Blog > Open Poll: What would you like to see on the blog?
January is the month for planning and resolutions, so we thought we’d start off 2018 with a different kind of survey: we wanted to ask YOU (the Postcrossing community) what kind of articles you’d like to see featured here on the blog this next year.
Over the past 10 years, we’ve covered lots of different topics on the blog. From cool postal projects to giveaways, news related to Postcrossing (stamps, school activities, meetups), good causes, interviews with postcrossers or stationery makers, historical facts, the intrepid Little Mail Carriers… The list goes on and on.
But what would you like to see more of? Is there anything postal-related that you find fascinating and would like to learn more about? What are your favourite types of posts so far? What are we missing? Leave us some ideas in the comments about things you’d like to see more often in the blog, and let us know! We’ll be reviewing your feedback and hope to make the blog extra interesting for all postcrossers in 2018. :)
If you’d like to have a look at what we’ve covered in nearly 600 posts so far, check out the Blog Archives.
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196 comments so far
https://www.flickr.com/photos/aya80904/16682174092/
By the way, have you read Chekhov's heartbreaking short story about the little boy who wrote a letter to his "Grandfather in the village"?
..Just a few examples I would love to know the answers to.
By the way, as for communicating with prisoners, there are more than a few on here in law enforcement and for most, they are not suppose to knowingly communicate with convicted felons. So, that wouldn't be a a very good idea for these folks. I personally, have no desire to knowingly write cards to someone in prison.
[1] https://www.kennys.ie/catalogsearch/result/?q=postcards
[2] https://www.bookdepository.com/search?searchTerm=postcards&search=Find+book
- articles from different people moderated by admin
- tech things that helps in our postcrossing hobby (apps)
- stories of unusual cards received
--Showcasing regular Postcrossers (by far my favorite posts): Not necessarily someone doing something unusual, ordinary ones too (randomly picked and contacted if interested, or some other interesting criteria (a giveaway, who knows the options are endless). One a month or something. Ask them why they joined, to show a photo of the mailbox they use to send cards, their local post office, something they'd like to share about their location, how they store their cards, etc.
--You could even create some kind of form we could submit with all the interview questions, places to upload photos, etc. Then if a member is interested they submit all the information on the form and Postcrossing can decide which one to feature on the blog each month randomly or look for certain criteria or with each milestone (see below):
--More "countdowns". I know you do the next millionth postcard countdown, but I'd like to see the next millionth American, Russian, etc. postcard too. Also when countries move into the 100,000 range of sent cards (Philippines was last to do it, Bulgaria should be next). Could also be when they reach a certain amount of members (Russia and Taiwan are the only 2 close to 100,000, Germany just hit 50,000, and there's quite a few about to hit 10,000.) Maybe when they reach a certain threshold an interview with a random member from that country could accompany the milestone post. For instance when India hits 10,000 members randomly select a Postcrosser from there and make the 10,000 members from India post feature an interview with someone from there. (Maybe a random person from India that submitted the interview form so you know they are interested.)
--Polls are fun too. I like the "Do you send within your own country?" and also "Do you ever turn repeated countries on?" These would be good questions for the 'interviews' too.
--I like posts showcasing new postcard box sets or special websites selling postcards.
--As for the prisoners suggestion, I personally see nothing wrong with it. People make mistakes and this is a way for them to gain a better understanding of the world and hopefully make better choices when they are released back into society. I wouldn't necessarily say create a separate option for it, but if they are on here I would ask that they be respected and not banned or something.
stories of postcrossers
little mail carriers to see other countries / towns by locals
explanation of adresses
people telling about their nicest postcards (why?)
postcrossers stories (did people meet / friendship / mariage maybe through postcrossing)
books and movies about postcards of stories about writing letters / postcards (loved the article about Juliet in Verona)
A big thank you to the Postcrossing team for the nice community and the good work! Hope it will continue for years!
