New "stargate" Fast-forwarder Tb Hotel Type

[+Sparrowhawk]

I just now ran accross this new concept in travel bug hotels.

 

From what I can tell, the cache owner will take a bug that wants to go to a certain area and ship it to the owner of a corresponding "stargate" TB hotel in that area.

 

Your opinion:

 

(1) This is a cool concept that helps TBs move along! I like it.

 

(2) Dagnabbit, shipping a bug somewhere is cheating! I don't like it.

 

After letting us know (1) or (2), let us know why you have the opinion you have.

 

Personally, I vote for (1), because methinks it's a cool and creative concept.

Edited April 19, 2005 by Sparrowhawk

[+the hermit crabs]

I like the stargates. (They're not exactly a new concept; the older ones have been around for over a year.) There's one a few towns over from us; we've used it several times.

 

Edit: The most recent time we used it, we had found a bug whose goal was "to see the world". It had spent more than two years bouncing around the USA, so we decided to use the new stargate portal into Germany to help the TB along.

Edited April 19, 2005 by the hermit crabs

[+Eartha]

Every single Travel Bug owner should be contacted first to see if they want their travel bug going by mail. Either the cacher who plans on dropping it off their should contact them, or the cache owner, but no travel bug should go by mail without asking the travel bug owner first. Period.

[+the hermit crabs]

no travel bug should go by mail without asking the travel bug owner first. Period.

If there is such a rule, then why are the stargate caches routinely approved? The stargate cache pages mention that owner email approval is required for international hops (because those jumps can have long delays), but the pages list no such requirement for hops within the US, and apparently the reviewers haven't had a problem with it.

[+Eartha]

http://www.geocaching.com/track/faq.aspx Part 1, Paragraphs 1 and 7. No, it's not a rule, but it is a common courtesy. Put yourself in the travel bug owner's shoes.

 

As for reviewers approving them, there are no rules against them, but remember, common courtesy when dealing with travel bugs is always a nice thing.

[+Sparrowhawk]

Check out the new paragraph I have posted on my PDX Aiport Travel Bug Embassy cache:

 

"If the travel bug wants to go to Europe or Australia, this cache provides "shuttlecraft" service to the Stargate P45122 TB Cache. If you have a bug with an overseas goal, place a note with the bug that says "please save for Sparrowhawk!" and post a note here about it. The cache owner will then collect that bug and arrange permission with the TB owner to provide the TB with this service. (If you plan to visit the Stargate cache soon anyway, you may contribute your own "shuttlecraft" service to any overseas-bound TB."

 

Not everyone can have a stargate cache, but we sure can provide cool shuttle service!

[+Eric K]

I agree with Eartha in regards to if a person is going to place a bug in a Stargate they should ask the owner of the bug first if they want it to travel that way.

 

With that being done I don't see any problem with them even though my personal preference is bugs shouldn't travel by mail.

 

I think it would be different if say a person normally travels from Point A to Point B and moves the bugs that way but that's just my opinion.

[+BlueDeuce]

I've yet to see any complaints that a bug owner didn't give permission.

 

It's certainly no worse than caches that restrict bugs from being taken.

[+pghlooking]

I just now ran accross this new concept in travel bug hotels.

Here is , from what i know, to be the first one . It was placed by drossdross here in the Pittsburgh area.

[monroe gang]

1 I like it. Sounds like it has clear explainations to e-mail the owner of the cache if you do not want you TB to "go through the stargate"

 

Someone is a Stargate FREAK!

 

But I Like the idea

[+GSVNoFixedAbode]

I LOVE the idea! I've got a bug that was meant to stay within NZ but went trippin' over to Germany (it had 1/2 the co-ords for a cache). With a gate in Berlin and one just appeared in NZ there's hope for a return!

[+Ladybug Kids]

Your opinion:

 

(1) This is a cool concept that helps TBs move along!  I like it.

This Stargate opened in Anchorage, Alaska, in February and has seen some use.

 

I think it is a great idea if used properly to get bugs in and out of tough areas. Otherwise, travel bugs tend to end up in Alaska and swirl around in the same eddy of caches for months at a time or end up frozen into a cache for six months when winter descends.

 

The stargate doesn't seem to be overly used with a total of 17 bugs placed in it during the past two months, and not all of them entered the worm hole. I e-mailed the owners of four bugs before a recent trip to Anchorage and only one said they wanted the startgate used, so the other three bugs are still happily circulating around Alaska even though Alaska is/was 180° from the bugs' stated goals.

 

The cache page does have this language on it: "If the TB is left without a valid Stargate address, it will be available for local movement via Last Frontier cachers, or to destinations such as its stated goals indicate. If a TB owner doesn’t want their TB to travel the Stargate network, quickly contact me (NorthWes) to revoke its traveling orders and assign it to local duties," as an additional safety net to keep a bug out of the mail if the owner doesn't want it to travel that way.

 

Operating a stargate cache requires extra effort on the cache owner's part. Each time a travel bug appears, the cache owner has to visit the cache, retrieve the bug, package it for transport, and send it on its way at the cache owner's expense. A side benefit is that this cache will always be maintained and will never fill up with junk.

