I really hate to be the killer of joy. I also believe that everyone
out there is honest. When ordering number patches I think we should
also enclose a photo copy of the stamps of the letterboxes found. My
mom had these beautiful patches made and she's holding onto mine
untill I earn it. We all know that there are some not nice people out
there. I love collecting patches, buttons, and just about anything
else. I have some patches and buttons from places that I have never
been. I won't wear them, but I think that in order to be fair we
should "prove" that we've earned them.
Debbie
mperry03@snet.net

--- In letterbox-usa@egroups.com, mperry03@s... wrote:
> mom had these beautiful patches made and she's holding onto mine
> untill I earn it.

What a hilarious idea! Maybe I'll order some merit patches and give
them to my mom to hold until I earn them! Your mom sounds like a neat
person!

Ruthann
aka Mirkwood

mperry03@snet.net wrote:
>
> I won't wear them, but I think that in order to be fair we
> should "prove" that we've earned them.

Very well said Thom.
Susan

Debbie, you are so sweet! Thank you for making my day!

You know, the Valley Quest folks in Vermont require photocopies of
your stamps before they'll send you a patch (I believe the Mapsurfer
is the proud owner of one). And in Dartmoor you have to prove you've
found 100 letterboxes before you can get the latest updated
cluesheet "catalogues." So it's a great idea with a precedent.

Still, I think here in the US it would be best to go on the honor
system. Now I've got to go get that Free East Timor sticker off my
car...

Jay

> You know, the Valley Quest folks in Vermont require photocopies of
> your stamps before they'll send you a patch (I believe the Mapsurfer
> is the proud owner of one).

Yes I am, and I had to deal with the inconvenience of carrying a separate
stamp book for this purpose. :-) [BTW, they are very nice 4 color (IIRC)
patches, and are worth getting -- you need 21 VQ stamps].

And all this seems to do is make it more difficult for the honest
people. The person who wanted an unearned LbNA 100, even under a
verification procedure, could trivially fake the stamps of course;
who can do the verification of mapsurfer #24? and kin of its ilk :-)
And of course, this person will never be able to show their book
at a gathering or to another letterboxer, so they are by definition
a lone letterboxer, so no one will see the patch and no one will
care. If they want a patch for their own self-esteem, sell it to 'em.

That said, the biggest objection I would have is the loss of mystique.
Stamps should be secret or shown at pub gatherings, not sent to some
third party verification person. Some stamp images can even give
away the location of other boxes (either by accident or design ... :-))

My $.02 anyway ... :-)

Cheers,
--
randy "the mapsurfer" (P27F102)
Hogeita hirugarren kutxak kolonia zaharean da.

I'd have to agree--the charm seems to be in the anarchy, but the
structural organization.

Jody Burns,

On Fri, 13 Oct 2000, Fred Lorch wrote:

> I agree with Randy. When I first started this hobby, and I will continue, the beauty of it was the freedom of finding and placing boxes. I think if we start to "qualify" this hobby with such things as verification, etc... a lot of the charm and thrill will be gone.
> I for one prefer to let the group know of the status of found boxes, moved boxes, missing boxes and vandalized boxes through the already established communication lines. This letterboxer does not have a need for patches, decals or any other measure of my success in locating boxes. My measure comes from reviewing my book and remembering the times and places.
> So much for my say.
> lonemasswolf [about to go find some more]
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Randy Hall
> To: letterbox-usa@egroups.com
> Sent: Friday, 13 October, 2000 18:05
> Subject: Re: [LbNA] Re: patches hate to be a killer of joy
>
>
>
> > You know, the Valley Quest folks in Vermont require photocopies of
> > your stamps before they'll send you a patch (I believe the Mapsurfer
> > is the proud owner of one).
>
> Yes I am, and I had to deal with the inconvenience of carrying a separate
> stamp book for this purpose. :-) [BTW, they are very nice 4 color (IIRC)
> patches, and are worth getting -- you need 21 VQ stamps].
>
> And all this seems to do is make it more difficult for the honest
> people. The person who wanted an unearned LbNA 100, even under a
> verification procedure, could trivially fake the stamps of course;
> who can do the verification of mapsurfer #24? and kin of its ilk :-)
> And of course, this person will never be able to show their book
> at a gathering or to another letterboxer, so they are by definition
> a lone letterboxer, so no one will see the patch and no one will
> care. If they want a patch for their own self-esteem, sell it to 'em.
>
> That said, the biggest objection I would have is the loss of mystique.
> Stamps should be secret or shown at pub gatherings, not sent to some
> third party verification person. Some stamp images can even give
> away the location of other boxes (either by accident or design ... :-))
>
> My $.02 anyway ... :-)
>
> Cheers,
> --
> randy "the mapsurfer" (P27F102)
> Hogeita hirugarren kutxak kolonia zaharean da.
>
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