I agree I am in the UK and would do more swapping if I could search for UK only or europe only swap. I've just joined this group no more us only

Japonicapopjoy2... Can you explain the no more us only group to me? Is it for those who don't like people in the US? Do the members understand what it costs us to mail packages Internationally? An envie with 3 notecards enclosed costs me $2.00 to send to Australia. That's more than I paid for the notecards inside the envie. If the swap weighs over 13 ounces it's automatically at the VERY LEAST $20 US JUST for shipping to ANY other country. Since Swap-bot does not allow the coordinator to match up people based on location, US only swaps are very important for us and NOBODY would EVER deny anyone's right to set the same exact swap up as an international swap. And just a side note, I'm not asking because I myself host US only swaps, my swaps are all International, but I think the name of that group alone denotes an intolerance issue and that to me is really sad.

@CherylLaVon I'm a member of that group too and to my understanding the group is created to create swaps that are not just US only. And if I see a great swap which is US only, I can ask the moderator to make an International swap. Not to exclude any US member! :-)

I see. I just got excluded from an International swap for a breast cancer awareness dotee because I'm in the US. I thought it was pretty shitty since it was an obvious anti-US thing. You'd think a cancer awareness swap would know no boundaries being what it is. It was like a slap in the face to me because I do have terminal cancer. It felt like I was being told I'm not important and don't count because I live in the US. So, I guess I just have a really bad taste in my mouth that anyone would exclude me from a swap not because of a postage cost issue, (because that swap was open to anyone else NOT in the US or Canada) but because of a nastiness issue they have with people who make swaps US only, something that I personally do not do.

That is weird: International ,but not US and Canada! how is that International???

Sorry you were banned CherylLaVon :-(

That would leave a bad taste in my mouth too. Sorry you had this experience Cheryl. ((hugs))

For me as a newbee local swaps mean quicker ratings and the ability to test the water without much of an outlay for postage. It would never occur to me to ban people from a particular country.

As a US citizen living in the UK I also have trouble with groups banning a particular country. I love it that you never know what kind of person you will get to swap with. Some I feel I connect with and others I will gain a different perspective from.

Isn't that the whole point?

We have US swappers in the No More USA Only group - I'm sending to one. :-)

As for the Breast Cancer swap - I don't know anything about that particular swap, but usually when an international swap excludes some countries, it is because there is already a version for that country, and someone has asked permission to organise an international version. The original host may say "OK, but please don't 'poach' people who can join my swap", so the new version excludes them.

Why would a US swapper join a No More USA Only group? They'd never get to join a swap? I'm SO confused!

That sounds so ignorant for someone to worry about there being another swap like theirs. To me it's just one more chance to join a swap for something that I like doing. Am I weird? It's like I saw someone throwing a giant tizzy because they had a Sanrio swap for a certain dollar amount and someone else did one for a different dollar amount. Even if they'd done the same exact dollar amount I'd want to join both probably just because it's something that interested me enough to make the swap? It would be like getting to have two entries in a swap to get twice the goodies.

@cherylLaVon this is posted on the group homepage:

No More US Only: Swaps For Everyone! Theme: Swaps that include everyone! Type: Common Interest Number of members: 63 Founded on: Aug 24, 2008

Are you tired of seeing a swap you love but find out it's USA only? Then this is the group for you. Here in this group, we will hold international versions of all those US only swaps. It's that simple! Simply post the swap that you have seen and then we can make it a group swap.

Rules to join:

please have a minimum rating of 4.9 with at least 5 rated mail swaps.

If you have recent 1's or 3's please email me first.

You must be prepared to swap worldwide.

So it's not that US swappers can't join, it's just to include everybody :-)

Ohhhh

CherylLaVon, it is "not (USA only)", not "(not USA) only". The order of whatever.

What pahasiga just said. :-)

There are two separate issues ...

The group came out of frustration among non-US swappers about how many swaps are now USA- or USA/Canada-only (even though we do understand the cost issues - after all, we almost always have to send internationally ourselves). I'm sure US-only swaps are more common now than a year ago. Anyway, it's very frustrating to us to see so many great swaps we cannot join, so the group is a place for us to have versions we can join without stepping on anyone's toes as they are just group swaps. US people are VERY welcome to join the group as long as they don't mind having to send internationally, and as long as they don't try to set up US-only swaps within the group.

Outside of the group, people set up US-only swaps and non-US people want to set up public international versions and the fact is that some hosts do mind, so the hosts of the copycat versions do sometimes have to exclude US swappers. Perhaps some non-US swap hosts do just do it that way because they feel hurt at being excluded so often and want to say "if you won't let me play in your game, you can't play in mine" but I think that is rare. I don't think anyone does it because they dislike US swappers.

I agree totally spinjenny.

@CherylLaVon I'm in the UK, every swap I wanted to join recently was "US only" and it's so frustrating, especially when it's only an ATC swap and postage isn't that high. That's why the group was set up, so we could join in those swaps if someone made an international version. I'm sure it's nothing personal about anyone in the US or the USA. I love the US, in fact I'm going on holiday there on the 22nd...

I see. That makes a lot of sense. I know the one that I wanted to join for the breast cancer awareness dotee that said I couldn't because I was US really bummed me out bad so I can see where US only ones for such lightweight things as dotees and ATCs Those are just crazy to exclude Internationally.

I've seen plenty of "UK only" swaps and they don't bother me a bit. I figure if I really love a swap idea, I can always start my own! :)