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Casual 'Cachers


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I've noticed a trend lately of too many CO newbies who are in it for the "short haul". Caches are hidden and then neglected, DNF's go unanswered as do messages and e-mails. Anyone else noticing this? I never tire of geocaching and I don't find it to be boring or mundane. As an owner, I respect the guidelines and responsibility of ownership but it appears many don't. There seems to be a pattern. Find one cache, own one cache, neglect one cache.

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This is nothing new. As long as there's an app, it won't change. All you can do is log NA when you come across a cache in need of maintenance and an absent CO.

 

And don't call them casual cachers. I'm a casual cacher, and I don't want to be grouped in with these people just because ei haven't cleared my city or done 500 caches worth of powertrails.

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I've noticed a trend lately of too many CO newbies who are in it for the "short haul". Caches are hidden and then neglected, DNF's go unanswered as do messages and e-mails. Anyone else noticing this? I never tire of geocaching and I don't find it to be boring or mundane. As an owner, I respect the guidelines and responsibility of ownership but it appears many don't. There seems to be a pattern. Find one cache, own one cache, neglect one cache.

 

You're in my general area and I agree with you.

It seems cache ownership is going down the tubes.

Not much pride in it anymore. Lots of poor quality junk caches and hides. Lots of abandoned caches.

Lots of fly-by-night new cache owners. And I get the feeling that there's a lot more kids/tweens and highschool teens hiding caches.

Also lots of active delinquent owners, who ignore logs and NMs that report problems, then thank cache "angels" for throw downs.

Of the delinquent active owners, that do nothing until a reviewer steps in and usually they simply let the reviewer archive the cache rather than maintain it. Some even berate the NA poster publicly when their abandoned cache gets an NA.

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I've noticed a trend lately of too many CO newbies who are in it for the "short haul". Caches are hidden and then neglected, DNF's go unanswered as do messages and e-mails. Anyone else noticing this? I never tire of geocaching and I don't find it to be boring or mundane. As an owner, I respect the guidelines and responsibility of ownership but it appears many don't. There seems to be a pattern. Find one cache, own one cache, neglect one cache.

Yep - caches going the NM-NA-archived route without even being found once!

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And don't call them casual cachers. I'm a casual cacher, and I don't want to be grouped in with these people just because ei haven't cleared my city or done 500 caches worth of powertrails.

 

Agreed. I am a casual cacher, and I've been in it for over 5 years.

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This is nothing new.
Yep. One Weekend Wonders were a problem back when I started, which was before iPhones or Android phones.

 

Yes, we have seen "one weekend wonders" since the beginning but the lower numbers of them never really presented too many problems. These days, the app is bringing in many more people who get excited at first but then lose interest fairly quickly.

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And don't call them casual cachers.

 

I guess what was meant is that attention to ingoing logs for caches, received e-mails/messages etc is very casual not so much how often these people find caches and how many.

 

There are cachers who check their geocaching e-mail regularly but do not find any caches over a long period. That's perfectly fine.

The number of cachers who put out new caches and then do not pay attention to logs and mails that come in for quite a while is however definitely increasing and that's neither restricted to

users geocaching apps nor to geocachers who give up geocaching (those cannot be expected to reply anyway).

 

Cezanne

Edited by cezanne
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This is nothing new.
Yep. One Weekend Wonders were a problem back when I started, which was before iPhones or Android phones.

Sure, we had them back then. But nowhere near as many as when it cost most of us $300 or more to get started. There were those that already owned or had access to a GPSr for other reasons such as hunting that gave it a try for a short time, but today you have so many that have grown weary of playing Angry Birds and decide instead to try a new game called Geocaching for a while until they get tired of it.

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Blame "the app" for making geocaching more popular, but I'm not seeing any reason to believe that the app itself causes more COs with one failed cache. I'm just seeing more people playing, hence a proportionally larger number of people that think they're into it at first, but then turn out not to be.

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Blame "the app" for making geocaching more popular, but I'm not seeing any reason to believe that the app itself causes more COs with one failed cache. I'm just seeing more people playing, hence a proportionally larger number of people that think they're into it at first, but then turn out not to be.

But it's that app that has quote: more people playing, hence a proportionally larger number of people that think they're into it at first, but then turn out not to be.

which produces the COs with one failed cache, so it's the app that is producing those hit and run cachers.

 

Geocaching being more popular as a result of the app, and those that don't stick around go hand in hand.

Edited by BC & MsKitty
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Blame "the app" for making geocaching more popular, but I'm not seeing any reason to believe that the app itself causes more COs with one failed cache. I'm just seeing more people playing, hence a proportionally larger number of people that think they're into it at first, but then turn out not to be.

But it's that app that has quote: more people playing, hence a proportionally larger number of people that think they're into it at first, but then turn out not to be.

which produces the COs with one failed cache, so it's the app that is producing those hit and run cachers.

 

Geocaching being more popular as a result of the app, and those that don't stick around go hand in hand.

Exactly my point: you people are complaining because geocaching is more popular, but you're trying to blame the app for the problem caused by the increased popularity instead of giving the app the credit for increasing the popularity.

 

In other words, if you don't want geocaching to be popular, admit that that's your objection. Personally, I'm enjoying geocaching's increased popularity, and I'm willing to put up with the comparatively minor downside that's inevitable when more and more people start to take part in any pastime I enjoy.

