The sticky topic has a link to the old forum, which we had to leave due to server issues, but back in February we moved to a NEW forum with a NEW URL, so decided to post this here as the topic is locked, and to aware those who didn't know about the move - the new forum can be found at http://www.cachewalker.createaforum.com. I thought I would also take this post as an opportunity to inform people on what CacheWalker is, and what the forums are all about.
Caching by byway, not highway!
CacheWalker is a group of cachers who prefer to go walking to find their caches, and we have an online forum to chat daily about caching and share walking routes etc; all in one easy place. Although most of our members are located across the Cotswolds ( Counties: Gloucestershire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire and now incorporating Oxfordshire) we have members on the forum from further afield, so anyone (and everyone) is welcome to join - you don't even have to talk about walks, or even caching, with "Off Topic" and "Just for fun " boards, which get posted on daily.
CacheWalker is therefore not particularly a regional forum, but as most live in the four counties area, that is where we organise our quarterly events (though our last one was a CacheWalker group climb to the top of Snowdon, with an event at the top - so we might be planning one near you as part of the now annual "CacheWalker on Tour" event). When we're not "On Tour", you're more than welcome in the Glos/Warks/Oxon/Worcs area to attend one of our traditional events, with a meet early in the morning, before setting off as a group on a group walk in the area finding new caches, while chatting to others (usually the people at the front of the group who find them, getting FTFs) before arriving back at the pub, with the rest of the event taking place there. Although many other events have also worked in this format, CacheWalker was the first, at the CacheWalker Twixmas Bash, back in 2007.
This goes onto CacheWalker's history. Five years ago, bikermel76 created an MSN group for those cachers who did prefer walking to caches, as a convenient way to share walking routes easily, and talk about Geocaching. Then on September 30th that year, she posted on the forum asking if anyone wanted to go on a Group walk caching with her and schnarff - JimJinks, Wrighty and Mrs Wrighty joined them; and they all had so much fun, that they worked together to organise an event, with such a group walk involved; this was CacheWalker Twixmas Bash, held in December of 2007, and was attended by nearly 100 cachers - making it the biggest event we've held to date! So, this September, we're currently in the process of organising a five year birthday party picnic event - watch this space
After the success of the first few CacheWalker events, it was decided that a new online home was needed, and so bikermel76 launched a forum - of which many people registered, joined in and contributed. She then created a website www.cachewalker.co.uk to make it even easier to share routes, and to keep up to date with the annual travel bug race between CacheWalkers members (more info about that on the forums). Then, in February of this year, those forums began having lots of problems, and with bikermel76 as our administrator taking a break from caching due to being very busy, she made myself and walktall admin to see if we could resolve the issues; we could find no way.
We then decided to launch an all new forum, a more reliable one that we could know would last for another few years. I then took the role as Administator, with walktall and taramacjohn (two of our more active members) as Global Moderators. Since then, we've been updating the forum experience quite considerably. Recently, we've added a Shoutbox, so our members can chat instantly, without having to go through the hassle of making a post, and composing a reply on a thread. The Shoutbox is integrated within our new portal ; now you're not taken to the board index, but to a portal instead - this way, you can see all the recent posts, and all the latest in one place - plus you can cast your vote for the "Weekly Poll" (a new poll every week, it's been going for 20 weeks now!) directly from the Portal - this new interface has proven popular with our members The forum is very much an active forum, with an average of 13 posts per day, and more than 2000 posts have been made in less than 4 months since we launched it! The discussion could be on word games, caching talk, talking about a Mega, sharing walks and routes on the "Walks" board - and lots lots more!!
So, what are you waiting for? Hop over to the new CacheWalker forums NOW, register and join in the discussion - everyone is welcome to join our merry clan!
And, www.cachewalker.co.uk will be updated and renovated throughout August - we need YOU to keep the site running by sharing routes etc
Griff Grof, on behalf of the CacheWalker group
Feel free to post any questions you may have