Questions for Candidates – Is it about the numbers

[LightningBugs Mum]

An active geocacher – I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it. Is that a good enough answer? 😉 OK, seriously, I’ll give it a shot here…..

One who:

Visits the geocaching.com website at least twice a month.

Finds at least 25 caches a year (I won’t say 2 per month as some people don’t like to hunt during certain seasons).

Now this is what I would call a minimally active geocacher for the eligibility requirements. A good board member would be more involved than this, but that is not what the question asks.

And since everyone else has posted their stats here, I will do so as well:

About 650 finds, plus great gobs of event temps that are not logged as finds (not that there’s anything wrong with that of course 😀 ). As I mentioned someplace else, I enjoy all different kinds of hides. The only time I get bored geocaching is when there isn’t enough variety in an area. But my favorite type of find will teach me something I didn’t know before – history, geology, etc.

12 hides plus one hosted event. Not very many, but I agonize over them for a long time making sure everything is just right. And they do stand the test of time I think.

21 TBs and geocoins released.

31 Wisconsin counties and 28 DeLorme pages visited (thanks Dave!)

People’s numbers are not important to me. I think a better gauge of dedication to the sport is the time of active involvement. Those of us who have been around a while have seen enough people come into it hot, have a bunch of finds and hides, then flame out never to be heard from again. It happens in every hobby.

OK, I’m going off on a tangent here, but another great gauge of dedication is service to the community of geocaching. For instance, Mike of Not So Lost Puppies doesn’t have as many finds as a lot of us, but he has hosted some great paperless geocaching seminars. Other things would include maintaining your caches as well as the orphaned ones out there, hosting meet-and-greet type events, participating in the cache rescue, doing things to raise awareness such as CITO, talking to the media (“No, it’s not buried treasure!” 🙄 ), and teaching classes or working with scouts, among other things I’m sure I am forgetting at the moment.

That’s what I think an active geocacher should be. 8)

[Jeremy]

@Trudy & the beast wrote:

Eligibility: All active members twenty-one (21) years of age or older that have been actively geocaching for a minimum of six (6) months are eligible to serve on the Board of Directors.

How would you define actively geocaching if it isn’t about the numbers?

The intent of this part of the bylaws was to ensure that no one who ran for the Board had less than 6 months of geocaching “experience”. At the time, there were many greenhorns and this provision was simply trying to keep people who may quit geocaching and quit the Board before the end of their two year term from running.

Now we have the opposite problem with some members having years and years of geocaching experience but maybe no longer “actively geocaching” (depending on your definition). We did not consider this situation 5 years ago, and I think it would be unfair to use this article to exclude certain people from running. This would kind of be like a court twisting a law passed for one reason to cover something else entirely.

Personally, I think the Board should reword the article so that it is clear we want someone who has been involved in the sport for at least six months (or maybe even a year). As far as whether someone who meets the experience criteria is an active geocacher should be left up to the members to decide by voting.

If someone hasn’t logged a cache in months or even years, would you vote for them? Maybe this has no bearing on whether they would be an effective leader of the organization? Maybe this means that they are completely out of touch with what geocaching is in Wisconsin today, and are also not familiar with the geocachers (the people that make the WGA great) either? Members can view the candidates’ geocaching.com profiles (and are encouraged to do so), look at their finds and hides, and answer these questions for themselves.

[Cheesehead Dave]

@LightningBugs Mum wrote:

An active geocacher – I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it. Is that a good enough answer?

Actually, I think this is the right answer. I’m only going to nominate/vote someone to the board who I think is active.

How do I know they’re active? I see their name in the forums, either here or at GC.com. I see their names pop up in logs for caches I find or get watchlist emails for. I get notifications for new caches they’ve placed. I see them at events.

I don’t try to quantify it, but I can just tell.

[GeoPink]

Some hold that the numbers make the cacher, others say there is more to it than that. What makes you a geocacher? How many caches have you found/hidden during the past year? and do the numbers really matter?

Do the numbers matter? I can truly say no. My family and I enjoy the time outside, together. I try to share this activity with as many people as I can. I enjoy telling folks about geocaching and regularily invite them along with us. Our geocaching times are farther apart than I’d like as the other family activities (basketball, poms, soccer, etc.) are starting to invade our lives more and more. So now each time we can go is more special.

Addendum
Everyone will have a different definition of an “Active” geocacher. I would consider myself an active geocacher, though compared to others I may not be. It’s all a matter of perspective. And right along the same vein as “everyone plays the game differently”.

[GrouseTales]

@Trudy & the beast wrote:

Let me explain where this question is coming from and then perhaps you may each take another stab at the question.

from Article IV of the association bylaws:

Eligibility: All active members twenty-one (21) years of age or older that have been actively geocaching for a minimum of six (6) months are eligible to serve on the Board of Directors.

NOW

How would you define actively geocaching if it isn’t about the numbers?

My opinion is very simplistic. In order to run for BOD, your first find must have been at least 6 months ago. In orther words, you need to have at least 6 months of experience. That was the intent of the founders in writing this. Since the sport was so new, they wanted to make sure BOD’s had some experience.

Also, the purpose of the age restriction of 21 y/o is because it was anticipated that board meetings could possibly be held at establishments that serve alcohol. We didn’t want to exclude a Board Member from an activity because they were not old enough to be on the premise.

The bylaws artical IV was not written to require that BOD’s find “x” amount of caches in any given period.

[NSLP1]

I think I covered the topic pretty well in my candidate posting.

No, for me/us it isn’t at all about the numbers, we have under 200 finds since starting summer 2005. 3 of our own hides, 1 adopted multi, and hosted afew events.

others are welcome to have it be about the numbers, more power to them 🙂

[AuntieNae]

I would want the WGA Board members to be actively participating in Geocaching.

Looking back JUST at 2006,

I co-hosted with The Tapps, 7 events/ workshops:
* JanBoree Event Jan 06 – City of Waukesha
* CITO Event April 06 – City of Waukesha
* All A Glow Event Oct 06 – City of Greenfield
* Geocaching Basics Workshop – Waukesha April 06
* Geocaching Basic Workshop – New Berlin/Muskego May 06
* Geocaching Basic Workshops – Greenfield April 06 and Oct 06,

I found 2,000+ geocaches.

If someone hasn’t logged a cache or attended any events in months would I vote for them? No because to me it means they are not in touch with what geocaching is in Wisconsin today, and are also not familiar with the geocachers they represent. There are SO many new geocachers out there how else are you going to get to know them.

AuntieNae
Renee

[The Tapps]

What are numbers if not counted?

I do like to see our finds go up, YES. I do enjoy finding them and seeing the places hidden in. Many parks and places would not be seen without the finds. The more you cache the more you find. Great places and great parks and maybe what they have to offer.

We have over 2,600 finds and have 72 live caches out there and take very good care of them. I try to keep up my 24 hour maintenance rule on our caches. If I recieve a log of need on my cache I’ll be there the next day and fix it. We have held events and one comming up so we show 78. We have cached in 7 states.

I guess numbers do count in this great sport! I do watch! The Tapps

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