Art Inspiration Sites

I decided to start a list of art sites I read through and get inspiration from. (Sites active throughout 2024 will be dropped here. I'll make a new list next year.)

Many people do not know that Pinterest is a search engine of photos, not a 'website.' It's great for making mood boards or saving collections of ideas, but it isn't a 'source' in itself. The source of a photo or craft on Pinterest is not Pinterest, it's another site or artist.

As such, I'd like to post sites and Youtube accounts of artists and crafters who can help inspire us with a variety of type of art! You can work in different styles or add elements of different crafts to your swaps.

Art by Ro - A crafting blog, mostly about drawing, ATCs, and some art history.

Tin Teddy - Actually, this is a diecuts website, but they talk about ATCs, papercrafting, craft sales, journaling, and more. This site also has some free downloads for your crafting!

Art for Charity

Crochet with Tiffany Han - This particular video is a list of 10 crochet/knitting charity organisations

Comments on Swap Posts

This is such a pervasive issue that it needs it's own post. If you've seen this before, that is probably because you have seen it before.

Image: Comment Section on Swap Description Page

lol check that out. that comment on the bottom of the swap, in the Swap Discussion section?

yeah.

NO ONE is ever gonna get an alert for that. Not the winners of this bonus envelope giveaway, not me (the host,) not anyone. 

The framework for Swap-bot was out of date 10 years ago. The coding was already very basic for 20 years ago. I coded pages like this ~2002. There are no longer Admins for the site. It basically runs on ads and untouched servers. The comments and profiles are overrun with spam bots. We will not be getting notifications on comments ANY time soon. Unless you personally plan to buy the website and implement funding and a dev or three to update it all, this is not a thing that will happen.

I post comments on RAKs and Bonus swaps so that people can publicly see them, but I ALSO message individual users.

If you leave a comment on a swap, there's not much chance someone will see it- or see it *in time* before the swap is assigned!

please just directly message the host.

one thing:

If you see spam or bots posting a lot of weird messages, especially with links, or a normal-sounding username but with a comment that has nothing to do with the swap topic, MESSAGE THE HOST. We are the only ones who can delete these comments. And it's very important: the more spam is allowed, the more spam is 'ranked' as important and the more people are exposed to malicious spam and bots.

Help us keep swap-bot safe for everyone!

------------------------------

I apparently have to add this on: y'all. All y'all. Swap-bot is NOT a job. I do not clock in and clock out precisely when their servers say it's time to assign swaps, and I don't spend hours of my week checking for comments that have no notifications on all swaps I run from the past month and onwards. I frequently run 30 swaps a month, putting up new ones when others close out. That is HOURS spent checking and re-checking swaps that have NO notifications. 

lol no. 

A screenshot of (Disney's) Kronk talking to Yzma.
The text explains that chronic illness does not get
better. It is chronic, ongoing. Yes, I am STILL sick.

Again with the chronic illness. The very serious one that typically kills people. The one that I experience chronically, which is why it's called a chronic illness.

NO, I cannot spend literally hours of my week checking on these swaps Just In Case. That is why I say to send me a message. I get e-mails for new messages. People who don't get e-mails do get a bright red notification next to their messages when they log in, which says NEW! 

This is not an issue I am budging on. You cannot guilt me into sacrificing more of my daily abilities to ::checks notes:: read a comment on a swap when you could not be tossed to click THREE buttons (my username -> Message -> Send) to talk to me.

When a host tells you in the swap description to send a message, and you agree to sign up for the swap, it means you agree to adhere to swap rules. That means if the host saying not to comment, you will not expect your comment to be read. No one is forcing you to sign up for anything. I will enforce not reading comments unless I am checking on something else, and by then, it is likely too late to answer your question. 

YOU will also NOT get a notification for the response to a comment you left! So if you are a frequent swapper AND you, say, have a "real life" with responsibilities and stuff, you might not even remember exactly what swap you commented on to begin with- which means you won't read my response anyways! 

That is why you just message us.

I swear, the next person who tries to passive-aggressively tell me that my ratings would be better if I checked comments (because SB *allows* comments) is getting banned from my swaps.

Pointing out that Swap-bot *allows* you to leave comments, therefore it is an expectation that hosts should be checking them all the time, does not actually work out. It just shows me that you haven't paid attention to the listing or what hosts have actively taken time to tell you. It tells me that you fully intend to be disrespectful. If I wanted to deal with that crap, FOR FREE, I'll go visit my family.

Returned Mail

My mail keeps getting returned! It says "Address Not Found" or RTS (Return to Sender.)

