it’s time to remove the option ‘Not my own country’,
meaning to ‘Accept also my own country’ should be implicit and so mandatory.
Why ?
Simply because the biggest communities should not be able to over-charge the smallest countries by imposing their own country.
“I activate the option ‘Not my own coutry’ so you are forced to exchange with my country simply because I refuse my own country, but anyway I have the strict right to exchange postcards so I force my own country to the others”.
This is a lack of respect from the biggest represented countries to the less represented countries.
This is a quite harsh way to put it. If all Germans would send to their own country, these cards world travel very quickly because our post is quick. So there would be free slots much faster, that have to be filled with addresses. And then what changes? Choosing “my own country” in my experience only speeds things up - it doesn’t mean that others get less German addresses.
Honestly, this recurring “big-country-bashing” makes me sad. Postcrossing is about people, not countries.
P.S.: Some people choose “not my own country” because they don’t feel comfortable with their address given out to people living nearby.
P.P.S.: I’m sending to my own country, it’s 33% of my total cards. I’m curious if there’s a difference to German members not sending to Germany?
yes this. if person a (from germany) sends a card to person b (from germany) then now person a deserves to get a card. so if i would request an address i would still get germany.
also this. sooo maaaany topics about people not wanting to send to certain countries. honestly only option is to remove the option to not send to repeated countries. that way we would all get to send to rarer countries more evenly.
Of course I did not intend to be rude against any country.
But as you mentioned :
Postcrossing is about people not countries, so the ‘Not my country’
So Yes the ‘Not my own country’ should simply be avoided.
Sorry but the argument of quick german post is also some type of ack of respect for the other countries. Again opposite to the Postcrossing philosophy
Postcrossing is about people not countries … and not speed too.
I understand that having few big countries with large member base could and can be an issue and cause people getting tired of Postcrossing (especially if they joined the project to get as much countries than possible), but I don’t believe this suggestion is going to help much:
Also the small countries will be forced to send to people in their own countries, meaning there will be less international contact from that direction too
The domestic sent cards will travel faster which means the addresses are simply thrown back to the system faster and the members will be able to send more cards faster and get their available slots faster so the amount of cards from big countries will only multiply. This will affect the German members especially as the domestic mail in Germany is very fast and cheap.
The “leading big countries” change over the time so in a year or two there might be completely other countries people are complaining about.
Instead I would like to suggest other ways to increase variety (if it really is that important to have different countries)
Encourage members to use travel mode. Very good idea especially for German members who (in normal non-pandemic situation) can easily and cheap travel to multiple countries that are more rare in Postcrossing.
Encourage members to join forum and help them to make trades (e.g. show how to make good trade post, tell how to contact other members, which kind of offers are attractive), so they can seek postcards from more rare countries. There are lots of members willing to trade and looking specific cards here on forum and I have seen many successfully collecting their missing countries with trade offers/requests.
Seek for the other sites that are more collecting based and allows more specific exchanges. Share tips to others about any other postcard communities where it is possible to trade based on wishes. Postcrossing is not exactly ideal for collectors, as it is about connection by mail, not getting collections bigger (thought it of course works for collectors too)
Nice, my German score is 31% so you been more active on that!
Sorry, I don’t understand this - why is it a lack of respect if I say that our post is quick? I don’t know how fast a card travels inside other countries (perhaps as quick as here?), but I know out of experience that in Germany a letter or card only needs one or two days. And when all Germans would send to Germany, your problem wouldn’t be solved…
And I think the privacy aspect that I mentioned should count as well.
As you mention Germany.
Yes german postcrosser using ‘Not my own country’ have more abroad countries poscards than the german not using it.
As a logical consequence : “I deserve a to/from postcard but ‘Not my own country’ so the others are requested to fulfill my desidera”.
Agains the ‘Not my country’ is opposed to the Postcrossing philosophy.
What a terrible idea. I have thousands of postcards from the US, many that form part of my Unwritten collections. Why on Earth would I want a stamped & written card from here? Absolutely NONE!
Moreover, the only mandatory thing about Postcrossing is this: you draw an address / you mail a postcard. Don’t be so rigid in your thinking. Thanks.
Sorry, but I read several times your post and I can’t understand it.
Why others sending to their country should affect you?! (Except persons from your country)
I normally have disabled the option to and from own country. I receive more USA and Russia instead (this year they make 50% of my sent cards). While in December I had activated Germany and it made 50% of my cards and only 3% Russia. USA is not even listed… In conclusion those big 3 (Germany, USA, Russia) make roughly 50% of the cards… whether that option is checked or not.
I only allow my daughter to participate when that option is checked off. I don’t want anyone close by to randomly receive her address. It might be as close by as 5km as we live on the edge of the city. I really don’t want that for privacy reasons.
I totally agree with it. I’m not fond of the idea that my addresay may be given to a stranger who lives in the same country as me and even in the same city. I give my address only to those people from Russia whom I know personally and whom I trust. There’s a less chance that someone crazy from abroad would travel here to knock on my door but it’s more likely that someone from here would do it. The only thought about it makes me feel uncomfortable.
And another point is the big cities like Moscow. There are really many users from Moscow. So if it was obligatory to send cards to own country people from there would send and receive cards from the same city. Which brings us to another reason why people don’t want to exchange with users from the same country: they don’t want to receive the same cards they can easily buy themselves.
May I kindly suggest you read the Postcrossing principles in the FAQ ?
It seems clearly opposed to the “Not my own country” option.
Postcrossing :
(…)
The goal of the Postcrossing project is to enable anyone to exchange postcards with random people around the world. That’s using real mail, not email!
It goes like this: for every postcard you send, you’ll receive one back from another random member — and the more you send, the more you will receive. It’s that easy.
You can learn about far away places, different cultures or even practice foreign languages. Postcrossing turns your mailbox into a box full of surprises!
(…)
I was curious where you got the idea that Postcrossing is about sending to as many countries as possible - the parts you quoted don’t say anything about it.
In the FAQ you can also read:
“Postcrossing is more than just the postcards - we celebrate the diversity of our world through the postal connections enabled between two random people. Not knowing which postcard you will get or where it will come from is part of what makes the experience interesting.”
“As you probably know, some countries are a lot more active than others in Postcrossing, meaning they send much more than others… which means they have to receive many more postcards as well. This is why you might have more than one postcard going to a very active country.”
" Addresses are chosen randomly from all countries participating in the project — including your own, if you choose that option. Postcrossing is about randomness of connections and serendipity. If you prefer to choose a specific country to send or receive postcards from, consider organizing direct swaps."
If all Germans would send to their own country, these cards world travel very quickly because our post is quick. So there would be free slots much faster, that have to be filled with addresses. And then what changes? Choosing “my own country” in my experience only speeds things up - it doesn’t mean that others get less German addresses.
Postcrossing is about people, not countries.
May I suggest that you adapt your language a bit? Privacy policy isn’t nonsense.