FAQ #1: How can you find different things to say?
Greetings from poor (according to our Chief Executive), disheveled Hong Kong. As the demonstrations and protests go on and on and ON, almost below our window, we have opened a new category for frequently asked questions, and here’s the first entry. By “frequently” of course we mean “at least once,” but we guarantee we won’t make up any of these questions.
But before we start, and to head off one more question, no: we have no idea whatsoever what the card in this scan represents. It’s full of strips of other shredded cards. Put “Ollie” in the search bar and see the description.
OK then, here’s the answer to FAQ #1: it takes work, and we hope this is what makes the site distinctive. It would annoy someone if we insulted a beautiful mountain just because all postcards of that mountain look alike. Definitely if the card has a story–whether the location, the photo, the message, the age, or even the way the card is printed or how it was mailed–we will try to tell it. If it’s an old hotel or restaurant, we usually do a quick search to see if it’s still open, or what happened. If it’s an airplane with a visible tail number, we can find out what happened to that aircraft. (If you have never browsed the “Aviation” category, you might try. There are some great and occasionally grim accounts.)
Sometimes a postcard is just complicated and we let it speak for itself. Often a series of scenes are almost the same, and we can get away with “Unused card. Grade: 1” With postmarks, if there is one, we say so. If it is especially clear or nice, we say so. If it is faint-to-invisible, or partial, we usually say so.
And so, with almost 30,000 entries online, we still find something to say. If you take exception to an entry, let us know why and we’ll see what we can do.
Until #2 …
Surely the worst task has to be those postcards that just say, for example, a city, but have no other information. And the problem is the buildings look like they have long gone and the streets unidentifiable, even worse when you have some knowledge of that city. Surely a challenge!!
~Goloh answers: You’re right, it’s always nice when there is some identifier somewhere. Date of mailing is a clue, of course. But having the buildings disappear and the streets totally changed (Hong Kong is a great example of this) makes it more fun for the many people who focus on some very specific topic, such as “Aerial views of Salt Lake City”. Yes, there are such people. Remember that postcard and stamp collecting are similar in one key way: there’s no hope of getting them all, so the more specific the focus, the more the thrill of the chase.