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Atlas Quest

Help: Registering & Logging In

  1. Can I create two accounts with the same e-mail address?
  2. I can't log into my account. What do I do?
  3. Can my child or children create an account?
  4. Why should I register?
  5. What do I do if I've forgotten my password?
  6. How can I delete my account?
  7. What can I use as a trail name?
  8. What can I use as a password?
  9. Why was my account deleted?!
  10. Why is the auto-login not working for my account?
  11. How to I set up my own account?
  12. How do I resurrect an old account when I no longer have the previous email address?

Can I create two accounts with the same e-mail address?

No. Atlas Quest uses your e-mail address to identify you. For instance, your e-mail address identifies you in the event that you have forgotten your trailname and/or password. Also, if you send AQ mail from your e-mail address, Atlas Quest needs to associate your e-mail address with your account, and if more than one account uses that e-mail address, Atlas Quest will not be able to figure out who the mail is from.

In a nutshell, every account on Atlas Quest must use a unique e-mail address. And sorry, there are no exceptions. However, you don't need an e-mail address at all for most features on Atlas Quest. It's convenient at times, but many people use AQ regularly without entering an e-mail address at all, but any feature that requires the use of a verified e-mail address will not be accessible.

I can't log into my account. What do I do?

Make sure you are using the correct trail name and password. Passwords are case sensitive. If you've forgotten your trail name or password, you can have your trail name and a new password e-mailed to you from the Lost Password Center.

Ideally, you should log in from the Secure Login page. That insures that your password to sent securely from your web browser to Atlas Quest and no other people could intercept your login information, but some browsers—especially those on PDAs or cell phones—may have trouble connecting to Atlas Quest securely. If you have trouble accessing the secure page, try logging in from our Insecure Login page.

If you try to log in but Atlas Quest returns to the login page with no error messages at all, the problem is probably due to cookies not being enabled. Atlas Quest uses cookies to identify you as you move from page to page on the website. When you first access the website, Atlas Quest sends your browser a unique identifying number that is saved as a cookie. For each page you visit on the site, your browser will return this unique code to Atlas Quest so the site knows whose preferences to lookup, whose favorite searches to show, and so forth. When cookies are not enabled, your browser does not save this unique code and will not send this code to Atlas Quest. As far as Atlas Quest can determine, it thinks you're a completely new person and will send your browser another unique identifying code (which also gets ignored!). Without cookies, Atlas Quest has a severe short-term memory problem and cannot remember you beyond the one page you are currently viewing. Thus, it will continue trying to get you to log in over and over again.

To enable cookies in Firefox:
  1. Select Tools from the menubar of your browser
  2. Select Options... from the drop down list
  3. Click on the Privacy button
  4. Check the box to Accept cookies from sites

Is the browser already set to allow cookies? In that case, something else is blocking the cookies. Some people have experienced problems with Norton security software, for instance, blocking cookies and if you can change the setting to allow Atlas Quest to set cookies, you will be able to log in.

Can my child or children create an account?

The terms of service require members to be at least 13 years of age. There are legalities involved with allowing children under 13 years of age to register accounts such as requiring parental permission in writing that Ryan cannot and does not want to handle. Additionally, this website is considered a PG-13 site so some material may not be appropriate for younger children. By all means, take your children letterboxing—it's a great family activity—but they should not be allowed to run loose on Atlas Quest just as they should not be allowed to run loose and letterbox on their own.

Some parents create accounts to log their child's finds, and this is allowed. The account belongs to the parent, however, and not the child, until after the child turns 13. The parent is responsible for all matters pertaining to the account. If children under 13 are found to be using the message boards, AQ mail, and other services, the account will be frozen or deleted.

Why should I register?

There’s the usual assortment of reasons for creating an account such as giving you the ability to list a letterbox, record a find, contacting other Atlas Quest members, participating on the message boards, and so forth.

The best reason to register, however, is that you can personalize much of this site especially for you. Even a simple search for letterboxes can be optimized when Atlas Quest knows who is doing the search. For instance, if you want to find a letterbox, you probably don’t need to see letterboxes you planted or ones you’ve already found, so Atlas Quest can remove those boxes from the search results. Members of Atlas Quest can also save their favorite searches instead of having to enter them in over and over again—and even be notified when a new letterbox is listed that matches their specific search!

Here are some other member-only privileges available:
  • Creating a personal profile, and be able to read other members’ profile
  • Being able to communicate with other Atlas Quest members
  • Saving your favorite message boards and your place in each of them
  • Create an online logbook of all your planted and found letterboxes
  • Save your preferences
  • Become part of the Atlas Quest community, one of the best online communities on the Internet

And registering is absolutely free. You can upgrade to a Premium Membership at a later time if you choose to, but almost everything on Atlas Quest is freely accessible to everyone.

If you're concerned about your privacy, rest assured that your privacy is very important here. There’s a detailed Privacy Policy if you want to learn more about what information may be tracked or how it may be used, but we will not sell or give out your personal information.

Register Now

What do I do if I've forgotten my password?

First try to retrieve your password from the Lost Password Center. You'll provide your e-mail address, and Atlas Quest will e-mail you a link with a new, temporary password to get onto the site and you will be able to reset your password then.

