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July/August Souvenir Question


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Google Translate interprets it as:

 

Upcoming fun activities at Geocaching.com:

 

31 days of Geocaching Geocaching Geocaching and day outside:

 

July 13: Day in Geocaching Outdoors.

 

Saturday July 13 - Time to warm up for 31 days of Geocaching. Join us geocachers worldwide on Saturday July 13 to win a souvenir from us any place. Start your and logs a "Found it" in any geocache and win a unique souvenir for the day of outdoor Geocaching Profile

 

From 1 to August 31: 31 days of Geocaching

 

Geocaching's HQ is a challenge to achieve high streak geocaching throughout the month of August. Geocaching is 31 days. Each geocacher will have the opportunity every day to get a unique souvenir calendar style that represents the date, entering a "Found it" or attending an event.

 

August 17: International Day of Geocaching - The jewel in the crown of souvenirs recirdatorios remains the annual International Day of Geocaching. Join hundreds of thousands of geocachers worldwide International Geocaching Day on August 17. Any record of "Found it" that is realized or attendance at an event on August 17 will win souvenir International Geocaching Day. The unique souvenirs will be decorated with the theme of the 31 days of souvenirs in Geocaching. The souvenir of August 17 in the promotion also features 31 days of Geocaching.

 

Follow the weekly newsletter geocaching HQ to take for more details next week!

 

 

B.

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Google Translate interprets it as:

 

Upcoming fun activities at Geocaching.com:

 

31 days of Geocaching Geocaching Geocaching and day outside:

 

July 13: Day in Geocaching Outdoors.

 

Saturday July 13 - Time to warm up for 31 days of Geocaching. Join us geocachers worldwide on Saturday July 13 to win a souvenir from us any place. Start your and logs a "Found it" in any geocache and win a unique souvenir for the day of outdoor Geocaching Profile

 

From 1 to August 31: 31 days of Geocaching

 

Geocaching's HQ is a challenge to achieve high streak geocaching throughout the month of August. Geocaching is 31 days. Each geocacher will have the opportunity every day to get a unique souvenir calendar style that represents the date, entering a "Found it" or attending an event.

 

August 17: International Day of Geocaching - The jewel in the crown of souvenirs recirdatorios remains the annual International Day of Geocaching. Join hundreds of thousands of geocachers worldwide International Geocaching Day on August 17. Any record of "Found it" that is realized or attendance at an event on August 17 will win souvenir International Geocaching Day. The unique souvenirs will be decorated with the theme of the 31 days of souvenirs in Geocaching. The souvenir of August 17 in the promotion also features 31 days of Geocaching.

 

Follow the weekly newsletter geocaching HQ to take for more details next week!

 

 

B.

 

I did some poking around and didn't see anything official about a 31 Days of Geocaching souvenir. Actually, I hope that GS is not going to do this. While there are lots of places where one can easily find a cache every day in August there are many other places throughout the world where a geocacher might live that it would be effectively impossible. There are over 100 countries in which there are fewer than 31 caches in the entire country, and I don't think GS should be giving out awards to those that have luxury of living in a cache rich area.

 

 

Link to comment

Google Translate interprets it as:

 

Upcoming fun activities at Geocaching.com:

 

31 days of Geocaching Geocaching Geocaching and day outside:

 

July 13: Day in Geocaching Outdoors.

 

Saturday July 13 - Time to warm up for 31 days of Geocaching. Join us geocachers worldwide on Saturday July 13 to win a souvenir from us any place. Start your and logs a "Found it" in any geocache and win a unique souvenir for the day of outdoor Geocaching Profile

 

From 1 to August 31: 31 days of Geocaching

 

Geocaching's HQ is a challenge to achieve high streak geocaching throughout the month of August. Geocaching is 31 days. Each geocacher will have the opportunity every day to get a unique souvenir calendar style that represents the date, entering a "Found it" or attending an event.

 

August 17: International Day of Geocaching - The jewel in the crown of souvenirs recirdatorios remains the annual International Day of Geocaching. Join hundreds of thousands of geocachers worldwide International Geocaching Day on August 17. Any record of "Found it" that is realized or attendance at an event on August 17 will win souvenir International Geocaching Day. The unique souvenirs will be decorated with the theme of the 31 days of souvenirs in Geocaching. The souvenir of August 17 in the promotion also features 31 days of Geocaching.

 

Follow the weekly newsletter geocaching HQ to take for more details next week!

 

 

B.

 

I did some poking around and didn't see anything official about a 31 Days of Geocaching souvenir. Actually, I hope that GS is not going to do this. While there are lots of places where one can easily find a cache every day in August there are many other places throughout the world where a geocacher might live that it would be effectively impossible. There are over 100 countries in which there are fewer than 31 caches in the entire country, and I don't think GS should be giving out awards to those that have luxury of living in a cache rich area.

 

NYPC - Keep hoping. But realize that won't change anything.

 

I live in an area were there are plenty of caches for new caches to easily meet the challenge, but for someone like me, I'd have to travel 5-10 miles (each direction) to log a previously unfound cache. That ain't happening.

Link to comment

Google Translate interprets it as:

 

Upcoming fun activities at Geocaching.com:

 

31 days of Geocaching Geocaching Geocaching and day outside:

 

July 13: Day in Geocaching Outdoors.

