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Pen Pals

Do you have a penpal & what is your opinion on penpals?

  • I have a penpal and I dislike it.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I have a penpal and I don't mind it.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I have had a penpal in the past and I did not enjoy it.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    48

forestyne

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I've been thinking about getting a penpal or something for some time now, but I have no idea what to do. I'm extremely paranoid, so I barely even talk to people in real life, let alone on the internet. But aNYWAY What do you guys think about penpals?

If you do have a penpal, has it made a change in your life? Do you feel like you can benefit from it? Do you enjoy having a penpal? What has your experience been like?

If you don't have a penpal, have you ever thought of getting one? What is your opinion on penpals?

If you have had a penpal in the past, what was your experience like? Did you stop talking to them or vice versa? Did that at all change your opinion or view on penpals altogether?



If the poll doesn't show up right away, it's because I am probably still writing it. Gimme some time lol.
 
I don't have one and I don't mind the idea. I use forums because it's kinda like being a penpal with people without anyone knowing your address (I think of penpals in the traditional sense of sending physical letters)

My cousin had a penpal in another country and I always thought that was kinda cool. But I find it hard to trust people enough to give out my address.

I guess I could have a penpal via email but I'm not really interested in that either. Giving out your physical address is a very intimate thing to do in my mind - much more intimate than giving out an email that you could just change on a whim. And I'm more interested in the intimacy (if I can bring myself to trust people) than just the conversation.

I hope that makes sense.
 
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I don't have one and I don't mind the idea. I use forums because it's kinda like being a penpal with people without anyone knowing your address (I think of penpals in the traditional sense of sending physical letters)

My cousin had a penpal in another country and I always thought that was kinda cool. But I find it hard to trust people enough to give out my address.

I guess I could have a penpal via email but I'm not really interested in that either. Giving out your physical address is a very intimate thing to do in my mind - much more intimate than giving out an email that you could just change on a whim. And I'm more interested in the intimacy (if I can bring myself to trust people) than just the conversation.

I hope that makes sense.

Yeah, I get that. I find it very very hard to trust people and I would have to have tremendous trust in someone to give them my address. My old best friend, someone who I came out to as bi, someone who I told and trusted my secrets with (initially, before I was betrayed by someone else but that's a minor detail, didn't even know my address. Your home adress is a very private thing that you don't just give out to anybody.
 
If I had a pen pal I would probably do it over email. I wouldn't want to give my address to a stranger and my handwriting is terrible.

I think it's a good idea though, I would totally be up for sending emails and getting to know someone that way.
 
I was "required" to have a pen-pal (via e-mail) when I was in junior high. It was like a homework assignment and we only had to communicate with them once. It was only okay because the pen-pal I was assignment clearly didn't care about the whole thing.

I wish I had a pen pal for real (though I prefer e-mail over handwriting since I don't want to give out my home address). I need friends IRL.
 
I had a pen pal when I was in 4th grade (it was part of a class activity), and I liked it. It was 4th grade, though, so we didn't have anything interesting to talk about lol
 
I had one in the past, we would send stuff (stickers, charms, note paper etc) back and forth. I loved having her as a pen pal and looked forward to getting her letters, but found we lacked finding things to write about, or even finding time to write back. I became busy with school and stopped writing, would've been more fun if i had time to write back.
 
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All the penpals I had were people I already knew - one was a childhood friend who moved faaaar away and a few online friends. Currently one of my good online friend and I write to each other even though we talk to each other online.. so it's hard to find stuff to write about lol. But we send each other random stationery/gifts from time to time.

But if it's with strangers, I probably wouldn't want to give my address to them.
 
I love pen-paling. I have several pen-pals, and I still write consistently to about four of them. I have had many and I don't know if letters get lost or if they just stop writing after some time. I know two of my ex pen-pals moved and I never heard back from them so I don't know.

I started off on penpalsnow.com you just put your e-mail and write what you want(age, gender preferences, a small about me), I get e-mails from sketchy people (Nigerian Princes, people in jail, pervy guys that want pics) but there are a lot of really cool people I've met on there with similar interests. Basically you can e-mail back and fourth and see if it's a good fit and once you're comfortable you can exchange addresses.(I suggest making a new e-mail for it because there are creeps that will flood you.)

