Spent the day in Kerry doing a spot of geocaching, and all in all it was idyllic. However, several of the caches we found had also been found by somebody who had left a series of leaflets of a bible-thumping nature. "I'm going to heaven, are you?" was the general gist. I was annoyed by it in a vague sort of way, as was my friend, who had brought her youngfella along for the adventure.
Is this acceptable under the etiquette of geocaching? I can't help thinking that people who take advantage of a harmless activity to ram their beliefs down other people's throats are missing the point. Or am I missing the point? I'm relatively new to geocaching, is this godbothering a common phenomenon?
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| 20-08-2013, 11:40 | #2 |
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Moderator
 Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 13,288
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No, it's someone who is, as you say, ramming their beliefs down other peoples throats. Geocaching is a family friendly activity, not a evangelical outreach. It's the first I've heard of this phenomena.
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| 20-08-2013, 12:49 | #3 |
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Registered User
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I had a brainwave and looked on geocaching.com. In the guidelines for hiding a cache http://www.geocaching.com/about/guidelines.aspx it says :
Geocaches do not solicit for any purpose. Cache listings perceived to be posted for religious, political, charitable or social agendas are not permitted. Geocaching is intended to be an enjoyable, family-friendly hobby, not a platform for an agenda. Cache pages cannot require, and should not strongly encourage, the placement of new caches. This is considered an agenda and the listing will not be publishable. I think that really only applies to the owner of the cache, but it's a good guideline for what can be exchanged too. Anyway I took all the leaflets I found and I won't be passing them on, so their fiendish evangelical plan has failed. |
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| 17-09-2013, 19:41 | #4 |
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Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 3,951
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Its inevitable though. Sure there was outrage when during the early days of the internet when someone had the cheek of trying to flog his wares in several USENET groups. This was when the internet was used mostly by colleges and private internet connections were a very rare sight.
I have found several business cards, branded keyrings and biros in geocaches, these are also a form of advertising but they might just be something a finder had spare and wanted to get rid of. If it bothers you remove the leaflets and use them as firelighter for your camp fire |
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