 

USPS is strange. I've gotten Xmas cards returned with "address not found" or "address does not exist" labels on them. I still have to re-mail them. I'm... bad at cards and stuff.

When this happens, just message your partner. Tell them what, specifically, the envelope says and type in the address written on the envelope. Take a photo of the envelope, which is time-stamped. If you're feeling unsure, e-mail that photo to yourself with what it is in the subject line (SB: Returned Mail from UserName.) That e-mail can always be forwarded to your partner later.

 

Check the address on the envelope against the address the user listed.

Sometimes people move, especially with apartments, and forget to update the SB address. Sending a message promptly confirms the correct address and shows a time stamp on contact.

 

Sometimes, the machines that read handwriting will read your writing the wrong way. Red or pink ink or any ink that too closely matches the envelope colour is a bigger risk of misreading. Sometimes, it's a handwriting issue. I like using an address label maker (the kind that prints one at a time) because my joints suck but it took me time to afford one. Otherwise, I would write the address in all caps and put a piece of clear packing tape over it, so if there was water damage, the label would survive at least.

 

Sometimes, mail IS at the correct address! And... why it doesn't arrive... is a mystery. Who knows. If you or someone you know works for USPS, clue me in.

The cure seems to be the ZIP+4. Writing to the address with the ZIP code alone will get it sent back. Writing with ZIP+4 will arrive. Why? I don't know. Seriously no idea. It just works. 

If your partner puts their address at 90210+1234, it is a good idea to write exactly that. Do not write 90210 and leave off the last 4 digits. It may not arrive. That +4 is there for a reason.

Stamp Price Increase, Counterfeit Stamps, + Spotting Scams

US Stamp prices increase ~Jan. 21st. Save money by buying your commonly-used postage before then!

Second part, also very important: 

Anatomy of one well-made counterfeit stamps site and how to discover if YOUR retailer is counterfeit:

Counterfeit stamps are becoming more and more prevalent. This method really works for ANY online purchase, but in this case, it's about stamps.

Because USPS is a federal agency, it is a federal crime *per stamp* to use counterfeits, fake stamps that look like the real thing. There's lot of charges that could be used like interstate fraud, if your fraudulent stamp goes from your state to another, etc. It is a serious charge and right now is an *especially* bad time to try it because the USPS is desperate for income... because Postmaster General DeJoy expects the post office to run like a business, unlike literally every other federal service. You will be made into an example and likely crushed by fines and jail time, which will put more money into the prison system than you can imagine. 

 

OBVIOUS signs of your stamps being counterfeit:
- Do they come from a retailer like AliBaba, Ebay, Wish, or Amazon? Those are automatically fake.

- Compare them to the genuine thing: are they poor print quality, not the same paper, image is off from the real thing, or anything at all? By this time, you've already been scammed, but at least stop yourself from committing a felony. Report it to the USPS Help section directly. If you paid with credit card, contact them as well.

A well-made counterfeit stand-alone website:

A stand-alone website is a site that is like yoursite.com (example.) Amazon is not necessarily a 'stand-alone' because it's one hub where thousands of retailers all use the same site. Ebay and Etsy are the same. If you buy from fedex.com, you buy from ONLY Fed Ex. Anyone can sell through Wish, Temu, or Shein.

I almost fell to a very decent scam last week, advertised through Facebook. 

The scam was a retailer who had bought out of date or old stamps and then sold them in bulk (must buy 5 or more packages or rolls) for a small discount. 

 

Note that Stamps.com also legitimately sells stamps at a discount for a monthly subscription fee, and other sites do discount postage for using their services (like Etsy or Ebay.) Is it unusual for a retailer to have some kind of mass-buying bargain with USPS? Well... actually, it's plausible. When I ran a shop online for a decade, only stopping because of Etsy allowing factories- and then COVID hit, the death blow- I got discounted shipping all the time.

This site was advertised through Facebook (ANYONE can advertise there, by the way. Lots of scam sites do because they don't care who or where it is, they just want your money.) 

 

There were no odd misspellings or grammar, but even if there were, it's a yield sign and not a red flag. Lots of people speak more than one language outside the US, and lots of people IN the US speak 2-3 languages. I met a 6 year old who was fluent in English and Portuguese yesterday. Many of my friends from the UK fluently speak 3-4 languages, and they're from *England,* the only place in the world I'd expect *English* to be the only language. People in Germany easily speak and write 4-5 out of high school. America seems to be the only country pushing a "one language" narrative. Someone got a word wrong? They're *dyslexic* or English is their 2nd, 3rd, 4th language! We park in driveways and drive in parkways. Yes, it is that hard.

