I noticed there was some discussion in the past couple of weeks about
databasing clues rather than or in addition to linking clues to the
maps at www.letterboxing.org. Is anything being done along these
lines?
It seems to me that as the volume of clues increases, it'll become a
rather burdensome task to try to find clues for a particular area
using the maps. Also, there seems to be some lingering confusion
from some of our newbies.
I agree with the objections that were raised to databasing info on
boxes posted by people other than the box owner, but I think the
concept of databasing clues had a lot of merit, and actually seems to
me the only viable option in the long run.
Any thoughts? Anybody out there who knows how to do that?
Lone Wolf
Databasing Clues?
10 messages in this thread |
Started on 2000-11-27
Re: Databasing Clues?
From: Space (Judi@SpaceFamily.net) |
Date: 2000-11-27 18:52:30 UTC-05:00
Maybe I'm a little thick here, but what's the material difference between
listing all the boxes on the map, or in a database? The website doesn't
have to include any more or less info than is present now. There should
be fields for Box Name, Box State, Box City, Difficulty, Clues, Special
notes, and Status (and any other fields that you all think are important).
The box placer can control which of these fields is filled in, and
what information goes into the field. If someone wants the clues to be
read from their website, then the link can be posted in the Clue field.
If the box placer doesn't want the city to be mentioned, then it can be
left blank. I think a database is a fine idea, especially since the box
count is expanding rapidly, and there's not enough room to show them all,
especially in those little tiny northeastern states. In the best of all
possible worlds, I see the box placers going to a form, located at the
LBNA website, where they can fill in all of the fields and post the new
box to the database themselves, thus eliminating some work for the webmasters.
I think the folks who maintain the site are doing a yeoman's job of it,
but surely it takes up alot of their precious time - time that they could
be spending carving stamps, or outside hunting or placing boxes.
SpaceTraveler
Thom Cheney wrote:
Jeremy Irish wrote:
>
> I have been fully ripped apart by suggesting such a thing in the past. so
> I'll try and address the reasons why this hasn't happened before -
>
> 1. A few letterboxers have expressed that their letterboxes should be on
> their own web page, since the clues may be part of the design.
> 2. Letterboxes are considered "copyrighted material", so cannot be
> centralized into one database.
> 3. A few letterboxers fear others "profiting" from their letterboxes (by
> providing advertising, selling a book, etc.)
>
> (did I miss anything?)
Well... yes... as I recall the exchange, the reluctance was mostly
centered around your suggestion of homogenizing letterboxing &
geocaching. Many of us felt that they are two distinct, albeit related
phenomenons. Additionally, as you mentioned, we have always kept the
main letterboxing web site free of advertising and marketing, other than
the stuff egroups continually throws at us. We left it at "You do your
thing, we'll do ours. Yours looks like fun. So is ours."--
Thom Cheney
tcgrafx... among other things
To unsubscribe: mailto:letterbox-usa-unsubscribe@egroups.com
List info, archives, etc: http://www.letterboxing.org/list.html
Databasing Clues?
From: John De Wolf - PA (jdewolf@mail.icrsurvey.com) |
Date: 2000-11-28 13:03:47 UTC
Re: [LbNA] Databasing Clues?
From: Eric Mings (elm@ao.net) |
Date: 2000-11-28 09:46:51 UTC-05:00
>I noticed there was some discussion in the past couple of weeks about
>databasing clues rather than or in addition to linking clues to the
>maps at www.letterboxing.org. Is anything being done along these
>lines?
>
>It seems to me that as the volume of clues increases, it'll become a
>rather burdensome task to try to find clues for a particular area
>using the maps. Also, there seems to be some lingering confusion
>from some of our newbies.
>
>I agree with the objections that were raised to databasing info on
>boxes posted by people other than the box owner, but I think the
>concept of databasing clues had a lot of merit, and actually seems to
>me the only viable option in the long run.
>
>Any thoughts? Anybody out there who knows how to do that?
>
>Lone Wolf
I have offered to set this up on several occasions but haven't
received a great deal of enthusiasm. I can do it on my site, or if
the server running letterboxing.org has php and mysql it could be
done on the LBNA site.
--
Regards,
Eric Mings Ph.D.
