Personally I don’t like to see event caches on the COTM page.

Paul

Even though I did vote for the Campout, the only other one on the list I was familiar with was my own. After some thought I, too, agree that Events should not be allowed as COTM. I think anyone that attended can agree that it was a great time and a great “cache”. This really also takes away from one of the purposes of the COTM — to recognize caches that have gone above and beyond the norm in quality, ingenuity, and fun.

I’m firmly on the bandwagon that events shouldn’t be COTM. It should be reserved for caches that can be hunted in the future.

I would be in favor of voting for a favorite temp hide at an event and then placing a commemorative cache at that location, with that cache getting the COTM honors.

On the topic at hand, I have yet to cast my vote, but I will before the end of the month. Last month we had such a good crop of nominee’s , I had wished that I hadn’t voted so early in the month because other caches I felt were more worthy of my vote.

While I will admit to having fun being on one side of this discussion, lets look at the statistics for COTM.
Aprils Winner – Nectar of the Gods (visits in May = 0)
Marchs Winner – Mystery of the Trolls Treasure (visits in April & May = 1)
Februarys Winner – Kings Ransom (visits in March & April = 7 – visits in May = 0)
Januarys Winner – Caching through the Snow (no visits since because it was an event)
Decembers Winner – Little Falls Covert Cache (January thru May total visits = 1)

Sorry folks but the stats show no rush by people to go to the COTM’s once they win.

COTM is a recoginition of a job well done. In the case of events – a job well done deserves to win. Those stating that this will guide them to the caches they will seek out must be planning trips later this year.
Lets face facts, this has become political to the point that some seek votes by email to get their cache in the running. I find this rather silly.
I believe WISearchers alluded to the fact that caches outside of eastern Wisconsin and mainly the Milwaukee area, are at a great disadvantage in winning this award.

Since it appears that winning the recognition does not drive people to do these caches, the arguement of events not being of valid consideration is fairly weak.

As always my opinions are meant to make people think not get upset.

I agree that COTM’s should encourage some to go to try the winning cache (and runners up) after the month is up. While we can’t (and shouldn’t) regulate who votes for a cache they have or perhaps haven’t done, most people voting for an Event cache HAVE attended.

An event is a nonstandard cache, but a cache nonetheless, no? They usually have a registration(or logbook), contents (people and good conversation, and FOOD!), and sometimes even a container(park, restaurant LOL. Making them ineligible slights the planning and hardwork that goes into them, a la the “lame” cache thread.

I can appreciate those who want to go to the COTM caches they have not found. But as WZBT03 said, there is no rush going to them afterwards. Could part of the reason be that that in order to win it to begin with, the people that vote normally have already done it, and the ones who don’t vote are the ones not active in WGA anyway? BTW, We don’t cache haphazardly. We go geographically and wipe out an entire area, so we may not do a COTM until we actually come across it.(Soundslike another thread! How do you cache

As wzbt03 said.. just here to make ya think.

Tony (Mr. WISearcher)

Just a little data- take it for what it’s worth.

A map of the COTM’s shows that they are actually spread much in proportion to the density of caches across the state. The Eau Claire/Menomomonie area is the one area with a higher cache density but no COTM’s. I will speculate that this may be due to the lack of active WGA members in that area.

Of the 26 COTM’s thus far, only 7 have been archived.

9 were/are Regular Caches
13 were/are Multi-Caches
2 were/are Mystery Caches
2 were Event Caches

The furthest distance between COTM’s is 304 miles as the crow flies.

I have found 8 of them and expect to hunt the majority of the remaining active ones within the next few months. (But i’m not a planner.)

[This message has been edited by Cathunter (edited 05-28-2004).]

IMHO, I feel that events should be considered for COTM. You might have guessed I would say that since I’ve helped organize all the WGA events.

A lot of hard work goes into organizing an event, no matter how many attend. There have been many smaller events that individuals have hosted that are worthy of COTM. Many of my favorite caches have been temporary caches placed for the events. It’s these unique temp caches that I feel are worthy of COTM.

I voted for Caching Through the Snow. Two caches at the event I consider some of my all time favorites for being unique.

It’s true that an event has the advantage of having 100’s of “finders” in a single month. On the other hand, it’s only held ONCE and only has once chance at winning.

Every other traditional cache out there has the ability of being voted on every month. If they don’t win one month, they can be nominated and voted on the next month. The events don’t have this luxury.

If we were talking about a major prize being awarded for COTM, we would need to set some hard rules. It doesnt see so prestigious when we need to beg people to vote, as we often need to do.

Just my 0.02

[This message has been edited by GrouseTales (edited 05-28-2004).]