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Thanks everyone!!! For all the hard work you all do for the game, for the effort, the time, and the expense! I hope to do more to contribute in 2013… vs just finding caches. As a few people may know, I’ve been tossing around some ideas for caches to place but have never gotten around to doing much. I currently have in my inventory a few ammo cans, a bag full of nanos, and some other various containers I have amassed in my “going to publish some caches soon!” collection lol.

The road to 1000 took me a little while – and it sure had some pot holes… but I loved every thorn, bug bite, whacked knuckle, muddy shoe, and mile driven 🙂 (well maybe not the insects)!

See ya out there!

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Thanks everyone!! 😀 Had a great time doing that cache, glad to have finally logged it.

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Since I will be attending the Bash this year solo, I wouldn’t mind at all teaming up with some new cachers. I like to solo cache when I need to get out of the house and have some time to myself, but an event like the Bash is much more fun when you have friends to cache with 🙂

Let me know if I need to do anything in particular to assist with new geocachers. I will be arriving in West Bend Friday around 10 am, from Stevens Point.

—
Tom

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@seldom|seen wrote:

I wish to express my personal apologies to anyone who searched for S|S caches while participating in a puzzle tour or being directly affected by my actions to abate them. It was not up to the standards that I have set for myself in this sport and my interest in making puzzle solves worth the effort. Not only that, but to do so by perpetrating an alias and pretending it wasn’t me, was beyond the pale and anyone caught in the crossfire has my sincerest apology.

I will continue to express my disappointment with this manner of caching, but will no longer use these public forums to do so. All of you deserve better of me, especially those who side with me on the issue and feel like you were taken advantage of. Know that my actions represent the degree of passion I put into this sport and the value I seek to add, and maintain, to the experience beyond the rudimentary elements of finding a container with a GPS.

All S|S caches will be up and running again soon after I find the time to determine which ones I wish to adopt out, in the meantime, feel free to log any disabled caches, provided you can find them…

Hmm – an apology from the aggrieved party? That was not something I was expecting.

The fact you felt a need to apologize shows you have a concern for people above your own needs and demonstrates good character. This is something I respect! However I’m not sure that you needed to apologize for anything. I do NOT feel as if your actions were that of a bratty child saying “if you can’t play in the sandbox the way I tell you, then we’re not playing at all!”

Quite the contrary… I feel your sentiments are quite justified. If you had decided to archive your caches permanently I would be quite saddened but understanding. Everyone who geocaches would have lost something that day. Some people don’t understand what it means to be in charge of a couple hundred caches, don’t understand what kind of effort goes into creating an elaborate thought out puzzle cache… and unless they were in your shoes – would not understand how it feels to see all that hard work casually dismissed. So I think you were justified in feeling like “why should I even bother anymore”.

In light of your announcement to reinstate the majority of your caches – I am thrilled to no end!! See the wonderful thing is, there are far more people (I feel) who DO honestly and genuinely appreciate what you and other CO’s do for the game.

But I urge you please do not beat your self up and feel as if you were wrong to feel how you felt.

As for using this public forum to vent and let your feelings be known? What is wrong with that? Personally I think these forums were the perfect place to discuss things. The conversations here have been civil and intelligent. You brought an issue to the table that affects Geocachers, in a forum for Geocachers. Again I see no harm in that. I prefer to get things out in to the open… let the facts be known… I despise closed doors affairs… had you not said anything here – I wouldn’t have had any idea what was going on! It has also allowed everyone who does care, an opportunity to state so! It has shown that there are far more good people in our sport, than trouble makers. Something I am proud of!

I have a busy weekend ahead of me, which will unfortunately not have time for any geocaching (at least I don’t think I’ll have time). But I will be watching closely to see how things progress 🙂 Perhaps I’ll try to make another attempt at the Doctor Visits cache… my arch nemesis which I WILL find some day heh…

TerribleTom

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I had been introduced to geocaching back in 2006 on a camping trip in Colorado. I did not become an active cacher until fall of 2008. I’ve been the most active over the last 8 or 9 months. I was not aware of this whole issue of puzzle tours until just recently when S|S disabled all of his caches.

I sounded off in another thread on the topic – I’m going to make more specific comments on puzzle tours right here. I will disclaimer my following comments: I do not personally know any of the parties involved in the issue at all. I doubt many here know me, however I have met a few folks at a couple FTF parties. I am a new member to the WGA… so having said that keep in mind that I have a fresh perspective on this and I have not been influenced by any WGA member or any other geocacher. My opinions are my own. I apologize if what I am going to say has already been said or hashed over and over again…

The whole cache touring thing is stupid. I’ve been reading a lot today on posts pertaining to this problem… there are opinions all over the place. People are on the fence, people say “its not our job to police game players”… people are saying a lot of different things.

Anyone ever watch a movie called The Last Starfighter? Robert Preston’s last movie… he said it best

(Robert Preston) Centauri: “I told you, I want to save it for a surprise! Heey, are you kind of kid who reads the last page of a mystery first? Who pesters the magician to tell you his tricks? Who sneaks downstairs to peek at his Christmas presents? Noooo, of course you’re not. [singsong voice] That’s why I’m not gonna tell you!”

It is just that simple. A PUZZLE CACHE requires you to SOLVE a MYSTERY… its the whole point! It is supposed to be FUN!

