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31 Days Of Geocaching Souvenirs


The Snowdog

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31 Souvenirs? Really? Why not ONE souvenir with a number that showed the number of days you cached in August, with maybe a special one if you get the entire month? I like to see new souvenirs when I pick up a new state or country or cache on a special day but this seems like clutter to me.

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I know what you mean. When I first read the announcement, I assumed that they were announcing a single souvenir for finding a cache on all 31 days of August, because that would make sense. Then I reread the announcement, and realized that they were announcing 31 souvenirs, one for each day of August, which makes a lot less sense to me.

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Time and effort would be far better spent on new country souvenirs! Just think! We could have souvenirs for 31 more countries, like Puerto Rico, Mexico, Peru & 28 more! What a misapplication of resources. :ph34r:

 

Just think, we could have some sort of generic souvenir for each of the remaining countries that don't already have one of the fancy ones! :)

 

But, TPTB have instead decided that 31 souvies for August will likely draw in more customers.

 

Personally, I'm stoked and ready to get my 31 souvies next month. B)

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Personally, I'm stoked and ready to get my 31 souvies next month. B)

 

I'm going to do my best to NOT find any caches next month.

 

I would do the same except I will be in at least two states in which I've not yet found a cache and would like to get the souvenirs for those states but don't want any of the 31 days of August souvenirs on my souvenirs page.

 

 

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I'm going to do my best to NOT find any caches next month.

+1

Due to the proliferation of C&Ds, we're no longer addicted to the hobby and I believe it'll be easier than we thought.

Though we try to get the ones that (to us) mean something, we purposely didn't hit one on the 13th.

- If we happen to find one we'll do, I'll simply request that it (the souvi) be removed.

 

I personally would rather see more Countries get theirs first.

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I'm going to do my best to NOT find any caches next month.

 

I don't do streaks and do my best to ignore souvenirs that other people think I should have. I wish that Groundspeak had put their time into making at least the public display of souvenirs optional, but won't let Groundpeak dictate whether I find a cache or not.

 

I am wondering if fhere will be a proliferation of challenge caches based on these souvenirs, but I could ignore those as easy as anything else.

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I don't know why people are complaining so much about the chance to earn new souvenirs. I think this is a great idea and I appreciate the opportunity! It makes perfect sense to me.

 

Here in the U.S., August is the last month of summer before most kids start back to school in September. Many kids start to get bored in August. Many families take vacations in August. This August 17th is also the 3rd Annual International Geocaching Day. Many kids are starting to say, "Mom, I'm bored, what can we do?"

 

Mom says, "I know, let's get outside and have some fun in August! We can use an app for our phone to go on some adventures and find a few geocaches. We can ride bikes, go to some parks, pack a lunch, go for a hike, and find a few geocaches along the way. In fact, you can even create your own account and for every day you find a geocache in August, you'll get a new souvenir for your profile page! Pretty cool! You can even invite a friend to come along! Maybe you and your friends can see if you can find a geocache every day in August. Who do you think will earn the most souvenirs, you or your friend? Oh, I know! We could even do some of them at night; with flashlights or glowsticks, then go for ice cream afterwards!"

 

Geocaching is supposed to help make you smile. If it makes you grumpy, then maybe you're playing it wrong.

 

Thank you Groundspeak for helping me smile! Thank you Jeremy for helping me view every day I go geocaching as an adventure! Thank you Moun10Bike for introducing the world to geocoins; and for your awesome, free NW Trails and NW Topo maps that I use every week on my GPS! And thank you to every Lackey past and present who brings their unique personalities, abilities, and creativity to this game!

 

Sincerely,

Golden Ace

"Bark less, wag more!"

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Time and effort would be far better spent on new country souvenirs! Just think! We could have souvenirs for 31 more countries, like Puerto Rico, Mexico, Peru & 28 more! What a misapplication of resources. :ph34r:

 

Just think, we could have some sort of generic souvenir for each of the remaining countries that don't already have one of the fancy ones! :)

 

But, TPTB have instead decided that 31 souvies for August will likely draw in more customers.

 

Personally, I'm stoked and ready to get my 31 souvies next month. B)

 

I'm stoked too. I'm wondering how many virtuals I can grab in a single day and claim them on successive days. Shame I've done almost all the virtuals near home.

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Personally, I'm stoked and ready to get my 31 souvies next month. B)

 

I'm going to do my best to NOT find any caches next month.

 

Have fun! Wouldn't it be easier to just never click on the Souvenir tab again?

