Just a quick blurb about letterboxing in this issue. Calling it a family friendly "scavenger hunt", it directed people to the letterboxing.org website. No mention of atlasquest. No mention of carving a stamp or planting. Just buying a store-bought stamp, journal and stamp pad. I wonder if we will see an uptick of finders? Probably not. Some publicity isn't really publicity.

LW PhD
"Nice Counts"

Some publicity isn't really publicity

And that's sometimes a good thing. . .

~tigs

On the other hand, I discovered letterboxing via a little paragraph in Family Fun magazine, many yearsago. :-)

I always worry about articles saying you should "hide the box better than you found it" ringing in newbie ears. I imagine them taking the box away and hiding it somewhere else that they think is better.

I imagine them taking the box away and hiding it somewhere else that they think is better.

That NEVER happens! *whistling innocently* =)

-- Ryan

I also found out about 'boxing from a magazine article in Family Fun back in 2006.

I love telling people about letterboxing, they never believe its real till they see an and lbna.org, then they get this look like what else is secretly going on in the world O_O ?

I took my husbands cousin with me to find a letterbox in Puerto Rico, and I didn't think she would be interested, but to my surprise, she was asking lots of questions, and was so surprised when we found the box and stamped in.... I also surprisingly found out she is quite artistic, and can draw well.... She loves hiking and the outdoors... Thinking to send her the AQ link and see if she takes it up... It is like a secret little world.... In my area, I think we could use a bit more publicity, though... Too bad for the kinda weak article...

If I'm not mistaken, this is how Rydeswitheagles discovered letterboxing. She started a chain reaction within our family and friends circle, getting many of us involved, including me.

me too!

I discovered letterboxing via a little paragraph in Family Fun magazine

And I discovered letterboxing through geocaching. (I can hear the <<boo>> <<hiss>> out there.) I had found some geocaching "letterbox hybrids" and wanted to find out what "real" letterboxes are. There weren't many around here in 2003, so I only found one, but there weren't many in the area. I wanted to have my own personal stamp before I started seriously letterboxing. Finally, in March 2010 I carved one and started letterboxing.

It is fun!

It DID happen to us! The finder took it to another location and hid it. Sent an email later saying they didn't think they 'played the game' correctly and if we wanted our box back, to go look under the roots of a tree in a certain location. We thought it was a prank and didn't take it seriously until the box was reported missing. We went to said location and searched under the tree roots and sure enough, there was our letterbox! Still wonder what they were thinking!

On the other hand, I discovered letterboxing via a little paragraph in Family Fun magazine, many years ago. :-)

Ditto. Little did I know what would happen....

The Pakrat

i was talking about one of our LB adventures on FB and a cousin asked me, "what is this new thing kids are doing now days?"

I wonder how many of those missing letterboxes are really just hidden in a new location? I never even thought this could happen but it really does have me thinking that instead of rude or thoughtless people it may just be people playing the wrong way.

I do think that can happen... rarely. I have talked to several newbies about geocaching and letterboxing and have had them ask where do they hide the box after... There used to be travelling boxes in geocaching, so it's not a totally crazy idea.

I wonder how many of those missing letterboxes are really just hidden in a new location?

I had this happen with one of my first plants several years ago. I hid the box and had a few finders then I started getting reports that it was missing. I made a new box and hid it again but a few months later, I got a found report on the original one. I also received an email from the person who was hiking through the area, found the box, took it home and researched letterboxing and then returned it to the spot they thought they found it - about 20 feet away from where I had actually placed it. So, it DOES happen!

Letterboxing is also in this months Family Fun.

~Aurora