As an afterthought --

Maybe the solution is to do what a lot of cachers do --

Submit it, get it published, and then just put on whatever you want .. lol

geocaching . com - dee dee dee!!

The more we deal with these people, the more we see just how unorganized they are as well as the 'volunteers' that review for them.

One incident we had was where a main street, according to the reviewer, was a 'highway' so we couldn't place a cache.  Odd, i've never seen antique stores, car dealerships, crosswalks, etc., right on a 'highway' with parking!   That would be novel!

So now it seems that saying in a cache submission description anything like "our favorite store"  or anything like that is considered "commercial" - yes, you read that right, commercial.

But!

It seems "commercial" only applies to certain people.  On a recent cache submission, we had to remove the words 'favorite store' because it made the cache 'commercial' .. yet just yesterday, a cache in the area was published, with the wording "In this plaza is one of my favorite places to stop when I have a sweet tooth.  Stop in and just take a look ..."

Wow .. to me that sounds like they actually suggest you go into a commercial establishment!!

Oh, but that's okay.

When the area reviewer was questioned as to why this cache description was permitted, once again, the issue is skirted around and they give a non-answer:

 " ... I am sure that if you search around the country, you will find literally hundreds of caches which rave about someone's favorite ice cream stand, restaurant, tavern, etc.  You can drive yourself plum crazy looking for them all.  Or, you can focus on your own caches and the enjoyment of the game.

       

      **  NOTE:  We ARE trying to focus on our own caches, but we're having a hard time since we can't use the exact same wording as others do **

Every cache is different and no cache serves as precedent for any other. And every volunteer cache reviewer is an individual whom Groundspeak has entrusted to make difficult judgement calls about cache submissions.

      

      ** NOTE:  Commercial is commercial is commercial .. precedence has nothing to do with it!! **

I'd appreciate your cutting the new reviewers a little slack as they get used to a very challenging volunteer role.  However, if you continue to be troubled by this issue, please feel free to submit another complaint ticket to Groundspeak."

Hmm .. well the problem with that is that groundspeak said NOT to bother them anymore.  Here's the terrific response from groundspeak:

" ... As I have said before, many caches go through an evolution during the review process. Each reviewer makes the call, using the same link you see here as a guideline: http://www.geocaching.com/about/guidelines.aspx
I don't know what the evolution was on this listing.

Thank you for sending each of these caches that you notice to me. However, I won't second-guess the review on each one. Please don't send me any more. We have chosen reviewers to use their best judgment on each cache submission. I trust them to do their jobs, and to do their jobs well."

"Please don't send me anymore."  In other words, the reviewer screwed up maybe?  Or perhaps a cache owner is a good buddy and can get anything published regardless of guidelines!  The guidelines apply only to some and not others...

Regardless, once again, nothing resolved and questions still unanswered.   I'm not asking for anyone to 'second-guess.  All I asked for in my email to both the reviewer and groundspeak is a simple explanation why this new cache is perfectly fine, and we had to take out the words "favorite store"  --  what's the difference!

Why can one be published and we have to alter our description?  

The review process is inconsistent, unequal, and biased towards 'friends' (well, sheeple that pretend to be friends in order to get caches published).

    ALL I WOULD LIKE IS AN EXPLANATION WHY ONE CACHE CAN CONTAIN 'COMMERCIAL' WORDING AND ANOTHER CAN'T -- WHAT IS THE DEFINING FACTOR THAT DIFFERENTIATES THEM???

Stay tuned, I'm sure there will be many more gems like this to post!