>databasing clues rather than or in addition to linking clues to the
>maps at www.letterboxing.org. Is anything being done along these
>lines?
>
>It seems to me that as the volume of clues increases, it'll become a
>rather burdensome task to try to find clues for a particular area
>using the maps. Also, there seems to be some lingering confusion
>from some of our newbies.
>
>I agree with the objections that were raised to databasing info on
>boxes posted by people other than the box owner, but I think the
>concept of databasing clues had a lot of merit, and actually seems to
>me the only viable option in the long run.
>
>Any thoughts? Anybody out there who knows how to do that?
>
>Lone Wolf
I have offered to set this up on several occasions but haven't
received a great deal of enthusiasm. I can do it on my site, or if
the server running letterboxing.org has php and mysql it could be
done on the LBNA site.
--
Regards,
Eric Mings Ph.D.
Re: Databasing Clues?
From: Jay Drew (drewclan@aol.com) |
Date: 2000-11-28 17:32:10 UTC
Thanks, John and Eric, for bringing this up again! The "webmasters"
have tossed databasing around a little but it hasn't gone far. I did
create a database form and started work on linking it but I'm no
expert. Then, remembering his earlier offers, I tried to drop Eric a
note off-list about it, but was confounded by the egroups security
thing that hides all our email addresses. I agree that it's possible
we could go from the 600 or 700 letterboxes we have now to 10,000 in
a year or two, which would be awfully hard to keep up with without a
database. I was basing my work on the excellent site you can see at:
http://www.thebackpacker.com/trails/trails_enter.asp
John and Eric, would you mind sending me a note off-list so that I
can see your whole email address? Mine is drewclan at aol.com. I'd
love to talk with you and learn more about this technology. Thanks!
Jay Drew
have tossed databasing around a little but it hasn't gone far. I did
create a database form and started work on linking it but I'm no
expert. Then, remembering his earlier offers, I tried to drop Eric a
note off-list about it, but was confounded by the egroups security
thing that hides all our email addresses. I agree that it's possible
we could go from the 600 or 700 letterboxes we have now to 10,000 in
a year or two, which would be awfully hard to keep up with without a
database. I was basing my work on the excellent site you can see at:
http://www.thebackpacker.com/trails/trails_enter.asp
John and Eric, would you mind sending me a note off-list so that I
can see your whole email address? Mine is drewclan at aol.com. I'd
love to talk with you and learn more about this technology. Thanks!
Jay Drew
Re: [LbNA] Re: Databasing Clues?
From: Thom Cheney (tcgrafx@imagina.com) |
Date: 2000-11-28 11:15:19 UTC-07:00
Jeremy Irish wrote:
>
> I have been fully ripped apart by suggesting such a thing in the past. so
> I'll try and address the reasons why this hasn't happened before -
>
> 1. A few letterboxers have expressed that their letterboxes should be on
> their own web page, since the clues may be part of the design.
> 2. Letterboxes are considered "copyrighted material", so cannot be
> centralized into one database.
> 3. A few letterboxers fear others "profiting" from their letterboxes (by
> providing advertising, selling a book, etc.)
>
> (did I miss anything?)
Well... yes... as I recall the exchange, the reluctance was mostly
centered around your suggestion of homogenizing letterboxing &
geocaching. Many of us felt that they are two distinct, albeit related
phenomenons. Additionally, as you mentioned, we have always kept the
main letterboxing web site free of advertising and marketing, other than
the stuff egroups continually throws at us. We left it at "You do your
thing, we'll do ours. Yours looks like fun. So is ours."
--
Thom Cheney
tcgrafx... among other things
>
> I have been fully ripped apart by suggesting such a thing in the past. so
> I'll try and address the reasons why this hasn't happened before -
>
> 1. A few letterboxers have expressed that their letterboxes should be on
> their own web page, since the clues may be part of the design.
> 2. Letterboxes are considered "copyrighted material", so cannot be
> centralized into one database.
> 3. A few letterboxers fear others "profiting" from their letterboxes (by
> providing advertising, selling a book, etc.)
>
> (did I miss anything?)
