Removing cache

[ragman76]

I have found a cache on my property. It's not a public place and I don't want lots of people wandering around there. Obviously I can remove it but can I remove it from any list it's on o people don't continue to look for it? Don't want them to waste their time and as I say can't have people wandering around down there

[+cerberus1]

You can contact Groundspeak on their Help Center, explaining your situation.

 

We used to have one near one of our places.

Folks thought a right-of-way for utilities was somehow access for the public too.

[+Pond Bird]

I have found a cache on my property. It's not a public place and I don't want lots of people wandering around there. Obviously I can remove it but can I remove it from any list it's on o people don't continue to look for it? Don't want them to waste their time and as I say can't have people wandering around down there

 

You could post a Found it log and click that the cache Needs Archived, saying that you found the cache but the CO doesn't have permission from you to have the cache on your property.

[+justintim1999]

I have found a cache on my property. It's not a public place and I don't want lots of people wandering around there. Obviously I can remove it but can I remove it from any list it's on o people don't continue to look for it? Don't want them to waste their time and as I say can't have people wandering around down there

 

You could post a Found it log and click that the cache Needs Archived, saying that you found the cache but the CO doesn't have permission from you to have the cache on your property.

 

And enquire as to how it was listed without your permission. May be a simple oversight or a loophole that Ground Speak may want to close.

[boletofaturablog]

I believe that this function is not released to the user, because I did a search in my panel and could not find.

I will contact support.

[+Mudfrog]

I have found a cache on my property. It's not a public place and I don't want lots of people wandering around there. Obviously I can remove it but can I remove it from any list it's on o people don't continue to look for it? Don't want them to waste their time and as I say can't have people wandering around down there

 

You could post a Found it log and click that the cache Needs Archived, saying that you found the cache but the CO doesn't have permission from you to have the cache on your property.

Was wondering why you said "post a Found it log" first. Went and tried it and sure enough, we now have to click on "log a new visit". I thought i had read something about this in another thread but i didn't believe it. Just shaking my head here..

 

To ragman76, since you have signed up, you can go to the cache page, click "log a new visit", then click "report a problem", and finally, "cache needs to be archived". Give the reason and then click "post". Sorry tto hear that permission wasn't asked for from you. That's one of the main things all of us geocache owners are supposed to do. Unfortunately, many never think about doing it.

Edited June 27, 2017 by Mudfrog

[ragman76]

Thanks for your replies. Ground speak are helping me

[+Pond Bird]

I have found a cache on my property. It's not a public place and I don't want lots of people wandering around there. Obviously I can remove it but can I remove it from any list it's on o people don't continue to look for it? Don't want them to waste their time and as I say can't have people wandering around down there

 

You could post a Found it log and click that the cache Needs Archived, saying that you found the cache but the CO doesn't have permission from you to have the cache on your property.

Was wondering why you said "post a Found it log" first. Went and tried it and sure enough, we now have to click on "log a new visit". I thought i had read something about this in another thread but i didn't believe it. Just shaking my head here..

 

To ragman76, since you have signed up, you can go to the cache page, click "log a new visit", then click "report a problem", and finally, "cache needs to be archived". Give the reason and then click "post". Sorry tto hear that permission wasn't asked for from you. That's one of the main things all of us geocache owners are supposed to do. Unfortunately, many never think about doing it.

 

Ragman76, Mudfrog is right that is exactly what I meant to say. Still you FOUND the cache so you still log it as "Found" good luck, glad to see you are getting help with the issue!

[+thunderbelly4]

Glad you did it!

[+TeamRabbitRun]

Really, the correct advice is to give this person the email address or phone number for HQ, not to tell him he has to become a player and get into the game by filing "Found It" and "Needs Maintenance" or "Needs Archive" logs.

 

He went so far as to establish an account so he could post to the forum, but to tell him he has to dive in further to deal with this intrusion on his property is, well, intrusive.

 

Cerberus1's answer is the correct one.

Edited June 28, 2017 by TeamRabbitRun

[+hzoi]

Really, the correct advice is to give this person the email address or phone number for HQ, not to tell him he has to become a player and get into the game by filing "Found It" and "Needs Maintenance" or "Needs Archive" logs.

 

He went so far as to establish an account so he could post to the forum, but to tell him he has to dive in further to deal with this intrusion on his property is, well, intrusive.

Not unless it took ragman over a year to find the forums. Joined date 6 April 2016, this thread posted 27 June 2017. Though I suppose it's possible, in which case it seems this was not a high priority.

 

I also don't see how "You could" turns into an intrusive command.

Edited June 28, 2017 by hzoi

[+The A-Team]

Really, the correct advice is to give this person the email address or phone number for HQ, not to tell him he has to become a player and get into the game by filing "Found It" and "Needs Maintenance" or "Needs Archive" logs.

