Member Only Caches

[MAD-MUFFIN]

I have noticed that lately there have been a lot of 'MEMBER ONLY' caches posted. There aren't alot in the Gardiner, Farmingdale, Hallowell, W. Gardiner, or Litchfield area. Not to mention Richmond, I don't think there are any there. Why make caches 'Member only'? I paid for a year on the Geocaching web site and there were only 2-3 member only ones listed and none in the area. In the last month I have seen about 8 listed. Are these really special? I can't see the point in restricting anyone from any caches. If you put gold or money in them maby????

WHAT'S THE POINT????????????????????????????????????

[Sudonim]

Sometimes there is no difference, just a way of giving the paid members a little something extra. Sometimes the cache owner puts more $ into a members only cache thinking that the paid members will give better trades, keeping the cache content quality high, not just Mctoys. (This may or may not work, but that is the thought)

[d’76]

Sometimes I think folks make them members caches to give paying members the chance at a ftf. And other times I think folks may think that the die hards are the paying members and are less likely to leave garbage in the cache. Beleive me that these are not my philosphies just what I have heard.

[hoys]

I have placed a few caches that I started as "members only" then opened up to the "general public" after some reasonable period (a month or so).

My reason is that I support geocaching.com and I want to encourage others to do so as well, so some of my caches have had the FTF and the first month set aside for paying members. I rarely do "special" FTF prizes, as I feel the FTF is a reward in and of itself.

On the other hand, everyone (paying and non-paying alike) should be able to enjoy caches, so the two times I have done this, I opened them up after a startup period.

Paying members of the Geocaching site help make Geocaching possible for everyone else. A little light encouragement is a good thing, in my book, as long as it isn't excessive (if an entire state or large area were to go members-only, or more than a handful of caches in an area, that would be excessive - everyone should be able to enjoy the sport, of course).

[tat]

Some people use member only caches to debug puzzle caches before releasing them onto the public. The assumption is, the paying member may have a bit more experience.

[MAD-MUFFIN]

THESE ARE SOME GOOD POINTS BUT, AS I SAID, I HAVEN'T SEEN THE DIFFERENCE IN WHAT THE CACHE CONTAINS. I AM WILLING TO SUPPORT A CAUSE IF IN THE END I HAVE SOMETHING TO GAIN, NOT ALWAYS, BUT IN THIS CASE THE END RESULT WOULD BE USE OF THE FEATURES THAT ARE OFFERED. I HAVE RECENTLY AQUIRED A 'SONY CLIE' AND AM STILL LEARNING HOW TO DOWNLOAD MAPS ECT. EVENTUALLY MABY I WILL GO PAPERLESS. MOST OF THE TIME I JUST PROGRAM MY GPSr WITH THE INFO AND LEAVE IT AT THAT.

[Haffy]

Hey Dave it you have a PDA then I would suggest you get Cachemate for it. It is only 8 bux and the best software for downloading all of your caches that you get when you get pocket queries from GC.com. You can find it here: http://www.smittyware.com/

Also another good addition would be the purchase of GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife ) and you can try that out for free for a few weeks or forever if you don't mind nag screens all the time. It is the best cache management tool out there in my opinion. A one time price of 20 bux will get you that. With the PDA and Cachemate and GSAK paperless caching will be the way to go. Just think of all the paper and ink you will be saving from printing out all those cache pages.

[MAD-MUFFIN]

Thanks Haffy. I checked out the info you gave. Now I have to find somone that can teach me how to use it. I have tried downloading maps but for some reason they don't work.

[Team2hunt]

I think some people, before GC.com made you log into the site to get the coords, may have thought " member only " caches were muggle proof. Only logged in members could view them. Now with the change, in GC.com, I also see no difference in the caches.

[MoxieMan]

A couple of my caches I initally started as Member Only mainly for the FTF and about a month later I've opened it to everyone. One of them, GCXBHY. has been open for everyone since August 10th and only 1 non-premium member has found it. Of course, it might be because it's titled "Puzzle Nano", who knows, right?!