The past - FTF a Thon and Bangor
I have read what has been said by We3Beans and Smitty on the site and while I have already responded here quite some time ago I thought maybe one last attemt might help clear a few things up, maybe not, but I thought I might try.
Driving to the cache. We were wireless and when we first saw the cache listing we just grabbed the coordinates and were off in the spirit of the FTF a Thon. I think others were doing much the same sort of thing.
I was not in the vehicle when this occured. We pulled up to the cache road and I got out and walked down the road to the cache sight. Why John drove down a little later I do not know, but I do know I had nothing to do with it. TRF was there and knew that it happened and John did apologize on the spot. John was very careful when leaving and did not tear anything up. Actually, the damage that was there was from 4 wheelers from previous days when the temps were warm enough for the ground to thaw a bit. The ground was frozen when we were there. This is not an excuse, just the way it happened. Also, this was not the only driving where you are not supposed to incident that happened that day. We don't hear anymore about the other ones that happened.
As for the Bangor thing, there are attributes attached to the caches there that are not supported by the properties where the caches are placed. I do not remember exactly how many caches there were, but in each and every case we looked carefully for posted restrictions in hours that supported the suggestions in the cache attributes. There were no restrictions on any of the caches but one and intrestingly enough the boat lauch had restricted hours (daylight to dark) and the cache listing had none. We did the boat launch cache at daylight and headed for home.
I know it may be difficult, but do cache hiders have the right to limit access in listings to places where the landowners (public) have placed no restrictions? I personally do not think cache hiders have that perogative unless the landowner or land manager has requested it. I do not believe any such posted restrictions were in place for any of the cache locations we did.
The cache hider in this instance and myself have talked this through and I think he understands were I am coming from, at least it appears to be that from our emails and I do understand where he is coming from.
As for the incessant ranting on the websight by a handfull about the "unnamed" cachers, I can only suggest that it is not doing anyone any good to keep harping on the past. I have moved on and have believe it or not changed some of my positions on some of the issues.
I do not think the real issue is what happened so much as it is that we came up and found all those caches. Maybe I am wrong, but that is what it looks like to me.
Do I expect you or anyone else to change your mind? Not really, but there are two or more sides to every story. The truth usually is somewhere in the midst, sometimes you have to look for it.
If We3Beans or Smitty or anyone else wants to meet and work this out I am perfectly willing to do just that, just let me know and I'll be there. I'll even buy the coffee.
Would I do what I did again? Probably not, but at the same time this occured at a time when tensions were very high. There was a lot being said back and forth by a lot of people. If I chose to do so I could share some of the hateful emails I have received from folks that are chock full of errors and misconceptions. They heard this and they heard that. Much of it is not correct.
As it relates to this post and the information set forth I am willing to work it out and do my part to put this to rest where it belongs.
Everyone needs to just log out and go for a hike (GCing or not)
I don't know the history of this argument, but it appears, across several topics, to very much affect people's feelings.
I have a point I'd like to make, which you may of course all ignore, but I hope perhaps an unbiased outsider can help:
If the politics of the organizations bother you that much - Just use them as a resource to get coordinates and don't participate in the forums. I personally did that for years just because I generally don't read forums on hobbist sites except to search for specific information I may need.
Most people here seem basically nice. We all have slightly different ideas and motivations regarding Caching, but essentially we all do the same thing. It seems pointless to argue over the finer points of the rules - Doing so means you've already decided one way or the other, and only want to justify your stance - Not a problem! Do what makes you happy, and doesn't ruin the hobby for others.
For example, I've mentioned here before that I don't agree fully with the can't-count-it-if-you-don't-log-in rule. That means some people might choose not to accept a few percent of my finds. But y'know - I don't cache to make a number go up, I do it for the joy of finding new places to hike.
If you let the rules-laywers or a few ultra-competitive individuals ruin your fun, you've missed the point entirely.