If you do not receive a response within a few minutes, be sure to check your spam folder and make sure you've typed the correct e-mail address.

If your e-mail address has changed or does not appear to be allowing e-mail from Atlas Quest through your spam folders, you will need to Contact an administrator to update your e-mail address or reset your password. Be sure to include your first and last name, your trail name, and the old e-mail address you are trying to use.

How can I delete my account?

Contact an administrator from the account you want to be deleted. It's nice to give a reason for why you want to delete an account since often times there are methods of getting things done without the drastic measure of a deleted account. For instance, some people have asked to have their account deleted because they decided to change their trail name and wanted to register a new one, but trail names can be changed from the Account Info page without the loss of exchanges or AQ mail. Others have wanted to delete all of their letterboxes and figure deleting their entire account is the quickest way to do this, but your boxes might end up as abandoned and put up for adoption instead. You can't un-delete an account, so it's important to confirm that you really do want your account deleted with an administrator.

What can I use as a trail name?

Trail names can include almost any characters, including foreign ones. Trail names are not case sensitive, so you would not be able to create an account name such as "green tortuga" since "Green Tortuga" is already taken.

All trail names must include at least one Latin-based letter or number.

And, of course, you cannot use a trail name that someone else has already registered nor many variations of such a trail name.

You can change your trail name from the Account Info page. The only effect this has is that your trail name changes—you still have all of your plants, finds, message board posts, etc.—everything is the same as before, except that your trail name is different. It's as if you had the new trail name the entire time.

Keep in mind that this is the way other letterboxers will address you at gatherings, events and whatnot. It's helpful if the name you choose is actually pronounceable.

What can I use as a password?

Passwords must be at least five characters long and can include pretty much any letters, numbers, and symbols. Some of the most commonly used passwords or easy-to-guess passwords such as 'password,' '123456,' 'qwerty,', and 'atlasquest' are not allowed at all. The exact list changes at times, but if you try to use a banned password, Atlas Quest will let you know.

A strong password will have a combination of letters (both lowercase and uppercase, since passwords are case-sensitive), numbers, and symbols. One easy method of creating a truly bizarre and difficult password is to take a favorite quote, such as "To be, or not to be, that is the question!" The first word, "to," could be changed into a 2. The word, "be," could be changed into B. The third word, "or," doesn't map directly to a letter or number, so we'll just take the first letter of the word and use "o". Continuing through the whole phrase, we end up with "2Bon2B,titq!". That is not a password that would be easy to crack, but is still surprisingly easy to remember.

Bad Passwords

Most common passwords
Most common passwords
Top 10 Most Common Passwords, UK-style
Top 500 Worst Passwords

Why was my account deleted?!

Most accounts created on Atlas Quest tend to be "drive-by visitors" who often do not return to the website ever again. We don't want these accounts cluttering up the available trail names indefinitely, so these seemingly unloved accounts occasionally are purged from the system. While the exact algorithm used to determine which accounts are deleted can change, there are a number of factors that Atlas Quest checks for before deleting an account including:

  • A history of planted and found traditional boxes listed shows a certain degree of dedication and are less likely to be deleted
  • Current premium members are never deleted, and former premium members probably won't be
  • An active history of message board posts may give your account a longer reprieve
  • Logging in at least once per year will keep the deletions at bay
  • Those members who are known to have died (identified with a RIP icon) will not have their account deleted

If your account was deleted due to inactivity, you're certainly welcome to register again. Your old trail name may be in use by another member at this point in which case you'll need a new trail name, or at least a variant of the old trail name.

Those are just ways to keep your account in an 'active' state—your account may also be deleted for violating the Terms of Service of this website, but you actually have to do something bad for your account to be deleted for that reason.

Why is the auto-login not working for my account?

First, check for the obvious:

  1. Are you using a "private" window or session? Private sessions will delete your cookies after you finish using the website—including the code to log you in automatically.
  2. Is another member of your family or a visiting friend logging you out then logging into their own account?
  3. Are your browser preferences set to automatically delete all cookies upon closing the browser?
  4. Do you have cookies turned on?
  5. Some anti-virus software may delete cookies from your browser to prevent "tracking" or to hide websites that you have visited. What is else is your anti-virus software doing besides checking for viruses?

If one of those is not the problem, then a "cookie" in your browser has probably become corrupted. This most often seems to happen when someone imports data from one browser into another, such as from Internet Explorer into Firefox, but regardless of the reason, you'll need to delete the cookie.

If you're using Internet Explorer

  1. Click the Tools option.
  2. Click the Internet Options option.
  3. On the General tab, under Browsing history, click Delete.

Note: This will delete all of your cookies in Internet Explorer and you may have to log into other websites again as well as Atlas Quest.

If you're using Firefox

  1. Click the Tools option.
  2. Click the Options... option.
  3. On the Privacy tab, click the Show cookies... button.
  4. Click on the cookie for site atlasquest.com with the name cAutoLogin6.
  5. Click on the Remove cookie button.

How to I set up my own account?


How do I resurrect an old account when I no longer have the previous email address?