Ftf Stat

[D2Cacher]

In our area, FTF credit is more important than a FTF prize or even number of finds. Cachers are out at 2:00 a.m. with flashlights, falling over each other to be FTF. Is it possible to add a FTF category to stats? It would have to entail adding a feature that allows cache owners to approve or verify the FTF which would then give the finder credit.

[Jeremy]

Ever watch It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World?

 

We largely frown on making the site enforce a form of competition among the users. Yes, we're well aware people are big on the whole first to find thing, but we're not here to enforce who is first and who isn't (and whatever quarreling will occur soon after).

[+Touchstone]

I'd rather see "Average Difficulty/Terrain" rating myself .

[+Renegade Knight]

I'm all for stats, especially if they are automatic and you can pay attention or not as you see fit for how you play the game.

 

The catch with an FTF stat is that if a muggle who never finds another cache again finds it, they are FTF. The first person to log online may or may not be FTF. The cache owner then would have to read the log book and post who the Real FTF is just to be sure the real credit is giong where it's due (we will ignore those who don't log anywhere since you can't account for them at all).

 

The long and short of it is that I like the idea for a stat but don't see a way to do it automaticly. Besides Jeremy has already given his perspective on it.

[+Moose Mob]

Jeremy has the right idea. Too many people already focus too hard on the numbers. Why add average ratings, #FTF's, #DNF's, # found per month, or anything. It's a personal accomplishment. (While I'm here, I'll mention I have my first LTF this past weekend.) my 2/5ths nickel

Edited October 21, 2004 by Moose Mob

[+Thot]

Is it possible to add a FTF category to stats?.

Please don't. I suffer humiliation poorly.

Edited October 22, 2004 by Thot

[+Team J]

I would have to have the "Missed the FTF by XX minutes" stat. Maybe a link to the person who beats me to each cache could be added.

 

Another of my personal favorite stats would be "Took an average of XX visits to FIND the cache"

[+RJFerret]

Alternatively, you can simply record them yourself on your profile page like so...

 

(Spoken as someone who got another at 11 pm last night and didn't go to bed until after 1 am this morn...)

 

Enjoy,

 

Randy

 

PS: I'd never loaded my kayak on the car in the dark until geocaching...

[+flask]

Is it possible to add a FTF category to stats?

please don't. i'd hate to have to start falsifying my logs to show that i was there second. i have never known how many ff's i had, i started to count once but decided i don't want to know. want to count them yourself? you can't. i never mention it in my online log and i often log weeks after the fact. unless somebody ELSE mentions it, there's no record. and you can't even get an accurate picture by checking physical logs since i often don't sign the first page. ever since childhood i have this superstition-like habit of leaving the first page of any notebook blank.

 

the only one who needs to know i was there first is me.

 

it IS all about the numbers. it is about how many caches i have found that i haven't found before. it is about getting a number important to me. it is about getting more in one weekend than i ever have before. it is about the number of people at any gathering who know me by reputation before i arrive. you will notice that YOUR numbers do not appear in this scenario, and they especially do not appear in comparison to MY numbers. mine are mine. yours are yours. go ahead and count yours. publish them if you want. don't compare them to mine, for you will find that i have lied egregiously, claiming not to have found things which i have found.

 

now i will sit back and giggle.

[+Marky]

Just for grins, I came up with a viable mechanism for allowing a FTF stat to work. I don't think the stat is worth the trouble, but I like to work things out, so here it is:

 

When a new cache is approved, a FTF code is generated for it and is sent to the cache owner. They would then need to print or write that code on a slip of paper and place it in the cache. The first finder takes the slip of paper with the FTF code on it. When they log their find online, would click on the FTF checkbox. A data entry field would appear for them to enter the code. If the code was incorrect, the log entry would fail. (The FTF checkbox wouldn't even appear, once the correct FTF code was entered.)

 

The code would probably be alphanumeric to decrease the likelihood of someone trying to crack the FTF code.

 

Anyway, just ignore this post, it was just for my own fun.

 

--Marky

[+Marky]

When a new cache is approved, a FTF code is generated for it

Maybe it should be generated on creation, instead of on approval, so that you could have the code before you went to hide a cache (going back to a 4.5 * terrain cache to put the FTF code sheet in would be a pain).

 

Ignore this post too. Me just thinking out loud.

 

--Marky

[+shunra]

When a new cache is approved, a FTF code is generated for it

Maybe it should be generated on creation, instead of on approval, so that you could have the code before you went to hide a cache (going back to a 4.5 * terrain cache to put the FTF code sheet in would be a pain).

 

Ignore this post too. Me just thinking out loud.

 

--Marky

I like the general idea.

