Fake event logs

[+stijnhommes]

I recently held my first event. Although I can account for multiple names on the list of attended people, it appears some people logged "attended" without ever coming near NYC where I held the event.

Are fake event logs a thing you see often on your own events?

I'm happy to allow team members of attendees to log. I'm fine with allowing logs to people who turned up later and missed us after we left the meeting spot, but I won't allow people to log when they claim to have met me when they haven't.

 

How do you deal with this sort of thing?

[+lamoracke]

Have a few folks in our area who do come to events but literally just come in and then leave. Possible they are ephemeral fly by night event cachers?

 

And no, have not seen a problem in the Seattle area, not that I have noticed personally.

[+NanCycle]

I recently held my first event. Although I can account for multiple names on the list of attended people, it appears some people logged "attended" without ever coming near NYC where I held the event.

Are fake event logs a thing you see often on your own events?

I'm happy to allow team members of attendees to log. I'm fine with allowing logs to people who turned up later and missed us after we left the meeting spot, but I won't allow people to log when they claim to have met me when they haven't.

 

How do you deal with this sort of thing?

 

I haven't had the problem, but if I did, their logs would be deleted forthwith! If they weren't there, they didn't attend. Period. And no unless their spouse was there without them, and no unless they were so late that they missed the event altogether. Gee, I could log an event in another town just because I was at the location the weekend after the event was held? I don't think so.

[+cerberus1]

Another mentioned the same thing a week or two ago.

Small CITO I think it was. Knew most there.

Guess a few have to get that souvenir for the month somehow...

[+Twentse Mug]

What was this event in the UK that was cancelled last minute (one day before the actual event date) because of flood (water) but still got tons of attended logs?

[+Bear and Ragged]

What was this event in the UK that was cancelled last minute (one day before the actual event date) because of flood (water) but still got tons of attended logs?

 

It's an old Virtual cache Earthcache*.

It took place anyway, so people and cachers were there...

 

The Event was cancelled to try to keep the numbers down. (Police advice was to 'Keep away' from the area due to high level of water.)

 

Some cachers that turned up, and met each other, decided to get the two ' ' ...

 

* I'm sure it used to be a Virt.

Or may be it was one of the old Locationless caches, but then made an Earthcache!

Edited September 1, 2014 by Bear and Ragged

[+Team Microdot]

We held our very first event in August - great turnout and we were absolutely delighted

 

Then on the last day of August some bright spark posts an attended log with the words Sad to miss this one.

 

I knew for a fact they hadn't attended and when I queried it they apologised and deleted their log - but of course they already had their 6th August souvenir, which in turn give them their 7th for a full set.

 

Personally I can't see any value whatsoever in a souvenir that you didn't earn honestly - and I'm a bit sad that they were rude enough to 'hijack' our event to just to cheat the system.

 

I wish Groundspeak would fix it so that qualifying log deleted = souvenir withdrawn.

[+Harry Dolphin]

I see ten logs. Unless you've already deleted some, I think I know who they are. Very nice to meet you! And the windmill cookies were delicious.

[+sbell111]

I recently held my first event. Although I can account for multiple names on the list of attended people, it appears some people logged "attended" without ever coming near NYC where I held the event.

Are fake event logs a thing you see often on your own events?

I'm happy to allow team members of attendees to log. I'm fine with allowing logs to people who turned up later and missed us after we left the meeting spot, but I won't allow people to log when they claim to have met me when they haven't.

 

How do you deal with this sort of thing?

Is it possible that they attended and simply didn't meet you? Could they have met someone else and thought that it was you? Could they have been using the word "you" more like people around here would use "Y'all"?

[+DanOCan]

It's not something that I have seen happen much with the events I have hosted. I'm not really too worried because, unlike a physical cache, their bogus log isn't harming others. If someone wants to cheat themselves, it's no skin of my caching nose.

[+Chrysalides]

Another mentioned the same thing a week or two ago.

Small CITO I think it was. Knew most there.

Guess a few have to get that souvenir for the month somehow...

That CITO event with the phantom attendee - that guy who logged that didn't even need that CITO log for the souvenir, so I'm not sure what was going on. But I suspect that there were more than a few events that were attended through astral projections or something last month for the souvenirs.

 

By the way, I found w WikiHow article about how to perform astral projections. I thought that was hilarious. And in "related articles" there's how to report a UFO sighting. There's also "How to improve your luck", which I might need considering my rather high DNF count.

