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Thread: Travel Bug Abuse

  1. #11
    Bio-x Guest
    No problem Ruffrider. I know you'll take care of it eventually. The one I was actually referring to was kept for 4 months and the cacher rarely logged into the geocaching.com site. They finally moved it just after I had given up on it.

  2. #12
    houseofcache Guest
    I've decided that a short hop for a TB is better than no hop. I'll continue to pick up travel bugs, and if circumstance deems that I can't move them far, I'll pick one of the better local caches and drop it off there. Besides, it can't hurt to revist a favorite cache now and then.

  3. #13
    Geezer_Veazey Guest
    I'm glad to see all the posts and glad to see there are others that feel the same as I do. The word "Travel" does not appear in the name for no reason at all. Travel Bugs were designed to travel. When they are held by someone for an unreasonably long time, they aren't traveling. When they are placed in a "prison", probably so named because of the extreme difficulty to access them, then their travel is restricted to a great degree.

    Even Travel Bug Hotels that have the requirement to leave a Travel Bug in order to take one restricts travel in that the great majority of cachers are not eligible to take them and move them along. They are restricted to the "elite" who already have a Travel bug. This leads to people holding Travel Bugs in order to have one to trade when they find one of these caches, further restricting travel.

    With geocaching and travel bugs just as in other areas of life we would do well to ask ourselves what the ultimate result would be if everyone acted just as I do.

    I hope I don't injure myself climbing down from this soap box.

  4. #14
    Geezer_Veazey Guest
    I'm glad to see all the posts and glad to see there are others that feel the same as I do. The word "Travel" does not appear in the name for no reason at all. Travel Bugs were designed to travel. When they are held by someone for an unreasonably long time, they aren't traveling. When they are placed in a "prison", probably so named because of the extreme difficulty to access them, then their travel is restricted to a great degree.

    Even Travel Bug Hotels that have the requirement to leave a Travel Bug in order to take one restricts travel in that the great majority of cachers are not eligible to take them and move them along. They are restricted to the "elite" who already have a Travel bug. This leads to people holding Travel Bugs in order to have one to trade when they find one of these caches, further restricting travel.

    With geocaching and travel bugs just as in other areas of life we would do well to ask ourselves what the ultimate result would be if everyone acted just as I do.

    I hope I don't injure myself climbing down from this soap box.

  5. #15
    GEO Guest

    TB's

    I have had some of my travel bug's held for way over 6 months and 1 that is almost a year now.(active cachers).

    As stated before I personally like my TB"s and Coins to be at Geocaching Events,makes it a little more special.

    I have been seeing this discussed again and thought I would put in my input.
    As of date I have had people from all over the World e-mail me and say they relly appreciate the way's I treat their TB's.Most of the time except for events(and some of them).I have traveled and made them a part of my story,uploaded photo's recovered Benchmarks,met the President..............and I could go on and on about stories about TB's.

    I always e-mail the owner if I have a plan to hold on to it for a while and get the permission I need to carry on.

    So the PERSON with the complaint should talk to the PERSON they have a problem with instead of beating around the bush about it.


    There is a portion of the TB or GEOCoin that states it's goal,if you do not want your TB or GEOCoin going to events say so.

  6. #16
    Geezer_Veazey Guest
    Just for the record, I have no axe to grind with any particular person. Except for the one TB missing in action, mine all seem to be moving acceptably. I have no problems with them going to geocache events. My pet peeve is anything which tends to restrict TB circulation are prevents any ordinary cacher from taking and moving one.

    Think about this: Suppose a person decides to start a TB hotel. They watch the logs each day and go to where the travel bugs are and retrieve and hold them for their new cache. Then they start the cache with, say, 6 TBs. They have taken 6 TBs with no restrictions and put a requirement that to take one you must leave another. They have effectively REDUCED the number of TBs in circulation by 6. This is grossly unfair to all cachers without travel bugs currently in their posession, cachers who are abiding by the spirit of TBs who are promptly placing the ones they do find in a wide variety of caches.

    The person who would do this did not have to leave a TB for each one he accumulated to start the TB hotel. He would be SOL if he had to abide by the requirements he puts on others.

    Another thing: when a TB hotel gets muggled there are several TBs that are lost instead of just one.

    I think it's admirable to communicate with TB owners. I do that myself. I think it's admirable to upload pictures. I enjoy seeing pictures of mine and I upload pictures for others.

    I hope I've gotten the point across without beating around the bush that I think TBs should travel and that they should be eligible to be taken by any geocacher that finds them. We do not need defacto classes being created in the geocaching community.

    Well, I managed to get down from my soapbox safely last time. Here's hoping I can do it again.

  7. #17
    chili36 Guest
    In my humble opinion, there are several valid reasons why I might hold a TB more than a few days. However, having said that, if I hold one longer than a couple of weeks, I email the owner and advise of my plans.