 

Saturday July 13 - Time to warm up for 31 days of Geocaching. Join us geocachers worldwide on Saturday July 13 to win a souvenir from us any place. Start your and logs a "Found it" in any geocache and win a unique souvenir for the day of outdoor Geocaching Profile

 

From 1 to August 31: 31 days of Geocaching

 

Geocaching's HQ is a challenge to achieve high streak geocaching throughout the month of August. Geocaching is 31 days. Each geocacher will have the opportunity every day to get a unique souvenir calendar style that represents the date, entering a "Found it" or attending an event.

 

August 17: International Day of Geocaching - The jewel in the crown of souvenirs recirdatorios remains the annual International Day of Geocaching. Join hundreds of thousands of geocachers worldwide International Geocaching Day on August 17. Any record of "Found it" that is realized or attendance at an event on August 17 will win souvenir International Geocaching Day. The unique souvenirs will be decorated with the theme of the 31 days of souvenirs in Geocaching. The souvenir of August 17 in the promotion also features 31 days of Geocaching.

 

Follow the weekly newsletter geocaching HQ to take for more details next week!

 

 

B.

 

I did some poking around and didn't see anything official about a 31 Days of Geocaching souvenir. Actually, I hope that GS is not going to do this. While there are lots of places where one can easily find a cache every day in August there are many other places throughout the world where a geocacher might live that it would be effectively impossible. There are over 100 countries in which there are fewer than 31 caches in the entire country, and I don't think GS should be giving out awards to those that have luxury of living in a cache rich area.

 

Isn't a souvenir kind of like a merit badge, and isn't the criteria to earn this particular souvenir kind of like a challenge cache without the actual cache? Wasn't it you that started a thread exploring the possibilities of doing just such a thing?

 

Now that they may actually do such a thing, the complaint is that they must be easy and offer equal opportunity to all cachers? Does that mean that an official 5/5 souvenir is out. There will never be a SCUBA souvenir. How would those people in the cache deprived areas ever earn the 365 day grid souvenir?

 

Personally, I hope that this does happen and it's a huge success.

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Personally, I hope that this does happen and it's a huge success.

 

I do not hope that it will happen. 31 new souvenirs just for finding caches in August, that's pretty much crazy in my eyes and will increase traffic at many caches to an unreasonable level (in particular for the new urban ones).

 

I'm frustrated that Groundspeak appears to be so focused on numbers recently. (Goals like aiming for a new record for the number of found it logs per day demonstrate this.)

 

Cezanne

Edited by cezanne
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Personally, I hope that this does happen and it's a huge success.

 

I do not hope that it will happen. 31 new souvenirs just for finding caches in August, that's pretty much crazy in my eyes and will increase traffic at many caches to an unreasonable level (in particular for the new urban ones).

 

I'm frustrated that Groundspeak appears to be so focused on numbers recently. (Goals like aiming for a new record for the number of found it logs per day demonstrate this.)

 

Cezanne

 

Groundspeak's business plan relies on people finding caches. This is how they market themselves to get advertisers. Why would you expect them to do anything different?

 

I guess I mis-read the translation. I agree that 31 separate souvenirs is overkill and it waters down the whole idea of a souvenir in the first place. I thought that it was a single souvenir for finding at least one cache on every day of the month. That would represent a challenge and those that met it would get their set of pixels to honor that.

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I agree that 31 separate souvenirs is overkill

 

Yep. I've managed to intentionally avoid most of the souvenirs for caching on a particular day. I think I only screwed up once and attended an event on Leap Day 2012. If they give out one everyday in August that means I can't go caching the entire month (or at least I have to fake the dates when I log the caches). <_<.

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Gracias por avisar. Ese dia del Aire Libre habra que hacer algo ;-) >> loving the google translate tongue-in-cheek >> Please advise. Free Air That day we will have to do something;-)...

 

or this one shows our spanish geocachers have similar conclusions...>>

e parece una muy buena excusa para movilizar a la comunidad geocachera.¡Bien por Groundspeak!

Al final los souvenires es la excusa para mover el culo del asiento jeje.

 

translates to >> and seems like a good excuse to mobilize the community geocachera.

Well by Groundspeak!

In the end the souvenir is the excuse to move the seat a** lol.

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Groundspeak's business plan relies on people finding caches. This is how they market themselves to get advertisers. Why would you expect them to do anything different?

 

They changed their attitude only quite recently. For many years they existed as business, but there was no souvenir for caching on a special day and things like that.

Moreover, there are countries like Germany and Austria where the enormous growth, the impact of powertrails and other unfortunate aspects of mass caching will endager the future of geocaching in many areas - caches need to be hidden and accepted by the property owners in order that they can be found at all. On a longer turn the decisions of Groundspeak to go for numbers harm the business model of Groundspeak much more than it ever could have happened by continuing like they did in the first years.

 

I guess I mis-read the translation. I agree that 31 separate souvenirs is overkill and it waters down the whole idea of a souvenir in the first place. I thought that it was a single souvenir for finding at least one cache on every day of the month. That would represent a challenge and those that met it would get their set of pixels to honor that.

 

It appears to me that the intent of Groundspeak has never been to come up with something challenging. They have introduced souvenirs for countries with many cachers and mostly excluded those with a small number of cachers and caches.

 

 

Cezanne

Link to comment

Google Translate interprets it as:

 

Upcoming fun activities at Geocaching.com:

 

31 days of Geocaching Geocaching Geocaching and day outside:

 

July 13: Day in Geocaching Outdoors.

