For long time I didn’t go to the Forum because you had to sign up for it separately and I thought it was all about meet-ups only.
So I wasn’t interested but lately I gave it a try and surprised not to have sign up anymore, here I am.
I must say in the beginning it’s an overload of information and that can be too tough I guess, especially when it’s not your own language and if you’re not that good in computer stuff.
Maybe a very simple start page will help before you come to all the information?
And I have mentioned it on my profile, so that’s a good thing to do I guess.
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You can also bookmark the sections you want to see most - then go to the Bookmarks tab when you are in the Forum and then you just see the updates on your favorite Forum topics or activities.
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It took me about 10 years before I came to the forum. Every now and then I looked at this site but it didn’t seem like something I wanted to join. I don’t know why. Maybe because it has never been natural for me to participate in a discussion on a forum. I didn’t want to do private swaps either in the past. The official site was entertaining enough for me.
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I don’t use the forum or forums in general very much. For me, personally, I usually just look in here to see if people are chatting about mail slow downs or topics very specifically related to official postcrossing. I don’t have any interest in doing swaps outside of official postcrossing at all and it can be disheartening to see people arguing and getting political. Postcrossing to me is a stress reliever and I like to keep it simple. I’m also very busy and can’t keep up with messages. Sometimes months will go by before I click on forum, but I do log into official every day.
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I just started actively using the forum two months ago. before that, I visited the Forum Page but it was too complicated to understand how it works. so I just ignored it for a few years. Recently, I was motivated to study this forum page. it took me a few days to understand how it works. Finally, I know how to use it now and I can’t stop myself from joining RR. haha.
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I love Postcrossing for the postcards! I’m not looking for a pen pal so I don’t ask for direct exchanges. I’ve received a few cards that struck a note with me and I sent an email or two. But, mostly, I love the randomness of sending and receiving postcards with strangers. On the specific issue of the forum, I’m one of those strange people who do not use social media, including blogs and podcasts. I have a Facebook account I barely use, and that’s it!
I finely got into the forum because i’m planning a meetup in my area. I agree with most of the replies here - it took me months to explore the forum and blog and i sill don’t really understand them - but I LOVE to send and receive postcards! And, that’s just me!
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After reading this thread, I went to explore the forum and came across Postcrossing-Education tag. One of the reason I joined here is to help my daughter with her school extra-curricular work. Postcrossing-Education tag got so many exciting projects going there. I will be taking sometime exploring more tags while we wait for our postcards 
.
I started about a week ago and reading the forum actually helped me to understand postcrossing better.
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Education tag (sending to / recieving cards from students) is definitely fun! It’s the same as Spread the Joy non RAS. These 2 things definitely not something I would experience if I just do postcrossing on main site
Helping projects and sending kindness give me better postcrossing experience, better than just recieving cards
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That’s an interesting topic to discuss. I am also one of those late users who never knew a thing called forum existed. I mainly blame it on the user interface and how the whole portal looks, feels a bit out dated compared to what we are used to on FB groups and Instagram Features. May be if we had a proper layout of things something like a common dashboard. Right now if you click on your profile you can only see things related to postcrossing like stats, profile, badge and preferences etc. But what it needs is a more user friendly and integrated platform which looks nice and is able to show everything on one single page for people to be aware of and engage.
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I am very active in Postcrossing, but am fairly new to the forum. As others have noted, I was not aware of how it worked. I find the forum somewhat difficult to navigate; I love the Spread the Joy portion of the forum, and often look for new opportunities to show kindness to others. Even though I use that part of the Forum often, it is tedious to access.
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That is exactly what I want to see there.
In which way more user friendly? Integrated into what?
I think it can be a problem of language as well.
I sometimes switch from Google translate and back to forum and need minutes to find back to the right chapter.
( an die richtige Stelle zurück finden😔)
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Everything the site has to offer in one place, its not user friendly is all I feel. The threads and different tabs its all too overwhelming for first time user as many feel the same. Like for eg for FB, you have a landing page in the middle and all groups on the left side. To the right you will find all open conversations or pms. Once you click(this feature of showing a button panel interactive feature on the profile page of postcrossing itself will be a game changer, having several dropdowns on the top bar is too historical) on an individual group, it opens up a new world which is in itself a complete platform. Admins will have a better control managing groups like that too I feel.You donot have to manuever back and forth to find different things: its like being self reliant platform.
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Over the years, I have seen a large number of comments similar to"…I have mailed my cards out; how long do I have to wait to get cards?.." The solution is involve yourself in the Forum. I recently reviewed two directories: TAGS and ROUND ROBINS (RRs). There are so many categories to please almost anyone.
Only my opinion, but the PostCrossing Official Site is the absolute worst place to arrange postcard swaps. On the other hand, the in the Forum, you have many reliable and veteran traders. But the bottom line is that many won’t take the initiative to learn new things.
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So you want to put even more information directly on the page and that shall be less overwhelming? To me it sounds like being more overwhelming, but we shall see.
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Good topic!
I’m going to be mentionning the FORUM on every postcard I write from now on.
Hopefully that gets a new person or 15:) 
my NEW total I can now send too - YAY:person_cartwheeling:)
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Op you could also put in your profile some words that are like hey theres a forum too check it out. Etc etc
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Thank you so much for mentioning that you can mute categories, that has helped me so much.
I think the forum can be quite overwhelming when you first arrive and it takes a while to figure everything out. As for how to get people to the forum in the first place I have no idea, I think its clearly signposted on the main page but maybe the benefits/additional activities are not obvious unless you come anyway to look.
I like the idea of adding something on profiles or on postcards that invites people to come and see.
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Hello! I am new to post-crossing, I recently joined the forum because a friend suggested it because I was having some feelings of eagerness to send out more postcards! I feel like if she didn’t tell me about it I don’t know if I would have looked here (sadly, shame on me). However, when I did join the forum I wanted to create a topic but I didn’t have the option to do so, so I emailed PC and they got back immediately, basically saying that if you are new to the forum it takes a while to access all the advantages the forum has to offer, they said I need to be active on the forum too if I wanted to be granted the opportunity to make a topic.
Best!
Laura
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How about adding the following detail on the main page-
What is Postcrossing-FORUM ?
--------EXPLANATION
How Does it Work?
--------EXPLANATION
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