Understanding The Assignment

I’m not normally one to cache-shame, but I feel like I should take a moment to point out an example of what not to do (in my humble opinion). 

I popped over to a newly published cache a few days ago, hoping to be First to Find.  I probably only made it because I, unlike many local cachers, wasn’t able to attend an Event in Temple lauding some longtime cachers who are moving out of state.  I pulled up in a parking spot behind a shopping center and began my search.  It was a D1/T1.5 micro, and the hint read “pole.”  The CO has hundreds of finds, so I took them at their word.  Considering there was a yellow traffic barrier pole at ground zero, this was the place.  I began my search.  A D1 cache shouldn’t be too hard to find, no?  Well, it was.  I looked all around the yellow pole to no avail.  I brushed leaves aside, though they were not piled deeply enough to obscure anything other than grass.  I noticed similar yellow poles across from my parking spot, so I checked to make sure it wasn’t one of them.  There was a tree at GZ, so I also gave it a cursory look.  I investigated cracks and gaps in concrete and even considered moving my car, thinking I somehow might have parked over it.  And after twenty minutes, I decided to let it all go.  There were other caches to find, so why stress over it?  Except I know who I am?  There is no way on God’s green earth I’m going to let a D1 beat me!  I took a more holistic approach.  I just looked about with no analysis involved, just with eyes and no thought (which, if you have met me, you should know, is quite hard).  That’s when I saw the fence and the iron fence “pole” about fifty feet from GZ.  I approached it and quickly spotted a nano.  Inveni, inscripsi, reposui. 

First of all, coordinates are a thing!  I get that sometimes mistakes happen, like a mistyped digit, or maybe you’re using your phone instead of a GPS unit.  Fifty feet is a relatively big distance.  When you’re off by a thousandth of a minute of degree, you’re talking six feet of distance.  Being off by six feet when your standard phone or GPS is accurate within fifteen to thirty feet may not be important.  Being off by fifty feet, on the other hand, is a much bigger deal.  If it had been a more complicated setting (thick trees, a rock pile, tightly packed mechanical equipment), I probably never would have found it as there would have been too big of a search area and too many places to look. 

Second, why was the Difficulty set at 1?  Speaking only for myself, 1 usually means it should be blatantly obvious to a cacher, possibly even something a muggle might not ignore.  Even attempting to obfuscate it should garner at least a 1.5. 

Finally, while I think a nano should qualify as other instead of micro (though I’m not ready to die on that hill), in what world does a nano qualify as a D1?  Even if it’s in an obvious place, it should probably be a D2 minimum and D3 or more in a busier or more obscured spot. 

My point here (and I do have one) is that you’ve got to inspect your ratings when you post your cache.  I rolled up to this one thinking that the hardest part would be finding close parking, and I spent forty minutes metaphorically pulling my hair out over it!  Aim for accuracy!  Or, barring that, it’s better to make the cache description look harder than to make it look easier.  How would it look for a new cacher to roll up on something that, from the description, should be pretty obvious and then to walk away disappointed because so many things were wrong?  Don’t do this to someone if you can avoid it!