Well... yes... as I recall the exchange, the reluctance was mostly
centered around your suggestion of homogenizing letterboxing &
geocaching. Many of us felt that they are two distinct, albeit related
phenomenons. Additionally, as you mentioned, we have always kept the
main letterboxing web site free of advertising and marketing, other than
the stuff egroups continually throws at us. We left it at "You do your
thing, we'll do ours. Yours looks like fun. So is ours."
--
Thom Cheney
tcgrafx... among other things
RE: [LbNA] Re: Databasing Clues?
From: Jeremy Irish (jeremy@theirish.com) |
Date: 2000-11-28 10:22:31 UTC-08:00
I have been fully ripped apart by suggesting such a thing in the past. so
I'll try and address the reasons why this hasn't happened before -
1. A few letterboxers have expressed that their letterboxes should be on
their own web page, since the clues may be part of the design.
2. Letterboxes are considered "copyrighted material", so cannot be
centralized into one database.
3. A few letterboxers fear others "profiting" from their letterboxes (by
providing advertising, selling a book, etc.)
(did I miss anything?)
Geocaching.com, a sister sport/hobby/etc. uses a database. Because we use
specific coordinates in geocaching, we haven't had any real issues (clue
based caches are rare). We also were able to create our own basic culture,
which isn't as restrictive as letterboxing originally has been. I heard tell
that when letterboxing was introduced into the US, many of the Yankee
letterboxes were destroyed because of the culture of the game. It's a
secretive, quiet sport that seems to want to remain so. Not sure if this is
a minority view, especially in the US.
I'd also have to say that it's an issue of relinquishing control. The group
of webmasters who have been maintaining the letterboxing.org site have done
a great job, and would be a bit defensive to move it over to a database, or
into someone elses' hands, which would most likely happen if it was moved
into another model.
Jeremy Irish
Webmaster, Geocaching.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Jay Drew [mailto:drewclan@aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2000 9:32 AM
To: letterbox-usa@egroups.com
Subject: [LbNA] Re: Databasing Clues?
Thanks, John and Eric, for bringing this up again! The "webmasters"
have tossed databasing around a little but it hasn't gone far. I did
create a database form and started work on linking it but I'm no
expert. Then, remembering his earlier offers, I tried to drop Eric a
note off-list about it, but was confounded by the egroups security
thing that hides all our email addresses. I agree that it's possible
we could go from the 600 or 700 letterboxes we have now to 10,000 in
a year or two, which would be awfully hard to keep up with without a
database. I was basing my work on the excellent site you can see at:
http://www.thebackpacker.com/trails/trails_enter.asp
John and Eric, would you mind sending me a note off-list so that I
can see your whole email address? Mine is drewclan at aol.com. I'd
love to talk with you and learn more about this technology. Thanks!
Jay Drew
To unsubscribe: mailto:letterbox-usa-unsubscribe@egroups.com
List info, archives, etc: http://www.letterboxing.org/list.html
I'll try and address the reasons why this hasn't happened before -
1. A few letterboxers have expressed that their letterboxes should be on
their own web page, since the clues may be part of the design.
2. Letterboxes are considered "copyrighted material", so cannot be
centralized into one database.
3. A few letterboxers fear others "profiting" from their letterboxes (by
providing advertising, selling a book, etc.)
(did I miss anything?)
Geocaching.com, a sister sport/hobby/etc. uses a database. Because we use
specific coordinates in geocaching, we haven't had any real issues (clue
based caches are rare). We also were able to create our own basic culture,
which isn't as restrictive as letterboxing originally has been. I heard tell
that when letterboxing was introduced into the US, many of the Yankee
letterboxes were destroyed because of the culture of the game. It's a
secretive, quiet sport that seems to want to remain so. Not sure if this is
a minority view, especially in the US.
I'd also have to say that it's an issue of relinquishing control. The group
of webmasters who have been maintaining the letterboxing.org site have done
a great job, and would be a bit defensive to move it over to a database, or
into someone elses' hands, which would most likely happen if it was moved
into another model.
Jeremy Irish
Webmaster, Geocaching.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Jay Drew [mailto:drewclan@aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2000 9:32 AM
To: letterbox-usa@egroups.com
Subject: [LbNA] Re: Databasing Clues?