 

Saturday July 13 - Time to warm up for 31 days of Geocaching. Join us geocachers worldwide on Saturday July 13 to win a souvenir from us any place. Start your and logs a "Found it" in any geocache and win a unique souvenir for the day of outdoor Geocaching Profile

 

From 1 to August 31: 31 days of Geocaching

 

Geocaching's HQ is a challenge to achieve high streak geocaching throughout the month of August. Geocaching is 31 days. Each geocacher will have the opportunity every day to get a unique souvenir calendar style that represents the date, entering a "Found it" or attending an event.

 

August 17: International Day of Geocaching - The jewel in the crown of souvenirs recirdatorios remains the annual International Day of Geocaching. Join hundreds of thousands of geocachers worldwide International Geocaching Day on August 17. Any record of "Found it" that is realized or attendance at an event on August 17 will win souvenir International Geocaching Day. The unique souvenirs will be decorated with the theme of the 31 days of souvenirs in Geocaching. The souvenir of August 17 in the promotion also features 31 days of Geocaching.

 

Follow the weekly newsletter geocaching HQ to take for more details next week!

 

 

B.

 

I did some poking around and didn't see anything official about a 31 Days of Geocaching souvenir. Actually, I hope that GS is not going to do this. While there are lots of places where one can easily find a cache every day in August there are many other places throughout the world where a geocacher might live that it would be effectively impossible. There are over 100 countries in which there are fewer than 31 caches in the entire country, and I don't think GS should be giving out awards to those that have luxury of living in a cache rich area.

 

Isn't a souvenir kind of like a merit badge, and isn't the criteria to earn this particular souvenir kind of like a challenge cache without the actual cache? Wasn't it you that started a thread exploring the possibilities of doing just such a thing?

 

Yes, I did. I started a thread for discussion on the topic, but didn't suggest an exhaustive list of the types of challenges for which a souvenir could be obtained. I still haven't reconciled how such a system would work with challenges that could only realistically be completed in a specific region.

 

 

Now that they may actually do such a thing, the complaint is that they must be easy and offer equal opportunity to all cachers? Does that mean that an official 5/5 souvenir is out. There will never be a SCUBA souvenir. How would those people in the cache deprived areas ever earn the 365 day grid souvenir?

 

I don't hold any illusion that all cachers have equal opportunity to all aspects of geocaching, but I have a hard time condoning the creation of awards that only benefit those that have the luxury of living in a cache dense area, and especially awards that are realistically achievable for those that happen to live in a certain region of the the U.S.

 

Personally, I hope that this does happen and it's a huge success.

 

That's not too surprising as you *do* have the luxury of living in a cache dense area, and thus could benefit from this feature. If GS started creating lots souvenirs and special icons that could only realistically be obtained by those that live or could visit South America I wouldn't be the only one bringing up the issue of U.S./PNW-centricity.

 

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That's not too surprising as you *do* have the luxury of living in a cache dense area, and thus could benefit from this feature. If GS started creating lots souvenirs and special icons that could only realistically be obtained by those that live or could visit South America I wouldn't be the only one bringing up the issue of U.S./PNW-centricity.

 

I think that it is a bad idea to offer a souvenir for each find on a day in August and this is completely unrelated to where I come from.

 

BTW: I think that people in countries with say 30 caches in the whole country certainly have problems that are much more important than whether someone in a cache dense area can add 15, 20 or even 31 souvenirs to his list of souvenirs.

 

Personally, I'm rather concerned that one cannot stop this abundance of souvenirs. I will be on vacation in part of August and I do not want to stay away from caches. However I do not want to have so many souvenirs added just for caching on a certain day. One might argue that visiting a new country or a special event might be something comparable to taking a souvenir back home, but continue to cache in the same way as we always do, what's special in this? It could only be to be able to claim afterwards that a new record for the number of overall logs has been achieved.

 

I think it is absurd that they do not see to have the resources to add souvenirs for countries with quite a number of caches, but have the resources to add more than 30 for nothing.

 

 

Cezanne

Edited by cezanne
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Yes, I did. I started a thread for discussion on the topic, but didn't suggest an exhaustive list of the types of challenges for which a souvenir could be obtained. I still haven't reconciled how such a system would work with challenges that could only realistically be completed in a specific region.

 

 

Well, they have to start somewhere! :P

 

Could this be another case of 'Be careful what you ask for, you might get it.'?

 

Perhaps there will be another one coming soon that will reward finding a high percentage (like maybe all) of the caches in a country/region? That would certainly leave the US cachers out in the cold.

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Yes, I did. I started a thread for discussion on the topic, but didn't suggest an exhaustive list of the types of challenges for which a souvenir could be obtained. I still haven't reconciled how such a system would work with challenges that could only realistically be completed in a specific region.

 

 

Well, they have to start somewhere! :P

 

Could this be another case of 'Be careful what you ask for, you might get it.'?

 

Perhaps there will be another one coming soon that will reward finding a high percentage (like maybe all) of the caches in a country/region? That would certainly leave the US cachers out in the cold.

 

There's actually a challenge cache which requires one to find every cache in a country. I would have qualified for it several years ago when I found both caches at the Vatican, but the challenge cache is actually in Denmark.

 

Frankly, I wouldn't have an issue with a souvenir that was achievable by those living in a small country but leave U.S. cachers out in the cold, as it would be a small step towards a little more equity.

