HAVOC Geocaching

I received an email from my pathtag designer yesterday.

He informed me that the cost of a starter kit on Pathtags.com will be increasing by $10 on April 1st:

http://forums.pathtags.com/showthread.php?5069-Price-Increase-As-Of-April-1-2011

If you are either still waiting on your Pathtag design artwork, or you haven’t yet submitted artwork, you can place an order for your tags without having your design ready. This allows you to take advanatage of the lower price right now, and then when your artwork is ready, you just need to send it to orders@pathtags.com along with your order number.

To place an order without a design ready, just click on the button labeled “Order without uploading a design”, on the Upload Artwork portion of the online ordering process. Pathtags.com will then hold your order for up to 45 days from date of submission. Then when your artwork is ready, you just email it to orders@pathtags.com.

An alternative to ordering now to get the current price, would be to purchase “Pathtags Forever Coupons” from the Geocoin store:

http://www.geocoinstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7&products_id=540

These coupons are similar to the USPS “Forever Stamps” offered when postal rates rise. The Forever Coupons will be offered at today’s price ($99) and will be worth the base price ($110) after April 1, 2011 enabling our dedicated customers to “cushion the blow” by stocking up now.

So if you wee thinking of doing up a bathtag I would like you to be aware of the price increase and what options you have available to them to get a reduced price now before the prices go up.

darth.

Hi all

It appears that I have upset mick the cashman as I  have used Geocaching Australia to place a cache close to another.

First of all I would like to say sorry to cashman and if I upset anyone else I am sorry as well.

The cache is in this location because it required a special set of circumstances to be able to place it. I have been looking for around 6 months for another location but it dose not exist.

This is why I used the loop hole to be able to place this cache and if you take the time to find it you may understand.

I wanted this to be out in the open not just in the cache logs so everyone can comment on it.

below is a copy of the logs and cache details

Music Series – Rocky horror picture show

http://geocaching.com.au/cache/ga3129

BY pd186

Thanks GD and Cashman. Your comments on this cache are noted and there is a reason that this cache is in this location. I would normally not place a cache so close to another but there are special requirements needed for the hide and this is the only location that has all the requirements. Believe me it has been in place for around 6 months while I have been looking for another location for it. It is close to the start point of a multi not the cache itself. When you find the cache you will understand why I had to place it there.

Thanks gd for taking my side on this one, as you know where it is you can make an informed comment on this.

By gd

I don’t think this cache detracts from the other nearby cache and the Groundspeak guidlines (can) only apply to Groundspeak caches so there is no problem with this cache being where it is

BY Cash Man

. Stopped while on the way past today. Apart from the coords being in the middle of the road the cache is on top of another cache. The reason groundspeak have saturation rules is to stop this happening. Using GCA to get around these rules is just wrong.

By gd

Noticed this new cache and headed out at lunchtime to find it. This was easier to find than it should have been s the cache was exposed leading to the owner doing some repairs. This is a good cache for a micro.

Thanks.

Just the other week, I stumbled accross a cache listing in Manitoba:

http://coord.info/GC1YT47

The actual listing requests;

Logging
Etiquette: Geocache hiders often go through a great deal of
effort when placing their caches. As a result, they’d like to hear
your feedback on whether you liked or disliked any aspect of the
hide, or if you feel that some cache maintenance is required.
Single word, acronym, or emoticon logs may be easier when you have
a lot of caches to log or are logging from a mobile device but it
doesn’t tell the hider or other finders anything about your
adventure (or lack thereof) in finding the cache. Please keep this
in mind when entering your log.

What do you think?
I find it very had to log my finds on a smartphone, so I chose to save my find as a field note from the app, and input some more data from my computer later.
I find that giving myself some time between the find and the logging gives me an opportunity to think about the cache and experience.
As a cache owner, I really enjoy effort put into a log, when the cache deserves it.
I always try to compose a good log myself. However, time does not always allow, So I just try my best.

I recently also found on the geocaching.com.au site a statistic page which listed the average number of words in my logs, and I have managed to increase my number from 51 to 64.

What are your thoughts on logging?
Should I include a box like that above in my cache listings?
Would it offend or inform?

darth

Groundspeak announced today:

We will complete our first attempt at a rating system by the end of the month. In lieu of a generic (and IMO unhelpful) 1-5 star rating system we have decided to let people rate a percentage of their finds as their favorites.
This favorite count will then be displayed on the cache listing. The beta feature will initially be introduced to Premium Members but will eventually opened up to all users.
We will also be exploring other ways to identify the best caches to encourage quality. Quality of the game is one of the major themes for 2011.
 Jeremy
Admin, Geocaching

This has been a major topic on the Groundspeak Forum Site. It sounds a bit like being able to Recommend Caches on the GCA website. Ironically Groundspeak has made a couple of the announcements in the past two days, coincidently opencaching.com launched. It seems that competition is the market place is very good. The website is owned by Garmin and they obviously see it as a big threat and have responded accordingly. This new site has an AWESOMENESS rating.

Interesting times ahead.