Hi everyone, I noticed that in many countries there are no users but postcards are still sent from these states. This is because many people, when they go to a country temporarily, rightly use the travel mode. Postcrossing also gives users the opportunity to write to other users to propose and do direct swaps.
My suggestion is to make visible in real time who is in travel mode and in which country they are. In my opinion, the simplest thing is if it is possible to see it from the “search” page or from the pages of each countries: by opening the page of a country, in addition to seeing the most active users and the postcards sent, it would also be possible to see the users who at that moment are in that country with the travel mode.
Also in my opinion, the particularly useful thing about this suggestion would be to allow direct swaps by receiving from countries from which it would normally not be possible to receive. This could also be an advantage not only for the users who want to receive from that country but also for the users traveling in travel mode who probably would like to let know that they are in that country and that they are available to do direct swaps by sending directly from that country (receiving at their address in their country of residence), but who cannot make it known because they does not use the Forum and therefore cannot make a topic in the “Trades, request and offers” section. In fact, let us remember that most users unfortunately do not use the Forum.
So I kindly ask the other users of the Forum and also the Community Managers, what do you think of my suggestion.
Thanking everyone in advance for your understanding and hoping to be of help to other users too, I send my best regards and I wish Happy Postcrossing
Alberto
Not only privacy issues like yudi said, but also, can let to fraud. You can easily say you’re in another country (you only need to set travel mode to that country) and do swaps with people thinking they will receive from exotic country, but you send from your hometown and other people will be disappointed. Contrary to when you ask addresses in travel mode and you need a wi fi network from that country.
That’s not necessary. I was on travel mode in America and I was agreeing a swamp to China and USA. I asked them if he wanted a postcard from USA (stamped there) or a postcard of my country when back to Mexico. One chose the postcard from America and the other one from Mexico. So… if you have already the agreement of the swamp, a simple conversation is enough.
Exactly! I wouldn’t want to be visible that I’m not at home but abroad, especially as my address has been given out to quite a lot of members already, including my country…
I think it may risk users who are on vacation getting spammed instead. I understand the appeal, but it will be better if there is a button to choose whether to be seen using travel mode or be invisible.
This topic made me think of another idea instead. Would it be interesting if, for example, we can see (in profile page) which country we have visited using travel mode, or which card sent from that country - like some kind of a travel history?
It sounds like fun. I am a wanderlust and love to travel and see the world. Its cool interesting to see. I know for some people they love to go to these strange places and send cards just to be the first, like the man who went to South Sudan and sent out cards from there.
There is a dark side. Say I went to visit Puerto Rico or Guam or even Christmas Island or Uganda or Paraguay or South Sudan even or some place considered rare, and people knew that I was logged on at that very moment. They would inundate my inbox and emails with Can you send me a card from South Sudan? Can I have a card from Puerto Rico for my humble collection? Do you want to trade? Etc. Etc.
It is best to look at the galleries in the main site. Or…do some traveling yourself and create a photo album and share your pictures.
Privacy issue was my first thought too, and then the possibility of being spammed with requests.
Interesting suggestion nevertheless, especially for those who do want to share their travel plans, but I don’t see how Postcrossing would be suitable platform for such a feature. True that only small part of the whole user base uses the forum, but I would assume that those who really want to make private swaps and have more cards to send from holiday, will eventually make their way to the forum and post a trade here instead
I personally like this idea because I would so like to brag, I mean, “collect” countries in that way. It could even increase the interest to use travel mode among users in countries where it is easy to travel to other countries (like Germany). But then again, would that be too complicate to add on the site, and would it lead to increased amount of fraud/cheating when people try to get interesting locations on their “sent postcard from here” list?
Maybe the list can just filter the cards that are already registered and in our “Sent” list? So it’s easier to see, and users can’t lie about them easily.
When I am traveling, I will simply go to the forum ahead of time and post that I am taking swap requests for however many cards I can send while I’m on that trip. It’s always worked just fine for me, and doesn’t result in spam which could be annoying while you’re on vacation trying to enjoy things. I know some people don’t use the forum but that is their choice.