Thanks, John and Eric, for bringing this up again! The "webmasters"
have tossed databasing around a little but it hasn't gone far. I did
create a database form and started work on linking it but I'm no
expert. Then, remembering his earlier offers, I tried to drop Eric a
note off-list about it, but was confounded by the egroups security
thing that hides all our email addresses. I agree that it's possible
we could go from the 600 or 700 letterboxes we have now to 10,000 in
a year or two, which would be awfully hard to keep up with without a
database. I was basing my work on the excellent site you can see at:
http://www.thebackpacker.com/trails/trails_enter.asp
John and Eric, would you mind sending me a note off-list so that I
can see your whole email address? Mine is drewclan at aol.com. I'd
love to talk with you and learn more about this technology. Thanks!
Jay Drew
To unsubscribe: mailto:letterbox-usa-unsubscribe@egroups.com
List info, archives, etc: http://www.letterboxing.org/list.html
RE: [LbNA] Re: Databasing Clues?
From: Jeremy Irish (jeremy@theirish.com) |
Date: 2000-11-28 11:31:00 UTC-08:00
That's true, it did start as a suggestion to join both sports into a
centralized location. It was agreed that they were (and are) two seperate
sports, therefore justifying two web sites. I still agree with that.
However, the conversation did move into the use of the database as a
possible alternative to static web pages. At that time I suggested the use
of the Geocaching.com system, since it can be easily adapted to
letterboxing. There were some issues that came out of that specific
conversation. Since it was a recent discussion, the points still should be
valid.
Jeremy
-----Original Message-----
From: Thom Cheney [mailto:tcgrafx@imagina.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2000 10:15 AM
To: letterbox-usa@egroups.com
Subject: Re: [LbNA] Re: Databasing Clues?
Jeremy Irish wrote:
>
> I have been fully ripped apart by suggesting such a thing in the past. so
> I'll try and address the reasons why this hasn't happened before -
>
> 1. A few letterboxers have expressed that their letterboxes should be on
> their own web page, since the clues may be part of the design.
> 2. Letterboxes are considered "copyrighted material", so cannot be
> centralized into one database.
> 3. A few letterboxers fear others "profiting" from their letterboxes (by
> providing advertising, selling a book, etc.)
>
> (did I miss anything?)
Well... yes... as I recall the exchange, the reluctance was mostly
centered around your suggestion of homogenizing letterboxing &
geocaching. Many of us felt that they are two distinct, albeit related
phenomenons. Additionally, as you mentioned, we have always kept the
main letterboxing web site free of advertising and marketing, other than
the stuff egroups continually throws at us. We left it at "You do your
thing, we'll do ours. Yours looks like fun. So is ours."
--
Thom Cheney
tcgrafx... among other things
To unsubscribe: mailto:letterbox-usa-unsubscribe@egroups.com
List info, archives, etc: http://www.letterboxing.org/list.html
centralized location. It was agreed that they were (and are) two seperate
sports, therefore justifying two web sites. I still agree with that.
However, the conversation did move into the use of the database as a
possible alternative to static web pages. At that time I suggested the use
of the Geocaching.com system, since it can be easily adapted to
letterboxing. There were some issues that came out of that specific
conversation. Since it was a recent discussion, the points still should be
valid.
Jeremy
-----Original Message-----
From: Thom Cheney [mailto:tcgrafx@imagina.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2000 10:15 AM
To: letterbox-usa@egroups.com
Subject: Re: [LbNA] Re: Databasing Clues?
Jeremy Irish wrote:
>
> I have been fully ripped apart by suggesting such a thing in the past. so
> I'll try and address the reasons why this hasn't happened before -
>
> 1. A few letterboxers have expressed that their letterboxes should be on
> their own web page, since the clues may be part of the design.
> 2. Letterboxes are considered "copyrighted material", so cannot be
> centralized into one database.
> 3. A few letterboxers fear others "profiting" from their letterboxes (by
> providing advertising, selling a book, etc.)
>
> (did I miss anything?)
Well... yes... as I recall the exchange, the reluctance was mostly
centered around your suggestion of homogenizing letterboxing &
geocaching. Many of us felt that they are two distinct, albeit related
phenomenons. Additionally, as you mentioned, we have always kept the
main letterboxing web site free of advertising and marketing, other than
the stuff egroups continually throws at us. We left it at "You do your
thing, we'll do ours. Yours looks like fun. So is ours."
