[Az-Geocaching] Ramblin' RTW

Sun, 04 May 2003 21:25:46 -0700

No flaming please. I am simply asking a question and looking for some 
suggestions and feedback.

I am thinking about making my next cache a 'non-members only' cache. Since 
there are those out there who feel that us 'poor boyz' who cant afford a 
membership (or for whatever other reason we choose not to have a charter 
membership; my reasoning has something to do with it being FREE to play this 
game) should not be able to find their members only caches. SO... I propose 
making my next cache available only to those who DONT have a charter 
membership. In other words, if you log a find on this cache and you are a 
charter member, your log will be deleted. This will be cleary stated in the 
cache description.....

.....Wait a minute.......

I am not going to do that. I just cant get myself to do that. I would rather 
allow EVERYONE that opportunity to go for my caches. Well, ok.. so my caches 
arent quite drive by caches and may already be limited to those who are able 
to hike great distances and/or climb steep mountains. Why limit it anymore? 
I have met some really nice people in the geocaching community. Some who are 
members and some who are not. I want them all to be able to find my caches. 
(ok, so I only have one caches hidden, but RTW-2 has been in the planning 
stages recently and we have been considering hiding it very soon).

The way I figure it... making a cache MO is not going to save it from 
plunder. Hiding it well on a wilderness type cache or being creative with a 
cache container on an urban cache is what it takes these days to keep your 
caches safe. And no, you dont need to do no freakin' puzzle crap to keep it 
safe, just be creative in how you design and hide the container.

Most caches that get plundered are accidently stumbled upon. Ok.. so this 
recent 'cache pirate' situation is not the same. They obviously have been 
locating these caches on geocaching.com and going after them.

My take on charter memberships: It would do nothing for me. I read the 
charter membership page and found out that I could get a one month 
membership for a mere $3. I thought I would give it a try. But, after 
reading all about it, I dont see what I am getting for my hard earned money. 
A couple of options that I dont really even need. Being a business owner.. I 
watch very closely where I spend my money and what I get for every dollar 
spent. As Brian (Team AI) stated, there are other ways to support the site. 
If ever I should need a new GPS or any accessories, I will most certainly 
purchase from a geocaching.com vendor. This way, a percentage of my purchase 
goes to support geocaching.com. Heck, just playing the game supports the 
site.

Quite honestly... the only way I would ever purchase a charter membership 
was if EVERYONE HAD to have a charter membership in order to even use the 
services of geoaching.com. I do beleive the caches would be of greater 
quality and we would have less issues with the land management agencies and 
the public than we do now. But, I dont think this is realistic. Because, if 
geocaching.com did that.. another web site would pop up anyways offering 
their services for free and many would just switch.

Team RTW typically logs 30-40 caches or more a month. Last month (April), I 
only logged 9 finds. I just havent been impressed with the current trends in 
geocaching. I am getting bored of hiking some great distance on a hot 
afternoon only to find the cache is not there, has been plundered, had wrong 
coordinates posted (a new team hiding their first cache with no finds) or 
any other reason. Offtrail just reported two caches in Cave Creek had been 
plundered. Caches I have yet to go find. Black Cave was taken. I had really 
been wanting to do that cache. It has been on my todo list for a long time. 
Now, I will never get the chance. It is gone. Sounded like a really cool 
piece of Arizona to explore. I guess I can still go there. But, would rather 
have a cache to find in the process. A new cache in the San Tan Mountains 
was plundered as well recently. Although still a very limited issue, this is 
becoming more and more of a concern to me.

The other thing that is really irritating me is the fact that I have lost 
several caches to my stats because they became members only after I had 
already found it. I beleive a cache should not be changed over to a MO cache 
after it was originally available to all. It screws up my numbers (yes, I am 
into the numbers). I only cache in Arizona, so there should be no 'finds' in 
my out of state column. I understand this issue is tough to resolve.. but, I 
dont fault azgeocaching.com for it... I understand their situation with it 
and why they cant correct this problem. There have been a few other cachers 
who have mentioned this as well. So, for all those cache owners who choose 
to change their caches over midlife to a MO cache.. help Brian and Jason out 
so they dont have to deal with that issue. Leave your old caches the way 
they were and make your new caches MO if you want to, then I will just not 
go seek out those new caches. It will also keep the stats orderly and 
simple.

Also.. and most importantly.. the thing that irritates me most about this 
situation is that I can no longer view my log (my dairy if you will) on a 
given cache that I found that has since become members only. Most people who 
know me sometimes joke about my lengthy logs on caches. Well, those logs are 
basically my diary of my experiences at that cache. That 'experience' is now 
lost forever as I cant go back and read about it anymore. I like clicking on 
the old caches that I have visited a year or two ago and reading my log and 
reading some of the later logs on that cache. Now I cannot do that as the 
owner has made it a members only cache. I now would have to pay for that 
privelege if I want to view them.

As far as the so called 'cache pirate' goes: ignore him. He will go away. 
The more you talk about him and the more everyone eggs him on (in terms of 
threats and such), the more he will plunder. Simply put.. we should be 
thankful that all he took was the cache contents. The most important 
items... the container itself and the logbook.. are still there. This will 
not be the last time someone like this will come along. Geocaching is 
getting too public now and more and more people are hearing about it (I wish 
it would have remained more of an 'underground' hobby, but with all the 
media and such lately buzzing about geocaching...). But, it is not. So, 
instead of changing your caches to MO... simply be more creative with them 
and they will last longer. Why is it that some of the oldest geocaches are 
still around, yet many new caches dont last a week? hhmmm.

Anyways, just some thoughts and ramblings from a cacher with 650 finds in 16 
months.

Will I stop caching? Probably not. Generally speaking, it is alot of fun. I 
just want to sit back a while and kinda see where the current trends with 
geocaching goes. I will probably just be more selective in the caches I seek 
out when I am in the mood to find a cache. Getting #1 in the rankings was a 
big goal of mine.. but, that has kinda slipped into the background right 
now. Business has been good this season and that has limited how much I have 
been caching as well. But, I always have time to spare to find lots of 
caches. But, I think I will slow down for a while and wait to see where this 
all goes. Heck, look at how much money in gas I have saved lately!!!!!

Scott
Team RTW

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