Paging Doctors Dunning And Kruger

Twice in the last couple of weeks, I’ve had newer cachers reach out to me to inquire about the state of caches of mine that they couldn’t find. In both cases, they questioned whether or not they were there (in the second case, I was informed that it was missing). I need you to understand that when I say “newer cachers,” I don’t mean someone who has been doing it for a few months and wracked up an impressive 200 finds or something like that. The former cacher had just over thirty finds, though his first find was before I even started back in 2018. The latter cacher had less than ten. The former cacher did ask me about a slightly more difficult cache that had been DNF’d a couple of times before by cachers with a fairly minimal number of finds. For that reason and that reason alone, I went and checked the hide and found it sitting out more obviously than when I hid it in the first place. I gave him a clue (the height level) and, after a third attempt, they finally found it. Good for them. The latter cacher, Mr. Less-Than-Ten-Finds, told me that my cache was missing. It’s an LPC with a minor twist that I’m not sure that he would figure out because I’m not confident he even knows about lamp skirts. I responded to his assertion that just because he can’t find it doesn’t mean it’s missing. I ended up parking near that cache a couple of days later, so I went ahead and checked on it. Perfectly in place as it should be.

From time to time, I get DNFs on my caches or notes that they might be missing. I often don’t check on them. Why not? Here’s the thing: if someone with ten thousand finds tells me they think my cache is missing, I’m going to check on it. Some one with that many finds has seen a good range of things and, more importantly, figured out that sometimes a cache can elude the best finder so maybe they just didn’t find it. If they feel it’s missing, I trust that have enough experience to know things. If some one has a thousand finds, they’ve seen some things and I’m willing to entertain that they might be correct about something having disappeared. If you have a hundred finds, you’ve gotten a taste of what caching is like, but you’ve got a long way to go. If you have ten finds, I’m sorry, but you know nothing. Yes, you are part of the fraternity/sorority of caching, but you don’t know anything about anything yet. You’ve got so much to learn that I wouldn’t know where to begin teaching you. So how can I give the opinion of someone with ten finds any weight at all? I really, really want to out of basic respect, but I have no faith in their ability to assess anything. So, kid, don’t be telling me that my cache is missing. You’ve never seen a cache like mine before. You’ll have your mind blown when you finally find it, despite it being an incredibly common hide method.

Does that make me a grognard? Maybe a little bit. All that said, I do try to give grace to newbies. Every cacher, no matter how accomplished and storied, started with a first cache. It’s the most universal thing that connects us as cachers. But have a little respect for your “elders,” OK?