|
Post by Forum Admin on Apr 18, 2009 12:56:54 GMT -9
<rant>I'm so tired of lame caches in the Anchorage bowl that I'm almost ready to give up caching here. Look at my recent activity. Due partially to medical but mostly LAME FREAKIN CACHES!!!
Lame = A nano placed where an ammo can., tupperware or decon could be hidden. there are places where nanos are appropriate but otherwise can we PLEASE use something else??
I wish I'd have never placed the first nano!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you are so hard up for money to buy an ammo can or decon, contact me. I"ll GIVE you one or two.</rant>
|
|
|
Post by tinman4x on Apr 18, 2009 17:02:18 GMT -9
I'm pretty sure you can tell what size a cache is even before you leave the house for a hunt Scobey. I also prefer caches other than micros but come on man, lighten up.
bottom line - Don't like 1/1 micro's? Don't bother hunting them down.
|
|
|
Post by ladybugkids on Apr 18, 2009 18:47:38 GMT -9
LOL!!! Yes, but how does one define lame? I don't know of anyone who intentionally throws down a lame cache. Lame is in the eye of the beholder. One of the beauties of the game is that it is something different to each and every player. That said, since this is destined to be an angst-filled thread, I'll wax philosophical a bit: 1. Geocaching was founded as the game of location. I have been taken to many "locations" that leave me saying "huh?, why did someone bring me here?" 2. Cache container selection. It's VERY easy to make a DIFFICULT hide using a micro/nano container in a location that sets up a needle in a haystack type search. Real cache hiding creativity is demonstrated by showing how BIG a container a cacher can hide in a location. Put another way...I don't mind a challenge and returning to a location several times if the cache is tough because it's creatively hidden (some will remember with much fondness or angst caches like A Little Cache Comes in Handy and For All To See, which were archived when the hider moved out of state). Another advantage to bigger containers is they hold bigger logs which reduces cache maintenance (see #5, below). 3. Appropriate container for a given location. Micros and nanos placed in sensitive areas can lead to scorched earth search zones. Before placing a very small container, please consider whether the forest, tundra, hillside, etc., can handle being intently searched. This isn't limited just to micros/nanos. There is an ammo can hide in the interior that was intentionally placed with coordinates that were off about 75-100 feet to make it more "challenging." The result is a 1/4 acre of alpine hillside with every rock in the area having been flipped over. Scobey offered to provide free ammo cans, but last fall I painted two dozen ammo cans that were obtained and donated by Flyrfn. I haven't found more than one or two of those cans, yet. Can anyone share why there is reticence to hiding an ammo can, especially one provided for free? 4. Micros/nanos in the backcountry placed without a hint or a spoiler photo. How would you feel if you walked several miles into the backcountry or climbed a peak to look for a micro and came away empty? Ideally, the cache should be more about the journey than the smiley, but I assure my fellow cachers that anything I place more than a mile off the road will have a good hint and/or spoiler photo and be placed with a good chance of you getting to come away with signing the log and a visit to a nice location. 5. Lack of maintenance. Ten of the 24 caches closest to home that I haven't found are currently disabled (and many have been for several weeks) because they are missing or need maintenance. PLEASE, if you are going to hide a cache, be committed to maintaining it. My family and I have 92 physical caches hidden across several different regions of Alaska and they are all currently active (though one seems to have moved around the woods a bit near Denali's Glitter Gulch, one needs minor maintenance in Fairbanks, and perhaps a third that needs tweaking because a sign changed). We had to archive only two caches during 4.5 years of cache hiding compared to more than 20% of our finds no longer being active. We've been fortunate on some hides, but primarily, I think our success rate has to do with choosing locations that aren't going to unnecessarily expose cachers and our caches to muggles. Not every one of our caches requires a hike...we have several urban hides in the Interior and Valdez and most of our hides in Southcentral are within 1/4 mile of parking. Nanos and