Any one write letters anymore?

[rabidbadger]

You know, the kind on paper with ink, where you have to think about what you say before you write it...? Where you wonder how they wil respond to every sentence and question?... where you might doodle cute but meaningful (to the two of you) doodles in the margins?


Put it in an envelope, slap a stamp on it, and make a special trip to the post office?

Any one do that intimate form of social intercourse any more?

Or does electronic/web stuff cover that now? Quantity over quality, maybe?

Love to know what the youngsters (under thirty) think of this quaint idea...

edit: and prefabricated over-expensive holiday card don't count...

[tokenuser]

put it in an envelope, slap a stamp on it, and take it to the post office?THe only people that receive something addressed from me with a stamp attached are "quaint" organisations that insist that bills must be paid by check.

WTF?? I used as many cheque books in my first year in the US, as what I had done in the previous 10 years in Australia, where you could pay everything by debit/credit card over the phone (this was mainstream pre-internet).

My mother is funny though - she will print things out she finds online, and post them to me.

MUM - YOU FOUND IT ONLINE. OPEN YOUR EMAIL AND JUST SEND ME THE DAMN URL. She has gotten better though.

So ... no. Unless it is business correspondance that must be in a letter, its email or nothing from me. Heck, I barely pick up a pen unless I am designing a system (before I touch a keyboard, I have my code mapped out - its old school, but it results in far fewer bugs than hacking ... I guess thats the difference between a programmer and a software engineer/architect - the engineer/architect plans the system out first).

[rabidbadger]

Interesting, and familiar...

but we are old school.

I guess the reason I asked to begin with was because I remember, (being an artist, and all, since the age of three) that I used to send huge elaborate oversized letters to my cousins (who were surrogate siblings before I moved away) with multi colored, multi text-sized, images for words, elaborate home made cards and letters with long hand-written python quotes, etc... (what's the point of going abroad....etc) sort of stuff that I knew would please them as much as the monthly Mad magazine.

Think about the letters the founding fathers sent to their compatriots and lovers, wives. would we know as much about them if all we had was gmail transcripts that said "meet you at the airport at ten, talk about it then?"

Just wondering what we lost...

And if the kids know they are losing it worse than we did...

[phatlip12]

No way, thats way too time consuming. That and I can't stand the postal service.

EDIT

WOOT! I made the 1,000 post mark on my birthday!

[tokenuser]

One of the greatest historical resources available to us is a diary. In many ways this was more important than letters as it journaled a personal account of events of the time.

Blogs aren't the same - as they are public already, and not a private account of someones life.

All the same, there is a huge push to archive blogs for historical reference. I shudder thinking about what people will think of the opening years of the 21st century when they read "OMG!!!!! PARIS IS RUINED!!!!!!!!!" or "I H4X0R3D MY APPLE TV. IM 1337."

[comhcinc]

i've wrote about 2000 letters in the last couple of years.

[ariastar]

Happy birthday, Phatty!

I still write letters. They're so uncommon to receive these days that they stand out rather than being lost in a cluttered inbox. With the whole HD-DVD thing I sent them an paper letter. When I want to make a friend smile, I'll write out a letter and stick it in a card and mail it so that my friend gets a nice surprise (this requires having the address). I also write letters and send with small, unexpected gifts.

It's nice.

[scoobydiesel]

happy birthday phat.
I mail letters to a few friends but it is only a few times a year not monthly even. but i dp send bills in the mail...lame...i want my money back

[ariastar]

happy birthday phat.
I mail letters to a few friends but it is only a few times a year not monthly even. but i dp send bills in the mail...lame...i want my money back

What sucks are companies who charge you $15 to make a payment electronically rather than through the mail.

[scoobydiesel]

i pay my credit card that has my TV on it online...i pay like 100 on it monthly not sure like what they change for me doing it but meh have to since its the fastest way and such.

[acidburn]

Maybe a few times a year I will write a letter, but not a lengthy ones. Just enough to fill a blank note card. I'll write these to older relatives.

I mostly use email and phone calls.

