I want to agree with everyone above about not going with a rating system. It seems ripe for abuse and will only make people anxious at best. I think it will stifle creativity as everyone will strive to make their profiles as middle-of-the-road as possible to appeal to the widest audience. I think liking and favoriting is a bit much sometimes, too.
And as for empty profiles, well, I tend to take a more optimistic view of this. People may have very good personal reasons for leaving their profiles blank. Itâs just like how I leave out some information on my profile because I donât think itâs necessary for other people to know. But people will want to know or assume anyway because people have different comfort levels about what sort of information is needed. (Like my genderâI donât disclose this but some people seem totally confused and write to me saying they canât write any meaningful messages because they donât know whether Iâm male or female.)
As a postcrosser I feel I should have freedom to send the card which depicts culture of my country. For example a monument of my country has very interesting stories and I try to put it briefly in card. I also try to show cards with very interesting aspects our living habits which you may not know .I will welcome any card which shows the mindset of person selecting card.If my card is not matching the so called DEMAND of receiver, I still select card carefully to make it interesting for receiver. Post Cards in envelope are not postcards and also the cost is high.
My biggest dislike here is people apologising for not having the perfect card for me. I havenât got a wish list and I clearly state that any card is fine. Still I get cards where the only message is an apology for sending whatever card it is that they have chosen.
For me, when I pick an address, I will try to find a common topic to talk to the person about. Otherwise, I will just talk about my day, or the postcard/stamp.
For empty profiles, it just means that I can have a little more freedom in choosing what to send and what to talk about, which is good too
And yes, as some Postcrossers have already pointed out, some might not be as fluent in English. Sometimes I will make a conscious effort to write in simpler English, just in case. E.g. I will try not to use bombastic words, or words that might have a double meaning (e.g. these people sure are loaded), as not everyone would understand the double/triple meanings to a word.
I think we can all enjoy Postcrossing a little more, and love Postcrossing for the purpose we signed up.
If you go with this option, one sollution could be to make it mandatory to write a certain amount of characters in each field. Minumum 20 characters for instance. It doesnât have to be a lot, just enough to force people to write something.
Sounds great to me, that people have to write something. It doesnât have to be a lot, even 20 characters would be better than 0!
I donât think the empty profiles are the issue, but the ones where itâs written "I only want postcards with a cow looking through the window while is snowing rainbows and where is clearly stated that it was send from the street you live in and only if the stamp is a special issue about that cow and the rainbows but you shouldnât buy the stamp that was issued 2 months ago because I want the stamp with the cow that is freshly out of the printer..
That said, as much sometimes I also have some hard time writing to empty profiles, I donât agree that it should be mandatory for people to write something if they donât feel comfortable with it. The issue is not what people donât say, itâs when they get super ultra mega specific, demanding and (in my perspective) rude. I know better to know it doesnât happen all the time, but a new member doesnât.
I wonder if there is any way to at least avoid giving these profiles to new members so they wonât feel unwelcome here at Postcrossing?
I know this is a complicated situation so I appreciate the fact that the admins are trying the best possible to keep this a welcoming place. Iâll keep thinking if there is any functional/productive suggestion I can make in the future.
In the field âPhilosophyâ I would fill in: âI leave philosophy to the philosophers, I am non of them.â
Why force people to say something about a topic which does not mean anything to them?
I would leave things as they are. There are profiles which do not tell very much aside from postcard wishes, but they are a minority and finally you cannot force others to write about things they do not want to write about.
That would keep people away from signing up, for it is somehow strange to tell somethung about yourself to a strange community, I think. Maybe a new member could be remembered by e-mail after one or two weeks of participation, if (s)he has not filled in a profile. What do you all think about that?
I totally agree that the fields should be relevant. When I mentioned the mimimum character limit, I assumed the fields would be relevant and interesting if they show up. I donât support the idea of a philosophy field either.
Well, if you sign up on a dating site, you write something about yourself right away, donât you? Itâs about communication there and so is it here.
To me, it seems totally natural to make a short introduction when the community is about communication!
I would leave the âone amazing thing youâve doneâ field blank. I might answer that on a postcard to one person, but Iâm too shy to brag on a website for everyone to see
This discussion just reminded me of something Iâve learned in my field. People who have experienced trauma might not feel comfortable talking about themselves. There may be triggers associated with where they are from, etc., or it might be âdangerousâ for them to reveal details about themselves on a website. This danger may be real, or just perceived by them as a consequence of trauma. I can give (anonymous) examples if anyone wishes to learn more
Look, I get the discomfort of seeing empty profilesâŚâoh, what should I write? What Should I send?â⌠but why should that discomfort be more valid than the discomfort of someone who has to write something about themselves?
I leave this question here for everyone who thinks that it should be mandatory to force someone write more than what they feel comfortable with just because you donât know what to say or what to send. That looks selfish and privileged to me.
@truenorth_49, yes! Just because something isnât online, that doesnât mean that it canât be shared through postcards, for example! Plus yes to the trauma/personal reasons part. Thatâs why I donât think empty (or short!) profiles are an issue.
