[Az-Geocaching] Virtually Confounded

Sun, 26 Oct 2003 11:35:01 -0700

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Many of you have done our "Informal Introductions" virtual cache =
(GCAB5C).
For those of you that haven't, it's a very kid-friendly hunt that =
requires
the seeker to provide us with the answers to five questions. Finding the
answer to the fifth question is a little bit trickier than most =
virtuals, so
we rated the difficulty at 2.

I've become surprised by the number of people who have sent emails that
contain either an incorrect answer to question 5, or an admission that =
they
were unable to find that answer; these cachers then log as "finds". The
cache page states "emailing incomplete or incorrect answers may result =
in
our deleting your log entry without notice".

On one hand, the purpose of answering the questions to a virtual is to =
prove
that the seeker was in the right place. So if you get four out of five
correct, it's pretty obvious the seeker was there. And we did let one =
guy
skate because he was visiting from out-of-state, and had already left =
town
when he emailed his answers. But many people have returned a second time
after being told that they got it wrong, and they were then able to find =
the
correct answer.

So whaddya think? Should we strictly enforce our own rule out of =
fairness to
those who have gotten all the right answers or have gone back to finish =
the
hunt, or should we say "it's only a game" and let them take the credit =
for
the find? I should point out that finding the correct answer to the =
fifth
question brings the seeker to a particularly clever aspect of this =
entire
area, which is why we set the question we did.

We talked about using only that question instead of five, but we =
followed
Highpointer's approach to his museum cache series, where finding the =
answers
to all the questions takes the seeker around the entire area, which is =
what
we want them to do. We don't want them just running in, finding one =
answer
and taking off for the next cache.

We've also discussed raising the difficulty level to 3 and/or modifying =
the
cache description to state specifically that the correct answer to =
question
5 must be submitted, but I'm afraid that making any modifications to the
cache page might result in it's being re-evaluated under the current
guidelines for virtuals, and then we might be forced to archive a cache =
that
always gets positive log comments.

We welcome your comments and suggestions, but please avoid posting =
anything
that might be a spoiler. TIA.

Steve

Team Tierra Buena

=20

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<div class=3DSection1>

Many of you have done our &#8220;Informal =
Introductions&#8221;
virtual cache (GCAB5C). For those of you that haven&#8217;t, it&#8217;s =
a very
kid-friendly hunt that requires the seeker to provide us with the =
answers to
five questions. Finding the answer to the fifth question is a little bit
trickier than most virtuals, so we rated the difficulty at =
2.

I&#8217;ve become surprised by the number of people =
who have
sent emails that contain either an incorrect answer to question 5, or an
admission that they were unable to find that answer; these cachers then =
log as &#8220;finds&#8221;.
The cache page states &#8220;emailing incomplete or incorrect answers =
may
result in our deleting your log entry without =
notice&#8221;.

On one hand, the purpose of answering the questions =
to a
virtual is to prove that the seeker was in the right place. So if you =
get four
out of five correct, it&#8217;s pretty obvious the seeker was there. And =
we did
let one guy skate because he was visiting from out-of-state, and had =
already
left town when he emailed his answers. But many people have returned a =
second
time after being told that they got it wrong, and they were then able to =
find
the correct answer.

So whaddya think? Should we strictly enforce our own =
rule
out of fairness to those who have gotten all the right answers or have =
gone
back to finish the hunt, or should we say &#8220;it&#8217;s only a =
game&#8221;
and let them take the credit for the find? I should point out that =
finding the
correct answer to the fifth question brings the seeker to a particularly =
clever
aspect of this entire area, which is why we set the question we =
did.

We talked about using only that question instead of =
five,
but we followed Highpointer&#8217;s approach to his museum cache series, =
where
finding the answers to all the questions takes the seeker around the =
entire
area, which is what we want them to do. We don&#8217;t want them just =
running
in, finding one answer and taking off for the next =
cache.

<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D2 face=3DArial><span =
style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>We&#8217;ve also discussed raising the difficulty =
level to 3
and/or modifying the cache description to state specifically that the =
correct
answer to question 5 must be submitted, but I&#8217;m afraid that making =
any
modifications to the cache page might result in it&#8217;s being =
re-evaluated
under the current guidelines for virtuals, and then we might be forced =
to
archive a cache that always gets positive log =
comments.</span></font></p>

We welcome your comments and suggestions, but please =
avoid
posting anything that might be a spoiler. TIA.

<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D2 face=3DArial><span =
style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Steve</span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D2 face=3DArial><span =
style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Team Tierra Buena</span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D2 face=3DArial><span =
style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>&nbsp;</span></font></p>

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