A subtle rule change is on the horizon for geocaching.
Geocaching.com, which is the top listing service for the caching world, has notified users of a change coming in early May. And, honestly, it’s shocking that this hadn’t been in place already.
Though geocaching doesn’t necessarily have “rules,” per say, it has guidelines. The change that will take effect on May 8 is a good one, too.
- Cache owners will no longer be able to log a Find, DNF, Webcam Photo Taken, Needs Archived, or Needs Maintenance on their owned caches. However, event owners can log an Attended or Will Attend on their own events.
- Players will no longer be able to log more than 1 (one) Find, Attended, Webcam Photo Taken, or Will Attend per cache. Players will still be able to change a Write Note to a Find if they have not already logged a Find on the cache.
This is fantastic news. Though I’m a firm believer in players being able to play the game their own way (it’s not a competition, so what somebody else does isn’t necessarily what another will do etc.), I’m also a believer that you have to have some structure.
Find it only once with the rule changes coming in May!
People often “pad” their stats in some interesting ways, which can hurt the game as a whole.
Let me give an example – when we first started our annual summer picnic event in our area, we had some people travel to attend. We had temporary caches places as part of a “poker” run. These were not permanent caches, however. Two or three of those in attendance logged the event for each of those temp caches they had found – so I think six or seven logs for the event. I wasn’t the one who published the event, so I couldn’t delete those finds.
With the new rules, they will no longer be allowed to do that. It is also good that these rule changes are not retroactive. Past logs are not affected. That could mess with people’s find totals and milestones, which would be a shame to many.
Let’s look at each of these rule changes.
The first is not being able to long your own cache hides. I have known several people who have done this and have always wondered why. I mean, if you hid it, why would you log a find? It is good, however, that people can still log their own events because, in the end, they do attend. It would be silly if that had been taken away.
One question I hope is answered, though, is what happens with an adopted cache. A cache is often done by somebody who has found it in the past. Does that find get deleted? Or does that fall under the “past logs?” This could be quite important, just because it might be the difference between an older cache being adopted, or it being archived.
The second is a good rule, too, as it make it so people can only log something once. Some owners will allow you to log a cache more than once if you do different things. Or an “event” will be something monthly, so the date is just changed and people log the same event several times. One thing wrong with that, is people may not always see the event if it’s only a date change. New events pop up, so it allows more eyes to see it.
These changes are a good step for the game. As the game continues to grow with technology advances, it also needs to maintain some law and order so as not to disturb the game or scare more “veteran” players away.
Kudos to Geocaching.com for recognizing the need for this, but at the same time giving people time to prepare for it and to not eliminate back logs.
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Unfortunately, those who wish to pad their stats will find ways around this as well. Set up a sock puppet account, have your sock puppet account create the geocaches, then log them yourself.
One guy in our area hides caches, then a couple of months later, adopts them out to his friend who has already found the cache. Then the original hider will then log a “beta-retro” find. How can your beta retro find your own cache?
He has at least 70 duplicate logs on caches as well.
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Those who pad stats will pad stats. I can understand that. And honestly, it doesn’t bother me. The beauty of geocaching is that people can play it however they want. I know people who are uber competitive about the game. I just do it my own way and have fun. It’s rare I go out for a FTF anymore and I usually just let area ones build up so I can go make multiple finds in a day if I feel up to it.
The sock puppet thing and the adopted scenario seem silly to me. But that’s me. If it makes somebody happy to pad their stats with doing things like that, so be it. I just can’t worry about it and always wonder why others do.
The only time I get irritated is when people log caches and they haven’t been there, as it can show false setups (ie: a cache isn’t there and they are logging a find) which can then take away from another person’s experience (like if they show up to find it and it’s gone). Then you are crossing lines because your game play is affecting somebody else.
And unfortunately, the same guy I mentioned also likes to throw down caches when he can’t find the original. I’ve found two of his throw downs within feet of the original cache. All that does is cause confusion. He’s done that with two of mine that he couldn’t find. I didn’t catch the first one until after the fact, but he “fessed” up to throwing down the other cache at my hide and I ripped him a new one.
The first cache, he didn’t really throw down one per sé, but said he found a chewed up container and a log sheet, so redid that. I disabled the cache, then hiked up the hill the next week to figure it out. How could the cache be chewed up since it was a metal tin? Sure enough, I found my cache right where it was supposed to be.
