2016 April Fools Joke!
Choi, who keeps LbNA website up and running and I hatched a scheme to buy each other out. When people visited Atlas Quest, they’d be redirected to a page on LbNA announcing that LbNA has bought out Atlas Quest! But when they visited LbNA, they’d be redirected to an announcement on Atlas Quest that Atlas Quest has bought out LbNA!
Somewhat ironically, in 2023, Choi decided to retire and AQ actually did take over the running of LbNA. It wasn’t a buyout, however, and nothing in these announcements are relevant.
These are those announcements....
AQ buys out LbNA!
Atlas Quest is pleased to announce that we have entered into a definitive merger agreement with Letterboxing North America (LbNA), a leading provider of letterboxing services. This merger further strengthens our position in the letterboxing market. The combination of LbNA’s history and depth in the letterboxing community and Atlas Quest’s innovative pioneering in creating new and exciting tools for letterboxers will be unprecedented.
Synergies will be immediate. Accounts will be merged. Mayhem is expected.
LbNA has long been run by a dedicated team of volunteers worked to the bone. Choi, the project manager, when asked why did he finally sell out after over 10 years of blood, sweat and tears, only had this to say: "I’m sick of resetting those bleeping passwords. If I have one more person tell me they’ve forgotten their bleeping password, I may go postal! I’m done with this bleep!
Ryan, better known as Green Tortuga, appeared more up-beat about the merger: "I’m going to put my mark on LbNA. Starting with my signature stamp on every page. I own them now, and the world is going to know that! It’ll be great! Look for a premium membership and Google Ads coming in the re-imagined LbNA!"
What happens with the AQ premium memberships? Will they cover LbNA as well?
No, you only paid for Atlas Quest. You’ll have to pay again for LbNA. The lifetime premium memberships will not apply to the combined entity either.
How long will it be before the merger is completed?
We expect the merger to be completed on or before April 2, 2016. After which time, the combined entity will be found online at https://www.aq-letterboxing.com. AQ premium memberships will not apply to this combined entity.
There are rumors that you’re looking to buy up geocaching.com as well. Any truth to that?
No, we’re developing an alternative that we expect to take the world by storm and put them out of business.
Can you give us a hint about what this ‘alternative’ to geocaching is?
I shouldn’t really say anything, but it’s called ‘lettercaching’ and involves trading letters, numbers and symbols written on cards the size of LTCs. You try to find the necessary cards to spell out words or phrases and win prizes when you succeed.
What kind of other changes can we expect?
One idea that’s gained some serious traction is Walking 4 Letterboxes. It will work similarly to Walking 4 Fun—but instead of tracking your steps with a pedometer to virtually walk long-distance trails, you’ll use it to virtually walk from letterbox to letterbox in historic and amazing locations such as Dartmoor and Stone Mountain. You’ll be able to letterbox—real letterboxing!—from the comfort of your own home regardless of the weather outside.
Additionally, it’s become clear that slowly, over time, people are less and less likely to send the planter notes, and JUST log the find. We did a statistical study (because that is what databases are really good for), and found that—over the last 5 years—planters who received a high percentage of notes early in the study but then saw it decrease over the course of the study, also have tended to plant significantly less over time. In other words, there is a direct statistical correlation between "Notes Received" and "Tendency to Plant."
As such, going forward: All finds must be accompanied by a note to the planter. Finds with no notes will be logged, but will NOT count toward your published PFX count (until such time as you publish a note).
This is implemented for the good of the hobby.
LbNA buys out Atlas Quest!
Letterboxing North America (LbNA) is pleased to announce that we have entered into a definitive merger agreement with Atlas Quest (a.k.a. AQ), a leading provider of letterboxing services. This merger further strengthens our position in the global letterboxing market. The combination of LbNA’s rich history and depth in the letterboxing community and Atlas Quest’s innovative pioneering in creating new and exciting tools for letterboxers will be unprecedented.
Synergies will be immediate. Accounts will be merged. Mayhem is expected.
Atlas Quest has long been run by Ryan Carpenter, a.k.a. Green Tortuga—a visionary to some, and a pain in the ass to others. He’s courted controversy from the very beginning, pushing boundaries such as rating boxes with blue diamonds and embracing ‘spin-off’ letterboxes such as postals and LTCs.
Asked why he was selling out to LbNA, Ryan was blunt: "I hate letterboxing. Mud, mosquitoes, rain, twisted ankles, poison oak.... who wants that crap? I’d rather do a few virtual walks on Walking 4 Fun!"
Choi, the leading project manager for LbNA, seemed excited about the prospects of a merger. "At long last, I’ll finally be able to look in their database and see how people voted on my boxes. I should have more blue diamonds than I currently do, and now I’ll know who’s been holding me back! I hope my finger doesn’t "accidentally" delete anyone’s account!
What happens with the AQ premium memberships? Will they cover LbNA as well?
No, you only paid for Atlas Quest. Since Atlas Quest will be ceasing operations, all premium members from that site will became null and void after the merger.
How long will it be before the merger is completed?
We expect the merger to be completed on or before April 2, 2016. After which time, the combined entity will be found online at https://www.letterboxing-earth.com to reflect our new global presence.
What kind of changes can we expect from the merger?
We’re going to start a new "stamp exchange" for letterboxes that we hope will bring in new blood from the geocachers. This has the added benefit that you can visit the same box multiple times and never see the same stamp twice! But it’s a pretty minor change and most active letterboxers won’t even notice the change since they typically only visit a given letterbox once. So really, no big changes.
Also, it’s too much time and trouble to maintain a website for both smartphones and desktop computers. Since smartphones are growing more and more common and desktop use is falling off, we’ll be phasing out the desktop version.
What’s to stop Ryan from creating another competing letterboxing website? He’s already done it once before, after all!
It’s in the contract we signed. He’s prohibited from creating new letterboxing websites for 10 years.
What about this rumor floating around that he recently purchased the domain for lettercaching.com?
He did WHAT?! That no good @#$#*@.....