In Defense Of PMO's

I messed up. I admit it. I went into the GC forums and a rant caught my eye. Now here I am at 11:40 P.M., writing a blog entry. Sitting here in my lab with a pen and a pad trying...no, that's something completely different. 

The rant was about PMO or Premium Member Only caches. Caches that aren't visible to cachers who don't "pay to play". Something that came up once every couple of weeks when I was an active forum reader and responder. A topic that just won't die. 

You can go look me up on Geocaching.com under Freekacher. What you'll find on that profile is that I've been caching since 2006. That's wrong. In reality I've been caching since 2003 and I've changed handles a couple of times. Why? I think it's MPD. I have finally conquered that though I think, I am happy being Freekacher.

I wrote all that not to brag but to back up what I'll write later in this post. I have the experience to make these claims. I love this sport. It has been one of the few hobbies besides writing and photography that I've stuck to. 

This is what caught my eye in the forums in defense of PMO's:

Out of my 130 active hides, ONLY 3 are PMO. These also happen to be what I consider my best 3. 2 of them are electronic puzzles. So why are they PMO? I couldn't care less about the Audit logs. I'm not really concerned about cache maggots seeking my caches out. 

What I do care about is getting a good log from someone who has completed the cache after I have invested my money, my time, and my effort into creating them. Now I'm not saying that only PM's can write interesting and thoughtful logs, but there is (in my area anyway) a clear correlation between non-PM's and "TFTC" logs, which irritate me to no end. 

I also like to be able to control the user-experience of my caches as much as possible. This is much easier to do when I don't have to worry about non-PM's unintentionally damaging something at one of these PMO caches I own. Again, I am not saying that only PM's can handle caches appropriately - but yes, in the past, there has been a clear correlation between a lack of respect for caches and non-PM's. 

I evaluated the evidence around me, and determined that there is, however inherently unknown, a lower probability of something negative occurring to a PMO cache compared to a non-PMO cache.

That is probably one of the most well thought out and written forum posts in response to the usual question that I've ever seen.

There are other reasons as well. Cache maggots come to mind. People who just want to throw a wrench in the machine. They come from all walks of life. From kids who think it's funny, to people who don't understand, down to an ecoterrorist a couple of years ago who really enjoyed himself to much. He claimed that our hobby has encroached upon and torn through all the pristine beauty of the forest. I try my best to leave no trace. Maybe a little blood and most definitely a footprint here and there.

Then you have the folks who "just try" caching. These are the ones who just lose interest, and that's all well and good. But they don't take the care that the ones of us who will stick to the hobby have for the caches and for the spots where we cache. I know there are exceptions, but in this "gotta have it now" society, patience has gone out the window. How many coins or TB's have you lost to people who logged in and out for the first time on the same day? Never to be seen or heard from again?

And there's the cacher who knows how to "play the game better". You all know this guy. He can have 3 finds or 30,000, and he knows his GPS is right and that your cache is in the wrong place. I don't care if you have the same GPS model I have and they came off the line at the factory right behind each other. On the same day, in the same spot, at the same exact time, you and I will get different readings. I've seen a noob find a cache quicker than a veteran cacher because the noob has that special thing that makes a good cacher. That geo-sense. If you don't have it, you may get it. You may not. That's a subject for another post.

There are many reasons why cachers list their caches as PMO. 

But it's not snobbery. 

It's not elitism. 

There is no club with a secret handshake that Jeremy presides over while we chant and he sacrifices a raccoon. 

We don't get anything special from making it a PMO except maybe a little security. 

Now me, I will usually list my newer caches as PMO's for the first little while until 

the FTF makes their find. Why? Because that cacher has "paid to play". They support the hobby. They've put down the thirty bucks for the year and bought an E ticket. And I like that! And you can argue it til the cows come home, but you won't change my mind. To me, the ones that support the hobby deserve a little something extra.  So I show my gratitude by giving them first crack at the cache. My cache, my choice.

I spend money on my caches. Usually an ammo can, well painted (which I love doing) or a micro that I have purchased. It always pleases me when someone cares about the hide enough to put something into it. But then, I love people who put pride in their work.

So anyway, a lot of the that have been here since the beginning have a different way of looking at the hobby than the folks who are new to the hobby. And I don't knock the new folk, they might hide something that blows my mind. And believe me, I see something nearly every time I go caching that I want to bring back to my home area. 

Next up: 

Haunts and Legends: Bridges, graveyards and OCUS virts. (I'm a little excited!)