How about an "Ask the Approver" Forum?

Posted: Sun May 20, 2007 6:10 am

Of course that is if our Wisconsin approvers would go for it. I was just thinking that it be a neat idea. A lot of people might have the same questions about getting a cache approved and other things related to that.

Just a thought.

WGA Friend Joined: 2007-05-04 Posts: 16

Feel free to ask any "Reviewer questions" in either the General or Help forums. We monitor the local forums regularly.

Posted: Sun May 20, 2007 10:58 am

Oh, I know you are all around. I just thought if there was a spot,others and "newbies" could go to look rather than having to search it out.

Posted: Sun May 20, 2007 9:17 pm

That would be the Help Forum. Also, of course, there is a section on Hiding a Cache in the menu. And finally, of course, you can always email us if you don't want to ask "in public".

That said, here is a list of ways to delay (or completely prevent) getting your cache listed:

Put your cache in St. Croix National Riverway, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, or Horicon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge
Put your cache in a Madison Conservation Park
Put your cache in a State Natural Area
Put your cache on DNR property and either fail to submit a notification or fail to include the "boilerplate" text on the cache description
Put your cache in a Dane County Park and either fail to get a permit or fail to include the "boilerplate" text.
Put your cache near an airport, dam, highway bridge or any other terrorist target.
Place your cache within 150 feet of a railroad
Place your cache on an automobile bridge of any kind
Place your cache on property of an elementary or secondary school
Place your cache on private property and don't provide contact info for the property owner on the cache listing
Place your cache on private property in a residential neighborhood and fail to provide ways for people to "find the right house"
Fail to use the "additional waypoint" feature to indicate the locations of intermediate and final waypoints for your multi or mystery cache
and the most popular, Place your cache within 0.1 miles of another cache or intermediate stage of a multicache.

Avoid all this stuff and your caches should just fly right through the review process.

Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 4:52 am

Quote:

and the most popular, Place your cache within 0.1 miles of another cache or intermediate stage of a multicache.

That's the question I have been trying to get an answer to.

I would like to the listed coordinates for a mystery cache at a trail head sign. The trail head sign is within 528 feet a mystery cache location.

If you have not done this mystery cache, there is no way of knowing it's there.

Quote:

The reviewers use a rule of thumb that caches placed within .10 miles (528 feet or 161 metres) of another cache may not be published on the site. This is an arbitrary distance and is just a guideline,

So the way I read that, I should be able to list the the trail head starting point, right?

The final would be about a mile or so from the location of the trail head location, with other listed wayponts.

Which brings me to my next question, do stages and waypoints need to also be 528 feet from a cache? If I where to use some sort of waytag, would it have to be out of the 528 feet radius?

or does this answer my questions?

Quote:

The cache saturation guideline applies to all physical stages of multicaches and mystery/puzzle caches, as well as any other stages entered as “stages of a multicache.” The guideline does NOT apply to event caches, earthcaches, grandfathered virtual and webcam caches, stages of multicaches or puzzle caches entered as “question to answer” or “reference point,” or to any “bogus” posted coordinates for a puzzle cache. Within a single multicache or mystery/puzzle cache, there is no minimum required distance between waypoints

Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 12:21 pm

Wouldn't it be great if there were some sort of generic web-site where we could all go and type in coordinates and see if there was a cache/mystery cache/multi-cache WP nearby?

Sure would make placing caches easier!!!

Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 12:35 pm

tyedyeskyguy wrote:

Wouldn't it be great if there were some sort of generic web-site where we could all go and type in coordinates and see if there was a cache/mystery cache/multi-cache WP nearby?

Great idea, it's just to bad some people would probably abuse this to find multi/mystery cache waypoint locations.

Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 3:34 pm

tyedyeskyguy wrote:

Wouldn't it be great if there were some sort of generic web-site where we could all go and type in coordinates and see if there was a cache/mystery cache/multi-cache WP nearby?

Sure would make placing caches easier!!!

The reason there isn't such a place to query is that, in other regions of the country, a few geocachers have tried to play "Battleship" to hone in on final coordinates for a puzzle by submitting lots of coordinates for caches to see if they are too close to the final, rather than solving the puzzle or finding the intermediate waypoints of a multi. I know that sounds sick, but it's true.

Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 7:56 pm

kbraband wrote:

tyedyeskyguy wrote:

Wouldn't it be great if there were some sort of generic web-site where we could all go and type in coordinates and see if there was a cache/mystery cache/multi-cache WP nearby?

Sure would make placing caches easier!!!

The reason there isn't such a place to query is that, in other regions of the country, a few geocachers have tried to play "Battleship" to hone in on final coordinates for a puzzle by submitting lots of coordinates for caches to see if they are too close to the final, rather than solving the puzzle or finding the intermediate waypoints of a multi. I know that sounds sick, but it's true.

I see the point. But also say, if they are going to go through that much trouble, why not just solve the puzzle? Or better yet, ask for a hint.

Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 7:01 am

Team Deejay wrote:

That said, here is a list of ways to delay (or completely prevent) getting your cache listed:

Place your cache on private property and don't provide contact info for the property owner on the cache listing

Avoid all this stuff and your caches should just fly right through the review process.

I know providing names of the person who own or gave permission makes since and have done so on my own caches. The thing that I always thought was odd is the fact some have pointed out those cachers don't like their real names used and like the anonymity of the user name. Some cachers mentioned getting calls from people looking their number up or a possible stalker tracking down their kids and such.

