marksclan Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 Hello all, I've been a cacher for several years...While our son was little, this was our Saturday afternoons. Now that he's into every competitive sport our cache time is limited. We usually travel out of state two -three times per year. These trips are often tournament based. To kill time and visit other areas-head for a quick cache or three in between games!!! We haven't been out for a while, but are leaving for a trip. I browsed the area we are headed to and found some interesting named caches. The issue is they are for premium members only.Is geocaching becoming a "pay to play" game? Quote Link to comment
Glaiceana Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 To be honest, I didn't think there were too many premium only caches, but I could be wrong. I guess its just one other way to help keep the site running. Wouldn't call it "pay to play" though, maybe if 80% of all cahces were premium, then it would be pay to play. Quote Link to comment
+Psychaesthetic Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 (edited) $3 a month, geez it's so small an amount it hardly seems worth stopping to post about. Edit: Maybe they're really good caches, too? Edited April 19, 2014 by Psychaesthetic Quote Link to comment
+T.D.M.22 Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 You can still find them and log them. Just can't see the listing page. Quote Link to comment
+Psychaesthetic Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 I *wish* there were Premium caches around here: I'd feel like there'd be some reason to maintain a subscription. Instead zi got like, 20 caches within a few Km, then zi gotta get in the car to go find any more, and none of them are prem's. *sigh* Quote Link to comment
+Chief301 Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 I would venture to say that $30 a year for Premium membership is peanuts compared to what you're shelling out every year on those sports endeavors 😊 Caches are made PMO for various reasons.....often because the area or the particular cache has a history of being muggled. Sometimes because the hide location is sensitive in some way. PMO can help keep the traffic down and limit it to more "experienced" cachers who know not to destroy the landscaping, etc. Quote Link to comment
+Walts Hunting Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 I have a premium only column in gsak and while I don't pay much attention to it I have noticed that the percentage of caches that are PMO has been steadily climbing. Quote Link to comment
+Bear and Ragged Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 Probably with the increase of phone users, who often don't validate their account, and who don't read the guidelines, who don't rehide the caches properly (or just 'take' them because that's what they thing caching is...) and soon go and find another game... A lot of cachers make their caches Premium to prevent it from being found by those users.. Quote Link to comment
+L0ne.R Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 (edited) Probably with the increase of phone users, who often don't validate their account This. A premium member, one assumes, has some experience under their belt and more committed to the game. Edited April 20, 2014 by L0ne.R Quote Link to comment
+Manville Possum Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 Probably with the increase of phone users, who often don't validate their account, and who don't read the guidelines, who don't rehide the caches properly (or just 'take' them because that's what they thing caching is...) and soon go and find another game... A lot of cachers make their caches Premium to prevent it from being found by those users.. That is why I went PMO with my listings. The problems went away instantly. Quote Link to comment
+ngrrfan Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 Probably with the increase of phone users, who often don't validate their account, and who don't read the guidelines, who don't rehide the caches properly (or just 'take' them because that's what they thing caching is...) and soon go and find another game... A lot of cachers make their caches Premium to prevent it from being found by those users.. That is why I went PMO with my listings. The problems went away instantly. Same here. Quote Link to comment
+Sealand Rovers Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 I just considered it a donation to keep the site and game running. If it becomes something stupid like $30/month I may reconsider Quote Link to comment
+Walts Hunting Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 Just download the closest 2000 to me and 537 were premium. Even I didn't realize that the number was that high. Bear and Ragged's reasons seem pretty logical to me. Quote Link to comment
+BCandMsKitty Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 Probably with the increase of phone users, who often don't validate their account, and who don't read the guidelines, who don't rehide the caches properly (or just 'take' them because that's what they thing caching is...) and soon go and find another game... A lot of cachers make their caches Premium to prevent it from being found by those users.. I have a few that are premium only because they are field puzzles that are a bit fragile, so I want more experienced cachers fiddling with them. Also, I don't like the idea of all the work to make, and maintain them for a cell phone user who can't even register on the site to play, let alone pay for a membership! Quote Link to comment