 

Personally, I am not going to change my caching habits in any way.

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Mom says, "I know, let's get outside and have some fun in August! We can use an app for our phone to go on some adventures and find a few geocaches. We can ride bikes, go to some parks, pack a lunch, go for a hike, and find a few geocaches along the way. In fact, you can even create your own account and for every day you find a geocache in August, you'll get a new souvenir for your profile page! Pretty cool! You can even invite a friend to come along! Maybe you and your friends can see if you can find a geocache every day in August. Who do you think will earn the most souvenirs, you or your friend? Oh, I know! We could even do some of them at night; with flashlights or glowsticks, then go for ice cream afterwards!"

 

Do you actually have kids? Geocaching every day for 30 days? How realistic, really, is that for the average family?

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Personally, I'm stoked and ready to get my 31 souvies next month. B)

 

I'm going to do my best to NOT find any caches next month.

 

I would like to do this also, but, sadly there are some events occuring locallly and I don't want to be a snob.

 

I couldn't imagine getting 31 more souvenirs. I have less than 10 right now. It would totally overwhelm my souvenir page.

Edited by The_Incredibles_
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Personally, I'm stoked and ready to get my 31 souvies next month. B)

 

I'm going to do my best to NOT find any caches next month.

 

I would like to do this also, but, sadly there are some events occuring locallly and I don't want to be a snob.

 

I couldn't imagine getting 31 more souvenirs. I have less than 10 right now. It would totally overwhelm my souvenir page.

 

Yes, at the end of next month, the Souvenir tab will become completely irrelevant for me. I just don't think that this is a good reason for me to deprive myself of the fun that I have by geocaching.

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Personally, I'm stoked and ready to get my 31 souvies next month. B)

 

I'm going to do my best to NOT find any caches next month.

 

I would like to do this also, but, sadly there are some events occuring locallly and I don't want to be a snob.

 

I couldn't imagine getting 31 more souvenirs. I have less than 10 right now. It would totally overwhelm my souvenir page.

AMEN! Thats how I feel. If its one souvenir for caching all 31 days, thats fine with me, but GS plan is really a over kill.

 

Once most people souvenir page look too "busy", people will lose interest in souvenirs because it looks pointless.

 

One way to make it look cleaner is to have a picture of USA and fill each state with a souvenir as you earn them. Same with the mouth of Aug. A picture of a calendar of Aug and fill it in.

 

Right now, its all throw in like nobody care. It looks fine when someone got only a few, but once you get like 100 or more, it looks too busy.

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Pretty soon, the souvenir page is going to get just as messy as the trackable list page. I'd prefer a way to collapse all souvenirs into groups: USA, Europe, Australia, other countries, events, and promotions. The 31 Days of Geocaching mess would be filed under promotions. I've been caching every day since March 2007; a souvenir won't make any difference to how I cache. Heck, I missed out on the first international geocaching day souvenir just because I didn't log my find for a few weeks since I was so backed up.

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Personally, I'm stoked and ready to get my 31 souvies next month. B)

 

I'm going to do my best to NOT find any caches next month.

 

I would like to do this also, but, sadly there are some events occuring locallly and I don't want to be a snob.

 

I couldn't imagine getting 31 more souvenirs. I have less than 10 right now. It would totally overwhelm my souvenir page.

 

Yes, at the end of next month, the Souvenir tab will become completely irrelevant for me. I just don't think that this is a good reason for me to deprive myself of the fun that I have by geocaching.

 

My guess is that for most people the relevancy of the souvenir page isn't going to change after August. For those who already find it irrelevant to their geocaching, it will remain irrelevant. For those who like to look at it from time to time to see what souvenirs they or another geocacher have, they will continue to think that some souvenirs are more relevant than others. Depending on their preferences they may look to see what country souvenirs they have or on how many other special days they found a cache. Some people will no doubt be interested in seeing who got all 31 August souvies and who got 29 or 30 of them.

 

Maybe the page is now cluttered with more souvenirs you find irrelevant than before. But really, the August souvenirs will be easily recognized as such and you can just scroll past them to see the ones you are interested in.

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I don't know why people are complaining so much about the chance to earn new souvenirs. I think this is a great idea and I appreciate the opportunity! It makes perfect sense to me.

 

Not all souvenirs are equal. I brought back a couple of souvenirs when I went to the Great Wall of China. I doubt that I'll pick up any next time I go to the great walmart of Ithaca. Many of those that are complaining can make the distinction between the Great Wall of China and a Walmart and don't want to see meaningless souvenirs cluttering up a page that contains souvenirs that might means something to those that own the account.