micros in the backcountry are cause for concern on this subject, too. With as long as it takes some cachers to change full nano/micro logs or replace missing caches on urban hides, just how long will it take for a full log or cache to be replaced on a backcountry hide? 6. Caches placed without consideration for the muggle factor. Some public areas like visitor centers have muggles coming and going all the time, so someone lurking around with a camera and/or GPS isn't going to attract a lot of attention. However, before hiding a cache behind a housing complex or in a residential alleyway, think about how you would react if strangers were suddenly showing up behind your backyard fence in the middle of the night. Or, think about how you would react if you were a small business owner and you noticed people lurking around your employees' or customers' cars. When approached by law enforcement officers, I play it straight up, but I'd rather not be taken to a location that could prompt such an encounter due to a phone call placed by a concerned citizen. All in all, most of the time I have a good time caching or I wouldn't keep doing it. The intent of this post is not to single out any particular cacher(s) or cache sizes. Everyone has their good and "lame" hides. Some work, some don't. That's just the way it goes. If certain types of hides cause undo angst, one can use GSAK to filter out any cache difficulty/terrain rating and keeping them out of their GPS. One can also click the "ignore listing" button in the upper right hand corner of each cache page and keep the caches from coming into one's pocket queries so GSAK filtering isn't required. People can also vote "lameness" with their GPSs and feet and we experience it all the time with our hides. I compare how many people hunt up the urban micros in midtown Anchorage relative to the number that look for our Hillside hides (several of which require less than 100' of walking from parking) and it's easy to see that the majority of cachers prefer urban micros. That, however, won't keep us from continuing to hide the type of caches we prefer to hunt and, when the mood strikes us, we'll keep hunting just about any other type of hide. I think I'm going to load up another ammo can...the process of compiling a notebook, pen and pencil, swag, and stash sheet is pretty cathartic. Cache on!
|
|
|
Post by Forum Admin on Apr 18, 2009 21:05:05 GMT -9
I'm pretty sure you can tell what size a cache is even before you leave the house for a hunt Scobey. I also prefer caches other than micros but come on man, lighten up. bottom line - Don't like 1/1 micro's? Don't bother hunting them down. Duh! And I mean what I say or I wouldn't waste your time. I have voted by NOT hunting them!!
|
|
|
Post by tinman4x on Apr 19, 2009 18:09:31 GMT -9
Inserting <rant> in a post does not excuse rude.
After being invited to review recent activity is would appear that hunting 1/1.5 caches has got you down. Reading a lame post complaining about lame caches got me down. I'm going caching!
|
|
Po1ar
Silver Cacher
Posts: 122
|
Post by Po1ar on Apr 19, 2009 20:33:59 GMT -9
Hurray! To Tinman4X! What a bummer reading all that! I love caching! Some of the micros make it challenging. I've been trying to find the TRACTOR cache. Gone twice now. Still at DNF! But not giving up! I WILL find it!!! It's a game and is suppose to be fun. If it's not then don't do it! I've been caching for 3 years now. I only have a little over 300 finds but I still really like doing it, maybe because I haven't found everything. I think if it lost it's fun factor I'd stop. But for now it's cache on!!!!
|
|
FLYRFN
Silver Cacher
Posts: 180
|
Post by FLYRFN on Apr 19, 2009 21:43:15 GMT -9
Tractor cache
|
|
Po1ar
Silver Cacher
Posts: 122
|
Post by Po1ar on Apr 19, 2009 21:48:29 GMT -9
Tractor cache GC1Q1BC
|
|
|
Post by alaskarambo on Apr 19, 2009 22:23:59 GMT -9
Scobey, funny this post comes right after your comment to "Nano on a Mountain" Its clear its a NANO on a mountain? Why? Because you LOVE placing nano's We thought you would dig it.
Calling it lame, is really lame. Never no matter what I think of someone elses cache would I publicy make sure the cache placer(s) knew I thought it was lame.
Sure has become MEAN around here.
|
|
|
Post by alaskarambo on Apr 19, 2009 22:25:30 GMT -9
...and just so you know, I found tractor cache in less then three minutes. Why? Because its BIG and METAL and I knew it would be magnetic. Not everything has to be a huge ammo can you can spot a mile away, a challenge can be a GOOD thing.
