Postcard Exchange: Round 9 - Comments and Results

[BWKate]

Can't wait to see it Mark! Sounds intriguing.

Received my first postcard from TimVermont (Tim Trapp). Like the close cropping of the headlight. I was there when my mail person arrived and I explained about the postcard exchange. He thought it was a great idea so he'll get to enjoy all the postcards he'll be delivering with a little bit of background information.

Mine are all printed and stamps bought. Now comes the fun part, writing on all of them. Give me a couple days.

PepMiro:

Where is Andorra? I think it's between Spain and France close to the Pyrennees? Is it a country? Forgive my ignorance but I can't wait to send you a postcard and I wonder how long it will take.

 

[Mick Fagan]

Kate, Andorra is a principality situated between Spain and France.

Basically it is like Monaco, sort of.

I remember going there the first time and found that they used two currencies, the French franc and the Spanish peseta. These days I would assume they use the Euro, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Andorra is/was, home to many shops selling tax free goods to Europeans.

I know it's high up because the pass through Andorra, is higher than the highest mountain on mainland Australia.

Mick.

 

[ingobohn]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andorra
...and yes, it's the Euro.

 

[Mick Fagan]

Thanks for that Ingo.

By the way, I'll be heading to Stuttgart via Mannheim in July, I'll wave as I pass through!

Mick.

 

[kraker]

Thanks for that Ingo.

I took me a while to realise, but I do apologise for misreading the name as "Jugo", Ingo.

Anyway, I will post my 10 cards after work. So, Birger, Henning, Brian, Mark, Greg, James, another Mark, Mick, Randall and Bastiaan can expect a postcard from me soon (or depending on the distance and the postal services: not so soon).

 

[rst]

... Anyway, I will post my 10 cards after work. So, Birger, Henning, Brian, Mark, Greg, James, another Mark, Mick, Randall and Bastiaan can expect a postcard from me soon (or depending on the distance and the postal services: not so soon).

Hey, you are on my list, why am I not on your list? :confused:

ciao
-- Ruediger

 

[gr82bart]

Hey Randy,

Those of us that are making 30 postcards, am I to assume that we will not get 30 postcards in return? For instance Kraker is on my list, but I am not on his. Reudiger appears to be in the same situation.

If this is the case, next time, I think the expectations would have to be clearly spelled out. As this is certainly not what I signed up for. I expect to get as many postcards as I send out.

Any idea that I (and others) can know how many postcards to expect? It would appear that folks who opted for a smaller number to send out, will hit the bonanza, as they will get more cards than they send out.

Regards, Art.

 

[reellis67]

Because not everyone printed the full number of cards, I had to pick people to recieve cards from the people that printed less than the full amount. I made up a list and tried to make sure that if you were on the list of one of the people that printed, say 10 cards, you weren't on the list of the other person that printed 10. The people that chose to print a card for everyone were the people that got the most cards in return. If you chose to print fewer than the full number, you will get cards primarily from those that chose to print for everyone, but not many, if any at all, from those that chose to print less. I did this so that the people who printed for everyone got as many cards in return as possible, and those that chose to print fewer cards got at least as many as they sent out.

I didn't get anything from Nige on how he originaly setup the option to print less that the full number of cards so I had to try to cobble something together based on the last exchange that he ran. I printed the full amount on that exchange but only got cards from some people I tried to work with the list of people that I sent cards to and that I got cards from to work out this system. Based on the list I was given, and the number of cards I got, it appeared to me that Nige was doing something like what I did this time - either that or there were a good number of people that didn't send cards in that round.

I'm not sure how I feel about the way this round was set up since those that send cards to all will get a few less that what they sent, while those that sent fewer will generaly get a few more cards than they sent. The other option, which I will likely make a poll for the next round, is to work out something like this. Each participant would be grouped with as many people as they could be so that they print and recieve the same number of cards that they asked for, and the people that said they would print as many as were needed would get as many as I can match up based on everyone's maximum number of cards. This would make a system where everyone has the potential to get exactly as many as they sent, but not everyone that chose to print the maximum would print the same number of cards because of the variety of maximums that people submit.