I went and found a couple other caches, then went back up to see if I could find the chewed up container with the log sheet in it. Perhaps it was an old abandoned cache that I could figure out and get credit for? Then I got to thinking. I’m the oldest cacher in the area and I know where all the caches that have been hidden in this area are, both new ones and old archived ones. There wasn’t another cache up here.
What I found was an old chewed up Gatorade bottle that indeed have a log sheet in it. I looked up one of the cachers names on the log sheet because it was an easy person to look up since the guy doesn’t find many caches. The log sheet came from a cache that was hidden in the next county south of here. Guess who just adopted that cache? Go ahead and guess. I don’t think it will take you too long to figure out that the guy adopted the cache, put a new log sheet in his adopted cache, then took the old log sheet with him, only to drop that log sheet at my cache and say that he found the chewed up container and log sheet and “called it a find.”
So, you are correct. I’m irritated with this guy for padding his stats, because his game play is affecting me, making more work for me by throwing down other caches and causing confusion on my caches.
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People who do things like that drive me crazy. Don’t drop a cache because you can’t find it. Or if you are new to the game… don’t post the needs archived because you can’t find it. It’s so silly.
While I don’t care about people padding stats — it’s a game to me, not a competition — I would get quite irritated if people doing things like that affected me and my fun. If you can’t find something, post a DNF with some notes. If a find is THAT big to you, don’t hunt for ones that might be harder to find. It would bother me if people threw down caches, too, and mine was close to it. I can see where you get upset over this one and what it does to your caches.
The problem I see is at the events with temp caches if you find the temp caches how are you gonna log you found them? Most events I’ve ever seen they tell you to log them as attended. If you can’t count those caches what’s the point of going to an event in the first place and whats the point of hosting one if no one can log the temp caches? I feel this may hurt the community of geocaching. I do agree with stopping people from finding their own caches and refinding caches they’ve already found but I don’t agree with punishing the events.
You don’t log temp caches — that’s why they are temp. They aren’t official caches — they are put out for the enjoyment of those who attend the event. Therefore, they don’t get logged. And by logging events multiple times, it screws up legit numbers there, too. You log the event as attended — but you don’t do it multiple times to “log” temp caches.
You can count the actual event. That’s why it’s worth going. If you feel you can’t count caches that aren’t official and aren’t recognized by geocaching.com and that dampers your enjoyment, then I would say avoid the temp caches.
I am not sure if you are misunderstanding part of this, though. A temp cache is not the event, rather a cache placed at an event to allow people go to out as part of a game (such as a poker run). They are cleaned up right after the event and never submitted for publication. They usually don’t follow placement rules (ie: distance etc.), thus making them just there for temporary fun. So no, they shouldn’t count. It’s all part of the event.
In the end, though, you do get to log the actual event. This doesn’t punish events at all. All it does is makes it do events can’t be logged multiple times for caches that aren’t recognized by geocaching.com.
First off I do understand all of this im not misunderstanding anything and I know what a temp cache is. I’ve been caching since 2007 I’M NOT STUPID!!!! Every event I’ve ever been to you are supposed to log the temp caches everyone I know has always logged the temp caches! A cache is a cache whether it’s a temp or a real cache they’re placed the same way for the same reasons the only difference is its not registered on the geocaching website thats why its called a “temp cache.”
I don’t think anybody has called yous stupid. But in my parts — and every event I’ve ever attended, temp caches (well, outside of lab caches) are not logged. It is frowned upon to log an event more than once because of this. As you noted a temp is not registered to the website. That’s what my point was. IF it’s NOT on the website, then how is it something you log? You don’t. It’s part of the event. You didn’t attend the event five or six times, did you? Therefore, how can you post five or six “attended” logs to log a cache that is not published? There’s a reason why geocaching.com is putting an end to multiple logs on events and such, and I’d be willing to bet this is one of the many reasons why.
People play the game their own way and whatever people want to do is fine. But logging multiple attends to an event skews the actual number who attend. So somebody could claim they had 100 people at their event, based on attended logs. Yet, in reality, maybe there were only 15-20, but all were logging 4-5 times to “log” some temp caches that were within 25 feet of one another at the event.
A temp cache is just that — temp. You even explained that it’s not registered on the website. Therefore, if it’s not registered, it’s highly possible it doesn’t meet the requirements of geocaching.com (if not, why have it as a temp? Why not make it real … that’s what I’ve done in the past) and therefore, shouldn’t be logged.
I don’t need to pad my own stats, so I would never do it. Everything in those situations are part of the event and I logged one attended log. If one is worrying about logging four of five temp caches with “attended” logs, then I would question more about what they are trying to get out of a game such as geocaching.