Small changes
During this week we've made a couple of changes that you might have noticed already. If not, here's a quick summary:
- Upload sent postcards
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Many users are very proud of their postcards walls. They upload every postcard they received, but till recently, they could do very little about the postcards they send: if the user to whom they sent a postcard didn't have the chance to upload it, then there would be some gaps on the wall.
Now, that's easy to prevent: the sender is also able to upload the postcard image. This will help keep the walls complete. By the way, if the postcard is still traveling, then the image will be visible only when the postcard gets registered.
- Direct swaps
- We have revamped the edit profile section which was getting very long and a bit confusing. Now, there's a separate edit account section where you can manage your Postcrossing account details and another one just for the profile bits. And together with it, we introduced a new profile option: interest in direct swaps. What is it? Simple: if you are interested in doing direct swaps with other users, you can check this box. This way your profile will indicate that you are interested in doing direct swaps. Conversely, users who are not interested will note so on their profile so that they don't receive enquiry messages. Please mind that direct swaps are not tracked by the Postcrossing website and it is totally up to the users to coordinate those swaps. By the way, the default value is "not interested" so be sure change this if you are interested.
As usual, let us know what you think of the changes and keep submitting your thoughts and ideas on how to improve the project.
47 comments so far
It looks more interesting for me to see older cards too!
Huge thanks to all who were involved! Well done. :D
BW: I think there is a problem with the uploaded sent cards in travel status.
When I get my card registered it didn't show the image of the uploaded card.
I'll watch this at my next cards.
Mind that you'll have to "delete" those postcards images (the ones with that problem) and upload them again. Should be good from now on. :)
that sounds great!
Since yesterday I didn't get further registrations! ;o)
I will delete & upload my cards again.
Thanks for your fast response.
Best wishes from Holland!
The postcard wall's... It is nice to upload my own images, I tried it out, but as mentioned above I am also afraid of manipulations.
Personally I found it great, if you'd add a separate address box for users who do not use the Roman letters in their countries, so that they can enter it in their alphabet. This box being optional, and the original the mandatory one, as it is now. So whoever wants, can also print/write the other letters on the card so they might get delivered faster to their destination as they do not need to be translated. I hope I made sense :)
At least I should get a notification when someone delete/add/change a picture of MY wall.
Nevertheless, I think that uploading cards should only be possible for the cards someone receives. Of course, not everyone has the opportunity to scan/photograph the cards he/she gets, but that's part of the game. Maybe that could be another option in the profile (like the private swaps) telling:
- Allow the sender to upload the card he/she sends to you: yes/no
If set to yes, a message could be provided when getting an address, that the receiver has no possibility to upload the card you'll sent and if you want to have that card on his postcardwall, you can upload the card.
If set to no, well, it's up to the receiver of the card to upload.
Just my thought on this topic.
Wyando
I think postcrossing is one of the best things I know on the web. And being portuguese I'm so proud it came from the mind of some countryfellows. Not that I'm nationalist, not at all. I had the chance to visit almost 30 different countries, on work or leisure, and I aprreciate very much other people, other cultures, other ways to see the world. But, anyway, I'm proud of being portuguese.
Given this, I don't have to agree with everything in postcrossing. And I want to express this: I do not agree that, by default, it's put on everyone's profile that he or she do not want direct swaps. This, because postcrossing mentality is really to swap! Now, because not every one has tme to go and change profile (I speak for myself, I did not that, yet), I suppose 99% of our members have the "no swap" tag on it. But for my experience, before, 99% of members I contacted did wanted to swap.
Direct contact, in paralel with normal postcrossing, allows us to enrich our collection, with countries and territories that the random method did not gave us the chance to contact. And that's good.
So, I suggest that you changed the procedure, putting the "yes" instead of "no" as default, and giving each one of us the liberty to put a "no" only if we do not have time or interest in direct swaps.
I hope you understand my opinion.
long live postcrossing
huavlad
My only concern is the same already mentioned, may someone now delete my recieved cards from my wall? Maybe we could upload our sent cards but only the receiver has the power to remove it from his wall?
Thanks
i want to be asked before somene deletes cards from my wall!!
I have just experienced this for the first time - someone deleted a card I had uploaded to my postcard wall and I really didn't enjoy it. I haven't spent days scanning the cards, cropping the images etc. and then uploading them for someone to just go and delete them. I checked - there was no mixup, I had the correct card uploaded - it was just a normal viewcard, I have no idea why the sender felt the need to delete it.
My scans are of good quality, I think, and I enjoyed the experience of showing my received cards to others. Now I don't think it will be so pleasant anymore. And as mentioned above by others, the potential for manipulation is really great here...
I also don't think it is so important to have all the card galleries complete. If someone uploads the card you sent, nice. If not, it is their choice and it should be respected. Just my two cents.
Otherwise, nice updates! The stats are especially interesting :).
How about this solution: a) if you upload a received card, it shows in both sender's and receiver's wall, but only the receiver can delete it, and b) if you upload a sent card, it only shows in your own wall (so the sender doesn't interfere with the receivers wall and the receiver can not delete it).
One step further would be that also received cards show only in the receiver's wall, and not in sender's any more. This way everyone would have on their wall only those cards they upload themselves. (This relates to my question about double uploading, which still waits for an answer.)
Personally, I would be happy even without the option of uploading sent cards. Postcrossing has so many other great features! :)
I like, of course, to have "sent" postcards added to my postcard wall, but I am not that obsessed as to scan the postcards I am going to send before mailing them, just in case the receiver will not upload them. And I personally would be disappointed if I get a postcard, scan it, then I find the sender has already uploaded it. That option makes the thrill of scanning the postcards you receive completely meaningless - why bother, if the sender himself may have already uploaded it?
If you have a scanner, it is your choice to scan and upload the postcards you receive - and for people that gets a lot of postcards, that is a lot of work. So let each postcrosser decide if they want to scan and upload the postcards they receive.
That is only my opinion but I consider it all a very lame idea.
Irene
so that could save me scanning the image...
however, I could also scan and then in the interim the sender uploads, so I've still wasted my time..
I suppose it is unlikely that both would be uploading at the same time, but could a conflict result?
at any rate, I have never been interested in scanning my 'sent' cards...but I know some people do...as I've said before, my 'sent' cards tend to be somewhat repetitious because there are some typical cards I tend to send, and I am not particularly interested in seeing them on my wall. And there are also types of cards people like, which I may have sent a number of, which is the same problem...repetitious...but I guess some people like to see all that, so it's a matter of preference...just that I object to the possibility of a sender changing or deleting cards I have taken the trouble to scan.
It would be so great for those who like to contact users and ask for direct swaps, if it was possible to directly search for interested users only (in the countries section). That would save a lot of time.
- ppl spoil the surprise by loading the cards when just sent, not still arrived..
- ppl add scans of low quality..
- as the *owner* of the wall I should have the option don't upload the cards I don't like..
- the same when there is a user who sent always the same cards - there is no need to upload them all........
I woullike to ask you to think again about this option
and perhaps remove it or add a button to allow as some others proposed before!?
but finally postcrossing is great and thank you to the team!