I didn’t say that’s what *I* was looking for, Dave, even as a CO 🙂 The point I was trying to make was that people who DNF when they thought they should be able to find it tend to be more upset and sometimes irate than those who found it too easily.
I’m not sure I’d agree there is ever a need not to put a hint, nor that the hint should be anything other than helpful. You might invite cachers to try and find your cache for various reasons; my usual reason is to bring them to a location *I* find interesting and hope they may too. The hint is an option somebody can use to prevent going away disappointed. If they choose to read it before they NEED to (as I sometimes do), up to them!
If your intention as CO is to outfox the cacher or to make it more of a challenge, great – but many people *do* want an easy find and the challenge and enjoyment for them is getting to the location and in some cases, bringing all their orienteering and planning skills to bear to put them at the GZ with most of their bits intact, and to them, spending half an hour feeling under stones or poking piles of leaves isn’t the fun, especially in a spot where they feel uncomfortable – such as the side of a road, or overlooked. A few DNFs in a row and despondency can set in.
Of your birds eye view – I DNF’d that myself a couple of weeks ago so have no idea how great it is until I do find it! I’ve loved all the of the Joys I’ve found and been inspired by them, but the Elephants do sometimes have the grace to include a hint for the likes of me 🙂
