Artificial Inflation: It’s All About The Numbers
I’ve talked about it. Rev has talked about it. You’ve talked about it. We’ve all talked about it. What does that number just below your geocaching name actually mean? It seems that this number tends to have a varying degree of meaning depending on who you talk to.
From the moment I started geocaching, I always took my “find count” to refer to actual geocaches I have found. For me, it refers to all of the physical caches I have either located myself, or have located as part of a group of cachers out on a hunt. It also represents the amount of places I have been to and may have taken notes on (Earthcaches & Virtuals) as well as all of the events I have ever been to that were official geocaching.com listed events. If I found the container, saw the monument (virtual), went to the breakfast (event), or studied the rocks (earthcache), I logged it as a find. That’s what the logging of the find is about. It’s meant to track the actual caches you have found as part of this little game we call geocaching.
But as time has worn on, the use of that find count seems to have changed. Some folks have perceived this number as some sort of score. For those people, in the world of geocaching, you are only as good as how many finds you have. And for those who are excessively competitive, the need to get that number higher means delving into practices that some would say are not in the spirit of what the find count is for. But yet at the same time, some of those practices could also be perceived as being perfectly acceptable, given the right situation.
Let’s look at folks who hide caches under a different name, then claim them as finds. I have seen on numerous occasions where cachers have gone out and created a new “sock puppet account”, hid new caches under that name, then logged them as found under their real account. The person obviously wanted to inflate their own numbers by creating the fake account and then logging them, right? Well, I guess it depends on who you ask. If they went out and created the account solely for the purposes of inflating their numbers, then sure, maybe that’s questionable. But what about people who hide caches under an organization name, then claim finds. Are they classified the same? If I go out and hide 5 caches for Fundy National Park under Cache Up NB’s account, then log them as finds, am I in the wrong? Or would you classify that differently because the intent is different.
This practice is quite common with power trails. A group of cachers will create a large power trail together, but list them under a trail specific name to keep the caches separate from their own accounts, but then might turn around and log them all. The ET power trail was listed under a special account for that specific trail. Now, to the best of my knowledge, the cachers who did hide that trail did not log them on their own account, but would that have been an issue? Once again, it depends on who you ask. The same has been done in other places and sometimes the people log them as found on their own account, and other times they don’t.
How about people who log their own hides as found? You hid it so you didn’t really find it did you? But what if you hid a cache, then a year later went back to do maintenance and it took you like 20 minutes to find your own container? When people put caches back, they don’t always put them back in the same spot so the caches tend to move. If you have to take 20 minutes to find a cache, does that count as a find? I would tend to think it does, but yet I’d be reluctant to log a find on my own cache.
Lastly, the worst of all these are those who simply armchair cache. They log finds on geocaches they have never seen, never been to, or may even have no intention of ever finding in real life. These folks are logging caches for the sake of logging them. Just trying to inflate their numbers with finds that have no merit.
So for you, what does your find count represent? Is it a true representation of caches you have found, or have you bent the rules from time to time? Share your thoughts below.
http://coord.info/GL6797KK
That is a great point Teta. I totally forgot about finding caches you may have adopted. Great point
I have hidden close to 100 caches over the years for CUNB or ACGA and my rule was I won’t log a find on them until I go do maintenance on them. So some of them I have logged a find and some of them I haven’t. I have never hidden a cache with my name already on the log and then used another account to list it. Some cachers I might ask what their find count is because I know it to be an accurate account of their real finds and some I don’t ask at all….lol
The numbers used to mean something to me the first few years of caching. I looked at the cachers with high finds and thought that was something to shoot for. A few years playing the game and over 3500 caches later it doesn’t mean as much anymore.
I now only look at cachers profiles to see how long they have been caching and if they are still active.
The numbers for me are only for my own little goals. I don’t compete with anyone. All my finds are real. There are a few caches I found but did not log as a find. I even drag my pen across wet logs, knowing I can’t sign it. But it makes me feel as if I did. Darn conscience. And even then a few I still didn’t log.
A geocachers personality is more important than their numbers.
My opinion only, if folks are logging finds from a distance, they are playing some other game. Not sure what it’s called, but it’s not geocaching.
I remember back to the Mega in Freddy. A group of out of towners split up into groups. One group grabbed westside caches, one grabbed ones in Odell Park, one grabbed in another area of town, etc. At the end they all logged finds on *all* caches. Their logic was we were a group and group caching is ok. Ummm, not when some of you are 10km’s across town doing a trail completely away from the others. Why should you be able to claim that trail? Because you call yourselves a team? I mean, if one of that team goes on vacation to Japan? Do other members of the team claim finds in Japan from their couch in the Maritimes? Kicker of the story is my wife checked the physical log sheet on one of her caches, no one of the team signed. Uh…..huh. She deleted all their logs. When one team member emailed her angrily about it they said in the email we consider satellite group logging to be acceptable behavior. After that incident it has skewed my view on cachers that have tens of thousands of finds. Sure, lots are honest, but after that mega incident, lots are not. I view my numbers as a competition against myself and no one else. Try and beat my goal for this day, week, month, year, etc.
HalfMoonClay, you don’t need to look outside your own community of cachers to see this type of behaviour. Lets not forget the whole “Trojan Horse 2” incident.