[rabidbadger]

WOOT! I made the 1,000 post mark on my birthday!
yay, happiness to you, and all. and: All of a sudden you look stunningly handsome, and sexy as you are funny and wise...

/flirt

:D

[ariastar]

Does anyone want to send me a letter? :(

[rabidbadger]

Sure, pm or chat me your addy...

[ariastar]

Sure, pm or chat me your addy...

Right-o.

10

[ariastar]

Well, you gotta reply when I message!

[rabidbadger]

jiminy? give me a minute, yowza!

[sugarsickness]

No one really writes me letters, but I do it a lot. Most of my friends are in college out of state and I send birthday cards and presents to them. It makes me feel less sad that they are so far away for most of the year, so I do it.

[cheesecakeo-]

If i'm writing to an old friend or someone I haven't seen in a long time, I'll write them a letter and put a coffee mug ring on the page so it looks like the paper's been though hell.

There's a lot of fun in actually writing letters. I feel that it's a bit more personal than just typing up something. Unfortunately forums wouldn't work in the paper format. I can see it now, it'd be a huge cork board and all of the threads would start off as just a slip of paper with the first post. Then others would go to the board and pin their response under the thread. Several fun things would come out of it if it did work like that.

For example; You can knock out that annoying troll/spammer as long as you catch him in the act. Maybe a few missing teeth will set 'em straight.

You could also re-arrange everything on the board so that no topic is actually what it once was. Or get even more creative and take on the 'Infinite Monkey' theorem and try to make Shakespearian passages out of the words posted on the board.

Oh what fun that would be!

[rabidbadger]

No one really writes me letters, but I do it a lot. Most of my friends are in college out of state and I send birthday cards and presents to them. It makes me feel less sad that they are so far away for most of the year, so I do it.

that is totally fuggin sweet, im gonna cry.

[scoobydiesel]

No one really writes me letters, but I do it a lot. Most of my friends are in college out of state and I send birthday cards and presents to them. It makes me feel less sad that they are so far away for most of the year, so I do it.

Dude thats friggin awesome that you still do that and such. Your a good friend thats for sure :)

[phatlip12]

yay, happiness to you, and all. and: All of a sudden you look stunningly handsome, and sexy as you are funny and wise...

/flirt

:D

It's amazing what the 1,000 post mark does to a man. ;)


lol

[rabidbadger]

Yeah, that's it, studpuppy, 1000 posts. yep, does it for me. beats this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vTzPbn6Hdk

[ariastar]

Several fun things would come out of it if it did work like that.

For example; You can knock out that annoying troll/spammer as long as you catch him in the act. Maybe a few missing teeth will set 'em straight.

...

Oh what fun that would be!

Aw, we could only hit the spammers? I thought slicing them up then frying then up would be tasty.

[ariastar]

It's amazing what the 1,000 post mark does to a man. ;)


lol

Did you finally sprout a pube? :D

[banal]

I write a lot of letters that end up being versions of stories. But I love them. There's just nothing like coming home to the obvious effort, and care, that a written letter affords.

[cheesecakeo-]

Aw, we could only hit the spammers? I thought slicing them up then frying then up would be tasty.

Oh you could do that too. And the whole board could have themselves a taste.

[rabidbadger]

I write a lot of letters that end up being versions of stories. But I love them. There's just nothing like coming home to the obvious effort, and care, that a written letter affords.

absolutely, exactly what I was thinking when starting this thread. most intimate present you can give, other than, well, other intimate presents...;)

Might be someone you live with, might be someone in town you see every few days, Or might be a long lost cousin. but what a pleasant surprise for anyone...

Mine were combos: letters, collages, art, kinda like a very flat version of that diarybook fad, whatever it's called, cept made for others. Not me....

(scrapbooking? is that it?)

[rabidbadger]

Well, you gotta reply when I message!


Chatted for hours and you never gave me you mailing address.

[masherscf]

Chatted for hours and you never gave me you mailing address.

Dear 'Badger,

The weather is great. We wish you were here.

Love, Masher