Jeff,
[soapbox]
You've struck a chord with me, so therefore, I'll
bite. First I'll start by asking you if you've been to any of the
geocaching 'event' caches, such as the Potluck Picnic Cache put on by
ChicksWithTrucks not too long ago, or the one in Tucson (the name slips my mind)
a few months later. To have done so, you would know a great number of the
cachers in the metro Phoenix area, and not just the 'elite' at the top of the
list. All I have to say about them is that their need to overturn rocks in
this state far exceeds mine. :) Say what you will about our 'attitudes',
but know this. The purpose of a mailing list such as this is to voice
OPINIONS on the sport of geocaching, different caches, or geocachers in general
(as long as the tone doesn't change to one that implies a personal
attack). I would venture to say I didn't appreciate your attitude in
accusing geocachers in Arizona of having 'attitude' (an attitude about what, you
failed to specify).
Now, I agree that Jeremy is the Admin of
geocaching.com, the originating point of the sport, and that he has the right to
allow/deny any caches he sees fit. If by chance we don't agree with his
reasons, who are you to say that we shouldn't voice our opinions on the matter
in a forum completely independent (and IMO is far more efficient at managing
information for quick retrieval) of geocaching.com? As for the 'right' to
circumvent the rules, who's to say that creating a cache and linking to it from
another place would circumvent anything? Geocaching.com is not the be all
end all, and Jeremy has no right to govern caching activities in any
location. But, he does have the right to admin his own site and refuse any
caches for the reason he sees fit. Granted, if we don't like the reason,
hopefully there is room for dialogue to work out an alternative or come to some
sort of middle ground.
Charter Memberships....
In some ways I support it, and others I
don't. Members Only caches have a snooty elitism about them, in my
opinion. For that reason alone, I will not buy a charter membership.
Fortunately for us, we have the Snaptek gurus who have put together a very rich
pool of information to prepare for caching, which as I said before, is more
efficient and user friendly than what I've seen at geocaching.com. My
reasons for not getting one at this time are valid and legitimate, and I choose
not to share those in this arena. So please do us all a favor
and present your ideas a little less abrasively in the future. I'm sure
mine will not be the only message in response to your accusatory toned
argument.
Finally, who says the cache placers were not being
adult in their response to the denial? I see both sides of the situation
and support both for different reasons. However, there should be a
dialogue between them and Jeremy in order to come to a resolution that satisfies
both. In fact, after barking at them about how they acted, it just so
happens that they borrowed your recommendation and posted the info somewhere
independent of geocaching.com. Now I'm confused. You vented about
something another geocacher did, then offered the solution they already
implemented.... Ugh
[/soapbox]
Brian
Team A.I.