 

 

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It appears to me that the intent of Groundspeak has never been to come up with something challenging. They have introduced souvenirs for countries with many cachers and mostly excluded those with a small number of cachers and caches.

 

 

Cezanne

 

Actually, they created souvenirs for the countries with the most vocal cachers.

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Google Translate interprets it as:

 

Upcoming fun activities at Geocaching.com:

 

31 days of Geocaching Geocaching Geocaching and day outside:

 

July 13: Day in Geocaching Outdoors.

 

Saturday July 13 - Time to warm up for 31 days of Geocaching. Join us geocachers worldwide on Saturday July 13 to win a souvenir from us any place. Start your and logs a "Found it" in any geocache and win a unique souvenir for the day of outdoor Geocaching Profile

 

From 1 to August 31: 31 days of Geocaching

 

Geocaching's HQ is a challenge to achieve high streak geocaching throughout the month of August. Geocaching is 31 days. Each geocacher will have the opportunity every day to get a unique souvenir calendar style that represents the date, entering a "Found it" or attending an event.

 

August 17: International Day of Geocaching - The jewel in the crown of souvenirs recirdatorios remains the annual International Day of Geocaching. Join hundreds of thousands of geocachers worldwide International Geocaching Day on August 17. Any record of "Found it" that is realized or attendance at an event on August 17 will win souvenir International Geocaching Day. The unique souvenirs will be decorated with the theme of the 31 days of souvenirs in Geocaching. The souvenir of August 17 in the promotion also features 31 days of Geocaching.

 

Follow the weekly newsletter geocaching HQ to take for more details next week!

 

 

B.

 

I did some poking around and didn't see anything official about a 31 Days of Geocaching souvenir. Actually, I hope that GS is not going to do this. While there are lots of places where one can easily find a cache every day in August there are many other places throughout the world where a geocacher might live that it would be effectively impossible. There are over 100 countries in which there are fewer than 31 caches in the entire country, and I don't think GS should be giving out awards to those that have luxury of living in a cache rich area.

 

Isn't a souvenir kind of like a merit badge, and isn't the criteria to earn this particular souvenir kind of like a challenge cache without the actual cache? Wasn't it you that started a thread exploring the possibilities of doing just such a thing?

 

Yes, I did. I started a thread for discussion on the topic, but didn't suggest an exhaustive list of the types of challenges for which a souvenir could be obtained. I still haven't reconciled how such a system would work with challenges that could only realistically be completed in a specific region.

 

 

Now that they may actually do such a thing, the complaint is that they must be easy and offer equal opportunity to all cachers? Does that mean that an official 5/5 souvenir is out. There will never be a SCUBA souvenir. How would those people in the cache deprived areas ever earn the 365 day grid souvenir?

 

I don't hold any illusion that all cachers have equal opportunity to all aspects of geocaching, but I have a hard time condoning the creation of awards that only benefit those that have the luxury of living in a cache dense area, and especially awards that are realistically achievable for those that happen to live in a certain region of the the U.S.

 

Personally, I hope that this does happen and it's a huge success.

 

That's not too surprising as you *do* have the luxury of living in a cache dense area, and thus could benefit from this feature. If GS started creating lots souvenirs and special icons that could only realistically be obtained by those that live or could visit South America I wouldn't be the only one bringing up the issue of U.S./PNW-centricity.

 

Actually, I would never be able to cache for 31 days straight. There is a 30 day challenge not to far from me that is on my ignore list because I'll never complete it.

 

My comment lies more along the hope that this may be the start of a way to finally get rid of Challenge caches in favor of an achievement type badge system, for real achievements.

 

As far as cache deprived areas, the cachers in those areas better get busy and place some caches if they want their souvenirs. That may be part of GC's master plan.

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Yes, I did. I started a thread for discussion on the topic, but didn't suggest an exhaustive list of the types of challenges for which a souvenir could be obtained. I still haven't reconciled how such a system would work with challenges that could only realistically be completed in a specific region.

 

 

Well, they have to start somewhere! :P

 

Could this be another case of 'Be careful what you ask for, you might get it.'?

 

Perhaps there will be another one coming soon that will reward finding a high percentage (like maybe all) of the caches in a country/region? That would certainly leave the US cachers out in the cold.

 

This brings up another point. Suppose they created a souvenir for "Find a cache in ten different countries". Many people would qualify including NYPC who is obviously proud of his world travels. Lately, I can't even manage to get out of my state so I would never, ever qualify for such a thing. I would never sit back and spit sour grapes over the fact that I simply can't achieve what others may.

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There's actually a challenge cache which requires one to find every cache in a country. I would have qualified for it several years ago when I found both caches at the Vatican, but the challenge cache is actually in Denmark.

 

So now we see the other edge of the sword.

A challenge cache in Denmark that I can't qualify for doesn't bother me much, because I'll likely never know about it.

A 'Souvenir/Badge/Achievement' might cause me some anguish if I know I'll probably never earn it.

 

Frankly, I wouldn't have an issue with a souvenir that was achievable by those living in a small country but leave U.S. cachers out in the cold, as it would be a small step towards a little more equity.

 

I fail to see how reverse discrimination would be a good thing.

 

With the exceptions of 'Groundspeak HQ', 'Block Party', and 'GPS adventure', what part of Geocaching is US-centric?