--
Thom Cheney
tcgrafx... among other things
To unsubscribe: mailto:letterbox-usa-unsubscribe@egroups.com
List info, archives, etc: http://www.letterboxing.org/list.html
[LbNA] Re: Databasing Clues?
From: Eric Mings (elm@ao.net) |
Date: 2000-11-28 15:13:01 UTC-05:00
>John and Eric, would you mind sending me a note off-list so that I
>can see your whole email address? Mine is drewclan at aol.com. I'd
>love to talk with you and learn more about this technology. Thanks!
>Jay Drew
Jay (or anyone else),
My email is elm at ao.net . There are many issues which need to be
discussed about how this could be implemented and the decisions would
determine how difficult it would be to set up. I suggest that we
consider a chat session (on egroups - I don't care) to discuss it and
invite anyone who is interested to participate. Most evenings are
good with me except weekends.
--
Regards,
Eric Mings Ph.D.
>can see your whole email address? Mine is drewclan at aol.com. I'd
>love to talk with you and learn more about this technology. Thanks!
>Jay Drew
Jay (or anyone else),
My email is elm at ao.net . There are many issues which need to be
discussed about how this could be implemented and the decisions would
determine how difficult it would be to set up. I suggest that we
consider a chat session (on egroups - I don't care) to discuss it and
invite anyone who is interested to participate. Most evenings are
good with me except weekends.
--
Regards,
Eric Mings Ph.D.
Re: [LbNA] Re: Databasing Clues?
From: Randy Hall (randy@mapsurfer.com) |
Date: 2000-11-28 18:50:31 UTC-04:00
> I suggest that we consider a chat session (on egroups - I don't care)
I'll have a window lurking on the chat room tonite
(http://www.egroups.com/chat/letterbox-usa)
I don't know how much I'll pay attention to it, but anyone can drop by
if they want to chat letterboxing :-)
Cheers,
--
randy "the mapsurfer" (P27F102)
Hogeita hirugarren kutxak kolonia zaharean da.
Re: Databasing Clues?
From: John De Wolf - PA (jdewolf@mail.icrsurvey.com) |
Date: 2000-11-29 14:13:24 UTC
Jay,
I'm at jdewolf at icrsurvey.com , but please remember, I know nothing
about the technology. I was simply raising this issue as a user.
There are obviously several on this list who have the know-how and
perhaps still the willingness to set something like this up.
Do feel free to e-mail me though...
John
--- In letterbox-usa@egroups.com, Eric Mings wrote:
> >John and Eric, would you mind sending me a note off-list so that I
> >can see your whole email address? Mine is drewclan at aol.com. I'd
> >love to talk with you and learn more about this technology. Thanks!
> >Jay Drew
>
> Jay (or anyone else),
>
> My email is elm at ao.net . There are many issues which need to be
> discussed about how this could be implemented and the decisions
would
> determine how difficult it would be to set up. I suggest that we
> consider a chat session (on egroups - I don't care) to discuss it
and
> invite anyone who is interested to participate. Most evenings are
> good with me except weekends.
> --
> Regards,
>
> Eric Mings Ph.D.
I'm at jdewolf at icrsurvey.com , but please remember, I know nothing
about the technology. I was simply raising this issue as a user.
There are obviously several on this list who have the know-how and
perhaps still the willingness to set something like this up.
Do feel free to e-mail me though...
John
--- In letterbox-usa@egroups.com, Eric Mings
> >John and Eric, would you mind sending me a note off-list so that I
> >can see your whole email address? Mine is drewclan at aol.com. I'd
> >love to talk with you and learn more about this technology. Thanks!
> >Jay Drew
>
> Jay (or anyone else),
>
> My email is elm at ao.net . There are many issues which need to be
> discussed about how this could be implemented and the decisions
would
> determine how difficult it would be to set up. I suggest that we
> consider a chat session (on egroups - I don't care) to discuss it
and
> invite anyone who is interested to participate. Most evenings are
> good with me except weekends.
> --
> Regards,
>
> Eric Mings Ph.D.