[thegorilla23]

I am working on getting a few Geocaching challenges made revolving around waymarks. One of the ones I want to do is an "Alphabet Soup" type challenge, where you have to made or visited at least 1 waymark who's name starts with all 26 letters. To make the challenges, you have to qualify for them, and I was shocked that I don't have a singe waymark that starts with the letter X. Does anyone have any X waymarks that would help me with an idea for a mark???

[BruceS]

I think if I counted right there are only 104 waymarks that begin with an X worldwide. This linkshould get you close to all the X waymarks. (you may have to page some as more waymarks are added)

[thegorilla23]

Thanks Bruce! I checked out the Benchmarks in my area to see if any were labeled with "X" and there are 2 here in Evansville, IN. I have visited one of them in the past and am going to make it into a waymark! Finally, I will complete my alphabet soup!!!

[lumbricus]

Great idea
I will do the same here in Germany.
Regards, lumbricus

[thegorilla23]

Cache hidden, listing mostly completed. I hope to get this submitted this evening sometime and have it listed before this weekend. I have my own qualifying list typed up and written as a note on the listing. It was fun revisiting my waymarks in my mind to think of some of the better places to visit locally to put on my proof of qualification in case others want to visit the ones I have on my list.

Lumbricus, good luck with your challenge. I hope it brings many geocachers over to "the dark side" and gets them on the Waymarking trails as well!

[Max and 99]

It's been awhile since I placed my "Alphabet Soup" Waymarking Challenge Cache, and I had forgotten that I not only posted but also found a waymark beginning with the letter X:

There's a Xeriscape Garden down the street from me, so that's the one I posted. There sure aren't many X waymarks out there.

[lumbricus]

I'm waiting for the publish mail. I hope there are no problems here in Germany with the guidelines.

I added an important thing. -> Every waymark from A-Z has to be from another catgeory. If you don't have this rule, it's easy to log all bloggers waymarks.

Cheers, lumbricus

[Max and 99]

lumbricus, on 12 April 2012 - 09:49 PM, said:

I'm waiting for the publish mail. I hope there are no problems here in Germany with the guidelines.

I added an important thing. -> Every waymark from A-Z has to be from another catgeory. If you don't have this rule, it's easy to log all bloggers waymarks.

Cheers, lumbricus

No one logged all Bloggers on my alphabet challenge cache! I never even thought someone might do that. How boring would that be if they did!

I believe the guidelines for challenge caches are the same regardless of where you live. Did you take a look? (some of the new guidelines were posted about two weeks ago!).

[lumbricus]

Cachers do all for an FTF

The only problem could be that the reviewers have a problem with a Waymarking challenge because the most people here don't know what Waymarking is. You can't image how often i explained the whole Waymarking thing.

Regards, lumbricus

[thegorilla23]

My Soup got published this evening ... Cache Page. There is one other cacher/former waymarker that is only 3 letters away from qualifying and plans on trying to finish up the challenge soon. Everyone else is starting from stratch and will be awhile! :-)

[DougK]

thegorilla23, on 13 April 2012 - 07:40 PM, said:

My Soup got published this evening … Everyone else is starting from stratch and will be awhile! :-)

Very nicely done! I'd say BruceS is only missing QXZ.

This post has been edited by DougK: 15 April 2012 - 03:26 PM

[DougK]

… but he'll probably never log it, so he can keep his stats where they are.

[BruceS]

DougK, on 15 April 2012 - 03:21 PM, said:

thegorilla23, on 13 April 2012 - 07:40 PM, said:

My Soup got published this evening … Everyone else is starting from stratch and will be awhile! :-)

Very nicely done! I'd say BruceS is only missing QXZ.

I am missing an X

[thegorilla23]

First to Find was already hit on Saturday ... another cacher just started visiting marks on Saturday and has visited over 100 already and only needs 6 more letters. A few others are working on them as well. It is going better than I expected.

