@jaenelle
Well said!
I have not sent so many cards yet and most of my cards are going to the USA and Russia. Honestly I never wasted a thought about it and for sure I do not feel disappointed to send to and to get from that countries again and again. There are so many different areas and states in both countries and most important of all, each person behind an address or a postcard is unique.
I’m active here in the forum and have exchanged so many beautiful cards with wonderful people from many different countries. And even in the forum I write cards to the USA and Russia because country is not important for me.
I like it both, official and forum postcards.
@teacher1traveler
I’m sorry for saying that but if your hobby makes you feel disappointed it might be better for you to take a little break.
absolutely this. a hobby should just be that. a fun thing you like to do in your free time.
and personally i rather have to send 25 cards to germany or russia with great profiles than one to a very picky person in iceland.
also technically. the less you send to a rare country, the bigger the chances are you receive from one.
That is actually a great point, Germany, the USA and Russia (quoting all the big 3 here) are enormous countries, so there is a lot of diversity just within them. Well okay Germany is pretty small compared to the other two, but still has a large population and a great variety of regions. We’re still not talking of a tiny place.
I took small breaks sometimes when I wasn’t having fun (due to receiving cards with barely any message or care in them), there’s nothing wrong with it, in fact it’s great that we can participate as much or as little as we want.
Does the algorithm look at which countries you sent to?
no, i don’t think so. but you can not receive and send to the same person. so if i have to send a card to, let’s say, someone in south africa, that person can’t send an official card to me. and because there are only a few active postcrossers in south africa, it makes chances smaller i’ll receive a card from that country.
I send and receive within my own country AND I have on repeated countries as well, so most of my cards go to the US and Germany right now. Everyone is a unique person, so each card sent and received is a treat 
Right now the divisiveness in the US makes me appreciate cards from other Americans in a new way…
I know that others have said so before, but as a German postcrosser, this topic always makes me a bit sad. Before I came to the Forum, I never even imagined that people would be disappointed to receive a card from or even write a card to Germany because it is a ‘common’ country on Postcrossing. I’m never disappointed to draw Russia, Netherlands, USA (as examples for ‘common’ countries) or to receive cards from there. I really think Postcrossing is more about how nice it is that somebody out there is willing to send a card and say a few friendly words.
Honestly I really enjoy sending cards to Germany because they always travel fast and safely.
Just a bit concerned if they don’t think the UK is exotic enough 
Anyway, Postcrossing is about communication between people, isn’t it?
Being a German member, reading this makes me sad. 
Postcrossing is my favourite hobby, and as I send many cards, I unfortunately contribute to the big amount of German addresses which are given out to other Postcrossers.
Germans are my second favourite after Finns!
Whatever you do someone will always be disappointed! I once had someone tell me how excited they were to send a card to me in the UK (their favourite country ever etc) but they were sad that I wasn’t actually British.
When I look at the list of my expired/unregistered cards, I see that not one of them went to Germany. Be careful what you wish for, a lot of the more unusual countries aren’t exactly reliable with their mail service.
@teacher1traveler
Maybe this topic is interesting for you 
Does the algorithm choose addresses for each postcrossers fairly?
That’s crazy! If it weren’t for expats/immigrants, there would be even more countries we would rarely see circulating in Postcrossing. Plus, the perspectives of people living in places they weren’t born in, are really interesting.
I have to get this of my chest: To me your comment is hugely offensive. You single out german postcrossers as the source of you feeling severely uncomfortable (this is what “cringe” means) and postcrossing not being fun. Nothing I have read on this forum before has made me felt so angry.
I am not sure what your intend of this post was anyway. I mean, you mentioned that you already complained about the “problem” (everything about this is so charming) and you were given an answer. Yet you take to the forum and blow off some steam, causing offence as you go.
(Just kidding)
I know that some users want cards from original countries, but I’ve never heard about wanting senders/receivers from original countries!
You drive on the left hand side, that is definately exotic enough… 
I have the same issue.
What issue is that?
You’ve sent the most cards to Finland, a grand total of four. And three to Germany, Netherlands and the US. No cards to Russia. Your 26 sent cards have gone to 16 different countries. What seems to be the problem?
You already know?
I have opposite experience; the more person I get from a country the more I realized there is that I don’t know. It’s like my understanding of how much more there is, grows. Like in any subject or life in general, the more I learn, the more I know that I don’t actually know much at all 
A country, and knowing it, when does it stop? A country is not a stable object, the situation there changes, people have different backgrounds, views, dreams… A German member recently wrote about their worries, and how they are limited in buying flour, they never had experienced it in their life, so I think there is something new one can learn about each country every day. Because some situations are new to them too. Also, when sending, I think about more it’s sharing my life, so it’s not that important where it goes.
If your goal is to collect as many countries as possible, then the direct swaps is good, like others suggested. Then you can choose the country. But to me sounds like you’d prefer an easy way, countries “given” to you and a little accusative when it doesn’t happen like you want. But it’s like many collections, easy to start, but gets harder the more you got.
Maybe also good thing would be, before you draw an address, don’t hope for a rare place, but think, if it’s German, Finland, Russia, will you be happy writing to them? If not, take a break. Don’t drawn an address then. If it’s not fun to you, it might be readable in your cards too. Why make yourself unhappy and maybe the receiver too?
After all I hope it was just bad moment! And some day soon you will be happy writing cards again <3