Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Why I haven't sent another card (362149)

Okay, you all know that one of the cards I sent was received; that would mean that I was eligible to send another cards out, right?

Well, here's the thing (and maybe you can all help me decide what to do):

When I requested another address, the receiver that I got had an...interesting...profile and description.

See, if you don't do postcrossing, let me explain how your profile page works. You fill out your information (name, birth date, websites, gender, pretty much the standard). You also fill out the address label (but this is only visible to the people who had drawn your name). The last thing you fill out is a self written description or request.

This last part is where people write what types of cards they would like to receive (although you are not obligated to send those types of cards and not guaranteed to get those kinds of cards). Some people write the type of information they would like you to write about (again, there is no obligation or expectation).

For the most part, people try to stick with the requests if at all possible; but even if they don't, it's still kind of fun!

Anyway, back to why I haven't sent a card. In this person's profile, she writes that she forwards all her postcards to...(wait for it, drum roll please, this is too much for me to believe)...

PRISONERS IN AMERIKA

Seriously! If I want to send postcards to people incarcerated I would do it myself! I know I don't write anything personal on the postcards, but I do have to write the postcard ID and it wouldn't be difficult to find more information about us just following that lead.

When I told my husband he basically, in no uncertain terms, said that sending a card might not be a good idea.

So, here's my dilemma. By not sending her a card, it is pretty much taking one opportunity for her to receive a card out of the drawing for about 3 months. I don't really like doing this to her because there may be someone willing to give their information to an inmate in prison (I can't think of one, but there may be).

I figure I have one of a few options:

First, just don't send her the card and wait it out for 3 months. It would suck in a way for her, but then again, it may be my only option. It would also suck because that would be one less card that I get to send out for the next 3 months.

Next, I could send a card with explicit instructions to NOT forward the card to a prisoner here in the same country as me. I don't know that I would ever be 100% certain that our wishes were honored and I don't want to take that risk with my family. (And no, not all prisoners are violent, but there is a reason that someone is in prison and it's not because they were law abiding citizens).

Another option (which I already did) was email the masters behind postcrossing, bring it to their attention, ask them for help, and request that they put her back in the mix. Thus allowing both of us the benefit of moving on in this fun game.

Last, and I really just thought of this as I was writing this post, I could send a message to her through the postcrossing website and explain to her that I am not willing to send her a card and just give her the postcard ID and she can just put it in as received. (Boy, remember the girl that didn't want her postcards to be shared with anyone? I bet she would flip out on this user, what do you think?)

So, what do you think? What should we do? I NEED SOME ADVICE!

1 comment:

  1. You said you've already emailed the masters behind the postcrossing, right? Why not wait and see if you get a response from them. Also sending her a message and explain your dilemma to her might be a nice thing to do.

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