Children on postcrossing. Shouldn’t they have an adult overseeing their activities? Someone older to say something like “Look Jimmy, you’ve just got a present from someone, you should say thank you. How would you feel (Jimmy) if you gave a present to someone and they just flicked past it without a single word? Wouldn’t you be upset?”
Or am I being very old-fashioned?
I went to post a group of cards around a week ago. Didn’t notice until posting, I’d forgot to write on them. Posted anyway, because they’d been sitting at home for a couple of days.
The amount I write on a card, varies.
For me hurray messages are not necessary - I am delighted by the fact that my card reached its destination and was registered. I receive so many generic thank you messages in response to my sent cards that I think that the same message is sent to everyone by that Postcrosser. This applies especially to people who have sent many thousands of cards. They have no interest in communicating, only in accumulating. Of course this does not apply to all super-senders, many or most personalise the message.
I got my first ‘blank’ message the other day so I thought maybe the person didn’t like it. But then they favourited it!
Was quite funny timing really as the previous postcard I had received, they gave me a loooooong message!
There are many reasons for not writing “nothing”. But most likely, this is due to the fact that the card does not respond to the request for a wishlist specified in the profile.
Well, I sort of assume the person either doesn’t speak English very well and doesn’t trust google translate, or that someone might not know what to write, or feels nervous or anxious about writing anything.
Maybe they accidentally pressed the button for registering, before filling in the Thank-You message.
It could be a number of reasons really I suppose.
Receiving an empty Hurray message happened to me once, not counting the times I had sent a postcard to someone and then they deleted their account and I got a registration message from postcrossing because of that. That actually has happened more often than people not writing a thank you message, to me personally at least.
To me those experiences were actually more disappointing than knowing a card arrived and someone not writing a personalized Hurray message, even if someone not doing that is a shame too, but ultimately it’s their own choice. For me it’s a very enjoyable part of postcrossing to reply to the message on a postcard and let a person know how much I appreciated their card, but for others it might not be.
I set out with a goal to write a personalized message to everyone, but sometimes the card is just so disappointing and the message basically non-existent, I can’t find any words. And to say thank you to someone for a card they clearly put no effort into just doesn’t feel right either.
I have experienced only twice that Hurray message was empty. For first time it was probably a mistake, as I have received a great hurray message as “personal message”.
For second time it was blank profile and that was all. Not a new member, quite long-term with several breaks.
Honestly, that made me sad. I mean, it could happen, but saying at least thanks, or anything in their native language…
Saying nothing is allowed, but I don’t like it as postcards with only ID. Or actually printed out address with id. Even those I have received 
It is possible to post an empty Hurray message accidentally. I have done this a couple of times by hitting the wrong button. I usually then send a private message to the person. Some people may not know how to do that and just leave it.
I think I misunderstood your first post. I apologize. I misread it.
I have encountered this on a few occasions, even for one where I specially chose one of my favourite postcards which fit the theme that the Postcrosser requested, and matched it with a stamp of the same theme too. But as disappointing as it may be, I just take comfort in the fact that the postcard arrived and move on. I can’t impose the same expectations on others.
I sometimes think that it doesn’t really take that long to write a message when registering a card, even a simple “thank you”. The same goes for postcards, instead of just writing “Happy Postcrossing” (I’ve had postcards with no messages at all except a postcard ID too). It makes me feel like I’m just another statistic, which kinda defeats the purpose why I’m here too. But then, to each their own, and as @Bowyum mentioned, they probably only want the postcard part of things and not the communication part.
I would even appreciate ‘thank you’ messages written in their own languages, because they might be more comfortable in their own languages and it doesn’t take me long to Google Translate it. On the few occasions when I had to do that, the messages were actually very heart-warming and they liked the postcard a lot.
On my part, I would write a simple “thank you for the card”, even if it was a postcard I didn’t like or a postcard without any message. My personal value system is that I need to be courteous. I’ve learnt that I can’t expect that of others because some people are just not made that way, but as long as I don’t let myself down, I’m cool.
Hmm I can empathise. It does make you feel a little underappreciated, especially if you’ve gone out of your way to pick the right card and writing a sincere message. I love getting messages from the recipient, makes you happy. And the whole Postcrossing thing is all about fun and enjoying the shared love of the hobby. I hope you get a nice message the next time.
Agreed.
I thought you beat this topic to death in the old forum under your other username.
I think this happened to me once, but a message appeared saying something “are you sure you wouldn’t like to leave a message?” or something like that. I might remember wrong. So you have another opportunity.
Of course there might be many reasons, but for me it’s bad manners not to say thank you. If you don’t known English, learn at least few phrases. Or say it with your mother tongue. (In my opinion, if one does not understand English at all, they should learn it a little, and then join.)
Edit. And as I see it, there is clearly the place to write something, and you have to pass it, so it’s a choice not to write. Like you are given something, someone asks “what do you say?” and you still say nothing.
I’ve always thought it’s universal habit to say thank you, when you get something, but I’ve tought never thank from a “puukko” (knive), but you can give something in return. Still even my boss (Finnish) didn’t know this, so it might be very regional thing.
I agree with all that has been said, sometimes the lack of understanding on how that box works, sometimes language (believe me, there’s a lot of people that doesn’t know how to Google translate!), sometimes the lack of interest in communicating…
I ponder also that maybe the card may arrive at a difficult period of the life of that person, and although appreciated the person doesn’t have the energy, state of mind, to write a message back.
I always write (sometimes too much! 
)and it’s a bit disappointing when it happens to receive a blank hurray
I got a card a few days ago that was larger than an average card with plenty of space, and the whole text was Greetings and the ID. Address and ID were printed. Looking at their profile, they are perfectly fluent. It would be dishonest to reward such a waste of postage. I registered it without a message and put the card in the bin.
I really thought about not writing anything for the hurray-message this week. I got a postcard with only an ID on it. I decided to say thank you anyway, it just feels wrong not to. I usually write more than that, though - I mean, every postcard reminds me of at least something and then I just tell.
Yet when I tried to register that postcard with a thank you that felt empty too, I couldn’t - the ID wasn’t even correct. If support finds out the correct ID, I might register it with an empty message then. I don’t feel like saying thank you for so mich disappointment. Maybe my manners aren’t good enough after all.
I understand
Last week it have Hurray message with empty word
Well i read profile and spend time to choose card what the best
But sometime it happen (yeah lately 2-3 time)
Even if i can’t register card immediately i wait until i can
I try to say thank you, that the best thing we can give for sender