crappy logs bugging me

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 9:08 am

I like your email that you cam up with Barry. If you do not mind, I may start using that when I get a 100 TFTC's from one cacher.

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 7:52 pm

Bassanio wrote:

I don't let crappy logs bother me too much. They do confuse me, though. There are so many great caches that get TFTC logs and I am just confused on how finders could take so little from the experience that all they want to do is type in the least amount possible to be able to log a find.

The one thing about crappy logs that does bother me is the loss of the feeling of community that it brings with it. Without sharing your experiences, good or bad, this just becomes a numbers game. A TFTC or smiley face log tells me absolutely nothing about the cache besides that it was found. Caches are slowly being reduced to "check this box if you found this cache". Sad

For many CO's, the reward for placing a cache is the logs you receive and being able to share in the adventure with the finder. With TFTC, there is no sharing of anything and CO's eventually won't be overly inspired to place anything beyond a park and grab cache, since numbers mean more than adventures to too many cachers.

Now, I'm not the most prolific cacher, so I can't speak from the perspective of finding dozens or even hundreds of caches in a day/weekend (heck, 10 caches in a day is a lot for me). So, I get the reasoning behind some TFTC or cut-n-paste logs...I'm sure some caches are just a blur at the end of the day. I guess that's where "play the game the way you want" comes from. Personally, I couldn't imagine racking up cache after cache if they were so unmemorable.

right on.

z

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 7:53 pm

sweetlife wrote:

About a year ago I was fed up with the same thing in our area, and did send this to a few cachers:

Hello,

Don't be mad about what is included in this email, but it is just for your information:

You have recently logged one of our caches I would like to help you understand a bit of logging etiquette:

Groundspeak currently states that an essential part of geocaching is to "Share your geocaching stories and photos online" and that when logging online you should "Enter any comments you wish to share with the owner and/or community regarding your find."

Without cache hiders there would be NO geocaching. If every log was blank, single word, single character, acronym, or emoticon, I would suspect that many hiders would cease to place new caches and soon archive the caches that they have already placed. We have been guilty of short logs in the past when doing a lot of similar caches in an area and really had nothing to say because they were all the same but it was always at least a few words.

Logging Etiquette: Geocache hiders sometimes go through a great deal of planning to place their caches. As a result, they'd like to hear your feedback on whether you liked or disliked any aspect of the hide, or if you feel that some cache maintenance is required. Blank, single word, acronym, or emoticon logs may be easier when you have a lot of caches to log, but it doesn't tell the hider or other finders anything about your adventure (or lack thereof) in finding the cache. Please keep this in mind when entering your log.
Nice logs are about the only payback that cache hiders receive for the work that is involved in planning and placing a geocache. I am not the only one that notices the lack of good online logs recently, perhaps if some of the local cachers that have been leaving the smilies or just TFTC hid a cache or two, they would change their ways.
Now I will not delete a find log with little to nothing in it, although I have the responsibility to remove any logs that appear bogus. I don't know how someone could enjoy this activity so much as to find hundreds of caches and have nothing to say about any of them?
I don't expect to get a short story in the log but I hope this cache will make everyone remember how much we enjoy getting the emails for our caches and reading about someone's adventure or displeasure.
I do not know what kind of GPS device you are using, it may even be a Mobile Phone, but getting good logs is the main reason that cache hiders pick the places they hide their caches, if your idea of a good log is “TFTC”, maybe you should stick close to the guard rails in the city.

TFRT (Thanks for reading this)

Barry and Valarie of sweetlife

Well said. Did you get many responses?

z

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 8:47 pm

We did get a few responses back, most of them telling us where to put it (and the sun does not shine there) others I did notice when they logged one of our caches the next time the log was at least a sentence long

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 8:55 pm

sweetlife wrote:

We did get a few responses back, most of them telling us where to put it (and the sun does not shine there) others I did notice when they logged one of our caches the next time the log was at least a sentence long

I got the same response when trying to educate a noob on the etiquette regarding puzzles caches that have an optional ALR. "Screw You. Don't F***ing tell me how to play the game. The only requirement is to sign the log."

I guess if it went missing and the log sheet disappeared I could legimately delete the log though for failing to sign the log. wink

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 8:57 pm

sweetlife wrote:

We did get a few responses back, most of them telling us where to put it (and the sun does not shine there) ........

