Dear postcrossers
I have ticked this box mid November, because I dawned on me that it would only be fair to help the system, but also, because postcards to Germany from Belgium generally only take 6, 7 days, it would help me to increase my tally quicker …
So please bare with me while I explain my issue.
I’m at 12 traveling postcards now, and currently there are 3 going to the US, 3 to Germany and 6 to Russia. So far this is fine.
Since 18 Nov I have sent 20 cards to Germany, 3 to the US, 2 to Russia and 1 to Lithuania. Still so far is fine.
However, if I now see the cards I received and that were sent to me since 18 November, I now have 13 from Germany, 5 from the US, 2 from Russia and 6 individual countries.
When I ticked the box, I did not realise it would also reduce the number of countries from where I receive cards, and that is disappointing. There I thought I was doing the system a favour, but in fact I take away some of my own pleasure.
Is it possible to change the algorithm in such a way that for the receiving end I’m not “punished”? Or change the information at the tick box level to make it clear that the limitations are both ways, not only for sending?
Or is it all a coincidence and I was just lucky with a great mix of countries to send and to receive from before I checked the box?
Hey Mariannin, you might let the process go on for a while yet before evaluating it because one of the factors in December was the charity card sending campaign happening in Germany. Pretty sure everyone got more cards from Germany in December because German PC members save up their slots for Dec as it raises money for literacy groups for every card sent.
“Repeated countries” only affects your sending, not your receiving. You’re going to receive a lot of cards from Germany no matter what (probably about 1/3 of all your received overall), because it’s the most active country, and as explained they are even more active in December.
Receiving lots from the USA is also totally normal. I’d love to receive more from Russia myself, but there’s no way to influence where you receive from (besides your own country).
It’s exactly like that - the dynamics of countries where you receive from simply follows the different amounts of active users.
In fact, by sending to most active countries, you ‘block’ that adress, so other users (from other countries) don’t receive that adress in that country, and instead might draw your adress.
(as always, reminder: it’s the individual that should count, not their huge or tiny country)
Choosing to send to repeated countries doesn’t affect the postcards you receive.
But German members do send a lot of postcards in general. And as @LC-Canada already mentioned, there was a Postcards for a good cause campaign in Germany in December. More German postcards for everyone then
i have repeated countries checked for as long as i can remember so i checked my december stats for you.
i have sent to 5 countries and received from 14 countries.
of course most of them are from germany. i don’t see that as a punishment though, i see that as lovely cards from individual people that i all enjoy receiving.