 

He went so far as to establish an account so he could post to the forum, but to tell him he has to dive in further to deal with this intrusion on his property is, well, intrusive.

Not unless it took ragman over a year to find the forums. Joined date 6 April 2016, this thread posted 27 June 2017. Though I suppose it's possible, in which case it seems this was not a high priority.

 

I also don't see how "You could" turns into an intrusive command.

Any suggestion to log a find or submit an NM/NA via a find log just muddies the waters. The recommended procedure for a land manager to report a cache is the one cerberus1 posted: contact Groundspeak directly.

Help Center - Report a geocache:

If a geocache has been found placed in an unsuitable location, please let us know.

•If you are law enforcement, call us at 206 971-0544.

•If you are a private citizen or business owner, email us.

[+Mudfrog]

Really, the correct advice is to give this person the email address or phone number for HQ, not to tell him he has to become a player and get into the game by filing "Found It" and "Needs Maintenance" or "Needs Archive" logs.

 

He went so far as to establish an account so he could post to the forum, but to tell him he has to dive in further to deal with this intrusion on his property is, well, intrusive.

Not unless it took ragman over a year to find the forums. Joined date 6 April 2016, this thread posted 27 June 2017. Though I suppose it's possible, in which case it seems this was not a high priority.

 

I also don't see how "You could" turns into an intrusive command.

Any suggestion to log a find or submit an NM/NA via a find log just muddies the waters. The recommended procedure for a land manager to report a cache is the one cerberus1 posted: contact Groundspeak directly.

Help Center - Report a geocache:

If a geocache has been found placed in an unsuitable location, please let us know.

•If you are law enforcement, call us at 206 971-0544.

•If you are a private citizen or business owner, email us.

Geeze, just trying to offer another option here.

 

While most NAs are slow to progress, i'd bet one posted by a land owner would get priority. The final result would be the same.

[+hzoi]

While most NAs are slow to progress, i'd bet one posted by a land owner would get priority. The final result would be the same.

Guess we'll find out. I just spotted a new hide that looks like it's inside the property line of one of the installations I cover, and posted NA on behalf of the Department of Defense about an hour and a half ago.

[+J Grouchy]

Funny. I don't see any suggestion in here to contact the Cache Owner directly first (via email and/or private message), requesting they remove the cache and archive the listing. That would have been the best first option, honestly.

Edited June 30, 2017 by J Grouchy

[+Mudfrog]

While most NAs are slow to progress, i'd bet one posted by a land owner would get priority. The final result would be the same.

Guess we'll find out. I just spotted a new hide that looks like it's inside the property line of one of the installations I cover, and posted NA on behalf of the Department of Defense about an hour and a half ago.

Don't get me wrong, i do agree that contacting Groundspeak directly is the best and fastest way to get results. There is a chance the reviewer for an area may not see the NA for a few days. In most instances though, i imagine a reviewer is on it fairly quickly. Of course, any action taken depends on the wording of the NA as well.

[+TeamRabbitRun]

Funny. I don't see any suggestion in here to contact the Cache Owner directly first (via email and/or private message), requesting they remove the cache and archive the listing. That would have been the best first option, honestly.

 

Yeah, you're right. I stand better-suggested.

 

This OP may have been able to handle this as he seems to know a little about caching, but in general, I wouldn't ask a potentially irate property owner to jump through hoops.

[+J Grouchy]

Funny. I don't see any suggestion in here to contact the Cache Owner directly first (via email and/or private message), requesting they remove the cache and archive the listing. That would have been the best first option, honestly.

 

Yeah, you're right. I stand better-suggested.

 

This OP may have been able to handle this as he seems to know a little about caching, but in general, I wouldn't ask a potentially irate property owner to jump through hoops.

 

Asking the person who put it there to remove it isn't "jumping through hoops". Contacting Groundspeak or a Reviewer is more in the realm of hoop-jumping, in my opinion.

[+TeamRabbitRun]

Funny. I don't see any suggestion in here to contact the Cache Owner directly first (via email and/or private message), requesting they remove the cache and archive the listing. That would have been the best first option, honestly.

 

Yeah, you're right. I stand better-suggested.

 

This OP may have been able to handle this as he seems to know a little about caching, but in general, I wouldn't ask a potentially irate property owner to jump through hoops.

 

Asking the person who put it there to remove it isn't "jumping through hoops". Contacting Groundspeak or a Reviewer is more in the realm of hoop-jumping, in my opinion.

 

My point was that hunting through the site looking for the cache listing, then figuring out how to send a message (which we know frequently gets ignored, not to mention the people that WON'T deal with the Message Center) is more work than sending an email to GS, once you've figured out how to ask "Who do I contact". Otherwise, we're sending them back into the application to research who and how, which they've already asked...us.