I don’t think this is accurate. I think you need to be on the wifi of that country in order to get an address/country code when in travel mode. Can someone else confirm?
I agree with the huge privacy issues of forcing location share.
I also think it goes against the spirit of the PC, which is connecting not collecting. If people want to arrange such things in the Forum, that’s one thing. But to turn the official site into a game of chasing unicorns seems wrong to me.
I have so many problems with this suggestions that I don’t even know where to start
But thankfully, other have posted before me and said it all really
A recap, from my point of view:
Privacy. Why should the world know I am on holiday? I don’t think there is a high chance I will be stalked or robbed while I’m away, but it is my business who knows or doesn’t know that I am away. I usually don’t even post it on social media or anything, at least not in real time)
Why do we assume that the person who is in travel mode wants to send a lot and do swaps? Not everybody is a collector and likes swaps. I don’t send a lot in travel mode because I simply don’t have the time and money to send that much. I was travelling a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t even switch on travel mode because I had a long list of personal contacts to send to (friends and penpals and postcrossers I am in touch with regularly) and I already spent an embarrassing amount of money on that. Also in some trips I don’t have a lot of time and energy for much of that.
Which also brings me to the next point: say I am in Exciting Rare Country, why would I want to open myself to receiving a million messages with requests, maybe even specific ones (stamps etc.), when I don’t even really do much of that normally anyway? Maybe there is a reason a lot of people don’t use the forum, i.e. they don’t really care to add to their collection, because they don’t have one?
Related to the above, why should I check my messages while I’m travelling? Sure, I might do, I might not.
From the point of view of those wanting the cards: they write to me, I don’t reply, because I have no time/I don’t care about sending more. These people who contacted me then feel ignored and disappointed.
This suggestion is very one-sided and assumes that everybody is here collectiong countries, which is not the point of Postcrossing. In essence, this:
If I really want to send cards to members who are missing that country in their collection, I will post in the forum.
Anyway, I don’t think there is much chance that this would be even considered. I think the privacy issue is already too big. Well, it could be overcome by making it optional and not compulsory, but I think there is too little benefit to even think about it.
You are also forgetting about the difference between official postcrossing, where everything is a surprise, you don’t know where the next card comes from, and the forum which is (or rather, can be) to arrange swaps and increase collection. As Travel Mode is part of official postcrossing, its point is not to encourage swaps and collecting. I personally much prefer the official side because I like randomness. Of course I am happy if I receive from somewhere unusual, but it is not the point for me and, no matter what the point is for others, it is not the reason Postcrossing was created.
Sorry about the long rant but I feel very strongly about “connecting, not collecting”
You can see that in the sent list. And if that point is important to someone they can list the visited countries manually in their profile, includin the ones they visited before Postcrossing or without sending cards from there.
Actually, on the dishonesty issue: I think you can set yourself to be in travel mode, but you definitely cannot get an address unless you are on wifi/local network in that country (I know because I once tried to get an address while I was on the bus in another country and it wouldn’t let me until I connected to wifi).
But I think it is entirely possible that you can set travel mode without being in that country. So yes, people could say they are in North Korea, get swamped with messages, then not send. Or send from, say, London because they have never left London in the first place.
Oh, this reminds me of a question I have if you don’t mind my asking
Did it not let you (as in, gave you an error message) or did it give you an address with an ID from your country of residence instead of your travel country?
I have never used travel mode internationally before but I’ll be travelling to a ‘rare’ country later in the year, and I’m concerned that if I’m not properly connected to local wifi it might give me an Australian ID rather than one from the local country, thereby “wasting” a travel slot (since I don’t have many). I am interested in you saying that it didn’t let you, which seems good.
There are a few threads about travel mode where these issues are explored I don’t remember exactly what it said, but definitely no address.
BUT
This is because I had previously switched my location on my profile, so I guess my location didn’t match my IP address or something like that (I was using my country’s usual phone and sim card but I was able to use data in the country I was visiting - EU and all that jazz).
Previously, on the same trip actually, I had forgotten to switch to travel mode so I got an address with my home country code. So you have to do that first. Otherwise Postcrossing doesn’t know, I guess.
I don’t remember exactly what it said, but definitely no address.