Protocol on hints

[JustKev]

Too many of the logs we encountered on our trip into Vaughn Woods didn't support more than just the date and our geocache names and we weren't prepared with a notebook to make notes in so when we logged it on geocaching.com we had to rely on memory. Is it better to do a quick note in the book and then expand on it in the note space on the website?

[Haffy]

I think most people nowadays will just put there signature in the log book and then expound more of their experience with the online log. I remember a few years ago liking to read the logbooks as usually everyone wrote something of interest in them. Now it seems no one does this and instead will opt to do it more online now. I think most cache owners like to see the online logs now and don't get out to check on their caches to read them like they used to years ago when they only had a few to take care of instead of the hundreds that some cache owners have out in the wilds now.

[firefighterjake]

And while I'm still in my cantakerous mood as of late. . . .

Another thing that bugs me is when folks find over 1,000 caches . . . and yet, for some unknown reason can't seem to find the time, place or small investment of a cache container and log to do a hide of their own . . . maybe this comes back to the whole "giving something back" to the community thread.

I mean . . . c'mon . . . folks have all the time to find all these caches, but can't seem to find one place to even hide a single nano or micro even?

OK, I'm done ranting and raving like a lunatic . . . for now.

[WhereRWe?]

Another thing that bugs me is when folks find over 1,000 caches . . . and yet, for some unknown reason can't seem to find the time, place or small investment of a cache container and log to do a hide of their own . . . maybe this comes back to the whole "giving something back" to the community thread.

I mean . . . c'mon . . . folks have all the time to find all these caches, but can't seem to find one place to even hide a single nano or micro even?

Yes - there are thousands of guard rails out there just waiting for a film can, and I've thought of many more opportunities for "themed" hides: Keys on the Keyboard (I'd love a hide named "esc"...), Fish of the Penobscot, Fish of the Androscoggin, Fish of the Saco (and so forth...). And most of the paper company roads in The North Woods have mile markers - well beyond the 500-foot limit for placing caches.. And game sightings! How about a series called "We Saw A Moose Here"?

Sheesh!

[brdad]

While I certainly understand that during the spring and summer months here in Maine it can be difficult to stand in one spot long enough to sign a log all the while swat away the swarms of black flies and mosquitos, but I'd like to see more people take the time to write a little something in the paper log if its big enough.

Writing longer paper logs is something that was much more common in the beginning. I used to write longer paper logs myself. I'm sure for the number hounds it's often because they want to get on to the next cache, but the biggest thing for me is my writing sucks. It's bad enough when I am sitting at a desk, but in the field it's much worse. I'm not sure anyone else could read them!

I try to make my online logs an award for the cache. A better cache will get a better log if I can think of something to write, while lesser ones get less. Of course this changes depending on my creativity at the moment. On a couple occasions when I find a cache I can find no idea whatsoever why someone would place it, I have just logged a smiley with no words - which is basically all I can assume the cache is there for.