I received a wonderful stamp in the mail yesterday - unfortunately it did not have the carver's id on it. It came from Sacramento, CA... please let me know who you are so I can give you proper credit. Thanks

Kathleen

Are you participating in the 2024 YOG?

I am - but I vaguely remember someone telling me they were going to send me a stamp... but I can't find the message. But it could be the answer as well :)

Thanks

Looks like GT changed the columns to be easier to read. Any other changes?

Silver Eagle

Not really. It always bothered me that the columns were iframes, and I wanted to remove that. Iframes aren't especially user friendly. Bad for accessibility, slow to load, etc. And I can largely recreate that effect without all the downsides of iframes.

Had to tweak a few CSS settings along the way (changed the name of the CSS file so there wouldn't be caching issues), which have me a chance to push out the random picture of the day across the whole page (including behind the menu bar and under the copyright notice), which I think looks better.

But only a few simple cosmetic changes.

I might play with it a bit more, trying different sized widgets. I'm not really a big fan of scrolling individual widgets on a page, so maybe I'll just let widgets be full sized and expand to whatever size the content is.

I suspect iframes had to scroll since they couldn't know how large the content in it would be ahead of time, but that's not a limitation now. So I'm a little inclined to get rid of that scrolling completely, but I also didn't want to mess with the overall look and feel too much either.

So... Mostly small, cosmetic tweaks for now. =)

-- Ryan

I think there used to be a "more" link at the bottom of recently found leading to another page. I don't see one now. Is that intentional? Or was there never one there?

As far as I remember, there never was one. I could be wrong, but I don't remember there ever being a page that displayed boxes by last found date that could have been linked to.

LbNA tended to create separate pages for every type of search it wanted to do. By comparison, AQ tends to have a single results page that pretty much everything links to, but with the parameters of the search set differently.

Which is why a link to "What's new?" On AQ goes to a regular search results page, but the link in LbNA actually goes to a page named whats-new.php

So there would likely need to be a dedicated search page for recent finds, but I don't remember there ever being one.

Long term, I've been updating LbNA to use one "master search" page just like on AQ so I can create such links. I've reduced the number of search pages, but it's still not as full-featured or flexible as AQ. I'll definitely add such a link once there a page working that can do that particular search.

-- Ryan

Your memory is correct. There was a "more..." link on LbNA that took you to WhatsNew.php which let you give a number of recent boxes to search for (default was 50) and you could choose a particular State or Region (default was All States and All Regions).

I miss that part of the site.

Is it still possible to adopt a box on LBNA? I have the owners written permission.

If it's available for adoption, there will be an "adopt" button in the panel of buttons on the box. If it's not considered "abandoned" (and therefore isn't automatically available for adoption), just have the owner transfer ownership to you.

-- Ryan

Does the most recent found list not show your own finds any more? I used to use this to ensure I can logged everything, but now don't seem to see them - but other people do....

disappearing ink ... ? ;)

At our recent TX Annual Letterboxing Event (TALE) I was amazed yet again by how a gathering of like-minded people from all over the country can come together and enjoy themselves even if they just started letterboxing and/or don't know anyone. I had several people tell me that they almost didn't come to their first event because of shyness or trepidation, but when they finally did come were relieved to be surrounded by friendly folks and feel so welcomed. So if you fall into that category I highly recommend taking a chance on attending an event. Even though it might be outside your comfort zone at first, I think you will be glad you went.

Silver Eagle

I was nervous as heck the first time I went to an event alone, and that was just the second one I had gone to. Meeting groups of strangers was totally out of my comfort zone. But as you say, everyone was so friendly and outgoing that I was very glad I went.

Agree! ECP and I were very nervous our first couple of events but everyone always welcomed us with open arms and made us feel very welcome.

Every event we have attended has been a blast - and the TALE event was no exception. They are an amazing group of people.

Silver Eagle, that is exactly how I felt when I went to my first TALE event a few years ago. It was in Kerrville, I believe, a good distance for me to travel alone. If it had not been for Mosaic Butterfly and all of her precious help and encouragement, I may not have gone. But I will never forget; had the grandest time meeting everyone! And it rained!!!!! No one even cared! LOL!

Sure did miss going to this TALE! I have heard great things! (My bags are still packed and ready to go! :(

It's not so much that it doesn't show your own finds anymore, but it was hooked up to the code that used your preferences to set default searches that would hide your plants or finds.

But admittedly, there's not much reason for that widget to follow those settings in that particular place, so I updated the code to not follow your preferences. =)

-- Ryan

Thank you!!!

I was nervous too, my first event, but I just latched onto this older couple and asked if I could join them. Little did I know then, that they were legends: Oldhounder and Siamese. Siamese is no longer with us, and last I heard Oldhounder was living down south, drinking mai tai's and making rude comments about cute women...... I miss him.

My kids were a more nervous than I was going to my first event. It was with people I "met" on the internet. It was a great experience for me and last year I took my daughter to an event near where she lives. When she met letterboxers she found out that it is a great group of people.

That makes me think about Mu (Magical Music Man). His mother used to bring him to events because he was too young to drive and he was meeting strangers :::he::: met on the internet.

Now he’s all grown up and still into boxing after joining AQ in 2006.

And he is brilliant, creative and an amazing person. I guess we influenced him correctly. :)

My daughter Moth and I went to our first event, hosted by Mim and StarWars Chick, almost 2 years after we started letterboxing. We knew no one, we weren’t sure what to do, and I was much more shy at the time. Thankfully, Ellen of the Travelers 4 took us under her wing and showed us what to do. Other folks were very kind to us as well. I’m very glad we went!

And we would take him to go letterboxing all over the Middletown area....

Such a trusting soul to trust these older ladies..... LOL

BB

The very first person that I met when I went to my first - and only - event was you, Miss Moon!!

Jaxx

I absolutely LOVE events! Cool stamps, new places, trails, friends, and inky fun! I have met some incredible friends and people and gone to fun places! My family even likes to go too! Get a fresh ink pad and make sure your log book has plenty of room and have fun!

I was checking an old clue (for an old box, Happy 75th, planted back in 2011 for our recently deceased boxer friend Oldhounder). I noticed it says adoptable, but it's been found recently, and I still exist, so I'm curious why it says that.

I think boxes start listing as adoptable after a set length of time since the box owner has logged into LbNA.

Boxes where people hadn't logged in for a few years automatically become adoptable on LbNA. I thought I had updated the website to automatically "cancel adoptions" if someone does finally log in again and therefore wouldn't ever see their own boxes up for adoption, but apparently I either forgot or accidentally removed that code at some point.

Anyhow, logging in at least once a year should definitely prevent your boxes from coming up for adoption, and I just updated the site to make sure you "auto-adopt" your own boxes whenever you log in, so long story short, your boxes aren't available for adoption anymore. =)

-- Ryan