 

The sites photographs were professionally done and had multiple sizes, so whoever downloaded the original photos did a good job of having clear, large photo options of the actual stamps released. Few to no current designs, only past years' back to ~2011. That was the reason for the discount; these are unsold, back-issue stamps, sold by USPS to discount retailers for bulk prices. 

 

There were other things like good organisation, clear sans-serif text in a font size that was more easily able to be read, none of this grey-on-grey "aesthetic" BS that makes it difficult for people to use the website, etc.

 

And it was completely counterfeit.

Use Paypal or 3rd Party to Pay- Do NOT Use Credit Cards!

When buying from an 'unknown' site, anyone who is not *extremely* popular (and even then!) I use Paypal. That is because I can put my card on file with Paypal, but the transaction goes through Paypal as a middleman. I have buyer protections with Paypal and can quickly file a dispute. If I find it difficult to file a dispute electronically, I'll call them.

 

If I use my credit card directly through the site and they are illegitimate, that site is likely looking to trap credit card info to resell it. 

 

Security measures ask for your ZIP code when using a credit card number, right? What a better way to get it than to set up a PRODUCT SELLING website! They ask for your address, confirm that it's your billing address (just like genuine retail sites) and then they have your credit info.

Even though you can get your money back by calling the credit card company, your credit card info is compromised now. It WILL be resold and anyone will use it. 

Most fake charges are less than $5. That's because if they capture 1000 credit cards and bill for a negligible $5, most people never notice it. $5 x 1000 = $5000 on a scam, *easily.* 

 

These scams sometimes set up real names of common uses; one credit card, compromised through Ebay, had a $10 charge for GoodRx. GoodRx at the time did have a genuine $10 gold member program! And millions of Americans use GoodRx because it's cheaper than our insurance, IF we have insurance. The problem was... I do not use GoodRx. I also check every line of my credit charges weekly. Check the charges on your credit cards to make sure they are real, even if they look like something you use.

So what ended up happening?

I have fibro + a bunch of chronic health issues that I talk about. And post-COVID... I have to tell you, 1 in 5 COVID survivors have some degree of long COVID, with dysautonomia as a prevalent set of symptoms. Normally I think to investigate a new site before buying anything, but that day I didn't. I looked into it after I got the confirmation email.

And that's exactly what these sites are looking for. 

They are TARGETING people who have some kind of brain fog, ADHD (more common than you think,) autism (likelihood of believing reasonable-sounding lies: high. Also, this is 1 in 65 people.) Do you have chronic fatigue, long COVID, or just plain have WAY too many responsibilities? The brain get fatigued, just like any other part of the body when overloaded. Maybe you're having cognitive issues related to aging or a TBI from football or the military.

When you put all that together, we're looking at a potential pool of most people.

 

Anyone can be targeted. Yes, even you, reading this right now. 

Likely, you don't fall for 500 scams attempted on you in a year. Or a month, in my case. But occasionally, every now and then, like every 5-6 years... you *will* inevitably have that one that worked on you. Even if it was just $10. $10 from 1000 people is $10,000 for the scammer, yeah?

The confirmation e-mail

There are ways to see original sender vs. supposed sender of an email. Every email system has a different button or set of buttons to show this information. If they are different, that's a good sign the sender is not legitimate.

 

When I got the confirmation email, the email sender name was not the name of the site, or "Name from Company." The subject line was a shipping confirmation, but the email read like a weird cross between a typical shipping confirmation and a scam email. 

 

The email site origin was not the site purchased from. So website purchased from was different than confirmation@secondwebsite . That's odd. Websites usually come with 1-5 email addresses these days. It's a standard part of a website package, when you buy site building and hosting services.

Gmail makes it easier to check than others I've used. 

 

When making most purchases, Gmail will figure out that it's a purchase confirmation and put your items and total. It will show the sender's e-mail address BUT that can be spoofed (faked.) They used to just target businesses, and I think mostly they still do, but individuals can get spoofed e-mails FROM "businesses," too. IF the sender didn't mess up and send the confirmation email from a totally different site than the one you purchased from (like this scammer did,) you can check to see that the email "sent from" matches the sender. 

In Gmail, use "Show original" to see more information about the email sender. It will show the message ID, date, from/to, subject line, and then some data they use to authenticate email origin.

