Letterbox Locations

[Kirbert]

Suggestion: A scheme could be established wherein any registered user of geocaching.com could submit the name and GPS coordinates for a letterbox they happen to know the location of. These locations would NOT be available to anyone and everyone who logs on -- the intention is not to allow people to use a GPSr to find letterboxes. Rather, the only time the information would be used is when someone tries to list a new placement of a geocache. If his geocache were within, say, 528 feet of a known letterbox location, he would get a notice something like this:

 

**********

 

NOTICE: The "Waitin' For The Train" letterbox is only 347 feet from your cache. You can look up the clues to this letterbox at http://www.letterboxing.org.

 

**********

 

The reviewer probably should also see a notice that there's a known letterbox nearby. Whether or not he rejects a geocache submittal based on that proximity might be a subject for discussion here. I definitely wouldn't reject it if it's farther than 100 feet away, since that's generally far enough to avoid confusion.

 

There might be no reason to ever reject a submission. I planted a letterbox in Texas after carefully checking that there were no geocaches anywhere around. A few months later some geocacher placed a geocache only about 20 feet away, resulting in many accidental finds of my letterbox. Rather than posing a problem, though, the geocachers have apparently enjoyed the accidental finds and have mentioned it in their geocache logs. Sometimes it seems as though the geocachers now seek out this cache simply for the opportunity to see the letterbox nearby. What's more, since I live in Florida and only get to Texas once a year or thereabouts, the geocache owner has volunteered to look after the letterbox for me.

 

BTW, my "Waitin' For The Train" letterbox near Old Town, FL, now has two geocaches within a few hundred feet, both planted after the letterbox. I don't think this will pose a problem. I only suggest a system for notifying geocache placers that there is a letterbox nearby for their benefit, in case that is a concern for them.

 

I would be happy to submit GPS coordinates for all of my letterboxes, although you'd have to wait until I visit them -- I don't generally mark their locations with my GPSr. I'd also be happy to submit coords for any letterboxes I find from now on.

[J.A.R.S.]

Was there a reason that you didn't post the letterbox in gc.com? Posting it here would have prevented the geocaches from being placed so close to yours.

 

My letterboxes are posted here as well as atlasquest.com and letterboxing.org - with a few exceptions:

• 2 are a little too close to two of my geocaches, so they wouldn't be approved. But I'm confident that they wouldn't be accidently discovered while looking for my caches.
  

• I don't want a lot of traffic to a couple of my letterboxes, so they are purely letterboxes posted only on AQ and LBNA. I'll take my chances that a geocache will not be placed next to them.
  

[+Lil Devil]

I planted a letterbox in Texas after carefully checking that there were no geocaches anywhere around. A few months later some geocacher placed a geocache only about 20 feet away, resulting in many accidental finds of my letterbox. Rather than posing a problem, though, the geocachers have apparently enjoyed the accidental finds and have mentioned it in their geocache logs. Sometimes it seems as though the geocachers now seek out this cache simply for the opportunity to see the letterbox nearby.

...

my "Waitin' For The Train" letterbox near Old Town, FL, now has two geocaches within a few hundred feet, both planted after the letterbox. I don't think this will pose a problem.

So is it a problem or not? Your post is contradictory. First you make it sound like a problem, but then you explain why it isn't a problem. I don't get it

[+IV_Warrior]

And then what, start listing all known navicaches? Then all the terracaches? Then all caches on other listing sites? Yeah, as if the reivewers don't have enough to worry about as it is, lets make them start rejecting caches submitted here, because of something listed somewhere else, that the placer of the cache might not even know exists.

 

Just make sure to post up your home and cell phone numbers, so they can forward all the complaints they get directly to you.

[MapheadMike]

Once upon a time, Jeremy said he was considering establishing a letterboxing site, presumably to compete against letterboxing.org and atlasquest.com. Maybe this would be a feature that Jeremy could implement to encourage listings. Letterboxes get a 100 foot buffer if they are listed on Jeremy's site. There have been enough reports about geocachers (usually noobs, but not always) trading out stamps that plenty of letterboxers would love some mechanism of getting a buffer from caches.

 

Kirbert's suggestion is just a matter of sharing information. If a cache and letterbox are close by, each should announce in the clues or descriptions that the other exists. That'll give everyone (especially noobs in either hobby) a chance to review proper ettiquite and sportsmanship related to the other hobby's object.

[+RJFerret]

I've thought it would be nice to avoid conflicts, but without coords for most letterboxes 'twould be so incomplete as to be ineffective.

 

The best was a week and a half ago, a cache was found pre-approval by letterboxers, I log it and turn to leave only to see the obvious letterbox at the very next tree!

 

-Randy

 

PS: Unusually it wasn't even a vista or highlight of the property as most other conflicts are...

[Jeremy]

A simple solution would be just to indicate that there is a letterbox nearby and for geocachers not to mistake it for the geocache if they find it.

 

A letterboxing.org competitor wouldn't have coordinates. If it did it wouldn't be a letterbox but a letterbox hybrid which we already allow on the site.