The Physics of Logging

This article was originally published on Cache Up NB. It has been mirrored here for archive purposes only.

A few years ago, I got a rush of logs by an unknown cacher. They all came in around the same time, and they all had the same text on them. I don’t remember the specifics of the logs, but a whole pile of them came in and it was something to do with they had forgotten to log the caches or they were part of a team and then split off and were relogging them. I don’t remember exactly the specifics.

Well, another local cacher happened to check one of their own physical logs and noticed that despite the fact that they had received an electronic “find” log, their name was never on the physical log sheet. There was no trace of this newer name, or any name what so ever that had ever been associated to this cacher. So, the owner deleted all of their find logs on his caches and informed me of the same. I checked one of my physical logs and sure enough, no name. So I deleted the log.

Now this was a long time ago. And we all know the rule is that you need to sign the physical log before logging it online. The question on my mind tonite is, does anyone out there ever go out and physically check their real logs, and compare them against the online logs? I haven’t done it since that one time and I never will. The idea of going back and checking seems a bit pointless to me, but I am sure that there are those out there who would want to make sure that online logs are indeed legit logs.

The discussion about the need to physically sign a log has come up many times and there are merits for situations where physical logging may not be necessary or doesn’t make sense in certain specific situations. However, in this instance, I’m talking about specifically going out to your actual caches, and comparing the signed names to those on the cache listing itself. Does anyone think that this is necessary, or is that a bit overkill?

I don’t check mine. Honestly, I don’t care. Maybe that’s a horrible way to think but my take on it is if someone wants to log my caches without actually finding them, I’m going to know and so is everyone else. People who log finds on caches they don’t actually find gain a reputation very quickly, and their numbers mean less and less to those who know where the numbers really come from.

For me to spend any amount of my own time trying to figure out who really signed the log is a waste. I’d rather be hiding new caches or finding new ones. Not burning my energy on fake logs.

Do you reconcile the two? Do you check your caches for real logs vs fake ones? Does it matter?