An Apology

(Crossposted to the LbNCA List and AQ's California Board)

I've deleted the event listing for the Santa Clara County Letterbox Planting Contest. I had no idea it would ruffle so many feathers, or that I was doing anything wrong. I apologize.

I was simply trying to motivate more people to plant more boxes in my neck of the woods. Apparently I went about it in entirely the wrong manner. I guess I just got a little carried away in my newfound enthusiasm for planting boxes. I thought it would be a fun way for Bay Area boxers to "come together" in a joint project that all could enjoy.

But just to clarify...

I wasn't hoping for people to avoid planting until that date. Several members of Team Aahz have boxes in the works that were scheduled to be planted as soon as they are ready. I assume others will plant when they are ready as well. This was simply an attempt to motivate.

I also was not hoping to have random boxes tossed wherever possible in order to earn a prize. I assumed the planters would have enough integrity to think through their boxes and put some genuine effort into the plants that would bear their name. I guess I just have too high an estimation of boxers motivations. I didn't think the prize was really that big of a deal. It's not like I was offering a new car, and I never considered that people would plant "crap" just to get some free boxing supplies.

More than a third of the boxes currently listed in SCC have gone missing. Half of Team Aahz is ready to quit boxing as they've only found one out of seven boxes they've hunted. This contest helped motivate them to continue boxing. The influx of new (read guranteed not missing) boxes would also have helped boost their spirits as well.

Just chalk this whole incident up to another newbie not understanding his place in the letterboxing hierarchy. Again I apologize. I'll try to run any innovations by those more experienced than I before implementing them in the future.

Tags: contest, apology, Santa Clara County