When To Hide A Premium Member Cache

[+Kilroy Gang]

Hi, I'm a relative newbie and interested in learning more about the culture of geocaching. I live in a very active geocaching area and I'm noticing things in some of my experiences and don't know quite how to attribute these things. Is it me or is it the culture, or is it????

 

I'm wondering when it's appropriate to list a hidden cache as a member only cache? What criteria, rule of thumb, do you use?

 

Do people get offended at this? What are the advantages to the hider? To the finder? To the location?

 

Just curious. Thanks.

[+Kit Fox]

Regular members might get offended if you hide a members only cache. It's your cache, hide it how you want (provided it fits within GC rules). I listed a couple of my caches as members only caches for a while, but ended up changing them to caches where everyone could find them.

 

Some might call you an elitest, but brush it off, remember, it's your cache.

[+briansnat]

There really aren't a lot of premimum member caches out there. I can't think of one in my area.

 

Some people will temporarily make their caches premium members only (MOC) if there is a problem with cache theft in an area. Some will make their cache MOC for the first few weeks, then open them up to all.

 

Yes some people are offended by them.

 

As far as advantages to the hider, there is a neat audit feature that lets you see everyone who has viewed the page. It can also cut down on theft, as people who deliberately target caches are less likely to shell out money so they can do so.

 

Benefits to the finder aren't many. Perhaps lower cache traffic will keep the contents from degrading as fast, but that's about it.

Edited March 28, 2005 by briansnat

[+Nurse Dave]

All my caches are MOC caches. I figure there isn't really any good reason not to support gc.com if you're going to use its services. If you're not a member you're letting people like me pick-up your share.

[+Moose Mob]

We have one cacher around here that almost all of his hides are SOC. The problem we run into is that when we are group caching, a couple are new & non-premium members.

 

What we ran into this past Saturday is while we were caching as a group, we did two of his SOC caches. One non-premium member will likely become premium.

 

The other non-premium member is 11 yrs old with a $5 /week allowance. She has found two caches on her own without a GPS, and now recieved a GPS for her 11th birthday on Easter Sunday.

 

Now to teach her to log her cache finds. But she will not be able to log the finds that we made since they are SOC's. I am sure there will be a premium membership for her somewhere down the line... but until then.

Edited March 28, 2005 by Moose Mob

[+Renegade Knight]

We have a cache maggot and we have a lot of members only caches. The MO caches tend to stick around longer.

 

Other than that it's cool to see who looked at the cache page, but most people really don't bother with MO caches unless they are experimenting or have a theft problem.

[+SeventhSon]

The original use of the SOC (Subscriber Only Cache ... we're all members) was to prevent cache maggots from stealing caches, but they are put out for various other reasons today, as you can see.

 

The only benefit I can think of is you will be able to see who has viewed your cache page.

[+zcubed]

I'm wondering when it's appropriate to list a hidden cache as a member only cache? What criteria, rule of thumb, do you use?

 

Just curious. Thanks.

My newest cache just got destroyed by some lunatic with severe psychological problems. He vented his anger about his father dressing him up like a girl scout on my cache.

 

All my future caches will be MOC.

[+Cardinal Red]

Moose Mob Posted on Mar 28 2005, 06:09 PM

We have one cacher around here that almost all of his hides are SOC. The problem we run into is that when we are group caching, a couple are new & non-premium members.

 

What we ran into this past Saturday is while we were caching as a group, we did two of his SOC caches. One non-premium member will likely become premium.

 

The other non-premium member is 11 yrs old with a $5 /week allowance. She has found two caches on her own without a GPS, and now recieved a GPS for her 11th birthday on Easter Sunday.

 

Now to teach her to log her cache finds. But she will not be able to log the finds that we made since they are SOC's. I am sure there will be a premium membership for her somewhere down the line... but until then.

 

Basic Member able to log MOC "Loophole"

 

I have not needed to figure this out, but it can be done. Perhaps a PM to one of the knowledgeable posters in the Link provided if you need more details.

[+Kilroy Gang]

Thanks so much for the great responses. This provides a good perspective for me. I just knew I'd get the answers. Thanks!!

[+Moose Mob]

Moose Mob Posted on Mar 28 2005, 06:09 PM

We have one cacher around here that almost all of his hides are SOC. The problem we run into is that when we are group caching, a couple are new & non-premium members.

 

What we ran into this past Saturday is while we were caching as a group, we did two of his SOC caches. One non-premium member will likely become premium.

 

The other non-premium member is 11 yrs old with a $5 /week allowance. She has found two caches on her own without a GPS, and now recieved a GPS for her 11th birthday on Easter Sunday.

