I didn’t vote for “Terve!” but it’s totally okay to me if it stays.
Reason for it was the fact that word “terve” also means “healthy” and every time when someone says “Terve!” to me I almost answer “No I’m not.” every time. 
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As a foreigner, but in the same finno-ugric language group. Hei is the most basic way to say hello, so if I see the greeting on the PC site, I have no idea, if it is supposed to be Finnish, Swedish, Estonian etc… country’s greeting. It is just that basic.
If I see Moi or Moro- I instantly get, that it represents Finland
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hmmm…
I am not Finnish…
But I wonder: What is the purpose of the greetings in foreign languages on the postcrossing site?
I always thought it is there so I can learn a tiny bit of a different language than mine, so I can at least say “hello” when I travel to this country.
So I think it should not necessarily express the way Finnish people greet another when they are in their country but a way for a stranger to say a friendly “hello”. (But maybe both are the same…)
I think “terve” is as good as “hei” or “moi”, because the next sentence from this stranger will probably be “Do you speak English?”
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For me “Terve” has always seemed a bit awkward because I associate it to be a greeting which is used by older (male) persons. I prefer “Hei” or “Moi”, but the problem with “Hei” is probably that it is so confusingly similar to Swedish, Danish and Norwegian (Hej/Hei). So I voted for “Moi” in order to Finnish to stand out a bit.
How was it in the first place decided which greetings to use in different languages?
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At least Swedish is official language in Finland so it’s not a big problem.
“Moi” sounds German and can hence be offensive to someone in Finnish Lapland.
I actually like that terve means “healthy” too, like “terveisiä” (greetings) is also from this word, a little healthy sendings to you, “tervetuloa” means welcome. Many other languages have a greeting like this, right? I don’t think no one greets saying “sick!” 
even when the sickness were obvies.
If the idea of the greeting is to be able to use for cards, then it should be one that is good for young and old, north and south, so not “moi”, and not “terve” if some think it’s only for men (? I’m curious, if someone who thinks so, and someone says “terve” to you, do you think they assume you are a man? Or is it only not common, but still “polite” and understandable?)
Edit./
Looks like “moi” is as well more common to men, in southern Finland. So if you are middle aged, women are more often said “hei” in a shop, men “moi”. (A blog post in Kotus from 2011 so it’s old, but super interesting, I have not thought there could be different greetings for genders, as there isn’t even different pronouns for them in Finnish!
here the post in Finnish: Hei vai moi? - Kotimaisten kielten keskus)
NOT!
In Northern Germany they say “Moin”, but this is pronounced very different from moi
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I just listened videos how to pronounce it, and sounds same to me.
Edit. listened even more, in some the “n” in the end is more hearable, but the moi-part sounds the same.
Although I am German myself, of the 3 discussed options here “Hei” feels the most familiar to me.
Before reading the next 2 posts, it didn’t even occur to me that the Northern German “Moin” could be associated with “Moi”.
The associations I had had was the Dutch “Hoi” and after trying to link “Moi” somehow to Germany, the only association I managed to make was some Bavarian dialect word where “moi” or “mei” means something totally different.
[Like e. g. in “schau ma moi” = “We’ll see”]
On another note your post made me remember years ago while working in the “Sápmi” area where I met a group of Finnish people who told me how they didn’t like to be approached in Swedish because of historical reasons.
So I guess different people feel very differently about different words and that’s not really “fixable”.
=> The best compromise on this topic here is probably if as many Postcrossers living in Finland vote on one of the 3 options.
As I now found, there was more to it, so very much associated it seems!
It was only last year (within the same study that include the geographical surveys) that the origin of moi was finally traced down to Hansa trade along the Baltic Sea. It was thought to be much more modern a greeting, but might be used as early as in the 1300s.
The study suggests that in the late Medieval time the main language of trade in Finland was Low German / Plattdeutsch where the word appears to this day, as it is not a dead language.
What is more, according the article, it is derived from the Dutch language where mooi means beautiful! So moi and everything good and beautiful to you.
There are also explanations for what is behind our other words of greeting.
Also I do understand now that greeting an elderly with a simple moi from my half in the South-East was a bit out of place - the answer always was an amused “well moi moi”.
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That was an interesting read – thanks for researching, linking the article and summoning it up! 
Interesting to see influences from all the various directions over time.
