thanks to everyone for their comments. Beside finding a webmaster, what do we need to do next? Is there anyway to bring this idea to the attention to other area cachers who may not read the forums? Should we have an event cache to get organized ? If so, any ideas for a location that would be accessible to those in NW TN and the Jackson area as well as Shelby county?

 

Keep those cards and letters coming in while it's raining, Oh wait, we cache in the rain too.

[+Spencersb]

Thanks to everyone for their comments. Beside finding a webmaster, what do we need to do next? Is there anyway to bring this idea to the attention to other area cachers who may not read the forums? Should we have an event cache to get organized ? If so, any ideas for a location that would be accessible to those in NW TN and the Jackson area as well as Shelby county?

Aren't you supposed to be guarding coasts this weekend?

 

Finding a webmaster is the next real step. Without a webpage with our own forums, what's the point? ('course, some would say "What's the point" anyway, but...) But really, if we don't have enough interest to even start a website, we probably don't have enough interest to have an organization.

 

If we can get a webmaster, then we should probably have an event cache. At this we could have signups. I'm thinking maybe the first few that sign up and pay $10 are "Founding Members," everyone else pays $5 and is a Charter Member. Charter Membership is available for six months, and after that, everyone's "just" a member. Dues are $5 a year, to quote a fellow cacher, "if it's free it ain't worth nothin'."

 

Jackson is the most geographically centered location, Memphis is (probably) the population center. Nominations should be made for the officers (like I said earlier, I'm thinking a Pres, VP, Sec, and Treasurer, plus one at-large member to break ties, and have these five form the steering committee). This should include cachers from all across the region, not just Memphis and Jackson. Nominations would have to be accepted, no drafting or volunteering someone else. If accepted, a ballot could be emailed to all members and officers elected to serve for 1 year. Same thing next year, yada, yada, yada.

 

I'm still wide open for suggestions! Keep 'em coming!

[+primofam]

I'm telling ya, this is sounding better all the time. Put me in as a founding member.

 

I like the general rules SpenserSB has described. We could get input from the "members at large" and periodically have an "organized" CITO event or something. Perhaps being able to utilize the new geocaching video that will be available at the end of the month.

 

I think Tuck Sackett mentioned educational opportunities. The video would be great as well a maybe a slideshow presentation/powerpoint. Until I saw a blurp on CNN Headline news back in April, I had never heard of geocaching. Now I'm hooked.

 

I agree with the Pres, VP, sec, and Treasurer idea. That only adds to the organizational status that GC has not "recognized" yet. I would also agree to $5 or so a year membership dues. Could I just go ahead and pay up for a decade or something because I will forget to pay The dues will help offset the website charges and perhaps a few "give aways" at any given meeting.

 

Gosh, can we get membership cards and a secret decoder ring? . Just joking there, or was I .

 

Steve, thanks again for getting this rolling. Your new title is "El Heffe". Later!

[+Spencersb]

Gosh, can we get membership cards and a secret decoder ring? . Just joking there, or was I .

 

Steve, thanks again for getting this rolling. Your new title is "El Heffe". Later!

The membership cards I can do, I've already got the stuff to do them. I'm not very artistic, so if someone else wants to design them, that'd be great! I'll have to do some checking on the decoder rings, maybe to decode cache page hints?

 

What does "El Heffe" mean? I lived in Florida for a while, and "heffe" sounds like something the little hispanic immigrant kids used to call me! I don't think it was a compliment!

 

I tried a Spanish-English dictionary and it translated the Spanish "El heffe" into the English "The Heffe", gee thanks

[+primofam]

 

I like the translation into the same word lol!

 

It means "the boss" or "the chief"

 

My spelling is probably not correct. This is from Portuguese but they don't pronounce letters like americans or spanish speaking folks. I'm just hooked on phonics!!!

Edited November 20, 2004 by primofam

[+Spencersb]

Well, the GOWT organization has it's first 2 founding members! Me, of course, and Hoot Owl paid his $10 today before we went out after a cache. Unfortunately, that $10 was the only cache, I mean cash, we got today! River bottoms are WET!

 

Tried to rope him into being our webmaster, but his years at IBM were not in programming. The last language we both knew was Assembler!

[Canadian Bear]

Steve:

Count me in too as a founding member! I can get my $10 to you some time soon, or hide it in a box in the woods, give you some numbers and make you find it! That is if you can beat Hoot to the cache! Oh, yeah. No one in this area beats Hoot to a cache.

No strong opinions here on organization, purpose, etc. Your direction appears to be excellent, as always.

Thanks.

[+Spencersb]

Steve:

Count me in too as a founding member!  I can get my $10 to you some time soon, or hide it in a box in the woods, give you some numbers and make you find it!  That is if you can beat Hoot to the cache!  Oh, yeah.  No one in this area beats Hoot to a cache. 

You're in. Of course, your dues would be $11.93!

