Do you feel that it is “ALL ABOUT THE NUMBERS”?
As long as I can remember, the geocaching forums have had serious discussions about numbers. Whenever a cacher with high finds says it is not about the numbers, someone will laugh and say that those people always do it for the numbers. A local Facebook group has recently addressed this topic
I have always said that if you enjoy caching and have the time to cache a lot, you will get high numbers.
In August 2012 I posted an item in the geocaching forums in which I explained how numbers were important to us, but not in the negative way that some have suggested. Below is a much shorter edited version of the post.
I would love to see comments, positive or negative, but it would be appreciated if they were worded respectfully without attacks.
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Caching is not simply about going out and finding caches. Caching can take over your life. Here are some of the positive aspects of caching which keep us busy, active and mentally fit.:
*Making new friends
*Events
*Travel
*Spending the day caching with friends
*Meeting cachers in far away places (UK, USA, Spain, Other provinces)
*Caching adventures
*Hiking & Biking
*taking short caching trips in the off season to Nova Scotia and PEI
*Discovering back roads and new places
*Entertaining the grandsons
*Solving puzzles
*creating puzzles
*Learning and using new software and hardware.
*Reading interesting logs
*Corresponding with cachers about puzzles, etc
*Moving TB’s and coins
*Reading forums and other caching sites
*Writing in forums
*Learning and sharing techniques for hides, camo etc.
*Enjoying & Marvelling at some of the wonderful intriguing caches.
*ETC ETC.
All the above are positive aspects. You will note that I did not mention numbers. When many cachers refer to numbers it is often used as a negative part of geocaching. When you hear IT’S ALL ABOUT THE NUMBERS, it is generally a knock against some practice that the person does not like.
Before going on, I have to say that we all cache in our own way. I have no problem with individuals who cache differently than us and claim differently than us.
Here are a few of the negative references you may have heard:
*Going after long series of guard rail caches
*In a hurry to get numbers and not closing containers properly
*Logging simply: TFTC or a happy face, especially with a smartphone
*Putting a throw down in order to get credit for a find without looking properly
*Going with a group and not bothering to sign, or not seeing the cache being claimed because of walking too slow
*Getting the puzzle coordinates from someone other than the owner
*Claiming a puzzle while caching with a group, but not solving the puzzle.
*Cachers do streaks so they can brag
*Cachers get high one-day numbers so they can brag
*Cachers with high totals just want to brag.
*There is cheating going on.
*Power trails are not real caching.
*ETC ETC
As I said, I do not agree with these comments and I hate when cachers are accused (often without proof) of doing something mentioned above that is perceived as cheating.
Here is how we use numbers
*We use numbers as an incentive to go out and challenge ourselves, not to compete or brag.
*Cachers get high numbers because they are retired, or do not have children, or have a spouse or partner who also caches or are healthy and fit, etc.. It is not because of talent.
*We love numbers. We have created over 170 math logic puzzle caches
*Geocaching is not a competitive sport. We use our stats to compete against ourself and to try and better our previous personal records. We do not use them to compete against others. I dont know anyone who tries to compete against others.
*We look at the numbers on our stats page often to give ourselves challenges. I know many do the same. It makes caching more interesting.
*We have nearly completed our goal of having 15 finds on every day of the calendar Its no big deal, it is simply a challenge we are giving ourselves. It took some planning when in Spain on Feb 29.
*We no longer try to beat our previous year totals and now we aim to get 3650 for each year, but as we get older, it may get tougher
*We are not competitive and our ranking does not mean anything to us. We therefore found it interesting in 2012 that our son and his girlfriend, who are not geocachers, were really impressed when they found out that we were in the top 400 in the world. We hadn’t realized it and didnt think it was a big deal.
*Cachers at the top of the lists are great people. They get their numbers because they love caching and have the time or make the time to go caching. I am amazed at incepit who seems to find time before or after work to go grab new series. Really dedicated that incepit. These cachers love to share their knowledge and expertise with others. I recall Opus Terra, the #1 in Canada, giving a GSAK session at the Quebec Mega.
Bottom Line to us is that geocaching is about the people, not about the numbers. It is about the people who entertain others and support the hobby by their efforts, their time and expenses.
Geocaching should not be about accusing others of cheating, about finger pointing, about insinuations, assumptions and rumours
*Geocaching is about those who create geo-art here in the maritimes
*It is about those who created Battle Cache and those who first created and run the COAP and those who took it over.
*It is about those who work with their communities or parks canada to put out cache series and offer geocoin prizes
*It is about those who created and administer this website, and provide advice and help.