 

I will be traveling to at least two U.S. States in which I have not yet found a cache during the month of August. I would like to see souvenirs to those states added the the 23 other souvenirs for U.S. States I have on my souvenirs tab, but I would rather not see a souvenir awarded just because I went out and found a cache on some random days in August. I've also got souvenirs for six different countries and would *much* rather see GS create souvenirs for the 13 other countries in which I've found a cache so I could see souvenirs for countries like Italy, Belgium, China, Malaysia, Tanzania, and Ethiopia in my profile.

 

 

Here in the U.S., August is the last month of summer before most kids start back to school in September. Many kids start to get bored in August. Many families take vacations in August. This August 17th is also the 3rd Annual International Geocaching Day. Many kids are starting to say, "Mom, I'm bored, what can we do?"

 

 

That's nice, but geocaching is a global game that is played in both hemispheres. Suggest that August is the best month, because it's the end of summer, the weather is warm, and many families take vacations is U.S. centric.

 

 

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Although I agree that 31 separate souvenirs is overkill, the “31 Days of Geocaching” does have me excited and I am going to try to see how many I can get. I would also prefer a calendar style page souvie with the days that I find a cache being colored in.

 

For those of us who aren’t hard core ‘cachers and haven’t completed an impressively long streak, this is also a way to try to see if we can accomplish a “mini-streak”.

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Although I agree that 31 separate souvenirs is overkill, the “31 Days of Geocaching” does have me excited and I am going to try to see how many I can get. I would also prefer a calendar style page souvie with the days that I find a cache being colored in.

 

For those of us who aren’t hard core ‘cachers and haven’t completed an impressively long streak, this is also a way to try to see if we can accomplish a “mini-streak”.

 

... or cheat, finding three caches on August 2 and logging them on August 1, 2 and 3. This is why date-based caching challenges/souvenirs/whatever are so pointless. At least if you want to get the souvenir for caching in Oregon you have to actually find a cache in Oregon. If you want to get the souvenir for finding a cache on August 2 the chances are nobody will ever know what day you actually found the cache, unless it's a cache with lots of finders and someone actually takes the time to check. Even then it's not difficult to write on the log in a way nobody could ever know whether the date you wrote was genuine or not.

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Hmm... Since this is the "Feature Discussions and Suggestions" forum, I'll suggest:

 

Kill the souvenir feature entirely. Lay it gently in the "bettter mistakes next time" box, and lay a flower on top. (Kudos to SwineFlew above for nailing where it belongs.)

 

Write off the souvenir feature as half-baked, unfocused, dumbed-down, and soon to be irrelevant.

 

EDIT: Or here's an alternate suggestion on a more positive note: Cease and desist from adding more date souvenirs, and get to work on finishing what you started. There are 200+ countries out there, most of which still don't have souvenirs of any kind. Some of those countries have states too, but dream on, I'll just settle for a country souvenir for (eg) Mexico.

 

That would be consistent with Groundspeak's tagline, language of location. Not language of date; what a stupid sentence that is.

Edited by Viajero Perdido
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Hmm... Since this is the "Feature Discussions and Suggestions" forum, I'll suggest:

 

Kill the souvenir feature entirely. Lay it gently in the "bettter mistakes next time" box, and lay a flower on top. (Kudos to SwineFlew above for nailing where it belongs.)

 

Write off the souvenir feature as half-baked, unfocused, dumbed-down, and soon to be irrelevant.

 

Because surely if you and a few others don't like them, no one should and the whole concept should be eliminated. <_<

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Hmm... Since this is the "Feature Discussions and Suggestions" forum, I'll suggest:

 

Kill the souvenir feature entirely. Lay it gently in the "bettter mistakes next time" box, and lay a flower on top. (Kudos to SwineFlew above for nailing where it belongs.)

 

Write off the souvenir feature as half-baked, unfocused, dumbed-down, and soon to be irrelevant.

 

Because surely if you and a few others don't like them, no one should and the whole concept should be eliminated. <_<

 

Or perhaps Groundspeak could decide between doing something properly and not doing it at all.

 

Better to not bother with something than inflict a half-baked idea and then make it trivial. We've already got a calendar on the stats page so people can see which dates we've cached, we can already see which countries and which states people have cached in using the maps on the stats page, so aside from a few rather daft gimmicks like "national geocaching day" (when anyone so inclined can find a cache a few days either side of the date in question and claim they found it on the date in question) they don't add anything at all.

