Are there members who don't participate in Official Postcrossing ?

Hi All,

After sending/receiving 50+ cards on the official channel, I feel like I enjoy Forum activities more than official Postcrossing. I like the fact that here, I can have a little chat with the users after receiving cards, which is not possible on the official PC.

So, I was wondering if there are people, who rarely send cards through official Postcrossing. People who participate only in Forum activities like tags, RRs, etc.

I am curious about why and when such folks quit official Postcrossing. Also, how do you deal with the fact the Forum activities limit the surprise element to an extent?

Happy Sunday !!

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Iā€™m so glad you asked this because I was recently wondering the same thing. I canā€™t wait to hear from others on this topic. :thinking:

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Thatā€™s a really interesting topic, Manish!
In fact, Iā€™m one if those people, as my last official Postcrossing card was sent about a yrar ago, I suppose. And I can tell Iā€™m not planning to get back into it, at least not in the nearest future.
Just as youā€™ve mentioned, I enjoy all the forum activities and connections more, as there are more opportunities to connect and get to know people, which is one if the key aspects for me. Also, often times I stay in touch with people Iā€™ve encountered on the forum, and itā€™s just so enjoyable to me, because I struggle a lot with socializing in reality :grin: I like that thereā€™s a great variety of tags, RRs and all kinds of threads to share or discuss something - and even though I donā€™t share things too often, itā€™s simply fascinating to look through.
Overall, Iā€™d say my experience with the forum is more positive compared to the official site

An edit because I accidentally overlooked your other question: long story short, Iā€™m not really bothered by the fact some of the forum activities kinda lessen the effect of surprise. I mean, if weā€™re talking about some tags where you can see the card youā€™re getting beforehand, thereā€™s still a great deal of surprise because of the message (which I believe is just, if not more, important than the image). And there are many tags and RRs where you only loosely know the theme of a card youā€™re getting. Or not necessarily a card, thereā€™s a great variety of tags (and probably RRs) dedicated to exchanging different kinds of supplies or stationery.
And you usually know who youā€™re getting mail from, and to me itā€™s usually more comfortable that way, to be honest

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Thatā€™s what I was wondering too :heavy_heart_exclamation:

I started the forum why I wanted to interact with people from countries that I could not easily send from officially.
Actually, until I started PC, I did not know that there are countries to which we can send from Japan and others to which we cannot :sweat_drops:
If a country can send from Japan, we can receive from that country.
And if I can receive from that country, we can send from Japan to that countryā€¦ I thought that was the norm :sweat_smile:
There is a limit to the number of postcards that can be sent officially, and messages at registration tend to end up being almost one-sided, so I canā€™t stop interacting on the forum :blush:
Still, I believe that ā€œa forum is only as good as its officials,ā€ so if there is an opening in the official, I try to pull the address :mailbox_with_mail:

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After I discovered the forum, I did not send cards officially. Feel the same like you. I really enjoy participating in RRs and Tag and Its the best way to get to know each other. I found many beautiful sauls here in the forum. Official postcrossing is one way communication. At least noone respond to the hurray message. And some just put ā€œthank you for the cardā€ā€¦ Im not that kind. I want to truely express my feelings when I receive a card. I always feel that a simple thank you is not enough for the efforts a person put into a card. I always want to write more and continue the communication which is not happening with official postcrossing.

But one cannot avoid the joy of the surprises get from official postcrossing. This morning, I though I will draw some addreases and see how far I got happy surprise mails on coming month.

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My official account is set into inactive. I am still sending postcards from time to time though :wink:. I prefer forum activities and correspondence with my postcard pals :blush: but I think that there are people who donā€™t think that way and theyā€™re happy to receive the surprise official card from me :blush:. Thatā€™s why I am still sending but not receiving (officialy).

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Thatā€™s actually a great point! Iā€™ve been thinking of maybe sending a few official postcards with my account being set to inactive :grin:

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What an interesting thing to discuss!

I mostly do direct swaps (on forum and some other channels) and penpals. After new forum was presented, I dropped my official activity mostly (Iā€™m in in-active mode since November '21 since I donā€™t like Christmas cards much and have stayed like that since for obvious reasons, probably indefinitely), and forum activities (especially Handmade RR) are super fun, I really enjoy everything! (like every single card I received through forum is insanely awesome)

To keep the surprise element - 1) I prefer during swaps not to choose the exact cards; 2) I do gratis offers, so if I get card back itā€™s pure unexpected surprise; 3) I send a lot of cards, so since delivery takes 2-4 weeks in average, I forgot what I chose (my peak activity could be around 1-5 cards per day sent/received in average, so itā€™s easy to be amazed and have short memory); 4) handmade - even with a theme - is always a pleasant surprise

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I have taken part in many forum activities but I think Iā€™m more into official site. I like the option to upload a photo to the gallery and I thatā€™s way can see all my sent and received postcards. I also like the statistics that Postcrossing provides. However, I have noticed that people put more effort into postcards here on the forum than on the official side. Both have their pros and cons so I continue to use both equally.

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I am very new to postcrossing - I sent my first card 3 weeks ago and Iā€™m absolutely hooked! I am still getting to grips with all the ins and outs of postcrossing and have only just started looking at the forum topics, which I have found very interesting. I had no idea that you could send postcards other than the ā€˜officialā€™ site and hopefully look forward to participating!

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This is really interesting- thank you @rhuqesmail for starting this. I am new to pc - I joined in March 2022.I still do both. I get enjoyment from each - but connection mostly from the forum.

On the forum, I first participated as a silent watcher, then joined some lotteries, then started trying tags. I occasionally tag now- but I think I found my spot in round robins- for a lot of the reasons @Xute mentioned. Some feel like little sub- community spaces.