[+Chrysalides]

I knew for a fact they hadn't attended and when I queried it they apologised and deleted their log - but of course they already had their 6th August souvenir, which in turn give them their 7th for a full set.

Out of curiosity, if someone logged a note, then edited it to change it to an "attended", would they get the souvenir? They can delete it after that and no one would know.

 

I remember when souvenirs first came out, there were lots of disparaging remarks by some very vocal forum regulars. But apparently Groundspeak guessed correctly that it would prove popular with a large number of players. And a little too popular with some, apparently.

[+mvhayes1982]

Another mentioned the same thing a week or two ago.

Small CITO I think it was. Knew most there.

Guess a few have to get that souvenir for the month somehow...

That CITO event with the phantom attendee - that guy who logged that didn't even need that CITO log for the souvenir, so I'm not sure what was going on. But I suspect that there were more than a few events that were attended through astral projections or something last month for the souvenirs.

 

By the way, I found w WikiHow article about how to perform astral projections. I thought that was hilarious. And in "related articles" there's how to report a UFO sighting. There's also "How to improve your luck", which I might need considering my rather high DNF count.

 

I wonder if the poster believed that the CITO would qualify him for the Socializer badge. I know some made that mistake and later had to find an "actual" qualifying event to get their badge.

[+Yorkshire Yellow]

What was this event in the UK that was cancelled last minute (one day before the actual event date) because of flood (water) but still got tons of attended logs?

 

It's an old Virtual cache Earthcache*.

It took place anyway, so people and cachers were there...

 

The Event was cancelled to try to keep the numbers down. (Police advice was to 'Keep away' from the area due to high level of water.)

 

Some cachers that turned up, and met each other, decided to get the two ' ' ...

 

* I'm sure it used to be a Virt.

Or may be it was one of the old Locationless caches, but then made an Earthcache!

 

The cancelled event was the meet to watch the predicted 5* bore. Some cachers logged the event as attended, having seemingly seen the CO at another event later the same day. Some others got to GZ and so logged it as attended.

 

There's the Severn bore earthcache which you can log if you've seen the bore.

 

The virtual you're referring to is Ye old survey monument. The CO moved it to the nearby Windmill Hill trig point, to coincide with the event cache.

[+stijnhommes]

I recently held my first event. Although I can account for multiple names on the list of attended people, it appears some people logged "attended" without ever coming near NYC where I held the event.

Are fake event logs a thing you see often on your own events?

I'm happy to allow team members of attendees to log. I'm fine with allowing logs to people who turned up later and missed us after we left the meeting spot, but I won't allow people to log when they claim to have met me when they haven't.

 

How do you deal with this sort of thing?

Is it possible that they attended and simply didn't meet you? Could they have met someone else and thought that it was you? Could they have been using the word "you" more like people around here would use "Y'all"?

Possible, but highly unlikely. I have accounted for every actual attendee and asked them about it. None of them seem to have met that particular cacher that day.

[+Isonzo Karst]

Are fake event logs a thing you see often on your own events?

 

I assume fake attended on events this August was driven by those wanting the souvenir (and the find count plus 1). I've not seen it much.

It used to happen in the winter when some cachers visited Florida. In their area people logged multiple "attended" for temporary caches at events. While in Florida they'd log attended on every event in the state, some few of which they actually attended, evidently feeling that being in the same state as an event = attended at least once.

 

I wonder if the poster believed that the CITO would qualify him for the Socializer badge

 

Possibly, but it's more likely that they knew that it would qualify them for the Nature Lover souvenir.

 

Out of curiosity, if someone logged a note, then edited it to change it to an "attended", would they get the souvenir?

 

Yep, post note, then change it to attended or found it, then delete. The souvenir remains. And hey, maybe nobody notices and they get to keep the +1 and all the other stats.

I saw this on a cache I watch. Posted note, "bug drop" - no bug was dropped, then the log was altered to found it, then it was deleted. When I saw the bug drop note, I followed the link to the log, curious as it seemed quite unlikely that the particular person would have found that cache, especially in August. I saw the log had been back dated to August 1, and edited to Found it. And then it disappeared. Don't know if the cache owner or the cacher deleted it. Either way, the souvenir was assigned and remained.

[+lowca]

It happened lately at Warsaw - a cacher 'attended' an event and next second deleted the log, so nobody sees it. Only event organiser have seen it in mail - and what can we do with some guy that armchair-logged event being 2000 kilometers far away? Nothing.

Another fake titles hunter, not worthy to mention his name here.

