I prefer to plant "regular" boxes. However, I often travel with noxers and don't want to waste their vacation time while I'm frantically looking for a place, often in a busy location, to plant an actual box. So magnet stamps have become my preferred way to plant when I travel. One of my most-found boxes over the past few years is a magnet stamp, so I guess other folks like to find them in busy areas, too!

That's what I do, but for someone like Dingus whose entire clues are ciphers, it may not be possible to do that, or it might detract from the experience of the clue.

We enjoyed finding your US Solar System Model: Pluto a while back. Sad it's goners.

Hmm.... that's a really interesting idea. It never occurred to me to make a way to filter out certain keywords. I'll need to look into that.

Adding standard keywords like "magnetic" and "nologbook" would be trivially easy to do, though. A way to remove those from the results would require a bit more effort and I'd need to look into that.

-- Ryan

Sorry I wish I'd been clearer when I asked if Magnetic could be added to the Attributes options of a box. I was asking for it to be added as a property of the box itself. A basic notification from the owner that you should be looking for a magnet the same way owners currently let someone know they will need a compass for a box.I was not meaning for its addition for use a search option.


The same holds true for every option in the Attributes selection I suppose. "You will need your compass" "Bring Fido" "Bike Friendly". There are fourteen Attribute options. Is there a programming issue with adding one more? It appears that there is room for several more icons. A little horseshoe magnet icon could fit in there nicely.

One of the biggest concerns I've read about on the boards is the experiences of new boxers. I would really hate to have new boxers get frustrated when they go out to find a box that is in place but they couldn't find it simply because they didn't know to look for a magnet.


For a mystery or a story theme, there's only so many times/ways you can allude to a magnet seamlessly.

But that's largely what the attributes are for--as a search filter. A way to help people narrow down which boxes might be of most interest to them at a glance.


But buried in the clue, it's not something that people can search or filter for. People need an option to know, "Oh, that box requires a compass and I don't have one--better skip that one!" or "That box is Fido-friendly, which is good because I wanted to bring Fido."

The attributes are primarily meant to help people look/sort/filter through search results.

Now some people have argued that they would like a way to avoid magnetic stamps, and that's actually a good argument for adding the attribute. But I'm not really convinced it's an option that most people would find useful. A couple, sure, but I just don't imagine that a large chunk of people are going to avoid a box just because it's a magnetic box/stamp.


Potentially. The attributes are stored as a number in the database--a bitwise thing--but it means there are a limited number of icons I can use. I need to be a little selective in which ones I think would be the most useful for people.

And "just one more" isn't really a good argument for adding something anyhow. You want an extra attribute, then someone else wants one, then someone else, and next thing you know, there's 200 attributes that people have to scroll through and pick from. I even turned it into an April Fools joke!

So no, I'm not interested in adding "just one more" attribute. That's a slippery slope.

Generally speaking, the only attributes I want to add are to help people narrow down which boxes they want to focus on when looking through a long list of search results.


I would hate that too, but like I said before, you don't need an icon to tell them that.

If you really don't want to put it in the clue, I do like the idea of adding it as a keyword, and have even added that as one of the standard keywords for traditional boxes.

-- Ryan

Using the keyword approach, do the keywords appear on the letterbox page itself when I look at it? Or do they only return boxes after checking the box and searching for let's say Magnetic now that it's an option. Can you run a search that includes some keywords while at the same time excluding others?

I'm sure I am not alone when, rather than performing comprehensive filtered searches every time, I usually look at the Newest Letterboxes list on the home page. I click on the box and review the informative icons for that box. Simple and effective.


Displaying an icon might be easier

"oh, that box is a magnetic box, I'd better adjust my mindset for the search" or "that box is magnetic---better skip that one!"

I was initially against magnetic stamp only letterboxes, but I've seen the light! We have some very clever planters with very clever hides! They open up urban areas to more letterboxing opportunities. The Magnets offer another way to bring people closer to what/where you are trying to share with far less compromise.

Other than a logbook, which are already thankfully (admit it) missing from the majority of boxes in a series, these boxes require clues/directions to find them and provide the inky proof that they were found.

They appear on the box description page, but I'm not opposed to adding them to clue pages if people find that useful.


Theoretically, yes. In practice, I'm having trouble getting it to not include boxes with specific keywords, though, and I haven't been able to fix it.