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I fail to see how reverse discrimination would be a good thing.

 

With the exceptions of 'Groundspeak HQ', 'Block Party', and 'GPS adventure', what part of Geocaching is US-centric?

 

for what its worth, GPS Adventures are in Canada too.

 

I'm all for an icon that is for a European Block party type event, once a year in a rotating country thing. But, if we had that, then folks would complain that Australians get nothing but kangaroos either.

 

Hope the August souvenir thing is not a different one for each day. I am bored of caching every day for the sake of a streak but if its a one time souvenir thing, sure, why not.

 

I would hope souvenirs never replace challenges. I know some folks are sick of challenges and I do agree its kinda silly to have a say 200 day streak challenge in every USA state, but some challenges are very cool and specific to a region you could never do that (CA Delorme, WA County, WA Islands, Oregon Historical, etc etc)

Edited by lamoracke
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----

 

Hope the August souvenir thing is not a different one for each day. I am bored of caching every day for the sake of a streak but if its a one time souvenir thing, sure, why not.

---

 

 

It says "unique souvenir calendar style that represents the date", so it seems that if you find a cache every day in August you'll get 31 different souvenirs.

 

Since I don't see the fun in getting a souvenir for finding a cache on August 4 or August 27 or any other date without meaning, I rather not get these. I prefer my souvenir list to contain only souvenirs for countries/states and special occasions (geocaching day, events). But I think to make sure I won't get these souvenirs I would have to stop geocaching for a month, which of course is possible, then I have more time to enjoy this forum :rolleyes: . Another option is to wait some time (how many weeks, does anybody know?) before logging the caches online. But then I might have a problem with moving trackables, although I could do this with a note...

 

Maybe someone has another good suggestion on the most convenient way to be able to geocache in August, without getting any of the 31 calendar souvenirs?

 

By the way: are you also looking forward to reading all those "I had to find a cache today for my calendar souvenir and this was it"-logs?

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----

 

Hope the August souvenir thing is not a different one for each day. I am bored of caching every day for the sake of a streak but if its a one time souvenir thing, sure, why not.

---

 

 

It says "unique souvenir calendar style that represents the date", so it seems that if you find a cache every day in August you'll get 31 different souvenirs.

 

Since I don't see the fun in getting a souvenir for finding a cache on August 4 or August 27 or any other date without meaning, I rather not get these. I prefer my souvenir list to contain only souvenirs for countries/states and special occasions (geocaching day, events). But I think to make sure I won't get these souvenirs I would have to stop geocaching for a month, which of course is possible, then I have more time to enjoy this forum :rolleyes: . Another option is to wait some time (how many weeks, does anybody know?) before logging the caches online. But then I might have a problem with moving trackables, although I could do this with a note...

 

Maybe someone has another good suggestion on the most convenient way to be able to geocache in August, without getting any of the 31 calendar souvenirs?

 

By the way: are you also looking forward to reading all those "I had to find a cache today for my calendar souvenir and this was it"-logs?

 

About as much as "I placed this totally lame cache so the area cachers can get a souvenir for today".

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----

 

Hope the August souvenir thing is not a different one for each day. I am bored of caching every day for the sake of a streak but if its a one time souvenir thing, sure, why not.

---

 

 

It says "unique souvenir calendar style that represents the date", so it seems that if you find a cache every day in August you'll get 31 different souvenirs.

 

Since I don't see the fun in getting a souvenir for finding a cache on August 4 or August 27 or any other date without meaning, I rather not get these. I prefer my souvenir list to contain only souvenirs for countries/states and special occasions (geocaching day, events). But I think to make sure I won't get these souvenirs I would have to stop geocaching for a month, which of course is possible, then I have more time to enjoy this forum :rolleyes: . Another option is to wait some time (how many weeks, does anybody know?) before logging the caches online. But then I might have a problem with moving trackables, although I could do this with a note...

 

Maybe someone has another good suggestion on the most convenient way to be able to geocache in August, without getting any of the 31 calendar souvenirs?

 

By the way: are you also looking forward to reading all those "I had to find a cache today for my calendar souvenir and this was it"-logs?

 

About as much as "I placed this totally lame cache so the area cachers can get a souvenir for today".

Oh my, what a bunch of grumps and sourpusses. Gee, going out and geocaching and getting a calendar souvenir is so exciting and it brings the fun back to caching. Just think about all the fun you can have collecting all 31 souvenirs! I would much rather Groundspeak do things like this that bring the excitement and fun back to caching instead of doing things like fix the search function or any number of problems with the site.

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I personally think souvenirs for countries or provinces is silly...this is why we have a map for, for the country, province or state to get filled in if we complete it. Getting them on the map just clutters all the other souvenirs. Given all the clutter, a souvenir for each day in August is even more silly if you ask me. We have a calendar grid for that.

 

Either way, its just a tab one does not have to ever look at if folks do not like them.

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I personally think souvenirs for countries or provinces is silly...this is why we have a map for, for the country, province or state to get filled in if we complete it. Getting them on the map just clutters all the other souvenirs. Given all the clutter, a souvenir for each day in August is even more silly if you ask me. We have a calendar grid for that.

 

Either way, its just a tab one does not have to ever look at if folks do not like them.

 

Some geocachers like finding as many caches as possible and will spend thousands of dollars and travel thousands of miles to the Nevada desert to "find" 2000 identical containers

Some geoachers like to play the FTF game and will get up in the middle of the night just to claim FTF on a cache in a light post.

