I don’t know if there is already a topic on this matter, but we’ll see 
I regularly get asked if I received a certain postcard, and if not, if I would be so kind as to register it anyway.
I never do this because I want my statistics to be correct, and because postcrossing discourages this and well, if I didn’t receive it, I didn’t receive it, right?
So I send them a friendly mail saying that I am sorry their postcard got expired, that it happens to me too all the time and that it’s part of the game.
Some time ago I got a rather rude reply back saying that the person didn’t agree and that it was in my power to be kind and register the card, and that is was not very nice of me not to do so…
How about you all, do you register cards you didn’t receive? Am I too strict? 
I don’t know if there is already a topic on this matter, but we’ll see
I regularly get asked if I received a certain postcard, and if not, if I would be so kind as to register it anyway.
I never do this because I want my statistics to be correct, and because postcrossing discourages this and well, if I didn’t receive it, I didn’t receive it, right?
So I send them a friendly mail saying that I am sorry their postcard got expired, that it happens to me too all the time and that it’s part of the game.
Some time ago I got a rather rude reply back saying that the person didn’t agree and that it was in my power to be kind and register the card, and that is was not very nice of me not to do so…
How about you all, do you register cards you didn’t receive? Am I too strict?
You are not too strict at all!
I never got asked this before, but if I was, I would react the same way you do.
In my opinion it’s okay, to ask, if a card maybe has arrived and got overlooked by the receiver. Especially with the German December cards for the #CardsForLiteracy campaign 
But I would never want someone to register one of my cards if they didn’t receive it and in return I would never register a card I didn’t receive myself.
It’s the rules not rude 
You are doing exactly the right thing, you should never register a card you don’t receive.
Maybe 9 in 10 of the people who make this request are honest. But if people register without receiving that leave room for the dishonest few to not send card and bully people into registering anyway.
Some cards will not arrive, it’s the nature of the post.
I never register a card that I didn’t receive.
That is not rude and you should tell the support about that, because it is against the rules.
Hello @Purple-Hortensia,
Here are the rules / Guidelines
Never register a postcard that hasn’t arrived yet; if you see requests otherwise, please report it to us!
See below :
On receiving
Your address is important.
For Postcrossing to work well, providing a complete and reliable address is very important. It is your responsibility to keep your address correct and up-to-date at all times.
All postcards must be registered.
These include those that might not match your personal preferences or taste - all postcards must be registered, no exceptions. If you receive a postcard without or with a wrong Postcard ID, Postcrossing can help you. If you’ve received an item that you feel is unsuitable for the project, you should report it to Postcrossing and we’ll look into it.
Register postcards on arrival.
When a postcard arrives, you should register it as soon as possible, since the sender is dependent on you to be able to receive a postcard back.
Never register a postcard that hasn’t arrived yet; if you see requests otherwise, please report it to us!
I noticed this topic was moved, no problem, but the title of this topic now is not really what I was talking about …
I have moved / changed it back to the original topic so that it is a new topic 
You are absolutely right about not registering, in my opinion and according to guidelines!
99% of the time I don’t register either, but I must say I registered couple times, I don’t know why, maybe the user message was not bothering and genuine or organized a swap and it arrived 
And once I registered it, just to have that one on my wall:
i get messages sometimes from people asking me if i’ve received their card and if not if i wanna register it. i never do it. doesn’t make sense to me to register a card as received that i’ve never received.
i see it actually quite a lot on profiles. ‘if i haven’t registered your card after 40 days send me a message with the id and i’ll register it’. i ignore those as well.
It’s against the rules so it’s right not to do it.
I also don’t see the point, I want my cards to arrive for real!
Once someone messaged me twice with this request, the first time I ignored it (not my style but I really didn’t know how to react), the second time I replied politely. The card arrived after a few more weeks and it was actually a great one, but with the pandemic anything can happen in terms of travel times!
I laughed so hard when read the “Lost Postcard” image 
About the main topic, I’ve been asked to register a lost / about to expire card, but I didn’t registered in the end because this is also part of the experience.
I’ve got a few expired cards in my Postcrossing experience, and never wrote to the receiver to ask to register the card ID. It’s not fair for the receiver to ask such thing, is like to have a “ghost” card.
This is what I do with this kind of request:
- I decline to register a card I haven’t received.
- I suggest that the sender try again and send me a second card.
- I promise that if I should receive both the original and the retry-card, then I’ll treat one of them as a swap card and write one card back
If I am contacted from a sender and card most likely is lost in postage I will encourage sender to try again. I am new to postcrossing and is waiting for first card to be registered received. I aim to contact future receivers after approx. 3 weeks if not registered. I hope registration can be fulfilled even if it takes very long time to arrive on destination?
3 weeks? Too soon 
It is actually quite simple: you receive the card and then you register the card. If the sender is respectful, then you can respond if you wish. You don’t have to respond to insulting morons.
I used to wait at least 40 days years ago (nowadays I don’t do it at all). With the pandemic, I would wait 60 days or more. Cards within Europe can travel over 2 months now.
When someone messages me, asking to register a card that I haven’t received, I just politely let them know that I didn’t receive it yet, but will be sure to do so, once it arrives. As for cards that I’ve sent that go unregistered, I don’t message the intended recipient, as I assume that a certain number of cards will get chewed up in the postal system or negligently go unregistered, just the way it goes.