Whatsa Matta Witha DNF, eh??
I am totally guilty of not logging dnfs from time to time. Most often if I’m with a group and one of them log it, I won’t log the dnf as I feel the attempt has been represented and six dnfs from one attempt may be misleading to future searchers. Generally speaking, I try to log dnfs as I feel they are often as good stories as finds and the hider deserves any useful information on their cache. It may also help other people decided whether or not to try to find a cache.
I do know that many people don’t log dnfs if they feel they didn’t really give much of an attempt at the find, which I feel is also reasonable. I feel that if you’ve given a good attempt and didn’t find the cache, logging that DNF is very important. I have noticed that some cachers of late don’t find a cache and log a “needs maintenance” which I feel is also pretty lame. Several dnfs over weeks or month might warrant a maintenance log, or even a “needs archived” log, but if you can’t find my cache, it doesn’t mean I need to go and verify it’s there. Log the dnf and move on.
This is kind of a catch all on the topic of dnfs and a little rambly, but I was wondering where other people stand on dnfs, etc. How and when do you use them, if ever? What kind of dnfs do you appreciate on your caches versus ones that just made you laugh, such as “couldn’t find the right street” or whatever. Thought and opinions welcome and encouraged!
I log a DNF when:
I have given a thorough search for a cache and I can’t find it
I am with a group of people and none of us have found it.
I pick the wrong option from the pulldown menu by mistake
I don’t log a DNF when:
I haven’t really tried too hard to find a cache and don’t think a DNF is appropriate.
I forget about it, or just don’t think it’s worth bothering
I would prefer folks to log DNFs on my caches if they are actually missing. If they didn’t try too hard, and log the DNF because they were being lazy (couldn’t see the cache from the car so it must not be there), then to me, that’s lame.
Nemo will put a nice long rambling reply when he gets home tonight.
I eagerly await his ramble.
It’s important to log DNF but I can understand some people forgetting after a long run. It’s easy to keep track of founds, so now I carry around my iPod and use fields notes. That way I don’t forget to log my DNF.
The problem with DNF is that some people never log them since they think they don’t look good. I can say without shame that I missed some caches that were easy cheasy on a first attempt. I would try them again a few days later and find them seconds after I got to PZ. Then I keep asking myself how I could miss that.. all part of the fun I guess.
DNF are really helpfull for the owner because after a few DNF in a row there might be a problem with the cache. Logging a need maintenance just because you didn’t find the cache is just plain stupid, unless the hints points toward a tree and there are none in a kilometer radius haha.
That’s my two cents worth.
I agree with everything said here but I wish to disagree in advance to whatever Nemo says when he gets home tonite
I log a DNF if I think it’s needed.If I only take a quick look but don’t find the cache I may log DNF but state that I didn’t spend much time looking and maybe the reason why I didn’t have the time to look more.Most times if I didn’t give it a proper look I will not log it as I think it isn’t appropriate.But I will log DNF after a good look and not finding it.
I will only log a needs maintenance if I know for sure there is something wrong with a cache.I usually e-mail the CO as well.
40 yrs old male, bald and super sexy, married and looking for…… whoopsy daisy, wrong site! I’ll be back here later for tha DNF.
Paul you made me log 3 DNFs today. I only log them if I really think they are not there. If I spend 2 minutes looking at a tank in the rain for a new cache, I am not going to log a DNF because I don’t want the owner to think it isn’t there when I didn’t give it a fair look. I got a DNF on a cache from a cacher that said “the snow bank was too high and didn’t want to climb over it” WTF, that is a did not look.
I had those exact examples in mind while writing this.
‘WTF” is that the World Trekies Federation.
I know as a fact that they won’t climb over a snowbank for a cache
but a wookie might.
On DNF’s I log all of mine that I really give a search for.
If in a group we don’t find it I think everyone should log a DNF.
With this many people looking and no find there is a good probability
that there is a problem and the cache owner should know.