 

Maybe we can borrow Gib's tire boot so I can beat Joe out to the cache!

 

I'd just a soon not start accepting funds until we have a treasurer. No sense in taking it in until we know where it's going. The Steve Spencer Foundation is not 501c approved

Edited November 21, 2004 by Spencersb

[+Bartster]

Just a post to let you know I'm still watching the thread. Not much to say, 'cept I'm in at $10 too. Now I just have to ask my wife for the money and . . . .

[+primofam]

Hey, I was thinking............. gears are turning.

Do we need a "for real" website? Geocities does free hosting.

 

I have geocities and then I've got a bogus link to get there.

 

www.primo.isclever.com

 

Just a thought.

[+Spencersb]

Hey, I was thinking............. gears are turning.

Do we need a "for real" website? Geocities does free hosting.

 

I have geocities and then I've got a bogus link to get there.

 

www.primo.isclever.com

 

Just a thought.

I've thought about geocities, or yahoo groups, or some other "piggyback" service, but it's really not that expensive, or that difficult, to have our own site, and the capabilities are MUCH greater. All we need is someone that has a working knowledge of php-Nuke. I've been reading the documentation on it, but I just don't think I'd have the time or skills to do it right. I could probably cobble something together, but it would LOOK cobbled together!

 

Love your URL, you should sell it for millions, then you could donate us enough $ to set up a real site!

[+Spencersb]

How's this look for a membership card? It's pretty basic, but I think it looks okay.

 

I took the liberty of modifying Mike Primeaux's great GOWT coin logo.

Edited November 25, 2004 by Spencersb

[+Spencersb]

Hope everyone is having a nice thanksgiving, I've been watching Peyton Manning single-handedly carry my fantasy football team to the top of my league!

 

I am looking at planning an event in January to "officially" get us started, since we're all busy enough during the holidays! In the meantime, we could start taking nominations for the officers. Please email me your nominations for the following 5 Steering Committee positions:

Pres., VP, Sec/membership director, treasurer, 1 at-large member

 

You can either specify which position your nominee should hold, or just give me a name. I'll contact them to let them know that SOMEONE (no names) has nominated them for a position and see if they are interested. Nominations will be held open until Dec. 31. Then I will distribute a ballot by email, and we can vote at the event. If you can't attend the event, you can email me your ballot to be voted by "proxy."

 

I suppose we can begin accepting memberships, too, if y'all trust me (hey, I am a Trust Administrator, right?). I'll hold all funds received until I can turn them over to the duly elected treasurer. If we incur any expenses between now and then, I'll front them. Founding memberships are $10 and are available until the day of the event. Charter Memberships will be $5 and will be available for the first 6 months. After that, everyone is $5 annually. You can PayPal me at spencersb@aol.com, or mail it to:

 

Steve Spencer

12056 Hidden Trail Dr

Arlington TN 38002-4565

 

or just give it to me if you see me.

 

If anyone has any questions or better ideas, please post them here, PM me here, or email me. I'm headed to East TN for the weekend and will have limited connectivity, but I'll do my best to get back to you right away

 

Thanks to everyone for your support!

Steve

[+Spencersb]

Anybody still out there?

 

As a precursor to having our own website, I've set up a GOWT group at Yahoo groups:

 

GOWT

 

Feel free to post there, or here. And spread the word!

 

Membership currently stands at 3!

Edited November 29, 2004 by Spencersb

[+Bartster]

Too bad, my internet filter blocks Yahoo! Groups. Guess I'll have to settle for conversing on GC.com Discussion Forums!

 

Regardless, I just sent my Charter Membership fee via PayPal. Make that 4 members.

Edited November 29, 2004 by Bartster

[robertlipe]

Spencer is right. A "real" web site can be had for < $50 a year that include php-nuke, mailing lists, forums (php-bbs) and several GB/month of web hosting. (As perspective, MTGC has never gone over 1/4 GB a month and it hosts my FAQs in addition to the MTGC stuff.)

 

I spent _way_ more than $50 in personal grief stitching together the hodgepodge of personal web sites, domains, forums, and "freebies" into the MTGC site once I decided we were ready.

 

My (unasked for) advice: find the $50 up front and don't look back -otherwise the poor person that has to clean it up aftward will thank you. Add in the $8/year for a godaddy account and claim your domain now and you can have all the computer services you'll need for a long time ready for your computer dude once you find that person.

[riverchaser2wo]

I'll send the $10 to help you get started. We are not the hardcore cachers that some of you appear to be but we try to find time to do some caching on our camping, Jeeping, canoeing, visitin' family trips. Hope to find a few around Lake Charles, AR next weekend and more in/around the "Big Easy" between Christmas and New Years. If anyone has cached those areas and has suggestions/warnings please feel free to let me know.