I think that this should be a decision of the people who will be putting their time (and money!) into the exchange, meaning the participants, rather than me though, so as I stated above, I will likely make a poll for the next round to see what those who want to participate think. On one hand I think that getting a few more cards than you send can be an incentive to print a few more, and on the other hand I know that time and money are a factor and that getting more than you recieve may either make people feel like they were put in a position that they didn't choose to be in, or to feel pressured to do something that they are not comfortable with. Either way, I don't want anyone to feel that way. For this round I did what I could on short notice, but for the next round I would like to be more organized and use the experience I gained this round to make the exchange better for everyone.

As always, everyones thoughts on any aspect of the exchange are VERY welcome. Feel free to email, PM, or post here anything that you think and I will take every comment to heart. I appologize in advance for those that feel that this round was not fair to those that printed the full amount. For everyone that chose to print less, their list is comprised only of those that chose to print the full amount so that there should not be too many fewer cards for most of us than we sent out. I am far less concerned with the time it takes to organize this than I am with the feelings of the participants, so please be frank with your opinions.

Thanks again to everyone who participated, and again, I appologize for anyone who feels that the organization of this round was less than it could have been. You have my promise that things will become better organized in the future.

- Randy

 

[rst]

Randy,

would you have asked. I have a little program which does the distribution into groups so that anyone gets as many cards as one sends out. I will polish this program a bit and give it to you for the next round. Alternatively we can work together to organize the next round, e.g. I do the grouping, you send around . Would this be an option?

Regards
-- Ruediger

 

[Pete H]

Randy,

I had assumed that each person would get as many cards as they sent. Ruediger's program seems like a good plan for the next round.

Thanks for doing all the work!
Regards

Pete

 

[gr82bart]

Randy,

First I have to clarify my original post. (I shouldn't write these posts between meetings and calls! LOL) Anyway, I am OK with this round, and to be honest I would be OK sending more cards than I would recieve, as long as my expectations were set at the beginning next time.

No worries, you're doing an awesome job and believe me, I know what a pain it can be organizing these things sometimes. In the end, it's all worth it. Thanks for clarifying and organizing.

Regards, Art.

 

[Tom Kershaw]

My cards (31) sent out this afternoon. From my POV it seems reasonable to expect 31 cards in return, otherwise others are benefiting (i.e. receiving cards) when they haven't put the effort into sending the full set.

 

[rst]

My cards are now labeled addressed and written and will go to the mail tomorrow. This is the second time I participate into the postcard exchange and so it is the first time I experience the following, when I put the address on a card from s.o. who sent a card in the last round, I start bringing together names and images and then I check if it is the right card I remembered and so I go through the stack of last rounds cards again, and think about how will the next card of this person look like - that's nice. I think this round will be even more exciting.

Regards
-- Ruediger

 

[Pete H]

I've received my first card today. Thanks Ingo! I like the contrasting textures of the pillar and the stone steps.

 

[ingobohn]

Wow - my cards hit the recipients very fast. Nevertheless, I am still waiting for my first card I will get from the others. Although "rst" got a card yesterday, I didn't get any till now. (Maybe he got one from the only-10-printers.)

 

[Buster6X6]

Ingo
You are on my list so in 7-10 days you should be getting my card.

Herzliche Grusse von Canada - Greg

 

[reellis67]

Art, there is no need to apologize for stating your feelings. I made an assumption that turned out to based on less than all the facts and there is no reason to feel that you shouldn't say how you feel about it.

The same goes for anyone else who feels that this didn't work out the way it should have - if you are upset about this, I want to hear about it. Send me a PM, or an email, or something, and I will do whatever I can rectify the situation. The last thing I want is for people to become disenfranchised with the Exchange because of my blunder and drop out.

The main thing that I would like to establish is that everyone feels that they can speak their mind about both problems and suggestions, and that everyone understands that I will do what ever I can to make sure the Postcard Exchange remains something that people enjoy and feel good about participating in.

Ruediger (rst) has generously offered a program that will match up names and ensure that everyone who chooses to participate will be treated equitably in the next round, so this problem, and a few other things that were pointed out to me off-list, will not occur in future exchanges.

