Candidate Question:Division

[Bennycams]

 

Do you believe that there is a cultural division between newer (5 years or less experience) and veteran (pre-smartphone) cachers? If so, how would you like to see the WGA attempt with both sides to erase that divide?

 

[maskinwi]

Personally no we can not segregate but we can teach. Everyone plays the game differently. Some cachers may not like what a newbe does but we can help educate new cachers with a simple email or im with some friendly pointers. We all were new cachers at some point. Thank you.

All opinions, comments, and useless drivel I post are mine alone and do not reflect the opinions of the WGA BOD.

[graphicsgirl19]

A little I suppose. But I also look at it as someone who has the experience to maybe teach the newbies a trick or two. The veterans of the game always have some fabulous stories to tell! I have also discovered that most veteran cachers are not opposed to accompanying the newbies to some they may have already found as a way to help out on a particularly hard find.

[zeeman_clan]

I’ve been putting off these questions recently as I try to get caught up from a trip out of town, but this question spoke to me as soon as I read it. My trip out of town was for a civil rights conference in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. If you want to see cultural division, drop a Polish guy from the Midwest into Washington, DC among activists from all around the country who live their lives in dedication of Dr. King’s legacy. I’m not saying that they are completely different from me. We were all there to learn, grow, and educate. We all had a common goal. They just did it in a way that was a lot different than I do.

That being said, we as geocachers are diverse. It’s not just the newbies and the veterans, its the quality cachers versus the number cachers. It’s not just the team cachers and the individuals, its the smartphone versus the GPSr. Everyone caches differently, but we are all after the same thing, geocaches. What we have to accept is that no matter what we believe is the right way to cache, someone else is going to believe the way they cache is right.

Everyone is different. We may look different, believe different, love different, and cache different. As a representative of the Wisconsin Geocaching Association, I strive to make sure that we are inclusive to everyone. The only reason I can see that would require any form of intervention, whether it be personally or as an organization, would be if the cacher was being detrimental to the game of geocaching. Diversity should not separate, instead it should bring outside ideas that we should embrace to broaden our appreciation of the game. I welcome both new and veteran cachers for what each individual has to offer.

My posts should in no way be considered as the views or opinions of the WGA or its Board of Directors. All posts made under my name are my personal opinions only.

[AuntieNae]

Bennycams, I personally have not seen a divide between newer and veteran geocachers in my area.  I have actually seen more veteran geocachers using smartphones in the urban environments.  In teaching the Geo101 classes, I do talk about both the pros and cons of both smartphones and GPSrs.

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