Sharing rare stamp, not getting overwhelmed
How could we do this ?
A bit earlier today I received a Chat message here on Reddit from a user who owns a very rare stamp, asking me for some suggestions on how we could set some boundaries for sharing these.
I responded and will post the text here for discussion, as well as an anonymized version of their message to me.
And I would love comments and suggestions from the members here – this could be a way we could work out some strategy to deal with these situations.
The incoming Chat :
Hey Yann, I'm that one person that has the [ rare stamp name ] stamp. I don't mind giving it out, but due to my inbox getting swamped with collectors, it's impossible to get back to everyone and therefore it seems like I don't want to give it out.
I wondered if you had any idea how I could manage this, since I feel like sharing is caring and I really don't mind sending it out. Would it be an idea if I set some kind of bar? Like a little challenge people need to do before I'll send them the stamp?
(Like writing something related to their own country or something, I don't know yet)
Do you think that would be a good idea? Or do you think I should just keep it for myself and just send it out when I truly connect with people? You seemed like the perfect person to brainstorm about this.
And my reply followed :
Hello and thank you for the message. I am glad you sent it, and that you are willing to share that rare stamp. It can be a problem when something becomes scarce, as you will get bombarded with connection requests — in most cases simply so people can get that which you have and they covet.
I can relate as I have something which was discontinued – and I do not mention this in public, but still get random requests from people who heard about it from others I have shared it with.
Setting some kind of bar makes sense, I have told people that I could do it if :
- I see them being active on the subreddit, or otherwise contributing to the pen pal universe. That could be a blog, or participation in some project like the Translation teams (which is ideal, as we recognize their involvement, I am also on it)
- On a recent request case, the person told me they are not much into public posting, so I suggested some other project, like the Slowly WIKI , for example.
Stamps in trade or a Gift ?
- A stamp trade, if they have something you need is also a good way. But we tend to have more complete collections, having been in the app for longer time; so it's rare that someone could offer something we missed. (Hello Kitty stamp sets are one possible source only, and they have been bombarded and abused in the past for these)
- You could also request that someone offers you a gift of a Premium Single Stamp, for example – one you don't have yet. At 50 Coins, about one dollar CAD, a single is not that expensive if someone really wants a very rare item.
Os some special piece of Writing ?
- It could also be a significant post they submitted and got accepted to Slowly Stories, subject to us visiting and evaluating it. Some of the accepted posts are short and I don't see much value, others are quite nice and could be the solution was ask for.
- We could request that they wrote a nice long letter from some theme we requested. It could be something we are curious about, their country and its culture, or local customs, or maybe a really nice letter they wrote and are proud of. They could remove any personal details from it, and share with us.
The best way ?
- The best of all would be if we could transfer the rare item to a secondary account. One we don't use for regular penpals, but solely for testing, collecting coins, etc. If this could be requested from Team Slowly and they agreed, it would make it easier to share the rare item without stuffing our main inbox, which likely already has higher numbers of active users. (Mine is in that situation)
Rationale for avoiding swamping a main account
I know a person who has most of the Hello Kitty stamps, and they have been overwhelmed with requests, and even being ghosted after sending people what they wanted, which is really annoying.
I refrained from trying to contact them, knowing that this was the case, and instead asked a couple of pen pal friends (who also were connected to this person) to introduce me, which they did.
Since I am an active supporter of the app, and they follows my posts on Reddit and my Blog, they accepted the request and we connected.
I received some of the sets they have, and some others will be sent over with future letters, something I had proposed upfront when requesting an introduction. The HK sets are so exceedingly rare that I don't talk much about it, and never mention the identity of any possible source – to spare them the requests and hassles.
Holding any RARE stamp items in a secondary account would free our main one from all the connections needed to simply share that stamp with requesters.
A good topic for discussion and thoughts
This is an interesting topic, thanks for raising it — a good discussion theme. I am thinking of posting this comment as a new Topic, anonymizing your part as just a rare stamp of some kind.
I did set a challenge to a user who wanted one of those rare ones I own, and he did have a fairly rare one, the Golden Pencil, to offer in trade. I received that in a letter from a friend, so it was not something I could trade for, but I asked for a special written piece (would have to check what it was, memory fails on this), and he came thru.
Have a good evening and weekend!
Yann.
And this is where we are.
Any comments or suggestions from the readers? You could come visit on our sub-Reddit, and see the Topic for this discussion.
Or also contact me via Direct Message on Twitter account, or the Reddit one.
Thank you! 🙂👍😉
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