I do know why we provided that info, just incase a cacher needs to provided such information to law enforcement or others.

I ask this not to cause an uproar or anything but to point out that in no way would I want to state my name or contact info on GC.com other than my email, yet we provided such information about the property owners who gave us permission to put a cache on thier land.

My point here is then why is it ok to list these owners’ names or DNR personnel names in the listing?

Food for thought....

WGA Friend Joined: 2007-05-04 Posts: 16

cheezehead wrote:

I would like to the listed coordinates for a mystery cache at a trail head sign. The trail head sign is within 528 feet a mystery cache location.

If you have not done this mystery cache, there is no way of knowing it's there.

Quote:

The reviewers use a rule of thumb that caches placed within .10 miles (528 feet or 161 metres) of another cache may not be published on the site. This is an arbitrary distance and is just a guideline,

So the way I read that, I should be able to list the the trail head starting point, right?

The final would be about a mile or so from the location of the trail head location, with other listed wayponts.

Which brings me to my next question, do stages and waypoints need to also be 528 feet from a cache? If I where to use some sort of waytag, would it have to be out of the 528 feet radius?

or does this answer my questions?

Answer #1 - The cache saturation does not apply to parking coordinates, trailheads, answer to a question or reference point waypoints. It DOES apply to stages of a multicache and final location waypoints. So you can mark your trailhead wherever you want. (Just don't put a tag on the trailhead sign.)

Answer #2 - If you use a tag or other physical waypoint, you need it to be 528 feet away from all other caches, stages of a multicache waypoints, and final location waypoints. These need to be listed as "stages of a multicache" or "final location" as appropriate. The distance rule does NOT apply to waypoints of the same cache.

Answer #2.5 - If you use a virtual stage for a waypoint (not a tag, container, etc.), you do NOT need to keep this away from other stuff, provided you do not call it a "stage of a multicache" in your additional waypoints listing. "Question to Answer" or "Reference point" are both ok. If you decided to call the waypoint a "stage of a multicache", you will prevent anyone else from placing a cache or waypoint within 528 feet of this location and prevent you from placing it within 528 feet of any other cache or waypoint. It is the choice of the owner whether to call a virtual waypoint a "stage of a multicache" or not. Other cache placers who try to badger another owner into changing the type of their virtual waypoints will be shot at sunrise. (Ok, I made up that last part. Very Happy

Just checking to see if you were listening!)

Answer #2.75 - The listed coordinates of a multicache is assumed to be a physical stage and subject to distance requirements, regardless of whether it is really virtual or not. The listed coordinates of an unknown cache is assumed to be a bogus location not subject to the distance unless explicitly noted (and we might still miss it anyway, so don't make hide your mystery cache at the listed coordinates). If you absolutely have to place your mystery cache as the listed coordinates (and want to go through the headaches of me asking you why), please create an additional waypoint for the final location at the same spot.

Note that a law degree is not required to be a reviewer, it is only recommended.

WGA Friend Joined: 2007-05-04 Posts: 16

PCFrog wrote:

Team Deejay wrote:

That said, here is a list of ways to delay (or completely prevent) getting your cache listed:

Place your cache on private property and don't provide contact info for the property owner on the cache listing

Avoid all this stuff and your caches should just fly right through the review process.

I know providing names of the person who own or gave permission makes since and have done so on my own caches. The thing that I always thought was odd is the fact some have pointed out those cachers don't like their real names used and like the anonymity of the user name. Some cachers mentioned getting calls from people looking their number up or a possible stalker tracking down their kids and such.

I do know why we provided that info, just incase a cacher needs to provided such information to law enforcement or others.

I ask this not to cause an uproar or anything but to point out that in no way would I want to state my name or contact info on GC.com other than my email, yet we provided such information about the property owners who gave us permission to put a cache on thier land.

My point here is then why is it ok to list these owners’ names or DNR personnel names in the listing?

Food for thought....

Starting with the easy part first. We list the DNR personnel name because the DNR says we have to.

As far as private property goes, imagine you print out a cache listing, then you go hunting for the cache on some lonely country road around Warrens. The cache listing says it is on private property, but gives no other contact info. As you begin searching the pine tree closest to ground zero, you hear "Turn around slowly and keep your hands visible". It turns out you are at the wrong place (the cache placers coordinates were only off by 5000 feet) and the property owner has called the local sheriff. You have no name, no address, and no contact information for the person giving permission. What do you think the chances are that you won't be cited or arrested for trespassing?

Most of the private property caches are either on business property or in residential neighborhoods. On the business property, we don't want people getting stopped by the police or security guards if no permission was given, so we have to ask for the contact info. I just published a cache GC132WG near Beloit where this was necessary. (Note that I am not responsible for the spelling and grammar on this listing!) In residential neighborhoods, the risk is much greater that people will end up in someone's backyard accidentally, so here we are looking not only for a contact but also some certain way for a finder to know they are at the right house. Address would be the most popular choice, but "ours is the lime green doublewide with pink shutters and a pair of pitbulls roaming the yard" would be ok as well, assuming that accurately describes your house and no other house nearby matches the description. Also note that there is no requirement that anyone place a cache on private property (their own or someone else's). If you don't want your name on a cache listing, just avoid listing a cache on your property.