 

Admittedly, I'm somewhat blessed since in my area, there are so many good COs hiding so many excellent caches that the hit-and-run COs are a minor blip in the geocaching landscape. I feel sorry for people where the only new caches are bad caches, but I want to make clear that it doesn't have to be that way.

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Blame "the app" for making geocaching more popular, but I'm not seeing any reason to believe that the app itself causes more COs with one failed cache. I'm just seeing more people playing, hence a proportionally larger number of people that think they're into it at first, but then turn out not to be.

But it's that app that has quote: more people playing, hence a proportionally larger number of people that think they're into it at first, but then turn out not to be.

which produces the COs with one failed cache, so it's the app that is producing those hit and run cachers.

 

Geocaching being more popular as a result of the app, and those that don't stick around go hand in hand.

Exactly my point: you people are complaining because geocaching is more popular, but you're trying to blame the app for the problem caused by the increased popularity instead of giving the app the credit for increasing the popularity.

 

In other words, if you don't want geocaching to be popular, admit that that's your objection. Personally, I'm enjoying geocaching's increased popularity, and I'm willing to put up with the comparatively minor downside that's inevitable when more and more people start to take part in any pastime I enjoy.

 

Admittedly, I'm somewhat blessed since in my area, there are so many good COs hiding so many excellent caches that the hit-and-run COs are a minor blip in the geocaching landscape. I feel sorry for people where the only new caches are bad caches, but I want to make clear that it doesn't have to be that way.

 

You people?

It's you against the world, huh?

 

Have you ever seen me complaining about the hobby becoming more popular?

I was simply saying that the app and hit and run cachers go hand in hand .. especially when there is absolutely no accountability for new cachers. It's the fault of the half assed app... not the new cachers.

Edited by BC & MsKitty
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Do you think it would be unreasonable for Groundspeak to set a standard on owning a cache? For example, having found at least 10 caches and having been a member for at least six months before hiding a cache. I think that might show true intent by a new geocacher to be responsible for their caches.

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Do you think it would be unreasonable for Groundspeak to set a standard on owning a cache? For example, having found at least 10 caches and having been a member for at least six months before hiding a cache. I think that might show true intent by a new geocacher to be responsible for their caches.

 

That has been brought up here many, many times over the years, in one form or another. I seriously doubt it will ever happen, at least based on the responses in this forum. Groundspeak has really shown no apparent interest in anything like that, either. And to be fair, there are some notable exceptions where 'cachers with very few (or no) finds have hidden some great geocaches.

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Do you think it would be unreasonable for Groundspeak to set a standard on owning a cache? For example, having found at least 10 caches and having been a member for at least six months before hiding a cache. I think that might show true intent by a new geocacher to be responsible for their caches.

 

This is brought up many times and shot down every time. How it is now is how it will be.

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I saw that this topic hasn't been responded to in a few days but what really makes me more angry than an inexperienced hider hiding a bad cache and abandoning it are the experienced COs that have been caching for years that hide garbage. Im pretty new to the game and got my start in the app and my first hide (which I hid within a month of starting geocaching) is better than 80% of the caches in my immediate vicinity. I really don't think that we can blame the proliferation of bad caches on intro app hit and runs only but also on the cachers who have thousands of finds and years of experience but hide 30 prescription pill bottles in parking lot bushes and leave then till a reviewer archives it. In my area we have no one hiding new, inventive hides so I put a few original Ideas out as well as some solid ammo can hides in the woods. so thats the sentiment around here at least.

Edited by BigLinc16
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I saw that this topic hasn't been responded to in a few days but what really makes me more angry than an inexperienced hider hiding a bad cache and abandoning it are the experienced COs that have been caching for years that hide garbage. Im pretty new to the game and got my start in the app and my first hide (which I hid within a month of starting geocaching) is better than 80% of the caches in my immediate vicinity. I really don't think that we can blame the proliferation of bad caches on intro app hit and runs only but also on the cachers who have thousands of finds and years of experience but hide 30 prescription pill bottles in parking lot bushes and leave then till a reviewer archives it. In my area we have no one hiding new, inventive hides so I put a few original Ideas out as well as some solid ammo can hides in the woods. so thats the sentiment around here at least.

 

This is definitely becoming a growing problem. Too many cache owners abandon their caches. In my area I'd say that at least 50% of cache owners abandon their caches - never maintain them. Almost as many active cache owners never archive them, leaving that job to the the reviewer.

Caches fester for months, sometimes years going through the process of logs reporting a problem with the cache, then finally someone posts an NM, then often a few more months before another NM gets posted. Finally, someone is willing to stick their neck out an post an NA. Followed by a reviewer note and another month before the cache is finally archived.

Then add the problem of throwdowns. In my area there are a few cachers that are compelled to drop a junk throw down to claim a find. Replacing an abandoned cache container with another abandoned cache container.

Lots of junk abandoned caches out there. Not much pride in ownership. Not much community pride either.

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This log might finally have done it for me:

Cacher with one find (this one) requested a cache to be archived.

Nothing is in the little magnetic box just paper for id and paper is filled with names so there is no room for anymore names
Five logs since the cache log was replaced. Or try the back of the log sheet?

Time to make it premium only.

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