How Long To Wait

[+Zyxistal]

I have a quick question as to what the geocaching etiquette is on TB's. Recently we released 4 TBs in a small family race (each of our 3 boys and I each got a TB and they are being tracked on a large map we have here at the house) and one of them was picked up and has not moved on (just under a month ago). Personally I'm not too concerned yet as it hasn't been that long but my wife is starting to worry about the poor little bug lost and alone in the wilderness.

 

So here's my questions: 1: At what point should a TB be listed as 'missing'?

2: How long would you recommend waiting before you email someone about a TB they've been holding?

3: How long should you wait before releasing a clone tag?

[+dprovan]

Personally, I would never mark a TB as missing based only on the fact that someone is holding it. But, then, I doubt I'd ever release a clone under any conditions.

 

In theory, a TB should only be held "2 or 3 weeks", so it's not rude to ask after 3 weeks, although I generally wait more like 2 months. In your case, though, since it's a family race, if you feel like it, I don't think many people would be upset if you contacted them sooner to talk about the race and encourage them to move it more quickly than they otherwise would. But remember that they may be holding on to it a little longer because they have a trip coming up that can help the TB get some distance, so don't approach them as if they're doing something wrong.

[+kunarion]

1: At what point should a TB be listed as 'missing'?

2: How long would you recommend waiting before you email someone about a TB they've been holding?

3: How long should you wait before releasing a clone tag?

Great questions! Here are some things I do that mainly keep me occupied so I'm not plotting revenge or anything. You don't have to do any of them, they're just ideas to try.

 

1: At what point should a TB be listed as 'missing'?

Here's a plan if it sort of evaporated without a clue. So it was in a cache one day, but it's a cache where people log “no TBs in here” when there's a list, nobody's logged yours, and it's been months. If the TB is not physically in the container, I might mark it missing once verified. If it's logged in someone's posession, at about the 11th month, I mark it officially "missing", which removes it from their Inventory. Then I get all the pieces ready for the restoration, and on the anniversary of the above situation, revive my new TB or coin. I'm not bound by the Taker's schedule, I make my own.

 

2: How long would you recommend waiting before you email someone about a TB they've been holding?

I don't recommend that. But if you do, please send an email address to reply directly (or set one up in your Profile). If cachers respond to your PM and aren't paying attention (I make this mistake all the time), the reply may go to a “NO-REPLY” trash box, gone with no notice. There seem to be a ton of PM-related problems that cause email to vanish, and that's bad. So you send a slightly more agitated email later, so does the TB holder, until everyone's crazy.

 

Anyway, after a few weeks of nothing, adding a little reminder note to the TB log may be good. “We haven't heard from our little racer in a while. If anyone's seen him, please ask him to write”. Very few TB Owners ever add this, and it's almost impossible to know there's any issue with the TB, without someone mentioning the issue.

 

3: How long should you wait before releasing a clone tag?

For one that just plain faded away as above, a good figure is one year. It still may turn up (one of mine in 18 months). If the entire cache was raided in a nasty way, or somehow you know it's truly gone forever, you may re-release at any time.

 

As the anniversary draws near, or at any point after it went missing but I'm not sure it's out of play, I change my TB name from “MY TB NAME” to “MY TB NAME [MISSING]”, and put the pertinent info (just the facts, no accusations, since anyone can plainly see who logged it, and by default the problem is someone who didn't log it), in red text at the top of the TB's Mission, like this. The added word “[MISSING]” now shows up in the TB title in any TB list including the cache it's missing from.

 

Once I officially mark it missing and therefore revive it (as a “clone”, “proxy” or whatever), I remove the text “[MISSING]” from the name, but for a coin, I then add the text [Coin Proxy]. For a TB, I do not consider it a “proxy” or a copy, it's the TB again. But I change the cache page to mention the changes, and post a new photo.

 

Selecting "Mark Item Missing" removes it from Inventory lists. It hides important information from other cachers -- such as helpful locals who may help track it down if it were still listed in that cache or holder's Inventory. It's a last resort. It's your TB that you logged correctly, not your fault the logs are wrong, you sometimes don't know it's NOT still in its listed container (tag broke off or whatever). So there's no rush to Mark It Missing.

 

I don't “release” my revived Trackables. I'm jaded, a little disillusioned about the whole thing. But once I get illusioned, I'll consider releasing some later . You can count on that.

Edited March 12, 2013 by kunarion