Also, a 11 year old found Nano on a Mountain in under a Minute. Not to tough in my opinion.
|
|
|
Post by arcticbutterfly "Akbfly" on Apr 21, 2009 2:26:11 GMT -9
YEP YEP YEP......proud to say that was my 11 year old who found that lame nano! It'a all in the challenge of it. I for instance have a problem hiking with a busted hip.......no mountains for me......so what do I do? I hide lame urban caches for lame legged people like me. And yes I have had people compliment me on my lame caches. I am proud to say that you can use my lame caches for number runs or there are a very good series to teach newbies what types of containers are out there and such. To make such comments is rude and hurtful. If you are unable to do something then just don't do it. I have medical issues and anxiety on why I cant do such caches so I just dont do them. I dont make rude comments on their sites and such.
You should be pretty proud that my kids talk about how they were able to find one of your caches, and how happy it makes them to find one. That IS what it is all about for me. To see MY caching Kidlets HAPPY! Please DO Not ruin it for them by making rude comments, because they do look at the site and check on caches as well.
" Welcome « Thread Started on Sept 21, 2006, 15:56 »
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Many of you have asked for a forum for us to communicate more effectively about our sport. These boards aren't intended to replace gc.com but to augment them. They are for Alaskans to discuss Alaskan issues or for us just to exchange information.
The discourse here is to be civil; i.e. polite! We will not allow or tolerate flaming or foul language. Constructive criticism is good for all of us but expressing a beef with someone should be between you and the individual and not a subject of these boards. Moderators reserve the right to delete any thread they feel is inappropriate without warning. Persistent abuse of the boards may be grounds for a moderator to delete your membership.
Bottom line: Welcome and have fun! "
"Some things are best left unsaid" - AKBFLY
|
|
kmags
Copper Cacher
Posts: 7
|
Post by kmags on Apr 21, 2009 6:35:26 GMT -9
RIGHT ON! It's the variety that keeps this game interesting...something for everyone. I get to read the descriptions and logs and I get to decide which ones I want to pursue. In my opinion, there are no "lame" caches...except maybe "spud" that I'm still looking for a year after my first try...LOL
|
|
ak4me
Bronze Cacher
Posts: 24
|
Post by ak4me on Apr 21, 2009 7:44:07 GMT -9
I agree. Keep the variety! If you don't like it, don't go after it.....and if that isn't good enough...then quit playing. That simple....but not nice to cut other people down....my momma always said "if you can't say anything good, don't say anything at all." And not quite ready to call spud lame....but gosh, I have looked and looked for that one!
|
|
|
Post by ladybugkids on Apr 21, 2009 8:08:35 GMT -9
"if you can't say anything good, don't say anything at all." and "Some things are best left unsaid" - AKBFLY I think there is room for constructive feedback on some subjects keeping in mind that "it's not what you say, but how you say it." It can be tricky to say what one wants to say without inadvertently being inflammatory in this typewritten world. As a result forums can degenerate quickly into a mean-spirited stew (just lurk around the gc.com forums a bit, which are actually pretty mellow compared to other forums where I lasted for less than five minutes!). Forums can be a good place for positive exchange of ideas and lively debate about the virtues/avarices of various subjects. Would things that could be improved ever get discussed if no one brought up anything negative? Making a negative comment can be tricky, but using the "preview" button before pushing the "post" button gives one a chance to step back a bit, read the written word, and try to anticipate how it will be received by others. I'm heartened the personal attacks didn't spiral out of control in this thread. Instead, I've learned something in here...frankly, I never considered that an aspect of urban micros is accessibility for those who are physically unable to explore the near- and backcountry. There's a certain irony there because I've got handicaching ratings on a lot of my Fairbanks hides and need to get caught up with my Anchorage hides. Back on topic, a lot of you know I'm not normally keen on nanos and micros for reasons given earlier in this and other threads, especially if they are off the beaten path. However, I still hunt them as time permits because I never know when I'm going to be pleasantly surprised. Yesterday's cache finds are a perfect example of the pleasant surprise aspect of urban micros and nanos. One cache took me to the Ship Creek dam and fish ladder which I had never before visited. Another took me to a very unique sculpture I never would have seen otherwise and introduced me to a cool dog on my lunchtime break. Those were two caches that clearly aligned with what I describe in my forum signature line below. Cache on!!!
