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Why Use Other Geocaching Sites?

GeoBlank

By GeoBlank
in General geocaching topics

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GeoBlank

+GeoBlank

Posted
Posted (edited)

I am curious who uses other geocaching sites and why?

I have found everything I need right here and wondering if supporting one primary site will help keep consistency and longevity in the hobby.

 

(I specifically did not mention those other sites in case people do not use them... why advertise)

 

I realize the internet is a big place but I would prefer all caches in my area to be available in one spot. Also to upload the same cache into multiple systems seems kind of silly.

 

Just wondering your thoughts.

Edited by GeoBlank
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carleenp

+carleenp

Posted
Posted

I prefer to keep all of my records at one place and have chosen this place. I am registered on other sites though to keep track of what is going on in the area. Others like to use several sites for various reasons. Also in some cases the other sites will list something that can't be listed here. In the end it is a matter of personal preference.

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Greymane

+Greymane

Posted
Posted

I have looked at other sites, but this is THE place to be. At some sites, I can't find a single cache within reasonable distance of my home. Here, the listings just flow (and I don't live in a very populated area!). You can't beat this site for organization, volume of users and area of coverage.

 

Just my two cents.

 

And, showing support to the major power in caching can't help but strengthen the game. Certainly a centralized base gives a stronger front in dealing with issues that arise. :(

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RuffRidr

+RuffRidr

Posted
Posted

When companies have a monopoly on a commodity they tend to get complacent. Having competition is a good thing. It get sites to innovate and come up with newer, and sometimes better ways of doing things. New companies in an arena often will often take chances on edgier, untested ideas that an established company might not be willing to try.

 

Like others in this thread, I have chosen this site as the place to list my caches. Right now I think it is the best. That doesn't mean I am married to this site forever. If any other site starts to approach the offerings of this site, I may have to take a good long look at switching.

 

My $.02,

--RuffRidr

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briansnat

+briansnat

Posted
Posted (edited)

Some of the other sites have looser guidelines. Things like virtuals, travelling caches and other types that are banned here are fine on the other sites. Some people like that. Then there is a population of malcontents who use those sites either because they got themselves banned from here, or just have a bug up their nose about GC.COM.

 

I don't use the other sites because they are missing one thing - cache listings.

Edited by briansnat
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Mr.Benchmark

+Mr.Benchmark

Posted
Posted
I realize the internet is a big place but I would prefer all caches in my area to be available in one spot.  Also to upload the same cache into multiple systems seems kind of silly.

 

I'm glad things are working out so well for you. There's a lot of good things to be said about this site. However, since you asked, I end up using other sites most of the time now.

 

I would also prefer all caches in my area to be available in one spot, but unfortunately there's quite a lot of them in my area on this site that I'd prefer to avoid. It's enough so that sorting through them and finding the ones I like takes more effort than I want to put into it. (In all fairness, the site has provided much, much better tools for managing this recently.) My opinion is that this site should seriously consider these issues, but many here, perhaps most, don't seem to agree with me on this. So I've taken the advice of all the people here who've told me "if you don't like it, don't hunt it", and look elsewhere now. Perhaps this is just a local issue, or maybe I'm too picky, or some type of ornery malcontent who'll never be happy with anything. It's unfortunate - no doubt I am missing out on some very fine caches here. (I am skipping several hundred nearby ones that I won't enjoy, though.) Again, others seem to be having fun, so maybe it's just me.

 

BTW, Not all sites allow cross-posted caches. Some require unique listings.

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clearpath

+clearpath

Posted
Posted
I'm glad things are working out so well for you. There's a lot of good things to be said about this site. However, since you asked, I end up using other sites most of the time now.

 

I would also prefer all caches in my area to be available in one spot, but unfortunately there's quite a lot of them in my area on this site that I'd prefer to avoid. It's enough so that sorting through them and finding the ones I like takes more effort than I want to put into it. (In all fairness, the site has provided much, much better tools for managing this recently.) My opinion is that this site should seriously consider these issues, but many here, perhaps most, don't seem to agree with me on this. So I've taken the advice of all the people here who've told me "if you don't like it, don't hunt it", and look elsewhere now. Perhaps this is just a local issue, or maybe I'm too picky, or some type of ornery malcontent who'll never be happy with anything. It's unfortunate - no doubt I am missing out on some very fine caches here. (I am skipping several hundred nearby ones that I won't enjoy, though.) Again, others seem to be having fun, so maybe it's just me.

