[Az-Geocaching] Members Only Caches

[listserv@azgeocaching.com]

Not that I am proud of this fact but this bothers me greatly...

Why change a Cache MID-Game or even temporary???

Yes Roadrunners you make a good point about becoming a Charter Member


 Now I will put in my 0.02 cents in as well, at
> the risk of offending someone: I encourage
> those of us who participate in the sport on a
> regular basis to support the geocache website
> by forking our a few bucks and joining as a
> member. This does not mean I think all or even
> any caches should be members only. I just get
> so much enjoyment from the sport that I want to
> do my part to make sure the website continues
> to exist, because without it, there would be no
> geocaching.


and if I had the means Team Evil Fish would sign in a heartbeat, 

but to change the status of a cache from open to Members only hurts like the
bumper sticker I read Found the cheese Maze Changed

These words sum up some feelings
> Team My Blue Heaven

> We are not trying to hide our caches from new
> cachers or land managers. We welcome new
> cachers to the sport and our caches are in
> public places accesible by all. The thought was
> that some people who read the article might
> think caching itself is a bad sport and there
> are people who would seek caches to destroy
> them just to be hateful. I think this is fresh
> in the minds of people right now and the time
> is more likely to be now rather than later for
> this to occur. As the article pointed out,
> there are vandals out there who seek to destroy
> and have no respect for others or historical
> artifacts. Perhaps we are being overly
> sensitive, but I think everyone is a little on
> edge this week and feeling defensive after
> being wrongly accused in a public forum. 
> 
> The caches are not so fragile that cachers
> cannot handle them, but some of them required
> some time consuming construction on our part
> and even ordering of some parts from an outside
> source. These could be replaced eventually, but
> not by just buying another tupperwear
> container.
> 

Now some of the reasons I feel this way...not that I want to make them public,
but I am Very under employed and after the loss of my Mother, Neice, Good
Friend, and lastly a Great Job
I was Very Depressed, Even with the Help of my Uncle left the country didn't
help. Then I started GeoCaching a couple of months ago it was from reading
about it on a Scuba website WWW.SCUBABOARD.COM, an expensive hobby that I can
rarely now enloy. I have owned a GPS since 1994 and always wanted to do
something more productive with it besides marking a great camping spot..Now I
could do three things: spend productive time with my son get out of the house
and use my newest GPS(Magellan 315 bought 1999).
My feelings about Geocaching range from what a waste of gas to an almost
spiritual one. Funds are very tight with me so I choose careful the Caches we
find, then after the power surge from Sunday lost my Computer's main HD, have
been unable to update my list until today.  Yeah we have been to most of the
caches that have been switched to Members Only, infact today went to two more,
can't log em.. Would I have uploaded the waypoint for cache in the first place
knowing that when we did find it we couldn't log it, or even drop off the
Travel bugs in a cache that we couldn't then notify anyone else of its
placement???? 

I have had the thought of driving back to the caches and removing our name and
TB's, as this is a sad ending to a great caching day for my son.

HOW can a great game remain so if the rules change MID WAY through??? Just
like President Bush stated after Sept 11, Keep living your life the SAME WAY,
but be alert...Changing your normal life is what the Terrorist want...


Team Evil Fish

The Fish half