After the death of a Geocacher that in life had been a member of Groundspeak’s Geocaching website (www.geocaching.com) and who had placed geocaches that are still active at the date of his/her death, the geocaches in question remain active. Without any clear instruction on how these geocaches should be dealt with, it is impossible for Groundspeak or other members of the Geocaching community to appropriately deal with these geocaches except by attrition over time as the geocaches get lost and are archived due to inadequate maintenance leading to the demise of the geocaches in question. This is an unsatisfactory circumstance as it can lead to the problem of geo-litter and/or the sterilisation of viable geocaching hiding spots while a protracted process of natural demise of the geocaches has to play out.
In order to facilitate the addressing of the abovementioned problems, it is suggested that a Geocacher can as a responsible member of the Geocaching community take active steps to prevent the problem from arising. Two such steps are:
- Providing an instruction to Groundspeak by way of a Reviewers Notice on how to deal with the Geocacher’s active caches upon death. Such a Reviewers Notice is then annotated to the confidential database linked to the Cache Owner’s profile in the Groundspeak website; and/or
- Providing in a will for the management of geocaches after the death of a Cache Owner.
It is submitted that there are essentially three possible actions that a Cache Owner can direct in these circumstances, namely:
- Immediate archiving of all active caches upon death; or
- Adoption of all active caches by a fellow geocacher(s); or
- Allowing the representatives of Groundspeak, i.e. the volunteer reviewers of the area where the caches are located to take appropriate steps to arrange for the adoption of such caches by willing members of the Geocaching community in the area in question.
The following are example texts of how a geocacher can direct the possible treatment of his/her geocaches by way of a provision in a will and/or a Reviewers Notice. It is important to note that the Adoption of geocaches will be performed subject to the applicable Groundspeak rules and to the extent that certain limitations exist e.g. on the adoption of certain geocache types, such rules will apply and the request by the geocacher in question will not override the Groundspeak rules.
For each of the three possible scenarios the example texts proposed below can be selected depending on what option the geocacher prefers:
Scenario 1:
The Cache Owner wishes all the active geocaches linked to his/her Groundspeak Profile to be archived.
Reviewers Note:
“Dear Reviewer,
I participate in the Geocaching game as a member registered on the Groundspeak website (www.geocaching.com) under the name [insert geocaching handle]. I have created various geocache listings and I am the Cache Owner of these geocaches. I herewith request that at my death any and all of the geocaches of which I am the Cache Owner should be archived forthwith. I herewith expressly authorise the relevant representatives of Groundspeak (including without limitation the volunteer geocache reviewers appointed for the area in which such geocaches are located) or any of Groundspeak’s successors in title to take all such steps that are necessary to give effect to this request that my geocaches should be archived. I also request that as part of the process of the archiving of the geocaches that the applicable Groundspeak Reviewers, with the assistance of the active geocaching community in the area where the caches are located, take reasonable steps to endeavour to remove the physical cache containers so as to ensure that my erstwhile geocaches do not contribute to geo-litter when I am no longer around to perform maintenance on the geocaches that I used to own.”
Provision in a Will:
“Geocaching
In life I participated in the Geocaching game as a member registered on the Groundspeak website (www.geocaching.com) under the name [insert geocaching handle] and as a result I spent countless enjoyable hours geocaching. As part of my participation in this pastime I have hidden various geocaches and created geocaching listings, the details of which are listed on the website in question. I herewith direct that at my death any and all of the geocaches of which I am the Cache Owner should forthwith be archived. I herewith expressly authorise the relevant representatives of Groundspeak (including without limitation the volunteer geocache reviewers appointed for the area in which such geocaches are located) or any of Groundspeak’s successors in title to take all such steps that are necessary to give effect to this wish of mine that my geocaches should be archived. I also direct that as part of the process of the archiving of the geocaches that the applicable Groundspeak Reviewers, with the assistance of the active geocaching community in the area where the caches are located, take reasonable steps to endeavour to remove the physical cache containers so as to ensure that my erstwhile geocaches do not contribute to geo-litter now that I am no longer around to perform maintenance on the geocaches that I used to own in life. Information regarding the current Groundspeak Reviewers appointed for the [insert] area can be obtained from Groundspeak, the contact details of which are available from the aforementioned website.”
Scenario 2
The Cache Owner wishes the active geocaches linked to his/her Groundspeak Profile to be adopted by a nominated Geocacher. This is typically an arrangement which the deceased Geocacher would have agreed with the nominated adopting Geocacher in question. However, the instruction is formulated in such a way that it also caters for the situation where the nominated Geocacher only wishes to adopt certain of the geocaches owned by the deceased Cache Owner.
Reviewers Note:
“Dear Reviewer,
I participate in the Geocaching game as a member registered on the Groundspeak website (www.geocaching.com) under the name [insert geocaching handle]. I have created various geocache listings and I am the Cache Owner of these geocaches. I herewith request that at my death any and all of the geocaches of which I am the Cache Owner should be offered for adoption by [insert full name and surname] who is also a registered member of the Groundspeak website under the name [insert nominated geocaching handle]. In the event that at my death [insert nominated geocaching handle] has pre-deceased me or is no longer registered as a member of the Groundspeak website or is only willing to adopt certain of the geocaches offered to him/her for adoption, then I request that any and all of my geocaches that can for these reasons not be adopted by [insert nominated geocaching handle] be archived forthwith.