Edited April 21, 2005 by Ladybug Kids

[BC Tripper]

I think this is a great idea. Besides the fact that I have seen many, many, TB's that are destined for overseas, I would assume that some people are just not capable of international travel in order to move a TB. So, I've volunteered to set one up here in Vancouver, B.C., hopefully it will be up and running soon!

 

BC Tripper

[+Baxter-MD]

I like the idea. As for the objections to mailing, just think of the mailboxs as caches and the letter-carriers as a cachers.

[+Sparrowhawk]

Since I am willing to ferry overseas-bound TBs to the nearest stargate from my airport cache, I have officially declared my airport cache a Shuttle Portal for those TBs. That's unofficial, of course.

 

That inspired an idea. It seems to be a cool idea if each Stargate cache had scattered, officially designated Shuttle Portal caches to transmit overseas-bound TBs to a particular Stargate cache. Kind of a hub-and-spoke deal.

 

Portal cache owners would arrange to send packages full of TBs to Stargate cache owners. The cache owner of the Shuttle Portal would watch for overseas-bound bugs landing in their caches and then do the honors.

 

Each Stargate page would then list the local Shuttle Portal caches for the benefit of cachers.

 

Maybe make a rule of allowing only one Shuttle Portal per x amount of square miles (say 80 square miles for instance) in the area surrounding a particular Stargate cache?

 

By the way, I kinda see it as overkill any idea of using Portal caches to ship bugs that want to stay in the US. That's why I suggested an "overseas-bound bugs only" rule for the Portal caches. (Less trouble for the Portal owners too.) Thus TB owners would have to make a specific request for help from a Portal owner to get their bug close to wherever - IF the bug is heading someplace domestic.

 

Now... as for the name "shuttle portal"... I have no clue about the Stargate show, so there has to be a better name than that would would actually come from the show itself. If the Stargate Network likes this idea, I humbly submit the idea of a name change that would fit the stargate mythos, or keep it as it is... that would be up to them.

Edited April 21, 2005 by Sparrowhawk

[+Metaphor]

I've carried my own and others' bugs overseas. I'd rather one of my bugs NOT be mailed anywhere, and if emailed, I would decline the "Stargate" offer. It's too easy. The "Pony Express" aspect of the journey is what fascinates me. Maybe the cacher's checked luggage bag is right next to the overseas postal bag, but that makes all the difference to me.

 

On the other hand, if the bug owner was asked, and he or she accepted the offer to " 'gate" somewhere, I wouldn't be upset.

[+CacheChasers]

Sparrowhawk, have you asked the creaters of the Stargate system if they even want you to be setting up "portals" or "shuttle buses" to official stargates? It may be against their wishes and personally I think it complicates the system. Stargates are a good way to give a TB that has been stuck in a local whirpool a good kick out of the area but certainly is not the ticket for all bugs.

[+Lehigh Mafia]

OK.. Being the Owner of Stargate P2681 we are Adding Our Buck Fifty to this one..

 

1st off - ALL OFFICAL MEMBER'S of the Stargate Systems Read each Travel Bug Goal Page Carefully.. We will Not Interfer with a TB Mission/Goal..

 

2nd off - ALL OFFICAL MEMBER'S of the Stargate System Contact the Travel Bug's Commanding Officer's Prior to a Mission for Approval.. If the Commanding Officer Declines the Mission then the TB is Escorted to the TB Lounge, Where it will Await a Fellow Cacher to Pick it Up..

 

3rd off - ALL OFFICAL MEMBER'S of the Stargate System are just that OFFICAL MEMBER'S.. We DO NOT have any Portal's or Shuttle Buses.. We Have Stargate's and ZPM's..

 

We just want to let EVERYONE Who Read's this Forum that We (The OFFICAL STARGATE MEMBER'S) Do Not & Will Not Violate the Goal's or Mission's of ANYONE'S Travel Bug.. If you Want a TB to Use the Stargate System Please Use an OFFICAL STARGATE.. To Make Sure the Stargate is OFFICAL Please check Out the Link's On

Stargate P4079..

 

Thank You for Your Time..

Lehigh Mafia

[+Sparrowhawk]

Sparrowhawk, have you asked the creaters of the Stargate system if they even want you to be setting up "portals" or "shuttle buses" to official stargates?

I posted the portal concept here as just my "for what it's worth" idea. And yeah, I've already sent an email to the head Stargate VIP. My own cache is an "unofficial" portal cache unless they like the idea and then I can call it official. That remains to be seen.

 

I've already made sure to make a policy of asking TB owners if they want their travelers shuttled to the local Stargate cache, and I instantly had 3 bugs with permission to go. Ferry'd 'em over today. That was cool.

 

RE-edit... I have read the posting from Lehigh Mafia and I'm still awaiting the official reply from the person in charge of the Network to find out if I can still call my cache a shuttle portal... even add a disclaimer that it is not Network-endorsed.

 

If I can't keep the name, period, I'll just say on my page that I volunteer to ferry bugs over to the Stargate cache when that is wanted by the TB owners... I just don't get to have the fun of a cool, fancy "Shuttle..." term.

Edited April 24, 2005 by Sparrowhawk

[+Alibags]

I think this a a great idea. I must see about setting up one myself in the UK. There isn't one here yet, I see. Hmm, wonder how much all the postage would cost me?