I disabled one of my caches (GCEC60-The Old Riverland Plantation) back in October. Several logs indicated that the coordinates were off. Neither I or my uncle has had the opportunity to recheck the coords, but I did not wish to leave the cache active if the coordinates might be off.

One of the GC.COM admins, *gln, posted a note last night about this cache being disabled for a long time. The gist of the message was if it wasn't re-enabled soon it would be archived. How long is too long? I've seen several caches that have been Temporarily Disabled for a very long time. The admin also said disabling a cache for a long time "irritates" cachers that have this cache on their To-Do list. I'm a pretty avid cacher and I'm usually anxious for a cache to be reactivated, but I can't say that just because a cache is disabled I'm irritated.

The whole thing kind of hit me the wrong way. I have re-enabled the cache, because it is still in place and most cachers have found it. I would appreciate hearing from some of the local admins on this issue.

Also, if I leave it active for a while, then disable it again is the Temporarily Disabled clock reset?

Thanks!

These issues are usually provoked in one of two ways.

The most common is that someone gets ticked off at perpetually seing a disabled cache on their nearest cache list and posts a "needs archived" log. As one of the recipients of those I make it a point to first look at the cache owner's profile. If he's logged onto the site in the last month I go no farther. If he hasn't logged onto the site in over three months and all recent logs on the cache suggest the cache is gone I'll just archive it.

The second way these requests are initiated are by a cache approver doing "clean up" by looking for caches that have disabled for a long time. I don't have the time or inclination to do that, but don't fault those that do. I'm afraid there really are a pretty large number of cache listings out there for caches that are missing or damaged.

Since I have one myself it's probably only a matter of time before someone tells me to either replace it or archive it.

If no one has complained about your cache being disabled I think I'd politely thank that cache approver for his concern but let him know that you hadn't forgotten about the cache. I wouldn't worry too much about it. He meant well, IMHO.

~erik~

quote:

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Originally posted by The Yoyo Man:
The admin also said disabling a cache for a long time "irritates" cachers that have this cache on their To-Do list.

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Hey Yoyo,
You don't need to disable a cache to irritate other cachers. You have a talent for doing that with your un-disabled caches.

However, I don't recall exactly how long it was, but I do remember having Fall Creek Falls disabled for several months because I was in New York when it was stolen, and no one said anything to me about it. Is that a new policy?...Greg?....Erik?....Jeremy?...Beuler?....Beuler?.....Beuler?

A geocacher's nighmare: able to find hundreds of hidden boxes all over the world, yet can only find one sock when unloading the clothes dryer.

It looks like sparc77 and I posted at the same time.

There really isn't any clock that's been reset by re-enabling the cache, yoyo-man, in that there isn't any automatic notification the cache approvers get about deactivated caches. Hopefully your cache will get some finds soon and it will all be a moot point.

Having said that, with one of your caches having accurate coords probably isn't too relavant to someone finding the cache anyway. It's more a matter of luck.

~erik~

Thanks erik AND sparc77 for your comments. I did send *gln an email to let him know the situation. I posted a note on the cache page asking for the next hunter to take a coordinate reading and send it to me . Hopefully, I'll be able to get someone to verify the coordinates in the near future.

Thanks Again!

Well, I got another log entry from what I consider to be an over zealous GC admin (*gln). Unfortunately, I was not maintaining my Old Riverland Plantation cache to *qln's satisfaction. His last log entry was short and sweet, but since this was his second entry I felt it was bit prodding. I probably over reacted, but this guy's approach just really put me off. It's not like I left the cache active with obvious problems or received several e-mails/log entries from cachers wanting to find this cache. This guy just feels that I've left it as Temporarily Disabled for too long and it is "littering the countryside".

I decided to archive the cache. The ONLY reason I did it was because of this admin and is approach. I can honestly say I've encountered a Geocaching Nazi. Do other GC admins take this approach? Is this part of their duties as an admin?

Someone recently said they thought Geocaching would disappear as quickly as it appeared because of increased restrictions & regulations. I totally disagreed. I felt Geocaching was here for the long haul, but after dealing with this guy there maybe some truth my friend's prediction.

Sorry guys, this guy ticked me off. I just felt like venting.

P.S.
I finally decided on what to name my new Phat.bak Voodoo Doll ... *gln. I'm only using the BLACK pins for this one.

[This message was edited by The Yoyo Man on March 05, 2004 at 09:20 PM.]

quote:

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Originally posted by The Yoyo Man:
I finally decided on what to name my new Phat.bak Voodoo Doll ... *qln. I'm only using the BLACK pins for this one.

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Sorry to hear of your encounter. But - if ya REALLY want to make the VooDoo Doll work - here is the secret:
Dip the Black pins in Tabasco sauce before you stick 'em in. And stick 'em in DEEP!


"Give to a pig when it grunts and a child when it cries, and you'll have a fine pig and a bad child." -Proverb

Can a cache be un-archived? If so you could re-verify the coordinates some time in the future and either un-archive or create "son of old riverland" at that time.

If the cache is a good one, why let an admin screw it up for the long term?

Sorry for the delayed response.

Yes, a cache can easily be unarchived. But, if a new cache is place within 528 feet it would not be unarchived. The new cache would be allowed to stand.