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Some of you may have noted that I (the beast) have requested the Archiving of a dozen Wisconsin caches belonging to other geocachers. I do not do this lightly. I regret that I must be the one to say it is due. My reason (excuse) is that there are currently 179 Wisconsin caches on the disabled list and some have been there for nearly two years. TPTB have given us the option to disable a cache so that we might take it out of play for a week or two or six (whatever) to fix problems with the cache. They have left the responsibility for retiring the cache in the hands of the cache owner. When it becomes evident that the cache cannot be returned to service, it is the cache owner’s responsibility to clean-up the site (leave no trace) and to retire the listing (also leaving no trace). Please note that my actions here are requests for archival. Only the cache owner and TPTB have the ability to do that.
Trudy and I have visited several of these caches and we regret to see them go. The point here is that I will continue to make these requests and I would hope that the cache owners would take this as a reminder and nothing more.
Keep on caching ~tb
I agree. I have also requested a few to be archived.
Beast –
What are we doing as an organization to make sure that those physical caches are actually taken out of the wild so that they’re not just simply litter?
I’ve brought this up a few times in the past because I think it’s an issue we should address. Does the WGA have some sort of system for asking volunteers in an area to go out and snag archived caches from the woods?
I look at some of the geocache maps out there and worry that we are overloading our public lands with soaked caches whose owners have abandoned…
Jeff
I have personally found a multi nearby that was archived and all the tags were still out in the wild as was the cache. Another local puzzle cache was still had pieces of it scattered about as well. I think finding volunteers for this task is a good idea.
[This message has been edited by Lostby7 (edited 04-01-2006).]
I agree with the need to clean up abandoned caches. In the case of traditional caches, there’s usually nothing left to be removed, as the reason it was archived is often because it disappeared. However, when an early stage of a multi-cache goes bad, the subsequent stages become unfindable to those who haven’t been there before.
Here’s one that’s been bugging me for a couple years: GCH5TA. In this case, only one group of cachers found this six stage series before the first micro disappeared. I attempted to contact the owner through logs and e-mail offering to help fix or remove the cache, but received no response. I even tried contacting the first finders with no results.
Chances are that five stages of this cache (and someone’s travel bug) are still laying around on WDNR land and have now become geo-litter. While cases like this are rather rare, there should be some mechanism in place to determine the coordinates of the later stages to allow for a volunteer clean up.
TS
Edited for typo.
[This message has been edited by TS (edited 04-01-2006).]
I don’t see any problem with it. On my latest tear through Appleton, I requested the archival of a couple caches, one which had been disabled for ten months. I suspect in a lot of cases, these cachers are no longer active, so archiving these caches will offend no one because they’ll probably never even know.
Having these caches archived will also make for higher-quality PQs for people as unfindable caches won’t be cluttering up their queries.
quote:
Originally posted by TS:
I agree with the need to clean up abandoned caches. In the case of traditional caches, there’s usually nothing left to be removed, as the reason it was archived is often because it disappeared. However, when an early stage of a multi-cache goes bad, the subsequent stages become unfindable to those who haven’t been there before.Brians, are you now requiring that all multicaches have all the stages entered using the new waypoint feature? If so, then at least all current multis will be findable even if a stage goes bad.
Of course, the problem is that older caches might not have this info. Something I’d suggest is if you have a multi that was approved before you could add waypoints is to edit it to include that info, just in case. That would probably help the reviewers in the future as well in case a new cache is placed near your multi and the 0.1 mile guideline needs to be checked.
quote:
Originally posted by Cheesehead Dave:
Brians, are you now requiring that all multicaches have all the stages entered using the new waypoint feature? If so, then at least all current multis will be findable even if a stage goes bad.Of course, the problem is that older caches might not have this info. Something I’d suggest is if you have a multi that was approved before you could add waypoints is to edit it to include that info, just in case. That would probably help the reviewers in the future as well in case a new cache is placed near your multi and the 0.1 mile guideline needs to be checked.
I’m not requiring it yet, because GC.com has fail to make this feature useful to the Admins. The admins can see the hidden “waypoint” stages, but they don’t automatically populate the .gpx file when we down load it.
For example, if you are the owner and add 7 hidden waypoints, they will all download for you when you click the download .gpx tab. Now when I review the same cache with an admin, only the single listed waypoint will show up in the .gpx file and the 7 additional ones don’t. We can see them in the description, but they are not included in the “download .gpx” file.
I’ve pointed this out to GC.com several times and it’s not fixed. Until they fix the feature so admins can download the additional waypoints, we still have to manually type them in. USELESS !!!!
TATB,
Thanks for doing this. I make it a point to try and keep the diabled caches hidden in my area to a minimum by contacting their owners, etc. I, too, have posted a SBA on caches when I get no response after logs and emails. I’ve got one, however, which I don’t quite know what to do. I posted a needs maintenance log to get the owners attention and he responded, saying he would replace it in a few days. Now, 3 months later, it is still disabled. The cache is this one. Anyone have any suggestions?quote:
Originally posted by Team Deejay:
TATB,
Thanks for doing this. I make it a point to try and keep the diabled caches hidden in my area to a minimum by contacting their owners, etc. I, too, have posted a SBA on caches when I get no response after logs and emails. I’ve got one, however, which I don’t quite know what to do. I posted a needs maintenance log to get the owners attention and he responded, saying he would replace it in a few days. Now, 3 months later, it is still disabled. The cache is this one. Anyone have any suggestions?That’s exactly an appropriate spot for an SBA. Cache has been disabled since last June, several logs wondering about it, and it looks like no finds by the owner(s) in almost a year, so they probably aren’t active anymore.
I agree with getting on with the archiving. I have tried to contact cachers who have had a caches disabled for almost a yr. I don’t want to adopt this one, as I would much rather get a couple caches in that park, without having to work around theirs. Of course…the people I end up trying to contact don’t seem to answer back, so I’ll let “Tie” attack again!! LOL
I just checked on the cache in question by Team DeeJay and Cheesehead Dave, and the owner did respond, stating that he will resurrect the cache into a new multi-staged micro hunt, plus restore another cache in SE Wisconsin as well by the end of this week. Hopefully this will be well worth the wait.
[This message has been edited by brkster (edited 04-02-2006).]
Strangely, the owner of the cache I refered to earlier resurfaced on the same day. She has moved out of state. I was able to contact her via geocaching.com. It’s sounds like we’ll be able work out getting her cache cleaned up.
TS
quote:
Originally posted by brkster:
I just checked on the cache in question by Team DeeJay and Cheesehead Dave, and the owner did respond, stating that he will resurrect the cache into a new multi-staged micro hunt, plus restore another cache in SE Wisconsin as well by the end of this week. Hopefully this will be well worth the wait.[This message has been edited by brkster (edited 04-02-2006).]
Yes, he responded to me in January as well. But then, no action for 3 months. How much time is appropriate? IIRC, this cache has been gone since last May.
My original question still stands. Also, I noticed during the BETA test of the new WI-GEOCACHING site that there is the possibility of adding a field regarding recovery of abandoned physical caches. Anything more on that?
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