[+Twentse Mug]

Some have souvenirs for every state in the USA. Project GC helps with the option comparing stats and then you see that in reality they are fake souvenirs.

[+sbell111]

I recently held my first event. Although I can account for multiple names on the list of attended people, it appears some people logged "attended" without ever coming near NYC where I held the event.

Are fake event logs a thing you see often on your own events?

I'm happy to allow team members of attendees to log. I'm fine with allowing logs to people who turned up later and missed us after we left the meeting spot, but I won't allow people to log when they claim to have met me when they haven't.

 

How do you deal with this sort of thing?

Is it possible that they attended and simply didn't meet you? Could they have met someone else and thought that it was you? Could they have been using the word "you" more like people around here would use "Y'all"?

Possible, but highly unlikely. I have accounted for every actual attendee and asked them about it. None of them seem to have met that particular cacher that day.

I think that perhaps you have gone a bit beyond.

[+narcissa]

Possible, but highly unlikely. I have accounted for every actual attendee and asked them about it. None of them seem to have met that particular cacher that day.

 

Delete the log. Chances are, you'll never hear from this person again.

[+Chrysalides]

Out of curiosity, if someone logged a note, then edited it to change it to an "attended", would they get the souvenir?

 

Yep, post note, then change it to attended or found it, then delete. The souvenir remains. And hey, maybe nobody notices and they get to keep the +1 and all the other stats.

I saw this on a cache I watch. Posted note, "bug drop" - no bug was dropped, then the log was altered to found it, then it was deleted. When I saw the bug drop note, I followed the link to the log, curious as it seemed quite unlikely that the particular person would have found that cache, especially in August. I saw the log had been back dated to August 1, and edited to Found it. And then it disappeared. Don't know if the cache owner or the cacher deleted it. Either way, the souvenir was assigned and remained.

Thanks for confirming. Kind of pathetic that people would want souvenirs they didn't qualify for that bad. Maybe Groundspeak can sell souvenirs in their store

[+The A-Team]

Some have souvenirs for every state in the USA. Project GC helps with the option comparing stats and then you see that in reality they are fake souvenirs.

Hmm, that gives me an idea. Project-GC could add a section that analyses a cacher's finds and compares those to their souvenirs to determine if any are fake. They already have the data necessary, they'd just have to add the testing (ie. did the user find a cache on August 1, 2013? Did they find a cache in New York? etc.). A page could then be displayed that indicates which souvenirs are ill-gotten and could more-publically shame them.

 

...though this likely still wouldn't be enough to stop the central Europeans from doing it...

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Some have souvenirs for every state in the USA. Project GC helps with the option comparing stats and then you see that in reality they are fake souvenirs.

Hmm, that gives me an idea. Project-GC could add a section that analyses a cacher's finds and compares those to their souvenirs to determine if any are fake. They already have the data necessary, they'd just have to add the testing (ie. did the user find a cache on August 1, 2013? Did they find a cache in New York? etc.). A page could then be displayed that indicates which souvenirs are ill-gotten and could more-publically shame them.

 

...though this likely still wouldn't be enough to stop the central Europeans from doing it...

 

I've also suggested that project-gc take over the task of awarding country/region based souvenirs. As a partner they could use all the existing artwork and create artwork for the remaining countries and regions. They're base level maps for many countries are vastly superior to the map on the GS stats page and they make much better use of country/state and even county unique identifiers.

Then make the souvenir tab editable (like the public profile page) and one could cut-n-paste the HTML produced by project-gc onto the souvenirs page.

 

 

[+Chrysalides]

Then make the souvenir tab editable (like the public profile page) and one could cut-n-paste the HTML produced by project-gc onto the souvenirs page.

Why even bother checking for qualification for a souvenir in that case?

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Then make the souvenir tab editable (like the public profile page) and one could cut-n-paste the HTML produced by project-gc onto the souvenirs page.

Why even bother checking for qualification for a souvenir in that case?

 

Point taken, but because project-gc is an official partner, GS could just add a button [include Souvenirs from Project-GC] and they could get out of the Souvenir business entirely (they'll have to find something else for their promotional campaigns) and let Project-GC handle the management, awarding, and validation of souvenirs. Project-GC could make it a paying member only feature and it would be a win-win-win-win for GS, Project-GC, those that care about souvenirs, and those that would rather see GS spend development resources on other issues.

[+CanadianRockies]

Project-GC could add a section that analyses a cacher's finds and compares those to their souvenirs to determine if any are fake.

Wouldn't that just encourage those people to simply not delete their fake finds?