Some geocachers like to complete challenges, and will spend many days trying a find caches starting with every letter of the alphabet.

Some geocachers to find geocachers in as many different states, provinces or countries and like to see a virtual badge as a token of their accomplishment.

 

Geocachers do lots of silly things, and collecting countries and souvenirs is no sillier than playing one of the many other side games.

 

Does anyone have a link to an official announcement on the GS site that they're going to award 31 souvenirs? From what I saw, there was just a bunch of text on the Spain sub-forum that someone wanted translated to English...but I've never actually seen anything on the GS site that indicates that 31 souvenirs are going to be awarded.

 

 

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Oh my, what a bunch of grumps and sourpusses. Gee, going out and geocaching and getting a calendar souvenir is so exciting and it brings the fun back to caching. Just think about all the fun you can have collecting all 31 souvenirs! I would much rather Groundspeak do things like this that bring the excitement and fun back to caching instead of doing things like fix the search function or any number of problems with the site.

 

Will you need any help extracting your tongue from your cheek?

I have a winch.

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Here's a link to IowaAdmin's geocaching blog - http://iowaadmin.blogspot.com/

 

August 1 - 31: 31 Days of Geocaching

.... Each day geocachers will have the opportunity to earn a unique calendar styled souvenir representing the date, by logging a Found it or Attended for a geocache.

 

WOW!

It's really true!

 

I guess I can take that challenge requiring a donkey-load of souvenirs off my ignore list! :D

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Here's a link to IowaAdmin's geocaching blog - http://iowaadmin.blogspot.com/

 

August 1 - 31: 31 Days of Geocaching

.... Each day geocachers will have the opportunity to earn a unique calendar styled souvenir representing the date, by logging a Found it or Attended for a geocache.

 

WOW!

It's really true!

 

I guess I can take that challenge requiring a donkey-load of souvenirs off my ignore list! :D

 

A souvenir for each day in August when you've found a cache? What ever happened to "make better mistakes"?

 

I'm probably going to be in St. Louis in August and will want to find a cache there as I have not yet found a cache in Missouri. I'd like to get the Missouri souvenir added to my page, but will probably not log any finds any finds I make until September to avoid having these absurd one a day souvenirs cluttering up my page. I got an International Geocaching Day souvenir a couple of years ago so I'll probably avoid logging any caches on Aug. 17th as well.

 

 

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Just came to the forums after checking the Groundspeak blog; the 31 Days of Caching entry has details.

 

I won't have time to streak through August, I'll be finishing up a 4-month school, moving home and job halfway across the US, and somewhere in there we're having our first child. I'll get whatever caches I can, and if that means souvenirs, so be it, but it won't mean 31, at least not for us.

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This link popped up on my facebook feed this morning: Top 8 Tips for Maintaining Your Geocaching Streak. :surprise:

 

While I don't really care one way or the other about these 31 souvenirs, etc, and I'll probably give this 31 day thing a go, what does strike me as interesting is that encouraging a streak like this seems to go against the essence of some of Groundspeak's own guidelines - particularly those governing the publishing of challenge caches.

 

Challenge cache guidelines specify that a challenge must always be in the affirmative - do something as opposed to not do something. Attempting a geocaching streak (particularly if you have already found a lot of caches in your area, or if there aren't many to begin with) often requires, or at least encourages, a cacher to go out and find *just one* cache and leave others for another day. Reading between the lines of their "top 8 tips" seems to confirm this (most obviously tips 5 and 6).

 

Sure it begs the question whether any "streak challenge" should be allowable under current guidelines, and there sure are plenty of those challenge caches out there, but I would have thought Groundspeak themselves would want to play well clear of any grey area in their own guidelines... :)

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I guess the only OPT OUT feature is to not click on my souvenir page.

Pretty much. The only thing I can suggest is to send the following to Groundspeak HQs and post it on your Profile page as well.

I, ________________, hereby reject, forfeit, and abandon any claim for souvenirs that Groundspeak, Inc. may award my geocaching account for finding a geocache on the dates August 1, 2013 through August 31, 2013 inclusive.

 

The decision to cache on any particular date is mine alone and is not influenced by the anything that Groundspeak, Inc. may wish to add to my geocaching profile without my permission.

 

Any online Found logs posted by me for the above dates are made solely to record the caches I found on those dates and without regard to any action taken by Groundspeak, Inc. to award souvenirs.

 

____________________________

Signed and dated

 

I personally find the idea of awarding souvenirs for caching on particular dates degrading. They come across as some lackey at Groundspeak thinking that they can influence my decision to go geocaching. These souvenirs are so trivial and so worthless that they have zero effect on my geocaching.

 

It does seem however that these "promotions" have had some success in that a significant chunk of geocachers will use these "special" events as reason to get out and geocache. I feel kind of sad that some people need some pixels added to their profile as an incentive to cache. Geocaching should be enough fun that it doesn't need pixels. I am also disturbed when I hear people comparing which souvenirs they have with those someone else has. If people are being criticized because they found something more important to do that day instead of geocaching, we are in big trouble.

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This link popped up on my facebook feed this morning: Top 8 Tips for Maintaining Your Geocaching Streak. :surprise:

 

While I don't really care one way or the other about these 31 souvenirs, etc, and I'll probably give this 31 day thing a go, what does strike me as interesting is that encouraging a streak like this seems to go against the essence of some of Groundspeak's own guidelines - particularly those governing the publishing of challenge caches.