 

BTW, Not all sites allow cross-posted caches. Some require unique listings.

The woeful reasoning of a mal-content ... hehehe.

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Find Now, Log Later?

Find Now, Log Later?

Posted
Posted
I am curious who uses other geocaching sites and why?

I have found everything I need right here and wondering if supporting one primary site will help keep consistency and longevity in the hobby.

All I can say is, why not? I think it's great that you "find everything right here" that you want, but "there are other fish in the sea."

 

From a personal standpoint I find that the the other sites are missing on thing - cache listings

 

Yes, well, there is very little incentive for people to seek caches listed on other sites that are also listed here. But I found your statement somewhat surprising, because in your years of geocaching, you've sought only a miniscule percentage of the caches this website has listed in our region. (I conclude from that fact only that the sheer number of cache listings has been of little importance to you.)

 

I'm surprised more people don't create caches unique to other listing services that exploit the differences in rules/policies you mentioned. I suspect that if people did so, the other services would receive much more traffic.

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Moose Mob

+Moose Mob

Posted
Posted

I has some here, and some there. A couple were in really cool locations. I felt like I was being selfish by having them over there and not sharing them with people here, just for a couple measily points.

 

Caches are meant to be shared.

 

Caches should be rewarded because people find them, not because people don't find them. But that's just my opinion.

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Mr.Benchmark

+Mr.Benchmark

Posted
Posted
The woeful reasoning of a mal-content ... hehehe.

Do feel free to point out the errors in my "woeful reasoning", rather than just taking a cheap shot. If it makes it any easier, go ahead and heap on some ridicule at the same time - but please do try to respond substantively.

 

To the OP, I would say you might well want to ask this question on other caching sites, as well. It's not unreasonable to expect that most on this site will prefer it - they are here, afterall. The majority here do not use any other site, while my experience on other sites has been that a good many who do use an alternative listing site also use this one. So they might be in a better position to answer your question. Unless your question really was intended to be "Why on earth would you use any other caching sites besides geocaching.com?" If I misunderstood the intent of your question, then I apologize for taking the discussion off-topic.

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BCR

BCR

Posted
Posted (edited)
...the angst is dripping off that one

 

Thanks for the all your wisdom, clearpath. :ph34r:

 

I started using another site that focused on cache quality after growing tired of wading through countless thoughtless hides (I'm talking really low quality hides in my area).

Edited by BCR
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Tsegi Mike and Desert Viking

+Tsegi Mike and Desert Viking

Posted
Posted

Yesterday was the first day we went caching with cache listings from 2 sites. It was a blast! We had fun choosing the caches we would go to. In reviewing my logs from the first year I was caching, it seemed that we found more interesting caches than we have lately on this site. The caches nowadays seem to be placed without thought to quality of the cache. I find it hard to believe that all the good caching sites are taken either. Ive found that my creativity is revived with the alternative caching sites. This will still be the main website for me, but I do like having alternative websites to fulfill my desires in geocaching. I also plan on giving to those alternative websites (whether monetarily or in the form of listings) so that people can have some choices.

 

 

(No Im not a renegade. I dont want to place caches illegally in areas banned by land managers. I love caching.)

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Jeremy

Jeremy

Posted
Posted
In reviewing my logs from the first year I was caching, it seemed that we found more interesting caches than we have lately on this site.

That's pretty funny. I went out with some other geocachers recently and they found a cache that was listed on another web site. It was less than 10 feet away from a cache hidden 2 years prior to theirs. I kid you not. And it was a lousy cache to boot. Not that I'm biased.

 

Really it is bewildering how many neat things you can do with GPS why you'd just try to be another "me too" site. I understand the "Evil Jeremy" phenomenon (I mean I'm pretty unlikable in person) but seriously. Why hasn't anyone come up with a cool idea for locationless caches? I could tick off 5 ideas on one hand that have some interesting implications for GPS.

 

Yeah. I get it. Some sites create features that have "more bran" or "low-fat" or whatever. But how different are they really? If they ever get popular they'll have the same growth issues as this site does.

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El Diablo

+El Diablo

Posted
Posted

There are basically two other sites, Navicache and Terracaching.

 

Navicache dosen't really offer anything unique. They pretty much just cross post caches that are listed on GC.com, so why bother?

