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Taking this Idea from a neighboring state.
Michigan Has a phone a friend list.
The list is only shared with the people on the list. data can be updated or deleted as each user sees fit. If a user wants name deleted, then they also can no longer access the data of others.
Data consists of:
Caching Name:
Real First Name(s):
Home town/City:
Zip Code:
Cell number (include area code):
Home Number (include area code):
Acceptable times to call:
email address:I’m going to set up a poll to see if there is any interest in something like this.
I would manage the list using google documents, unless someone has a better idea, Google docs is user friendly, and can easily manage who has access to the info.
We have a few local cachers that we share phone numbers with now. This would be a nice feature when traveling to other areas. It would probably also increase the interest in multis and field puzzles. As owners of over 150 hides we would rather have an out of town cacher call than go home with a dnf.
You’re not on the list already? 😉
When out int the field I prefer to pass or fail on my own merits. If I have a question it goes to the CO not another finder (99.99% of the time). Yes, I guess I could call the CO, but there are few caches THAT important where I’d find that necessary. Ya a DNF sucks but it is part of the game…besides I really hate phones.
…that said, I do think it is a good idea. Lagrac and I were discussing this missing bit this past weekend. He has numerous contacts and said it was great for meeting folks and being more social…plus the occasional help on a find wasn’t a bad thing.
If others are interested in this, that’s cool. We decided over a year ago that we’d own our DNFs if that’s what happens. There have been a couple times caching in a group where we caved, but in our experience, when we’ve called, we found the cache in question before the PAF even finished telling us where to look.
We have lots of phone numbers already for the social part, and it’s pretty common for us to get these calls from our friends. To be honest, it can be an intrusion when we’re out hiking somewhere peaceful and that phone rings and that zen is broken. We still answer it, but the only reason we carry that phone in the first place is for emergencies. Our elderly parents in the hospital, or our son’s baby on the way into the world are emergencies; looking for a cache isn’t. LOL
@Trekkin’ and Birdin’ wrote:
To be honest, it can be an intrusion when we’re out hiking somewhere peaceful and that phone rings and that zen is broken. We still answer it, but the only reason we carry that phone in the first place is for emergencies.
Same here. The cell phone is for emergency use only. I carry it while geocaching and biking…other than that is sits in a drawer at home….and the home phone is basically for the wife and kids….I like email much better.
We used phone-a-friend once, and the CO wasn’t there. We’ll do the “email-the-cache-owner” thing after we get home from a DNF sometimes. We take the cell phone with us for emergencies, but it almost always gets left in the car. We realize that fact when we can’t find the cache after a long hard trip to GZ and contemplate a PAF. 🙄 😉
There have been a couple of times when we thought that maybe we should have had the cell with us in case one of us got hurt or something, and the car was a ways away for the other to go back to. But if it’s just to have a CO guide us to the container, probably not, especially if we got the number off a list and didn’t even know the CO.
I like the idea, but I’m not sure how easily you could restrict access to the list to people on the list. I guess we would need to make another “state” for users, such as member/friend, officer/nonofficer, etc. Seems like a bit of work to maintain this, however. Perhaps the easiest approach would be to have the system send out an email containing the numbers to those on the list on a regular basis.
Sending out the list monthly is what Michigan does, I will contact the manager of that list and see more on how he does it. I’m on the list and get a PDF, Excel, and a file to load to a Palm Pilot.
Ill see what info i get
Barry
I would submit my info.
I do have a few local (to me) cacher’s plugged into my cell phone.
I get a lot of “Email a Friend”.
No thanks. I prefer to look for caches, which is part of the game for me, as is logging DNFs.
While I prefer a find over a DNF, I dont need the find so much as to use a PAF. While there may be the rare exception, I generally do not use PAF.
z
I prefer to email the CO if it comes to that. As it sits, I’ve never even done that. I just chalk up the DNF and try it again later.
I would say that in about 60% of the cases where I have called a friend, the cache is actually missing, so my call ends up a confirmation of that. Another 10% turn out to be inaccessible (under frozen water, in a fenced off area, in an area temporarily closed to the public, etc.) The other 30%….well, nobody is perfect.
Ive only used a phone a friend once while in Michigan at a puzzle cache, that I had the correct coordinates for and checked by the CO we were back to the correct area 3 times on different trips to the UP and finally made a call to a friend. without getting a give it away type of hint, I was able to find it.
and in 4 years I have only recieved a call once, it was on a cache that I was the last finder of in over a year, and although I could vaguely remember it, I was no help. Now I see where that caching journal that another forum post is talking about could help.
I have used the Michigan PAF friend list quite often in the past, especially while traveling to the lower peninsula in areas that we wouldn’t typically revisit after I could send an email.
I have also made several new friends by using the PAF list to call someone I have never spoken to before (or have them call me while passing through the UP) to ask about a cache. I have never had a bad experience being a part of the list and have actually wondered why you guys in WI don’t start something like this.
I would definitely be interested in being part of this (if you allowed me to) as I cache in NE Wisconsin fairly often and some of you cache in our area of the UP as well.
This PAF list doesn’t have to be a formal WGA run thing, it could just be undertaken by a volunteer who is willing to maintain and update the list regularly to add new people to it and delete those people who no longer wish to be a part of it. The most important thing is to only share the list with people who have signed up to be members. I have never been solicited in any way because of this list in the 2+ years I have been on it.
Just taking a quick look at the MI list, there are 210 people from all parts of the state and surrounding states who are a part of it.
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