Seems like WisKid mentioned encountering this same sort of response/attitude, at least occasionally, in his communications as a Reviewer. Really, really hard to believe anyone responding that way. Question

On the positive, you did find a way to get a meaningful response! Smile

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 8:59 pm

I agree, and my note to the noobs was intended to try to educate them about why writing a log is important, not chew em out for not doing it.

Maybe if every cache owner started emailing noobs when they post lame logs, some of them would start to get the message. After all, isn't education of new people something that the WGA and more experienced cachers should be doing?

z[/quote]

note to self...never post a lame log when logging zuma's caches, to avoid being called a noob. Very Happy

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 9:10 pm

noob!

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 9:25 pm

CacheNoTrace wrote:

noob!

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 9:37 pm

Hitman4 wrote:

CacheNoTrace wrote:

noob!

TFTP.

z

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 9:53 pm

zuma wrote:

Hitman4 wrote:

CacheNoTrace wrote:

noob!

TFTP.

z

Anytime!

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 11:09 pm

BigJim60 wrote:

The other day I found a cache that I had dnf'ed in the past. The cache was a camo'ed bison tube lodged in a natural crevice in the bark of a very large, very old white pine. The bison has a history of popping out of the crevice and being found on the ground. The previous finder's log included the following: "Found on ground. Rehide better per the way this game is suposed to be played."

"Rehide better" in this case included carving a niche in the bark with a knife, cutting all the way through the bark to the sapwood. I can't believe that anyone would believe that this is "the way this game is suposed to be played."
I was sickened by this cacher's actions.

That resulted in the cacche being disabled while the container was pulled and getting desapped, and allowing some time for the tree to heal. We didn't want people thinking that it was OK to stick the cleaned container back in the gouge. We wrote a note on the cache page as to why the cache was disabled, but I doubt if the person who really needed to read it ever saw it.

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 11:25 pm

sandlanders wrote:

BigJim60 wrote:

The other day I found a cache that I had dnf'ed in the past. The cache was a camo'ed bison tube lodged in a natural crevice in the bark of a very large, very old white pine. The bison has a history of popping out of the crevice and being found on the ground. The previous finder's log included the following: "Found on ground. Rehide better per the way this game is suposed to be played."

"Rehide better" in this case included carving a niche in the bark with a knife, cutting all the way through the bark to the sapwood. I can't believe that anyone would believe that this is "the way this game is suposed to be played."
I was sickened by this cacher's actions.

That resulted in the cacche being disabled while the container was pulled and getting desapped, and allowing some time for the tree to heal. We didn't want people thinking that it was OK to stick the cleaned container back in the gouge. We wrote a note on the cache page as to why the cache was disabled, but I doubt if the person who really needed to read it ever saw it.

I struggled for most of a day about whether or not I should contact that individual and express my feelings about his actions. I decided not to, but it still bothers me.

Joined: 2009-06-05 Posts: 2127 Location: Menominee, MI

Well, as a CO myself, TFTC logs don't really bother me. For every one of those I get, I get several more actual logs.

There's a cacher near my neck of the woods who has 3 letters and 2 numbers in his name. He's an FTF hound too. So all he writes in his logs is "FTF TFTC".

He did that to a few caches on the Yellow Brick Road series. The Wizard of OC tried to e-mail him about logging etiquette. But he doesn't seem to get the message.

Really, nothing we can do about those logs. After all, if they found the cache and physically signed the log, that's what matters.

My advice is this - don't worry about the TFTC's. For every one of those, there will be several others detailed logs. Let those TFTC cachers do their thing and we do ours.

This topic seems to be

as we have discussed this several times so I guess I should not be surprised it is still being discussed.

I'm sure there are a hundred threads on this board alone talking about this topic.

So time to stop with the

.

WGA Member Joined: 2007-11-26 Posts: 3259

Honestly, I'd rather have a "TFTC" than one of my favorite logs, "Easy cache for our team to find." Got a team in the area that puts that on EVERY cache (and never logs their DNFs) and has plazed a grand total of zero caches of their own. Doesn't matter how hard the cache is or what went into its design or creation, it's just "easy." Used to really get me annoyed, now I just click the "delete" button fast.