 

Terracaching is a totaly differrent concept. First you have to have not just one sponser, but two in order to be accepted. If you are not a well known name it may be awhile before you are sponsered. Currently there is one person over there now that has been waiting six days for a sponsership. If one of your sponsers leaves or for some reason withdraws sponsership, you are back to step one. It's like belonging to a country club I guess. No riff raff allowed in there. I will say that they do have some good ideas however.

 

The only thing that both sites offer is types of caches that are no longer allowed on GC.com. Virtuals, (although GC.com still allows those in a very strict sense.) Locationless cache, (which really aren't caches at all.) and moving caches.

 

So once again why bother?

 

El Diablo

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Sagefox

+Sagefox

Posted
Posted (edited)
...The only thing that both sites offer is types of caches that are no longer allowed on GC.com. Virtuals, (although GC.com still allows those in a very strict sense.) Locationless cache, (which really aren't caches at all.) and moving caches.

 

So once again why bother?

Ditto what the Diablo said.

Edited by Team Sagefox
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jimmyreno

+jimmyreno

Posted
Posted
There are basically two other sites, Navicache and Terracaching.

 

Navicache dosen't really offer anything unique. They pretty much just cross post caches that are listed on GC.com, so why bother?

 

Terracaching is a totaly differrent concept. First you have to have not just one sponser, but two in order to be accepted. If you are not a well known name it may be awhile before you are sponsered. Currently there is one person over there now that has been waiting six days for a sponsership. If one of your sponsers leaves or for some reason withdraws sponsership, you are back to step one. It's like belonging to a country club I guess. No riff raff allowed in there. I will say that they do have some good ideas however.

 

The only thing that both sites offer is types of caches that are no longer allowed on GC.com. Virtuals, (although GC.com still allows those in a very strict sense.) Locationless cache, (which really aren't caches at all.) and moving caches.

 

So once again why bother?

 

El Diablo

I posted at Terracaching and the next morning had 5 offers from people willing to sponser me.

If you post there you should say what city/geographical area you live at.

 

It's not a problem, they use the 2 sponsers to "review" any cache you want to list, unlike the system here where caches are approved by "volunteers" who are selected by someone. (Don't tell me how the volunteers are selected, cause I don't care.)

I don't think they're into the parking lot micros like some of the people here.

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Clan Riffster

Clan Riffster

Posted
Posted
There are basically two other sites, Navicache and Terracaching.

I went through the sign up process for Terracache, and got 4 sponsorship offers in a matter of minutes. Once "inside", I looked around, did a cache search and the closest one was over 50 miles away. There were only 5 within 100 miles of home. Some things I liked about there site was the "No Cross Posting" rule. That tells me that when & if they ever do pick up down here, all there listings should be new, to me.

 

They seem to be competition oriented, which doesn't appeal to me, but then again, I wouldn't need to focus on that aspect of their site. The thrill for me is in the hunt & the find, not in having more "points" than somebody else.

 

I like diversity, and I suspect that in a few years Terracaching will have a presence here. Then I'll be better able to judge which one I prefer. Never heard of Navicache. Gotta check 'em out!

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Renegade Knight

+Renegade Knight

Posted
Posted (edited)

I seek where the caches are. I list where the site most closely meets my personal idea of what geocaching should be. Which is to say, my time, my caches, my money will go to a site that is member owned and non profit. This site is by far the best, but sometimes life is not so simple as that.

 

There is no site that meets that description today. But there are sites that are closer than others. One of them gets the lions share of my new cache listings and I no longer cross list. Since that means locals will have to branch out to seek my caches I try to place caches worth looking for. Today I placed one in an urban glade. It's the kind of place you would never think to visit, but have driven by a thousand times while the deer watch you.

 

In spite of all that I just got permission for a cache concept here and I will place a GC.com only cache this weekend. It has a special purpose and that purpose is best served here. I'm not done with GC.com but it's not my only focus.

Edited by Renegade Knight
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graldrich

+graldrich

Posted
Posted
I seek where the caches are. I list where the site most closely meets my personal idea of what geocaching should be. Which is to say, my time, my caches, my money will go to a site that is member owned and non profit. This site is by far the best, but sometimes life is not so simple as that.

 

There is no site that meets that description today. But there are sites that are closer than others. One of them gets the lions share of my new cache listings and I no longer cross list. Since that means locals will have to branch out to seek my caches I try to place caches worth looking for. Today I placed one in an urban glade. It's the kind of place you would never think to visit, but have driven by a thousand times while the deer watch you.