*It is about the cachers who hid 2000 caches with double containers on the CT in PEI, and those who hid 600 on the TOPP in NS aand to all those who created the many long series and all the other incredible series
*It is about those who worked on the MEGA’s
*It is about cachers who drove us crazy with their camo’s in Sackville and Mapleton Park.
*It is about all our friends
I totally agree PA. It’s about the whole experience and having a unique story to tell other cachers when thwre is one. Its about adventure and never knowing what the next cache will being. Its also brings people together who share the same interest. I hope to run into another fellow cacher amongst my adventures. And numbers never matter to me.
My mother is the stats person. I just like the experience.
I’m very fortunate that smileys are connected to archived caches and while very difficult to find many wonderful locations and history can still be learnt. Such as this seemingly appropriate log for this topic left over a decade ago…
“This cache has been permanently removed.
The Doc is retiring from Geocaching this summer of 2005. That’s right, all of Doc’s 68 caches will be removed shortly. Why you ask? Well, sadly, there are many reasons and they have added up over time. Here they are:
1) 150km hiding rule imposed by Geocaching.com – this is a good rule for maintenance purposes but for a quality hider like myself its way to limiting when you run out of local “neat” places to hide caches.
2) Quantity vs. Quality – the Doc has always been about hiding in interesting places. Geocaching never was and absolutely isn’t today about quality. This is a real shame. I was hoping more would catch onto this trend but sadly it didn’t happen for most. I say this not to offend anyone – it’s just there are two camps in geocaching and I have always belonged to the “interesting location first and container find second” camp.
3) Restrictions imposed on virtual caching – I would have been revealing more interesting spots for cachers but the rules at geocaching switched midstream and severely limited “creative” virtual caches.
4) Leaking containers – unless you use ammo boxes at $5 a pop you get leaking containers which can drive a hider to drink. Many thanks to those who helped dry out and repair my caches over the years.
5) Muggles – for the life of me I don’t understand why people must take something fun and ruin it for others. I know some muggles are hungry animals which can be excused but for the human kind – get a life. Which leads me to
6) Ursa Major’s unfortunate removal of his caches – I’m not aware of the details of what UM has had to go thru but the mere fact that one of the most respected cachers had to go thru this crap and that he has had to take his amazing cache locations offline …well… this was the final straw for me. Similar to Ursa Major, I hide caches to show people where the wonders of NB are. If some sick person plans on using caches to hurt people then like UM I’m removing all of my caches. Period. I can put up with reasons 1-5 but I have no patience for this kind of crap.”
“So, is this the end of Doc’s love for showing the wonders of NB. Not a chance. Yes, I’m removing all of the caches but I’m moving all of the location and hiking information to a site I’m building called GeoHikes at http://www.geohikes.com (it may take me all summer to build it but it will exist and I hope those looking for neat spots in NB will enjoy it.”
“One final note. The Doc is going permanently archive each site once the cache has been removed. However, I plan on temporarily disabling all remaining caches until the cache has been retrieved by myself or an adopter. A what? Yes, an adopting cacher who would like to remove the cache, take the container and all of it’s contents with them. You can chuck the logbook and use the cache to plant elsewhere if you wish. Just log your find and tell me you took the container so I can permanently archive it”
“That’s all folks. Best of luck to those remaining in the sport. I have met some neat folks over the years and I wish them well. I hope geocaching changes for the better.”
Doc L.
http://www.geohikes.com
Similar situation occurred with Greywolf in the Sackville area. He had interesting hides or hides that brought you to some of his favorite places. He got disinterested and/orfelt the hobby was not going in a direction that he liked. We adopted at least 3 of his caches, one of which is still active today.
http://coord.info/GC920A
Numbers are important, as they are my geo history but the main reason I cache is the ADVENTURE and stress relief.
Without the adventure, the caches are mostly boring. Yes I said boring, what I like is getting out to the fun places and even a desolate logging road can put a smile in my heart as there is always something interesting to observe, something beautiful to photograph, tracks to identify, things to learn about, animals to call to, or even scents to smell!
Caching with friends is even better as it offers more things to learn along the way. I have fond memories of a group trip to find some of Jim52’s Hike for series where people brought hot dogs and roasted them over a fire on the snow. I love when a cacher brings me to a new spot or even back a few years later back again to an area where I’ve been.
Geocaching permits me to incorporate most of my other hobbies like making things, H.A.M. Radio, biking and kayaking.
If numbers were important I would have far more of them as I’ve been caching since 2004 and only have a bit more than 9200 (I had to look the number up as I don’t look often at it)