And maybe it's time to refresh statistics: https://www.postcrossing.com/blog/2013/02/26/a-different-ranking---updated
Thanks for the fantastic work you do throughout the year for us Postcrossers. Ciao
I see several postcrossers above are curious about Russian addresses, so I'll explain.
d. - д. - дом - dom - house
kv. - кв. - квартира - kvartira - flat
ul. - ул. - улица - ulitsa - street
pr. - пр. - проспект - prospekt - avenue/ big street
pr-d - пр-д - проезд - proyezd - also kind of street
per. - пер. - переулок - pereulok - lane
sh. - ш. - шоссе - shosse - road
g. - г. - город - gorod - city/town
d. may also refer to деревня - derevnya - village
s. - с. - село - selo - village with a church or just big village
p./pos./pgt - п./пос./пгт - посёлок - posyolok - settlement, small town
2) Review of the various sites for on line purchasing of postcards.
3) Where to buy postcards that a number of "Postcrossers" show as preferences such as "Hello Kitty", "Moomin", "Miffy" etc.
4) Articles on what various Postal Authorities are doing to stay relevant and profitable in a changing society.
Let me brainstorm:
post offices, little mail people, postcard collections, logistics systems in different countries, how a post-delivery-guy works, unusual postcrossing cards, "from A to B" (meaning asking the post offfices if you can cover the delivery of a card from door to door internationally with pictures - PT to Malaysia detailed with post-delivery-guys and so on), technical things from developing new things on postcrossing, letter writing things (kinda like the blogposts over on the Letter Writers Alliance you suggest on the "links" page), posts about how a postcard is made, the process of the ISO of finding a new country code if a new country somewhere in the world would develop...
okay, I always have to force stop me while brainstorming...
Also, I'd like to read about people who meet in real life due to becoming pen pals or meeting via Postcrossing.
Thanks for asking. Keep up the great work!
2. Are there any "rare" countries that have had a big increase in active members?
3. Do you remember the first postcard you ever sent in your life, through postcrossing or not? What was it? who were you writing to and what about?
I would also like to see articles about people who were actually inspired to VISIT the location on the postcard because of the postcard.
Maybe start a Postcrossing campaign somewhere where there aren't many postcrossers (Tanzania, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Peru, etc.), recruit people, and keep us updated on the project. I liked when one of the Pacific Island nations sent 400 postcards out (I didn't get one, but it was still an awesome idea/event).
The others asked, even if Postcrossing to it's own accord is not a collector's thing, quite harshly for specific cards and/or specific stamps,
knowing for most people "I am only truely happy, when" is enough to want to please and try their hardest, even if this can mean money shortage for pretty existential stuff.
But I had "don't like at all" to "really hate..." too.
You can't connect a whole world without excluding a huge chunk of people unable to buy a single regular card meeting criteria besides being a rectangular piece of cardboard each time.
Shame comes in, when blunt requests are that common and you are in one ore many ways unable to do it, how little of a deal the recipient might think it is, it might well be.
If this keeps happening, a "How to stand your grounds - for the housebound and/or empoverished postcrosser" blog entry might be helpful too.
Most people don't want advertisement cards, but every now and then people will specifically write that they welcome such cards or even that they like them.
It could brings inspiration and creativity to postcrossers.
Of course look around his wall will be interesting.
But, of course, the reality is that most profiles contain "shopping lists" which is fine as long as they do not become a combination of grudges and restrictions.
Size, stamps, subject...theme and even colour... And yes, it provokes the feelings of shame, inadequacy and failure before you have even sent a card. And then (sometimes) you might send a good card and the recipient doesn't say "thank you" and deletes your images altogether or uploads a much worse version. I really don't like that.
To the grumpiest postcrossers - I swear - I have a temptation to send one of my worst cards.
A lot of people are fascinated by numbers of all kinds, so polls will aways be popular.
I would like to learn about peculiarities of others - specifically the little details that irritate postcrossers the most. Things that tend to be unsaid and unvoiced because everyone plays "nice".
My pet peeve - I don't like to see a smile plastered on a profile face when the user has been away for days on end and my card expires. I know it's silly, but at least I'm honest.
It would be nice to learn about OCDs of others - for example, people who have to have all images uploaded (I do :)))
✅ How stamps are made by postal departments?
✅ Interviews with postman/woman
✅ Best postcard set of the month
✅ There are many countries without post offices or postal departments. Some countries have stopped postal services. And there are some without any info (whether postal service is active there or not). If you could post something about them, it would be a interesting read. Examples of countries: Yemen, Eritrea...