 

Challenge cache guidelines specify that a challenge must always be in the affirmative - do something as opposed to not do something. Attempting a geocaching streak (particularly if you have already found a lot of caches in your area, or if there aren't many to begin with) often requires, or at least encourages, a cacher to go out and find *just one* cache and leave others for another day. Reading between the lines of their "top 8 tips" seems to confirm this (most obviously tips 5 and 6).

 

Sure it begs the question whether any "streak challenge" should be allowable under current guidelines, and there sure are plenty of those challenge caches out there, but I would have thought Groundspeak themselves would want to play well clear of any grey area in their own guidelines... :)

 

I hadn't considered relating this SOUVENIR SPEW to challenge caches, but I see how the analogy fits. Challenges , according to Groundspeak, should not "require a geocacher to alter their caching style or habits". This souvenir scenario fits that bill in my eye. Yep, I know I am not REQUIRED to do it, and I won't.

Edited by cheech gang
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This link popped up on my facebook feed this morning: Top 8 Tips for Maintaining Your Geocaching Streak. :surprise:

 

taken aback :o by the pix featuring a lamp post cache as an acceptable cache to search for - just when lots of cachers have been rethinking the placements of those with regards to the bomb scare security issues...

getting those phone apps busier before school starts again might also translate to an advertising "geo-sweeps month" ...

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...But I think to make sure I won't get these souvenirs I would have to stop geocaching for a month, which of course is possible, then I have more time to enjoy this forum :rolleyes: . Another option is to wait some time (how many weeks, does anybody know?) before logging the caches online.

Unfortunately for your plan, a little while back they fixed it so that whenever you log a cache or event that would qualify you for a souvenir, the souvenir will be awarded. It used to be that you had a couple of weeks in which to log the find to get the souvenir, but that's no longer the case.

 

The way I see it, you have two options if you don't want the souvenirs:

1. Don't log any caches in August.

2. Find and log caches in August, then email Groundspeak and ask them to remove the souvenirs. Maybe if tons of people do this it will demonstrate to them how this is a much worse mistake tomorrow.

 

I'm pretty dismayed that Groundspeak has found an even lower low to bring themselves down to. Advocating lame micros and finding a single cache each day so you can get some completely meaningless souvenirs? Really? Do they not realize that the number of logs will plummet in August because lots of people will only be finding a single cache each day? We ask for them to finish releasing country-based souvenirs, and this is what they give us? I guess I shouldn't be surprised. We need to stop asking for things we want, and then maybe they'll implement them. <_<

 

Personally, I won't be making any special efforts during August to get those 31 souvenirs. I'll cache as I normally would, and if I get some completely meaningless souvenirs along the way, so be it.

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This link popped up on my facebook feed this morning: Top 8 Tips for Maintaining Your Geocaching Streak. :surprise:

 

While I don't really care one way or the other about these 31 souvenirs, etc, and I'll probably give this 31 day thing a go, what does strike me as interesting is that encouraging a streak like this seems to go against the essence of some of Groundspeak's own guidelines - particularly those governing the publishing of challenge caches.

 

Challenge cache guidelines specify that a challenge must always be in the affirmative - do something as opposed to not do something. Attempting a geocaching streak (particularly if you have already found a lot of caches in your area, or if there aren't many to begin with) often requires, or at least encourages, a cacher to go out and find *just one* cache and leave others for another day. Reading between the lines of their "top 8 tips" seems to confirm this (most obviously tips 5 and 6).

 

Sure it begs the question whether any "streak challenge" should be allowable under current guidelines, and there sure are plenty of those challenge caches out there, but I would have thought Groundspeak themselves would want to play well clear of any grey area in their own guidelines... :)

 

This was EXACTLY what I was thinking as I read the blog article. Particularly 5 and 6..

 

This whole thing is silly. They should reward a souvenir to those that actually complete the streak. Currently, most of us have souvenirs for the states/countries that we have cached in, along with some significant days. Now, those will lost amongst whatever random days I happen to find caches on next month. It diminishes anything that we may have though being special about souvenirs.

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The last few posters that have voiced displeasure with GS August souvenir spew had the wrong out look. It is not for guys that have been caching for a number of years, started when cell phones were still a brick and dumb as a brick and used a dedicated GPS unit and would hike 5 miles, up hill each way and snow up to your chest to get a smilie. Today we have the drive by cacher that accidentally downloaded an app and tried one or two and is on the verge of deleting the app. How do you keep this person around long enough to get a little excitement, buy a membership and maybe a travel bug or two? The August streak! After they buy their membership and couple bugs, the weather turns yucky they can move on, GS got their $40 or $50 dollars. On to the next exciting thing to get the next group. Guys, it is not for us, it is for the causual cell phone cacher. I don't need this type of motivation to go find a cache. And I only own a dumb phone.

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The last few posters that have voiced displeasure with GS August souvenir spew had the wrong out look. It is not for guys that have been caching for a number of years, started when cell phones were still a brick and dumb as a brick and used a dedicated GPS unit and would hike 5 miles, up hill each way and snow up to your chest to get a smilie. Today we have the drive by cacher that accidentally downloaded an app and tried one or two and is on the verge of deleting the app. How do you keep this person around long enough to get a little excitement, buy a membership and maybe a travel bug or two? The August streak! After they buy their membership and couple bugs, the weather turns yucky they can move on, GS got their $40 or $50 dollars. On to the next exciting thing to get the next group. Guys, it is not for us, it is for the causual cell phone cacher. I don't need this type of motivation to go find a cache. And I only own a dumb phone.