This is getting tiresome. I know everyone is trying their best but I will leave this conversation because, well, donât think I can be me more constructive than this. Cheers, everyone!
well personally iâd rather send to an empty profile, yes. though if you have a card with snowing rainbows and possibly a cow please do send it to me.
i donât think we should force people to write something on their profile. there could be a whole lot of difference reasons why the profile is empty. and i prefer empty over people with specific wishes, or listing their expired cards (why), the countries they have been to and the stamps they want. now they have a fully written profile and i still have absolutely no idea who iâm writing to or what i should say.
also. in my experience, people with very specific wishes donât write a lot on their card as they seem to just want their collection complete as soon as possible. i have received a lot of lovely messages (on cards and hurray messages) from people with short or empty profiles.
yes! Thank you and you are absolutely right that it is a privilege to be fluent in the current lingua franca of the world, to be tech-savvy, and to be able to share personal information without any of it being associated with triggers, mental health issues, trauma, danger (e.g. People who face discrimination in their region), etc.
My dad used to say âeyes, we see; hearts, we donâtâ meaning that you see the eyes of a person (or in this case, their profile page) but we canât know whatâs in their heart.
Not to be repeated but I really donât see whatâs the issue with empty profiles. I mean, I get that at first sight one might wonder âok, what should I send/write then?â but after a moment that should be clear: send/write whatever you want to. Pick a card you like, write why. Pick a random card, write what you see through the window. Really, whatever you like. Write about your day, yourself, your city, a book, a quote⌠This is not a hard to please or picky person, itâs quite the opposite.
A person note, I kind of struggle with what to write to everybody, picky or not - except maybe with some empty profiles, theyâre easy.
About the communication point of view, when you send a card saying whatever is that you wanted to say, thatâs a way of communication. And the person (may) answer in the thank you message - thatâs the end (or not) of the communication. There you go.
Itâs been interesting to read your comments and ideas on this â keep it coming!
Many are mentioning empty profiles here and while I can understand how that can be unappealing to some, I donât think thatâs what is being discussed, but rather the opposite â profiles which are not empty and come across as demanding on what they want to receive.
We understand the comments about the ideas we have tried (or considered) that @meiadeleite has posted earlier â we share many of those thoughts with you, which is why we didnât implement several of them. We too enjoy giving room for creativity and dislike, in general, the idea of moderation/reporting â at least on all the formats we have considered to date.
Just to shed some more light on why this is important for the health of Postcrossing, and to help guide this topic, let me give you an example from our side on why this is problematic.
Every day we review the feedback that people write when they close their Postcrossing account. And itâs is quite sad for us to see that quite a few of those were just getting started and gave up after getting their first profiles, because then they thought it is all about fulfilling very specific wishes they are unable to match. Being afraid of not pleasing someone from the get go, they quit on the spot. And this is not just about the very first profiles â it can happen within your first 10 or 20. It can be discouraging.
Perhaps a seasoned postcrosser knows better that demands are not allowed and send something else. Or perhaps they have enough postcard variety to fit something close enough so itâs rarely an issue. But, if you are just starting and have little other than your hometown touristic postcards, that is not a great experience.
Itâs in this context that we have been thinking on how to improve things. We understand that many enjoy having cues on what to send â that by itself can be ok. The downside of that coin is that it can be perceived as the only thinks one will like, scaring away many who came looking for the serendipity of the random connection.
What about displaying a little note when we get the ID of a new card? For instance, above âa little something about (receiverâs name)â could have a message saying âthe card you mail doesnât necessarily need to follow the wishes of the receiver, only if you find it doableâ.
And this could be only for begginers, such as the first 30 cards or so? I donât know if it can be done.
Although it could also be a little tricky for people who doesnât understand the language very well, by adding too much informationâŚ
My first reaction is surprise that you have people quitting every day. And that they fill in a form? saying why theyâve quit, when presumably that is optional.
Hereâs a suggestion, but I really donât remember what was in the welcome text when I signed up. How about making it very clear to new signups, that they do not have to obey/fit in with/comply with any profile instructions which they may (indeed will) get? Emphasise that this is all about communication and connection, international friendship, and wish them well in choosing any card they like!
(This presupposes that there arenât too many weirdos out there, but I guess theyâd be found out and reported.)
I also feel like commenting that some people join up in a rush of enthusiasm, then find thatâs a far slower hobby than theyâd anticipated. Some people sign up because thereâs a baby on the way, and lose interest later which is hardly surprising. Some people join up when theyâve retired and think this will be a useful addition to their retirement, then find that itâs too demanding on their time and finances. All of those things happened to me, and Iâm only one out here.
Oh, also some new people are completely bewildered by the tags, round robins, swaps, trades and other non-âofficialâ aspects of postcrossing - there are so many new threads about this. I donât know how you could sum that up for new sign-ups though, Iâm fairly sure that some people are in postcrossing just to tag, round robin, swap and trade, and the main purpose (send a card to a stranger) is secondary. I could be wrong about that, just how it seems to me.