- interview with users (4 persons per month)
- analysis on different postal fees and their impact on sending.
- stories behind the online small postcards shops like postcardsmarket or paoersisters..
What features I would like to see implemented on the main site:
- possibility to add the photo of the stamp along with the postmark.
- I see you have a database archive of Postcrossing Meet-up. How about adding the images of cards made for those occasions? I can help you with a lot of scanned material.
Other thing that I would absolutely love would be too see postcards collections from other members (specially the ones that receive postcards from countries with few participants) and them to talk about Postcrossing!
I don´t know if you''ve made it already, but a article about how to organize your postcards in pratical and artsy way would be amazing!
I love very much to see the Little Mail Carriers, every story is the best. And the different mailboxes is also very funny!
Hurray!
Happy Postcrossing
Or
A map on my profile that automatically puts an image to show where my postcards we received.
I do see the stats. I would prefer a map.
a survey of the nicest countries in writing postcards :)
Greetings from Italy
Talking about balance of exchange, its also unbalanced with major countries. For instance these members sent 8.61% (Total sent 588 while total received 339) more card as compared to received. In case of China total sent card were 154 while received only 96 cards.
Now on the other side, these members received 247 cards from Finland while sent only 184.
There are many other instance of imbalance.
I suggest in the coming year more work should be done on "Algorithm" to reduce this imbalance.
My suggestion is that members from top ten countries with largest member, there must be a rule to route certain number of postcard inland.
This will free up some space for smaller countries to exchange among themselves and a better distribution balance be seen.
At the same time, maybe specific ideas about how to improve the country distribution will (might) help. Or at least the brainstorming can help. The idea of fairness is universal and randomness seems to "favourite" some more than others.
About humour - humour is universal, but what makes us laugh is not. I would be careful about making assumptions (I speak from experience).
Same with beauty - the idea of beauty is universal - but what exactly we consider beautiful is not. One of the fundamental underlying principle of beauty is exaggeration. Bigger, smaller, taller, shorter, wider, narrower than real. More colourful or less colourful than real - we get more excited about what is different from reality.
And the request for clear handwriting - I think it is a reasonable request because for most people English is not their first language. I personally can figure out most handwritings, but my major difficulty is names - if I don't know the name - "guessing" it feels inappropriate. I would say - print the name to the best of your ability and maybe address the person by name. (but these are my personal preferences).
And about expired cards and inactive members - I really don't have an idea how this problem should be approached. I have seen some "weird" accounts and not necessarily due to a fault of a person who doesn't receive cards. This topic might make an interesting discussion. :)))
May all our cards arrive! Cheers,
Other interesting themes: Back of the postcards, information about different postal systems (maybe some members could give us a tour to their post offices?), photos of the mailboxes and post offices around the world!
As for the main site itself, i suggest a "Postcard of the Day" where any random postcard could be shown and receive some love. I find that most cards with many views and favorites are of the top Postcrossers in their respected countries, so it would be nice for some Postcrossers who haven't yet received or sent as many to be spotlighted.
A blog I think would be interesting to read about are those who left Postcrossing but came back. How and why did they come back? Why did they continue? I myself was gone from the project for 8 years until I came back in early 2017, I'd like to hear everyone else's stories. :)
2. I take notice of the registration numbers on cards. Recently I had 2 cards from Germany and the registration numbers were sequential. I know at the moment Japan and France are close to their 1 000 000th card being sent. Such milestones could be celebrated on the blog.
I just noticed different size and style of normal postmark. I.e. Russia's postmark is big, Germany's is good and clear, Finland often not marked, China has many numbers, USA has writings of states.. etc. Maybe things like this.
Address meaning is great.
Postcrosser highlights is adorable, we can see real life someone who has same hobby :3
Also more poll! :)
1.Some members appear to be quite demanding. This appears to relate to cards they don't want despite the rules of the game stress no demands can be made.
2.What do we do about Postcrossers whose accounts are not active and don't do anything about it? I scored a Brazilian Postcrosser recently and she hasn't sent cards nor received them for some time. As Australian postage is getting high I just refused to spend money on card/postage to this person. It's an expired card for me automatically. It's a pity I have to wait 60 days but why send a card to someone who isn't active.