Glad to hear it! =)


Setting a person's mindset can be done in the clue. You can tell people to look for a suspicious pile of rocks/twigs, look on the west side of the tree, look UP in the tree or look for magnetic box. They're all things that should be in the clue, not something requires an icon.

I'm not sure why my last post was so unclear, but icons are primarily for searching/filtering boxes, not for "adjusting" the finder's mindset.

There's even been a question about it in the help pages since 2008. It's pretty much what I regurgitated here, though. It's not a new policy!

-- Ryan

The joke icons from April Fools Day are so funny-I just read them now and almost spit out my morning coffee from laughing so hard!!

I too like the idea of the magnet 🧲
Icon, especially with the drive by car icon. Even though it may be listed in the clues, a quick glance at the icon
automatically gets my attention !!

Thank you.

just my two cents

-Planters choice - that attribute just tells me the planter likes the place, not sure how that 'filter' would change anyones mind on looking or not looking for a box. The person can easily say "I love this place" in the clues.


I disagree, If 'tradition' was important to me, I might filter out all 'magnet stamps' due to the chance they are not in a box or have a log book.
I probably would just avoid those. (i know some have log books)

I personally like magnet stamps. When I go out letterboxing, I will go for the traditional hike, but I will always check to see if there are little magnet stamps in the area after I finish or if I am traveling, easy peasy and fun.

Plus, they are great for a little night boxing, even when you don't mean to letterbox in the night...lol (inside joke) I actually have a page in my log book that is dedicated to these little finds.

I think its a great idea for an 'attribute', so if people want to see if there are any 'magnet stamps' in the area with out reading all the clues, it would be a nice easy feature.

I know my family would love that. Im tired of the 'eye rolls' when I say "oh look, we have time to go look for a letterbox, it will be quick...". 😂

That was more of a compromise that went with the blue diamond. To be honest, I don't like it as an icon either!

But some of the complaints with the blue diamond was that new boxes couldn't have them, and people felt that they were a better judge of which of their boxes were "worthy" of being special, and I added the planter's choice as a compromise. I don't like it, however, and have never been a fan of it--but I considered it more of a "package deal" with blue diamonds. I'll even use it to help decide if a box that's a borderline blue diamond should get a blue diamond or not.

And for those who felt that blue diamonds were "soulless" and not at all accurate, it gave people a way to search for the "blue diamonds" that were essentially selected by the planter.

Don't go crazy adding it to all your boxes thinking that will help all your boxes get blue diamonds--the effect is weaker the less selective you are about handing them out to your boxes. If you add it to all of your boxes, it's ignored completely.

But you do make a good point.... that icon may have lived beyond its usefulness, and perhaps I should just change it into a keyword instead. Not everyone finds blue diamonds particularly useful, but I don't really hear about anyone using a planter's choice box to choose between two boxes. At least some people find blue diamonds useful. (Although I'll also admit, the main purpose of the blue diamonds was just to encourage people to plant quality boxes rather than quantity and give people a virtual pat on the back for a job well done. The search/filter was more of a side benefit.)


But it's not! ;o)

And the argument wasn't that it was a useful tool for searching, but rather to "set the finder's mindset." Now the fact that it can be used for searching doesn't necessarily make it a particularly useful tool if almost nobody would ever use it, which is what I think would likely happen here.


...they can run a clue search for all boxes with the word "magnet" in the clue.

-- Ryan

I use planter’s choice when I am in a new area and there are lots of boxes to choose from (prioritizing blue diamonds over planters choice when it makes sense)

Suggestion #1: Please add a way to include a date and location for exchanges. Remembering when and where an exchange occurred is outside the scope of my memory. Having a reminder of when and where an exchange occurred would be a really nice thing to have.

Suggestion #2: For multiple exchanges with the same individual, for example when they have a new sig stamp, retaining the original exchange date/location and adding a new exchange date/location would also be helpful.

Suggestion #3: Adding a "note" field would be appreciated, to add comments like "exchanged again for new sig stamp" or "exchanged again because it was Tuesday" etc.

Thanks for considering this helpful functionality.

I see a note field on the exchanges I have logged. That would take care of your Suggestion #1, because when you log the exchange, simply add date, location, and any other information you want in the note field. Presumably, when someone changes their sig. stamp, you would just add to the note, a new date and location, which seems to take care of the Suggestions #2 and #3.

