So I just drew 4 new addresses to be sent and viola I got 4 postcrossers who just joined postcrossing. Their stats are all 1-0 and two of them don’t even have a profile which makes picking out a card both easier and harder.
Actually after I got my second new postcrosser address I realized I was in a roll and paused for 1 min or 2 before I drew anything new but that didn’t stop it from happening.
I always send to the addresses that I drew but it’s just that I have several expired cards to new postcrossers who just ghosted and never registered anything so I’m a little bit cautious.
So are we now having many more new members or was I just a little bit unlucky?
Only 4?
Three weeks ago I had some time to write and decided to draw more addresses than usual. I drew Russia 40 times and all were newbies with 1/0 or 2/0, many with empty profiles. To my surprise, the first cards arrived after 12 days and so far almost 30 of the 40 cards have been registered.
You were actually a little bit lucky because your card will most likely be the first one they receive on postcrossing so you get the honor of welcoming them to the project!
In my experience, new Postcrossers are not any more likely than long time Postcrossers to ghost, so take heart! Hopefully the cards will all arrive safely.
In my opinion, there is unfortunately a danger with newcomers that it takes too long in the beginning for the first cards to arrive - those sent by themselves and those to be received. Some newcomers lose interest and do not register anymore. Postcrossers who stay longer have more cards on the road at the same time and know that it take a while sometimes. But you are also right. I tried to choose extra nice cards and wrote a warm welcome on the cards.
That’s true haha. It’s always an honor to be able to send the first card to a postcrosser but knowing the efficiency of China Post, I know someone else will beat me to it.
I used to be a bit anxious when sending to newbies, but I’ve only had good experiences in the last months, so I no longer am!
On the old forum, I think it was Mundoo or Ana who said that sometimes they’re confirming newbies addresses in a row and releasing them all at once. When you draw addresses at that moment, you’re more likely to get some new users in a row.
I don’t mind sending to those new to Postcrossing. I always hope that my postcard arrives quickly and they find extra joy in those first few postcards as I did when I started.
Three out of ten with zero (2) resp. one (1) cards received the last days.
My expired/deleted stats show users from all degrees, so there should be no reason to be nervous. Still I add some extra hope when posting the card. So it’s honour/joy of being a first-contacter versus fear-of-fading-seriousness.
I think, some ‘new user waves’ can be explained by recent coverages in the respective countries. Like a ‘what to do in new lockdown’ or ‘you can’t travel anymore but write to the World’ or a national insta-influencer promotes our beloved postcrossing, or a national school authority …
Once you were a newbie yourself. Was the sender of your first received card also unlucky? He/she also risked that the card would never be registered, but you stayed, registered the card and you are still active. So will most of ‘your’ newbies!
My first card went to Russis and it took soooo long (54 days). But I was super happy, when it arrived and I got a Hurray mail.
The first card I get was from Canada, it’s a bit creepy/
weird picture, but that’s what I have asked for and I still love it. Plus there was a lovely message on it.
I like sending to new participants because I get to welcome them to Postcrossing. And as someone has mentioned above, I don’t think they’re any more likely to “ghost” compared to members who have been around longer. In fact, I think most of my unregistered postcards were usually being sent to long-time members.
Thanks to uncounted lockdowns all over the world in the past time I drew a lot of new members. There were only two of them who seem to be a ghost real soon.
Most of my “ghosting experiences” are infact with long-term members. But you’ll never know the reason why.
And recently I drew an empty profile from someone who’s into postcrossing for years and sent around 5,000 cards 🤷
I think I’ll always do my very best to choose a nice card but it seems I even try harder when it is a newbie
I open 6 address in a row and all of them have stat sent 1 rec 0
And this was happened on 22 March, the day when our postal office close the mail delivery to many parts of this world
And until now, only 2 of them have registered and 4 of them i dont know where they are. When i read the profile (the first people today sent 42 rec 35, 2nd people sent 8 rec 12, 3rd people sent 2 rec 0 and 4th people sent 1 rec 0)
I dont care about this issue. I just sent them postcard.
But i guess the system of postcrossing will approve for the new members that have sent 1 before share the address. And in a day , some new members approved and i get this share address at this time.
Maybe I am misunderstanding what you are saying, but that’s what already happens: the first card sent must be registered before the address is given out.
I do think there is a surge in newbies, as well as a surge of returners. Over the last couple of months, I sent to several people who were active years ago and suddenly returned (especially from the USA). It is obvious to me that it has to do with the current situation, people looking for hobbies to do indoors and people remembering that old hobby now they have less options or in some cases more free time.
I admit I am a bit worried about sending to total newbies sometimes, but it is probably true statistically that they are not much more likely to disappear than others (my impression, I have no real data).
In my mind. Postcrossing will approve the new postcrosser whose card already registered for the first time (sent 1 ). And Postcrossing will start to share their address for the first time after they check how they write their address. And after this proccess, their new postcrosser address shared.
So i think some lucky member will get this combo new postcrosser address in a row because of this process.
New and changed addresses are all checked for completeness and formatting and then released. As it is a job that takes a reasonable amount of time those of the Team doing it tend to go through the waiting list and do a batch at a time. The waiting list includes members who have sent one postcard that has been received and registered, so they are then eligible to receive a postcard back. They are then included in the waiting list with the changed addresses of active members.
So the addresses waiting to be selected may have batches of new members.
Their stats are all 1-0 and two of them don’t even have a profile which makes picking out a card both easier and harder.
