Empty Hurray messages

Yes, and if that is removed, that certainly would feel worse to get an empty Hurray, than now, I believe?
Because then they would take time to remove it.

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I didn’t even think of the possibility of someone hating saying thank you so much that they would remove the default :rofl: but you’re right, that would be even worse!

I think it would also be very rare though, and that empty hurrays are much more often the result of someone who either has trouble writing them, or just doesn’t care enough to bother. Not someone who would go out of their way just to be extra rude. Though perhaps I am over-estimating humanity :stuck_out_tongue:

Oh and yes, people would certainly still complain about getting the default! My thought wasn’t so much to prevent complaining, as to prevent misunderstandings and hurt feelings that might cause a new Postrcrosser to get discouraged and quit. Not everyone uses the forum - where they can be reassured that it’s probably not personal - and even a default “thank you” seems less ambiguous than a totally blank message. They might think “How rude that they didn’t bother to personalize it” but would be less likely to think “Did I do something to offend?”

Also, if it was a custom default created by the sender, nobody would know for sure when they got one, even if they suspected.

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I’ve never got an empty Hurray message and I joined in 2009. I think they are not too common?

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Out of 55 sent, I’ve gotten four empty hurray messages, including one today. It is a rare occurrence, thank goodness. Oddly enough, two of the empty hurray messages still favored my postcards. It used to bother me at first, but now I just shrug off the empty messages. I’ve gotten plenty of wonderful hurray messages. The good outweighs the bad.

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Right. And some people are already doing that - probably just copy-pasting the same text into the hurray message every time. You can tell for instance, when people thank you for the “great stamps” when you know you actually used standard issue stamps or even a postage sticker :wink:

For my taste, even an empty registration message is more sincere than an automatic default text.

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I couldn’t disagree more :wink:
For me, PC is also about sharing experiences, thoughts, and views, and I am usually very interested in the reaction of the addressee. And in fact the hurray messages I receive are on average way more interesting than the postcard texts - certainly much longer :slight_smile:

That said, however, I don’t think there is any point in forcing anybody to write anything.

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Postcrossing is about connecting and the hurray-messages are part of that connecting, so to me they are important.

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I choose to think that the empty messages are from the people that needed the most to receive the postcard, maybe already registering the card was a big effort for them. I wouldn’t want to complicate the process making users doubt about the message, if they need to delete, or add, or other…

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In a few cases I suspect the member has not seen the actual card, but was given the card# by the person looking after the mail at that address.

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They can be important for you but there is nothing in the rules that says they must be used. It seems pretty clear in the literature that PC is about connecting through postcards.

There are many people who struggle to even get a postcard sent do to language barriers, fine motor skills, learning and intellectual disabilities, and age. With the hurray messages, you could add technological issues to the list. I don’t think we should beat anyone up for skipping a completely optional step.

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So you think there are people, who are able to pull an address, read the profile - at least the address - write rhe card, get it to the outgoing mail register the incoming cards, but cannot type “thank you” before pressing the send button - that’s interesting!

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I think there are young people as well as older people who have someone else do that for them, yes.

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And these people certainly also register the cards for them and write the thank you message. Typing “thank you” is not really more upheaval than just registering the card.

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Meh. I just don’t see the big deal.

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I always thought that having at least a modicum of manners was, in fact, a big deal.

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You can see it as big deal if you like. I just don’t. That’s ok. Different people see things differently.

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@Elisama_Omodei , look here.

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It only happened to me once, and if so, I would be much more upset with a standard message (already happens in some cases) than with an empty Hurray…

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It is possible. Now I remember that when I was at university, I didn’t know how to receive mail at the dorm in the beginning. So I asked my parents to send me the IDs and I registered the cards with only a short generic thank you.

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Empty, or even copy-and-paste, hurray messages are mostly upsetting and disappointing, even though we can seek consolation by considering all the personal or technical reasons that may have explained it.

Actually I’m curious to know, after receiving an empty message, do you remember your first impression of the recipient’s profile? Did you notice any sign of potentially lower chances of appreciation when choosing and preparing a postcard for them? And now when you reflect on it, anything off that you’ve realized?

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