Miss Janet's Guidelines for Posting Etiquette

Posting is a simple and fun activity to participate in, so let's get started!

Search the archives and FAQ for answers to your questions first

The name of the game in posting etiquette is to make each post count. Many questions, especially by new members, have been discussed and debated many times in the past so the answers are already available! Not only can you get your answers faster, but others don't need to use their limited time reading and answering your questions.

There are two primary sources for finding an answer to your question: FAQs and talk list archives. FAQ is short for Frequently Asked Questions, questions so common that a thoughtful person created a page specifically to answer them. The main letterboxing FAQ is here.

If that doesn't answer your question, try searching the talk list archives for other people who might have asked your question, and the answers other helpful members have provided. Type key words of your question into the box next to the "Search Archive" and press the button. Sometimes you may have to look through several months worth of posts to find the one you're interested in, so stick with it.

If, after searching through months of old posts and nobody appears to have thought of asking your question, congrats! You've managed to find a question that nobody in the entire world has thought to ask! This is a special moment, so remember it always! At this point, feel free to create a new post and ask away.

Now reach that hand over and pat yourself on the back. You're doing a great job!

Our members do live very busy, productive lives, and they simply don't have time to read every post. They want to, rest assured, it's just they don't always have the time. Consequently, it's generally best to limit your postings to no more than a few each day. Of course, you can post more than that and nobody will get upset, but they'll likely have to skip some of your posts if you post often.

However, while you generally want to avoid posting too often, you can post every day for the rest of your life, so you'll have plenty of opportunities to express all of your thoughts over time.

Ernest Hemmingway is famous for struggling all day to write a single sentence--so it says exactly what he wants it to say. Nobody is asking you to do that--they might even think you're weird if you do!--but you can focus on the message you really want people to understand that day and you limit your writing for the day to that. Save your other insightful thoughts for another day--they won't go anywhere!

Even by limiting your postings, there are still over a thousand members on the talk list and the board will be too busy for most people to read every post. It's unfortunate, but sadly, the truth. The fortunate folks that do have such time are lucky, but to help those that don't have such time we need to make our subjects count.

With a clearly written subject, our members will know exactly what a post is about and use their time reading the ones that matter most to them. One system our members have developed includes writing the state abbreviation at the beginning of the subject line for the part of the country the post is applicable to. A post that's not about letterboxing at all can use the abbreviation of "OT", short for "Off-Topic". That way, members can choose to read only posts about letterboxing.

One should try to include as much detail as possible in the subject so members can decide if it's a post they need to read or not. Examples of possible subject lines, in order from least useful to most useful, are below:

• Letterbox info
• New letterbox!
• CA: New letterbox!
• CA: New letterbox in San Luis!

See how each, progressive subject lines tell us a little more about the letterbox? The first one would require every single member on our board to look at the post to see if it's something they'd be interested in, while the last one almost guarantees that the only members who read it are those that are likely to look for the box--the primary audience you were interested in addressing in the first place.

Posts have a way of straying off topic, sometimes way off topic. This is great and usually a lot of fun, but the subject line should be updated to reflect the new subject. Some members following the old subject may not be interested in the new one, while other members not following the old subject may be interested in the new one. So if you make a post that starts to deviate from the original subject, you can help the other members by updating the subject as well.

The main letterboxing board receives much of the fame and glory, but there are other letterboxing boards about specific topics or areas of interest such as the Pacific Northwest letterboxing board or the hitchhiker board. These boards were created so people that were interested in that subject or topic could have their own board and not bother the people on the main talk list that aren't interested in it. It's a way to make things easier for people that aren't interested in a specific area of letterboxing.

However, some people feel the urge to post the exact same message everywhere, which isn't very helpful since it only forces some people to read the same post multiple times--something some people could possibily find annoying. Shocking, I know. Take a deep breath now if you must.

If you find a letterbox in Oregon and want to report the status of the box, do so where people are interested: The Pacific Northwest letterboxing board. Posting it to the main letterboxing board generally is not appropriate since only two types of people will read it: (1) those that don't live in the area and aren't interested in the status of the box, or (2) those that do live or travel to the area but already read the same post on the Pacific Northwest board. Either way, the second post isn't helping anyone.

"Ahhh," you might say, "But I've found a cure for poison oak! Everyone is going to be interested in my post!" In a case like that, the main letterboxing board is the appropriate place. If you post it to the Pacific Northwest board as well, they'll wonder why you felt the need to inform them of this cure--not once--but twice..

If you have a question about letterboxes in Germany, why would you inquire from people in the Pacific Northwest? Unless you have some reason to believe that persons in the Pacific Northwest are experts on German letterboxes, addressing your questions to the main letterboxing board would probably get better results. So if you have something to say, by all means, go ahead and say it, but say it once and do it in the appropriate forum. You'll not only get better results to your queries, but it'll make navigating the boards easier and quicker for others.

If somebody asks a question--for instance, "Let me know if the Arizona letterbox has been found recently,"--and you're also interested in the answer, writing a post such as "Ditto" or "Me too" can distract other members. The question has already been asked, so simply wait for someone else to answer. And imagine if you really were interested in the answer and see that three people replied to the original post. You pull up the replies, excited about the reading the answer, to learn they're all from other people that also want to know the answer. It's disheartening, to say the least, to get ones hopes so high and have them fall back to earth. The thing of it is, the posts didn't provide any content.