Many DNF’s may get him to check on it.
I also like DNF’s on my caches so I know there may be a problem.
I don’t care for needs maintenance but like that the cacher state the problem with my cache in his find log.
Had a cacher from NS put a needs maintenance on my Hayward Pinnacle
cache because there was another cache near by put out by the Jeep Club.
Their cache was soaked and he wanted me to remove their cache.
I emailed him to explain this and stated I had no right to remove their cache and that it was not logged on geocaching.com .I deleted his needs maintenance log. He reentered it. this went on for about 4 times til he gave up.
I don’t think I have problems with DNF as some of my friends here.
I believe DNF are as important as finds in this game. Yes it can warn the owner of potential problems, but it can also be cool when you have a very clever hide and you see people struggling and having fun doing their best to find your cache but not succeeding. I am saying clever here as to me, a nano buried under a pile of rock in a quarry would not be clever but rather stupid. But for cleaver hides, I can see DNF being fun logs to read for a cache owner (as long as it’s not just a blank DNF).
I am a log-a-olic, so I like logs, as long as they say something. I would rather a little DNF log from Zinker that states: “We were here and looked for 30 seconds than quit because of the pouring rain” rather than no log at all as with the log, I can say Hey, Zinker was here today, cool!
So to me I do not see any problems with a “the snow bank was too high and didn’t want to climb over it”. I can see that this would be more a “write a note” log than a DNF log, but it’s a log, and I get to know that I am not the only lazy out there that doesn’t want to climb over a snow bank and it makes me feel good. 🙂
So, to keep it short and sweet just to prove Rev that I can do a quick note without rambling about what I am going to have for supper, I will end with saying that I do make the effort to log all my DNF and write at least a bit about the unsuccessful hunt so the owner knows we were there and get something to read. Talking about supper, I might try a rib recipe this weekend. Apparently ribs can be quite good cooked in just Coke and your favorite BBQ sauce. I will try a Pepsi and Red Ale beer mix with a bottle of stampede BBQ sauce. I’ll let you know on Monday if it was good or not. Now that I think about it I can’t wait to try it.
And since Pa already said he would disagree with everything I will say here, I will have to say this then: He is a good poker player! LOL!
Have a nice weekend.
TFTT (figure that one out).
I log a DNF only if I have given the search all that it deserves. If I just do a cursory hunt for the cache, I won’t log a DNF; I just blame myself for not looking harder.
A better question is:
How long should Rev Slippery sit in the car while Nemodidi and I hunt for a cache, until he logs a DNF? 😉
Why it is that every time I got out, I found it? Sometimes I had to stay in the car to give you guys a chance to make a find or make sure I could make a get away if the police came after us.
This is the “DNF” thread, Rev S. ….not sure where the “being overly defensive” thread is… 😀
I like Zonkers comment. 🙂
Rev being overly defensive is my next thread.
lol poor Rev, I tell you, with friends like that …. but wait … how many caches do you think he stayed in the car ? That shouldn’t count as a find does it …?
Just fooling around, I couldn’t resist =)
Sunday morning & waiting for my day to start & I decide to read this!! As a relative newbie to this sport, you have two choices: you either found it or you didn’t find it! It’s black or white; there is no grey. Log it! Babe Ruth didn’t hit a Home Run every at bat! It doesn’t matter whether you spent 5 minutes or 50 minutes, if you tried to look for it and failed to find it, then it’s a DNF! No big ego thing (or is it?) If you were 100% all the time, then you have superhuman powers! With todays GPS you can log your field notes/finds, so “forgetting” to log a DNF when you get to a computer is so lame! Be a man (woman) and take the hit!! Don’t a Sedin sister!!
It isn’t an ego thing for me it is more like giving a false negative to the owner. A couple days a go I gave a dnf to a cache in Rothsay and the owner went out and the cache was there, I just didn’t look long enough. I could have saved him a trip if I had said, I will come back and try harder next time and not log a dnf. I gave another a dnf and Digger52 found it after me, so even with 3 people looking it can be missed.