My next Waymark Challenge cache is going to be to POST a waymark in all 15 categories starting on the cache's posted date. So far, I got people visiting, now to get them posting their own! :-)

[Max and 99]

thegorilla23, on 16 April 2012 - 01:54 PM, said:

First to Find was already hit on Saturday ... another cacher just started visiting marks on Saturday and has visited over 100 already and only needs 6 more letters. A few others are working on them as well. It is going better than I expected.

My next Waymark Challenge cache is going to be to POST a waymark in all 15 categories starting on the cache's posted date. So far, I got people visiting, now to get them posting their own! :-)

Do you mean Departments?

You may want to read the guidelines before submitting a cache with those rules.
With the update from about 2 weeks ago, it was announced that you can no longer exclude "previous finds" for challenge caches. I'm not sure if you can require posting a waymark either, as requiring someone to create a cache is not permitted, and it's kind of the same thing.

But I'm so happy your challenge cache is going well!

[thegorilla23]

Max and 99, on 16 April 2012 - 02:05 PM, said:

Do you mean Departments?

You may want to read the guidelines before submitting a cache with those rules.
With the update from about 2 weeks ago, it was announced that you can no longer exclude "previous finds" for challenge caches. I'm not sure if you can require posting a waymark either, as requiring someone to create a cache is not permitted, and it's kind of the same thing.

But I'm so happy your challenge cache is going well!

Yes, I meant Department ... had a brainfart when I responded earlier! :-)

I didn't know about the update from 2 weeks ago ... that stinks!

And I was wondering about the "posting" as I knew that requiring creating a cache isn't allowed. I was HOPING it would be okay, but wasn't really COUNTING on it going through. I thought some of yours were like that though, right???

[Max and 99]

thegorilla23, on 16 April 2012 - 06:09 PM, said:

Max and 99, on 16 April 2012 - 02:05 PM, said:

Do you mean Departments?

You may want to read the guidelines before submitting a cache with those rules.
With the update from about 2 weeks ago, it was announced that you can no longer exclude "previous finds" for challenge caches. I'm not sure if you can require posting a waymark either, as requiring someone to create a cache is not permitted, and it's kind of the same thing.

But I'm so happy your challenge cache is going well!

Yes, I meant Department ... had a brainfart when I responded earlier! :-)

I didn't know about the update from 2 weeks ago ... that stinks!

And I was wondering about the "posting" as I knew that requiring creating a cache isn't allowed. I was HOPING it would be okay, but wasn't really COUNTING on it going through. I thought some of yours were like that though, right???

I don't think any of my challenge caches ask you to post a waymark, but I could be wrong. I COULD be wrong about the requirement to POST, I'm just assuming since you can't require cachers to PLACE new caches for a challenge cache, that the same would apply to creating new waymarks. I could be wrong, though.

All challenge caches published before the last update are considered "grandfathered", from the NEW requirements. So any previous challenge caches that said (for ex). you could only count waymarks visited AFTER the cache publication date would be allowed to stand as is.

There is a great discussion on the GC forums about the new challenge requirements. At first I was not happy, since I preferred to have everyone start with a clean slate. But after hearing both sides of the argument, I decided it wasn't worth worrying about, and I'm OK with the changes.

This post has been edited by Max and 99: 16 April 2012 - 06:20 PM

[Max and 99]

thegorilla23, on 16 April 2012 - 06:09 PM, said:

And I was wondering about the "posting" as I knew that requiring creating a cache isn't allowed. I was HOPING it would be okay, but wasn't really COUNTING on it going through. I thought some of yours were like that though, right???

I double checked, and none of my Waymark Challenge caches ask you to post a waymark, just visit.

[thegorilla23]

Max and 99, on 16 April 2012 - 06:38 PM, said:

I double checked, and none of my Waymark Challenge caches ask you to post a waymark, just visit.

Gotcha ... I skimmed through your challenges one day quickly and thought that there were some that did. I stand corrected! :-) Soooooooo, I guess that means I won't even try a challenge for anyone to post one. Oh well, was hoping to get all the new "visitors" to start posting some too.

[Max and 99]

They will start posting!