 

In spite of all that I just got permission for a cache concept here and I will place a GC.com only cache this weekend. It has a special purpose and that purpose is best served here. I'm not done with GC.com but it's not my only focus.

What can I say but,ditto!

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Tsegi Mike and Desert Viking

+Tsegi Mike and Desert Viking

Posted
Posted (edited)
In reviewing my logs from the first year I was caching, it seemed that we found more interesting caches than we have lately on this site.

That's pretty funny. I went out with some other geocachers recently and they found a cache that was listed on another web site. It was less than 10 feet away from a cache hidden 2 years prior to theirs. I kid you not. And it was a lousy cache to boot. Not that I'm biased.

 

Really it is bewildering how many neat things you can do with GPS why you'd just try to be another "me too" site. I understand the "Evil Jeremy" phenomenon (I mean I'm pretty unlikable in person) but seriously. Why hasn't anyone come up with a cool idea for locationless caches? I could tick off 5 ideas on one hand that have some interesting implications for GPS.

 

Yeah. I get it. Some sites create features that have "more bran" or "low-fat" or whatever. But how different are they really? If they ever get popular they'll have the same growth issues as this site does.

I sincerely hope you did not think I regard you as "evil Jeremy". I do not think that at all. This is your site, run your way. You have goals and a vision for this site, and for geocaching, which is great. Your efforts are appreciated.

 

Despite that, part of what I enjoy about caching isnt here anymore. To meet that need, I have to go elsewhere. I wont be endangering geocaching for anyone by going elsewhere. I wont be breaking rules that may affect how caching is perceived by land managers. Im quite sensible in that.

 

I miss virtuals and locationless caches. (Before anyone checks, we dont have locationless finds because we dont have a scanner. That doesnt stop us from looking for them. It isnt about the numbers for us.) Ive had some locationless ideas I have wanted to place for a long time. On the one site, I can place them. We like the variety of traditional, virtual and locationless caching, as well as benchmarks. At one point, I tried to get ahold of a list of historical markers in my state just to look for them. There was a time when this site encouraged creativity. Lately that doesnt seem to be the case. Is it a growth issue? Is it the result of having so many guidelines that people are afraid to be creative? Is it just the tremendous amount of new geocachers coming in? I dont know. Rotten caches existed 2 yrs ago Im sure, both here and elsewhere. Sadly in my area, it seems that the great creative hides are not happening much any more. I miss the thrill of finding a whimsical cache, or a unique scenic area where a cache is placed.

 

The original post asked why we go to the other sites. I answered honestly. I did not intend for this to be a bash about this site in any way. I like this site for the most part. There are just some things I miss here now. I would be less than honest if I pretended this was everything I want for caching.

Edited by Tsegi Mike and Desert Viking
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larsl

+larsl

Posted
Posted (edited)
There are basically two other sites, Navicache and Terracaching.

 

Navicache dosen't really offer anything unique. They pretty much just cross post caches that are listed on GC.com, so why bother?

 

Terracaching is a totaly differrent concept. First you have to have not just one sponser, but two in order to be accepted. If you are not a well known name it may be awhile before you are sponsered. Currently there is one person over there now that has been waiting six days for a sponsership. If one of your sponsers leaves or for some reason withdraws sponsership, you are back to step one. It's like belonging to a country club I guess. No riff raff allowed in there. I will say that they do have some good ideas however.

I disagree. I think terracaching.com is a lot like geocaching.com, except the sponsors thing. There is no way to download database excerpts except paying and becoming a "Premium Member", and you're not allowed to publish downloaded cache info somewhere else. Navicache.com on the other hand provides a search interface for downloading XML files with cache info, descriptions and logs to everyone, and you are allowed to use the downloaded information for something else like a map site or even another geocache listing site (if you also let others do the same thing with caches from your site).

 

I'm posting all my caches on navicache.com first and list them here later when someone has got the FTF on Navicache and a couple of months have passed.

Edited by larsl
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larsl

+larsl

Posted
Posted
I am curious who uses other geocaching sites and why?

I have found everything I need right here and wondering if supporting one primary site will help keep consistency and longevity in the hobby.

Monoculture is never good for longevity...

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Mr.Benchmark

+Mr.Benchmark

Posted
Posted
There is no rational reason to use any other site, none.

There is no rational reason to not like eggplant, or yogurt, or anchovies, none. All of them have some degree of nutritive value.

 

Yet some people don't like those foods. Are they wrong?

 

I am fairly sure that it's not rational to make blanket statements like that most of the time.

