[Az-Geocaching] Geocaching.com administrator questions whether my museum caches are really "geocaches"

Thu, 26 Sep 2002 16:20:12 -0400

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I, for one, have enjoyed your (and Libby's) museum-type virtuals.  We visited several places that we didn't know existed and have had a blast trying to find all of the answers.  I didn't take the admin's comment to mean "place a physical cache on museum grounds", but merely to place a cache "near" the museum and call out in the cache description that there is also a museum nearby.  Mind you, I'm not saying that is a better thing to do, I'm just giving my interpretation.

My vote would be to stay your course and continue placing as you have.  I have liked that your coordinates don't always point to the front door, but sometimes to a feature that you chose to call special attention to.  That does require the GPSr (more so, at least).

Cache on, climber of peaks!

Tim
Team AZFastFeet

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Hello Geocachers,
While traveling out of the state in the past two weeks, I stopped and visited two small historical museums, one in <A href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=37740">southeastern Utah</A> and the other in <A href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=37738">northwestern Oklahoma</A>.&nbsp; I made virtual geocaches from these museums, similar in style to the six that I have currenlty active in eastern Maricopa County.
Geocaching administrator <A href="http://www.geocaching.com/profile/default.asp?A=4285">erik88l-r</A> approved these two new virtual geocaches, but upon doing so he sent me this note, which I have pasted below:
User erik88l-r has contacted you with the following message: Hi, I posted your caches, but have to ask before others attack you for it in the forums - are all these museums really "geocaches"?&nbsp; Don't get me wrong, I love museums, but is a GPS required to find them?&nbsp; I just don't want to see you going overboard on something that might result in a backlash.&nbsp; Sometimes too much of a good thing results in that reaction. ;)&nbsp; My suggestion would be to hide a physical cache near such places in the future - that way people will visit the area without questions about whether something should or should not be a virtual cache. All the best, erik - geocaching.com admin I replied to Erik that these museum geocaches are very popular among geocachers in Arizona.&nbsp; It is g!
reat to introduce people to places where they can learn about local history and bring the entire family for little or no cost, and they are particularly great to visit on hot summer days because they are air-conditioned.
It is true that you don't need a GPS to find these museums, but I argue that one can find many virtual caches without a GPS, because they are typically large items like statues or historical markers that are out in plain view in public places.&nbsp; Also, what is wrong with having some virtual geocaches where a GPS is not mandatory - not everyone has a GPS, so this opens up our activity to people who can't afford to own a GPS.
Also, I disagree with his suggestion to place&nbsp;a physical geocache near these museums.&nbsp; Most of these museums are located in highly visible areas where there is no good place to put a physical geocache.
What do Arizona geocachers think about the comments of Erik and myself?&nbsp; Should I continue to create virtual geocaches at museums?&nbsp; Remember, these are not the easiest caches to complete fully - typically I have six or seven questions that requires one to visit every part of the museum, and as many of you are aware, some of the answers are not easy to find.
Ken (a.k.a. Highpointer)
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