Current mood:

*sporfle!*

Geocaching Wank - I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD SEE IT
When I saw this on wank_report my little heart just burst. This may have happened before but I've never seen it and I've certainly never reported on it. Hang on, kids - it's time to go on a treasure hunt! Much thanks goes to the mousey who originally reported this. I use the mouse's report and supplement it where I think necessary with my own words. Enjoy!


For the uninitiated, geocaching is a global scavenger hunt using GPS devices. You get the GPS coordinates from geocaching.com and enter them into your GPS device. The device picks up satellite signals and you're off. The idea behind geocaching is to get you outside and visiting places you might not otherwise see. As a bonus, you're searching for an object called a 'cache' and it contains a log book and, sometimes, trade items. If you take something you leave something.

If you're still baffled then check out this handy video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4VFeYZTTYs

Now, caches are put out and maintained by geocachers. There are guidelines about where you may place a cache and how you rate your cache. The rating is done on a 1 to 5 scale with 1 as the easiest and 5 as the hardest. The terrain and difficulty both have their own ratings. So if you have a 1/1 cache it should be an extremely simple find - usually on a lamp post or something. If you start seeing a lot of 'did not find's you're supposed to go in and reevaluate your rating.

As a general rule, if you rate the terrain as a '1' then it is a handicapped accessible cache (of course, this depends on the handicap but as a general rule they are accessible to most). The idea of this is to get everyone involved who wants to be. I'm a geocacher myself and I have taken my mother, who is physically handicapped, out and we've had a lot of fun. Caches that involve long hikes, uneven terrain, climbing, or lift something heavy are not considered handicapped accessible and therefore are not considered '1' terrain by most cachers.

Cachers base the decision of whether or not to go after a hide on the terrain and difficulty ratings. Additionally, as a rule for all caches placed, you're not supposed to damage property to place a hide and if it is on private property you must ask permission before placing it.

Most of the time everyone works well on this system and peace and harmony fills the geocaching world. Apparently, no one told this to Just-do-Somethin'.

Just-do-Somethin', a suspected sockpuppet account over on geocaching.com, lists a new cache hide that no-one can find. The comments go from curious to angered to enraged as cache seekers come up empty-handed and the cache owner refuses to change anything. Suspected sock-puppets show up to defend the cache owner and you can all guess how well that turns out.

And then a "found" log is posted on Thursday. It is at this point that all hell breaks loose leading some to believe that maybe a second cache has been placed at the coordinates instead. But before much else can be done the cache owner deletes the 'found' logs - it just keeps getting better.

The forums are abuzz with talk of this mystery and theories about what is going on. Some people are calling for the cache to be archived while others are calling them busybodies. And then, of course, we have the ever mature "you're just a crybaby" word slinging and comments on who is smarter - cachers from Illinois or cachers from New York.

Why, yes, those are all adults in the conversations - why do you ask?

Eventually the original hider shows up and is perfectly reasonable. Said owner posts pictures of the famed hide in an attempt to prove themselves. The final hoo-rah occurs though when the cache owner archives (meaning 'deactivates') the cache and flounces. Because that is what all innocent and truthful people do.

Wank continues on the forums and on the log page, as members try to out the sockpuppets and diagnose fake cache locations/cache placement timelines. Cachers from all over throw their two cents worth in and it just keeps going and going. There is even some white-knighting thrown in for good measure by Cach-N-Carry who doesn't seem to understand the concept of paragraphs -
http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=261743&st=226#

In the end everyone looks like a wanker and 'GOF and Bacall' sums it up best-
Both sides of this argument are ridiculous. Can't find a cache and looking has stopped being fun? Ignore it and move on. And taking apart someones retaining wall to hide a needle in the haystack nano so that nobody can find it is not clever. It's vandalism.

FYI - geocaching.com is free and open to join but some of the user profiles cannot be viewed unless you are logged in. However, it is a public website. I've posted caps on here just for ease of access.

Explanations of Letters
DNF = did not find
TFTC = thanks for the cache
TNLN = took nothing, left nothing
CO = cache owner
FTF = first to find

EDIT: Just as a side-note - many cellphones now have apps available for geocaching so you don't have to spend the extra money on a separate GPS. Thanks da_angel729 for reminding me of this. I know for certain that the iPhone has a geocaching application in case any of you have an iPhone and want to give geocaching a try.