As a cache owner knowing where I placed the cache & how difficult I made it, I would not go checking on one DNF. There has to be a trend for me to jump in car or climb my bike to go after somebody who struck out. Check out Radical Dude (GC2KV7A) and see how many DNFs are posted! I got one log that said the store owner said it was gone & i went down the next day & it was still there. I don’t believe the DNF is there to help the cache owner, it’s a measure of your success. And that’s life!
If it was really a measure, they would be counted on your profile. Just my thoughts on it.
I’m with you there, paulandstacey. It’s definitely NOT a measure of your success. DNFs serve three purposes:
1. It let’s the cache owner know that you tried to find it, without success. That could indicate the owner needs to check on it, depending on the cache itself, among other factors.
2. It lets OTHER cachers know the general level of difficulty for the cache. If the cache has been found 45 times, with no DNFs, it’s likely an easy cache to find. If, however, it’s been found 20 times, and DNFed 14, then it might be trickier, and require a different searching strategy.
3. It serves as a reminder to you that you missed that cache, but did try it, so it’s easy to figure out which caches you need to revisit.
Do I log DNFs? Yes. Just about every cache I’ve searched for but not found, I logged a DNF, explaining that I couldn’t find it. If I didn’t search long, I said that, but if there was a bunch of us looking and unable to find it, I mention that as well. There is the rare occasion that I’ve written a note instead, but that’s when I was unable to spend more than a cursory glance at ground zero, and plan to return in a day or so to make the find – or, attempt to!
coopsquared and I went to the same school. 100% with what he/she/they said
We need a like button in here, Paul
I have no fear of logging a DNF, but i only do so when I feel I gave it a proper search. If I’m at ground zero and the skies open up and starts pouring on me, I’m gonna bail. But I won’t log a dnf as I didn’t ‘not find it’, but had to bail on it before I was able to get it.
If I’m at ground zero and my daughter starts to freak out for whatever reason and we have to go, that’s not a proper search, I don’t log a dnf.
If it is a cool spot, or interesting story as to why I had to leave quickly, I’ll post a note to tell the story, but not a DNF.
However, If I’ve spent any amount of time on it and can’t locate the cache, then it’s a DNF. And in those cases, I log my DNF’s as faithfully as my finds.
Needs Maintenance logs – I only post these after I post a dnf to a cache that has many dnf’s over a long period of time. I do this rarely. I do it so it may be flagged to the reviewers if they do a search for them.
Needs Archive – I’ve only done this once on a cache where there were DNF’s for more than a year even with cachers who had found it before saying it was missing, and I knew for a fact that the owner had been nearby the cache without fixing it (ran an event about 500m’s from the cache)…
It is a measure just like they keep every stat you post. As a cache owner, when I read a DNF, I don’t go jumping in the car, or getting on the bike, to see if my PB fell out of the tree. I wait to see if there is a trend, then I go. DNF means you were able to locate it! I have five DNFs on the same simple cache in O’Dell park. I just can’t find it! Now it’s a Badge of Honour, & I don’t want to find it! LOL!
Rusty&Glowbug have a cache (http://coord.info/GC1QWGK) that I DNF’d countless times and it is a real easy one. I must have tried for that cache three times, even bringing my wife with me once and she couldn’t find it. But when I did find it, it was one of those, why the heck didn’t I find it before kind of finds. Not hard, but just not being seen.
Those kinds of DNFs are the real kind. Ones where you want to remember that you tried VERY hard to find that cache.
Yes I do DNF, With all the usual conditions – spent enough time and so on. One plus no one mentioned is that at the next event you attend people who found it after you DNF’ed it will sometime volunteer hints. (and no I’m not that proud, I’ll take whatever help I can get 🙂