Members only caches on GC

tronador · Post by **tronador** » 26 January 09 10:38 pm

I'm just curious to know why some cachers make their caches availlable to members only.

I've only ever come across a few and they don't seem any different to those, open to everyone.

zactyl · Post by **zactyl** » 26 January 09 11:09 pm

Reasons I know of are:
* To prevent their caches being targeted and vandalised.
* To prevent new cachers from attempting a dangerous cache.
* To reward those who 'support the game' through paid membership.
Only the first reason is close to being a good one. And that was from someone who had quite a number of remote caches destroyed, too many to put down to coincidence. The second reason is not valid, as plenty of new enthusiastic cachers get Premium Memberships, and the third reason is way off base, as the game is supported by people placing and listing caches, not by paying for Pocket Queries.

Nilbog_Aus · Post by **Nilbog_Aus** » 26 January 09 11:14 pm

We have a few members only caches and a couple of different reasons.

First we have had a couple of caches in a particular area deliberately found and damaged using the GC site. Hopefully the person(s) will be put off by having to pay and the audit log on member caches.

The second reason is a cache that is near areas with sometimes lots of muggles. We hope (probably foolishly

) that members will be more experienced and careful.

None of our caches have been members only for long so we are not sure how well these plans will work.

Mr Router · Post by **Mr Router** » 27 January 09 6:10 am

With a little more work the coords are readily available

so no use listing private

Geodes · Post by **Geodes** » 27 January 09 8:34 am

I think that every Members Only cache I have seen has been set that way by accident - new cachers just ticking every box

Nilbog_Aus · Post by **Nilbog_Aus** » 27 January 09 9:05 am

Mr Router wrote:With a little more work the coords are readily available so no use listing private

Hopefully vandals are lazy (hmm... I need a fingers crossed smiley)

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 27 January 09 12:26 pm

zactyl wrote: * To prevent new cachers from attempting a dangerous cache.

The second reason is not valid, as plenty of new enthusiastic cachers get Premium Memberships.

Ummm you covered the third reason twice, and I also disgree with the second reason because there is plenty of dangerous activities to kill yourself, erm train on before moving onto geocaching

tronador · Post by **tronador** » 27 January 09 4:47 pm

Thanks for the responses. Good food for thought but these are my thoughts:

To prevent their caches being targeted and vandalised.

they could still be targeted and vandalised by premium members, like what happened in NZ.

* To prevent new cachers from attempting a dangerous cache.

New cachers may also be premium members and very experienced cachers may be ordinary members, so this doesn't really target those you want doing your"dangerous " caches.

* To reward those who 'support the game' through paid membership.

Yes, this is the only reason that "makes sense". Not that I agree. But it makes sense.

First we have had a couple of caches in a particular area deliberately found and damaged using the GC site. Hopefully the person(s) will be put off by having to pay and the audit log on member caches.

Yes but again it may have been a premium member responsible.

The second reason is a cache that is near areas with sometimes lots of muggles. We hope (probably foolishly icon_smile.gif ) that members will be more experienced and careful.

Yes but again, a premium member may not necessarily be experienced or careful

Good to hear from people who have put out premium member caches to hear your point of view. I didn't realise that if you make it a premium member cache then you get to see who views the cache page. Is that right. It's just worth experimenting to see what all these features do!

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Nilbog_Aus · Post by **Nilbog_Aus** » 27 January 09 7:29 pm

We don't expect all members to be experienced or careful. The idea is that a higher percentage of members are experienced and careful when compared to all cachers. Both my reasons are around improving my odds rather than guaranteeing a result.

As I hinted at in my first message I don't know if it will work, only time will tell.

I have heard of another reason from cachers overseas that stuck me as reasonable. Some areas can only handle small numbers of visitors and making a cache members only does seem to reduce the number of finders. In Australia I would probably just list on GCA to achieve a similar result.

Richary · Post by **Richary** » 28 January 09 10:51 pm

The only real reason I would do it was reason 3 - to reward those who pay for their membership. If I wanted to support GC more than I do anyway by paying myself.

In which case the cache would probably be members only for the first week or so for the FTF hounds, then become open slather.