The newest person to work on my WM challenge caches has had a blast posting her own waymarks. She just needed a little introduction (through the challenge cache) and some visits to get a good feel of what she could submit.

[a1elec]

How about giving them a challenge to do a scavenge hunt the contains some wild cards. So as they complete the scavenger hunt they will have to post some waymarks to finish the scavenger hunt thus you achieve your goal of getting some people to find waymarks that exist and post a couple of new waymarks.
Just a thought

[Max and 99]

a1elec, on 17 April 2012 - 12:53 PM, said:

How about giving them a challenge to do a scavenge hunt the contains some wild cards. So as they complete the scavenger hunt they will have to post some waymarks to finish the scavenger hunt thus you achieve your goal of getting some people to find waymarks that exist and post a couple of new waymarks.
Just a thought

Good thinking!
However, in an area with a LOT of waymarks, I would think it would be hard to force a wildcard to appear. I'm trying to think this through.....
so you could require them to complete a Scavenger Hunt for a challenge cache, but I don't think you can require them to complete a specific one. Any thoughts? Maybe I'm just not seeing this correctly.

[lumbricus]

Yesterday my "A-Z" challenge was published.
Today a friend was the FTF. He is a smart guy. Some missing letters appeared quickly.
Aldi,.... postet by him, was changed to "Not another ALDI", etc...

I'm excited who will be the next finder.
Cheers lumbricus

GL7YT8YV

This post has been edited by lumbricus: 18 April 2012 - 03:36 AM

[Max and 99]

lumbricus, on 18 April 2012 - 03:35 AM, said:

Yesterday my "A-Z" challenge was published.
Today a friend was the FTF. He is a smart guy. Some missing letters appeared quickly.
Aldi,.... postet by him, was changed to "Not another ALDI", etc...

I'm excited who will be the next finder.
Cheers lumbricus

GL7YT8YV

So confused! So he didn't REALLY complete the challenge yet, correct? His Aldi store is still listed as starting with an A, but listed under N in the challenge completion page.

Since I can't read the cache page: does the A-Z apply to a category name or the waymark name?

[lumbricus]

Max and 99, on 18 April 2012 - 09:08 AM, said:

lumbricus, on 18 April 2012 - 03:35 AM, said:

Yesterday my "A-Z" challenge was published.
Today a friend was the FTF. He is a smart guy. Some missing letters appeared quickly.
Aldi,.... postet by him, was changed to "Not another ALDI", etc...

I'm excited who will be the next finder.
Cheers lumbricus

GL7YT8YV

So confused! So he didn't REALLY complete the challenge yet, correct? His Aldi store is still listed as starting with an A, but listed under N in the challenge completion page.

Since I can't read the cache page: does the A-Z apply to a category name or the waymark name?

The A-Z applies to the waymark name.
There are two possibilties.
1. He changed it back to Aldi after he logged it.
2. Someone else (Officer) corrected it back to Aldi.

This morning it was "Not another Aldi" like in the completion page.

Cheers lumbricus

P.S.: Aha, now the "http://www.Waymarking.com/waymarks/WMC32M_Noch_ein_McDonalds_Traunreut_Germany
Mac Donalds starts with an "N"

This post has been edited by lumbricus: 18 April 2012 - 11:03 AM

[lumbricus]

Max and 99, on 16 April 2012 - 02:05 PM, said:

...I'm not sure if you can require posting a waymark either, as requiring someone to create a cache is not permitted, and it's kind of the same thing...

-> 7. Challenge caches may not require the publication of a new cache or waymark as a challenge criteria; challenge caches must be achievable by those who do not own caches or waymarks.

Source: http://support.Groun...=kb.page&id=206

[thegorilla23]

lumbricus, on 28 April 2012 - 10:29 PM, said:

-> 7. Challenge caches may not require the publication of a new cache or waymark as a challenge criteria; challenge caches must be achievable by those who do not own caches or waymarks.

Source: http://support.Groun...=kb.page&id=206

Thanks for the source, Lumbricus!