 

Takes longer, too. A note to GS will be dealt with right away. So, it's all about the willingness of the complainer to 'play' with the site. Maybe a constructive thing, to combine what we both said, is to offer to message the CO for him, or give him a link to the CO's "Send Email" page.

Edited June 30, 2017 by TeamRabbitRun

[+cerberus1]

Funny. I don't see any suggestion in here to contact the Cache Owner directly first (via email and/or private message), requesting they remove the cache and archive the listing. That would have been the best first option, honestly.

 

Yeah, you're right. I stand better-suggested.

 

This OP may have been able to handle this as he seems to know a little about caching, but in general, I wouldn't ask a potentially irate property owner to jump through hoops.

 

Asking the person who put it there to remove it isn't "jumping through hoops". Contacting Groundspeak or a Reviewer is more in the realm of hoop-jumping, in my opinion.

A Property Owner (and yeah, member with no finds...) shouldn't have to contact some CO to remove it, as there's no guarantee they'll even respond.

They should contact HQ so it not only gets handled now, but to be sure it doesn't (shouldn't) happen again.

[+hzoi]

While most NAs are slow to progress, i'd bet one posted by a land owner would get priority. The final result would be the same.

Guess we'll find out. I just spotted a new hide that looks like it's inside the property line of one of the installations I cover, and posted NA on behalf of the Department of Defense about an hour and a half ago.

For the record, total elapsed time between NA log and reviewer disable was less than five hours.

[ragman76]

Whilst looking on the map to identify the cache I found so I could report it (which was all handled very well and promptly) I noticed several more caches in the area on three of my neighbours' properties. Not making a special point of it I waited until I saw them around and have asked them all about it. None of them were ever approached for permission to leave caches on their land (and they've all lived there a long time, since before geocaching was around).  Two of them would have had no objection to the caches as they are not in sensitive places but they would all like to have been asked permission! I know asking the landowners permission is part of the geocachers code but does anyone actually do it?

[+cerberus1]

1 hour ago, ragman76 said:

 I know asking the landowners permission is part of the geocachers code but does anyone actually do it?

Sure they do.  We've asked for permission on every cache placed.  I'd like to believe there's others similar.    

One, the other 2/3rds spent numerous township meetings before it got approved. 

Another, after finding there wasn't  blanket permission like most believed, took a visit (with another cacher) to our state capital to speak with the agency that owns most of the property in this state .

 

One area that took a few meetings due to multiple townships owning the property (rails to trails), we experienced a new person placing a powertrail w/o permission in between our caches, effectively ruining a puzzle/mystery series (battleship).  Accurate from each right to the foot.  Sheesh...

 - None of the caches there now have permission...

I believe most are aware that many urban or parking lot  hides don't have permission, and roadside caches have this issue as well.

 - I just caught another newbie "hider" attempting to place a roadside cache on one of our properties.  Some odd reason, many seem to believe that a roadside right of way here means it's open to the public, when it's merely to allow  for utilities.  None even have a place to park, so I'd prefer they go elsewhere. 

[+RufusClupea]

I've only been doing this a coupla weeks now--12 finds as of this writing....

Out of just those 12:

• 2 were within 150 ft. of active RR tracks
• At least 2 (and a DNF) were placed w/o property owners permission (I doubt the COs even know who the property owners are).  Quite a few (at least another dozen) I've been looking at for the near future also fall into this category. 
• 1 was fastened to a tree with screws (permission may have been given for this--I don't know).

As a noob, I'm in a bit of a quandary, as I suspect other conscientious noobs may be.  I understand the intent/reasons of/for most of these rules/guidelines, and while I agree with most of them (and will adhere to them regardless), there are a couple/few I think should be adjudicated a bit more flexibly--common sense & all... (e.g. IMO, partially burying a cache should be treated the same way as attaching a cache to a tree--there are some instances it should be allowed.  Example?). 

I'm also quite uncomfortable being a "new guy" and put in the situation of playing "cache cop".  Do I "Report a problem", drop the CO a private "heads up"/observation/suggestion, turn a blind eye, ignore it?  While I want to support this activity/hobby by good example, I don't want to get a reputation as a hardbutt and start off making a pain of myself (and possibly enemies/hard feelings) either.  WHAT'S A NOOB TO DO ‽ ‽ ‽  

[+cerberus1]

14 minutes ago, RufusClupea said:

...As a noob, I'm in a bit of a quandary, as I suspect other conscientious noobs may be.  I understand the intent/reasons of/for most of these rules/guidelines, and while I agree with most of them (and will adhere to them regardless), there are a couple/few I think should be adjudicated a bit more flexibly--common sense & all... (e.g. IMO, partially burying a cache should be treated the same way as attaching a cache to a tree--there are some instances it should be allowed.  Example?). 