3. I would like to see a weighted ratio for countries with high numbers and an attempt made to send cards using that ratio e.g Russia, Germany.
4.I know we can't tell prople what to write on cards but a rehash of a profile or the words "Happy Postcrossing" are very disappointing
Perhaps some of these issues could be addressed
Also... I would be happy if I no longer have to send Postcards to people who haven't been online for a month or more, since most of these cards expire anyway.
Maybe a challenge of translation and learning can be more fun than a struggle. Maybe the distinction between a Russian and Russian is less important for those who are not Russian at all.
Sometimes "bad" English is almost adorable - at one point my English was too bad to be true and yet I could always communicate. Besides, communication is not about language, it's about getting your message across and most people manage quite fine. And there is always Google Translate - my long-time friend.
As a person with OCD (I admit and I laugh about it) - I want to point out the spelling mistakes and grammatical mistakes (especially in profiles) and have a temptation "to help", but I restrain myself from such "helping". I slipped a couple of times, but I use that experience as a lesson to be more tolerant and understanding.
Everything can be translated. But I find it amusing that I can understand what a Russian speaking person wanted to say by unraveling the translation - which actually does not mean what the person intended it to mean. But don't we all have this challenge?
Whose language is without fault? Whose writing is free from spelling, grammatical and structural mistakes? Certainly not mine. I choose to find it adorable. :)))
P.S. Во "мне не нравится" - нет мягкого знака. Но мы понимаем, что Вы хотели сказать и это самое главное. И поэтому английский намного проще выучить, чем русский.
I've seen a couple of people on the forum that work for postal services, so maybe you could try rounding up Postcrossers who also work for postal services and interview them?
I would like to know Japan Post mail service job and how postcards reach their receivers after arraival from abroad.
I always enjoy the blog posts about individual Postcrossers, but I think that it would be interesting to also have occasional posts based on subjects that Postcrossers request. For instance, you could do a post about members who request cat cards. I'm thinking that the post could have maybe 4 or 5 cat card fans picked at random all over the world and all of them could talk about their preference.
Or you could have posts featuring a few Postcrossers classified by other ways than card preference. Such as a post about Mothers who like Postcrossing. (This would be great close to a Mother's Day. I remember reading on Wikipedia that different countries celebrate Mother's Day on different days. Not everyone celebrates Mother's Day in May like the United States does.)
Another possibility would be featuring popular postcards and asking those who favorited a certain card exactly what they liked about it. We all have different preferences and it's always interesting to find out what others like. If the card is available for purchase on the Internet, it would be good to know where to go to buy it (like Amazon.com or wherever else it is sold.)
Should there be a project to contact each embassy of poor or restrictive nations to get more involved?
Can philatelic organizations be informed globally?
Any ideas?
Which country has the most courteous postcrossers?
or, Which country has the kindest postcrossers?
I don't know what these are:
- view card
- ad card
- art card
(and for postcrossers that don't like messy handwriting just remember that sometimes it is a small child that wrote your card, maybe not perfectly but with just as much love)
One is clearly due to bad luck, another is clearly due to the disappearance of the recipient (he did not respond to my message either, so - still giving him the benefit of the doubt, I will not make assumptions about ill will or negligence because in the end - what does it matter?)
and the last (technically speaking my first) - I blame on the fact that I wrote her address in Russian and by hand (whereas others probably printed it in English), so sometimes writing an address in Russian can be a disadvantage. Or maybe just bad luck again.
But statistically - 3% seems to be the number.
However, what I don't know yet is what is the percentage of the expired cards that reach the recipient within a year. So, the term "expired" is rather ambiguous.
I'm curious about those statistics as well.
Also an article about statistical outliers could be interesting: are some countries connected postcardwise to others in a specific way - like xx sending overproportianlly to xy ... is there a different share of male vs female users in different countries ...
Ahhh statistics ... so many aspects possivle ;-)
Stories of meet_ups and stories from postcrossing's headquarter might be interesting too. And portraits of members. And ...
