Quote Originally Posted by dubord207 View Post
Like most organizations, this one is about the folks that choose to play this game/sport. Having "played" for less then a year, I find this site seems to be a forum for very few of the actual members. That's fine with me as there are serious cachers who seem less involved in this site as many, and there a lot of folks who contribute often to this site who seem less interested in the actual game itself. So why is that?

My thought is that is that unless you've been involved for a couple of years, then you're considered a "new comer" regardless of your enthusiasm or you're willingness to be involved. Personally, I don't really feel a part of this group. I have met a few at events I have attended, but milestones seem only important to the "inner" group. I have learned over the years that recognition of volunteers and players is the most important part of keeping an organization alive and viable. In this group, to me, and maybe only me, unless you "know" the principals involved on this site, you could log a thousand caches in a day and nobody would say diddly.

The point is if the organiation want to keep members, they need to feel involved and not looking much like a tourist visiting Maine once a year.
After 10 months, that's how Dianne and I feel, like tourists, out of staters, or people that don't belong.

We really enjoy geocaching and probably have a lot of energy we could contribute so my suggestion is that the newletter reaches out to us "newbies" and maybe makes brief mention to accomplishments of those who have come aboard in a big way. It's amazing how far an occasional "atta-boy" will go.

I'd spend a fair amount of the newletter about the activities of members,caching and non-caching. That would be of far more interest to Dianne and myself then the usual.
Sorry, Dan. A lot of this message didn't make any sense to me. From what I've seen, you've been welcomed at events, discussed favorably in this website's forums - including much space about your recent wedding - and received kudos within the last 2 weeks about YOUR 1,000 cache milestone.

What is your complaint?

You state: "That's fine with me as there are serious cachers who seem less involved in this site as many, and there a lot of folks who contribute often to this site who seem less interested in the actual game itself." Who are you talking about? Do you propose a quota? No messages posted unless you have logged XXX number of caches in the last month? Yeah. so far RULOST2? and I have ONLY logged 114 caches. We logged 441 caches in 2007, and 530 in 2006. Does this mean we are not as dedicated to geocaching as we were in 2006? I attended an event in New Jersey today. Wore my Geocaching Maine shirt. Passed out probably 30 of our signature Maine Geocacher Permits, which prominently mention geocachingmaine.org. Am I "less interested" in the "actual game"? (I'm not sure about right now, but for most of the time, I've posted more messages to this site than anyone...)

"serious cachers who seem less involved in this site as many" What does this mean? Yes - not every "serious" Maine geocacher likes to speak up in online forums. That's normal. I can think of quite a few Maine geocachers who don't post messages often, but who are as much a part of the "sport" - if not more - than anyone in Maine. How about Beach Comber? Noreasta? Ye Old Prospector? I'll bet you've never met any of them. They don't say much, but to the people who have been geocaching in Maine for more than "less than a year", they're icons of the "sport" in Maine.

To go back to your basic comment: maybe makes brief mention to accomplishments of those who have come aboard in a big way." I think you've been "mentioned" in this site "in a big way" already. What more do you want???