We can debate the inconsequential details till our keyboards fall apart… who is to blame… who should be policing the community, is puzzle touring wrong, is it acceptable, yadda yadda yadda… The fact of the matter is if you puzzle tour or condone puzzle touring… you just… don’t … get it. You are missing out on participating in the most important and rewarding aspect of geocaching! Anyone can drive down a dead and road and snag a maglock on a guard rail… how much fun is that? Kinda boring!!

I personally appreciate an intellectual challenge! Something that makes me stop and think, something that makes me USE my BRAINS! A 1/1 maglock guard rail cache compared to a good puzzle cache, can be equated in terms of the difference between watching A George Jetsons cartoon, or watching Carl Sagan’s “COSMOS”. One is fast and mildly entertaining… the other is rich and rewarding. Is this what our culture boils down to? Fast and shoddy and instant gratification? Does no one hold value to things that take a little more effort, but offer a far richer and more rewarding pay off?

is there “Geocachers Code Of Honor” written anywhere? if not I think there should be one. I think we here at WGA should do what we can to EDUCATE the caching community and the non-caching community better. I think there in lies the problem. I think some people just don’t know any better. No one would argue that proper fire arms training is a waste of time… why shouldn’t we have geocaching training? (if there is such an effort already in place, I apologize, as I am not aware of it)

I don’t know about anyone else – but I’m willing to participate and speak at a training seminar. Perhaps something we can hold every other month at a different community locations each time, say a UW branch with a geocaching club?

I’ve gotten pretty good at lecturing friends and family and coworkers about geocaching…. Lets get the ball rolling here folks! We CAN make changes to these problems!

Here is another idea. A lot of CO’s have caches in areas they can’t easily get to for maintenance issues. Everyone here has personal responsibilities… a family, a job, etc… we can’t all maintain our caches as well as we would like to. Is there a maintenance group out here? I’ve gotten into the habit myself of keeping some cache repair stuff with me at all times. Camo tape, a few micro containers to replace damaged ones… just last week I replaced a badly damaged container at a cache I do not own. Why? it needed to be replaced! I was someone who could do it… I care about geocaching! I’m sure a lot of us out here do just what I did, when the opportunity is present. Many of us have replaced logs, plastic bags, cache containers… but (and here is the idea of mine) What about organizing a group of people who are dedicated to simply helping to maintain caches. I know the actual responsibility falls to the CO themselves.. but what CO out there couldn’t use some help?

Got a sickly cache? Can’t find the time to get over to it? Who ya gonna call? Here to the rescue is the Geocache Emergency Team Responders!

To … G.E.T ‘R Done! or something like that… whatever!

OK I think this post has reached a point that might be considered absurd. I can be quite passionate about things at times. I half expect the BOD to vote to ban me after this post LOL! But I honestly think we have the desire and the ability to address the issues that concern us all, and see them taken care of. I feel we here in Wisconsin can set a new standard for Geocaching world wide – we can stand up and say WE ARE GEOCACHERS! AND WE ARE PROUD! We can let everyone know we are not a group of weirdos and nerds, we can let them know we care about our past time, and the environment… that we are not out to harm anyone And….. most importantly – that we demand our fair share of respect!!!!

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First I wish to express my sincere gratitude to S|S for all the time and effort put into the local geocaching community!! I totally understand your frustration and want to tell you to keep your spirits up 🙂 There are still some good people out here and we appreciate what you have done!

Here are my thoughts…

Geocaching can seem to be a thankless pastime for the CO’s. It is quite easy for some to get wrapped up in the stats game.. the FTF’s… the D/Ts, and the number of states… While the stats are a fun aspect of the game, it is very important to remember what geocaching is all about.

When I try to tell non-cachers about the sport, I usually get asked “well what do you win?” I sigh on the inside and attempt to explain what the goal is here. I explain that caches for the most part, are placed to help bring awareness to locations of interest and significance. If cemetery caches are brought up, they don’t understand why a cache is placed there. I inform them that bringing awareness to a location can help keep it preserved and appreciated. To make sure that local history does not get rolled over by bulldozers and forgotten. They stop and think for a moment and they usually say “yeah I understand that, that makes sense”.

What do I get out of geocaching? For me its about getting outdoors and seeing things and places I have not seen before. I love the outdoors, I love exploring, I love solving mysteries and playing Sherlock Holmes!

It seems our past time has many hurdles it must overcome. Threat scares with law enforcement, vandals who do not understand or respect what geocaching is all about… and an internal struggle now, it seems, against those who just want to grab finds and care nothing about the significance of what the locations have.

We must prevail however… to let these things beat us down would be a very sad thing. I say we should all pull together and help make our caching community the best it can be!

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Greetings, I just joined up with the WGA tonight. I goggled the UWSP Geocache Club to see what was going on, and why so many UWSP caches were being transferred to individuals to look after. I was surprised to discover the club was not active.

I am not a current UWSP student. I had started taking classes a few years ago but unfortunately wasn’t able to continue with my studies. I do have plans to take up courses again some day.

I am posting to volunteer my services in whatever capacity I may be of assistance, to help reestablish and maintain interest in the club and the caches in its charge. I am a Stevens Point resident and an avid geocacher. If I may be of service in some manner, please feel free to contact me and I’ll be happy to see what I can do.

Regards,

Tom S.

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