Phone a Friend

[caughtatwork]

Rather than go in for a traditional poll.

When do you use the phone a friend option?

Do you think people use phone a friend too readily?

Do you think people use phone a friend too soon?

Should the person hunting the cache attempt to contact the cache owner (by phone) first before phoning a friend who is a mate?

Discuss

[swampgecko]

I use to use "Fone a Friend" a heck of a lot, until I got my phone changed to a prepaid account... that has dialled back my useage of the phone for caching purposes... I only do the "help line" now if I am absolutely stuck and I have been there for hours

[rhinogeo]

When do you use the phone a friend option?

Rarely, though the last time was only last week , but after I had logged a DNF and spent another good amount of time looking on my third visit (I misinterpreted the hint and was led astray by errant satellites)

Do you think people use phone a friend too readily?

Yes

Do you think people use phone a friend too soon?

Yes

Should the person hunting the cache attempt to contact the cache owner (by phone) first before phoning a friend who is a mate?

Yes
<p>YMMV </p>

[Cached]

I must admit I use it rarely.

Not an ethical thing, just don't usually think of it.

I would not normally attempt to contact the cache owner, and if it is practical to have a look later, I won't even think of it.

I'd litereally do what the name implies - phone a friend, not a stranger.

[Derringer]

Posted: 25 January 06 6:13 pm Post subject: Phone a Friend
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Should the person hunting the cache attempt to contact the cache owner (by phone) first before phoning a friend who is a mate?

Whoever they wish to, its their choice

When do you use the phone a friend option?

We have never used this option and never will
We will return to a cache as many times as required to find the cache.

Do you think people use phone a friend too readily?

Its up to each individual to assess their need for hints

Do you think people use phone a friend too soon?

Its an individual matter

If someone rings/emails us we will give a hint and/or general advice on how to reach our more difficult caches

We like to find caches with no outside assistance and repeat journeys to a cache are not a problem.
Quite often we find that a repeat journey will include new caches in the area not on the system when we were last there.

Everybody has their own style for geocaching,
Thats what we like about the sport, it caters for all

Cheers
Kevin

[Geof]

Have only rung twice from the field.
1 x webcam cache (can you grab a pic)
1 x confirmed faulty cache

It helps to not have a mobile

[GIN51E]

I think there is only one time i have phoned a friend, thats simply because it was a cache away from home and after a bit of a walk and i had already spent nearly an hour looking for it.

i would only phone a friend if i was really stuck and its a cache i really don't want to come all the way back to. i doubt i would call a cache owner that is a stranger as i wouldn't want to disturb them and for the fact i'm somewhat shy.

i would be happy for cachers to call me but not if its their first attempt and they have only looked for 20min, unless its a cache which requires a bit of a hike to reach.

[acts2youthgroup]

L.L.T.R.A

[TeamAstro]

I phone friends when searching in the city only after a couple of attempts. However, if I have had an extremely thorough good look and IÂ’m a fair way from home (or say in the Adelaide hills and IÂ’ve scaled the side of a cliff to get to a spot), I donÂ’t mind phoning a friend (thatÂ’s of course if they have found the prize before me!!).

I love getting calls from my caching buddies. Plenty of people give me a ring and we normally end up having a good chat and a laugh. I donÂ’t think there is anything wrong with admitting defeat and if you can, give a mate a ring. I love helping people when they are obviously “stressed and annoyedÂâ€

[team_diesel]

When do you use the phone a friend option?

We sometimes think we should ring but are never sure who to call as we have not met many cachers and we don't want to impose.

Do you think people use phone a friend too readily?

We think people should cache however they wish to.

Do you think people use phone a friend too soon?

We think people should cache however they wish to.

Should the person hunting the cache attempt to contact the cache owner (by phone) first before phoning a friend who is a mate?

We would be happy to hear from anyone who is troubled by one of our caches as we are only too happy to help.

Discuss

Done

[xf king]

I try not to use phone a friend till I am very stuck on a cache.


I would have had to be searching for about 1 hour and I usually ask for clues. Unless I have certian information missing on multis.

I dont get many phone calls about other peoples caches, so no I dont think people use phone a friend option very much.

[TeamBeanDare]

I think Phone a friend is ok (if only to prove you have them) but I feel we should always acknowledge it in our logs. I have on occasion contacted other cachers for hints

[Richary]

If I can't find a cache on the 1st or 2nd look, I won't phone for help. If it is the 3rd or more and I am getting really frustrated, then I may resort to it (but include that in the log).

The exceptions are complex multis where I am fairly sure I am in the right place, but nobody has logged it for a while and I haven't had any luck. One example was a week and a half ago, the previous log was last May. The cache had a good spoiler photo of a nearby tree stump but in the intervening time the blackberries had taken over making it hard to spot. A hint from the owner had me looking in the right spot without giving it totally away - and it still took a 10 minute search.

Otherwise I might go home, email the owner and ask if I had the calcs right. Then I will get pointed in the right direction as to which stage I have stuffed up and can go back and recalculate that one.

[SNIFTER]

In the almost 5 years of caching I think we have called only twice. We prefer to find things ourselves without outside intervention.
On the other hand we get many many calls. I guess we have lots of friends then.

[Geodes]

If someone else tells you where it is, you didn't find it and, what's more, you will never have another chance to find it.
<P>Sometime in the future, you might be really scratching around for some caches to hunt for (especially some that might offer a bit of a challenge) and you just might regret having someone else tell you where all those trickier ones were
<P>Another aspect, in my view, is that once you start relying on others to solve the trickier ones, you stop developing your finding skills - there's nothing like encountering a really tricky hide to get the imagination going as to where it could possibly be - this improves your ability to both locate future caches, and may give some ideas on placing/hiding your own.
<P>I'd rather accept a small percentage of dnfs - the numbers are not high enough to be concerned about anyway