In this regard I herewith expressly authorise the relevant representatives of Groundspeak (including without limitation the volunteer geocache reviewers appointed for the area in which such geocaches are located) or any of Groundspeak’s successors in title to take all such steps that are necessary to give effect to the requested adoption of my geocaches by [insert nominated geocaching handle] and/or the archiving of my geocaches in the circumstances indicated above. In the event that any of my geocaches need to be archived as part of executing this wish of mine relating to the handling of my geocaches upon my death, I also direct that as part of the process of the archiving of such geocaches that the applicable Groundspeak Reviewers, with the assistance of the active geocaching community in the area where the caches are located, take reasonable steps to endeavour to remove the affected physical cache containers so as to ensure that my erstwhile geocaches do not contribute to geo-litter now that I am no longer around to perform maintenance on the geocaches that I used to own. Information regarding the current Groundspeak Reviewers appointed for the [insert] area can be obtained from Groundspeak, the contact details of which are available from the aforementioned website.”
Provision in Will:
"Geocaching
In life I participated in the Geocaching game as a member registered on the Groundspeak website (www.geocaching.com) under the name [insert geocaching handle] and as a result I spent countless enjoyable hours geocaching. As part of my participation in this pastime I have hidden various geocaches and created geocaching listings, the details of which are listed on the website in question. I herewith direct that at my death any and all of the geocaches of which I am the Cache Owner should be offered for adoption by my dear geocaching friend [insert full name and surname] who is also a registered member of the Groundspeak website under the name [insert nominated geocaching handle]. In the event that at my death [insert nominated geocaching handle] has pre-deceased me or is no longer registered as a member of the Groundspeak website or is only willing to adopt certain of the geocaches offered to him/her for adoption, then I request that any and all of my geocaches that can for these reasons not be adopted by [insert nominated geocaching handle] be archived forthwith.
In this regard I herewith expressly authorise the relevant representatives of Groundspeak (including without limitation the volunteer geocache reviewers appointed for the area in which such geocaches are located) or any of Groundspeak’s successors in title to take all such steps that are necessary to give effect to the requested adoption of my geocaches by [insert nominated geocaching handle] and/or the archiving of my geocaches in the circumstances indicated above. In the event that any of my geocaches need to be archived as part of executing this determination of the handling of my geocaches upon my death, I also request that as part of the process of the archiving of such geocaches that the applicable Groundspeak Reviewers, with the assistance of the active geocaching community in the area where the caches are located, take reasonable steps to endeavour to remove the affected physical cache containers so as to ensure that my erstwhile geocaches do not contribute to geo-litter when I am no longer around to perform maintenance on the geocaches that I used to own."
Scenario 3
The Cache Owner wishes the active geocaches linked to his/her Groundspeak Profile to be offered by the Groundspeak Reviewers for adoption to active members of the geocaching community and any caches which are not adopted pursuant to such an offer will then be archived. The instruction is formulated in such a way that the Cache Owner can specify a qualifying requirement that adopting Cache Owners have to meet.
Reviewers Note:
“Dear Reviewer,
I participate in the Geocaching game as a member registered on the Groundspeak website (www.geocaching.com) under the name [insert geocaching handle]. I have created various geocache listings and I am the Cache Owner of these geocaches. I herewith request that at my death Groundspeak should offer any and all of the geocaches of which I am the Cache Owner at the time of my death for adoption to active members of the geocaching community who are registered members of the Groundspeak website www.geocaching.com provided that such geocacher(s) have at least [insert number] geocache finds and [insert number] active geocache hides. Any and all geocaches of which I am Cache Owner at the time of my death that Groundspeak does not succeed in arranging the adoption of within a reasonable time of my death, should be forthwith archived by Groundspeak.
In this regard I herewith expressly authorise the relevant representatives of Groundspeak (including without limitation the volunteer geocache reviewers appointed for the area in which such geocaches are located) or any of Groundspeak’s successors in title to take all such steps that are necessary to give effect to the requested adoption of my geocaches and/or the archiving of my geocaches in the circumstances indicated above. In the event that any of my geocaches need to be archived as part of executing this wish of mine relating to the handling of my geocaches upon my death, I also request that as part of the process of the archiving of such geocaches that the applicable Groundspeak Reviewers, with the assistance of the active geocaching community in the area where the caches are located, take reasonable steps to endeavour to remove the affected physical cache containers so as to ensure that my erstwhile geocaches do not contribute to geo-litter when I am no longer around to perform maintenance on the geocaches that I used to own.”
Provision in Will:
"Geocaching
In life I participated in the Geocaching game as a member registered on the Groundspeak website (www.geocaching.com) under the name [insert geocaching handle] and as a result I spent countless enjoyable hours geocaching. As part of my participation in this pastime I have hidden various geocaches and created geocaching listings, the details of which are listed on the website in question. I herewith direct that at my death Groundspeak should offer any and all of the geocaches of which I was the Cache Owner at the time of my death for adoption to active members of the geocaching community who are registered members of the Groundspeak website (www.geocaching.com) provided that such geocacher(s) have at least [insert number] geocache finds and [insert number] active geocache hides. Any and all geocaches of which I was Cache Owner at the time of my death that Groundspeak does not succeed in arranging the adoption of within a reasonable time of my death, should be forthwith archived by Groundspeak.
In this regard I herewith expressly authorise the relevant representatives of Groundspeak (including without limitation the volunteer geocache reviewers appointed for the area in which such geocaches are located) or any of Groundspeak’s successors in title to take all such steps that are necessary to give effect to the requested adoption of my geocaches and/or the archiving of my geocaches in the circumstances indicated above. In the event that any of my geocaches need to be archived as part of executing this determination of the handling of my geocaches upon my death, I also direct that as part of the process of the archiving of such geocaches that the applicable Groundspeak Reviewers, with the assistance of the active geocaching community in the area where the caches are located, take reasonable steps to endeavour to remove the affected physical cache containers so as to ensure that my erstwhile geocaches do not contribute to geo-litter now that I am no longer around to perform maintenance on the geocaches that I used to own."