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Hmm... Since this is the "Feature Discussions and Suggestions" forum, I'll suggest:

 

Kill the souvenir feature entirely. Lay it gently in the "bettter mistakes next time" box, and lay a flower on top. (Kudos to SwineFlew above for nailing where it belongs.)

 

Write off the souvenir feature as half-baked, unfocused, dumbed-down, and soon to be irrelevant.

 

 

I am absolutely against this idea, and the fact that there are 4-5 simultaneous threads about the 31 days of August souvenirs and nobody has called for killing the feature entirely leads me to believe that there is a substantial interest in some kinds of souvenirs.

 

 

EDIT: Or here's an alternate suggestion on a more positive note: Cease and desist from adding more date souvenirs, and get to work on finishing what you started. There are 200+ countries out there, most of which still don't have souvenirs of any kind. Some of those countries have states too, but dream on, I'll just settle for a country souvenir for (eg) Mexico.

 

That would be consistent with Groundspeak's tagline, language of location. Not language of date; what a stupid sentence that is.

 

I absolutely support this idea. Countries like Mexico, Italy, and Belgium are prime candidates for souvenirs but just didn't quite make the cut. I even support the idea of souvenirs for major events and even some specific locations like Groundspeak HQ or the original plaque (even though all of the specific location based souvenirs are in the PNW). GS frequently writes about some notable caches around the world (the most recent being one near the Eiffel tower). I could even see souvenirs created for some of these notable caches. A souvenir for just going out and finding a cache on a certain day (or on any day during a certain month) just has no value (to me) as it's something that every geocacher might do. There's nothing special about the 10/10/10 souvenir because every geocachers that was playing the game at the time has one.

 

 

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Hmm... Since this is the "Feature Discussions and Suggestions" forum, I'll suggest:

 

Kill the souvenir feature entirely. Lay it gently in the "bettter mistakes next time" box, and lay a flower on top. (Kudos to SwineFlew above for nailing where it belongs.)

 

Write off the souvenir feature as half-baked, unfocused, dumbed-down, and soon to be irrelevant.

 

 

I am absolutely against this idea, and the fact that there are 4-5 simultaneous threads about the 31 days of August souvenirs and nobody has called for killing the feature entirely leads me to believe that there is a substantial interest in some kinds of souvenirs.

 

I learned a long time ago not to suggest getting rid of souvenirs or challenge caches - both of which I feel could have been done differently.

 

People tend to fall in love with certain things, no matter if these things annoy other people. The best approach for those who are annoyed is to remain silent - unless the issues they have are a lot more than just annoyance.

 

I accept that as a matter of personal taste, some people may like certain kinds of souvenirs and not like others. I have some difficulty in seeing that one particular set of tastes should have precedence over someone else's tastes, however.

 

It seems to me that country souvenirs are, if anything, hokier than date souvenirs. After all, you already get the country filled in on a map when you find a cache. When a new country souvenir is released, it is retroactively given to anyone who found a cache in that country in the past. And the souvenir is available for an unlimited amount of time to anyone who might visit the country and find a cache in the future.

 

Date souvenirs on the other hand are awarded only for a limited time. You generally know when they are coming so you can plan accordingly to get one. Yet if something comes up and you are unable to geocache on that day then you are out of luck. If anything this should make the date based souvenirs more valuable than country ones.

 

Travelling to many different places is expensive and time consuming. It is out of reach of many cachers. Yet most cachers can spend a few minutes to find a cache and get a date souvenir. Perhaps some view country souvenirs as more prestigous (or elitist, depending on your POV).

 

I can understand that some people associate the term "souvenir" with the kinds of things sold to tourists that have the name or image associated with the location. So the idea of getting a "virtual" souvenir on Geocaching.com that is associated with the trip you took is seen a reminder of your trip much like the snow globe with the Space Needle that you bought. Souvenirs can be associated with events or special dates as well. I suspect souvenirs of the birth of Prince George are popular right now. If Groundspeak wants to commemorate certain dates as being "important" on the Geocaching calendar, it seems that souvenirs are a legitimate way to do this.

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I suspect souvenirs of the birth of Prince George are popular right now. If Groundspeak wants to commemorate certain dates as being "important" on the Geocaching calendar, it seems that souvenirs are a legitimate way to do this.

 

Perhaps. I don't care if someone collects souvenirs about the Prince, but no one forces me to get one. If Groundspeak took a similar approach there would not be so much discussion.

