me neither. like i’ve said before, if people within one country send to each other, aren’t chances of us sending or receiving from that country just as big?
i don’t understand the big deal here. i can totally understand people not wanting to receive from their own country for privacy reasons.
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You already found your answer: postcrossing is about people.
Members are distributed irregularly over the countries - for whatever reason - so everyone has to send more cards to Russia, USA and Germany than to Australia, South Africa or Brasil. That’s just how the system works.
And like @Cassisia said: if I, as a German member, send a card within Germany it normally gets delivered within 1 or 2 days and I’m eligible for a card by another member again. I also can send more cards more quickly and so get more slots more quickly. Then I can send more cards and therefore have to recieve more too. I don’t see how this would help anyone to send less cards to Germany.
You would have to prohibit people from Germany (or Russia, or the USA) to sign up for postcrossing, so you won’t get more members. That really doesn’t sound like the spirit of postcrossing to me.
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@bcostacurta
You adding “all my apologies” doesn’t make it any less rude.
It’s so sad indeed to read another thread about this subject.
Why not let everybody enjoy and participate in postcrossing in their own way ?!
Choose the options they like ? Repeated countries or not, own country or not ?
The forum offers so many other possibilities, so many choices… to use or not.
Why not be happy that we - who are commenting here so far - live in countries where the pandemic hasn’t disturbed the mail system too badly, countries that haven’t got too many mail restrictions. We can still receive and send out mail !
Let’s just enjoy postcrossing ! Respect eachother and eachother’s choices !
And it is about people, about individuals !
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You mean privacy about postal address, correct ?
But again why someone would use Postcrossing if he refuse or is afraid to exchange his postal address ?
Different people may have different reasons and it really does not matter. Everyone is permitted to have their own opinion and feelings in that matter and so everyone can decide for themselves.
As mentioned before, some people use P. O. Boxes and some decide not to send and receive in their own country.
It doesn’t matter why, it matters that everyone feels safe and comfortable.
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If you draw an address close by, let’s say max 50km. Maybe you even work there, visit your friends… you may decide to personally deliver the card (saves postage right? And maybe that profile sounds just too nice…). A risk that strongly decreases the further away the other person lives… The risk of delivering in person is the reason why someone in travel mode will never draw any address of the country he/she is currently visiting and it’s the reason why Postcrossing never gives you an address in your own city. Edit: And it’s the reason why we have the choice to send or not send within our own country. We live as close as a few kilometres from the next place away. It’s only 15-20 minutes by bike. I really don’t want that 
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I have had send/receive from my own country enabled since I started. I think if you force this you’re going to create a problem in the other direction, some people getting a large amount of cards from their own country and getting bored. While I appreciate the effort of any card sent to me I am not going to lie, I enjoy international cards more and at some point I may want to focus on international cards for a while.
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You need to quit with the patronizing attitude. Your passive / aggressive nature isn’t really helpful at all. Step back and reflect on what others are telling you. Just a “suggestion.”
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Sorry, I forgot about this mechanism of the Postcrossing system. Thanks for reminding me of it 
Please, read carefully that there are people who don’t feel comfortable if their adresses may be drawn by people who live not far away. As @Cassiopheia said, there’s a risk that someone can deliver the card in person.
I’m ok with giving my address to strangers from abroad because they would never come here to deliver the card in person (and it doesn’t matter if they put it in the mailbox or hand it personally) but as for my own country, I give my address only to those whom I know and whom I trust. No one knows what coincidences are possible.
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Telling someone that his or her argumentation / reasoning is “nonsense” is rude, even if I read it “carefully”. This is not the kind of respectful exchange we try to have here.
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Again … I made a suggestion, others disagree, that’s fine, it’s a forum.
Which aggressive attitude ?
I defended my suggestion, and certainly didn’t not intended to be rude or adopt any aggressive attitude.
I absolutely do not want my address to be shared around my small country! Nor do I have the slightest desire to receive cards that I can find where to buy.
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Some people just think they are the only ones with opinions, fascinating
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I feel the need to quote myself from the thread I post above:
But is it really less safe for a German to give their address to another German, as opposed to a Frenchman, Dane, Pole, etc (depending on which border they live closer to)? Here in Europe, with open borders between most countries and short travel times to almost anywhere (except for us up here, on the outskirts of everything), anyone can show up on everyone’s door!
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I have to say I am confused about what everyone is writing about. (I confuse easy) .
Can someone explain to me… I see the box that says I would like to have addresses to countries with more members, I understand that and will probably try it. If I click that box will I only receive cards from those countries too?
Thanks to anyone who can explain it to me.
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So the option
‘Not my own country’
should in fact be replaced by
‘Not in my neighborhood’
Eg I live in a small like Luxembourg with three very close countries so with close people, and so ‘Not my own country’ will not protect my address from then.
As Postcrossing calculates the distance between two addresses it will be easy to create an
‘Not in my neighborhood’
to avoid sharing addresses with close people less than eg. 150-kms
More efficient than the ‘Not my own country’ to protect postcrosser address.
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Consenting to my address being distributed to users thousands of miles away (kilometers, if you like) is different than being forced to accept the possibility that someone in the next town over may receive it. 
Yes, Germans are prolific senders of postcards–and that’s okay, because they’re unique individuals with diverse experiences to contribute to the community. 
@Torchwood3, the suggestion is that it should be mandatory to send/receive postcards to members in one’s own country.
I’m confused; previously, you seemed to dismiss concerns about distributing users’ addresses to nearby places, but you seem to have changed your mind…?
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The thread you quoted is discriminating, for it forces only the Postcrossers in the big countries!
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No i didn’t changed my mind.
Simply I accept that some people are afraid to share their address in their near distance or neighborhood (even if Postcrossing is of course based on postal address)
but anyway and in any case : this has nothing to do with ‘Not my own country’ option
This is where I introduced the ‘Not in my neighborhood’ option to respect a minimal distance between two postcrossers and so privacy respect.
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