Ability to add stamps images to postcard photo-page

Postcrossing is not just about sending and receiving postcards and writing texts, it is also picking stamps. Many people enjoy interesting stamp on the card so it would be nice if we could not just upload images of postcards but also stamps attached to them.

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I’ve seen a person, that scanned the postcards they received and also scanned the stamps and just put the scan of the stamps next to the picture of the card.

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Found them!!

TH-331068

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I have wondered about this as well. I enjoy viewing the Gallery of sent postcards, and occasionally there is a postcard shown with a white section adjacent to it with stamps displayed. Is this the full picture side of the postcard as issued in some countries, or has someone somehow displayed the cancelled stamps on the back with the picture? Stamp collecting is how I found out about postcrossing: there was a booth for the website on last autumn’s virtual Stampex exhibition in London. Memories of sending friends and relatives postcards on vacation instantly came to mind, and I’ve enjoyed every aspect of since I joined: worldwide communication the old-fashioned way, “wished you were here” memories of places far away on the picture side, and colorful stamps carefully chosen by the sender (hoping the Post Office won’t obliterate them with heavy ink!). Older stamps are unbelievably cheap in the US; many bought full sheets in the 1950s and 1960s with investment hopes. The values on many of them have really dropped, so the market is flooded with them. To me it is an opportunity to share them with the postcrossers of the world!

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While I acknowledge your interest in displaying the stamps as well - postcrossing is about sending postcards, period.

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To some, it is multi-faceted.

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Well, theoretically you can already do that. There’s no one policing what image file you upload to your wall. You just create an image with both the postcard and the stamps and upload them to your received wall. There were people who I’ve sent to who deleted my postcards scans so they could also upload pictures of the stamps.

But that said, @sannah82 is correct. This is a postcard site, not a stamp site. You can even forgo stamps altogether and just use postage labels instead and still be following all the rules.

Back in November, I uploaded some scans of the Postcard(s) and stamp(s) I was sending, just to see how they appeared on the wall.

The Jury is still out on that one.

Would love to do that with some postcards and stamps recieved, still trying to find a suitable way to remove the stamps without damaging the card.

Recieved one

I usually use non standard stamps as well - but that’s an extra not everyone has the opportunity to add …

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I admire your endeavo(u)r!

Postcrossing now is not what it used to be when it started. It grew, it changed and evolved. For many people it has become bigger then just sending a postcard. That’s why in many profiles you can find suggestions about stamps and other things. Though technically you are right - we can attach stamps as an image with a postcard itself but there is no possibility to upload just an image of the stamp on the wall separately. For those who are interested in stamps also it would be really helpful to see which ones a person already has and which doesn’t. I’m not saying it is obligatory - it is just a small cool feature for a big group of postcrossers interested in stamps!

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I can understand that stamps are interesting for some/many users, and I am okay with that. I try to use different/fitting ones myself most of the time (and hate the moments when I’m using the last one of a series)

Still, I would not want to become stamps another feature one could/should show in the gallery.

  • it’s effort enough to scroll through some pages of cards, I don’t want to scroll through stamps too (I know that I would not have to)
  • same goes for uploading stamps in addition to cards; I don’t want that to become the expectation
  • in my eyes, the combos of card/stamp shown sometimes are a bit busy and distracting (I am not bothered by the combos we have already, the each their own, but to see them as standard for the majority would bring a different, disharmonic pattern (again, my taste only))

I suggest to start an external gallery if you really want to show your stamps. On the official page, we should stay with cards (as long as it’s possible, copyright-wise)

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Maybe some people do note notice but there is an image description feature when you upload received postcard. Many people don’t care about it but some actually find it useful. It is optional - you don’t have to fill the form. But it makes some of them happier to do it.
My stamp suggestion will serve the same purpose.

If adding stamps to the photo page was a thing I would definitely ignore it. I have been ignoring stamp wishes the whole time because I think that Postcrossing is about sending postcards and not for collecting stamps. People already have enough wish lists in their profiles. I try to find a suitable postcard for the recipient but the stamp choice is completely up to me. I buy and stick what I like.

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I also understand that stamp collectors would like to have an extra way to display their received stamps, but I’d vote against it:

The long wishlists of some members and expectations of looking at favourites on the wall or in flickr albums, or to scroll through all received cards to avoid duplicates, seem to discourage new users - hell, sometimes it even discouraged me although I love Postcrossing.

Of course you don’t have to make a science of choosing a card, but many people want to make it right and try to find the perfect card. So am I. :slightly_smiling_face:

If you extended it to stamps, many would feel obligated to find the perfect stamp too - the obstacle gets higher. And Postcrossing is a postcard project. Everything on top, like stamps, coins, candy wrappers, is nice-to-have, but not more.

What about putting received stamps in an external photo album (like flickr) and putting a link in your profile? I’ve seen people doing that. When a stamp collector wants to make you happy with a new stamp, this could help. :wink:

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