Finder/Hider etiquette. Opinions please

[Dosphoenix]

A couple of weeks ago, we attempted this cache http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_de ... b5a36f240b on Staten Island, New York.

It was on the other side of the island from most of the other caches. When we got there, there was a busy two lane road with houses right on the road side on one side and the reserve on the other. We did drive past the entrance, but missed it, which put us on a very busy six lane road that we had to turn around and go past the cache again. The entrance of the reserve had no parking and was generally poorly marked. No matter, we've all had plenty of those circumstances. So we parked out the front of one of the houses and walked across the road (no lights or pedestrian crossing). The GPS was pointing directly in.

We jumped across and through some scrub which admittedly is not as bad as the scrub can get in Australia and found a derelict path. Despite the GPS pointing directly head we opted instead to follow the path because again as we all know, the path usually curls back and leads you closer to the cache. But in this case the path was underwater or covered very heavily by 8 foot reeds. We were confused about where to go? So we back peddled and eventually found a low stone wall, common in these parts. Given the clue said it was in the pile of stones, we thought we'd just follow the stone wall, which had us bush bashing through thorny bushes etc. No matter. Got to the cache site and there were indeed lots of stones to look amongst in very low hanging, close bushes.

We probably could have looked harder, clearly, but we were really off put by not knowing if we were in the right place etc plus the last person the month before had been a did not find and the last time it was found was in April.

So I posted what I did on the website and the owner posted a response on October 9. I only read it today (going over my DNFs) and I'm pretty miffed by the tone of his response.

Does anyone else think his response is a little childish and also unnecessary to put in a log like that? Also, the only thing I thought was helpful about the cache description was the clue and now he has removed it!

Or, as the finder, did we not put in enough effort? Should I have worded my log differently?

We did this cache on a driving trip from New York City to the New jersey Shore, a distance of 80 miles or so. I had printed out the caches I thought we could manage and were close to our route. I gathered these caches from google earth and from a pocket query.

Should I have done more in preparation?

What do you think?

[Dosphoenix]

and how do I get an "enter" to register in my posts.

I'm sure these large blocks of text aren't helping anyone.

[embi]

and how do I get an "enter" to register in my posts.

I'm sure these large blocks of text aren't helping anyone.

I fixed it...make sure you click the "disable html" button

[ruzzelz]

Difficult to comment without knowing the cache. I do note that the cache notes include photographs of a walkway, is this the path that then went underwater?

Have you tried contacting the hider direct to seek advice? E-mails and message board postings are often taken the wrong way by many people.

ruzzelz [:)]

[zactyl]

and how do I get an "enter" to register in my posts.

I'm sure these large blocks of text aren't helping anyone.

I fixed it...make sure you click the "disable html" button

Also, go to your Profile, and under Preferences change "Always allow HTML:" to "No".

Regarding your log and the hider's response, I think they're both reasonable. (Err, maybe not the "Since those who logged DNF's don't like my clue, I've removed it" part, but I chose to ignore that. ) Try not to read too much into what people type.
If you're after a review of your post, it did seem to have a tone of complaint to it. Perfectly reasonable given your experience with that cache, but I suspect the owner felt you were blaming him for that experience, when you may have simply started in the wrong place. I've taken the wrong route before, and done a 2 hour bush bash to a cache (then a 15 minute walk back along the path ) but I didn't blame the owner for that, and I'm sure you don't blame the owner of this cache. Send an email if you're worried.

We probably could have looked harder, clearly, but we were really off put by not knowing if we were in the right place etc plus the last person the month before had been a did not find and the last time it was found was in April.

I've been guilty of not looking hard or wide enough when I didn't know for sure I was in the right place (multi with a possible miscalculation). In my case, I was also annoyed by a useless "hint", and was probably a little abrupt in my log! It's difficult not knowing the area to know where the best place to park is, but can't always expect the owner to list that information on the cache page. Even when it IS listed it sometimes doesn't get used, I have "Easy firetrail walk from Riverview Road" on one of my cache pages, but a few people have tried the direct approach across the gorge from a nearby cache, and had an interesting tale to tell.

Don't know if this ramble has helped, but in summary, I don't think you said anything wrong in your log, although maybe

"Given how long its been since it was found and no note from the owner, I would recommend confirming it is still there before heading out this way."

would be better left out, could be taken as "Owner isn't watching and doesn't care"? I like hiding easy caches with walkthrough hints, but I wouldn't always rush out to do a cache check after a single DNF.

[Dosphoenix]

Okay, thanks for both the formatting question and for your comments regarding the logs.

[Dosphoenix]

Difficult to comment without knowing the cache. I do note that the cache notes include photographs of a walkway, is this the path that then went underwater?

Have you tried contacting the hider direct to seek advice? E-mails and message board postings are often taken the wrong way by many people.

ruzzelz [:)]

Yes, the photos show the area in winter, there was considerably more growth there when we went.

There is no chance for us to get back to this cache again so there is no point getting advice from him really. I guess when we were looking for the cache it was in the back of our minds that it hadn't been found for so long that maybe it wasn't there. Now that its been confirmed that it is there, hopefully people will be more inclined to search really well for it. That's all I was hoping to do by my log was encourage the owner to confirm it was there so that he would get more visits.

You are right of course, it is so easy to misunderstand emails, logs and message board postings.

Having not hid any caches yet ourselves I was interested from a hider's point of view.

Thanks again for the feedback.

[Aushiker]

Hi

For what it is worth, I thought your log was polite and helpful. As a owner/hider I would not have been offended and would probably have added information to the cache page to make it clearer as to the access point for the trail. I value these sorts of logs as they tell me something about the searchers experience which may not match my knowledge of the area or the approach I took.

For example with one of my caches I discovered a road access which I did not know about until the posts started coming in!

It appears from your experience that there maybe more than one trail and the owner is not aware of it.

I found his/her reply a bit off and well there was the dummy spit which I think says it all.

Andrew

[Nibs]

I read your post and the reply. I have to say that I found nothing in either to get even slightly concerned over. They both read as a pretty standard DNF log with a pretty standard reply (when the ARE replied to, that is).

My advice is to not get yourself wrapped around the axles about it and just carry on caching.