So I’ve decided to put writing suggestions on my profile and I had some questions. Do you have any favorite prompts? Are there prompts that you feel really help get to know people? Do you ever change them?
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I don’t have prompts on my profile but I came across some the other day which were interesting. I won’t link the profile but they were like:
Share a secret
Have you ever seen a ghost?
What’s something weird you’ve witnessed recently?
Etc
I guess those fit that persons personality but they were fun. Ask whatever you’d enjoy reading about - I’ve seen gratitude questions and recipe requests too.
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Generally I like writing prompts on the profiles. First of all, because they suggest that the addressee is actually interested in what I might write… Not all are. In fact, I once met a postcrosser in the Polish facebook group who declared that she “never actually reads the messages” 
Also I like it when the profile gives me some idea what to write - whether it is through questions or just a nicely written introduction that gives me some idea of who I am writing to 
Prompts I have come across and liked very much were for instance:
What makes you happy/smile/angry?
10 things you are grateful for.
You can share a secret if you like.
Your favorite book/song.
Back in the days when I introduced myself as “an alien on a research mission to Planet Earth” I used to put some rather philosophical questions on my profile - which I changed from time to time - such as:
WHY do you try to teach all your children all the same things? Why do you put them in those child labour camps that seem to serve no other purpose than to teach most of them to hate learning and to think their talents aren’t worth anything???
WHY do you always strive for more and more money and possessions, when even the richest among you don’t appear to be any happier than the others?
WHY don’t you grant each other even the most basic freedom of moving freely around your own planet?
That didn’t work very well. I think most people considered them rhetorical questions. They weren’t meant to be. But while I got lots of responses that people liked my profile or even that I ask good questions, I rarely got any attempts at an answer… 
Today I am asking for either things people have learnt (or think we should learn) from the pandemic, their memories of a given year, or whatever it is they want to tell me.
I think it’s better to keep the list of writing prompts short. The longer it gets, I feel, the more it gives the impression that you’re not really interested…
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I have some writing prompts which I wouldn’t call specific, just some regular things other people ask too, such as:
What is your favourite book? Do you have any interesting quotes from it?
What kind of music do you like? Is there a song you can listen to all day? What singer/band would you recommend me?
Those are the kinds many write about in their postcards to me.
But there’s this one question postcrossers love, and reading answers to it is always interesting to me.
If you were a flower, what kind of flower would you be? Why?
So many unique replies! So many beautiful flowers! 
I personally have trouble coming up with a text on my card because I don’t want to keep it “boring”. That’s why I enjoy seeing prompts. Helps me find the topic this person will be the most curious about.
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That’s very cute, I get why people answer that! I would too, probably. 
I usually ignore writing prompts though. Generally people say “if you don’t know what to write, here are some ideas”, and I usually already know what to write.
And this, yes.
Also keep in mind that people’s experiences may vary. The worst I’ve come across was someone who had a writing prompt along the lines of “tell me your worst childhood memory”. That was all this user wanted to know. I reported them to admins. Maybe they personally had lived a blessed life and the worst they could imagine was “that time they fell and broke their arm” or something, but I felt this prompt was extremely wrong.
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There’s a bunch of suggestions here, if you’re interested;
Nice question!
I have a link to a Google document in my profile, with a bunch of questions. There’s not many because I don’t care. It’s many because I want to give a lot of options, so that more people have a chance of finding a question they want to answer. I understand that the list can be overwhelming, though.
I think my favourite question in my own list is about time travels (if people would travel in time if they could, and to where). Or the question about limitless travel (if they could travel anywhere, even to space or to Mount Everest in a helicopter, without any restrictions or thought of cost, where would they travel?). I do mention travelling to a nearby town and stuff like that as examples as well. It would be interesting to see if people choose something crazy and hard to do, or a trip to the beach.
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I wrote questions like “What was your latest adventure”, “What are the beautiful or interesting things that you saw recently” and “What makes you happy.” I did not write the questions that cause sadness, because I want people to have only pleasant emotions from writing a postcard for me.
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Hi, this is a great idea! I like to write and belong to a couple of writers groups. I never thought to put a writers prompt in my profile, but now I might. One a month should do…
All the best, thanks so much for the idea!
Ed
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I have a drawing prompt, I ask senders to draw a little rabbit or hare on the postcard.
I
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I ask people to share a quote that is meaningful to them, it they wish. And I love reading the quotes and the reasons people select them. These postcards become extra meaningful to me because someone shared something important to them, I have an opportunity to reflect and I often feel connected to the quotes or find them instructive. It also makes it easier to write a more particular hurray message, as I often respond to the quote.
In other words … I feel like there is dialogue between me and the sender. And I like this more personal connection! 
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I have questions on my profile which I do change every now and again. My current favourites are “what are you having for dinner and who is cooking it?” and “what is the worst career decision you have ever made?”. Both result is very interesting answers 
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I ask to draw a unicorn
But since I specified my age (50), they almost stopped drawing for me. Maybe they think unicorns are only for little girls 
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I always have trouble writing too. I either just tell them about the postcard I’m sending or tell them that we have hobbies in common haha
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Oh i like the dinner question! One of mine is “tell me about your plans for the week” :))
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I love reading messages but don’t have writing prompts in my profile. Actually I’ve thought about it before, but feared it may limit the topics. I enjoy reading everthing people would like to share with me or anything coming to their mind when writing the card. I’d like them natural and not answers to one or two same questions.
I also love to write long messages and can always think of something to write, but if there are writing prompts I’d also gladly follow them!
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I personally don’t like writing prompts, I find them patronising and I very rarely follow them. I’m never at a loss for what to write so if I follow them, it’s after I have said what I already wanted to say, if there is space after that. It is hard for me to believe that people might not know what to write, but I know, we are all different and some might not be here for the pleasure of writing.
On the other hand, maybe they would help getting less uninspired messages that just tell me that the sender lives in a village, has 3 kids and 2 cats, or something along those lines 