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Post by eclose on May 16, 2005 15:42:49 GMT -5
For what it is worth I would like to respond to the newspaper article that was written in the locl paper this past Sunday.I can say that I don't think I would have been very interested in Geocaching if I didn't know now how great the sport is and the people involved.The article seems to say that we are always stopped by the police when out looking for a cache.I have never been stopped, then yet I'am not out caching at 2:00 in the morning.I see nothing wrong with this but night caching you have to expect to be stopped from time to time.My grandson and I love caching together.If the article had been more positive it would have given Geocaching a better look.
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Post by Hilltop Hiker on May 16, 2005 16:29:51 GMT -5
I don't cache at 2:00 in the morning myself, but I have been approached by police officers a few times... once in Cleveland, once in Florida, and once in Hixson. But the encounters were positive once I explained what I was doing. That being said, and although I was pleased seeing an article about geocaching and in the newspaper, I felt that there was so much more that could be said about our hobby (addiction).
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Post by TeamBearCat on May 17, 2005 11:52:41 GMT -5
For what it is worth I would like to respond to the newspaper article that was written in the locl paper this past Sunday.I can say that I don't think I would have been very interested in Geocaching if I didn't know now how great the sport is and the people involved.The article seems to say that we are always stopped by the police when out looking for a cache.I have never been stopped, then yet I'am not out caching at 2:00 in the morning.I see nothing wrong with this but night caching you have to expect to be stopped from time to time.My grandson and I love caching together.If the article had been more positive it would have given Geocaching a better look. Well, maybe any publicity, even bad publicity, is better than no publicity... we thought the article was not very objective or encouraging -- author seemed to be looking for the dramatic and certainly did make it sound like cachers are 'always' dodging arrest. Billy & Katy Walker are disappointed with the article also; said they feel like it twisted a lot of what they were trying to say. We have asked 'what are you doing/what's happening?' several times, by security, owners, city-maintenance folk, etc but never in a hostile or threatening way. We are always happy to discuss the details and we may have even converted a couple of new folks along the way! Articles like this one, and the presentation of 'digging for hidden stuff' on the L&O TV show don't really present caching as the generally clean, safe, family-friendly activity that it is.
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Post by James On The Elk River on May 17, 2005 15:17:37 GMT -5
For what it is worth I would like to respond to the newspaper article that was written in the locl paper this past Sunday. In my own personal and humble opinion, and trying to be objective and momentarily pretend that I have little or no knowledge about the "high-tech" game of geocaching, I thought the Times Free Press article (beyond the police parts) was reasonably well written and informative about the facts of geocaching. That said, I do not appreciate the negative focus in the article about being questioned by police officers, especially as presented as a regular occurrence, and in the leading paragraph, but there is more to the article and the story! Okay, there are 24 paragraphs (more or less) in the article, and 5 paragraphs/quotes reference or relate to encounters with police, but the writer does give much more information about the game. Remember, the article was written by a non-cacher (new cacher?), with a requisite sizzle or sensational twist for a front page above-the-fold story, to hook a readership that knows little of the game. It was not written by or for experienced caching enthusiasts, for page 3 or the back page. The article takes up about 62 column-inches, but over 37 column-inches are photos (1 very large, above the fold!) and headers! So, approximately 25 column-inches of text, at approximately 35 words per column-inch, leaves an article of about 800+ words to explain how "Treasure hunters go high-tech" and how "Geocaching is a hobby with growing popularity." Aside from references to one cacher regularly encountering police officers, the article does capture that story in a nutshell. The article starts with, "Geocaching is a hobby with growing popularity", and talks about, "the thrill of the treasure hunt", and "It's addicting", and "It's the adventure, the exploring of new places you've never been", and "getting outside and spending time with family and friends". The article also has some good, basic information about the game. There is a good, succinct explanation about how caches are hidden, approved, and hunted, and what (regular) caches might typically contain. There is also a good, succinct explanation about where and how the game started in 2000. And there is a good, if brief, summary of the geocaching guidelines. And as much as we might not want to be reminded on the front page of a newpaper section, those reminders about security issues and considerations with respect to our caching hobby are timely for all of us to think about when we place caches and hunt caches. I do not agree that "explaining (yourself) to police comes with the territory", should be an anticipated or expected part of playing the game, and I believe that that is not the focus the featured cachers would have chosen or expected for that article. Being approached and questioned by authorities or property owners could happen to nearly any cacher, any time, any where, and how the cacher reacts/responds can make all the difference for the individual and the game. But if it does "come with the territory" for some cachers and some cache locations, it is time to consider how those authorities and property owners view behavior that could be "suspicious-looking" and reconsider when and how those cachers go cache hunting and where those caches are located. In over two and a half years of caching, on two occasions we have been approached by state park rangers, and on one occasion by a local police officer. The two encounters with park rangers are ultimately fun stories with positive outcomes because each encounter brought a new park ranger/cacher into the game! Our one encounter with a Chattanooga officer happened when we went back to walking trail after dark to retrieve a left-behind GPSr, as the police were checking out some other suspicious parking activity nearby. Probably the funniest is the 'found it' log on a nearby cache where the cacher gave a lengthy explanation to a uniformed security guard about caching and what he was doing there, and then found out the guard wasn't from there and had just stopped at the rest area like any other traveler! Perhaps the TFP article is not the most positive, but it does help educate about the game and reduce the "lack of awareness about geocaching". So, if we want to counter any possible 'bad publicity' and help give 'geocaching a better look' and 'tell so much more about our hobby'... then always be the best ambassadors we can be for geocaching, and always go about playing the game and talking about the game in ways that will always look good in print or in pictures... because you never know when somebody might be watching or listening! ;D Keep on cachin'!
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