Ahhhh postcrossing ... so many things to love
Ps: I also do miss the little mail carriers. Are they lost somewhere?
Is it possible to create a prize for persons who send most favorited cards every month?, for example,
the possibility to send an extra card. This will encourage people to send good cards, I think. Thank you.
Since I don't know the real story of "What happened?", I made assumptions. 8 known cards were drawn on the same date and seven arrived = 5 from the US and 2 from Germany (randomness at its best! What I love about randomness is that it often looks like it has a pattern or two - as an example - more than 50% of her cards come from the US). :)))
So, I did make an assumption that the members from the US and Germany either printed the address or wrote it in English. Every Russian can read an address written in Latin letters and sorting machines go by numbers - postal codes that are called "an index".
But truth be told - if we don't know the real story of our lost cards, we do make assumptions. May all your cards arrive!
Speaking of patterns: my cards go like this: Ru, Cz, Ru and another card to Czechia is about to expire. Why? Who knows?
1. Ratio between population x total number of users x number of active users
2. Quality of postal services x postage prices x purchasing power of a currency
Why? I would like to see if there are any correlations. For instance, my country is small but the number of Postcrossers is rather high in comparison to larger countries (larger in the sense of population while still comparable on socio-economic level) so I wonder where this is coming from. I'd like to see more analyses to understand why some countries are into postcrossing a lot while others not so much... even though at first glance there is no reason for it :)
It was interesting to read the postal services satisfaction poll a while back (including comments from postcrossers which helped shed more light onto the results) and I would love to see more things like that :) For instance, after reading the comments from my Italian counterparts (and their low rating of IT postal services) I have grown to appreciate the job that CZ post is doing although it is way more expensive than in Germany where the "purchasing power" is higher (and so CZ prices are even more exaggerated :) But I have my own explanation for that which is the heritage of communism and low-paid jobs in state sector... (hence difficult to attract best "brains").
I love Postcrossing, it is the best thing that's happened to me in a long time! :)
Thank you!
For instance, I have always wondered how can it be that a super wonderful moderator Jetske is always responsive. Does she ever get any sleep? She is always around and as soon as there is a hick-up she'll intervene. It is amazing. Also, I was wondering how did it happen that the site has spread without any marketing...?! Wow. It is just so amazing I'd like to get more details. I think that the Postcrossing team has much to say to businesses all around the world (they could learn from you). Thanks for reading! :)
In addition to that, an article about stamps would be great since postcards and stamps do go together. The article could be about the different types of stamps we use on the cards we mail (e.g commemorative, definitive) and it could also cover topics like covers, first day covers, mint stamps etc,. I am not a stamp collector but get many requests for them and the first time someone asked me if I could send a cover, I was totally clueless!
Most popular card -I'm afraid often it's about rare country, not about beautiful card.
I like the idea about self made cards -as I make them, too:)) Most unusual in my collection is a knitted card from Germany.
Expired cards mostly are in China, where young students quickly loose interest -so there really must be some checking of inactive members. There are several more countries with very bad post -service, but sometimes cards turn up after several months -there could be a special topic of these long travels!
Several more ideas -
possibility not only to comment but also to show stamps, stickers etc. of received card -often there is so much love and thought !
Stories about Postcrossers friendships and visits
The youngest and the oldest postcrosser.
By showing the card also the posebillity to show a nice drawing, or something else what made you happy at te back of the card. A beautiful postmark ect.
A project to send post to lonely or sick people.
Happy Postcrossing
also a kind of difficult terrain where they are reaching.
- hand colored cards from a purchased image. Have seen coloring postcards for Mary Engelbriet types of images that can be colored
- homemade postcards. This would be different from when people use their own photograph.
-decorated cards when people put stickers, washi tape etc on a purchased card
I find it good what you post on the blogs
the most its interesting for me.
thank you!
Have a great year 2018
Prinzmucki
"2018: postcard international from Denmark 27 DKK (3,6 € - 4,3 $) - from Germany 0,9 €)"
No wonder, Denmark doesn't send too many postcards.
*I have heard that there's to be a 14% increase in Russian International Postage. This increase could mean that fewer Russian Postcrossers can afford to participate in Postcrossing in the future. How would this affect the Postcrossing community, the statistics etc.?