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I think this idea belittles the whole souvenir aspect of geocaching. I have souvenirs of a few provinces and a few US states and a few countries and have some from Ireland. I was aiming to get some more geographical souvenirs.

 

I think they have misjudged the geocachers and seem to be treating them like children. Kind of reminds me of TV commercials for some new Barbie playhouse.

 

Of course we are obsessed so we will try and get them all. LOL.

 

I hope they reorganize the souvenir page and have them sorted by category.

 

And here is an interesting note about a souvenir we earned this past weekend by attending the Maritime Mega II. The text with the souvenir originally had the MEGA occurring in Nova Scotia rather than Fredericton New Brunswick.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/souvenir/?guid=00e7b747-6a3e-4801-8dee-c94094e8aa55

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Time and effort would be far better spent on new country souvenirs! Just think! We could have souvenirs for 31 more countries, like Puerto Rico, Mexico, Peru & 28 more! What a misapplication of resources. :ph34r:

 

Or one August 2013 souvenir and 2.5 years of monthly calendar wallpaper for my desktop. The last one, for April-May-June didn't seem to involve geocaching, so I waited. But a July-A-S wallpaper never arrived in the goodies. :cry:

 

Edit to grab back an extra "e".

Edited by aka Momster
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Hmm... Since this is the "Feature Discussions and Suggestions" forum, I'll suggest:

 

Kill the souvenir feature entirely. Lay it gently in the "bettter mistakes next time" box, and lay a flower on top. (Kudos to SwineFlew above for nailing where it belongs.)

 

Write off the souvenir feature as half-baked, unfocused, dumbed-down, and soon to be irrelevant.

 

 

I am absolutely against this idea, and the fact that there are 4-5 simultaneous threads about the 31 days of August souvenirs and nobody has called for killing the feature entirely leads me to believe that there is a substantial interest in some kinds of souvenirs.

 

 

EDIT: Or here's an alternate suggestion on a more positive note: Cease and desist from adding more date souvenirs, and get to work on finishing what you started. There are 200+ countries out there, most of which still don't have souvenirs of any kind. Some of those countries have states too, but dream on, I'll just settle for a country souvenir for (eg) Mexico.

 

That would be consistent with Groundspeak's tagline, language of location. Not language of date; what a stupid sentence that is.

 

I absolutely support this idea. Countries like Mexico, Italy, and Belgium are prime candidates for souvenirs but just didn't quite make the cut. I even support the idea of souvenirs for major events and even some specific locations like Groundspeak HQ or the original plaque (even though all of the specific location based souvenirs are in the PNW). GS frequently writes about some notable caches around the world (the most recent being one near the Eiffel tower). I could even see souvenirs created for some of these notable caches. A souvenir for just going out and finding a cache on a certain day (or on any day during a certain month) just has no value (to me) as it's something that every geocacher might do. There's nothing special about the 10/10/10 souvenir because every geocachers that was playing the game at the time has one.

 

If I found a cache in West Fartovia, I don't need a souvie to prove it.

 

I'm not really for or against souvies in general, or the production of new ones to fill the tab on my profile page.

 

There is nothing special about the Ohio souvie, because every cacher in Ohio has one.

See how silly that sounds?

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I don't know why GS decided to do this "31 Days" thing, and I agree that some events or dates could/should have a souvenir and that's fine, I can even go along with this "31 Days" thing too, but what I think would be a good compromise for everyone is to allow the cachers to choose what souvenirs they want to show on their profile page. This way everyone can boast the souvenirs that mean the most to them. With this system, everyone's happy, those that don't like the date based souvenirs can still cache on those dates and can hide what they call "clutter."

 

As to the "31 Days" it would make more sense if there was a time limit to collect that dates souvenir, this way no one can go out on the last day and find 31 caches then back date them to get all 31 days.

Edited by Bandit1979
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As to the "31 Days" it would make more sense if there was a time limit to collect that dates souvenir, this way no one can go out on the last day and find 31 caches then back date them to get all 31 days.

What kind of time limit? Sometimes cachers can't log their finds the same day. Maybe a week or two?

From what I've read, they used to have a time limit, and did away with it.

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At least if you want to get the souvenir for caching in Oregon you have to actually find a cache in Oregon.

Or say you found one in Oregon. Pick out a LPC to post a log on, and most likely no one will check on it.

 

True, but at least there's the possibility someone will notice my name doesn't appear on the log anywhere. Unlikely, but possible.