I'm also quite uncomfortable being a "new guy" and put in the situation of playing "cache cop".  Do I "Report a problem", drop the CO a private "heads up"/observation/suggestion, turn a blind eye, ignore it?  While I want to support this activity/hobby by good example, I don't want to get a reputation as a hardbutt and start off making a pain of myself (and possibly enemies/hard feelings) either.  WHAT'S A NOOB TO DO ‽ ‽ ‽  

I sorta understand what you're saying.  Often my email to the CO, NM, or NA is the only one they've received - on a cache with many favorites.

You can email the local Reviewer with a "curious if this is allowed..." email, keeping you off the dreaded cache log, and whatever reputation you have intact.

I don't believe there should be exceptions to the guidelines though, definitely not simply due to "cool factor"...

[+noncentric]

7 hours ago, ragman76 said:

Whilst looking on the map to identify the cache I found so I could report it (which was all handled very well and promptly) I noticed several more caches in the area on three of my neighbours' properties. Not making a special point of it I waited until I saw them around and have asked them all about it. None of them were ever approached for permission to leave caches on their land (and they've all lived there a long time, since before geocaching was around).  Two of them would have had no objection to the caches as they are not in sensitive places but they would all like to have been asked permission! I know asking the landowners permission is part of the geocachers code but does anyone actually do it?

Curious if the cache on your property and the caches on your neighbors' properties are all placed by the same cacher?  I'd hope so. Better to see 1 cache owner that doesn't understand the permission issue than to see 4 different cache owners placing without permission.

I can't speak for other cachers, but I will say that I have been conscientious about placing caches outside of property owned by private individuals/corporations. Also, I can't recall any caches in my home area that appear to be on private property without permission. I have seen some caches on private property that state in the cache description that permission was obtained.

FWIW, it's there's an easy-to-use online tool that identifies property owners for every parcel of land in my county. I know that not every county has an easy way to identify property owners.

[ragman76]

I suppose there are different customs in different countries. We're in England. All of these caches (though not the one I found) are by public footpaths (as far as I can tell from the map) so there's no major trespassing and no real problem. I just got interested in it really

Edited July 30, 2017 by ragman76
Punctuation

[+noncentric]

10 minutes ago, ragman76 said:

I suppose there are different customs in different countries. We're in England. All of these caches (though not the one I found) are by public footpaths (as far as I can tell from the map) so there's no major trespassing and no real problem. I just got interested in it really

If you're interested, then there's always plenty of room to join the hobby and start searching/finding/hiding some yourself. 

The policies in regards to private property rights across different counties/states/provinces/countries/etc seems pretty interesting. I read a brief tidbit about something in Norway called "freedom to roam" that allows 'anyone to go anywhere'. I didn't read the details of the article, so I'm sure there are more details and restrictions than that, but I have heard that several countries in Europe have similar laws that allows the general public to recreate on uncultivated/undeveloped land that is privately owned. That is very different from how things work in the US. I'm sure liability issues and what I consider to be a litigious society are part of the reason for the US.

[ragman76]

I actually studied Rights of Way law at university. This was before geocaching was around. Don't think I'll be taking it up myself, I've always preferred to just ramble about and there is enough to interest me in nature and the landscape. Seems like a very nice community though

[ragman76]

1 hour ago, noncentric said:

Curious if the cache on your property and the caches on your neighbors' properties are all placed by the same cacher?  I'd hope so. Better to see 1 cache owner that doesn't understand the permission issue than to see 4 different cache owners placing without permission.

I can't speak for other cachers, but I will say that I have been conscientious about placing caches outside of property owned by private individuals/corporations. Also, I can't recall any caches in my home area that appear to be on private property without permission. I have seen some caches on private property that state in the cache description that permission was obtained.

FWIW, it's there's an easy-to-use online tool that identifies property owners for every parcel of land in my county. I know that not every county has an easy way to identify property owners.

No, three different cachers

[+CAVinoGal]

13 hours ago, ragman76 said:

 I know asking the landowners permission is part of the geocachers code but does anyone actually do it?

Being relatively new to the hobby myself, I can say that so far, yes, we do ask permission when placing caches.  It has led to frustration when we got tentative permission, built a unique, location specific cache, and then the owner reneged on permission when it came time to actually place the cache and publish.  ::::sigh::: Or being told "NO" outright.  Then there are those who are intrigued and gladly let us place one near their business or home ... those are the "fun" moments. 

If the cache we are placing is anywhere near a business or residence, we will meet with the owner/person in authority and explain what we are trying to do and possible impacts ... it doesn't always go our way, and even WITH owner permission we've had issues.  Yes, it's frustrating, but we just move on to another cache, another placement, and realize "It's just a game".

NOTE:  To date I have placed 2 caches - several more in the works but it's slow going sometimes.  My partner/husband/cache buddy has 2 also, soon to be increased.  Did I mention frustration is part of the process???

 

[+briansnat]

It appears that the OP's question has been answered and the issue will be addressed.  Closing this.