Suggestion: Default Hurray Message

Postcrossing Suggestions
#1

I’ve noticed a lot of threads started by people who have received their first empty hurray message and felt hurt by it, so I was wondering whether the form could be made to auto-fill with something simple and friendly like, “Thank you very much!”

That way, most people could still erase the default and type their own thank you in it’s place, but if someone was busy or just not into that part, the easy/lazy thing to do would be to leave the default thank you in place.

The recipient might still know it was the default, but I think it would lead to less hurt feelings and speculation about “why” than a completely blank message seems to.

Another option would be a customizable default message. People who don’t like writing individual responses could write up a nice response in their own words one time, and the hurray message would auto-fill with that every time they registered a card.

Sorry if this has been suggested already and I missed it - a search didn’t turn anything up. And maybe there are pitfalls I’m not thinking of, but it was just a thought :upside_down_face:

15 Likes
#2

A pitfall I can see: if a boilerplate thank you message is already in place and you have to erase it, it feels like you’re doing it “wrong” by erasing it. Newcomers might think you’re supposed to leave it intact. And it feels like it’s an extra step that makes writing your own message more of an effort.

9 Likes
#3

True. But maybe there could be a note like, “Please personalize your thank you message” or something?

This sort of system is very common with online letter writing campaigns, where an organization will auto-fill a field with an example message to send to government representatives, and people can send the form letter or write their own, but there’s always a line above it that reads something like, “when you personalize your letter, it will have more impact.”

#4

20 posts were merged into an existing topic: Empty Hurray messages

#9

This is good point, and for this purpose a prewritten “Thank you” could have a purpose.

Yes, it’s rare, but once I wrote it’s rare and I got three empty Hurrays in a short time :grin: but then they all favourited my cards.

2 Likes
#10

Agreed, but I still think it would be more clear that all it is is no thank you at all, and not so easy for insecure new members to read darker interpretations in to. That’s all I was trying to say.

In the same way, I always like hurray messages that actually respond to something I wrote about on the card, but one where all the person writes is “Beautiful card, thanks so much” is still better than if it were blank, even though I know they’re probably typing out those same few words to everyone.

1 Like
#11

I think nothing should be changed here. You cannot send empty hurray messages by coincidence, for you are asked if you really like to keep the message empty, if you klick on “send” without entering a text.
So nobody can forget to enter a message before sending it.
I have received a few empty hurray messages and I sent a few ones (to senders, who put 0 efforts in the card), but both were less than 10 out of 5500, so they are very rare.

4 Likes
#12

I fear personalised Hurray-messages would even be rarer if you could just take the default instead. Many who now write a short thank you would just not write and stick to this default and even more users might be upset if they only got the default.

6 Likes
#13

I like the idea of a default message. This is a good suggestion.

1 Like
#14

This would be the same thing as no message to me.

7 Likes
#16

I think that Hurray messages are not the point of PC and are merely a fun add-on for those who want to use them. I always like receiving one and take the time to write them. However, I don’t feel we are entitled to them. It is enough to get an email saying the card has arrived.

9 Likes
Empty Hurray messages
Empty Hurray messages
#17

Hmm. That’s a legitimate concern. In my opinion even if slightly more people used the default than are currently sending blanks, it would be worth it, but not if it were several times more or something. . . And you may be right that lots of people would go with the option if it existed. Good point.

#18

I completely agree. I don’t mind about Hurray messages at all — I figure my ‘thank you’ is the card I receive from somebody else.

1 Like
#21

I’m confused. I just checked to see if I had dreamt of it, but the registration box says “please use this space to thank the sender of the postcard”. Can it be any clearer? What more do we need?

I also agree that empty Hurray messages are extremely rare (400+ cards and I can’t remember receiving a single one) and I personally don’t think it’s something to be bothered about. Sure, a long, nice, personal message is better, but there are other things in life to spend time and energy on.

4 Likes
#31

I don’t like the idea of default thank you message. It will make things worse instead of solve an issue.

Whoever leaves it empty now, will leave it default later.
If you are upset by the empty now, you’ll be upset by the defaults later.

But the defaults will be more than the empties. An empty box is indicating for you to write something. A prefilled box invites you to just submit without thinking. (Especially if you are new)

As a result, the defaults will be more than the emtpies are now.
And if you don’t like getting an emtpy now, imagine how happy you will be to get ten times more of the default.

So I don’t see it as a solution.

Also, I’ve never seen an empty message. Are they really so many, to justify product tech work?

8 Likes
#32

Please keep in mind that this is a topic with a suggestion and not a discussion topic of empty Hurray messages.
Therefore I moved some posts to Empty Hurray messages

2 Likes
#33

I would love this. Either typing a message once and saving it or a boilerplate message. I send most of my hurrahs from my phone, and it’s a huge pain to type on my phone.

1 Like
#34

Well ideally the message is personalised so a boilerplate is a little bit sad…

1 Like
#35

I absolutely adore Hurrays who are written clearly for ME. And I always try to send one, too. Yes, it takes its time, but the purpose is connecting and not sending as many card as possible…
I would assume that the standard message is used, if available, and would not like that.

5 Likes