 

If I find a cache on August 3rd and write August 2 on the log, then claim the find on August 2, there's no way anyone can know it's a fake log.

 

The point about the LPC is a good one, it would be nice if Groundspeak actually enforced their own guideline about "why am I bringing someone here?" rather than focussing on more pointless souvenirs and the seemingly relentless drive for quantity over quality. I'd rather have 200,000 good quality caches worldwide (where each one was in a location that had some point of interest) than 2,000,000 caches where most of them were LPCs and soggy film pots on guard rails where many of them appear to be placed for no reason other than a lack of any other caches within 528 feet.

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If I found a cache in West Fartovia, I don't need a souvie to prove it.

 

I'm not really for or against souvies in general, or the production of new ones to fill the tab on my profile page.

 

There is nothing special about the Ohio souvie, because every cacher in Ohio has one.

See how silly that sounds?

 

Everyone in Ohio has the souvenir but to someone from out of state getting a cache in Ohio might be a point of interest. As a UK cacher I've found caches in something like 11 US states, but Ohio is (as yet) not among them. So from that perspective an Ohio souvenir might be a point of interest.

 

The trouble is I've already got a map on my profile that shows what states I've cached in. Ohio is currently white, although at some point (maybe this year, who knows) I may find one or more caches there and colour it in. So at a stroke I can see I've cached in OH, and don't need the souvenir anyway.

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It seems to me that country souvenirs are, if anything, hokier than date souvenirs. After all, you already get the country filled in on a map when you find a cache. When a new country souvenir is released, it is retroactively given to anyone who found a cache in that country in the past. And the souvenir is available for an unlimited amount of time to anyone who might visit the country and find a cache in the future.

 

Date souvenirs on the other hand are awarded only for a limited time. You generally know when they are coming so you can plan accordingly to get one. Yet if something comes up and you are unable to geocache on that day then you are out of luck. If anything this should make the date based souvenirs more valuable than country ones.

 

Except it doesn't do anything of the sort because there's no way to check what date you actually found the cache. If it's so important to you to get the 12-12-12 souvenir, or the leap day souvenir or whatever other random date has been chosen, and you can't (or can't be bothered to) get out caching that day there's nothing to stop you claiming a cache anyway. If you know you won't be out on 12-12-12 you can find a cache on the 11th and log it on the 12th.

 

I can understand that some people associate the term "souvenir" with the kinds of things sold to tourists that have the name or image associated with the location. So the idea of getting a "virtual" souvenir on Geocaching.com that is associated with the trip you took is seen a reminder of your trip much like the snow globe with the Space Needle that you bought. Souvenirs can be associated with events or special dates as well. I suspect souvenirs of the birth of Prince George are popular right now. If Groundspeak wants to commemorate certain dates as being "important" on the Geocaching calendar, it seems that souvenirs are a legitimate way to do this.

 

If certain dates were considered "important" we probably wouldn't be having this discussion. Dates like Feb 29, 12-12-12 etc are interesting in their own way so although the date of logs can be fiddled with virtually no effort at all souvenirs like that are arguably just a bit of fun. But why is August 1 of any particular interest, or August 2, or August 3 etc? Having one "international geocaching day" seems like a bit of a gimmick but, you know, whatever. Having 31 consecutive days marked as having some special significance merely loses other more interesting days among the dross.

 

To use your analogy of the new Prince George, it would be somewhat akin to buying a commemorative gold coin, then chucking your gold coin into a drawer containing dozens of cheap tea towels, broken musical boxes, plastic figurines, spoons, cracked plates etc. The coin is still collectible and valuable, you just struggle to see it among all the junk.

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If I found a cache in West Fartovia, I don't need a souvie to prove it.

 

I'm not really for or against souvies in general, or the production of new ones to fill the tab on my profile page.

 

There is nothing special about the Ohio souvie, because every cacher in Ohio has one.

See how silly that sounds?

 

Everyone in Ohio has the souvenir but to someone from out of state getting a cache in Ohio might be a point of interest. As a UK cacher I've found caches in something like 11 US states, but Ohio is (as yet) not among them. So from that perspective an Ohio souvenir might be a point of interest.

 

I don't have Ohio either, even though it almost shares a border in the state in which I live. Ironically, although I've found caches in 19 countries, I live about 3 hours from the Canadian border and have never found a cache in Canada. For those that live in South Africa a souvenir might not be very special, but for someone that lives 8000 miles away it might be quite special.

