Hello, fairly new to postcrossing. I do have a question since I have experienced this a couple of times if not more. When someone says on their profile that they do not like tourist cards, what do they mean exactly? No location? No sites from certain cities, states or countries? It is just a bit vague to me , right now I have limited postcards to send, I am waiting on shipments to come as there is nowhere local to buy post cards.
I would take that to mean no cards with photos of places. So cards with illustrations and quotes and pictures of puppies would be preferred over views. It’s still fine to send them view cards, wishes are just suggestions, but they would rather have something else.
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When someone says on their profile that they do not like tourist cards, it usually means that they don’t particularly want to receive the type of cards which tourists buy anywhere in the world, with multi-views, name of town/city. I might even have that on my own profile, I don’t remember. What they also might mean is that they have had enough tourist cards, thanks, and they would prefer non-generic cards, something more unusual/individual.
It has to be born in mind that all such stated preferences are only that: preferences. You can send any card to anyone. You could send a hand-made card of your grandmother’s knees, for instance, and no one is going to admonish you or reprimand you. Just send whatever you have from your limited stock and move on to the next address. It’s supposed to be “fun”, not an ordeal, after all!
Edited to add: actually you can’t send any card to anyone. Nudity, politics, religion, royal families are best avoided.
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I know you’re asking the question to someone else, but I consider tourist cards to be a postcard of a real world location (either photographic or illustration) that you could easily see being sold at a tourist shop. The line is blurry, however. A postcard of the Golden Gate Bridge with the words SAN FRANCISCO emblazoned on it will be considered a tourist card, but an artistic photograph of the Golden Gate Bridge with no words on the picture side would most likely be considered a topical card rather than a tourist card.
If you’re a new Postcrosser with limited resources, just choose any postcard. Tourist cards are the most commonly found and one should hope that everyone has the understanding that not everyone has access to a large variety of cards. (And if not, well, you at least did your duty and sent them a postcard.)
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That’s tough when every time we post cards we are licking the Queen! 
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Wait, aren’t there any modern self-stick Queens available?
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There are, I tend to use lickable ones though. Also licking does sound funnier than sticking.
Even the stamps showing other things have a little portrait in the corner.
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Ah, yes, but when you can do both? Lick AND stick the Queen?!
(Edit to add - sorry if this is a bit ribald, I don’t mean to offend…but I couldn’t resist!)
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I think tourist cards are the cards that you can buy from tourist attractions or souvenir shops. They are usually designed in a touristic way and are usually cheap, colourful and kinda advertising.
It could be something like this (I found it by googling):
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Tourist cards are cards that show sights of a place.
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When I joined I was only able to send what I could get from the shop… Tourist cards… And I was limited to two different ones so my first 5 people got those. I wouldn’t stress about it because as everyone else has said they are preferences but people can’t expect their wishlist will be fulfilled, we get what we are given. 
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