Hope for Geocaching... Not!

I see the problem. There's not a defined goal to geocaching. Is this a competitive pursuit, or non-competitive? What's a "good" cache? Everyone knows how to start caching, but no one knows when they're finished.

I think some rules are in place on GC.com that steer cachers toward the wrong conclusions.

People get smileys for finds, and no smileys for placing, so implication #1:
Finding caches is a greater priority than placing caches.
Just look at who the heroes are. Everyone knows who the TeamAlamos and EMCs are, many cachers probably even know approximately how many finds the Finders have. But, does anyone have any idea who's the cacher with the most caches placed? How many caches does the leading Place-r have? Who cares? No one gets smileys for placing.

One Smiley for One Find. Implication #2:
Go after only the easiest caches.
How can you boost the numbers? Power cache the nearest, most accessible, easiest finds you can. Park and Grabs flourish. Hikes, Puzzles and Multis languish. When someone logs their copy/paste of all the caches they bagged on their powercaching excursion, what's your reaction?

...whose goal this weekend was to set our own personal best records. Our attempt was power cache 200 caches in 1 day -SO- we recorded our visits on the log as T200 to expedite our quest. We exceeded our goal! ~~
My# from this adventure= 251 caches in 1 day (Sat. in 17 hrs) / and 422 caches for the weekend.

Do you think that they're superhuman? Or that they bypassed the area's good caches to bag all the dreck? I feel pity, not awe.

Here's an issue: The star system for difficulty rating is veneer only. Ratings are totally subjective to the hider. Not to mention that one cache hider's 2 star is another's 4 star. That, and the question's always so easy when you know the answer. The hiders usually rate the harder ones too easy, since it's hidden just Right There, why can't ppl see it? And the easier ones? The skirt lifters still get two stars, don't ask me why.

Why can't the finders rate the difficulty after they've found it? Consensus wins the day.

Hey, while they're at it, they can rate the quality of the placement. Let the placer get some pointage for extending himself. Otherwise, a smiley a placement turns into another skirt lifter parade, polluting the supply like the demand's already been poisoned.

Anyway, I like the Terracaching rating system. I think it's underused there. The ratings make the multiple points per find/placement possible on that site, but I don't think ppl rate regularly. Don't ask me why.

I conclude that rating's the only ray of sunshiny hope for caching. Until there's a definitive gameplay goal, variable scoring for caches, some reward for placing (better) caches, and ratings for difficulty and quality, caching is gonna continue to serve the lowest common denominator.

Flame On.

One of the problems with the internet is that it's always open season for
the thin-skinned to take offense. Jokes are interpreted as affronts, friendly ribbing is a stab in the side. Direct criticism is punishable by electrocution.

One of the problems with a geocache rating system, the opponents argue, is that it's open to flaming. Ppl who don't like you will rate your caches into the toilet. If that's all they do, rather than actually stealing your cache containers and physically chucking them into a toilet, that's preferable, I say. But the worry is there.

I don't see why, geocaches don't care if they're winning a popularity contest. Their owners do, though. Place a cache and hover over it like a proud parent, expecting the world to queue up and coo over your baby.

All of my (active) cache babies are available for review. Not an hour after they were up, someone [read: the only other Kern cacher with reviewable caches on the site] rated a couple of mine as lowly as possible. Granted, they're pretty sucky, but maybe not meritorious of the worst possible. Am I gonna cry? I haven't yet.

I'll take my licks at the bottom end, and try to take the best ratings with a grain of salt too. The idea is to see what's trending, what kind of caches are making ppl happy or getting just a lukewarm response. The worst, I'm predicting, will be if they get no review at all - that's mediocrity at it's uh, most mediocre.

Next up: a rubric to check before cache placement - hopefully to ensure that it's not absolutely flammable. Or, to ensure that they're the type of caches I like to find. Your opinion? Blow it out your @ss.