Papa Johns fails the DMARC test, so it often goes to Spam automatically- even if it's a legit e-mail. You have to mark it as "Not Spam." 

Most fake email is auto-detected though. If you make a purchase and don't get a confirmation email, check your Spam filters. If the purchase was not made on a major site that everyone's heard of, like Amazon or Ebay, and your confirmation went to spam... that site is probably run by a scammer.

If you really want, you can google WhoIs on an IP
address and match up domain origins. Put an IP address into Whois.com , a free IP lookup service. 

Does the data in the Original Message match the data on the WhoIs lookup?

This is where the scammer failed. You can't hide your true origins.

The site name for the confirmation was different, which is an immediate red flag, but also the IP lookup for that address was registered to AliBaba. AliBaba does not sell any kind of legitimate US federal items. Therefore, these are counterfeit.

Do NOT wait! File the fraud charges ASAP!

even if you still expect to receive something. It does not matter. So what if someone sends you a t-shirt? They probably won't, but even if they do, that is a scam website that exists to harvest data from you and people like you. REPORT THEM to people who might be able to do something about it, like Paypal and your credit card company, so they can watch for charges from yourself and others. 

The resolution

Easy and painless. Paypal was able to get the money back within 24 hours of filing, even though nothing had been "shipped." You don't have to wait on counterfeit or fraudulent charges. If you can't find the option easily, call them.

Because I did not put my credit card info directly into the website, they don't have it. Otherwise, I would have to call the credit card company and shut down the card. 

Even so, if you don't already have a credit monitoring service, you may wish to look into options. 

 

Experian has one for free, and I use CreditKarma, which checks my credit often- for new accounts, rotating balances, shared accounts, debts in collection, etc. CreditKarma is free and gives me the ability to dispute charges on debt collections. They also have lots of tutorials and articles on better managing your credit score. Even if you don't have a credit card right now, and really don't see the point (I mean. same.) credit score is important to your every day life. I don't care WHO or HOW you check your credit score, tbh. A better score means better rental rates on housing, lower or no security deposits, better auto loans, etc. If you never had credit before, you can't even get established in many places because you are a total unknown. And a scammer can PLUMMET your credit, fast.

 

 

I don't get paid to say any of that, sadly. I'd like to cover stuff like medical bills... but nope. just tellin' y'all so you don't pay ridiculous interest rates on stuff if you don't need to. 

Stay safe out there!

November + December Hosting, 2024 Plans

Hi!

I'll be hosting very few swaps in November or December 2023. Too many "end of the year" commitments, including November's scouting for Xmas cards + postcards. I mail out cards as Mrs. Claus every year. Thanks to joint problems, I start writing around mid-November and mail out by mid-December. 

You might see me in a few, and in ones I already said I'd host a few weeks ago. I have some ideas for art-based swaps coming for next year. I may come back and compile those ideas here; if anyone sees one they like, message me! 

Proposed Swaps + Changes in 2024 

Changes

I don't think I can mail out international mail in 2024. It's just out of my budget. Please be aware that all of my swaps EXCEPT electronic swaps will be USA only. Also, this year, all 1oz swaps should be weighed. I let swaps for nearly 1oz slide on half what was agreed to this year but in 2024, I will specify requirements more closely and leave it up to swappers to make the call on ratings.

In 2024, all 1oz swaps will need to be WEIGHED close to 1oz. 1oz is the cutoff for 1 stamp, which includes the envelope and a note inside saying what swap this is and who it comes from. As such, the minimum weight of the envelope (and all things inside) must be ~.85oz. 

If you sign up for a swap that specifies an envelope must be close to 1oz, and the envelopes people receive are half an ounce including the envelope, that does not meet swap ratings. And... I get a lot of those. I know other people do, too. So this year I am telling people up-front to weigh them.

I have an electronic scale for this. It came from wal-mart, I think. Takes a couple of batteries that were included. It was maybe $20 and it's lasted about a year. You won't need to go to the post office to weigh anything. I used to use a regular, non-digital scale, but even after adjusting it, it was often off by a bit. I suggest getting a digital scale.

Swaps

What Are You Making in 2024? 6oz supply swap

Postage is ~$7-8 (or for ~$11, use Priority Mail with insurance.) Mail 6oz of craft supplies (inc envelope, weighed) that you aren't using. Nothing broken, dirty, damaged, or smelling of perfume or smoke. Profile-based but ultimately sender's choice, since a person might not have items to fit your profile. 

