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Ok, this is a little gripe I have with my darling husband. I’m now pleading with the experts to help me resolve this disagreement 🙂
My husband will hardly EVER log a DNF. I let him go, because I figure that if we haven’t searched for a good hour for a cache, it’s not fair to make the hider feel like there is a problem. But, for him, it’s almost a sign of weakness when he has to log a DNF.
So, who is right here?
Would the cache guardian rather have a DNF, and get some pleasure out of seeing some poor sods sweating because they couldn’t find the cache….
or would they rather have the person wait until the actually find the cache, so they aren’t unfairly stressed that there is a problem with the cache?Always log your dnf’s. If you don’t it’s a disservice to other cachers and the cache owner and not a sign of your inexperience or inability to find the cache. By logging the dnf future seekers now have your log to help them decide whether or not to look for the cache. The cache owner can use your log to determine whether a maintenance visit is needed. It’s proper geocaching etiquette to log your dnf.
I agree with Mister GT. Except once or twice a year, we don’t routinely check on most of our caches, so we don’t know if they are there or not if people don’t log their DNFs. Once we see a DNF, we’ll check on the cache as soon as we can. If it’s there, we write a note in the logs so that others can see it’s OK to look for. If it’s not, we can put a new container out and log that it’s back in play.
How you write your DNFs will help the COs know if the problem is with you or with their cache. If you looked all over in every possible hiding spot, and it’s an easy cache, the CO can be pretty much sure that it’s missing. If you looked for the cache only a few minutes because you were on your way somewhere or the weather turned bad or the kids got cranky or whatever, then the CO might wait for another DNF before checking, or at least won’t drop everything to get check on the cache.
And if it’s a tough hide, you can say you hadn’t run across one like this before or that you gave the search a lot of time, but maybe it wasn’t quite enough. There’s no shame in not finding a cache, no matter how many you have found or not found previously.
You can still write about your experiences at the cache site, even in a DNF log. That’s why the CO wanted you to visit in the first place. And writing DNF logs will give you a “list” to keep track of when you find yourself in that area again.
Personally I would like to know if there was a issue with the cache. I like to see DNFs. Even if you didn’t give it a good look for, post a DNF and say you searched for a few minutes but couldn’t find it. That is what I do.
I usually log all DNFs when I’ve searched for at least 20 minutes in all places where it may be… and expanded the search beyond 20 feet in case the coordinates are a bit off. Sometimes I find that others find the cache after I’ve been there… sooo I know it’s me… not a muggled container… and I have to revisit.
Usually if I’ve been pressed for time or the weather is turning nasty I don’t post a DNF but instead post a note to say I’ll be back to search on another day.
So helpful! Thanks so much. It’s not often that people take my side, and I’m able to tell him “I told you so!” LOL!
He’s always worried that it’s in a container that is unusual. He’s waiting for the next person to find it, so that he can be sure that it’s there. I think that a great compromise will be a note saying that he didn’t find it, if he feels like we didn’t spend enough time searching. Thanks for the advice. We want to be fair for the hiders, and keep it fun for all!I didn’t always log our DNF’s but once I started placing caches I realized how important it was to do so.
I log every DNF’s unless I only made a half assed effort to look for a cache due to muggle presence in which case I don’t either log it at all or just put a note saying I was there.
I log all my DNF’s but I usually state how long I searched or why I moved on. I do have kiddos that sometimes make me move on quickly without a thorough search. I don’t want my DNF’s to worry the cache owner in those cases so I let them know. But I’m not afraid of the little blue frowny face. I mean, if we could find them all easily I’m pretty sure that would diminish the fun of the search!
Not all who wander are lost. -J.R.R. Tolkien
Log that DNF! But it’s not a guarantee that it will be checked.
If I don’t find it, I log it AND explain the details when I’ve done a lengthy search, I have had multiple DNF’s on the same cache. Sometime it’s me but more often it’s the cache owner and lack of maintenance. A major pet peeve of mine. I wish the cache owners would log when they have checked it. Some are great about this, others, not.
We like to log our DNF’s. Just because we didn’t find it does not mean it’s missing. It sure feels good when we go back and find them. Often we were just blind the first time we were there. 😆
MawWhen I first started caching, I didn’t log the DNFs because I thought I was just that terrible at caching. There are days I still feel that way. But many a cache owner shared the importance of logging the DNF (like they have above) and now I log them. Sometimes the story of the DNF is way more interesting than the story of the find. And on occasion the cache actually was missing, so the owner found out and could replace it. I would do like others have said, say how long you looked and why you stopped. That helps determine if a maintenance visit is needed.
Great! We’ve changed our evil ways 🙂 I went back and logged a DNF from the 21st of April. Now I see that there was another DNF today, so I can see the importance of logging them.
All these little parts of geocaching that we didn’t really understand. Thanks for the guidance!I always log my numerous DNF’s. It can help a CO decide on whether to up the difficulty level if there are multiple DNF’s and the cache is indeed there.
And if my memory is right there are challenge geocaches for having a certain number of DNF’s logged. So there is another plus to logging them.
Personally I’ve logged 559 DNF’s since I started caching.
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