*A blog poll about what another Postcrosser suggested: ideas on how to improve Postcrossing and sort out some issues already mentioned in many of the comments (Inactive members etc.).
*I support the idea of following the journey of a card from Sender to the Receiving end. Does a card travel by boat or plane? Does it really make any difference to pay a bit extra for "Priority Mail" these days than "Economy". How do the Post offices separate and sort these? The working and sorting methods in Post Offices / sorting locations in different places (New York, Moscow, London) would make really interesting reading. How come some of the cards sent to Russia arrive in 14 days while others take up to 40 days and longer ...
*A blog about RESPECTING a fellow Postcrosser. So what if some of us have so called Wishlists? Having a card travel for thousands of miles seems like such a waste ecologically speaking if the card you are sending or receiving won't appeal to you at all... and ends up in the bin! We are all different and are in to this project for different reasons and no Postcrossing rules will ever change that fact :o)
Good luck & Keep up the good work!
the 'little mail carriers' are well travelled but I would never tire of their exploits.
I would also like a blog post about how individuals and institutions can promote both postcards and Postcrossing. We didn't know until our mail carrier told us that we (in the United States) can request a cancellation stamp for a special event and USPS will set up a kiosk to sell postage, postal items, and stamp cards. That would be great to do here!
2) more about the adventures of the little mail carrier.
3) more about mail boxes
4) listings of books about postcards.
I am so happy to be part of this group. Thank you for postcrossing.
And, as always, I like the spotlights about individual Postcrossing members.
- https://www.facebook.com/events/901484383310207/
- https://www.facebook.com/events/271948196633940/
For example, I was unable to find a post office when I visited Trinidad last year. The nice lady at the lodge where I stayed mailed the postcards for me after I left to return home, but I would prefer not to have to rely upon strangers to make a trip to the post office for me.
While in Panama last month, I had a difficult time finding postcards and finally found some when I visited a museum at the Panama Canal. However, I once again had to rely on the kindness of a nice lady at the lodge where I stayed to mail the postcards. However, in looking at the postage on the postcard that I sent to my niece, it looks like she charged me an extra fee to mail them.
I've tried looking at the websites for the postal services in various countries, but that hasn't been very helpful.
I would be willing to write an article about this topic for the United States with input from other U.S. Postcrossers who might like to contribute.
"What is happening now".
Also a blog on explanations of terms for newbies. There was one on maxi cards, but others would help too. When you’re just starting, and reading profiles that say “please no ad, free, or multiview”, it would be nice for some clarification. 😀
I like facts about the mail & stories about unique mail situations.
Aside from museums, are there other tributes to postcards? I.e. in Las Vegas, the America restaurant at NYNY has a whole postcard theme with wall paper of sayings on postcards and images of the 'greetings from' all over the ceiling. I've also seen murals.
I'd like the back stories from other postcrossers about how they connect to postcards. Or a story about a particular postcard that was meaningful.
I'd like contests in which I would win postcards from all over. :) I had a patient who was a band teacher and had received 300 birthday cards on his last birthday.
Not really a blog post, but an enhancement: If there was a way to register our birthday and then perhaps when people had landmark birthdays, anyone who wanted to send a birthday card could. Participation would be voluntary.
I have done two Kickstarter campaigns with postcard themes (both are over now). both of them are related to my work in hospice. One was postcard I think other people might have interesting uses for postcards.
other things about it. Retro photos to postcard and so on. So everybody get own research more alive. I have lot of fun to research my grandfather as immigrant in Minnesota, Virginia. I am from Finland.
(by voting similar to Oceans, Sunsets or Cats when Sunsets won, but in our case Statistics or Museums or the Most Favourite Cards - whatever the majority prefers - or a scarf made out of postcards :))))
(I actually predict that Statistics will win)
Topic should be specific enough in order to avoid the challenge of "boiling the ocean" )***
make each next post begin with "yes, and..." (regardless of how stupid, inane, unrealistic the previous idea may sound)
First of all, it's always fun
and what's more important
this always leads to creating something new and unexpected.
And if you want to tell me that my (this idea) is stupid/inane/insane... you can tell me, only start with "yes, and"
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