I have taken part in many forum activities but I think I’m more into official site. I like the option to upload a photo to the gallery and I that’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 I’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 ‘official’ 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. It’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 it’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 
). 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 — an official forum that is unofficial/optional.
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Nice thoughtful question, Manish. I hear people’s point about the empty “Hurrah.” We can’t base it on anything. It just is. We don’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 don’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, it’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 I’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 changes…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 there’s still some surprise on the forum. It just depends on what kind of round Robin you join
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I assume there’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 don’t find in official site. Same with Spread the Joy
I’ve only been participating in forum tags, what I like about it : there’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 
, 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 doesn’t really matter for me, I never know what’s written on the cards I’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:
■ No longer willing to accept trash from short-timers and others who do PostCrossing on their terms
■ 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 member’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).
That’s the view from here…
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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 goes….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 send…the majority have been international which means very pricy sends to people who have pretty unrealistic requests… Someone just mentioned about the list of what they don’t want, what they do want and not one word of what they like to know about you….I’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 comments…and off it goes…. 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 don’t relish it as much as the RR and swaps and trades…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 past—- 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 …In all of your comments I could see the benefits and setbacks and I am grateful for the well thought of share…
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I did official Postcrossing only very sporadically even before joining the forum, so I may or may not ever send more officials, but I may or may not have done so even without the forum - who knows 
I agree about the forum being more fun though, and I always feel surprised by mail even if I’m expecting it, because I don’t know what day it will arrive 
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I always preferred the forum, to swap on purpose, not randomly selected by computer.
I did 11 official mailings, and that confirmed to me that I prefer forum swaps.
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What unrealistic wishes?
Such profiles should be reported/notified to Postcrossing team.
But compared Postcrossing/forum swaps to dating, I think official Postcrossing is like life: I can meet anyone and no expectations, and I’m not “seriously” looking. Just saying “hi” is enough. I love the randomness, it’s like unplanned travelling, when you can meet anyone, and you are not thinking they will stay in your life, but some still do While forum swaps, it’s “serious dating”, package travel, I’m wanting something almost and others are too, plus there is also more work: ask for the address, give address, thank. And sometimes I had to ask did they send it, or even after long time I told I didn’t still get anything, and turned out they didn’t yet even send it yet. Someone doesn’t thank me, or answer did they get my swap (very rare).
I like official cards, and have gotten many longer term friends who with I swap and send something every now and then. Now I haven’t swapped in the forum for a long time, but maybe sometime again, when I have long waiting time/more time. I write my cards now in small time slots, so I am afraid it would become too stressful to wait for the addresses in tags etc.
But I think forum swaps are really good especially if one is looking for something or collects something.
Surprise elements partly stays in a swaps like card from favourite album, but you will still be getting something you like 
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There are also forum members who don’t do any forum activities/games. I only do “Official Postcrossing” and am on the forum mainly for the meetup section. I love official Postcrossing 
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I like to use both, I´m still a newbie can have 10 cards traveling and waiting time is sometimes too long. When i first started out i tried everything tags, RR, lottery, Bingo, now some of them i like and some of them are not my thing.
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i love the forum. i’ve met some great people here. penpals, people i’m just sending cards with every now and then and people i’m always happy to meet in tags. but i love the official site a lot too, for sending cards. i guess i don’t see all the negativity other people here see? i don’t get trash in the mail, i don’t get those super picky profiles as often (i can’t remember the last time) and i hardly ever get empty hurray messages. actually, i get nicer hurray messages on the official site than on the forum, since the new topic it’s okay to just say ‘received this card from that person’.
most of the time when i feel like participating in some tags there are the same 3 people last in almost all of them. it’s a little off putting sometimes. i don’t mind sending to the same people once in a while, just not all the time. it’s what i like about the official site. the randomness about it all.
also one more thing. most of the time i sit down and want to/am able to send a card. i don’t wanna wait until a round robin group is full or someone on the other side of the country is awake. that can take a day or more when i don’t have the time anymore.
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I do still participate in Official Postcrossing, but less often than I did since becoming more involved in the Forum. There are some round robins (“RRs”) here that I really like!
For example, the Canadian monthly RR is great because I’m swapping cards with others from my country, plus the postage is 1/3 the cost of sending internationally. And the Goody Two Shoes 
Chaotic Nonsense RR is great fun because it’s possible to be silly and creative, sometimes to send those weird cards that you aren’t sure about, because the whole point is that it’s a nonsense RR…
I still enjoy the serendipity and randomness of Official Postcrossing! It’s just that most round robins (and some tags) offer the chance to get to know others better over time. Official Postcrossing can be tantalizing in that way because each experience there is a one-off.
As for the difficult-to-please question, many forum situations also involve being directed to someone’s official profile, so you can still find yourself staring in consternation at a list of wishes! If you’re sending regularly to the same people, and you’ve exhausted the 1 or 2 cards that match something on their list, it is not that different from being on Official Postcrossing. So, as on regular Postcrossing, I simply send something nice and hope for the best.
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I joined in July. So far 5 cards in official PC have reached the destinations. Couple more are travelling. And I have met some really wonderful people on the forum and swapped cards with them. Also done few education tags too. I can tell that I love doing both official and forum swap. I have few limitations that keeps me from participating in more activities. I have very limited design of postcards available here. And postage cost rise exponentially if I have to send even a single post card in an envelope.
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