[I personally love/d that “terve” is linked to tar and trees! 
]
And yet: all of the 3 expressions are wishing (in one way or the other) good health!
Sidenote:
I felt immediately thrown back to this thread by the way the translator I used translated this section:
Kun kaksi ihmistä tapaa, he sanovat heti toisilleen merkityksellisen sanan: tervehdyssanan. Joku sanoo hei, toinen terve, moro, päivää tai vaikkapa helou.
=> When two people meet, they immediately say a meaningful word to each other: a greeting. Some say hello, others say hello, hello, hello or even hello. 
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Well, I don’t mean that “terve” is only for men, but I associate it as a men’s greeting because I have heard it mostly being used by men. It’s just my perception. In a similar fashion, if someone says “a key”, person A thinks of an old-fashioned key, person B an Abloy-key, person C a digital key etc.
And “moi” being offensive for people in Lapland sounds a bit far-fetched for me, because I doubt that not many normal persons know its origins. 
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In advance: I don’t intend to push this discussion into people voting a specific option here, I just find languages and their (inter)linkages to be really interesting and got a bit hung up now in this topic through all the snippets of “insights” everyone provided here. So thanks for that 
The perception @Hessu666 provided reminded me of my younger self [kid- and young adult-self], meeting people in Southern Germany who greeted me with “Grüß Gott” (where the Christian, especially Catholic influence remains far stronger than in the Middle and Northern parts of Germany). It felt so weird to me having a stranger ask me to “greet God”. I just couldn’t figure out what to make of it and it felt really awkward to me. So for quite some time I ended up with replying “Wenn ich ihn sehe” meaning “When/If I see him”. Probably unnecessary to explain that they in turn found my reply weird.
[I’ve since learned more about the origins of that greeting, how it evolved over time and that it doesn’t mean that I should “greet God” but that it’s rather a shortened wish meaning “may God greet you”. Although it still remains to feel weird to me personally, I’ve grown to reply with “Guten Tag” / “Good Day” or “Hallo”].
By this thread reminding me again and given the times of frequent use of translators, I checked on 2 of them how they translate the phrase: one spit out “Greetings” and the other one “Good day”. And although, like I stated above, I myself now reply to the term with something alike, I personally find it slightly alarming that it’s just translated that way without any further explanation. Especially when I think of people trying to learn German, using a translator and being given “Grüß Gott” as a way of saying “Hello” in Germany (meaning all over Germany).
I searched the web for looking into the origins more closer (again) and there we go:
Back to:
Quote from the article:
In Finland, a religious group named Laestadians uses the form “Jumalan terve” (“God’s greeting”).
For those interested: full article on “Grüß Gott”: Grüß Gott - Wikipedia
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That short quote looked so strange, but I meant exactly like you with the key, if someone connects the terve is only to men, is it insulting/unfriendly to use it to a woman, or not nice? Or still ok and good, but not common, like a 3D printed key is not the common thought. Or like someone would say “mitä jätkät” and doesn’t see one is female, that female can feel it’s not proper of friendly to greet so.
So to me seems:
moi - some connect it to men, is not polite to some age, and some parts of Finland, for some also too spoken language
terve - some connect it to men, is ok to all age, gender, all part (?)
hei - sounds Swedish but is a Finnish word, is ok to all age, all part
and the connections to men using certain greeting seems to be mainly South Finland if I understood correct?
@SeaSparkle I find this interesting too, also remember how someone told it’s not good to use “pryvjet” in a card, “zdravstvujte” would be better. Still most my cards had “pryvjet” from Russia I think it is a challenge to choose one word that would well represent any one country, all areas, ages etc.
(I remember Grüß Gott from Tirol when everyone said it, passing by, I think I looked like 
because I didn’t know are they saying “don’t walk there”, “nice day” or what. And I had no idea should I say “do you need help” or “hello” 
, I ended up talking with someone and this person told I can answer the same. (Which then lead someone thinking I can German, and starting a discussion, poor teenage me was so confused why there are so many talkative persons in the nature!)
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I am quite surprised about this conversation. To me hei, moi, terve, moro, moikka, morjens etc. all have the same meaning = it is a way to greet. I thought that some of those are more used in the area where I am originally from (for example terve). But I do not associate those with age or gender.
