Ryan,
have you ever thought of making a place to enter a difficulty rating when you add a new letterbox?
Would it be hard to make a little box (like the F-restriction) for that? Maybe let people choose between 1,2,3,4 or 5 to rate how hard their box might be.

Just wondering.

Wuoldnt a Difficult Rating be subjective? What is easy for one may be harder for another. Some dont like compasses. Some are like mountain goats, able to get over any terrain. Another may have a bad knee, and even a mild incline could be different.

Just a thought.

I like the idea because hiking is hard for me sometimes but the difficulty rating could also be subjective by each person's perception or opinion of WHAT makes a LB hard or easy. To some the clues may be what they think is hard and the owner had put easy because it was a short distance of easy terrain. so...one may be thinking easy or hard hike while the other is thinking easy or hard clues or easy or hard to find etc.

I have been on a couple of hunts thought that I would have known I couldn't reach if the distance had been recorded well or if the owner would have said the hike is moderate to difficult.

dixiekin

I really like the idea of a difficulty rating!!!! I've gone on some that were treacherously slippery and unsafe!! Had I known that in advance I wouldn't have gone.

I think that unless there was an International Letterboxing Search Committee, who set all the ratings, a difficulty rating would have no quantifiable meaning.

You'll have to put one sneaky person, one dyslexic person, one person (like me) who eventually finds the boxes, but always seems to have issues with compass reading, one person who is unwilling to get dirty, one person who has a gimpy leg, one marathon runner, one person who knew local history, one antsy five year old, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Perhaps we could gently suggest that people consider *relative* difficulty when writing clues. I've tried to list any potential hazards, and indicate if my searches involved long treks, but I couldn't predict the day that the snake decided to take a snooze on top of my letterbox!

Lisascenic

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have you ever thought of making a place to enter a difficulty rating when you add a new letterbox?

No, too subjective. One person might think a simple cryptogram is easy while another person may think it's the most diabolical thing on the planet created by the devil himself. I might think a five-mile, flat hike is easy, but someone else might think it was terribly hard.

Even from day-to-day or season-to-season the difficulty could change substantially. In the rain, slick rocks could be outright treacherous while on a clear, sunny day, it's not problem at all. In the winter, important landmarks might be buried in snow making the clue especially difficult while in the spring is a simple matter to get.

Too many variables and unknowns to make a difficulty raiting an effective measurement, so I try to stick with more of objective measurements such as hike length and elevation gain. If five miles up 3,000 feet is going to be a challenge for you, that won't change regardless of the time of year or weather conditions. =)

If the clue is a puzzle such as a cryptogram, such clues should be marked as such and you can do a search for boxes that aren't puzzles.

Automated and objective. *nodding* =)

-- Ryan

I don’t think you could really make a box for it, that will judge the difficulty. I just use Silent Doug’s rating system and rate my own boxes, with comments and descriptions afterward, so people can get an idea and be a little better informed be for they decide to hunt the box. Rocky

Perhaps we could gently suggest that people consider *relative* difficulty when writing clues. I've tried to list any potential hazards, and indicate if my searches involved long treks, but I couldn't predict the day that the snake decided to take a snooze on top of my letterbox!

The mental picture of a snake snoozing on a letterbox made me chuckle out loud....too funny.
Z

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The mental picture of a snake snoozing on a letterbox made me chuckle out loud....too funny.
Z

Teehee...yeah, for me too, until i thought about what i'd do if i were a snake and some letterboxer came along and disturbed my sleep...
probably the same thing I do already.
*half-bite* "Hissssss! Go away! Five more minutes."

-CQ

Perhaps we could gently suggest that people consider *relative* difficulty when writing clues. I've tried to list any potential hazards, and indicate if my searches involved long treks, but I couldn't predict the day that the snake decided to take a snooze on top of my letterbox!
Lisascenic

Copy that! I was in great shape a couple of years ago and would likely scramble up mountains and ford streams on slippery logs. This winter I fell twice in my own back 40. I'm wise not to do too far, too high, or go alone. General comments might help me plan my LB trips but untimately it's my judgement and my responsibility to myself to be safe in all that I do. Unless I get hit by a car or lightning, I'll likely live well into my nineties. The operative word is live. Life must be full to be well and truely lived but quality of life can vanish with a broken ankle or hip.

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The mental picture of a snake snoozing on a letterbox made me chuckle out loud....too funny.
Z

Teehee...yeah, for me too, until i thought about what i'd do if i were a snake and some letterboxer came along and disturbed my sleep...
probably the same thing I do already.
*half-bite* "Hissssss! Go away! Five more minutes."

-CQ

Y'all think I'm kidding? Take a close look at Archimedes Screw's profile:
http://www.atlasquest.com/people/profile.html?gMemberId=1168

I had nothing, I repeat nothing, to do with that particular reptile!

Lisassssssssssscenic

While scouting for the clues to "a turtle tale", right in our path was an injured squirrel. He/she did not want to be bugged. Did a scurry right between our legs. Didnt know we could jump that high.
As to Archemedes and the snake... you should see some of the hiding spots used by them. Snakes are the least of your worries...LOL. I swear they used a chipmunk hole for one.

just Teasing Arch, you know we love you and your boxes, after all we found every one of them!
Eye

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too subjective. One person might think a simple cryptogram is easy while another person may think it's the most diabolical thing on the planet created by the devil himself. I might think a five-mile, flat hike is easy, but someone else might think it was terribly hard.

Agreed 110%.
folks might want to consder trying to give some info in clues to hint at the type o find and difficulty...but too subjective to have a field for it at AQ unless there was a field for every aspect (clues, hike etc) and that's just too much...and not really needed.

dixiekin

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The mental picture of a snake snoozing on a letterbox made me chuckle out loud....too funny.
Z

Teehee...yeah, for me too, until i thought about what i'd do if i were a snake and some letterboxer came along and disturbed my sleep...
probably the same thing I do already.
*half-bite* "Hissssss! Go away! Five more minutes."

-CQ

Y'all think I'm kidding? Take a close look at Archimedes Screw's profile:
http://www.atlasquest.com/people/profile.html?gMemberId=1168

I had nothing, I repeat nothing, to do with that particular reptile!

Lisassssssssssscenic

Yes, being a Cape Codder, the largest snakes I have run into are garter snakes. So I fearlessly pick up the rock and see several reptilian coils. I quickly dropped the rock and immediately thought, "oh, I hope I didn't hurt him."

Sadly, we kept poking around for the box for quite some time trying to not further disturb the snake.

I put this together this rating tool a couple of years ago, based on the system used by geocachers (modified to suit letterboxing), but it never really got any traction:
http://www.letterboxing.info/rating/

I think most people find such ratings too subjective to be useful, even when there are quantifiable criteria.

SD