I have to ask.... do you normally only do second exchanges on Tuesdays?


You can keep notes on people. *nodding* =)

Also useful, if you want some idea where you might have come across someone before, check their profile for events that you might have shared in the "Ships in the Night" section. If I've exchanged with someone, more often than not, I can make an educated guess about when and where it was by looking there.


By definition, an exchange can only happen once with a person. At least for counting purposes. If you want to track stamps, I guess that would be best listed as an "other" box. I suppose I could create a new "signature stamp" box type and you could record finds on it like any other box, but that's not really recording exchanges so much as it records stampings.


In addition to the note you can leave on each member?

-- Ryan

My suggestion stands - Please add a way to include a date and location for exchanges. Similar to the way you add a date and location for logging a hitchhiker. And make it fully searchable so exchanges can be searched and grouped by date or location. It's just a few database entries! Should be simple. Thanks for considering this suggestion which was supported by many persons I met this past weekend at an event. I mentioned that I would submit this suggestion so here we are :)

Yeah, just a couple of lines of code.

What you described.... I'd basically just have to throw out all of the exchange code and just make it another "type" of box. It's not a trivial update, no matter how you try to spin it!

Once you start doing this, people are going to want to record which signature stamp they exchanged, but then they'll need a way to list their signature stamps--multiple signature stamps, since some people have more than one.

It's not just a matter of recording an exchange anymore--it's about managing all of the data that can be attached to it. It's basically like treating a signature stamp as if it were a personal traveler. Hmm... Actually, it kind of is like a personal traveler, isn't it?

And if I change the database so people can record multiple exchanges with the same person, it will break a lot of existing code. The database expects that an exchange happens once and only once with each person. To display that little cup of coffee next to a person's trailname is a simple matter of joining the exchange table and if there's data, there was an exchange. If there's not, there wasn't. With multiple changes, I can't do that because it might create multiple rows. You run a search for a person, and it'll wind up showing that same person three times--one for each time you exchanged with them!

It breaks stuff. From your point of view, it looks like a minor change. From my point of view, it's a complete and utter rewrite of the entire subsystem. It's NOT trivial.

Now this is not to say it's not a worthwhile idea, but it's not the trivial update you make it sound to be.

-- Ryan

So... one easy thing I have done is add two columns to the exchanges table of the database. The first will record the date that the exchange was recorded (not necessarily the date of the exchange--just when it was recorded), and the second will record the last time an exchange was added for this member (again, not necessarily the date of the exchange, but rather the last time the exchange was recorded).

None of this information is displayed anywhere for the time being, but at least the database is recording the information now and it might be of some use later. Not exactly what you wanted, but this was actually easy to do and presumably, if you add exchanges soon after they happen, the dates will be approximately correct. But it'll also only record the first and last times you recorded an exchange with someone, not all of your exchanges nor where it happened.

-- Ryan

Michael Nesmith is listed in today's birthdays. He died Dec 10, 2021.

still his birthday!
smile

I always liked his Rio song.

I liked this one too, but I was always confused as to what went wrong. Maybe he realized she would never love him? Maybe she committed suicide?

Regardless of meaning, a wonderfully heartfelt song.

It’s also Davy Jones’s birthday!

Thank you, it has been updated.

TG

I'm old enough to remember watching his "Television Parts" TV series (based on his "Elephant Parts" video), where this came from. The whole thing was absurd and hilarious!!!! I quote it to this very day (though nobody would know it). If you ever hear me use the phrase "hideous dance of death", it was from a Matin Mull sketch from that show.

My dad was a huge Monkees fan. I got my parents, Nic, and I tickets to see Mike and Micky on their tour. We saw them November 2nd, 2021. Five weeks later, Mike was gone. For a last minute Christmas present, I made a collage of the photos of Mike and Micky from the concert, our selfie there, and the ticket stub/tour image, and had it printed. Placed it in a frame. Gave it to my dad that Christmas. He loved it. A year and some months later, my dad passed, too. Glad to have gone to that concert.

We were really fortunate and got to see Mickey in Aida in San Jose a few years back. It was phenomenal! Pretty much miss that entire group. I grew up in part of that generation when it's an avid Monkeys watcher

I was a freshman when these shows were happening. I probably should have focused more on the assignments, but at least I remember important things like the Rodan bit. But the eerie frequency with which it pops up in my life . . .