Lastly, my own cards are printed and will be hitting the mail over the next few days, so depending on where you live, you should start seeing them arrive soon...

- Randy

 

[Buster6X6]

One more card came in today. Very nice diagonal composition.Thank you very much Ingo. Keep them coming.

Cheers Greg

 

[kraker]

Whoa, just offline for a few hours, and now I see I have caused quite a discussion...

Hey, you are on my list, why am I not on your list? :confused:

I share your confusion, and I didn't expect to receive cards from anybody but the people to whom I sent one... I don't (well... didn't) expect to get more than 10 cards in return for the 10 I sent, and I certainly didn't decide on the 10 with "hitting the bonanza" in mind (as gr82bart calls it), I want to be clear on that.

That being said... I *do* have a few spare prints, so if the 10 from my list all receive their print, I can send a *few* more...

 

[kraker]

My cards (31) sent out this afternoon. From my POV it seems reasonable to expect 31 cards in return, otherwise others are benefiting (i.e. receiving cards) when they haven't put the effort into sending the full set.

With all respect, that last remark seems like an unfortunate choice of words. Speaking for myself, I chose to print only 10, this being my first participation in the postcard exchange. It's not a matter of "not putting the effort into sending the full set". Printing and sending 10 cards is *my* effort *this time*, just to try things out and see if I like this exchange, see how much time it costs, just get that feeling. Other will have their own perfectly valid reasons for printing less than the 31 prints. Money could be an issue, or whatever. That doesn't mean these people don't "put an effort" into this exchange.

Then again, to be clear: I share your point of view. Send 31, receive 31; send 10, receive 10.

 

[PepMiro]

PepMiro:

Where is Andorra? I think it's between Spain and France close to the Pyrennees? Is it a country? Forgive my ignorance but I can't wait to send you a postcard and I wonder how long it will take.

Andorra is a little country (about 65.000 unhabitants) placed in the middle of the Pyrenees range, between Spain and France.

It has less than 500 km2 of extension, the official language is Catalan and currency is Euro.

It's one of the oldest independent states and democracies of the world: 13th century.

The economy of Andorra is based mainly on the tourism. About 10 milion tourists visit the country every year.

This is my first postcard exchange and I'm also intrigued about how much time will my postcards need to arrive all over the world.

Best,
Josep

 

[simulatordan]

Hello All,

It is a pity when what is intended to be an exchange of postcards becomes a discussion about why he has more than me. I take part because I would like others to see images which are of value to me. Comments and encouragement/advice is welcomed.

I chose to print 31 cards, If I only get 20 back then that is 20 more than if I had not taken part.

The contact with you lot, where ever you come from, is important to me in a society which is becoming increasingly egocentric.

Let's have fun and enjoy the game.

By the way mine are all printed, I'm hand writing the details and expect to have them in the post by Saturday.

Regards Daniel

 

[Tom Kershaw]

Kraker,

Perhaps my statement was a bit strong. Mostly, I think it's important for people to know roughly what to expect from participating.

Hope you enjoy my card,

Tom.

 

[TimVermont]

Time constraints allow me to do this once a year or so, and the poverty of my handwriting forces me to use labels.

I’m grateful to Randy for organizing this. I’m happy to read that my cards are arriving and being enjoyed. Ruediger’s matching program sounds like the solution for future rounds.

I look forward to something besides bills in my mail box for the next several weeks.

For those who can't print for the full round, may I suggest putting a scan of your card into the gallery so that even those who don't get one can enjoy it?

Tim

 

[kraker]

Kraker,

Perhaps my statement was a bit strong. Mostly, I think it's important for people to know roughly what to expect from participating.

Hope you enjoy my card,

Tom.

Not to worry, Tom, I guess that goes for my reaction too (it being a bit strong, that is). Should have slept on it first. Anyway, I think the bottom line is that we all(?) agree here: no harm done for this round, but next rounds, clarify beforehand what people can expect. The general preference being: send "n" cards, expect to receive "n" cards.

I'm still enjoying this very much, I hope you all are.