Holiday Card Exchange?

Anyone up for an LT-sponsored holiday card-exchange program? A Google Group I belong to, is doing one. Basically, you're asked:

* How many cards do you want to send?
* Are you willing to send cards overseas?
* What's your address?

Then you get cards from random people. Only the random senders get your address. You can give a pseudonym as your name, or your address at work, but the sending is not intermediated, like SantaThing is. Members send each other cards.

We're excited by the idea, and will make a way to do it. So:

* Should we match members by similar libraries?
* Should we ask anything else?
* Any other ideas on how it should work?

We'll throw in X cards from the LibraryThing office—a cool design we have.

It's a really cool idea, and I hope you can make it work. (I wouldn't be participating. Not comfortable with giving out my address, or with connecting my real name to my pseudonym.)

I would be interested!

Actually, does this necessarily need to be an exchange? There are probably people who would like to get cards, but don't have the time or finances to send them, and others like myself who would like to send them, but don't want to make the privacy sacrifice necessary to receive them.

>2 lorax:

Send it to the local coffee house? Would you go for a transshipment via LT office?

>4 lorax:

Yes, good point. Although anyone who gets your card knows your zip code, or do you plan to drive 12 hours straight across country like that NASA murderer?

>5 timspalding:

In many metro areas outgoing mail is centrally processed, so the zip code doesn't mean much.

I'm interested.

I don't know what goes on in that there big city.

I would be interested. I used to do a similar project for BookMooch, before I got out of that particular website habit.

It sounds fun, but what's the point, really? ...

Unless something book-related is included in the card, perhaps a note from the sender: "Happy holidays! My favorite read this year is x" or "Merry merry! My favorite book of all time is y." If that's the case, then I think it would be fun to match people with dissimilar libraries, and I certainly would be willing to send out a couple of boxes of cards to other LTers.

Or you could just run a random match with 12-24 other members, so that each person who participates is sending and receiving one to two dozen cards.

Privacy's a concern though.

>10 LibraryPerilous:

I'm not sure I see the benefit of matching my library, with science and LGBT and atheist books, with that of an evangelical conservative who would send at best a religiously-themed card and at worst one about how people like me are destroying the meaning of the holidays, which is what a "dissimilar" match would get.

>11 lorax: I'm not sure one could filter out religious cards regardless of with whom they are matched. Nor would I expect participants to use the occasion to proselytize. Or even to look through the other members' libraries.

Personally, I think it would be fun to get cards from people who like to read gritty mysteries, European history, or other genres about which I don't know anything.

ETA: You are defining dissimilar more closely than I am. You also program for a living, so you know more about how an algorithm would work.

ETA2: Tim, maybe subject similarity but genre dissimilarity?

I'll volunteer to send lorax a card.

>5 timspalding: or do you plan to drive 12 hours straight across country like that NASA murderer?

This is why I love LT! Hilarious.

I'd be interested in this, especially if everyone included a bookish note in their cards. I don't usually send holiday cards and I don't receive them because none of my friends are big on them either, so this could be fun.

who would send at best a religiously-themed card and at worst one about how people like me are destroying the meaning of the holidays, which is what a "dissimilar" match would get

You might get a religiously themed card either way.

We get into contentious waters quickly on such things. FWIW, however, if an atheist send me an atheist card, or a Muslim sent me an Eid card*, I'd accept it for what it was to them. Obviously, I'd feel differently about an aggressive one—"Merry Christmas to People of Good Will, which Doesn't Include YOU!" I hope we don't have to tell people not to send a card that alludes to whatever holiday is important to them.

I can do broad similarity, not a tight one.

I'll volunteer to send lorax a card.

I can send Liam's drawing of a crucified Easter Bunny, which he meant well but which is quite possibly the most blasphemous image ever drawn by a seven year-old.

I don't usually send holiday cards and I don't receive them because none of my friends are big on them either, so this could be fun.

We usually go in for it very big. My wife does marvelous hand-made—but produced by the dozens—cards with various matted papers, glitter that rises with heat, photos, etc. This year we're sending the most basic photo card, since she's at a writing colony up until almost Christmas.

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*Alas, it's lunar-month drifted into the summer. I notice, however, that it's still offered by the USPS together with Christmas and Hanukah. As I recall the first Ramadan stamp came out in 2001—Wikipedia tells me August 2001, when they coincided, and when celebrating Muslim holidays carried little controversy. Since then, apparently there's been all sorts of rumors about Obama the "secret muslim" creating it.

>15 timspalding: Pic or it didn't happen.

It's bad.

Yay! Postcards!

I would like to send a few and I would LOVE to receive a LibraryThing postcard!

I'm on the other side of the ocean, though. Is that too far away?

In English 'card' usually means a folded one in an envelope - in this case probably a Christmas card or a Winter Solstice card or Diwali card ... It took me the longest time when I moved to Vienna to figure out that if I wanted a card here I had to ask for a 'Billet' or I would be offered postcards, which was not what I wanted.

>20 MarthaJeanne: Thanks, never too old to learn.

This idea delights me. It does not need to be complicated. Anybody uncomfortable with the potential outcomes of a simple mechanism need not participate. Frankly, I can imagine few things less discretionary than a randomised Christmas card sharing. We (as in 'you', Tim) need to get a move on, though; the last posting date from the UK to the US is Friday 12 December.

Maybe next year with more notice? It does sound fun. In the Green Dragon pub we had a pen pal thing going for a bit, but I think inertia took over for the most part. Or is it entropy? Anyway, I am a bad pen pal, but I might be able to handle once a year!

I don't send out personal Christmas cards every year though. Sending one with just my name signed has never appealed, and time and money combine to discourage me. Also, I have to send out a ton for work.

I think it's entropy. Inertia would have kept it going.

Apathy.

What about PaperlessPost.com? They have beautiful cards, some free to send, and all you need is an email address. I've used them for the few holidays cards I do send out to friends in far flung places.

Sounds like fun. Count me in!

Though sending e-cards is probably much easier, it's less fun, too, IMO. :-(

>17 timspalding: You're such a card :-)

Speaking of religious cards, can we send this?

http://corporate.hallmark.com/Multimedia/Item/Shoebox-Christmas-Card-Deer

>30 timspalding: LOL
I'm not sure, but...LOL

>30 timspalding: I'd love that card!

Okay, I've made a page for it.

https://www.librarything.com/cardexchange.php

It's late here, so I'm not going to "promote" it on the site beyond this link tonight. Tomorrow I'll give it the full-court press.

Here's the topic: https://www.librarything.com/topic/184143