----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, August 08, 2002 2:06
AM
Subject: RE: [Az-Geocaching] Destruction
of geological site(s?)
Howdy All,
First off, I am VERY disturbed by the article
in the AZ Republic. I always
seemed to be a newspaper dedicated to keeping
us Arizonans informed with the
latest news, etc. I never thought it would
become an editorial newpaper. I
felt like I was reading the National
Enquirer when I read that article. We
have cancelled our subscription to
the AZ Republic. We want to read about
the news, not one persons views and
thoughts (on the front page no less).
I think it is disgusting that the
paper would even allow such a report be
written up without more evidence.
The article is totally one sided and only
speaks of a couple of people's
views. I don't think I have EVER read an
article in a newspaper that
literally slammed a certain hobby/sport/subject,
etc like that one did
without the facts and evidence to back up such claims.
I will not go
into expressing my views and thoughts on the subject anymore
as it would
be very repetitious. I got into and enjoying geocaching for many
of the
same reasons most others do- to get outdoors more and enjoy nature
and
visit new places, meet new people, and the hobby also provides a great
way
for me to 'keep in shape' and provides me plenty of excercise with all
the
hiking I have been doing these days.
Mr. Peters beleives that
geocaching is responsible for the damage to the
archaeological site he
watches over. He has come to that conclusion because
he has seen an
increase in activity around the area since a geocache was
placed there.
Therefore, he feels that geocaching is the culprit. It is very
possible
the damage was indeed caused since after the cache was hidden
there. I do
not in any way beleive that geocachers caused that damage.
However...
A question to ponder: is it possible that a
non-geocacher(s) happened upon
the Geocaching.com web site (there have
been articles on geocaching before
in the newspaper and there are plenty
of people outside our hobby that know
about it) and saw the listing for
that cache (and other caches) and
therefore went out and visited the site?
There may have been several new
visitors to that site by way of the web
site. Unfortunately, there are
people and will always be people who have
nothing better to do than spoil
someone else's fun. Someone will see the
geocaching.com web site and find a
cache listed, go out there and remove
it or destroy it... just to make it
hard on those trying to find it. Don't
think there aren't people out there
like that... there are. (I once had a
write up on my business in the Mesa
Tribune and that day and soon after I
had several crank calls from kids just
screwing around). I personally fear
that this kind of thing will begin to
happen since the article was
published. How many caches will suddenly
dissapear in the coming weeks? I
can understand why Libby has suddenly made
several of her caches 'members
only' caches. I am kinda bummed to hear that
she has done that though,
since I am not a dues paying member of
geocaching.com and I cannot go seek
out her members only caches. I have
always enjoyed Libby's caches. I for
one sure do not want to go hiking up to
the top of some mountain on a 105
degree afternoon only to not be able to
find a cache because someone took
it.
Now, I know there are some who will not agree with me on this: but,
the
reasons above are just another good reason to make the
Geocaching.com web
site access available to members only. Anyone
could bring up the site and
learn more about geocaching, but, only members
would be able to read the
pages containing information about caches and
the logs. I am not saying that
it should be a 'pay to access' site. I
myself am not a dues paying member of
geocaching.com. What I am saying is
that maybe the cache pages should be
available ONLY to those who have an
'account'. Much like we already have
now. This may not stop everyone, but,
it would be a deterant to those who
don't want to waste their time setting
up an account and for those that fear
for putting any personal information
on the net. This way, only geocachers
(those active in the hobby) would be
viewing details, coordinates, etc about
each cache. This really would not
change a thing to all of us who already
log into geocaching.com. However,
those looking at the web site for the
first time, would only be able to
see the home page and pages that detail
what the hobby is about and how to
get involved, etc. They would need an
account to be able to view the cache
pages. This isnt THE answer, but, it is
a thought and I think a valid
one.
I would be curious to hear other's thoughts on
this.
Scott
Team
Ropingthewind
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