My theory is it is another way of saying “numbers run”. More or less a series of caches with easy in & out access that allow for a somewhat direct route from cache to cache. I’ve looked at a few “tour” bookmarks and thats the impression I got.

Well I think that tour can mean many things, but a group of people getting together to go on a caching run, in my humble opinion, does not qualify on its own merit. If it does then I officially quit geocaching right this instant, as being together with others is a big part of what this is all about for me!

In fact, lagrac and I have then committed an egregious error in judgment as we drove around central Wisconsin this weekend….in the same car 😯 ….going after the same caches.

I think the difference lies in the fact that I likely would have found all those caches with or without lagrac. Now had it been a theoretical trip to the valley so lagrac could fetch all of his solved s|s puzzle caches, and I tagged along to collect the smiley faces while not having a flipping clue how to solve the puzzle on my own, that I think would constitute an issue (or maybe even a tour)!

“Tour” in my definition would be having a “Tour Guide” following a specific route making predefined stops and pretty much be shown where the cache is, albeit, a puzzle tour, traditional tour etc. Tour Guides show you stuff, and your just following along for the smiley, no leg work for the tour setting up where and when, just there to log anything that is put in front of you.

Kinda like taking a bus tour to Yellowstone, they make all the stops at the sights, you get out do your thing and back on the bus.

my .02

Barry of sweetlife

Per Groundspeak rules, you may not have a geocaching event for the purpose of finding caches.

@marc_54140 wrote:

Per Groundspeak rules, you may not have a geocaching event for the purpose of finding caches.

Picnic, Camp Out and other Events , Oh My! SO the West Bend Bash and everyother event from here on out are banned? SO that also means that you can find temps at an events cuz their not real caches cuz you cant have an event to find caches and temps can be found but not logged are logged but they are actual attends but not finds cuz ya cant find a find at an event. Do I got that right? 😕 Cuz Rules are rules are rules and if there are no rules anything goes but they are not rules but guidlines and guidelines can be bent cuz they’re not a rule, cuz it’s only a game and people can play the game how they want cuz the guidelines say so but there are not rules saying you can’t. SO that’s a about right? Right or is that wrong? Cuz 2 wrongs equals right but it’s actualy 3 rights to make a left but is there a guide line or rule that states that lefts are right and rights are wrong cuz it going to get to a point that no one gives a darn and do just what they want anyhow and who is gonna stop them?

OK I officaly tried to steal this thread, but I honestly believe that what I typed above makes perfect sense to this whole geocaching thinging that no one can win anyway cuz ya can’t, Sorta like golf. NO matter how hard ya try, ya can never win the game. So ya..there ya have it in a nut shell. But your shell may very cuz you may not like nuts so one could say that is how the ball bounces unless it has no air so than it can’t bounce even if you have lots of hot air which seems I have more than enough but can you really ever have enough? I mean Really?? Can one? So..ok Time to go to bed.

@astrod-team wrote:

Is getting together with others to go caching in an area a “tour”?
Is getting together with family to go caching in an area a “tour”?
Is getting together with others strictly to find puzzles in an area a “tour”?
Is getting together with others while at an event a “tour”?
Is getting together to collaborate on a puzzle and then running out to make the find a “tour”?
Is getting together certain individuals to go caching in an area a “tour”?
Is meeting other cachers while doing a cache a “tour”?
Is any group of cachers in the same area a “tour”?
Is a geocaching event considered a “tour”?

The short answer it NO, to all of the above. In fact most of them are good reasons to get out and go caching since for many people the social aspect is a primary motivating factor.

Puzzle CO’s might roll my eyes when a new crew comes from out of town and tags-a-long with a cacher who’s spent a ton of time making valley solves only to share the final cords with them, but only because it robs the tag-a-longs of the opportunity of the solve experience, which can be rewarding as the solvers of those tours well know. When that happens, the real sting occurs when the tag-a-longs perform copy-paste logs and make it know to all that they have no idea what they just missed out on and seemingly don’t really care how it makes the CO or the previous solvers feel. There’s that element of respect again. But CO’s learn to live with this kind of behavior since we know it’s about caching within a group of friends that makes it fun, and we wouldn’t want to take that away from anyone. We just with those tours, if they are about caching together, would stick to the traditionals where there would be no issue.

The difference here and the reason that a number of valley cachers are worked up is not in any of the above definitions. It is the act going beyond any of those reasonable excuses to go caching by publicly posting an invite to take as many who are willing to a huge number of puzzle finals without even asking the tag-a-longs to contribute or even know what caches they are going to hunt. It is not about going with friends and family. Any cacher could have signed up for the recent tour and been accepted, regardless if they knew the leader or not. And that’s exactly what happened with a newbie who was introduced to this way of doing things and I imagine is tired of his ears ringing and wondering why he ever went along for the ride. It is using the forums to promote this kind of activity because that person feels he can get away with it since there are no hard and fast rules about caching. So it’s fine to do whatever you need to sidestep puzzles but heaven forbid you try to place a cache within 514′ of another one, despite how unique, valuable or interesting your cache may be. You have to follow the guidelines after all.

And the big one, it’s about not having the strength of character to respect the wishes of a number of cache owners who have asked the tour leader to stop targeting them, and opting instead to do just that.

The big picture issue that many of us who are trying to add value to the sport are given less, yes less, consideration that those who try to dilute distill or just plain delete that added value. All they care about is the numbers and they will win every time there is any kind of dispute about who is right and who is wrong, because there are no rules as stated and moreover, the sport is in one reviewers words, ‘just a waste of time with no more reason to exist but to do so’ (parsed). And there’s the rub. If the powers that have power to shape the sport, better it and give it more meaning insist on defaulting to the lowest common denominator, we who want to make the sport more rewarding by giving cachers something more that a smiley, simply have to live with it or get out. I’ve chosen to live with it, but despite how futile it is in light of all I just said, I will not go quietly into that silence…

Doesn’t PM mean “private message”?

Since you requested the sender to not PM or email you anymore, why are you dragging this into the public forums?