GC329G6
Look at all the cachers (local ones) who logged this as “found” without ever going to the cache location, let alone the same continent.
Good or bad, right or wrong, we all “bend” the rules in some fashion or another, but in our eyes, it is justified. Have I physically placed my hand on every single cache I have ever logged? No. Does that violate the original spirit and intent of the game? Possibly. But my family and I still have fun doing it. How I have fun playing this game is different from you or anyone else. That aspect of geocaching is, at the same time, the most beautiful and most frustrating aspect of this hobby.
A good item Zor. When I saw the title I thought it might be like some of the rants on GC.com forums where all cachers with numbers are ruining the sport and they only care about numbers and not quality. But your item is a lot fairer.
In my mind cachers have high numbers because they have the time to go out and cache, they enjoy caching, and it is an important part of their lives.
One of the comments above says
“After that incident it has skewed my view on cachers that have tens of thousands of finds. Sure, lots are honest, but after that mega incident, lots are not.”
In my mind most cachers with high numbers are honest and a few may not be, but again it depends on how you define honesty.
Many would say we high numbers and we agree with the following comment about numbers.
“I view my numbers as a competition against myself and no one else. Try and beat my goal for this day, week, month, year, etc.”
Actually we have no number goals but our love of caching keeps the numbers rising. We are retired and caching keeps us out hiking, biking, snowshoeing, travelling, etc.
During the past few weeks we have gone around the province getting cache for the NBTrails coin, and the StJohn Ex coin, and getting caches for our August souvenirs. We attacked trails in the Kingston Peninsula area, hiking over 10 kms on 2 or 3 different days. We spent a few days hiking around here doing maintenance on one of our trails series. Next week we visit PEI to visit family snd do more of the CT. The following week we meet caching friends around Campbellton and Bathurst to spent a few days doing some series. The week after we drive down to the southern states to hike a week on the Appalachian Trail. It will take a week to get there as we have some regional goals.
Hunting season means we will likely go to PEI and other safe areas to get some series. In December we meet up with family for a week in Folorida, but our plan is to stay around there for a few weeks, getting more caches
Our group caching rule for a series is to stay with the group while we are all looking for a cache. When it is found we all claim a find. We move on to the next cache, while a member of the group signs the log for everyone. In that way we are not looking for two different caches at the same time. One of the only exceptions was when we were on a streak, and MA found a cache in San Fran while I was climbing a snow bank around here trying to continue the streak.
Great article Zor.
For me, the numbers serve as a goal. For example, I have a personal goal of hitting 6000 by Aug 1st 2015 for a specific reason.
I don’t hide the fact that when I am after numbers, I go after them but again, it is for a specific goal I have set. No different than when I set a goal of 400 days in a row…. means nothing to anyone else but it was important to me.
I am just as happy finding one important memorable cache as I am finding 30 in a day – if that is what my goal for the day was.
As for the “arm-chair” cachers – whatever…. they can cheat themselves if they want. Personally, they aren’t hurting me so I don’t pay much attention to them…
Numbers look cool when you first start but for me personally once I got to 1000 I found less motivation to just go out and find caches just to go find them so now it’s more about finding them when I want to. Numbers mean something different to everyone and to each their own. The amount of work involved in verifying log count to log sheet count just isn’t worth my time or effort involved. Do I have goals that pertain to caching? Sure I do and someday I will achieve them. I personally don’t agree with logging your own caches unless they’ve been adopted them. Many people do the same with logging TB’s and will do what ever to log them how ever they can get the numbers. No matter how you log it or how many the smiley’s still look the same for each one
We all cache a different way.
When caching alone I have to sign the log unless it is too soaked to do so.
I have sent in a picture of a cache to the owner that was frozen in a
rock face as I didn’t want to break the container.
One cache I found in Fredericton , I lost my pen on the way to the cache.
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LUID=fa0c3ba6-a1e1-444a-8004-ae09508a866c
But I logged it in mud and came back to log it later in ink.
I have found hooks in trees where others logged the cache as a find but I see nothing wrong with a DNF.
Don’t do throw downs.
I have had cachers email me to say you can log it with permission on caches that were no longer there but to me that is not a find. Like I said I don’t mind a DNF.
I have seen caches 10 feet away but couldn’t get to them because of high water and logged a DNF on them.
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LUID=d8145160-b3c5-49c1-8447-483a4bb8d5c3
When caching in a group I have to at least see the cache to log it as a find.
No! all cacher with high numbers don’t cheat.
And what is cheating, as it was said before every cacher
caches in his or her own way.
I cache this way because I want to know my numbers reflects the caches I have found and I don’t care how others cache.
Caching to me is the hikes, social events and the thrill of the find.
I do prefer puzzle caches, micro logics, hard and devious finds like critters caches
to power trails. But I find them and I hide them ???
Interesting that TBs is brought up. In Germany and the Czech Republic (where caching is hugely popular), folks have lists of their owned travellers with TB codes that they just hand to you so you can log their TBs, and it’s perfectly acceptable to them.
The Germans regularly email me asking for puzzle solutions of those I find so they could log them (like that fella who tried to log that unfound Ontario cache from ‘another province’. Needless to say I don’t respond to those emails.
Different strokes for different folks….