I still get excited to get an official card. And I always have all the cards I can traveling. Based On others comments- I own that I could change my activity levels over time. Itā€™s actually a really beautiful thing about Postcrossing- that flexibility of how and why one participates.

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I have been in an inactive mode for a while now on Official Postcrossing. It is not that I quit it but I have stopped participating it. Why? Because, honestly, after 10 years with Postcrossing, I learned that it is more stress-free as I do not have to suddenly encounter all the difficult card wishes mentioned on the profiles of people I have never even met in person. I have probably too many cards now of various themes and I try to write a nice message on every card but yet there is something that sort of put me off.

On the other hands, I do forum tags and swaps and it has been more pleasant mostly. And I have met some Postcrossing friends on the forum. The surprise element may be less, compared to Official Postcrossing, but still I do enjoy forum activities more.

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Great topic! I love the forum and itā€™s my main squeeze, so to speak. It and pen pal communication. I go back to the main page for world postcard day and holidays (because I love holidays :smile:). I found the forum pretty early so I wonder how long it will take me to get me to the major milestones like 100 and up.

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Another question that follows is: Are there many? This relates back to the curious nature of the forum ā€” an official forum that is unofficial/optional.

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Nice thoughtful question, Manish. I hear peopleā€™s point about the empty ā€œHurrah.ā€ We canā€™t base it on anything. It just is. We donā€™t know why. Hope the next card has a gushing message about your lovely card.

Unlike tags and other games, official post crossing has a level of surprise that tags and games donā€™t have. There is a plus to games and other parts of the forum, we have like-minded interests.

On the official post crossing, there is an element of surprise as has been mentioned. There is only a small percentage of members who play games and such, so when I receive a card from a real stranger, itā€™s really exciting to hear something about their lives, or see the writing style, the stamp they chose, someone who took a few minutes to find a card, address it, write something, stamp it and send it on its way. The randomness is what I enjoy, really.

Oh, and you could have a connection with an official post crossing person in some miraculous way. There are very few, but there are some with whom Iā€™ve connected with. Of course through games and activities there is a better chance to make connections.

As for quitting post crossing, I can only project that life happens. It could be for any reason, health, cost, life changesā€¦just life!

Great questions! Love to hear from others.

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I agree that I like the surprise factor on the main page, but I think that thereā€™s still some surprise on the forum. It just depends on what kind of round Robin you join

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I assume thereā€™s really small percentage of postcrossers who are only active sending and receiving from the forum activities and trades

What I like about forum activities are like many have stated above: more about communication and connection. There are also thread about postcrossing updates and something to discuss here which often come faster than on official site. I like to participate in education section as well, which I donā€™t find in official site. Same with Spread the Joy

Iā€™ve only been participating in forum tags, what I like about it : thereā€™s no expiration date and I can tag anytime I like. The official postcrossing site limits me to do this because of slots I can draw. Moreover, my postal service works in slower pace generally :sweat_smile: , it needs time. As someone who sends the cards in batch I could only send cards from official site 1 batch per month depends on the slot I have. For tags I could send 2 to 3 batch per month

So I think I will keep 70% forum tag : 30% official card ratio for now . About the surprise, it doesnā€™t really matter for me, I never know whatā€™s written on the cards Iā€™ll receive, both forum and official cards have the same suprise elements!

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An interesting question for sure. Since you asked for thoughts on this, I will give you mine. Let me say upfront that some of my comments may ruffle some feathers here. But again, this is my viewpoint.

Back in December 2020, I made the decision to cease all activity on the Official Postcrossing side. There are many reasons, but these are the major ones:

ā–  No longer willing to accept trash from short-timers and others who do PostCrossing on their terms
ā–  Increasing postage costs make single card mailings impractical in most cases.

I prefer to get fully involved in the Forum with Tags, RRs, Discussions, etc. For the past 11 years, I have also run my gratis offers whereby I have given away hundreds of postcards to other members. Official PostCrossing I use strictly as a resource. By that I mean, with tags or RRs where I have a choice of cards to send, I will take a peek at the memberā€™s profile. I then tailor the cards to send them based on their preferences (If I have the cards which is increasingly difficult of late).

Thatā€™s the view from hereā€¦

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I have found that I like the forum and have put official postcrossing on hold. I love sending out mail in envelopes, adding inserts, doing giveaways and swaps. I too have enjoyed seeing some of the same people and messaging back and forth.

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Hi Peeps and especially Manish, ( a lot of thought to appeal to us, ty) my opinion may not be of value as I have only been here since May. Here goesā€¦.As much as I value what you all call official sending ( did not know what it was called) I have to admit I often cringe when I am waiting for a new sendā€¦the majority have been international which means very pricy sends to people who have pretty unrealistic requestsā€¦ Someone just mentioned about the list of what they donā€™t want, what they do want and not one word of what they like to know about youā€¦.Iā€™ve experienced a few like that and as my commitment is 100% I actually hesitate for a second or two before I gather stamps, envelopes and card of their choice and try to put nice thought into my commentsā€¦and off it goesā€¦. As I copy front and back of every card I send and check off when I hear from them, sometimes it is so generic, you wonder if they actually saw and read your card. I actually donā€™t relish it as much as the RR and swaps and tradesā€¦I have sent out over 40 official ones and possibly will limit it to maybe one or two a month going forward.I really enjoy those whom I have connected with and as I have noted in the pastā€”- POSTCROSSING to me is like speed dating, you have to open a lot of shells to find that pearl. I have found enough so far from the over 100 cards I am in receipt of to start a necklace ā€¦In all of your comments I could see the benefits and setbacks and I am grateful for the well thought of shareā€¦

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