Seriously working on our first cache placement

[sandlanders]

We’ve been sitting around this winter playing the Hibernating Cache Game (they’re not Lonely–just waiting for the nicer weather to emerge and be found), so we’ve thought of a few caches we want to place.

Now we’re to the point of trying to write up the cache form (realize we haven’t actually been out to some of the spots we’re looking at to get the coordinates fixed yet, so we have time), and we’re wondering:

1. Is the language that complicated, or is HTML just for the bells and whistles you want on the cache page?)

2. Can we look at how the cache page will appear before it is submitted to see if it does what we want it to do?

3. Does the reviewer set the date, because it seems to be stuck in 1901, and we can’t figure out what to do to change it.

Any other helpful hints on writing up the cache page would be welcomed.

[marc_54140]

Yes for #2. Go ahead right now, and enter your cache, and start playing around with the page.

There is a block that comes pre-checked saying the cache is ready to go. Uncheck it, and the cache remains unreviewed.

I routinely have 2-5 caches on the unreviewed list, was I work on them.

[Lostby7]

HTML is loads of fun but it’s really not needed. As this is your first submission I’d just get used to how the process works before you worry about dressing up the page. First and foremost worry about placing a quality cache with good coords…the rest is just fluff.

I’m not sure what you are seeing with your date issue…

Like Marc I have one or two caches which I play with while in que and unavailable to the reviewers for submission. If I didn’t have this option to work and rework my page (obsessively) I’d be lost. I’m currently on about the 40th (no lie) revision of a new Earthcache page.

[rogheff]

You have indeed come to a trailhead. How to list your spiffy new cache. One decision, that you haven’t even realized that you have, is on which website(s) to list this new cache.

The website with the simplest cache submission/approval process is navicache.com There’s not many bells and whistles – just caches. New cache approval is usually within minutes and you can do just about anything you want – so be creative. Your cache types are wide open.

The website which will have some basic html (the flashy stuff) is terracaching.com Here, you’ll find a straight forward listing process which will make you put some thought into how you rate your cache, unlike the other sites. New cache approval is depend ant upon your sponsors – I’d send them a message saying you’re sending a new cache submission through to speed up the process.

The website that I’m sure you thought you had to use is geocaching.com This site has the flashiest graphics and hence the most advanced learning curve. The new cache submission process is pretty straight forward for a simple cache, incredibly complicated should you try to write in html code. New cache approval is usually pretty quick if it’s a simple cache far away from any others. Being creative here will surely get you into long discussions with the local reviewers. Many hand-slappings later, you may discover such things as the Supreme International Cache Approval Court, who dole out their rulings with impunity and engrave their decisions on stone tablets stored in the deep recesses of the Center for International Geocache Study at Groundspeak Mountain.

Throw a rubber stamp into the container and suddenly you’ve stumbled upon a whole new world called letterboxing. Atlasquest.com has a simple cache listing procedure. Some graphic abilities are required here as well. New cache approval is immediate.

Bottom line is you have choices that you probably didn’t even know you had. Explore them all.

[Trekkin and Birdin]

A person can always list the cache without the bells and whistles, then go back in and edit to your heart’s delight. When I’m listing an earthcache, I’ll do the write up in Word, paste that into their submission form, then when it’s listed and my adoption from geoaware is complete, I can add all the pretty stuff.

I haven’t found the html stuff I’ve wanted to do for my listings to be all that complicated. As Gary and others have said, you can click to keep the listing from being reviewed, then when you’re happy with the appearance, change the click to submit it. You can view your listing repeatedly, as I do, and only when you like the way it looks, submit away. If the html is troubling, folks here can help you figure it out. Onc important thing to remember is that IF you choose to list it in html, be sure to check the little box right above that it’s in html. Otherwise it will look like a run-on sentence. Not that I’ve had any personal experience with that! 😉

I do wonder about one thing. For those of us who like to include pictures and such in our listings, does that scare away folks with slow connections who don’t want to wait for it to load? I’ve always wondered if that’s much of an issue.

[SammyClaws]

@rogheff wrote:

You have indeed come to a trailhead. How to list your spiffy new cache. One decision, that you haven’t even realized that you have, is on which website(s) to list this new cache.

The website with the simplest cache submission/approval process is navicache.com There’s not many bells and whistles – just caches. New cache approval is usually within minutes and you can do just about anything you want – so be creative. Your cache types are wide open.

The website which will have some basic html (the flashy stuff) is terracaching.com Here, you’ll find a straight forward listing process which will make you put some thought into how you rate your cache, unlike the other sites. New cache approval is depend ant upon your sponsors – I’d send them a message saying you’re sending a new cache submission through to speed up the process.

The website that I’m sure you thought you had to use is geocaching.com This site has the flashiest graphics and hence the most advanced learning curve. The new cache submission process is pretty straight forward for a simple cache, incredibly complicated should you try to write in html code. New cache approval is usually pretty quick if it’s a simple cache far away from any others. Being creative here will surely get you into long discussions with the local reviewers. Many hand-slappings later, you may discover such things as the Supreme International Cache Approval Court, who dole out their rulings with impunity and engrave their decisions on stone tablets stored in the deep recesses of the Center for International Geocache Study at Groundspeak Mountain.

Throw a rubber stamp into the container and suddenly you’ve stumbled upon a whole new world called letterboxing. Atlasquest.com has a simple cache listing procedure. Some graphic abilities are required here as well. New cache approval is immediate.

Bottom line is you have choices that you probably didn’t even know you had. Explore them all.

Is it ok to list your cache on more than one site? I really dont want to have to read through the TOU info to figure it out. Yes I am lazy.

[Team Deejay]

@SammyClaws wrote:

Is it ok to list your cache on more than one site? I really dont want to have to read through the TOU info to figure it out. Yes I am lazy.

Yes, cross-listing is allowed on all sites.

[rogheff]

Except terracaching. They don’t want any cross caches.

[sandlanders]

@Trekkin’ and Birdin’ wrote:

I do wonder about one thing. For those of us who like to include pictures and such in our listings, does that scare away folks with slow connections who don’t want to wait for it to load? I’ve always wondered if that’s much of an issue.

We have dial-up AND we like to work with photos, so we will be trying this, but maybe not for the first one.

Don’t make your travel plans for Adams County yet. We still have plenty of snow to wade through, and we are not the most adventurous with ice around either.

[sandlanders]

@Lostby7 wrote:

I’m not sure what you are seeing with your date issue…

It’s somewhere in the middle of the page that says date placed then 12/03/1901 or something like that, and I can’t change the date. Is this done when the cache gets published? Right now at the top of the page when I view my listing, I’m seeing a cache that was placed in 1901.

And there’s still no FTF on that one!

[Lostby7]

try changing the date by clicking on the calendar next to that field..the date really isn’t a big deal though…

[greyhounder]

Sandlanders,

Do you have a Mac? I seem to recall that there were some issues with the dates and those using Macs with Safari. I think the fabulous reviewers are able to correct the problem for you (at least that’s what I’ve been reading!)

Bec

[sandlanders]

YES! Of course, it had to be a Mac problem. (If it’s not that for us, it’s a dial-up problem.) Clicking on the calendar didn’t work either. Any other expected roadblocks for a Mac and Safari user?

Oh, those fabulous reviewers! We’ll trust them to handle the date issue when the time comes. Thanks!

[TyeDyeSkyGuy]

The only uses for the date are:

1. The date it’s placed will show up on the cache page

2. The GC.com software uses that date to show the cache as “new” for seven days when people do a search.

Neither are that important, but I’d want the date correct too.

Contact GC.com support and ask them what’s up. [email protected]

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