 

Now to teach her to log her cache finds. But she will not be able to log the finds that we made since they are SOC's. I am sure there will be a premium membership for her somewhere down the line... but until then.

 

Basic Member able to log MOC "Loophole"

 

I have not needed to figure this out, but it can be done. Perhaps a PM to one of the knowledgeable posters in the Link provided if you need more details.

Thanks! The link didn't go into details, but knowing it can be done, I will figure it out.

[+Kit Fox]

Thanks! The link didn't go into details, but knowing it can be done, I will figure it out.

Basically you need a premium member and a regular member for the loophole to work. Have the Premium member click the link "Log this Cache", copy and paste the address and save it. Have the premium member log off of GC, then log the regular member onto GC. Paste the address of the "Log this Cache" link, and log the cache. I took my dad caching for the first time, and we had to do this for one cache.

[+Moose Mob]

Thanks!  The link didn't go into details, but knowing it can be done, I will figure it out.

Basically you need a premium member and a regular member for the loophole to work. Have the Premium member click the link "Log this Cache", copy and paste the address and save it. Have the premium member log off of GC, then log the regular member onto GC. Paste the address of the "Log this Cache" link, and log the cache. I took my dad caching for the first time, and we had to do this for one cache.

As I was suspecting. I would also suspect that I could cut and paste the link into an e-mail to send to her?

 

That would help her to start out with complete records.

 

Thanks!

[4x4van]

All my caches are MOC caches. I figure there isn't really any good reason not to support gc.com if you're going to use its services. If you're not a member you're letting people like me pick-up your share.

I was going to say something about that statement, but decided against it.

[+sbell111]

... you're letting people like me pick-up your share.

I've got my share covered, but could you grab my dry cleaning for me?

 

I actually disagree with you, but not enough to get into it.

 

I likely will never have a MOC because I like it when my cache is found by new cachers. I really like it when somebody has been playing the game for a few months and they mention in their log that mine was one that they have been working on for a while, and finally figured it out.

[+StarBrand]

I've done 2 caches that started as SOC caches but it was just an experiment to see how it would work out. Both were changed to regular caches after 3 - 4 months or so. One never got any visitors and the other only had a handful of visits. The one nice thing that happened is that trades were even or better. However, if no one comes - what's the point?? I may try these again but only for a limited time to as an incentive for higher quality.

[+Kilroy Gang]

Yes, this was my thinking also. I recently posted 5 caches, all slightly different. I posted the last cache as a SOC because it was in a public thoroughfare, but in a residential historical setting, and I wanted to see what the differences were in the posting functionality. I experienced that no one has even tried the cache! Despite the convenience of the location and what I perceive to be the interest (Maybe my bias is showing . . ) I like the log visit function, and was amazed at how many people logged into the page, and how many return visits, etc. That was facsinating. (Again, maybe I'm facsinated by stats ) So after this forum string, and seeing people's thoughts, I converted to a MOC and still no action. Okay, I'll wait and see. All my other caches are getting what I would call a normal amount of action. So, just watching, learning, trying, etc. Thanks for all the help and perspectives. Really valuable for newbies like me/us.

Edited March 30, 2005 by Kilroy Gang

[+5¢]

Ironically, I made two members only caches lately and after I made them able to be found by everyone, one has disappeared and one has been soaked with water. The destroyed one is on an abandoned ramp from an old rest area. It was on the part where you would get back on the highway so I assume someone just took it as it would be hard for a noncacher to figure where this micro would be. And the soaked cache is a waterproof match stick tube which the other 8 or so I have hidden just like it are dry as a bone. I think I may have made some folks mad.

[+wimseyguy]

I usually start my urban micros as MOC's to keep the traffic down the first few weeks it's listed, and to reward those that do pay up with the chance for the FTF if they care to race the usual suspects around here for that dubious honor.

After that, if there are no reported problems I will lift the restriction.

I did keep it on one of mine that is in a very high exposure spot. Around the time I listed it some non paying members were making a big deal of their non-paying status. So I left it as MOC for spite, or something petty like that.

I have one other about to be released that may go out as a MOC as well. We'll see about that.

I think we have fewer than a dozen in the nearest 1000 caches though.

[+flask]

i'm nto offended by SOCs; i just won't hunt them. i COULD, but don't. i prefer to hunt caches that everyone can hunt.

 

similarly, i do not go to single-gender events.

[+carleenp]

I don't really care if a cache is member's only or not. I don't care to have mine member's only but changed a bunch to that today in response to a local issue where a non-member is affecting things. When the problem goes away I will change them back.