[tanner77]

Hi everyone, I am very very new to all of this, and I reside in the west TN (Collierville area to be exact) and would like to be be a part of or help out with this in anyway possible. It would be nice to be able to ask some fellow cacher's in my area about some of the caches they are finding and what areas have some good finds,and what not.

 

I know someone suggested this earlier, but Dot Net Nuke is a great platform for setting up fourms and message boards, I helped start up a group for some adult pc/console gamers and we used Dot Net Nuke. This is how I found out about geocache in the first place, someone posted up a link to the website thus starting my new hobby.

 

Anyway, I think it would be a great idea to have a west TN group and would like very much to help out in anyway I can. I can get you any information about how to set up a dot net nuke server and what we used to build our community.

[+jbgreer]

Greets, people. I'm probably a bit newer than most to geocaching. That said, I do have some technical expertise and advice on running a group, since I've help start a non-profiit before and have administered high volume mailing lists before. Just to be clear

- the purpose of the group is what?

[ to organize local cachers? provide a convenient forum in which to discuss caching and local caching activity in particular? to advocate geocaching? to educate folks on how to cache? to be a social organization that's tangentially connected to caching? ]

[[ Yeah, I know, but if you ever do want to be a non-profit, your reason for existence becomes important. ]

 

- Dues are for what?

[ Paying for a website and the attendant fees, i.e. domain name registration

[ Pot to paying for custom geocoins? Pot to pay for cache gear like ammo boxes? ]

 

- Meetings?

[ Real or virtual? Or both? Or neither? ]

 

Generally, I'm game. I've only met one other cacher so far (Benfoolery), aside from my good buddy Mackheath. I'll send in $$, SB.

 

I do think that the group should target N. Mississippi, East Arkansas as well as Memphis and the surrounding suburbs, cities, towns, villages, wide-spots-in-the-road.

 

jbgreer

[+Spencersb]

Welcome, jbgreer! To answer your questions: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, no...

 

Oh... okay. The purpose? All of the things you list. Mainly to give us a place to "talk" in "private," and a unified front to advocate geocaching with landowners and managers. I'd like to see us do some limited training/promotion at outdoors fairs and stuff like that, too.

 

Dues will pay mainly for the website, once we get one. Some occassional expenses like paper, postage, stuff we're just fronting right now. NOT for the geocoins, though I'd like to be able to put in a system for Primofam to be able to take orders for the coins he already had made. We might also look at Cafepress to get some tshirts and stuff made, too. Dues might be used to pay for rental of a pavilion or something for an event cache, that will be discussed by the leadership once it is Shanghied...I mean "elected."

 

Meetings will be occassional and optional, NOT a requirement for membership. Some of the leadership meetings will be "virtual" (email, chat, etc.), but the leaders will probably meet more often than the org itself. Leaders maybe 3-4 x year, with one or two event caches a year, in addition to others who like to hold their own event caches (Bit's Hotwings event, for example).

 

Membership will be open to anyone, regardless of geographic boundaries. I'm sure we will probably have some involvement in N MS and E AR just because of proximity.

 

Tentative meeting date looks like Saturday 29 January in Mason at either Bozo's or Gus's, IF I can get either place to set us aside a room. This is subject to change if the current poll takes a different turn, I'm basing this on "exit polls!"

[+Spencersb]

Nominations for founding officers will close on Friday. Ballot will be sent in early January to everyone who has signed up at the website here, and anyone else who has paid their $10 but hasn't signed up on the website yet. Votes will be tabulated and announced at the founding meeting, most likely 29 January in Mason TN.

 

Nominate your 5 favorite West Tennessee geocachers by Friday! I will contact them to see if they are interested before placing them on the ballot.

 

Thanks to all who have lent support to this effort!

Edited December 28, 2004 by Spencersb

[+BigDaddyD]

I'm new to Geochaching and was on the internet looking for a group close to home where I could possibly find further information about local geocaching. Found groups in Memphis, Nashville and Chattanooga but had been unable to find one near the "Golden Circle" of Jackson. Needless to say, I was very glad to see this forum and feel it is a great idea.

[+Spencersb]

Founders meeting has been scheduled!

 

GOWT Founders Meeting

 

Still time to join as a Founding member and vote for the first officers!

 

GOWT Yahoo Group

[+Bartster]

I'm new to Geochaching and was on the internet looking for a group close to home where I could possibly find further information about local geocaching. Found groups in Memphis, Nashville and Chattanooga but had been unable to find one near the "Golden Circle" of Jackson. Needless to say, I was very glad to see this forum and feel it is a great idea.

Nice avatar BigDaddyD!! I like it!!

 

SpencerSB, it would probably be a good idea to start a new thread about the GOWT founders event. That way people may notice easier, and not confuse it with "the same ole thread" that's been on here a while.

 

Judging from the number of posts already, it looks like there will be quite a few people there. I'm looking forward to it.

 

Bartster

[+Spencersb]

Good idea, Bart. And to reduce clutter, I'll CITO this thread!