What Happened to the Thrill of . . . .

It seems society wants instant gratification and they want it NOW! Normal restaurants wasted too much time of our time so fast food restaurants sprung up and took millions of our food dollars. Then they weren't fast enough so the drive-in window came to be. We really don't want to wait for anything. We want it now and at times, we're willing to pay for it!

Letterboxing started with the "no frills" LBNA.org; then Atlas Quest came to be with bells and whistles. Boxers still weren't satisfied and virtual letterboxes came on the scene so letterboxers didn't have to get out in the air and on the trails anymore - they could surf for boxes in their pajamas in front of the computer screen! More of the "I want it now and easy" mentality.

Such is the letterboxing world and the plight of Inspector Bacon. Some of you have written us from the Newboxers list. People are getting antsy - they want to know what this is all about. They want to know now! Why not sit back and enjoy something that reads like a serial novel with clever repartee and double entendres? Is that asking too much? What happened to the thrill of discovery?

One woman who was with our Newboxers group for only a few weeks, unsubbed in disgust that "there was too much back-stabbing going on in this group." She then gave me the name of the posts so I could look into them and they were the inital posts of Ms. Emily Post and Inspector Bacon that are located in a post below. Apparently she didn't take the time to read the links and the history of this game. And me not knowing what was going on in my group? She wanted to jump in, feet first, without researching or doing her homework. Thus, instead of enjoying (or deleting) a group of messages that might have helped educate her, she left the group because on the surface, things got nasty.

I wrote back immediately to tell her that these posts were not what they seemed and were relevant to letterboxing. If she followed them through, eventually the light would come on over her head. If not, I mentioned that the "delete" key is a powerful tool. Why leave the group for something that was part of the game? Stay and learn. I offered her the opportunity to sign up again, knowing that these weren't 2 boxers fighting with each other, but I never heard from her.

Guess she was on to her next favorite thing . . . .