Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
@Trekkin’ and Birdin’ wrote:
I know I spent time solving one in the Reforestation Camp and hope to actually find it one of these days. But if the owners have reason to archive it, that’s just my tough luck.
Well, that would be “Pirate Pete’s Plunder” and we have no intention of archiving that one so you are safe!!! Our others out there are just designed to be long walks, unless you choose take some illegal and ill-advised shortcuts, which we know you’re not the type to do!
On the Left Side of the Road...Well, the question seems to be who are you placing the puzzle caches for? There is only a certain constituency of cachers in an area who will do puzzles so the find rate by default will drop quickly after publication. So if your objective is to keep feeding that “club” new puzzles, then you’re going to archive frequently. Something that doesn’t take up prime real estate. But if you have a puzzle with lasting value, that has an actual cache at the end, ???? GC guidelines state something about the expectation of relative “permanence” I believe, though that’s relative.
On the Left Side of the Road...No guideline needed. Completely up to the owner and the usual considerations. A puzzle that is inactive but isn’t taking up prime real estate isn’t hurting anyone. Lots of new people coming into the game all the time and it’s good for them to see/do “legacy” caches and puzzles.
This seems to get back to similar “when to archive” threads. People who have “cleaned out” areas understandably want to see new stuff come in so they have something to do, but there are many other people playing.
On the Left Side of the Road...They’re taken…
On the Left Side of the Road...Ditto. All have been very helpful to us. Yes, I do mean all…
On the Left Side of the Road...Bump!
Looking for some thoughts on how to avoid placing lame EarthCaches.
Obviously the best way to learn is through doing, but interestingly there is a big “void” of earthcaches north of Green Bay compared to the rest of the state. W/in 50 of our home coordinates there are only a handful of ECs, and w/in 100 mi nearly all EC’s are to the south.
So…we’re no geologists. In the course of our explorations we find something that we think is pretty neat, but is it EC-worthy? What are some good resources to use?
A public thanks at this point to LB7 for guidance on an EC we’re working on at the moment.
On the Left Side of the Road...Just to close the loop on this, should anyone be interested…
After much consideration of all the available options, we couldn’t find one that did *everything* well–PDA, camera, Wi-Fi, and GPSr. Interestingly, none of the current generation of Palms or other PDAs had a camera (our cell phones don’t have one, I know, amazing).
So rather than lay out $$$ on a new Palm (in order to run cachemate) that also had Wi-Fi, we went with the Zire 72, used off eBay. Old by current standards, but a big upgrade from the Palm VII we were using. The 72 has a camera, an available Wi-Fi card, and a reasonable web browser.
So for abt. $100 total we were able to get a device to store all cache info for paperless caching (via Cachemate), a camera for when pictures are needed for logging requirements or other, and Wi-Fi if we need to check on something on gc.com and there’s a hotspot nearby.
Obviously there are other options but this has worked very well so far.
On the Left Side of the Road...05/31/2008 at 12:42 pm in reply to: Geocaching shouldn’t have to cause more fuel consumption #1889820“Geocaching shouldn’t have to cause more fuel consumption.”
I don’t accept that premise from the start. You could easily frame this discussion in, “Do you burn fossil fuel just to__________________”
The blank ultimately comes down to “live your life.” One person’s noble, gas-burning-worthy activity is another person’s waste of time.
On the Left Side of the Road...@Team Deejay wrote:
Actually, this is not very good advice. Create the cache page but DO NOT EVER RELEASE A CACHE PAGE WHICH IS NOT IN THE FIELD.
I think that’s what Mathman said when he said “wait to activate.” Completing the cache page but unchecking the “this cache is active” box before you click submit means reviewers can see it if directed to it but it doesn’t show up in their inbox to approve, correct? At least this is the way we’ve done it on a few such occasions.
On the Left Side of the Road...I had originally mentioned that I avoid parks when solo-caching just as an aside, since it’s not really OT. I for one think it’s perfectly reasonable for someone to wonder what a guy is doing at a playground, with no children with him, wandering in circles and crawling under playground equipment, with an electronic device in his hand. It’s not paranoia, it’s justifable concern.
So, I wasn’t intending to keep this digression going, but I had to respond to this.
Geocaches are (supposed to be) placed with permission. Cachers may need to be stealthy, but should always be honest when questioned and PARTICULARLY if questioned by law enforcement. The point is that this is an “above board” game.
Few people can lie convincingly, especially to a trained observer, and when the truth finally comes out it’s all the more likely to cause the “geocaching=something bad” implication. And even if you can do it well, what possible motive is there for telling a cover story when asked what you are doing? You’re not doing something illegal when you look for a cache. “I am playing a scavenger hunt game called geocaching. Are you familiar with it?”
As we tell our children, you might get in trouble when you tell the truth, but you will always get in trouble when you lie.
On the Left Side of the Road...@kbraband wrote:
If the police do get involved, it doesn’t help when it comes out that you lied. Better yet, continue to avoid playground geocaches.
Absolutely! Unless I have “the fam” along, I will NOT hunt a playground cache. Particularly when caches are hidden in/on the playground structures, I don’t want to be the creepy guy looking under the teeter totter. And if the cops would show up, having a “cover story”…well, that’s just not a good idea.
Not every cache is huntable at all times!!!
On the Left Side of the Road...After much debate we’ve chosen an older Zire, not quite as old as Cachelovsky’s…a Zire 72. Partly to be cheap ($70 off eBay), and also because it has a camera in it, whereas none of the current Palms do. (???) Also has an available wireless card so we’ll see how it goes.
On the Left Side of the Road...Most often, if you act like you know what you are doing and are supposed to be there, people won’t “see” you.
There are obviously exceptions and some cases where you simply can’t–or at least shouldn’t–hunt for a cache. Unfortunately when dad is solo-caching any cache that turns out to be at or by a playground is a drive-away.
On the Left Side of the Road...The travel-bug movement issue is a good point, and we cringe when our bugs get dropped in TB prisons…I mean, hotels.
To the basic question, though, of whether it’s unrealistic to expect people to heed any owner “rules” in a cache, the answer is “yes.”
Heck, people don’t even follow good caching etiquette as it is, let alone special rules. Otherwise every ammo box would be filled with similar quality swag. Instead we end up with empty boxes or caches filled with dirty golf balls, lost buttons, rusty nails, and on and on. That’s why more and more we just put out micros and forget about it. Simply not worth the time and frustration.
While we certainly expect to maintain our caches, we don’t expect to pay for endless supplies of stuff to fill the shelves of people who take more than they leave or take swag and leave travel bugs. (TBs are not trading items!!!!)
On the Left Side of the Road...@Gram&Gramps wrote:
Or is it a losing battle
In a word: yes. You could have a neon sign inside your cache with instructions and people would still not read it. We’ve learned the hard way that people, especially in groups and hunting numbers, don’t take any time whatsoever to read anything inside the cache.
Heck, with paperless caching, you’re lucky if they ever even go to the cache page.
So just like in other areas of life, you either have to design things to be idiot-proof and, if that’s not possible, live with the reality that your best ideas will be destroyed by travel bug hoarders, swag thieves, and general doofuses.
On the Left Side of the Road... -
AuthorPosts