For some reason I think that hei is the “written language” that can be used also in spoken language and you can never go wrong with. But moi, moikka and terve can actually be used in anywhere as well. In postcards I think I’ve used hei, moi, moikka. Terve I am not sure about, because I just don’t use it often, but I do not think it is a less of a greeting or different kind of greeting.
I wouldn’t use moro or morjens in formal situations, but I wouldn’t think it is rude if someone does. What I consider formal is some super important meeting / interview where I do not dare to chitchat and greeting elderly people I am not familiar with in some gathering.
Honestly I do not think it matters so much what you say but how you say it. Also päivää, which I thought more as a formal greeting before, doesn’t actually sound formal at all when someone just says it with that kind of attitude that it should be said here and now in this informal situation.
(so for me it really doesn’t matter which word is used)
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THAT! 
Aside from that fact it’s still enlightening to look a bit into various interlinkages. At the start of this topic, I had not the slightest idea (I don’t speak Finnish). So while the charts in the second post of @Pahvikotelo looked interesting, I didn’t know why the results are distributed the way they are. But throughout the discussion – and especially the provided article in post #29 – I can see clearer now how the influences on the 3 options derive (in part) respectively from Finland’s neighbours in the West, in the East as well as from around the Baltic Sea.
Summary
@S_Tuulia thanks for sharing your “Tirol experiences”! 
While reading concentrated and focused, my imagination of being myself in those situations totally cracked me up and I (unwillingly!) had to laugh so hard, tears came eventually(!) 
Especially
got me.
It just felt SO relatable to me! Although my first language IS German! 
And from on the one hand knowing how weird it can feel myself to then imagining to not knowing German and then trying to solve the situation while intending to be polite, I can totally see how you ended up there:
And leading on: from all my years having been living in Norway with close contacts to people from the neighbouring countries, I can totally understand / see this kind of “culture clash”:
That reminded me of a situation I experienced in my very early twenties:
I had just started to learn Norwegian and was visiting a Norwegian friend and her parents for one or two weeks. One day they took me on a trip to a bird watching tower. Up there on the quite spacious platforms, the different (groups of) people tried to share the space so everyone / every group could have (in turns) a window to look out and quietly observe birds and nature in general. We all stood and sat there for quite some time in silence or at most talking in quiet voices to only the group of people we came there with.
After quite some time of bird watching, I started to study the graffiti on the wall – and since I am always curious about the written word, and was really eager for learning Norwegian at the time, I impulsively asked my peers (staring at the word on one of the walls): “Hva betyr ‘ronke’?” [“What does ‘ronke’ mean?”]
And although I have been talking in a quiet voice, literally EVERYONE on that platform turned around with their eyes darting at me. Although I of course still had no idea what the word meant, the collective reaction made me bit my tongue and blush. 
In hindsight, I think it is really cool that the mother of the friend I’ve been visiting (who had formerly been a teacher and had just become a mayor and local politician at the time), just said in normal volume tone: “It means ‘wanking’.”
=> so that word, due to the circumstances and without the initial intent, I had learnt on the spot / would never once forget…
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Speaking of older men, I was wondering what is ”heippa” even doing on that map, does anyone say so regularly. But I think my father does!
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Oh no, not another male greeting again
I think I could say heippa too. But maybe my mothers partner says it too, when leaving.
Also I’m thinking, there is “päivää”, but no other time related greetings (in the map). It would have been better to be “time related greeting” instead of only “päivää”, since you more likely go to shop and meet your friends also other time than day.
But: those all are about spoken greetings in the map, what people say.
There is not how one would start a card to a stranger.
And are the greetings here (in Postcrossing) for that, to start a card? So are we looking for a greeting to use in a card, or greeting to say it to someone in Finland, or just a nice small window to one of the greetings in that language.
(I never use those, but I like reading those. Instead I often use Finnish hello-word, like hei or terve in my card.)
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My family and I use it on a daily basis 
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Thank you to everyone who voted on the poll. We had a good number of voters and I think the results are pretty conclusive, so we’ll go ahead and do the change.
This discussion was enlightening though, and one thing it shows us is that there’s not just one way to greet people in a country… so perhaps the way we initially coded this feature was not the best. This is not super high priority, but I’ll add a “multi-greeting request” to the to-do list — hopefully one day it’ll be possible to see all this diversity of greetings represented in Postcrossing.
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