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I am again taking the contrarian view here. In fact I posted an idea on the gc feedback area way back when to make writing a log optional. I got blasted for it, as I expected, but after this time this is exactly what gc has gone by allowing blank logs.
Why do I advocate making logs optional, when I have also bemoaned the fact that people do not write creative logs? Because we are talking about two different things.
On one hand, there is what I would LIKE people to do…what I feel to be considerate, polite, and thoughtful.
On the other hand, there is what can be REQUIRED of people to do.
Now, there is no way that we can require people to write meaningful logs. Therefore, people are only going to write them if they WANT to.
So I’d much rather see a blank log than another “tftc” or “Enjoyed your cache, thanks” cut and paste. A blank log brings me just as much personal satisfaction as a thought-free log.
On the Left Side of the Road...Outside should be ok, although the rules are inconsistently enforced on this. I once had to change cache verbiage simply because I referenced the name of a business in the parking directions. On the other hand, I’ve seen plenty of caches on commercial property, just not inside.
On the Left Side of the Road...Within 200 miles of my home, there are fewer than 400 T5 caches.
Within 200 miles of my home, there are well over 1,000 handicap accessible caches.
Within 50 miles of my home, there are nearly 1,000 T1 caches.Now, not every T1 cache is a craptastic gem but I’m gonna go out on a limb and say there’s more trash on the lower end of the T scale than on the upper end. (Hello Power Trails!)
If you put out a quality cache, more often than not you will get quality logs. Not always, but often. If you are frequently getting worthless logs, maybe your cache needs to be rethought.
What will kill this game is not finders writting cookie cutter logs, it’s the continued drive for more and more…a shift of focus from seeking treasure in treasured locations to being an electronic version of “whose is bigger,” which is an unsustainable model because the rewards of that endeavor are ultimately meaningless.
On the Left Side of the Road...Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
People have been writing shorthand logs or cut-and-pasting “enjoyed your cache” logs for years.
What’s changed?
Well, finding 4 caches in a day used to be a good day of caching. Now if you find 40 you’re still a piker, and 400 is commonplace.
And, more and more craptastic caches are published to accomodate power cachers.
You’re just not going to get meaningful logs written in bulk, period.
On the Left Side of the Road...Again, as this game has devolved into a pure numbers hunt we can really expect this logging behavior to follow.
I can’t resist bringing up the letterboxing comparison again, which is a fundamentally similar activity (find a box of stuff hidden in public). No one there complains about online logs because, for the most part, there are no online logs.
Therefore, owners do not need to feel validated based on the types of logs they get. They take satisfaction in knowing they have created something that they enjoy working on. And perhaps from time to time they get their butt out from in front of their computer and decide to retreive and read the physical log.
On the other side of the playing field, letterbox hunters have an appreciation of the game from day one because they are required to leave their personal imprint on the log by way of a stamp. You ink your stamp, stamp the book, sign in, use the stamp in the box to stamp your log book, etc. It is a thoughtful process, even moreso when you take the time to make your own stamp, which most boxers do even if they never place a box. They understand the craft that goes into the sport–the time and expense that Sloughfoot references.
In letterboxing, there is no such thing as scribbling your name onto a slip of paper and dashing off to the next film strip can placed .1 mile apart on a 100-mile power trail. The unfortunate development of the power-caching trend killed creative logging and, combined, diminished what was special and worthwhile about this game.
On the Left Side of the Road...I’ve ranted on this subject before but I’ve changed my mind.
The lack of an online log has not killed similar games like letterboxing. What will kill this game are crap caches. And the majority of what is published today is crap.
If the logs on my cache isn’t that great, maybe my cache isn’t as great as I thought it was and I should rethink it. The best logs I get are on caches where the logging experience itself is fun and not just an obligation, like Hotel Hell.
If lots of logs tell me a cache is a good one and I get a clinker log, well, they can kiss my big shiny hiney.
Either way, the caches we have left out there are ones we like having there. Everything else are just ones and zeros.
On the Left Side of the Road...Yes, there are tons of rails-to-trails. In the GB area you have the mountain bay trail, the Newton Blackmour trail. Just do a search for rails to trails and then match that map up with a geocaching map, or do a search for the trail name itself because there’s bound to be a cache or two that includes it as part of the name.
On the Left Side of the Road...There is something seriously wrong with our society when we spend 20 minutes harassing two guys on a bike trail bridge in the middle of nowhere but can’t pull people out of an airport queue because we don’t want to be accused of profiling.
On the Left Side of the Road...@cheezehead wrote:
What do you think the Hubble Telescope is “Really” Taking pictures of??
Lindsay Lohan?
On the Left Side of the Road...Wow, thanks for the laugh cheeto….great answers that may or may not actually be true…those two being the only options after all..
Hey, it’s better than the green and pepto pink combo we had before. I like it noW, and if I like it you should too. 😉
On the Left Side of the Road...@-cheeto- wrote:
@sweetlife wrote:
hopefully our reviewers will keep the standards high, even if groundspeak says they can highlight a guardrail, I would hope they don’t allow it
And yet an physical cache can highlight a guardrail. Sorry, I’ll stop now.
There are some really nice guard rails out there…some have the buttress end, others go right to the ground. You can even find a few of the old cut off ones that are great to tbone a car into. Lots of interesting stuff for the discerning cacher.
On the Left Side of the Road...@-cheeto- wrote:
@gotta run wrote:
But look at the evidence…power trails used to be verboten, now they are celebrated. N
Actually, it seems these are on there way back to “verboten”. At least the largest ones.
Only cuz they were made to take them down
On the Left Side of the Road...The cynic in me says this is nothing more than a way to get find counts even higher…
But look at the evidence…power trails used to be verboten, now they are celebrated. No more ALRs. Changes to EC rules.
But it appears to be what the majority wants…so be it! I’m sure if they could figure out a way to eliminate puzzles they would do it too.
On the Left Side of the Road...I find it interesting that one of the purported reasons for eliminating ALRs on physical caches was that it got away from the core purpose of geocaching, which is apparently finding Tupperware in a bush.
I guess when it’s your sandbox, you can rake it any way you want.
On the Left Side of the Road...@Team Black-Cat wrote:
I still have some of those…
The big problem is getting the phone receiver to stay in the modem cradle long enough to keep the connection.
And it’s taking forever to get my work done today because this tape recorder is taking forever to load the data file.
On the Left Side of the Road... -
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