I always try to put some effort in the cards I send.
If I feel I don’t have the energy then I give it some time before I click the “send a card” button.
Having said that,
I once received a card with a printed out message and address and my initial thought was that this was lacking in effort.
But the message said that the sender had MS and that they write each card with the assistance of care workers…
So as a matter of fact, this was by far the most “hard working” card I’d ever received…
This experience apart from making me feel like an ignorant idiot, made me far more tolerant and thankful on what I receive… So for me every card is welcome… Sure some cards are better than others (and the opposite)…
So what!?
If every card looked super (like mine do🤪) there wouldn’t be any excitement in receiving them…
I actually disagree with this one.
After discovering the possibilities of the Google Translator I encourage people in my profile to write in their own language and alphabets.
Never had a real problem with understanding.
Hi! I agree with the user @mchay
Although I do not share the style of describing a simple banal and predictable sentence, I have to make the effort to understand that there are people so different from ourselves. As a popular saying in my region says: “So many heads, so many hats”.
Today I received a lovely card, good stamps and registration info. Plus a brief translation of the description. However there was no message, no greeting , no name of the sender. Has anyone else experience this ? I love getting a card but surely we are about communication ?
I have at least once received a card with only my address and ID-code written on. No sender’s name, no greeting, no decorations. I thought that maybe the person didn’t speak any English and registrated the card with a few sentences in the language of the country they live in.
Yes, I’ve received a couple cards like that. In addition, I once received a meet up card with a typed and taped on apology for not having nice cards - when I looked on his wall every card he sent was the same meet up card. I guess he tried to sponsor a meet up and it didn’t work out so he typed up an apology - printed out lots of copies of it and taped it to all the meet up cards. No thought put into it, no real communication - I guess a way to get rid of his meet up cards.
Then there was the card I received that only talked about the devastating disease plaguing his wife. I guess he needed to get it out. And I’m fairly new to postcrossing - just here since March.
On the other hand I’ve received lots of nice cards with tidbits of information that have taught me about other cultures – so it all balances out.
I wonder if sometimes a card has accidently been mailed unwritten. I understand some people draw several addresses at one go and write them afterwards. Maybe they stamp them, write addresses and ID-codes at first and write and decorate them later. If there are many cards, one unwritten might slip unnoticed.
Still, it is always a bit baffling to receive a textless card.
At least I haven’t thought of seeking signs of “invisible ink”. (Text written by Frixion pen may disappear in hot weather, there was a case where even address had vanished because of that)
That doesn’t bother me at all …
…and I still think that people invest time and postage. And how I find it normal to choose the right postcard on a whim.
People are different. And that’s a good thing.
I received an official postcard today that is a postcrossing meetup card. I don’t have anything against them in general but it is really disappointing to receive a postcard with no text written on. All that is on it are various stamps on it from other users and it tells me nothing about the person who sent it or the place it is from. When I register it, I will thank them for it but I think I will also say that it is disappointing that they wrote nothing on it.
I completely understand! If I end up sending a meetup card, I try to add as much text as possible of my own next to signatures, to make it at least a bit personal!
On topic: I once received a card from Finland (I am Finnish but live in the Netherlands) in English, with the text “this is a postcrossing card from Finland”, so the sender hadn’t even read my profile. However, all the wonderful cards definitely make up for tje few disappointments, I think. Otherwise I would quit.
Yes, you never know what you will get from others. I have received some postcards with some very nice messages. I also received an official postcard that was a counterfeit image of a popular series people collect printed on cheap paper. I didn’t know what to even say to that person. But as you say, the good definitely outweighs the letdowns. I still love this hobby even in the short time I’ve been doing it.
Unfortunately meetup cards tend to be sent en masse without much attention to them.
Sometimes I receive meetup cards with many signatures from the people who attended the meetup
I agree. As for the meetups I’ve attended, most people also write something on the postcard in addition to their signatures. Personally, I wouldn’t dare to send a card with no other text.
I wrote in my hurray message that I was disappointed that she didn’t write anything about either herself or the place the card represented. She sent a message back in her language, which I translated to read as basically, people can look up that information online so I don’t need to write it out. And that because it was a meeting card, there was no room to write anything anyway. I didn’t respond to her message. I noticed on her sent wall that she’s sent these postcards to other people, so it seems to me that she’s just trying to get rid of them. I don’t understand why you’d get extras in the first place if you’re only going to pawn them off on someone else.
I don’t share the disappointment some people have receiving meet up cards with stamps/signatures.
A group of postcrossers got together on the other side of the world, and they shared that moment with me by sending me a card. It’s like I’m connecting with a whole group of postcrossers at once. I think it’s lovely.
For me, I don’t “feel” the connection as the persons don’t know who the card is going to. Some apparently don’t even know when, it can be year later. So they didn’t share that meeting with me.
Mostly it feels like a page from old guest book.
I looked at one my received meet up card, and I can’t find the members here. Are they even postcrossers? Who are they
But some meet up card I see names I’ve seen here in the forum as well, that feels more Postcrossing-related at least
To my surprise today I received an official Postcrossing card with no written or typed text at all. Other then (lovely) stamps and my address only ink stamps, one with a name I suppose…
I do understand with this being a world wide site, scripts can be hard to read for someone using a different alphabet…
Not sure how I feel about it, especially as this person’s profile asks people to write something on the card “since this is what connects people”.
Have more people had this experience? Do you just mark that one down to experience?
However, all the wonderful cards definitely make up for tje few disappointments, I think. Otherwise I would quit.