 

Your improvement is not an improvement. I cannot imagine why anyone would generate a cache page before hiding the container and knowing the exact coords... in either case, you'd have to go back to hide the code.

[+Hemlock]

Anyway, just ignore this post, it was just for my own fun.

Marky, we normally ignore your posts anyways, so how is this any different?

 

Seriously, that's probably the best idea I've seen so far to manage FTFs. But as Jeremy has mentioned, it's unlikely that anything will be implemented here that encourages any type of competition.

 

On a side note, to give people an idea of how bad the FTF fever is here in the San Francisco Bay Area, yesterday I approved a cache about 5 miles from my work. Within 10 minutes I left the building to go find the cache. When I pulled up to the cache location, another cacher had already found it and was starting to drive off! No respect I tell ya. No respect.

[+flask]

Just for grins, I came up with a viable mechanism for allowing a FTF stat to work. I don't think the stat is worth the trouble, but I like to work things out, so here it is:

 

When a new cache is approved, a FTF code is generated for it and is sent to the cache owner. They would then need to print or write that code on a slip of paper and place it in the cache. The first finder takes the slip of paper with the FTF code on it. When they log their find online, would click on the FTF checkbox. A data entry field would appear for them to enter the code. If the code was incorrect, the log entry would fail. (The FTF checkbox wouldn't even appear, once the correct FTF code was entered.)

 

The code would probably be alphanumeric to decrease the likelihood of someone trying to crack the FTF code.

 

Anyway, just ignore this post, it was just for my own fun.

 

--Marky

i LOVE the idea! i really, really hope it gets implemented so a)i can leave the slips out of my new caches, and i can not take them from caches where i'm actually the FF!

 

i really mean this. i DO love the idea. it presents a whole new set of possibilities for me and people like me to really gum up the works.

 

just the IDEA of finding a cache first and then NOT logging the FF slip tickles me right down to the bone. does the second finder take the slip? the third? do they go ahead and claim it? would they feel right claiming it? it presents so many delicious possibilities i'm all aflutter.

[+Marky]

I like the general idea.

 

Your improvement is not an improvement. I cannot imagine why anyone would generate a cache page before hiding the container and knowing the exact coords... in either case, you'd have to go back to hide the code.

Totally untrue. You can create a cache page, uncheck the "active" checkbox, put your home coords in as the coords, fill in any other required fields with minimal data and hit save. The approvers won't see it because it's not active, but will generate the waypoint ID (and, in my imaginary scenario, a FTF code). This is how you can print the waypoint of a cache on a stash note before hiding it, before knowing the coords.

 

Then, after you hide the cache, you correct the coords, fill in the necessary descriptions fields, hints, etc. and check the "active" checkbox and hit save. Now it will go into the approval queue.

 

A lot of people already do this.

 

--Marky

[+Marky]

it presents so many delicious possibilities i'm all aflutter.

You crack me up big time!

 

--Marky

[+ChileHead]

As mentioned earlier, putting this information in your profile, if it's important to you, is the right way to go. I keep the stats in my profile for my own personal enjoyment.

 

Personally, I play the FTF game. I enjoy beating the other hard core geocachers to a new cache, or getting to a cache and finding them already there searching, or reading that I was beat by just a few minutes (which happens all too much).

 

For those who don't play the FTF game, there is no reason to post "FTFs: 0".

[+Marky]

As mentioned earlier, putting this information in your profile, if it's important to you, is the right way to go.

Sure, it's *a* way to go, and it works, but there is nothing to stop me from adding a zero to the end of my count in my profile: FTF: 2250

 

I came up with my solution as a somewhat foolproof method for automating the system of keeping track of FTFs (since most people were saying it wasn't currently possible).

 

--Marky

[+The Leprechauns]

Foolproof? Maybe.

Flaskproof? Yeah, right.

[+Marky]

Foolproof? Maybe.

Flaskproof? Yeah, right.

In my original post, before previewing it, I didn't have the word "somewhat" in it, and then I thought of flask...

 

--Marky

[+briansnat]

I'm with the many others here. If your FTF find count is important add it to your profile.

[+Marky]

I'm with the many others here. If your FTF find count is important add it to your profile.

Find counts could be manually added to your profile, instead of being automatically tallied for us, like they are today. Do you think it would be better if find counts were manually updated by the cacher rather than having an automated count? If so, then you have a valid argument.

 

--Marky

[+flask]

Foolproof? Maybe.

Flaskproof? Yeah, right. 

In my original post, before previewing it, I didn't have the word "somewhat" in it, and then I thought of flask...

 

--Marky

awww, shucks. i'm honored.

 

that's awful sweet of you guys.