Intro
From TCki
Welcome
Welcome to TerraCaching.com! Below you'll find some essential information to get you started. It doesn't include everything you need to know so be sure to check out the FAQ and Tutorial as well. If you want to get in on the fun, Get Registered, get sponsored, and get busy.
What is TerraCaching?
TerraCaching is an alternative flavor of geocaching, a hi-tech treasure hunt that anybody can play. Players hide “caches” just about anywhere on public land and post the GPS coordinates for the location on the Internet. Other players then enter those coordinates into their own GPS receiver and off they go. Hunts can range from very easy walks in a city park that even grandma can go on, to multi-day treks requiring backcountry preparation, and everything in between. What makes TerraCaching different from other geocaching games are its competitive spirit and its decentralized community-enforced effort to ensure quality.
Sponsorship
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In order to play here, you'll need two existing members to sponsor your membership, but this is easy to do and more of a formality than anything else. Your sponsors will be responsible for reviewing and approving any caches that you want to list here. Because of that, it's recommended (though not necessary) to have at least one sponsor that lives in the same region as you. You can withdraw from your sponsors at any time, if you wish to switch to another one -- like someone more local. You can also sponsor other people, though it's a good idea to wait until you understand how this community works before doing so.
Sponsorship offers a method of decentralizing cache review/approval. Your sponsors review and approve your caches. Your sponsors also often serve as mentors to you if you have questions or just need a hand while you're new here.
Cache Quality
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The primary ideal of this site is an emphasis on quality caches, but that does not mean we only allow spectacular caches. We just strongly frown on too many caches that are nothing more than carbon copies of other caches in the area, or caches that are extremely poorly planned or implemented. The TerraCaching Community attempts to cast aside any preconceived notions that certain types of caches or hiding spots are inherently bad (or good), and instead judges each cache separately on it's own merits. So, it's actually much easier to post certain types of caches here than it is on other sites, as long as the cache itself is interesting, or creative, or in a nice area. Unless there's something obviously dangerous or illegal about the cache, it will likely get approved. Even if both sponsors approve an undesirable cache, it would likely be frowned upon by the community and attract low ratings, or even be community archived.
You should be aware though, that you should not "cross post" (duplicate cache listings here from other listing sites, or visa versa). The TerraCaching community generally prefers that caches listed here be unique to this site. However, since every cache is judged on it's own merits, exceptions are always possible. For instance, the community actually encourages cross posting event caches.
Scoring System
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The scoring system is the most noticeable difference between this and other cache listing sites. It provides a fun and interesting way to have friendly competition with other cachers beyond simply counting the number of finds you have. You don't have to pay attention to these scores. They are just one facet of the caching experience here. But MCE scores can be a useful tool to help you decide whether a certain cache is worth hunting. Each cache description will also have a good bit of detail about difficulty and type of hunt. Most of these numbers listed at the top of a cache page are self explanatory, but a few of them are not, namely these four:
1) MCE -- Measure of Cache Excellence -- This number is supposed to grade the quality of a cache, based on the votes of other people, and is measured in a range of 0 to 10. Since it depends on people's opinions, the usefulness of this score may vary depending on your area and what you think makes a good caching experience. But in general, interesting, unique and rewarding caches get higher MCE scores, while uninteresting micros and boring caches get poorer grades. It should be noted that new cache listings always start out at 5.0 (average) and go up or down from there after several weeks.
2) UCR -- User Contribution Rating -- Each user receives UCR points based on the MCE scores of the caches they own. You also get 10% of the UCR points achieved by users that you sponsor. If you don't place any caches and don't sponsor anyone, you won't have any UCR points. Many people do this -- they come here to find caches and nothing more, which is perfectly fine.
3) TPS -- TerraCaching Point System -- This score is the essence of what the friendly and mildly addictive competition on the TC Leaderboards is about. The way it is calculated can be rather confusing at first, so don't stress over it for now. You can learn its intricacies later. Essentially, this score reflects the comparative degree of challenge involved in hunting this cache, expressed in terms of how frequently it has been found, as compared to the frequency in which other caches in the area have been found. So if a cache sits there with very few logs for a long time, it will have a high TPS score (like a cache up on top of a mountain). Likewise, an easily-found urban cache will probably be found more often and will have a low TPS score.
You also have a your own personal user TPS score, which is simply the sum of the TPS scores of all the caches you've found or that you own. So your TPS score is a way to both quantify and qualify your caching activity.
All of the TPS scores are prone to fluctuation. It should also be mentioned that the maximum TPS score any cache can have depends partly on how many caches exist in nearby areas. The more caches in the area, the higher a TPS score can get (up to a maximum of 200 points).
Lastly, many users get confused and equate low TPS points with low quality or low ratings from other players. Nothing could be further from the truth though. TPS points have nothing to do with a cache's quality, and you should never be ashamed for owning a 1 point cache.
4) LTPS -- Locationless TerraCaching Point System -- This score is for the LC's available here, computed similiarly to the TPS scoring, minus the 100 mile radius factor. Also tracked on a separate leaderboard.
Some areas don't have many TerraCaches yet, but if there are none near you now there's no reason you can't be the first to place a TerraCache in your area! Please don't hesitate to ask questions on the forums. Moreover, TerraCaches hidden in a certain area before the game has really takes off there will give those caches a headstart in terms of TPS points, which will start showing when additional caches are added in the area.
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