First of all, I want to thank Eric Mings for his generous offer to provide
new services for our group. However, I have some strong objections to posting
comments about letterboxes on a public database.

Like Randy, I have also had people report my boxes as missing when, in fact,
they were just more of a challenge than the hunter-in-question was up to.
Providing a permanent home for such mistaken comments would discourage others
from hunting for valid boxes.

Not to say that boxes don't come up missing, for I have experienced that
situation on several occasions. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that the misguided
types who get a kick out of stealing or defacing letterboxes will get an even
bigger kick out of seeing their misdeeds published on the Internet. This
might actually ENCOURAGE letterbox theft.

As a rule, when my boxes come up missing, I eventually replace them.
Sometimes I move them a bit and/or change the clues slightly. Other times I
have simply put a new box in its place. The ongoing list of comments that
could result from a box that has disappeared and reappeared periodically
might become confusing enough to discourage people from looking for it
altogether, even though it is currently a valid letterbox.

Also, I share Randy's concern that people might abuse the comments feature by
inserting hints and spoilers that would take away from the challenge and
mystique.

Finally, I would like to suggest that the most important thing about a
letterbox is not the box or the stamp or the logbook. The coolest thing is
that someone has written a set of clues that lead to a private little hiding
place in the wilderness.

Let's say I have gone to the effort to follow the clues and am convinced that
I have found the original hiding place, but there is no letterbox there.
Who's to say that I can't replace the box there and then, if I am so inclined
and properly prepared? I would even go so far as to say that this might be
the most acceptable thing to do in such cases. Granted, the stamp I leave
behind may be a very crude field-carved one, or even a cheap store-bought
one, but at least the next person to follow the clues will find some reward
for their efforts.

In other words, there is no REAL way of knowing whether there is a box out
there or not... short of leaving your computer behind and trekking out to the
location in person. If this hobby is going to persevere, despite thieves and
vandals, we are going to have to show some determination... and maybe even a
bit of innovation and creativity.

-- Der Mad Stamper