Premium Member only caches

[Laighside Legends]

Before I start, I don't want this to be an argument - I'm just interested in what others think. It is not because of what happened yesterday.

Lately I have noticed a lot more PM only caches (25% of the newest 20 caches in SA are PM only, I recently added all the caches in the Adelaide CBD I missed over the holidays to my gps - nearly half where PM only) I'm not sure whether this is just me or if we are really getting more...

I understand that having your caches wrecked is disappointing, but I find this hard to believe as the only reason. These "cache vandals" must be very selective - Freddo has less than 1% of his 300 and something caches PM only and his caches seem to survive. Yet Chillibutts, Flippers, MtnLioness, squeaky, (there are more) seem to have nearly every one of there caches targeted???

PM only puzzles and multis are even more confusing (and annoying) - Are these "vandals" really going to solve a puzzle just to trash a cache? Or do the calculations for a multi cache?

If you are really worried about your cache why can't you just make it a simple puzzle? Or even a GCA listing?

I realise this is quite Adelaide based so maybe it belongs in the SA forum...

[ian-and-penny]

With the proliferation of "iPhone cachers that come into the game and don't give a toss, i think it's perfectly understandable to only make (good) caches available to those who are more serious about the game.

[akkatracker]

With the proliferation of "iPhone cachers that come into the game and don't give a toss, i think it's perfectly understandable to only make (good) caches available to those who are more serious about the game.

I see where you're coming at but there's another possible view:

I'm a new cacher.
There are no caches around me because they are all PM only.
I'm not going to fork out $30 for a sport I haven't played yet.
1 Month Later
Hey look, we are at a picnic and there is a cache, look it's an eclipse tin... YAY.... Now I'm going to hide 300 of these in potentially favourite worthy cache parks and watch my caches get stolen when I start to lose interest.

Sooo
PM only caches are cool with me but not all PM only, leave some good caches for the poor fellows.

[lemmykc]

A lot of caches eventually get moved over to non- PM, and some caches only start off life as as PM for the FTF.

I place my caches as PM to start off with because I enjoy looking at the Audit log to see who is quickest off the mark

[Damo.]

I am aware of some examples of caches made PM to "protect" them yet being trashed regardless as well as have seen plenty of new players who become premium members straight away and quickly lose interest.

Any argument I have read in favour of them seems to be people who are paying wanting to "reward" other people who are also paying.
Also the changes with showing individuals premium or non-premium status beside logs would have some level of influence on new players which was clearly the intention. If it seems like "everybody" is a premium member to a new player why would they not make their caches PM only?

[ikkibrady]

i have never been one to understand making a cache a PM cache for the first 2 weeks for the FTFers. unless these casual newbies are sitting continuously pressing the refresh button (obviously the signs of a casual newbie) they wont get any form of notification that a new cache has popped up and wont notice for 2 weeks anyway. ive seen plenty of PM caches get wrecked and even targeted. to me PM only caches are just cachers working with groundspeak to make us pay for somthing that doesnt need to be paid for. by making more and more caches PM only these "iphone" cachers that dont respect the game (i am an iphone cacher btw) will all start becoming PM and then they are just as able to get to and wreck these caches anyway. i believe the whole PM only cache is pointless.

[Laighside Legends]

I place my caches as PM to start off with because I enjoy looking at the Audit log to see who is quickest off the mark

Audit log? whats that?

Also the changes with showing individuals premium or non-premium status beside logs would have some level of influence on new players which was clearly the intention. If it seems like "everybody" is a premium member to a new player why would they not make their caches PM only?

This is one of those things I wish groundspeak didn't do... but I got the impression that the PM only ones were being hiddien by older players who knew the game well, that said I haven't looked closly so I could be wrong...

unless these casual newbies are sitting continuously pressing the refresh button...

I do do a bit of this if I'm board... just leave the page open in the background and hit refresh every hour or so - I have got a FTF and a third doing this... UMP must have been on holiday this week cos nothing got published...

What confuses my most though is PM only puzzle caches. I think I can safely say the "iPhone" cachers don't even consider the puzzles...

[CraigRat]

.. but I got the impression that the PM only ones were being hiddien by older players who knew the game well, that said I haven't looked closly so I could be wrong...

Anyone who shills up $30 can hide a PM cache, it's not exactly 'exclusive' and to be honest I've done a few stinkers that were PM only.

But it does give some people a sense of either 'security' or 'exclusiveness' I suppose.

[Papa Bear_Left]

I don't know if it's just my perception, but there seems to've been a major increase in PM listings from a couple of months ago.
(Any stats wizards care to weigh in on that?)

To the extent that I looked at the cache submission form to see if the checkbox had been either made more prominent or even switched to being on by default! (Neither is the case, BTW.)

Never saw much point in it myself, but it's never bothered me because we've always been premium members.

[Richary]

As a paying member of GC I can hide premium member only caches. I can't really imagine I would want to. Slightly OT but I pay to get the pocket queries and other functions, not because I want to hide a cache that only other payers can get. I would like any cacher to be able to find my cache.

Playing devils's advocate, the only reason I could see is if it is in a high muggle area, and is better found by experienced cachers who have found enough to know how to be discreet. But with the increasing number of people in the game that probably doesn't apply anymore.

[Clatmandu]

I place my caches as PM to start off with because I enjoy looking at the Audit log to see who is quickest off the mark

Audit log? whats that? .

With PM caches, it will show who has looked at the cache page to the CO, this would be one of the reasons for puzzle caches to be PM, the CO can see who has been working on the puzzle.

[oakydog]

Constantly amazed at where my caches end up after only a few visits. This along with a few suspect logs have prompted me to move all my remaining caches over to PM caches.Not sure yet if it will help but so far it would appear that I receive far less Minimalist Cache Logs but that’s a different topic
And the added bonus of the Audit log makes for some interesting reading

[Laighside Legends]

Seems a bit odd that groundspeak don't have these "audit logs" for any cache that is owned by a Premium Member...

[blossom*]

Audit Logs...sounds great! Maybe I should switch some of my caches to PM only....nah. I'd rather make them GA caches instead. That's a better "exclusive" club I think

[caughtatwork]

We actually have audit logs for all caches which is where the counter on your cache page comes from. We don't show the details to you but it is there. Maybe you could petition to get it shown.