I think this too, because if they don’t like my card, they will soon get a better one and they know it, so their day isn’t spoiled over one card.
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I have never given much thought to how many cards the recipient I have drawn has received. I just do my best to provide a gift from a stranger that they will recognize for what it is: a little outreach of love.
A few other thoughts:
I think some people don’t like homemade cards because they don’t always fit neatly into whatever storage schema they have devised for maintaining their collection.
I have a list of the sorts of cards I don’t necessarily care for. I keep it in my head. Why? Because if I am really honest with myself, there really aren’t any. Each one I get is a gift in some way or another. The fact that it got sent at all shows that some stranger spent a little time and effort on my behalf. How can I not be humbled by that?
As for the high volume folks, I aspire to be one someday. I have had the opportunity to meet a few (many thanks to the Dublin crew of postcrossers for welcoming me into their midst!) at virtual meetups, and every one of them has been a lovely person, happy to share their deep knowledge and wisdom of both the postcrossing hobby and of deltiology or philately or both.
I have no idea what was going on on in the life at the other end of the postcard. But whatever it may have been, that person managed to take a little time to honor me by sending me one. I try my best to pass that along to the next recipient I draw from the pool. How can I not? I have so many lovely gifts from all of you!
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Agreed. Unless Postcrossing is so benevolent to send more address for every card registered. Right?
Thank you Robin67. I wish I could like your reply more than once 
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No worries. I definitely feel “new” to the hobby. I always stress over what to say. I had to stop sending cards for health reasons and it took me several years to pick it back up. I guess I will now try to make up for lost time.
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I think the reason people don’t like handmade is because they got something disappointing in the past. It STILL has to be a postcard and not something on thin paper, newspaper or whatever. This is the reason why I added it to my profile.
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I guess I just have always had the mindset that I appreciate a handmade gift more than a store bought one. I have only received one so far. It was a card with a painting of a train that someone sent me from Taiwan. It wasn’t fine art or anything but I thought it was neat and it is certainly unique (I mean if people want to avoid duplicates then hand-made is the way to go! lol)
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@mobi Your “hyper local” idea sounds spot on to me! I did a google search for my little 10,000 person town and found I can buy cards with it and the state park I live near on them. Yay! I am so excited to try this. I can say with near 100% certainty that someone in New Zealand or Brazil does NOT have a card with my little town on it.
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That’s amazing to hear! I’m so happy for you that the cards are out there! That’s exactly how I feel with the ones from my small town The odds that anyone will have such a card is so small, it makes it special.
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I had postcards made for my little town and a few meetups. I am positive I have at least 6-10 cards no one else has seen because I designed them and had them made. I usually pull from one of those options.
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Lol. Your town is huge compared to mine… we boast 1250. I deliver mail here and the next town over…pop 180. But way more people live outside town limits than in.
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I have over 3k cards, but I like the messages - every card is a little contact with someone, and that is what I like, If it’s on the back of a card I like too - BONUS! I’d rather get loads of the same picture all with an actual message on than all different cards with just “happy postcrossing” on the back personally.
I just say I don’t like little birds on cards - I have a phobia of them, so it’s kind of scary to see their picture on my doormat.
One of the problems with handmade cards can be that they don’t survive the postal system - I know there is a machine somewhere in the UK that makes white marks on the fronts of a significant number of my received cards 
If it is handmade, it can be even more ruined… And I hate that someone took the time to make it for me, and it got spoiled before I even got to see it.
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Indeed! It could be intimidating to be matched with such members. And while some go into detail specification of what they do not like, increasing the intimidation, others have profiles that read genuinely welcoming.
I also do not understand why many here, including some occasional/beginner postcrossers like me, reject hand-made cards! One person even went on to specify “no no-copyright cards!” I found that to be hilarious.
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Oh, that is not hilarious.
It does happen that motifs are simply reprinted, although this is forbidden for copyright reasons.
Just a few weeks ago, I reported a user to the admins because he had printed and sent such cards.
Copyright infringement isn’t a peccadillo - here in Germany it can result in a fine or even a prison sentence.
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I usually give up reviewing their favorites, or cards received, because there are so many, even when you reduce the search to one country. Wish there were a way to further search, such as for lighthouses or an animal, but that probably would be too difficult to construct.
Instead, I simply choose one of 8 collage 5x7 postcards I have made from my own photos. These are double-sided, and have a theme: Arizona highlights, scenes around Sedona or my home area, a day visit to an old west mining town, a trip across Grand Canyon, highlights of Disney cruises, driving the North Coast 500 in Scotland. I use Snapfish, and on a good sale day, can get them for less than $2 each.
This is one of the Grand Canyon hike.
I know they do not have any such card in the collection, no matter the size!
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I personally find copyright hilarious, specially the way it is implemented now in most of the world, which defies its purpose. There’s lots of literature on the subject, if you’re interested.
Moreover, I find that reporting a person for believing they sent reprinted cards is way beyond the rights of a moderator, or anyone else. The only thing I would find marginally justified in such a case is to remove the image of the card from the website, assuming that it is believed to represent an infringement that could be blamed on the website. That said, you should also know that according to some interpretations of copyright laws publishing a facsimile of any postcard at all is an infringement of copyrights, and there are users who have nothing in their postcrossing walls at all because of this reason.
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This leaves me speechless! So you think the (intellectual) work of a person doesn’t need to be protected?
And - of course it is the right of everyone to report anyone who break the law / rules. Moreover, it’s not only the right it is a duty.
But it seems that nowadays some people tend to do more and more what they want, no matter if they hurt any rules or laws.
And yes - it is the right of any copyright owner to get the pictures removed from the wall. But believe me - there are many more who appreciate it because it’s free advertisement for them.
By the way, copyright protection is not only because of possible loss of earnings, it’s also to protect from misuse for any negative / illegal things.
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Missuse of copy right is like steeling. What you are trying to justify is ridiculous.
Of course there is always room for interpretations etc. but I think this is not what was ment by people who don’t like copy right violations. In fact one user a few years back copied Schöning view cards and printed those illegally. Very hilarious. Not really.
There are Grey areas for everything. Still I am sure you would not be amused if anyone would steel your property. Just because we are talking about non material property does not justify finding it “hilarious” (although I am not sure if you actually meant to say ridiculous). You would not laugh at someone who is against physical theft, would you?
Then one more thing:
I am sure @Bille did not report that person as an admin rather than a member of postcrossing.
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Literally!!!..every time that happens to me, I have to check on all their received postcards just so I don’t end up sending them something they already have in their collection
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First of all, you are confusing actions with the purpose of creating wealth with other uses of creative works, which are tolerated, even under current copyright laws.
Secondly, I think you’re missing on the complex debate that’s been taking place for over a decade regarding intellectual property, and the many arguments against the legal, rights, philosophic, practical aspects, including even the semantic aspect of equating it with physical property, and how the current system of copyright protections fails to fulfil the original intent of copyright: rewarding and encouraging creativity, in addition to its perpetuity.
I’m sure you are capable of finding resources and educating yourself about that, if you wanted. But allow me to recommend, as a starting point, Intellectual property - Wikipedia.
As well as the following good crash-entry points:
-
Chapter 10. “Property”, of Lawrence Lessig’s book “Free culture”
Or this lecture (audio) - The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind
- The writings of creatives who also have criticism for copyright, DRM, et al, like Cory Doctorow
Lastly, reporting your neighbour for hanging a copy of a photo from a magazine on his wall doesn’t get better when you are not an ordained policeman.
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