You are probably quite right!

 

Although thinking about it, it's not necessarily a bad thing. If you think souvenirs are a bit silly then you can ignore that page, if you love souvenirs then great, here's another 31 coming your way, and if you like your souvenirs now but think these 31 are silly then... sorry I've got nothing for you. ;)

 

But, if GS can market itself and get some more revenue, and assuming some of this additional revenue makes its way through to development and enhancement of the site, then it's a good thing. :)

 

Edit to add: GS is supporting our mega and that's greatly appreciated - they can only do that by getting revenue, and justifying that there will be continued revenue as a result of it.

Edited by funkymunkyzone
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Currently, most of us have souvenirs for the states/countries that we have cached in, along with some significant days. Now, those will lost amongst whatever random days I happen to find caches on next month. It diminishes anything that we may have though being special about souvenirs.

We were discussing this today and this is what we came up with too.

Souvenirs for States and the odd ones (Leap Day, Int'l Geocaching Day) meant something to us.

- 31 straight days, not so much.

 

To receive one every day, we'd have to hit hides we rarely do anymore.

Looked at our stats and found our longest streak is only 11 days.

- Guess the "Top 8 tips" spiel's wasted here...

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----

 

Hope the August souvenir thing is not a different one for each day. I am bored of caching every day for the sake of a streak but if its a one time souvenir thing, sure, why not.

---

 

 

It says "unique souvenir calendar style that represents the date", so it seems that if you find a cache every day in August you'll get 31 different souvenirs.

 

Since I don't see the fun in getting a souvenir for finding a cache on August 4 or August 27 or any other date without meaning, I rather not get these. I prefer my souvenir list to contain only souvenirs for countries/states and special occasions (geocaching day, events). But I think to make sure I won't get these souvenirs I would have to stop geocaching for a month, which of course is possible, then I have more time to enjoy this forum :rolleyes: . Another option is to wait some time (how many weeks, does anybody know?) before logging the caches online. But then I might have a problem with moving trackables, although I could do this with a note...

 

Maybe someone has another good suggestion on the most convenient way to be able to geocache in August, without getting any of the 31 calendar souvenirs?

 

By the way: are you also looking forward to reading all those "I had to find a cache today for my calendar souvenir and this was it"-logs?

 

*laugh* I was kind of thinking the same :lol: But not caching in August would mean I would not be able to find caches in Farøer and Lithuania, and thus not add more countries to my list. So I guess I'll have to get these souvenirs. :laughing:

 

We're currently doing a month of mystery challenge: find at least one mystery every day for a month, together with a bunch of others (have a mystery streak of 50 and 100, do 25 on a day, etc...) and I'm sure we'll manage easily as the whole Copenhagen area is plastered with mysteries and we still have around 200 solved ones to pick up.

 

Mrs. terratin

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It's just my personal opinion, but I've always liked souvenirs, and have gone out of my way to get a new state for example. I feel as if my more difficult to obtain souvenirs are cheapened by a "congratulations you found a cache on august 6" souvenir.

 

Yes I'm aware that I don't have to participate.

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I guess the only OPT OUT feature is to not click on my souvenir page.

Pretty much. The only thing I can suggest is to send the following to Groundspeak HQs and post it on your Profile page as well.

I, ________________, hereby reject, forfeit, and abandon any claim for souvenirs that Groundspeak, Inc. may award my geocaching account for finding a geocache on the dates August 1, 2013 through August 31, 2013 inclusive.

 

The decision to cache on any particular date is mine alone and is not influenced by the anything that Groundspeak, Inc. may wish to add to my geocaching profile without my permission.

 

Any online Found logs posted by me for the above dates are made solely to record the caches I found on those dates and without regard to any action taken by Groundspeak, Inc. to award souvenirs.

 

____________________________

Signed and dated

 

I personally find the idea of awarding souvenirs for caching on particular dates degrading. They come across as some lackey at Groundspeak thinking that they can influence my decision to go geocaching. These souvenirs are so trivial and so worthless that they have zero effect on my geocaching.

 

It does seem however that these "promotions" have had some success in that a significant chunk of geocachers will use these "special" events as reason to get out and geocache. I feel kind of sad that some people need some pixels added to their profile as an incentIive to cache. Geocaching should be enough fun that it doesn't need pixels. I am also disturbed when I hear people comparing which souvenirs they have with those someone else has. If people are being criticized because they found something more important to do that day instead of geocaching, we are in big trouble.

 

Another option would be to post Note logs instead of a Found It log on every cache found during the Month of August. The, on Sept. 1st, change all the logs to Found Its. Not sure that I didn't think of it before but I'm also taking a vacation in August and will traveling to two states in which I've not found a cache. I'd like to add the three new state souvenirs to my profile but will avoid the absurd 31 days in August souvenirs if I can.

 

I actually like the region based souvenirs and even the souvenirs based on events. When I travel I'll occasionally bring back a souvenir as a remembrance of visiting some place interesting, but I don't collect souvenirs from every city and town I might pass through.

 

 

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