There's something about hand writing a letter and waiting for a response that I love, I think partially because I love decorating my envelopes and sending small things to my pen-pals and also because unlike instant messaging or e-mailing there's a delay, so there's always something new in your life to talk about that's happened in the time you're waiting for the response.

If you're weirded out about giving out your home address you can always get a PO box, that's what my sister did for a while, but you also got to think, is this person that lives X distance from me really going to go through all the trouble to stalk me? I was sent a cookie by a male pen-pal and my mom wanted me to throw it away because "He could have drugged it!" like, logically, would someone that lives on the other side of the states really send date rape drugs in a cookie along with a hand painted stained glass stegosaurus?
 
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we had to have penpals in elementary school. in 5th grade i was a penpal to a girl named lakshmi, and we wrote to eachother once a month for the entire school year. we finally met in person (at their schools playground) and our class met theirs, and we all had fun. it was really nice, but i dont remember anything about it except for what lakshmi looked like. also, she always wrote in a pink glittery pen.
i'd like to get another one sometime, but i feel my parents would be too nervous over that kind of thing :(
 
I had a penpal for YEARS, until she turned into a jerk and said she didnt want to talk to me anymore, so I don't know what to say.
 
I've never had a penpal in my life but I love the thought of sending letters to someone!
 
really send date rape drugs in a cookie along with a hand painted stained glass stegosaurus?

This alone made your 100% awesome post 200% more awesome to read.

I've had a pen pal, but I was like 9-10 so I don't really remember. I've had a pipe pal before!
 
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I have a few pen pals, and I really enjoy it, the delay makes it so much more personal and enjoyable imo. I found mine through instagram, there are some really good accounts that can help :).
 
Well, I've always liked the idea of having a pen pal, but I never had one. Probably because my mom didn't want me giving my address to strangers.

But I do have a couple of people I chat online with, most of them are from the states, some are really far away, and some are actually really nearby. We talk about general stuff, but it does give me a chance to learn about how where they live is different from where I live: right in the middle of a giant cornfield in Ohio. I probably get more culture from my online friends than I get anywhere else lol :lemon:

It would be cool to send a letter though, I like getting little hand-written notes and gifts and things in the mail. I also love getting letters in general, but haha, who does that anymore?
 
This alone made your 100% awesome post 200% more awesome to read.

I've had a pen pal, but I was like 9-10 so I don't really remember. I've had a pipe pal before!
It was really great, sadly we don't write anymore but that guy was so cool. Stegos are my fave dinosaurs. But yeah just wanted to add that I am an adult too, so that's another reason I'm ok giving out my address. If you're under 18 make sure your parents are cool with it before hand.
 
I have a penpal in Japan! her name is Marina and I've actually gone to visit her once, and she's come to visit me twice! I love seeing her, and we mail each other small gifts during the holidays.
We rarely ever write each other though, since we have each other's numbers and face books...we just chat on there. Oh well! Our friendship is still strong though. She is still learning english, so sometimes stuff is lost in translation....but it doesn't matter! I respect her for even trying at all-English makes no sense, haha! I wouldn't even know where to begin if I were to take up Japanese, either-I only know common phrases.

I would totally recommend a penpal to other people, especially if they're from another culture! Learning about other people's social norms is such a great practice and reminder that everything you see as "normal" isn't necessarily the same for everyone else. It's such a humbling and educative experience. :D
 
Does having a best friend over the internet qualify as the same as a pen pal? Or do you mean a more formal pen pal that you become part of some pen pal program for? Cuz I have never met my best friend in person and our friendship has been great, but we met through a forum about 7-8 years ago and just became friends naturally, we weren't part of any program.
 
I found my penpal on tumblr. My ex was in the military and I followed a page that if your SO was in the military you could talk and ask questions. They just started talking about getting a penpal page and i really wanted one so I was like the first on their. I remember asked them if they had anyone who wanted a penpal if they could message me. So my penpal ended up messaging me back and we exchanged emails. Later we exchanged social media and then phone numbers. Two years later we are still friends. We do hope to meet but her and her husband are stationed across America right now. :)

It's a lot of fun having one we send each other gifts but we havent in awhile but it was nice to get theme packages and letters in the mail. We would go all out and get so craft. She sent me a summer theme one and a movie theme one. I sent her a theme package of my location and all the main things. I am going to be sending her something soon that i made her for her and her husband for their new home.
 
I like your very inclusive poll options

I think having a penpal would be fun but I'm pretty boring so idk what I would write them about lol
 
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