Briefly, due to having been to town today and feeling wiped out now:

Today in the mail, a SendSomething RAK package from wiebelwuppie in Den Haag. I hope to document it later but will note now that it was a stunning package of hand painted papers. Lovely stamps on the envie, too.

Also a quick note that I am contemplating hosting a nice little swap. Possibly via SwapBot. Possibly independently. I have some nice little boxes that I want to recycle and put to use and they gave me a nice idea for a “green” swap. More of this when I have thought it through and done some photographs.

Mail in:

1. A note and some snowy photos from a friend of this blog – thank you, Louise. I particularly like the trees photograph and I am feeling an urge to do something creative with it.
2. A “Crafty Tale” from a Swap-bot swap. It came from Wisconsin and had a very nice collaged tag contained within. Many thanks to Cre8tive Crys

Mail ready to go:

1. Five postcards for Swap-Bot swap – awaiting release of partner addresses tomorrow
2. Two yarn balls, also for Swap-Bot
3. A side mailing to a swap-bot participant in the Celebrate Thriftiness swap.

Hopefully all my outgoing mail will depart on Wednesday when I go to Spinning Group.

I can’t see my continuing with Swap-bot for long. There is just too much cliquism, too many rules, way too much fascism… I far prefer the Random Acts of Kindness ethos of PX and Send Something. There’s just something that gets my goat about swap organisers, who can barely string two words together in a literate and coherent fashion, laying down the law about who will, and will not, be allowed to play. I see the words “I will ban...” and “No newbies allowed“  far too often.

The focus on high scores appears to lead to a level of coercion in including extras with swaps, at greater cost, greater effort, and greater postage. It’s all a bit tacky and nasty. I also find a considerable lack of creativity in the creation of swaps – there is so much of the bandwagon and not much thought and innovation that I can see.

I am willing to be convinced otherwise. If you are  a Swap-bot-ter and think I need introducing to its better side, please point me in the right direction! Otherwise, I plan to do a big PX mail out next month. I don’t intend at present to sign up for any swaps other than the ones I am currently in at Swap Bot.

Tonight is Craft Group meeting. We are learning beading.

Got my first postcard via sendsomething.net today. A tourist postcard of Washington DC from Laura E. I’ll scan it later and will have to start a new record page here.

PX is still suffering from the deleter. Whether it be a troll, or the overall social experiment, I do not know. I hoped to keep my end up but it’s all getting very tedious. A shame, because PX was a great community.

If there are any lapsed PX-ers out there reading this, please can I plead with you to head on over, add your profile once more time, and then send something out to one of the small band of determined members  remaining?

Sendsomething looks certain to take over, and very quickly, All the same, we can’t let the idiot win, can we? Please help to keep PX alive, if you can.