+NanCycle Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 Probably with the increase of phone users, who often don't validate their account, and who don't read the guidelines, who don't rehide the caches properly (or just 'take' them because that's what they thing caching is...) and soon go and find another game... A lot of cachers make their caches Premium to prevent it from being found by those users.. I have a few that are premium only because they are field puzzles that are a bit fragile, so I want more experienced cachers fiddling with them. Also, I don't like the idea of all the work to make, and maintain them for a cell phone user who can't even register on the site to play, let alone pay for a membership! I wish it were possible to hide cache listings from the NVM accounts without making them PMO; I'd be on that in a heartbeat! But I don't really want to make most of my caches PMO. Most of the ones that I would consider making PMO are "protected" from the beginners anyway because they are puzzles/multis. Quote Link to comment
+Chief301 Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 Probably with the increase of phone users, who often don't validate their account, and who don't read the guidelines, who don't rehide the caches properly (or just 'take' them because that's what they thing caching is...) and soon go and find another game... A lot of cachers make their caches Premium to prevent it from being found by those users.. I have a few that are premium only because they are field puzzles that are a bit fragile, so I want more experienced cachers fiddling with them. Also, I don't like the idea of all the work to make, and maintain them for a cell phone user who can't even register on the site to play, let alone pay for a membership! I wish it were possible to hide cache listings from the NVM accounts without making them PMO; I'd be on that in a heartbeat! But I don't really want to make most of my caches PMO. Most of the ones that I would consider making PMO are "protected" from the beginners anyway because they are puzzles/multis. I agree....I want everyone to be able to find my caches, but I do have one that I made PMO because it has a rather unique container that is part of the theme of the cache, and it would be difficult to replace. But just making them puzzles or multis also helps. Quote Link to comment
+cerberus1 Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 Probably with the increase of phone users, who often don't validate their account, and who don't read the guidelines, who don't rehide the caches properly (or just 'take' them because that's what they thing caching is...) and soon go and find another game... A lot of cachers make their caches Premium to prevent it from being found by those users.. I have a few that are premium only because they are field puzzles that are a bit fragile, so I want more experienced cachers fiddling with them. Also, I don't like the idea of all the work to make, and maintain them for a cell phone user who can't even register on the site to play, let alone pay for a membership! I wish it were possible to hide cache listings from the NVM accounts without making them PMO; I'd be on that in a heartbeat! But I don't really want to make most of my caches PMO. Most of the ones that I would consider making PMO are "protected" from the beginners anyway because they are puzzles/multis. Agreed. Though a pm for some time and we know of ways around it, I don't do pmo hides because of the audit. We don't think it'd be right to make ours pmo because of these new phone folks. - We've archived a bunch and are not putting any new out unless they have a higher D/T rating, or are puzzles or multis. Accomplishes the same w/o having to resort to pmo. CJ's been getting quite a few of these not validated intro app people (the default log's a giveaway) on her simpler hides and if any more problems arise, we'll just take them out of play too. Groundspeak could fix this. This isn't the first thread on the subject... Quote Link to comment
+Manville Possum Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 Probably with the increase of phone users, who often don't validate their account, and who don't read the guidelines, who don't rehide the caches properly (or just 'take' them because that's what they thing caching is...) and soon go and find another game... A lot of cachers make their caches Premium to prevent it from being found by those users.. I have a few that are premium only because they are field puzzles that are a bit fragile, so I want more experienced cachers fiddling with them. Also, I don't like the idea of all the work to make, and maintain them for a cell phone user who can't even register on the site to play, let alone pay for a membership! I wish it were possible to hide cache listings from the NVM accounts without making them PMO; I'd be on that in a heartbeat! But I don't really want to make most of my caches PMO. Most of the ones that I would consider making PMO are "protected" from the beginners anyway because they are puzzles/multis. Agreed. Though a pm for some time and we know of ways around it, I don't do pmo hides because of the audit. We don't think it'd be right to make ours pmo because of these new phone folks. - We've archived a bunch and are not putting any new out unless they have a higher D/T rating, or are puzzles or multis. Accomplishes the same w/o having to resort to pmo. CJ's been getting quite a few of these not validated intro app people (the default log's a giveaway) on her simpler hides and if any more problems arise, we'll just take them out of play too. Groundspeak could fix this. This isn't the first thread on the subject... Why would Groundspeak fix anything that requires geocachers pay to use their site? Quote Link to comment