 

 

The trouble is I've already got a map on my profile that shows what states I've cached in. Ohio is currently white, although at some point (maybe this year, who knows) I may find one or more caches there and colour it in. So at a stroke I can see I've cached in OH, and don't need the souvenir anyway.

 

Have you seen the maps for Asia? Although the list of countries shows that I've found caches in five countries in Asia it's pretty much impossible to tell from looking at just the map that I've found caches in Singapore. None of us *need* souvenirs. Some of us want souvenirs for the countries/states we visited.

 

 

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If I found a cache in West Fartovia, I don't need a souvie to prove it.

 

I'm not really for or against souvies in general, or the production of new ones to fill the tab on my profile page.

 

There is nothing special about the Ohio souvie, because every cacher in Ohio has one.

See how silly that sounds?

 

Everyone in Ohio has the souvenir but to someone from out of state getting a cache in Ohio might be a point of interest. As a UK cacher I've found caches in something like 11 US states, but Ohio is (as yet) not among them. So from that perspective an Ohio souvenir might be a point of interest.

 

I don't have Ohio either, even though it almost shares a border in the state in which I live.

 

Aside from PA or Lake Erie being in the way, I guess :)

 

PA is my stomping ground when I'm in the US, but it's a few hours drive from the OH border and these days I just can't be bothered with driving that far if my only purpose is to find some caches.

 

Ironically, although I've found caches in 19 countries, I live about 3 hours from the Canadian border and have never found a cache in Canada. For those that live in South Africa a souvenir might not be very special, but for someone that lives 8000 miles away it might be quite special.

 

Sure, and despite being 3000-odd miles away I've found caches in Canada. Which means I'm a better cacher than you, obviously ;)

 

Have you seen the maps for Asia? Although the list of countries shows that I've found caches in five countries in Asia it's pretty much impossible to tell from looking at just the map that I've found caches in Singapore. None of us *need* souvenirs. Some of us want souvenirs for the countries/states we visited.

 

True, some nations are pretty small and hard to spot. Although personally I think the country/state/area souvenirs are pointless I can see why people might like them. I can see why people might like a souvenir to show they cached in Ontario or in Brazil or whatever. I can't see why anyone would be interested in a collection of souvenirs to show they cached on 17 different days in August 2013.

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It seems to me that country souvenirs are, if anything, hokier than date souvenirs. After all, you already get the country filled in on a map when you find a cache. When a new country souvenir is released, it is retroactively given to anyone who found a cache in that country in the past. And the souvenir is available for an unlimited amount of time to anyone who might visit the country and find a cache in the future.

 

Date souvenirs on the other hand are awarded only for a limited time. You generally know when they are coming so you can plan accordingly to get one. Yet if something comes up and you are unable to geocache on that day then you are out of luck. If anything this should make the date based souvenirs more valuable than country ones.

 

Except it doesn't do anything of the sort because there's no way to check what date you actually found the cache. If it's so important to you to get the 12-12-12 souvenir, or the leap day souvenir or whatever other random date has been chosen, and you can't (or can't be bothered to) get out caching that day there's nothing to stop you claiming a cache anyway. If you know you won't be out on 12-12-12 you can find a cache on the 11th and log it on the 12th.

Of course there may be peopld who "cheat" to get a particular souvenir. I'm not certain that worrying about whether it is "easier" to cheat on on kind of souvenir vs. another really has much to do with the value someone puts on a souvenir. It may for you. Other people will hold the opinion that if someone has to "cheat" to get a souvenir, then they've really only cheated themselves.

I can understand that some people associate the term "souvenir" with the kinds of things sold to tourists that have the name or image associated with the location. So the idea of getting a "virtual" souvenir on Geocaching.com that is associated with the trip you took is seen a reminder of your trip much like the snow globe with the Space Needle that you bought. Souvenirs can be associated with events or special dates as well. I suspect souvenirs of the birth of Prince George are popular right now. If Groundspeak wants to commemorate certain dates as being "important" on the Geocaching calendar, it seems that souvenirs are a legitimate way to do this.

 

If certain dates were considered "important" we probably wouldn't be having this discussion. Dates like Feb 29, 12-12-12 etc are interesting in their own way so although the date of logs can be fiddled with virtually no effort at all souvenirs like that are arguably just a bit of fun. But why is August 1 of any particular interest, or August 2, or August 3 etc? Having one "international geocaching day" seems like a bit of a gimmick but, you know, whatever. Having 31 consecutive days marked as having some special significance merely loses other more interesting days among the dross.