USA Rainbow Swap #3

Postage is 1 stamp. There will be a group one with LSRUS planned and an "open" one. Send any flat mail within the colour scheme. Items can be glitter, confetti, vellum, papers, die-cuts, stickers, etc. Colours: pink / red / orange / yellow / green / pale or bright blue / royal or dark blue / purple / black + grey / white + cream / browns, tans, etc. / rainbow + metallics.

Ephemera, Photos, + Book Pages

Postage is 1 stamp. There will be a group one with LSRUS planned and an "open" one.

Now here's the part to read carefully:

This includes real ephemera, not printouts. Ephemera are things that are typically transient, like old movie stubs (back when theatres used those,) receipts printed with ink instead of carbon (carbon is the kind that disappears with heat,) tea wrappers, facings of greeting cards, etc. You can send photographs. These must be 4x6" or smaller, and must be on actual photo paper, not printed out. Also included are book pages. This is a specific swap for specific items that may be more difficult to get in an era where we print out everything, and everything is a reproduction of everything else. Book pages are included to give some options specifically because those items can be difficult to come by in quantity. 

Autumn in May

Postage is 1 stamp. There will be a group one with LSRUS planned and an "open" one. In the Southern Hemisphere, Autumn is March-June to begin with. In the US, "Halloween-season" is October. I'd love to do Halloween in May the way we do Xmas in July. Why not just go for Autumn? Not everyone celebrates Halloween, and I'd love a more inclusive swap!

Send 2 Items / 6x Washi Samples / Paper swap

These are repeating Newbie-friendly rates booster swaps that count towards tangible mail ratings. These are useful for ratings + stars, and also for swaps that require a physical Type swap.

Playlist / Fave ______ / Accountability or Goals Checkup E-mail swaps

These are repeating Newbie-friendly rates booster swaps that do NOT count towards tangible items ratings. These are great for increasing ratings and stars, but are not useful for swaps that require a Type minimum. 

Make + Mail (Cards or PCs, 1-5 items)

Make + mail a specified number of cards or postcards. Can follow some prompt ideas or just say hello.

Themed Journal Page swaps

An artistic journal page made to fit in a 5x7" agenda. You can take an 8.5x11" piece of paper and cut it so it's 6.5x10" Fold the 10" side in half, so the paper is 5" wide and 6.5" high. 5x6.5" will fit a 5x7" agenda, like a card. Write whatever, decorate however. At least 3 sections of the item must be covered (no sticker-slapping) leaving a blank side for gluing in, if you like. Optionally, you can decorate all 4 sections and the person could tape an edge in with washi or something.

Make Good Art! Practice a Craft challenges

Make an art thing. The whole point is that none of us are pros. Mistakes are normal and are a part of learning and appreciating accomplishment! Make a Thing and include the title of the tutorial to make the thing, too. This swap encourages us to practice a small craft. Postage is often ~$3-4.

Assorted postcards + flat item in a notecard swaps

These are newbie-friendly ratings boosters and are easy to join. Postcards often have a theme like Top 10 or something, and notecards are introductions or jokes with a profile-based surprise in them. 

"Holiday" + penpal letter swaps

These typically require previous Type 2 or 3 swaps because they require a letter or something more involved or themed. National Cat Day, Intl LGBTQ-related days, and other "holidays" are typical themes. Penpal letters usually have a prompt and can be a page or so. These are usually limited to 1 stamp.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Letter Tracking

UPDATE: Letter tracking

I previously posted receipts showing that I've mailed letter-class envelopes to various zip codes.

Since mailing the STMB: Halloween swap (hosted by LadyAduial) envelopes, I was informed that I cannot get a receipt to show that I mailed them. That means no receipts to prove items were mailed.

It appears that when I have "mixed mail" like packages or somesuch, I can get a receipt BUT letter-class isn't supposed to be scanned in. That's a service. I'm assuming that half a foot of paper for a handful of letters shipped out is costly when it's .5-1' for thousands of people a month, all over the country, and USPS is looking to cut more costs.

I was told that if I want letter-sized items to be tracked, I need to pay for something like signature delivery or some other service attached, a couple dollars per letter. The $0.64 is affordable for most of us. $3.50 each is NOT. 

Sooooo... it is what it is, I guess.

Flakers + Ratings

"Flakers" are people who sign up for a swap and don't send their end of the bargain. 

Often, these people don't reply to messages. IF you leave a poor rating, they MIGHT respond to it- but only because of public image. They rely on others agreeing that it was Just a Mistake!1! and to feel bad for the flaker when the Mean, Bad Swapper left a Negative Rating for them. ... oy. 