    There have been times I have found a TB that needed to go in the direction that I had a trip planned within a month. Hopping a bug from the Ozarks to Nashville when he wants to go east keeps it moving.

    I also think TB hotels are a great idea as I can always put a TB in there and get it back on track if it is lost or going the wrong way.

    I picked up 5 from Eastern Arkansas and took them to GeoWoodstock. I brought back a like amount to spread around. Sometimes a turnover in TB's keeps everyone interested.

    Again, all IMHO.

  8. #18
    nonnipoppy Guest
    I hope that we can keep this forum (unlike GC.com IMHO) where we can disagree and not be disagreeable. Having said that here is our thinking about some T/Bs.

    We have two T/B "hotels". They started with a minimum of three T/Bs each and ask that cachers take as many as they leave. That means they should always have three in residence.

    We saw this in more metropolitan areas and found them very interesting. Primarily when caching we will always try a little harder/longer to seek a cache with a T/B. They are like bait to us. So we think that might be the same with others.

    We did plan this out a bit and placed them on IH40 so they could get more visits. As a cache owner we want to see our caches get visits.

    I understand that everyone does not agree with this but we each play the game as we want. That is evident because when we stop to check on these caches we often find some cachers play the game they want and take and do not leave. Just as we experience in life people are going to do what they want to do. Regardless of what others ask or expect.

    There have been some cachers that have visited and not taken a bug, while others ignore the request and take them. To me that means that we each PLAY this game the way WE want. That is not bad just different. I will not loose sight of the fact this is a game and will not get my underwear in a wad over something that cannot be controlled. Life is just to short for that.

    Edit to say:
    In most instances we started these "hotels" with our own T/B or T/Bs we had picked up after leaving ours. For poppy's birthday he was given eight T/B tags we carry the balance of those around with us to put in a cache we really enjoy, or to leave when we pick up a T/B. We have put a lot of T/Bs/Geocoins in play, far more in fact, that the six we ask to stay in these "hotels".



    Have we kept T/Bs longer than we should? Yes!
    Did we do it intentionally? No!
    Will it happen again? Possibly!
    Why? Life happens.......poppy

  9. #19
    Geezer_Veazey Guest
    Greetings, Poppy. I should have prefaced my remarks by stating that I did not have you in mind when I climbed on the soapbox. Your profile shows that you have placed far more TBs and Geocoins in circulation than even the modest number you mentioned in your post.

    I would imagine that you are the exception and that most people who set up TB hotels start few if any TBs. These are the abusers. I didn't intend to call any names but I'm sure some will know who I am talking about when I say there was one notorious example in the Central Arkansas area a few months ago. Others I have noticed are out of state.

    There are many TBs that are started by cachers who just want to experience in a small way what it's like to own a TB. They purchase one or two and eagerly watch their email for notices of movement. Because I have made my feelings known in a few places I have had emails from some of these people expressing their dismay that their TB wound up in a TB hotel with 5 or 6 others and then just sat there for months while others would come and go.

    I guess I should also say that, as much as I dislike seeing the requirement to leave one when you take one, I do not advocate disobeying the instructions of the cache owner. I just hope some people who have never give it any thought will do so and perhaps agree that there is some merit to what I say.

    Geezer.

  10. #20
    nonnipoppy Guest
    Hello Geezer.
    You sir are the shining example of the cacher that obeyed our request about take and leave. For that I thank you.

    Sometimes we tend to focus on single issues. We personally do not pay much attention to the T/B logs. We tend to focus more on the logs we write and the logs we receive. I was shocked to read that others focus on the T/B logs.

    We have a travel bug Diog that has been in one guys possession for nearly a year.

    I sent a fairly terse pointed email to him recently.

    Does it bother me? yes!

    So I adopted some ideas about travel bugs from GC.com forum.

    Don't make them cute is number one. Diog was cute. Nonni loves cute. But the current crop of T/Bs are either ugly, scarred or just stupid. That insures (a bit I think) they are less likely to disappear. Another T/B SSR completely disappeared and I sent him to the graveyard only to have him reappear. That's how he got all those miles.

    For many years my living has depended on controlling my attitude and disregarding the negative. My only point about that says if I have no control over something it will not appear on my radar screen.

    Simplistic? Yes!

    Effective? Without question for me.

    There are things that bother me. Examples:

    A: T/Bs in caches that are only visited two or three times a year are worse, in my opinion, than someone keeping them.

    B: Cachers do not trade even or up leaving a year old cache full of junk.

    C: Some cachers do not reset caches as they found them, making the experience different for those who follow.

    D: Cachers who do not write a log worth reading for our caches. This is our payment for placement and I want to be paid well.

    But alas I control none of these; therefore I choose to not allow them to negatively affect my geocaching life.

    We have enjoyed almost everyone of our cache finds. We will continue to focus on those things and not the above mentioned.

    I am not trying to preach to anyone here. These are our attitudes and opinions. If you get something from it fine. If not, that's OK also. Happy caching to all ......poppy

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