+swbleyes Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 We are newbies, a family of 4 who go out together as a family..my husband is using a garmin personal gps while I have my phone app(which I like better than the gps)if I buy the premium through the website does that include the app upgrade or is that still an additional $9.99? Any help would be appreciated Quote Link to comment
+ByronForestPreserve Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 We are newbies, a family of 4 who go out together as a family..my husband is using a garmin personal gps while I have my phone app(which I like better than the gps)if I buy the premium through the website does that include the app upgrade or is that still an additional $9.99? Any help would be appreciated The full app and premium membership are separate. Premium memberships need to be renewed annually, but might be worth it. Your husband can download pocket queries, which are very useful to search for specific cache types or difficulties in an area. Quote Link to comment
+swbleyes Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 thank you for the information!! Quote Link to comment
+Bear and Ragged Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 We are newbies, a family of 4 who go out together as a family..my husband is using a garmin personal gps while I have my phone app(which I like better than the gps)if I buy the premium through the website does that include the app upgrade or is that still an additional $9.99? Any help would be appreciated Buy the full app from the store. Premium Membership is another matter, and does not get you the full app! Quote Link to comment
+Sherlocksmith Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 We are newbies, a family of 4 who go out together as a family..my husband is using a garmin personal gps while I have my phone app(which I like better than the gps)if I buy the premium through the website does that include the app upgrade or is that still an additional $9.99? Any help would be appreciated Buy the full app from the store. Premium Membership is another matter, and does not get you the full app! Quote Link to comment
+Sherlocksmith Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 If I am a premium member already and buy the app, do I need to purchase another in app membership, or does my membership work for both the website and the app? Thanks Quote Link to comment
+Semper Questio Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 Probably with the increase of phone users, who often don't validate their account, and who don't read the guidelines, who don't rehide the caches properly (or just 'take' them because that's what they thing caching is...) and soon go and find another game... A lot of cachers make their caches Premium to prevent it from being found by those users.. I have a few that are premium only because they are field puzzles that are a bit fragile, so I want more experienced cachers fiddling with them. Also, I don't like the idea of all the work to make, and maintain them for a cell phone user who can't even register on the site to play, let alone pay for a membership! I wish it were possible to hide cache listings from the NVM accounts without making them PMO; I'd be on that in a heartbeat! But I don't really want to make most of my caches PMO. Most of the ones that I would consider making PMO are "protected" from the beginners anyway because they are puzzles/multis. Agreed. Though a pm for some time and we know of ways around it, I don't do pmo hides because of the audit. We don't think it'd be right to make ours pmo because of these new phone folks. - We've archived a bunch and are not putting any new out unless they have a higher D/T rating, or are puzzles or multis. Accomplishes the same w/o having to resort to pmo. CJ's been getting quite a few of these not validated intro app people (the default log's a giveaway) on her simpler hides and if any more problems arise, we'll just take them out of play too. Groundspeak could fix this. This isn't the first thread on the subject... Why would Groundspeak fix anything that requires geocachers pay to use their site? A fix would not require all users to pay. The main issue would be to requires all users to have a validated email address so cache owners can contact them when needed. There are other things they can do to such as requiring watching an intro video before the intro app shows them caches and other things, but the email validation requirement for ALL users would be a heckuva start. Quote Link to comment
+Kacher82 Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 If I am a premium member already and buy the app, do I need to purchase another in app membership, or does my membership work for both the website and the app? Thanks One membership should work for both. Quote Link to comment
+BAMBOOZLE Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 Probably with the increase of phone users, who often don't validate their account, and who don't read the guidelines, who don't rehide the caches properly (or just 'take' them because that's what they thing caching is...) and soon go and find another game... A lot of cachers make their caches Premium to prevent it from being found by those users.. That is why I went PMO with my listings. The problems went away instantly. +1.....as a hider, PMO's are the way to go......far less headaches. Quote Link to comment
+AKStafford Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 (edited) I switched most of my caches to Premium Member Only... And they stopped disappearing... There's too many one-timers who download the free app, do not validate their email and then magically the cache disappears after they log their find. The only one that is not PMO is in the middle of no where and doesn't get much traffic. Edited April 23, 2014 by AKStafford Quote Link to comment
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