Debate 8 - Promotion of geocaching though media

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Positive advertising of Geocaching in the media should be encouraged

Strongly Agree
2
5%
Agree
10
23%
No Difference
14
32%
Disagree
10
23%
Strongly Disagree
8
18%
 
Total votes: 44

Rabbitto
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Debate 8 - Promotion of geocaching though media

Post by Rabbitto » 27 November 05 12:07 pm

A fellow geocacher has asked for the following to get a run on a debate to see where opinions currently lie...

Athough this topic has been discussed previously, it has not come up for a while and there are a lot of new geocachers to the forum who have not had the chance to air a view (or scroll that far down the topics to find the previous discussions).

There are two recent threads which could easily throw to both sides of the argument...

On one hand, it appears that Lt Sniper was recently involved in a good coverage of the sport through a local paper and this in turn could encourage a lot of great people who have not yet had the chance to take part in our enjoyable activities.

On the other hand, what happened to Tangles cache could be for keeping the sport under a tight rein to how far we should advertise.

This could be a tough one.

PS could the usual suspects just post up the links to the previous threads straight up to save time discussing this :D .

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Mr Router
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Post by Mr Router » 27 November 05 5:06 pm

Just let people find it for themself is that not the name of the game!
To many one hit wonders and too many problems will arise :twisted: ahla Tangles !

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GIN51E
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Post by GIN51E » 27 November 05 7:01 pm

how did i find out about geocaching? because i wanted to know what this software was for on my new GPS.
<P>
a little story is good now and then but i wouldn't want to see it being advertised all the time as if everyone knows about it then the thrill of it is gone

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Post by Hounddog » 28 November 05 1:06 am

The temptation is to open up old wounds and tell the story of what happened when we arranged for Geocaching to appear on television. But no........ :(

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Post by rhinogeo » 28 November 05 10:02 am

Hounddog wrote:The temptation is to open up old wounds and tell the story of what happened when we arranged for Geocaching to appear on television. But no........ :(
Wasn't someone murdered and the weapon found by Detectives Goran and Emes in a forest in up-state New York :P

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Post by Mind Socket » 28 November 05 10:16 am

The ways that people get into geocaching now, including the media it gets already, is adequate. To actively put it on the radar of Joe Public only serves to attract more of the bad crowd along with the good. Furthermore, there is a constant risk of the journalist stuffing up and putting the wrong spin on it.

With that said, I've had my share of involvement with newspaper articles on geocaching, but I've never sought to do them. I have no qualms with a handful of articles, but would prefer not to see it actively promoted.

- Rog

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Post by EcoTeam » 28 November 05 11:25 am

Mind Socket wrote:The ways that people get into geocaching now, including the media it gets already, is adequate. To actively put it on the radar of Joe Public only serves to attract more of the bad crowd along with the good. Furthermore, there is a constant risk of the journalist stuffing up and putting the wrong spin on it.

With that said, I've had my share of involvement with newspaper articles on geocaching, but I've never sought to do them. I have no qualms with a handful of articles, but would prefer not to see it actively promoted.

- Rog
I'll second that.
I've had my fair share of involvement too.
If the media come to us for a story, and it sounds like they will do a good job then we should help them out.
But I don't think we should be out there actively pushing it any more. It was different a few years back when we didn't have many players, but now there are plenty. Those who are the "geocaching type" have plenty of avenues to find it already.
The risk of some idiot spoiling our sport is getting greater every year with GPSr's becoming more consumer oriented. In a few short years mainstream mobile phones will have GPS receivers, and then several million teenage kids will be looking for an excuse to use the new GPS feature. That could spell trouble...

EcoDave :)

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Post by Geodes » 28 November 05 11:56 am

EcoTeam wrote: The risk of some idiot spoiling our sport is getting greater every year with GPSr's becoming more consumer oriented. In a few short years mainstream mobile phones will have GPS receivers, and then several million teenage kids will be looking for an excuse to use the new GPS feature. That could spell trouble...

EcoDave :)
<P>Couldn't agree more - while I really enjoy reading articles that cover geocaching (or anything else that I'm interested in, for that matter), this particular hobby is just so prone to abuse by the vandal fringe. It would only take a single individual with antisocial leanings to trash/remove many caches and ruin the enjoyment of the many genuine people involved - possibly even force them to give up geocaching altogether.
<P>An attitude of mutual respect needs to apply at all levels for the activity to have any long-term prospects and this can be difficult to maintain if there are large and sudden influxes of new players with new attitudes and ideas and little time to assimilate the necessary etiquette.
<P>I think gradual expansion via word of mouth or discovery by interested individuals is best - I would not like to see geocaching become a pawn in an advertising campaign for GPS receivers, for instance (and especially not for mobile phones!!!).

