@elanlei I print the address and type of a message and sellotape it on the postcard because I have arthritis in my writing hand.
I always have a fear that people will not register my cards because of it. But I don’t think that has ever happened to me out of 527 cards I have send.
But I always send nice picture postcards of my town which I purchased in tourist shops.
I understand where you are coming from on this.
I do purchase stickers the live in up the postcard aswel for some reason finding stickers in my city seems to be like mission impossible.
@roxsm When I first started postcrossing every like 20 cards I used to always mix them up so I was purchasing them in batches of 20s.
But currently one of the stores are selling me postcards in batches of 100 for €20 which is a good deal.
Because we’re coming to the end of the tourist season as well and because of the lockdowns that happened two years prior I have definitely noticed a sharp decline in the variety of postcards.
A few people have messaged me about direct swaps about one postcard in particular which I can no longer can get and it was actually my favourite one to be honest as well. I really felt that it show the beauty of my town but the shop that used to have no longer sells it anymore they said that it’s out of print.
And there’s nothing wrong with that! If the message and the card are chosen just for me, I’ll be as happy as I would be with a handwritten message.
In many ways it’s even better since there are members whose handwriting I struggle to read, particularly those who go for old fashioned cursive. I’ve had to ask my mother to read some postcards to me in the past and she doesn’t even speak any English!
I only mind the very clinical and soulless view cards that I get with the preprinted ‘Dear Postcrossing Friend, [place name] was founded in 1856 by so-and-so and it is famous for its pickles…’
I drew someone today and she has nothing on her profile. I don’t think this is very postcrosser friendly. And to be honest, I don’t want to bother with the postcard. What do you all mean?
When I joined Postcrossing, my profile was empty at first because I didn’t know what to say and I wanted to try how this works and get more experience.
An empty profile means you can talk about whatever you like. I often simply say what I like (or don’t) about the card I’m sending. Sometimes I look up their town on Wikipedia and comment in some way. Or I tell a joke or anecdote. Really, it’s license to have some positive fun — perhaps to send the kind of card you wish someone would write to you!
There are so many reasons why people could have an empty profile. There were a few mentioned above, and I remember an experienced member in another discussion saying that they emptied their profile too at one point, just to see what people would send her if they don’t get any pointers in any direction. It can be a fun experiment I think!
When I draw an empty profile it somehow feels freeing, because I can pick whatever I like instead of trying to find the most suitable card for that profile. I would send a card and stamps that I like, but never get to send with other profiles because it’s not one of the “common interests” on wishlists. I see it like @doryfera - it’s a license to have fun!
She is more than 6 month online at PC - in that time she can do a profile. And she doesnt looks very young. I think she is in in the 40. And even I think about not speaking good english. But thats not happen, she is from Amerika.
So I think I do the nessesary and than I´m fine with it. Just say something about my town…
I remember one member doing this too, and I’m tempted to try it too sometimes for certain time, like half a year. Firstly I would be curious of what styles of cards I get, and also what messages.
(But I should empty my favourites, and collecting them back is not quick )
I think someone mentioned there someone didn’t write anything about themselves for privacy reasons. I don’t know how much your favourite colour or “Hello, I will be happy to see what you send me, I am open to anything” can reveal about a person’s identity but some people are paranoid I guess. I personally really dislike empty profiles because it feels rude to me. Like you want me to talk to you but you don’t even bother to say hi to me. I always feel like talking to a wall. But some people with empty profiles do write nice hurray messages so I always try to write at least something.
I drew a blank profile the other day, 2 sent, 1 received. I couldn’t even work out if it was a man or a woman. I sent them a pretty postcard that I liked and wrote a nice message. I’ve just checked back and… there’s a profile there now. @Prisha
Here the idea maybe is not that the profile itself only reveals, but all information together.
Some cards are scanned with messages, showed on YouTube, then it can be connected, maybe there is also their ig handle, maybe even return address. So, they perhaps don’t think one piece of information is revealing, but they probably learned a safety habit not to put anything on profiles etc. (and probably in reality don’t write their return address, but maybe some do).
For example when one experiences severe or long term stalking, it’s normal to have a slight paranoic feeling on the back of your head (which can be very good).
Edit. Of course I don’t mean all think this way, but some.
I drew a blank profile recently. Just sent him a card a friend gave me from a different city It’s faster because I just write a quick general note and off it goes.
)
It’s faster because I just write a quick general note and off it goes.