|
|
|
Post by alaskarambo on Apr 21, 2009 10:21:11 GMT -9
One also has to remember one persons "cool" may not be someone elses. Sure I scratch my head at some Ive found, and wonder why it was placed there and others "I get". My cool isnt always the same....for instance "Nano on a Mountain" is a Nano half way up for 1. Thats about as FAR as some can make it"; 2. Its a great first cache to warm up for 2 harder ones farther up 3. No a decon or ammo can canot be placed there due to, theres no where to hide it to escape muggle notice 4. The challenge and 5. A lot of people have no idea there is a trailhead there and its a pretty good berry patch!
Tractor cache, now I didnt place it but I have placed one farther up andknow the cacheplacers tought that particular object was just a perfect place for a chalenging cache that size. The other surrounding caches are a lot larger and gave abalanced challenge to the area.
On that note....no one has to explain why they placed a cache somewhere nor should they have to defend the size. All the info to make a informed decision about whether to go after a particular cache is in the description. My WOW and COOL factor can benight and day sometimes from even my best friend or other caching buddies.
I am not going to place caches and WORRY that someone is going to start threads bashing them.... I am not going to worry if my cache size, placement or container offends someone. If you think it sucks good for you go after someone elses, I LOVE my happy little caching world and dont plan on any more mean spirited cachers ruining it.
Now I am getting back to work with a little Girdwood cache placement daydreaming thrown in. Excuse any typos.....Im typing from my blackjack and the letters are smaller then a fleas butt!
|
|
|
Post by NorthWes on Apr 21, 2009 15:44:35 GMT -9
Hmmmm... for the first time ever, meek mild-mannered NorthWes has had to take moderator action. I'm unhappy to have to do it, but I am tasked as moderator to ensure the guidelines are followed. My intervention involves a case of egregious (that's your new word for the day - it means 'flagrant or conspicuous) namecalling. It's not to be done; I have deleted the post and notified the poster.
Please remember we encourage lively conversation on diverse topics (it's one of the primary purposes of the forum), but do not tolerate actions outside the bounds of the previously stated guidelines for posting here. It is possible to converse politely while holding vigorously-defended positions which are diametrically opposed to other posters on the forum.
|
|
|
Post by NorthWes on Apr 21, 2009 19:31:50 GMT -9
I like ammocans most of all - probably 'cuz they're easier to find, but they let me swap travel bugs / geocoins too. And at any given moment I have too many of those travelers that I'm carting around. Larger hides mean easier to handle logs too - my poor arthritic hands on those nano logs! I must admit - the last nano I found at GC1JF55 (spur of the moment, by ak4me, kmags, and Mommawolf) had the niftiest little pin roller that made the log a snap for me. I appreciated it. That's a place where a nano is about all that can survive contact with the public - and what a view! (And a final note on that nano - I was SO HAPPY to find it using my Blackberry phone!)
No matter what the size of the cache is, what I like most is location. I must confess to not thinking about this when I started caching, but after a few law enforcement (LEO) interactions and stare-downs with hostile locals I've taken to passing on the find if the location puts me off. Personal choice always rules in those situations. I can deal with the LEO stuff, but having been on the receiving end of one 'violent assault' I don't plan on being a victim again. So - my comfort zone is a bit smaller than what other folks might be OK with when it comes to 'location'. Most of all I like to find caches in places that are 'wow' enough I'd take a photo or bring a friend back to the place. It's what hooked me on caching in the first place.
All that being said, there's folks who love the mountaintops and folks who can't get too far off the pavement. In both extremes and all across the inbetween, there's a spectrum of all choices here in Anchorage. That's a good thing. Now as for those nasty puzzle caches... I can't abide 'em! LOL!
|
|
|
Post by alaskarambo on Apr 22, 2009 9:13:02 GMT -9
Ill agree with you on puzzle caches......I strain my brain al da at work, there is something soothing about mindlessly following an arrow and counting down "feet" ... and looking UP every now and then, I cant abide barbed wire! LOL
|
|