Ever had a cache full of SWAG delivered to your mailbox! I had a member of the OpenCaching.Com Team contact me a few days ago indicating they appreciated the support and would like to show their appreciation, they were going to forward me a little something. They didn’t have to do that, but I appreciate it. Here I was just having fun, that’s awesome!
I like finding things and no matter what your argument is for your idea of what the best geocaching listing service is, I ask only a couple of things. Do they have caches listed I can find? Can I hide some fun caches for people to find? Everything beyond those two questions is personal preference to me. For a month now I have been listening to the scuttlebutt on both sides and I am glad to see the OpenCaching team ignoring it.
Why did they send me a gift? I really don’t know. I like geocaching on several sites but I saw a unique opportunity to be in on the ground floor with Opencaching.Com. Their entrance into the geocaching world is not like what I have seen in the past. Garmin has opened up a listing service with some fresh ideas on what a listing site should look like and are accepting to input from the geocaching community. My contribution is only to post what I see happening and hide some unique geocaches. I feel like I was rewarded for having fun doing what I like to do. How cool is that?!
Here is how I see what is happening. There can be little argument to the fact that Garmin is a company with the resources to bring a finished and polished geocaching website to the geocaching community and say … here it is like it or leave it… but they didn’t. Intentionally or not, they have what they clearly indicate is a BETA site. They brought a few fresh ideas, and opened their ears and doors for development. If you have been following the listing and reviewing process, you will have seen that. That being said, if you are frequenting the Opencaching forums to grind your axe you will end up with a ground axe. If you take part in listing caches, using the forum, and reviewing the process, you can give constructive feedback through their contact link. I wouldn’t expect to see immediate results to anything submitted through that link, but it appears they are listening and will be developing with the feedback in mind.
What to do with my opencaching stash… after little thought, I am going to pass along what they sent me to the geocaching community. Anybody remember the first geocache? Dave Ulmer and the infamous can of beans… Here are some of the first gifts I know of distributed by Garmin and the Opencaching.Com team. History in the making for you to find in some of OpenCaching.Com only geocaches. What are they? You will have to visit one of these caches to find out. Who knows, one day you may receive a surprise Garmin package in your mailbox for having fun and doing something you love to do.
Thanks Garmin and the Opencaching Team!
Do you have suggestions about geocaching that you don’t see being implemented on other sites? Would you like to suggest these ideas to a geocaching website for consideration? Would you like to be the victim in a random act of gift giving? What are you waiting for?
(Some of these gifts will be distributed to active OpenCaching players and the remainder will be placed in my OpenCaching only hides over the next week.)
