Is it considered as a postcard?

Hello!
I thought to ask here before sending a message to the PC team. Today I received a card that clearly is a picture cut from somewhere and glued on one-sided ruled paper. Rules are on the glue-side and on the blank side has been written.

Is this considered as a postcard or is it worth to report? Also, I would like to hear opinions on folded cards too. I tried to look for this from Community Guidelines etc

Thank you :blush:

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Since you asked for an opinion, I will give you mine: that is a piece of trash. Of course, there are many apologists here that think that ā€œhomemadeā€ and folded cards are just sweet. Not meā€¦

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What condition did it arrive in? Sounds very vulnerable, whereas even sturdy postcards sometimes get mangled.

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Handmade postcards are officially allowed on Poscrossing, as described in the FAQs:

ā€œWhat can I send on Postcrossing?
Postcrossing is a postcard exchange community, so each exchange that you make must include at least one postcard. It can be a postcard you bought in a store or a handmade postcard, as long as it hasnā€™t been previously used.ā€

However, this doesnā€™t mean anything with a stamp and an address label will be considered a postcard! If in doubt, contact the Postcrossing team and send photos of your received item.
A few things I received I didnā€™t need to register.

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It was surprisingly in good condition

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Depends, who is sender and where from. If any vulnerable person, who canā€™t do betterā€¦

I remember when I started with PC, someone (9 or 10 years old) stated in her profile, that a homemade postcard is also okay. I was also quite young and didnā€™t have much money at that time and thought it was nice enough to send the postcard, that Iā€™ve made. Looking back itā€™s actually really, really bad. Drawn on paper and glued on a piece of cardboard with tape. So it depends who the person is, I guess.

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Personally, I love Handmade cards. It means the person took the extra effort to put their heart into what they sent me. I wouldnā€™t report it.

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Iā€™m new, so my POV lacks experience, but hereā€™s how I looked at PC coming in ā€“ itā€™s a grab bag, a crap shoot, some good experiences, some less good, perhaps a few bad. Fun, just like life. No expectations, just hope for the best. Or like presents, sometimes you open the box & wonder, what was this person thinking. But you give them the benefit of the doubt that their intentions were good. :grin: Iā€™ve received just one card so far & it was pretty lame, like a reminder card my dentist would send.

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Yes, that fits the definition of a handmade card - some people like to send handmade cards & some folks donā€™t have the money to send a professionally printed card eh?

Hi @nuuskamuikkunen!

What is considered as a postcard is a common question on the forum and has been discussed in this thread, for example, too:

Ana, one of the founders of postcrossing, answers the question this way:

So, the question in your case would be mainly whether the paper was ā€œthick enough to safely travel through the mailā€. If you are not sure if you should register it, it is probably the easiest to contact the team, because membersā€™ opinions about handmade cards are quite diverse! There are many beautiful handmade cards out there which are definitely within the guidelines, but what Nadjafee said is also true:

And the team seems always willing to help and I think it is very legitimate to ask them if you are not sure.

Happy postcrossing!

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Thank you @industria :blush: I realised that Iā€™ve read that thread previously but somehow had forgotten :joy: I guess it is Monday brain today. I shall move ahead with these advices :innocent:

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I recently received a postcard that clearly ment to be a postcard - it has lining for address, information about image author, information about publisher - but it was paper thin. Literally peace of paper, not even thick paper, just paper. I received it in perfect condition by some crazy luck.
When I encounter cards like that, I really wonder what publishers are thinking about. And what should I do about cards like that. I mean, itā€™s not like someone sent me a piece of paper, it is a postcard technically :woman_shrugging:t2: And is not like itā€™s ugly. Itā€™s a nice picture that could be torn in pieces in any moment.

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On my behalf this topic can be closed :innocent:

I checked the postcard you received.
Strangely enough itā€™s actually from a series a lot of people collect. The sender probably thought he couldnā€™t do wrong with this card.
They exist from most countries and a lot of people like them because of the info on the card.
But I understand why you say it looks like a dentist reminder.
Tastes are indeed very different :wink:

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Maybe it can be just for other purposes, like crafting?
I know some old cards are very thin, but there are many ā€œpostcardsā€ that are only meant for decoration or journaling cards.

Not everything that says ā€œpostcardā€ is good for sending nowadays. (Here, before, only part of magazine paper survived the mail as if you ordered something from mail order, the slip was cut out from a magazine :slight_smile: it seems weird, when I buy old stamps, and they clearly are on thin paper).

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As soon as I read the description of dentist reminder, I knew what series it was. I also really donā€™t see what people like about it, but yes tastes differ and if the message is nice it really doesnā€™t matter I think.

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Your dentists all seem to have very exciting cards! :grin: :joy:

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Itā€™s just fine, I tend to exaggerate :stuck_out_tongue: The format just surprised me, not at all what I expected ā€“ and it had a lovely note. I didnā€™t mean to sound so critical, but for my first ā€œreceivedā€ ā€“ well, it was a bit meh ā€“ no mountains or dinosaurs or pixies! But like I said, itā€™s all good. Anyways, thanks for the info about this series, thatā€™s interesting.

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i do not get cards looking like that from my dentist. well i donā€™t get cards at all actually. i feel like iā€™m missing out :joy:

itā€™s fine, iā€™m sure nobody loves all the cards they receive. i have to say though, you donā€™t ask for anything specific on your profile and especially because youā€™re new people are gonna send you a lot of those ā€˜basicā€™ cards. honestly i wouldnā€™t send dinosaurs (for example) to anyone not asking for dinosaurs, itā€™s very specific (if you want to though just send me your address :grin: )

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