Recently, I for the most part “quit” geocaching. I still keep my account and will go out geocaching on my own, but when it comes down to reporting my finds on the web site, its a simple thanks or nothing at all. My profile is a simple notice that says that all e-mail gets deleted, which is actually a lie to discourage people from contacting me and asking stupid questions like “did you see my such-and-such travel bug in that geocache you found 3 months ago?”. And getting SPAM from local geocachers that are hosting an event. Although now I am thinking about actually doing that, and just send all mail to my spam address and reconfigure my pocket queries to go to my real address.
Why am I doing this? Because geocachers are some of the most hostile, invasive, rude SOB’s I have had to come in contact with lately. Seriously people…, it’s just a fucking game!
- I’ve had people steal caches I have hidden then write me and give me a lecture on how its illegal to hide a container that close to a public storm drain. (It wasn’t inside the storm drain, he thought it was too close so he took it home with him.)
- I’ve been stalked and harassed because my daughter picked up a trackable item which she loved playing with and we didn’t place it in another cache immediately. Maybe I was partly at fault and shouldn’t have taken the item, but regardless that doesn’t give you the right to stalk me by emailing me repeatedly and calling me on my cell phone while I’m in class. How they found my phone number still puzzles me.
- I’ve been verbally attacked at a geocaching event by someone who wrote some tracking software that they offered to download for free on their site, after I commented that the link was broken and that I was excited to look at it. He didn’t like the fact that I “just wanted the free code” and didn’t have a planned intent to use it. Seriously thought he was going to hit me with the finger he was waving in front of my face.
- I’ve had reviewers archive my own cache within an hour of activating it themselves without giving any reason. I had to go above their head to get it re-activated, which totally fucked the FTF (first to find) prize.
- The last straw was when I came home this memorial day to 23 e-mails from a frantic geocacher who apparently expected me to answer him and give a clue immediately. It didn’t occur to him that I could have the day off as well. He must do this often as he likes to use the word “fcuk”. Experience with profanity filters much?
Overall it seems that no matter what geocaching is just better if I ignore the people. Or better yet, run away from them.
Anyway, after all of this, I archived all 40 of my geocaches. I left 3 active, but only because they were part of a group and my brother broke his leg helping me hide one of them, which led to me calling 911 and him to having surgery and spending a month in the hospital, making them semi-special to me. Within days after I archived everything all of them were vandalized. So I archived them as well. One with the remark “Fuck this”.
A couple days later I get this e-mail.
Dear Adam,I am writing to let you know that I permanently encrypted your archived log on GC1BT3P. We do not allow profanity on our site, so I was forced to act quickly in this matter.
Sincerely,
Sandy Barker
First, that’s a downright lie, second you spelled my name wrong.
A quick search on Google and found that there are 238 references to the word fuck on geocaching.com. From someone with the user name “fuck yeah!” to a puzzle which you have to count the number of times they say the word “fuck” in the movie Pick of destiny (GC2714P). (Fuck is used 106 times in the 93 minute movie). Clip below is one of the best scenes if you haven’t seen it, and gives an idea to how much the word is used.
Now today, exactly 1 week later I get this.
Your log entry for the listing The Hospital Cache (Traditional Cache) was deleted by Sandy at Thursday, 17 June 2010 15:30:35Visit this listing at the below address:
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LUID=148e95ba-5491-4436-97bd-0147fcee9edd
Profile for Sandy:
http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=da3bd3fe-88da-4761-bbcd-26de535ce984
Now I can see them not wanting the use of profanity on their site, but what I don’t understand is their consistency. If profanity isn’t allowed, then don’t allow it. But the fact is, profanity is allowed, and in some areas is actually encouraged and incorporated into the game.
A couple years ago I made a stink about finding a pocket knife in a cache. It was a small pocket knife, but didn’t lock open or closed and was still sharp. In my defense it was clearly listed as a violation of their guidelines, of items you can’t put in a cache. Now on top of all that this specific knife was a travel bug, which has its own web page and is intended to move from cache to cache. When I pointed this out in the forums asking for guidance, I made the comment that I will hold onto it until I know what to do with it. This lead to an all out attack against me, even from the moderators. “How dare you keep someones travel bug” was the gist of it. I never got an honest answer from anyone, and in arguing back as to what I should do, I got heated and banned myself. Several days later I got a response from the owner and mailed it back to him, which he replaced it with something else. I still never got an honest response on what I am supposed to do… except the mods did say to put it in another cache immediately.
You can’t call the kettle black then piss all over it and call it yellow.
The type of bureaucracy they use makes absolutely no sense. They are living in their own little world, don’t want anyone else to interfere, those that do get called “muggles” (term stolen from the book Harry Potter, and used the same way), and seek to kill those that play different. Its just a game, yet I’ve see friendlier games on basketball courts and football fields against long-rivaled schools. Hell, I remember seeing happier faces at the DMZ in Korea from the North Korean soldiers while we yelled rude remarks at them in Korean from a distance wearing our US Army uniforms.
So from now on I will play the game like the best of them. I take what I want, never leave anything not even a signature. I have a nice collection of Army coins, which I will keep all coins I find and add them to the collection. Any travel bugs or other toys that my daughter wants to play with are hers no questions asked. The travel bug tag will be tossed before we get back to the car. And if I find a nice clean container that I can use in my garage or somewhere else around the house, I’ll bring the whole thing home with me. Which can easily be classified as garbage or abandoned property. As long as it is valued under $100 I don’t have to declare the lost property to the authorities. That’s state law, you can’t manipulate them like you can geocaching guidelines.
In the case that someone identifies with me that they are a geocacher I will punch them in the throat and walk away. They can call the police, but I will scream self-defense. Given my history with how geocachers behave, I feel this is a valid defense.
It’s supposed to be a game, but if this is what geocaching has turned into then fine, I’ll play right back.
