Today Groundspeak have put in place a 12 month moratorium on Challenge Caches. The announcement can be found on their forums and no doubt was emailed out to users. I can't actually remember how I found out!!
Most importantly this only relates to new submissions. Current listings are fine and can still be found. Which is lucky because Ross and I have only just had this published: It's All About The Cache Owner Challenge Cache - good timing eh?
So why? Well this is what Groundspeak have to say ...
"Why is a moratorium needed?
Challenge caches encourage cachers to set and achieve fun goals. They
run the gamut from finding caches on every day of the calendar year to
finding one for every Difficult/Terrain combination.
However, there are many aspects of challenge caches that can make
them frustrating for the community. They are neither a separate cach
e
type nor do they have a specific attribute, so the logging requirements
are easily misunderstood. Challenge caches can also be very difficult to
publish due to the large amount of subjectivity involved relative to
other geocaches. While they account for only ~1% of all geocache
submissions, challenge caches comprise the bulk of appeals made to Geocaching HQ.
In order to properly evaluate and fully focus on the challenge cache
system, it is necessary to have a period of time that is free of new
submissions."
They are asking all users for feedback and you have 3 weeks until 12th May to reply, most specifically:
- What do you like most about challenge caches?
- What do you not like about challenge caches?
- What would you like to see changed about challenge caches?
- If you could describe your favorite challenge cache type, what would it be?
- What types of challenge caches do you avoid?