Have you ever seen that tactic? It has a name.

Image: DARVO statement examples
from Ray Family Therapy

That example is a form of DARVO, and it's super-common.

“DARVO is an acronym that stands for Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim Offender. It describes a manipulative tactic often used by abusers to avoid taking responsibility for their actions and shift the blame onto their victims.” - Avigail Lev, PsyD, founder of Bay Area CBT Center and CBTonline.

Most people think of DARVO in context of abusive domestic relationships. Thing is, this social tactic is only practiced IN those relationships because the perpetrator has gotten comfortable using it with everything else. Often, the perpetrator isn't even aware that this is a form of abuse... It's probably even normal for them to experience from someone else! But 'normal' is not the same as 'healthy.' DARVO is normal, and normalized. And when it's small, like a stupid envelope of paper, it doesn't really matter right?

But it does. It does when you are the one leaving the honest negative rating for a swap that factually never arrived, on a swapper that you factually DID message, and factually never got back a response. It does when you're essentially getting bullied or silenced because you don't want to look like the Bad Guy when in actuality, they're the Bad Guy. Backing down lets bad people escape consequences.

Most people do the things they do, both positive and negative, because it has worked in their favour before. Whatever their personal values equate as "favourable" to themselves, a thing that works should keep working. Behaviour isn't random, even if it LOOKS like it on the outside. Learning this will help you with every single person you ever meet- it isn't just for a stupid mail site!

DARVO tactics are a demonstrable public ability to twist things around on strangers, to the approval of other strangers. And if those strangers "approve," it's not REALLY a Bad Thing, is it? And if the victim (the bad rater) breaks down and feels bad and changes the rating, that's further reinforcement that THEY didn't do anything wrong- the bad rater was a mean person for rating bad. Factually, the bad rating was a FAIR rating because the swap never arrived and the person never responded to messages, but public opinion is what dictates right/wrong. The wrongness isn't in the flaking, it's in whether they get punished for it. And the flaker feels like they do NOT deserve punishment. They have "Reasons!" (All of which are important and valid to them, with a lack of regard towards others.)

Being raised by a clinical narcissist (not the buzzword kind all over TikTok, the DSM kind) I've learned to make things as transparent as possible while attempting to protect certain information. It's a weird balance that's taken 20 years to kind-of figure out. The internet wasn't that big when I was a teen so there weren't hundreds of people better educated and more experienced than me to exchange tactics and psychology. Most of you, hopefully, will never ever need to be this level of on-guard! But I do have to say that it's taught me a LOT about "CYA policies," how law works, and how people generally behave (both positive and negative.) Most people are actually quite good, or they're trying to be much better people. Even people who have really bad habits (often) don't want to be harmful. Here's the problem: my name is not followed by PhD, LMHC, or MD. Chances are, yours isn't either. If it is, you probably are not some random person's therapist. 

On Swap-bot, we are here to trade letters and craft supplies. No one is here to be your doctor or mine. You cannot fix someone who twists stuff all around on you.

This is a guide to asking yourself how to handle a problem user: What to do if someone is rude to me on Swap-bot?

This is why I say to leave comments publicly on a profile. The catch is that the user can delete your comment on their profile. 

It's also why I save all messages until they are no longer relevant and keep open communication with Group Admins. Keep your messages and if problems arise, like someone demanding you change ratings or berating you in messages or forums, screencap it and e-mail it to yourself to keep the timestamps. 

If you are being harassed or threatened via Snail Mail, that is a federal crime. Even if you don't think that person is "actually serious" or capable of carrying out the threat, the reason that person feels so comfortable SENDING threats is because no one has sufficiently held them accountable.

"Keep any letter that attempts to scare, threaten or extort you in any way, and report it to the Postal Inspection Service by calling 1-877-876-2455. If you or anyone you know is being bullied, online or in person, tell a trusted friend or a loved one."

Public ratings are extremely important to keep everyone appraised of great swappers AND flakers/double profilers/unreliable swappers.

Sometimes, a late swap or a swap not showing is just a thing that happens with USPS. None of us control that. It sucks. But that's why it's so important to do some due diligence before assuming someone has flaked on you. Not everyone is signed up to get an e-mail if you send a message. 

But if you HAVE taken these steps and someone is MOST LIKELY a flaker, giving them a low rating is appropriate and important to protect the SB community. 

Don't worry about any backlash for doing what is correct and fair. Most users stick up for each other. We don't want to be the next person to fall for it.

You can also list that flaker here, and if you like, leave a short note about any retaliation you received.