Newbie Reminder - Don't Move Caches!

[+Kohavis]

Apparently the forum had a meltdown while I was posting this - the OP disappeared.

 

I got an e-mail over the weekend from a newbie cacher who apparently got confused a bit. He was caching in the Rio Grande Nature Center, a place that has many caches, including one of mine.

 

It appears that the newbie cacher read the description on my cache while locating a different cache, realized that the cache hide didn't fit the description, then attempted to re-hide" the cache so it was closer to where he thought it belonged - in a more woodsy setting.

 

I contacted the real cache owner and sent him a copy of the e-mail, and he's going to try contacting this newbie cacher and find out exactly what he did. In the meantime, his cache is likely unavailable because it has been moved. No doubt the cache owner will need to make a maintenance visit just to restore his cache to where it belongs. All this because someone was reading the wrong description while out caching

 

I understand that he was only trying to help, in the spirit of geocaching. But people just starting out in geocaching need to remember the cardinal rule - don't alter a cache unless the cache owner is aware of it, and approves.

 

This has been a Public Service Announcement of Kohavis, from the Land Of Enchantment

[Neos2]

It's nice of you to pass along that info to your fellow newbs.

[+niraD]

Excellent point overall, although there are (extremely rare) exceptions. I've found a couple caches that were sitting in the open, completely exposed. The description, hints, and previous logs made it very clear how/where the caches were supposed to be hidden, and that wasn't it. I rehid the caches as best I could in the place/manner originally intended, and mentioned this in my log. I also provided the cache owner more details privately.

 

But as I said, that's a rare exception, not the rule.

[+Kohavis]

It's nice of you to pass along that info to your fellow newbs.

Thank you for pointing out my relative inexperience in the sport, although I'm not sure what your motives were

 

I'm passing along the advice so what happened to the hide in the OP doesn't get repeated. I may not have as many finds as you do, but I believe the advice is still valid.

[Neos2]

It's nice of you to pass along that info to your fellow newbs.

Thank you for pointing out my relative inexperience in the sport, although I'm not sure what your motives were

 

I'm passing along the advice so what happened to the hide in the OP doesn't get repeated. I may not have as many finds as you do, but I believe the advice is still valid.

I think it's great you took the time to share. It wasn't meant in a negative way---people tend to identify with other they think are "like them"--- coming from someone with a few under their belt it sounds helpful and practical. If it had come from someone with thousands of finds, it might have sounded condescending.

[+PJPeters]

Excellent point overall, although there are (extremely rare) exceptions. I've found a couple caches that were sitting in the open, completely exposed. The description, hints, and previous logs made it very clear how/where the caches were supposed to be hidden, and that wasn't it. I rehid the caches as best I could in the place/manner originally intended, and mentioned this in my log. I also provided the cache owner more details privately.

 

But as I said, that's a rare exception, not the rule.

Other times include when the cache is in danger of being muggled. We found a cache once and got surprised by a couple of kids as we were putting it back. Went back to the car, decided that we really couldn't leave it there with the kids knowing all about it. By the time we walked back there (about 2 minutes or so), they had the cache out and were nosing through it. We pulled it, and ended up (unknowingly) taking it to the cache owner's house with the intention of hiding it near our next find. That cache has been replaced, after several weeks (for the kids to forget about it), and is still going strong.

I would say if it needs to be moved, and as noted above, that should be a very rare exception, contact the owner with very descriptive notes as to the new location - with pics and/or coords if necessary.

[+Renegade Knight]

It's nice of you to pass along that info to your fellow newbs.

Thank you for pointing out my relative inexperience in the sport, although I'm not sure what your motives were

 

I'm passing along the advice so what happened to the hide in the OP doesn't get repeated. I may not have as many finds as you do, but I believe the advice is still valid.

I think it's great you took the time to share. It wasn't meant in a negative way---people tend to identify with other they think are "like them"--- coming from someone with a few under their belt it sounds helpful and practical. If it had come from someone with thousands of finds, it might have sounded condescending.

 

I read it like you intended it.

When I say the same thing it comes across like this. "UNLESS YOU HAVE A REALLY GOOD REASON PUT THE FREAKING CACHE BACK WHERE YOU FOUND IT!". "OH, AND IF YOU HAVE TO ASK, NO IT'S NOT A GOOD REASON!!!!".

 

That's PTFCB for short. "Put The Freaking Cache Back" It sounds a lot like a raspberry with a stutter when you say it.

[+Seasoned Warrior]

It's nice of you to pass along that info to your fellow newbs.

Thank you for pointing out my relative inexperience in the sport, although I'm not sure what your motives were

 

I'm passing along the advice so what happened to the hide in the OP doesn't get repeated. I may not have as many finds as you do, but I believe the advice is still valid.

 

Interesting, I've mentioned in other posts that it seems the only credibility conferred on people on this site is by the number of caches found or placed. I suspect that in some cases that is a false assumption. I regularly go out and find 300 year old points that were placed by an individual using only a compass/transit and pacing off the distance (also know as metes and bounds) or using a chain. I place those points within fractions of an inch of the original location. I understandthat I am considered a newbie on his site but that is a numbers thing. Funny thing about numbers is that they can mean different thigs to different people. I'd bet I can get around the outdoors as well as anyone here. I don't cache much, I like the scenery and interesting locations to be discovered using the cache page descriptions, the caches themselves I usually find boring. But as has been discussed extensively before I play the game according to my own rules. I certainly don't have a need to accumulate numbers that are meaningless to me. I don't disturb anyone and I don't disturb anyone elses way of having fun. However judging ones credibilty strictly on the numbers seems to me to be missing the point completely. A person's merits should be judged on their contributions (post in this case) since without a comparable quality of cache the numbers are meaningless to judge one's merits. So in anticipation of the angsty comments to follow I'll go crawl back into my cave.

Edited November 4, 2008 by Seasoned Warrior