Graham Howard wrote:

>I agree with Thom's warning about the rash of damage causing some pause
in
>promoting it too loud...
>...if you ...go further back to its
>early days on Doc's pages, and even before that you'll find Adrian
(Have
>Feet Will Travel) predicting this very situation.

Adrian Williams wrote:
>May i say that Graham has hit the nail right on the head.

Tom Cooch wrote:
>I still have strong doubts about the bogeyman stalker.
>It seems much more likely to me that boxes are vandalized by people
>who stumble upon them in fairly public locations.

This is true Tom. We already know that most (if not all) of the
incidents happened that way. Thank you for pointing that out
and for helping to quash the notion (whether you intended to do
so or not) that promotion using the web or otherwise will cause
problems.

Was the web really used to destroy a letterbox?

I have never heard anything definitive from Julie. What we may
have is one incident of vandalism due to web publishing, if in fact her
boxes were vandalized due to web publishing. I guess it seems likely
that they could have been (from eliminating the other causes).
But even if that's true its only one incident. A while back several
incidents were reported from Dartmoor supposedly caused by
the mere suggestion that we may be promoting the hobby here in
the U.S. and that as a result of that (was the fear) that people
would rain down on Dartmoor in droves and spoil things for them.

So the answer in Dartmoor was to wreck other people's fun for
trying to get the word out. We may end up with the same situation
here if we don't stick together and establish some sort of bulwark
against that kind of thinking. I think we should all agree right here
and now to not buy in to that.

I think we have still been (attempting to) operate under a misguided
and unfounded notion. Mainly, that we have to progress in the
same manner and pretext as Dartmoor letterboxing. Apparently,
with little use of the web Dartmoor has acquired its spoilers.
Is there record any better than ours will be? Not likely.

We can never reproduce what they have in England and I don't think
we should try to. The geography is entirely different. The
personalities,
characters and culture are entirely different.

I think that if we give in to these unfounded concerns about web use
- unfounded concerns that we must progress in some prescribed fashion
(don't use the web, don't put out a blurb, etc.) our fun will be
spoiled
too because these are things that we can use to make it more fun.

So what I say is beans to that.

The web is just another medium. If you use the "registration process"
that Dartmoor uses you still have a record that gets shared, copied,
distributed, etc. You end up with the same problems. It is really no
different. But that process will not lend well to our geography
and to the wide dispersion of our boxes and to the different systems
used to describe them. Our maps and the internet are the only things
that tie it all together.

I'll say this again. We will have problems like this with or without
the web, with or without promotion and with or without maps. The web
will not expose clues to worse people than some other medium would.
If one out of a hundred web users are vandals so are one out of a
hundred
non-web users. So let's progress in whatever manner we want that will
generate the most fun and the most interest - that will fulfill our
goals
for the hobby here in the U.S.

What I can provide for you is web publishing and mapping. In addition
we can move forward on the Kids Corner ideas and I am talking to Mitch
about how to do that. I'll post something in the next few days.

So while the notion of promotion again surfaces let's actually consider
it this time. Let's not get sidetracked in some paranoid dillusions
that imply "cyberspace" is some sort of spiritual domain in which
bad things happen. People make bad things happen. They can do
it with or without an internet connection. I know people who refuse
to buy a computer because they feel that computers are inherently evil
things! Can you believe that? -- That in our day and age people still
spread around (and apparently believe) that kind of superstition?

Well, back to reality...

Adrian's offer to come over here to do a lecture at a school is
extremely admirable. I'm sure he would have to take considerable
time out of his schedule. I would be very proud if he is able to
do this. If you tell us how much the fare is Adrian, we will
be able to figure out how to split the cost or come up with a fare.
I'm not saying we can. I think we have about 55 members and I'm
not sure how many would be willing to buck up for some kids
in Germantown, Wisconsin who they don't even know. I think
quite a few people may be interested in helping. So let us know
what you need. I suppose the school may be willing to pay a
little too. I don't know. How rural is the school or district?

Thank you for listening to this rather long note, those of you who
read it.

Take care,
Dan




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