 

I looked over the last 60 or so caches you've done on this site. I suspect the majority of them would not have been to my liking. If you enjoyed them, then I think that's fabulous - I honestly do. But I am entitled to my own preferences, I believe.

 

Had you cached in my area, I suspect your list of finds would've looked pretty similar, and I assume you'd have enjoyed them as well. I, on the other hand, would not have enjoyed most of them.

 

I have very few rational reasons for most of my preferences. They simply are what they are. If you think yours are any more so - then you are probably fooling yourself.

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Mr.Benchmark

+Mr.Benchmark

Posted
Posted
Why hasn't anyone come up with a cool idea for locationless caches? I could tick off 5 ideas on one hand that have some interesting implications for GPS.

 

Yeah. I get it. Some sites create features that have "more bran" or "low-fat" or whatever. But how different are they really? If they ever get popular they'll have the same growth issues as this site does.

I can't tell you how disappointed I am to read this. On the one hand, it's very cool that you can tick off five cool new ideas. That's great. On the other hand, I'm quite surprised and disappointed that you believe the issues this site faces are inevitable, and presumably unsolvable. (Apologies if I've misunderstood you.)

 

I don't know that any of the other sites have any answers, either, but I do know that belief that a solution is impossible tends to be self-fulfilling.

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The Leprechauns

+The Leprechauns

Posted
Posted
Why hasn't anyone come up with a cool idea for locationless caches? I could tick off 5 ideas on one hand that have some interesting implications for GPS.

 

Yeah. I get it. Some sites create features that have "more bran" or "low-fat" or whatever. But how different are they really? If they ever get popular they'll have the same growth issues as this site does.

I can't tell you how disappointed I am to read this. On the one hand, it's very cool that you can tick off five cool new ideas. That's great. On the other hand, I'm quite surprised and disappointed that you believe the issues this site faces are inevitable, and presumably unsolvable. (Apologies if I've misunderstood you.)

 

I don't know that any of the other sites have any answers, either, but I do know that belief that a solution is impossible tends to be self-fulfilling.

If Jeremy felt that the issues are "presumably unsolvable" then why is he introducing new features to deal with the growth issues, like an ignore list, and devoting programming resources to a new game that will replace virtual and locationless caches? I don't see why you drew that conclusion.

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caderoux

+caderoux

Posted
Posted

With the growth of many local and regional web sites devoted to caching, and the fact that the activity is really a local one, I have been surprised not to see many local sites (or even individuals) doing their own listings. All have competent web masters who could probably implement it at least to the level to handle local volume. Supporting only the local cachers and visitors would seem to me to be a reliable way to spread the growth. It all depends if they have the desire or time.

 

Financially, the sport isn't big enough to financially support all the sites and infrastructure which it needs - typically this is a grassroots activity where people come and go, and so has no reliable formal base to draw on.

 

Of course, no one wants to have a distributed database or share listings, so it will never be nice and neat - which is what I suspect a lot (if not most) of cachers prefer.

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Mopar

+Mopar

Posted
Posted
Why hasn't anyone come up with a cool idea for locationless caches? I could tick off 5 ideas on one hand that have some interesting implications for GPS.

 

Yeah. I get it. Some sites create features that have "more bran" or "low-fat" or whatever. But how different are they really? If they ever get popular they'll have the same growth issues as this site does.

I can't tell you how disappointed I am to read this. On the one hand, it's very cool that you can tick off five cool new ideas. That's great. On the other hand, I'm quite surprised and disappointed that you believe the issues this site faces are inevitable, and presumably unsolvable. (Apologies if I've misunderstood you.)

 

I don't know that any of the other sites have any answers, either, but I do know that belief that a solution is impossible tends to be self-fulfilling.

If Jeremy felt that the issues are "presumably unsolvable" then why is he introducing new features to deal with the growth issues, like an ignore list, and devoting programming resources to a new game that will replace virtual and locationless caches? I don't see why you drew that conclusion.

I didn't read it that things were unsolvable either. Just that any other site that reaches this size will have similar issues to resolve. For example, someone mentioned that Navicache has no membership fees. Everything is free. Could they still support that model if their bandwidth bill ran thousands of dollars a month?

Would Terracaching's current servers be able to handle millions of pageviews a day? Can Scout's database handle 100,000's of caches and millions of logs and still return results in a timely manner?

I don't know, and I suspect the other sites won't really know either until if and when they grew to the size this site has.

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