Geocaching Etiquette - Online Logging Traditional Cache

This is the first of a series of caches in KZN to highlight some aspects of Geocaching Etiquette.

Feel free to place similar caches on other aspects of etiquette, and if you do, please try and follow the layout as in this listing.

Geocaching Etiquette is important - by following an 'accepted' etiquette you make the game more pleasurable for all.
 

Note that these are not Rules. 

You are free to play the game any way you like, provided you follow the Groundspeak rules, which can be found here.

This cache listing will cover the generally accepted etiquette on Online Logging.

 

 

ONLINE LOGGING

General

Geocache hiders sometimes go through a great deal of planning to place their caches. As a result, they wouldd like to hear your feedback on whether you liked or disliked any aspect of the hide, or if you feel that some cache maintenance is required.

Single word, acronym, or emoticon logs may be easier when you have a lot of caches to log, but it doesn't tell the hider or other finders anything about your adventure (or lack thereof) in finding the cache. Please keep this in mind when entering your log.

Your logs are the hider's reward for putting out the caches so be kind and write something.  Remember to write the kind of log that you would like to receive if it was your cache!

 

Smartphones are useful for logging while in the field, but are certainly not conducive to writing a good log.  One way around this (if you really want to find/log/move on) is to log the cache while in the field, but when back home to go back to each log and edit it to fully describe your logging experience.

Dear Diary

Your log is also your 'Dear Diary' of your geocaching adventure.  In six months time (or a year, or whatever) when you go back to the cache listing to revisit your experiences and then find just a 'TFTC' or something similar in your log will not give you any pleasure at all as you will not be able to remember anything about that cache.

Spoilers

Never ever include an outright spoiler in your log (not even encrypted).  All this achieves is to destroy the experience of the cachers that come after you.

Needs Maintenance Logs

Needs Maintenance logs are important to the cache owner.  Please be as detailed as possible.  When the owner goes to replace a wet logsheet he will appreciate it if he is advised that the logsheet is wet because the container is cracked, so when he walks the 3 km trail to the cache he has a spare container as well as the new logsheet.  So please say exactly what type of maintenance is needed on the cache.

DNF Logs

DNF (Did Not Find) logs are also important to the cache owner. Again, please describe your experience, so that the CO can determine if he needs to go and check up on the placement.  A quick look for three minutes in fading daylight and a shower of rain is very different to a 40 minute daylight search by a large group of experienced geocachers.

Pictures

Pictures are another excellent way of remembering your experience, and also let the CO know what conditions are like at GZ through the different seasons.  But once again, avoid pictures showing the exact hide and placement of the cache - this is the same as a spoiler (see above).

Park 'n Grab Caches

No one expects a 500 word log on a postbox (or similar park and grab) cache.  But just a TFTC is also not quite right.  One line will do - e.g.  'A great sunny day for caching with my girlfriend, this was a quick and easy find.  TFTC.'

Cut and Paste Logs

This is an easy way of getting through your logging for the day, especially if you have had a busy day with many finds.  But an identical C&P log for every find is very irritating to the CO, especially if you have made several finds on his caches for the day.  Rather have a C&P preamble for each find, and then a line or two (or more) which is specific to the cache.  That way you won't upset the COs, and you will have a record of your experiences for the day.

Travellers

Never EVER record the traveler (TB or Geocoin) serial number in an online or paper log.  This allows hackers and other nasties to use the number to create all sorts of mischief with the TB / GC.  On the other hand, if you have retrieved or placed a traveller, please say so in your log.  It is OK to use the name of the TB/GC, but this is not really necesary as the TB will be documented in the cache listing.  Also, if a trackable is missing from the cache - please say so - this can alert the CO and TO to a possible muggle problem, or that a previous finder has not logged the TB/GC.

 

 

If you have missed the FTF on a newly published cache, it is considered courteous to hold back on logging your find until after the FTF cacher has logged his find.  And, if it is you that has managed the FTF on the cache, log your find as soon as possible so that other cachers know that the FTF has been taken.  If you cannot log within a few hours, ask another cacher or the CO to put a note on the cache listing explaining this.

 

Conclusion

Quality logs aren't written solely for the CO. A quality log could help fill some of the deficiencies of the cache description at least. And a quality log doesn't mean it has to gush about how wonderful the cache is. Why not include some comment on the lack of quality? One aspect of logging is the review. Not all reviews are positive. Some need to be bad and many average for the really good ones to stand out. Bad reviews don't have to be nasty, but they may help get the point across about some bad practices. Logs have personal value for me in that it's a bit of a travel diary - why I was in the area, something might've happened, who I was with, something discovered. Quality logs have value for the writer and other cachers despite what CO may not have provided.

One of the following criteria should be met to receive a "quality log":

Without cache hiders there would be NO geocaching. If every log was blank, single word, single character, acronym, or emoticon, many hiders would cease to place new caches and soon archive the caches that they have already placed. I have been guilty of short logs in the past when doing a lot of similar caches in an area and really had nothing to say because they were all the same but it was always at least a few words.

 

 

 

 

This cache shoud be easy enough for beginners, and a (very) quick park 'n grab for the more experienced geocacher.