 

To use your analogy of the new Prince George, it would be somewhat akin to buying a commemorative gold coin, then chucking your gold coin into a drawer containing dozens of cheap tea towels, broken musical boxes, plastic figurines, spoons, cracked plates etc. The coin is still collectible and valuable, you just struggle to see it among all the junk.

Huh? :huh: The Geocaching souvenir is a image file stored online that most people never look at, and if you do you will find it has less value than any thing in that junk drawer. I'm just not following the gold coin analogy.

 

I can't tell people which of their Geocaching souvenirs bring back special memories and which just clutter the page. However I can say that unlike gold coins, silver plated spoons, snow globes, or keychains - you didn't buy any of these souvenirs. These are instead given out by Groundspeak at their descretion. You have the choice to leave them in the drawer or to look occasionally to see which you have acquired. While I imagine that few people will remember a few months from now what caches the found on August 11, the fact that they got a souvenir for it doesn't change their memories that their Ohio souvenir evokes.

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Kill the souvenir feature entirely. Lay it gently in the "bettter mistakes next time" box, and lay a flower on top. (Kudos to SwineFlew above for nailing where it belongs.)

 

Write off the souvenir feature as half-baked, unfocused, dumbed-down, and soon to be irrelevant.

I've been one of the vocal proponents of souvenirs (heck, I made a list of all available souvenirs!), but I'm sorry to say that I'm starting to lean towards this way of thinking.

 

As soon as Groundspeak stated they wouldn't be releasing any more country-based souvenirs, the feature became yet another of the many Groundspeak features that was only partially implemented, alongside Wherigo, corrected coordinates, Geocaching Challenges, and Waymarking.

 

I'm very curious to see what the August souvenirs will look like. The reason we were given for not releasing any more country-based souvenirs was because they didn't have the time or resources to make the artwork. If the August souvenirs are fairly elaborate, it will tell me that they were just blowing smoke up our backside with their explanation about country-based souvenirs, and it's simply that their development-ADHD got bored and moved on to something else. After all, if they found the time and resources to design 31 August souvenirs, why couldn't they find the same time and resources to design some for some countries and maybe work towards finishing the implementation of something for once?

 

Sorry, this turned into more of a rant than I originally intended. It's just that if this were my company and people were doing things like this, heads would be rolling.

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Huh? :huh: The Geocaching souvenir is a image file stored online that most people never look at, and if you do you will find it has less value than any thing in that junk drawer.

 

Do you own a digital camera? Ever take pictures of your family or have had relatives send you pictures of themselves or others in your extended family? They're just images files that have been printed onto paper. Nevertheless, some people will create a photo album from those image files with pictures of their children taken on their first birthday, their spouse on their wedding day, and places that they have visited and would like to remember. Occasionally they'll look at their photo album and reminisce about the images represented in those image files. They're probably going to pretty irked if the next time they open their photo album it's full of pictures of random people that may have passed on the freeway on the way to work or of a bunch of parking lots.

 

 

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Except it doesn't do anything of the sort because there's no way to check what date you actually found the cache. If it's so important to you to get the 12-12-12 souvenir, or the leap day souvenir or whatever other random date has been chosen, and you can't (or can't be bothered to) get out caching that day there's nothing to stop you claiming a cache anyway. If you know you won't be out on 12-12-12 you can find a cache on the 11th and log it on the 12th.

 

 

Man! You have posted this or something similar about 20 times in the last three days.

 

There is something that stops us from faking dates to get rewarded. It's called personal integrity. I'm beginning to believe that this may be a foreign concept to you.

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I thought it was lame at first, but figured then the challenge of doing a 31 day streak in August is pretty tough for a school teacher with a baby due August 15th.

 

Then I "cheated" and just make a ton of event caches in August.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?tx=69eb8534-b718-4b35-ae3c-a856a55b0874&u=elrojo14

 

Doing a 31 day streak will be tough for me also.

 

I think what I'm going to do is hold an event each day of the month on my front lawn. Cachers will not only get an easy smilie, but a glass of lemonade for each day they pull at least 1 weed out of my front lawn. I'll call them the "31 days of weeding" events. :P

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I thought it was lame at first, but figured then the challenge of doing a 31 day streak in August is pretty tough for a school teacher with a baby due August 15th.

 

Then I "cheated" and just make a ton of event caches in August.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?tx=69eb8534-b718-4b35-ae3c-a856a55b0874&u=elrojo14

 

Baby due in August? You could add a "8 hours of labor event", a "childbirth 101" event and a "breastfeeding for dummies" event.

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