Another type of post with the same theme is, "I had a great time at the Gathering!" and everyone else posts "Me too!" Of course everyone had a great time at the gathering--we always do! But elaborate. Tell us what you liked about it, the people you met, and so forth. It's much more interesting to hear such details.

There's nothing wrong with "Me too!" posts in general, but because they don't have any actual content, many members may decide the post isn't worth using their limited time to read. Even worse, they can't learn that until after they've already read the entire post. So unless a post adds new content to a thread, it's usually best for other members simply to not include it.

Some posts are lengthy, which is okay most of the time, but if you reply to one, only include--at most--a few selected lines that you'd like to comment on. This helps keep your post focused and people can figure out what you're replying to. If you reply with the entire post, it makes your post difficult to read. It makes it longer for people with slow connections to read.

The easiest way to solve this problem is just not include any part of a post you're replying to, but rather state the purpose of your reply directly. If someone writes asking the status of the XYZ letterbox and you want to reply to the post, write directly, "I found the XYZ letterbox last year and it was in great shape then!" People know what you're talking about and you're not cluttering your post with unnecessary quotes.

The letterboxing community is just that, a community of friends, families, and neighborhoods connected by a hobby called letterboxing. And it's easy to get distracted on topics not about letterboxing. Which is generally fine and dandy, but we must remember that the only connection that we all have in common is letterboxing. Going off topic about cross-stitching a Mickey Mouse bookmark may not interest the majority of members on the board, and perhaps shouldn't be posted about. Maybe e-mailing the persons about the subject is better, or finding another board full of people that might be more receptive to your other hobbies.

But again, this isn't a hard rule. Letterboxing touches on many other hobbies including geocaching, hiking, book-making, and orienteering. Specific clues can hit countless other subjects including cryptology, birding, current events, or Lewis and Clark. And it's easy to get so far off topic that the subject no longer has any connection at all to letterboxing and not even realize it. So before you post, it might be prudent to consider whether the post is too far off topic or not. Even if it's completely off topic you might decide enough people would be interested that it should still be posted, but at least you've made a conscious decision about it.

When you post to a public message board, your post should be meant for the public, not an individual. If you want to congratulate someone for something, that's great! But an e-mail is more intimate and personal and sounds more sincere, which is probably the effect you want. And even if everyone else agrees that congratulations are due, they probably aren't interested in the fact that you, personally, want to congratulate the person. And finally, if you post such a message public, the intended recipient may end up missing the post! By e-mailing them directly, you know they'll get the message.

When somebody sends you a private e-mail, reply with an e-mail. If they wanted to have the e-mail public, they would have written it to the talk list in the first place. If it's an issue that deserves to be public, it's usually okay to quote the e-mail anonymously--but only if the original author cannot be identified from its contents.

On a related note, if you do reply to a public post via e-mail, know that some people have the posts sent as e-maill, and it's very difficult if not impossible to tell the difference between a public post and a private e-mail. So to be on the safe side, if you don't want an e-mail to accidentally become public, say so in your e-mail. Change the subject line so it doesn't start with "[LbNA]" (or whatever the case may be) and begin the e-mail with something like "I'm writing this e-mail because...." or end with "Please keep this between us" or whatever. Make sure the recipient knows that they're reading a private e-mail, not a public post.

Attachments are notorious for evil things such as viruses, and even if you know all your attachments are virus free, everyone else on the board can't be so certain. So try to find a way to avoid using an attachment--that is, if the board in question even allows them in the first place.

Not everyone on the letterboxing board is an experienced letterboxer or computer user, and that's okay! We're a very forgiving bunch! But if you use acronyms and abbreviations all the time, you might alienate such beginners or--even worse--scare them off. Pretend a child is reading the board who has just learned how to read, and write your post as if they were going to read it. Simple and easy. It might take a few extra keystrokes, but the results are worth it.

Mystery boxes are a rare breed of letterboxes where it's easy to 'spoil' the box by accidentally saying where it's located. To be absolutely safe, it may be best never to mention finding a mystery box on the talk list at all, but if you do, try to make sure nobody knows where you were when you found the letterbox. Wait a couple of weeks before you post about finding it so nobody knows where you were when you found it. While nobody is going to get mad and blacklist you if you accidentally spill the beans, it's no fun when you can't figure out the box for yourself.

Being an electronic medium, misunderstandings can arise. The vast majority of letterboxers are wonderful, caring people, so remember that when you post. If you read something that really inflames you, keep a level head. Calling them naughty names in return will not help the matter, but usually make it worse. Keep your anger in check, because a well-thought post dealing with facts is much more effective than resorting to name calling. In fact, if you resort to that level, it's more likely to make yourself look bad and evil. Of course, that's not true, but the perception will be there. So have happy thoughts. Maybe the person was having a bad day, or the jovial tone they intended fell flat, or maybe all sorts of things. Who knows? So simply assume the best and go from there.