To Grab A Tb Or To Trade A Tb?

[MOCKBA]

I searched this forum far and wide & I see that the bug collectors commonly believe that the 'take something, leave something' rule doesn't apply to travelbugs.

The question has been discussed at length at our local forums too, but no authoritative answer ever came up. The official materials of this site skim the issue. I understand the arguments on both sides very well, and I am not looking for a repeat discussion. Instead, I am looking for a markwell, ideally with the TPTB stand on the issue.

What I've learned thus far is that

- 'take something, leave something' principle dates back to May 2000, and it caught on pretty well from day 1.

- the travelbug product was launched in the fall 2001, and the TB rules were somewhat fluid early on

- and that the TPTB declared the trading restrictions of travebug exchanges and hotels non-binding (i.e. you don't have to 'leave as many as you take' even if the cache owner said so).

What I couldn't find is a thread or a document where the TPTB would confirm that the 'take something, leave something' rule is also non-binding as pertains to the bugs.

[+planetrobert]

i try to leave something for a bug

 

BUT if it is a cache that gets few visitors i may take a bug if i dont have something just to help the bug.

[+bons]

My current personal rules:

1) take something if there's something there we want to take.

2) Leave something in thanks for the swag and the visit (which usually means trade up.)

3) If the cache is a little lacking in swag, give it a swag boost.

 

TBs are a completely different story. If I choose to pick up a TB, that's entirely outside of the swag exchange. And if I drop off a TB, that's also entirely outside of the swag exchange.

Edited February 24, 2004 by bons

[+brad.32]

I usually leave something at a regular-sized cache, sometimes take something, always leave something if I take, and treat a TB like anything else for exchanging.

 

It's very rare that I would have a TB in hand to exchange for another.

[+Leapin' Lizards]

Lizards tend to follow essentially what bons said... TBs are different than cache trading. We take & leave something, trying to trade up, and if we want to take the TB in the cache, that's a different option. Same with leaving one in a cache... that doesn't count as a "give". We have to leave something else as well.

[+Renegade Knight]

Travel bugs dont count in trading. They have an entirely different purpose in life which you are helping by taking them. Or at least you should be helping then when you take them...

[MOCKBA]

Guys, please!

It's all far off topic. It is very well know that some people trade bugs and some don't, and their arguments are known as well. If you need to discuss it all over again, why not do it in a different thread?

This thread is a request for historical info about the roots of this split of opnions. About Markwelling. Who suggested first that TBs shouldn't be traded? When? What the TPTB had to say about it?

I think it is an important question. The principle of swag trading is ancient and venerable and I wouldn't dare to violate it myself just because a few other cachers said they do it. I am looking for the more official take on the issue, and thus far it seems like it doesn't exist.

[+Tiwica]

You started this thread in a public forum.....If you wanted the opinion of TPTB then you should email them. What you'll get here is opinion from the public. TB's are not trade items....that's my opinion

[+Sparky-Watts]

You started this thread in a public forum.....If you wanted the opinion of TPTB then you should email them. What you'll get here is opinion from the public. TB's are not trade items....that's my opinion

Couldn't have said it better myself...thanks, Tiwica!

[MOCKBA]

I am not sure the TPTB ever expressed the opinion on TBs being (or not being) a swag. I am positive that it's been discussed to death in this forum, and I just wanted to spare you one more of these me-too-all-over-again discussions.

But I ain't very good at markwell-searching, and I hoped that some of you bug collectors already know the definitive answer. Well apparently nobody knows for sure.

However I looked through the entire list of early posts on this forum and I think I found the oldest markwell on the 'are-TBs-a-form-of-swag' question:

it's been discussed here barely 3 months after tb product launch

I conclude that the idea of not trading for a t-bug is almost as old as the bugtag itself, and even if there wasn't an explicit official approval, it must be OK with Jeremy.

So I'm changed my point of view, & looking forward for grabbing a few t-bugs from that TB depot near you !

[+YodaDoe]

me too!

[+bigredmed]

When I trade, I trade. Travel Bugs are a different game. I pick them up and move them, even if I don't have a travel bug to replace it with.

[+bons]

Someone clue me in if I'm wrong, but I thought Jeremy was the god of this particular listing service, not the rulemaker of geocaching. I kind of thought geocaching was more of a public free-for-all and that this was just one of the places that offered listing services and travel item tracking.

[+Sagefox]

Me too. All over again too. Déjà vu, or not.

 

TB's don't need to be trade items. It is up to the individual whether, or not, to leave something for a tb they take.

 

Main thing is to keep tb's moving and, hopefully, on task. "On task" is a nice gesture but what happens next in the life of a tb is always up to the finder. If we make up a bunch of rules about tb's I fear it will only result in creating a number of rule breakers and will not help in keeping tb's on track.

[Pto]

Someone clue me in if I'm wrong, but I thought Jeremy was the god of this particular listing service, not the rulemaker of geocaching. I kind of thought geocaching was more of a public free-for-all and that this was just one of the places that offered listing services and travel item tracking.

 

Well said bons. I myself treat Bugs as seperate from trade items. Trade items for trade items- and trade a bug for a bug, but not always (If i dont have one,etc)

[+flask]

the presence of a bug enhances the inventory of a cache. if you remove it without trading something, you have depleted the local cache economy.

 

i always pay the rental on bugs i find. i do not consider it "help" when somebody takes one of my bugs without leaving a trade item. i think of it as depleting the cache contents. i don't always trade a TB for a TB (usually don't) but i DO always trade something for them.

 

most of the stuff i find in caches goes back into the cache economy anyway. i am always disappointed when a TB makes its way into local caches by way of a trade and then somebody comes in from "away" and thinks he's doing everybody a favor by cleaning out all the bugs and taking them without leaving trade.