In another forum, Rogheff pointed out that he had recently ran into several archived caches still in the wilds. I think this is the natural result of our approvers doing a good job of clearing out the “long disabled” caches in the area. Obviously we don’t want to end up with a bunch of geo-litter out there, so I’m thinking we might need some sort of system for owners to certify that the caches they archived have been picked up. I’ve got kind of a half-baked idea that maybe others can build on to make it workable. Here’s what I’m thinking:

1. Daily, we have the website collect all the archive logs coming into the log collector for caches that are located in Wisconsin. For each one, we have the server send an automatic email to the owner, asking for confirmation that the cache has been collected.
2. We mark as closed all the caches where the owner responds (again relying on the server to collect the responses), but if no response is received after some period of time (say 2 weeks), those caches go on an at-risk list where “the archive czar” can decide whether or not the caches on the list needs rescuing.
3. Caches which don’t have any owner notes indicating pickup, especially those with finds after the archive date are candidates for rescue. Obviously we can skip the ones with multiple DNFs leading up to the archive.

Its unfortunate that we need to do something like this, but I think its better to be proactive. The idea is to find the best way to accomplish this with the least amount of effort. I don’t know if this idea is even feasible, so I am trying a sort of electronic “brainstorming” with the group. Any other ideas?