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Post by Cheesy pigs » 28 November 05 12:08 pm

The risk of some idiot spoiling our sport is getting greater every year with GPSr's becoming more consumer oriented. In a few short years mainstream mobile phones will have GPS receivers, and then several million teenage kids will be looking for an excuse to use the new GPS feature. That could spell trouble...

EcoDave :)
<P>

I think that you are forgetting that the most exercise the teenagers are getting at the moment is thumb aerobics through SMSing.<P>

The Cheesy pigs found geocaching through a newspaper story in Hobart, and had never heard of it before. To say that there is a risk of idiots getting involved and spoiling our sport sounds slightly elitist to me. I think what happened to the nest is horrible, but can't see how a free and open access sport can even begin to restrict membership so "sensible like minded individuals" are left alone to enjoy this activity, let alone the logisitics of keeping people out. <P>

Do I get change for my two cents? :) [/b]

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Cheesy pigs
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Post by Cheesy pigs » 28 November 05 12:09 pm

The risk of some idiot spoiling our sport is getting greater every year with GPSr's becoming more consumer oriented. In a few short years mainstream mobile phones will have GPS receivers, and then several million teenage kids will be looking for an excuse to use the new GPS feature. That could spell trouble...

EcoDave :)
<P>

I think that you are forgetting that the most exercise the teenagers are getting at the moment is thumb aerobics through SMSing.<P>

The Cheesy pigs found geocaching through a newspaper story in Hobart, and had never heard of it before. To say that there is a risk of idiots getting involved and spoiling our sport sounds slightly elitist to me. I think what happened to the nest is horrible, but can't see how a free and open access sport can even begin to restrict membership so "sensible like minded individuals" are left alone to enjoy this activity, let alone the logisitics of keeping people out. <P>
Do I get change for my two cents? :) [/b]

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Post by rhinogeo » 28 November 05 1:48 pm

Cheesy pigs wrote:I think that you are forgetting that the most exercise the teenagers are getting at the moment is thumb aerobics through SMSing.<P>
That doesn't mean that they wouldn't indulge in trashing caches given half a chance - particularly easily accessed urban caches
Cheesy pigs wrote:The Cheesy pigs found geocaching through a newspaper story in Hobart, and had never heard of it before. To say that there is a risk of idiots getting involved and spoiling our sport sounds slightly elitist to me.
Letting people discover geocaching on their own is hardly elitist :shock:. I discovered geocaching via google after reading reviews that described various GPSrs as 'good for geocaching'. Since then I have introduced quite a few of my friends to the sport, some have taken it up, others haven't ( I don't know why :? )

Cheesy pigs wrote:I think what happened to the nest is horrible, but can't see how a free and open access sport can even begin to restrict membership so "sensible like minded individuals" are left alone to enjoy this activity, let alone the logisitics of keeping people out. <P>
'Restricting membership' hasn't been suggested, just that we shoudn't be shouting from the rooftops and possibly inviting attention from anti-social or sociopathic members of the community. A position I heartily endorse :)

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Post by Geodes » 28 November 05 1:58 pm

rhinogeo wrote:I discovered geocaching via google after reading reviews that described various GPSrs as 'good for geocaching'.
<P>Me too - but the first few times I encountered the word I misread it as 'geocoaching' and assumed it referred to some sort of training for which the unit was well suited :). I finally read it correctly, looked it up via Google and bought a GPSr and found my first cache the next day :D.

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Post by Mr Router » 28 November 05 6:13 pm

Mind Socket wrote:The ways that people get into geocaching now, including the media it gets already, is adequate. To actively put it on the radar of Joe Public only serves to attract more of the bad crowd along with the good. Furthermore, there is a constant risk of the journalist stuffing up and putting the wrong spin on it.

With that said, I've had my share of involvement with newspaper articles on geocaching, but I've never sought to do them. I have no qualms with a handful of articles, but would prefer not to see it actively promoted.

- Rog
Thanx Mind Socket we sat here for ages trying to word a string , you did it for us :!:

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Post by Mind Socket » 01 December 05 11:30 am

Cheesy Pigs, it's a good 2c. :) I don't think anyone's suggesting retriction of membership, just careful promotion.

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