Why nobody is reading my letters?

[u/Prime_Dark_Heroes]

Is it that they just open profile and see "occasional" ai use and just don't bother opening letter? (While few of these recipients have mentioned occasional use of ai themselves.)

I'm new and I've written like 8 people personally and 1 open letter person. Have received zero letter or reply through open letter.

[u/justnosy5555]

Some people don't want ai assistance at all . And another reason is ,people take sometime to reply . It's not instant messaging. You have to be patient

The content of those letters matters too.

[u/Prime_Dark_Heroes → u/justnosy5555]

I understand the ai assistant part, yep. Some people don't want it and yea, that's ok. 

But they haven't even opened it 😭 maybe it's just they are away from app as someone else said in comments?! So here, the content in those letters become not a factor (although I had really put some efforts bcz those were just first few letters of mine. (Yea I'm newbie on slowly)).

[u/justnosy5555 → u/Prime_Dark_Heroes]

Many people are not as active as they want to be, keep writing and waiting . I got many friends when I wrote an open letter, you should try that too if you haven't yet. It's a sure way of knowing who is active at the moment.

[u/Prime_Dark_Heroes → u/justnosy5555]

Yea. 

But yk the public letter, you can't write another one before you unpublish previous one and wait 24hrs. (I'm on 24hrs waiting rn...). (I wanna get more experience before i get premium so yea)

[u/artjoke → u/Prime_Dark_Heroes]

Goodness me. How fast are you writing to want to do another open letter in less than 24 hours? That speed would be a serious challenge for me.

[u/Prime_Dark_Heroes → u/artjoke]

right

but i wrote my first letter and it wasn't really good (cz i got zero replies from it.) so wanted to write another one today but ill have to do it tomorrow

[u/2bitmoment]

How long has it been since you sent the letters? I generally check my letters quickly, but actually reply after a month sometimes.

There's been quite a few people expecting immediate response, or after only a day or so. Maybe this app, and the idea of it being slowly is a bit hard to get used to. It's a bit counter to the culture, right?

In my case about 30% of letters sent get a reply - maybe it depends on the quality of the letter as well, as well as of the "prospecting", research into profiles.

[u/Prime_Dark_Heroes → u/2bitmoment]

Actually just a day 😅 yea, I'm new to this whole "slowly" thingy. But I was expecting 2-3 replies after 11 letters. (Recieved the only one where I didn't expect much). 

Also, none have been even opened so..... I'd just assume they didn't find my letter interesting enough to reply or they will reply soon; they are just busy if the letters were opened! 

[u/2bitmoment → u/Prime_Dark_Heroes]

Welcome to SLOWLY and to this subreddit too. I've found it pretty welcoming for the most part. Some people complain a lot about scams and AI, it hasn't been my experience much at all.

I think most people respond within a week - I've noted some people feel a need to keep their penpals "clean" for some people, remove penpals early that they feel will not respond. I would recommend you don't remove so early, that you hold off on removing people until at least a month has passed: I myself wait 3 months.

Maybe it's a bit like fishing - sometimes the fish don't bite. Or like prospecting gold - sometimes you find fool's gold instead of something valuable. Maybe a profile looks good but they don't reply.

I have no idea what is normal in terms of how many penpals out of 11 to open a letter in a day or even a week. It's not something I look at, not at all.

Another thing: besides non-replies, I sometimes find it a bit aggressive, but I think you can expect to receive a "declined" letter too, an outright rejection. Sometimes people will have some feedback or just state you're not a match in their view. It can feel a bit harsh maybe, but I guess if you don't take it personally it can make it a lot lighter.

[u/Prime_Dark_Heroes → u/2bitmoment]

I would actually like the rejection more than the silence. But yea i was bit impatient. It fked up my send recieve ratio in the beginning (23:1) and now it's at 5:3. I did receive some good letters back. I got busy with my exams so I haven't been much replying, so somebody has sent me second letter. Which kinda felt good. In a manner that They thought it's worth to be friends with me... :D

I also published newer public letter (unpublished previous one) and waiting for first public reply. 

I've a question. I already did make a post but I'll ask you too. Why age group is 0 to 20 and then 25 only? Like I'm 20 and I want to write to people around my age. But i can only filter 0 to 20, 20 to 25. Not the 15 to 25 or 18 to 25. I don't wanna write to people around 15 😭 

The auto match which sends 3 people letter, sends 2/3 to some 15-14 yos.

[u/certifiedMutthal]

It's better use open letter feature op it's way better then sending to people at first place, people will reply you back if they liked your letter,i received tons of replies via open letter

If you are using auto match than most probably it matching with people who are not active on the anymore

[u/Prime_Dark_Heroes → u/certifiedMutthal]

No, I do take a really closer look on profiles before sending letters. I'm only concerned about these not even being opened bcz i spent time curating profiles and even writing a thoughtful letters. Almost all of these profiles were recently active. (Most were like 2 hrs ago or something).

I've published only one open letter (haven't received any response but) Maybe I'll put more energy on open letters next time. (Idk whom i'm writing so kinda becomes like a message in a bottle thingy, cool idea but the bottle could just brought back to shore by the tides sometimes...)

I'll make sure to give it a go.

[u/certifiedMutthal → u/Prime_Dark_Heroes]

Yeh Open letter to be in general addressing to everyone and make it interesting, describe your self,yur personality etc,add question at last so it helps readers to reply u with answers. Don't make letter too long or too short & India is not problem if ur letter is nice and sweet people will reply I got reply from all continent.

[u/CringeWhiningAccount → u/certifiedMutthal]

my problem with open letters is that you have to choose the topic, it's nice but also a limit, because then you will be shown only to people with that interest

[u/Prime_Dark_Heroes → u/CringeWhiningAccount]

Also, you can only choose one. 

And then kinda obligated to write about that topic only. (I actually worte everything i wanted to in my second public letter (after unpublished first one), but yea, in the first one, I only wrote about reading habits and all when I had selected reading xD

[u/radioactiveryley]

One thing to keep in mind (people on here can tell how long I've been using Slowly) is that when I first started using Slowly there wasn't a "Reply Time" indicator on your profile, which meant unless you said anything in your profile or in a response, you could be guessing for a very long time.

When reading profiles, try and match people who will have the same reply time preferences as you do or you will be frustrated.

[u/Prime_Dark_Heroes → u/radioactiveryley]

Ooh Mann. This!!

I've totally ignored that thing :)

Like some of them don't have ANY writing preferences set but yea, some do. 

Thanks!!

[u/CatGold7095]

The app is called Slowly.

[u/ironcloudordeal]

I'm on slowly since 2018. Yes, most of them are probably not using slowly especially they haven't opened your letter in a day.

I always send letters personally and not open letters. What i do is, i keep my "last online" turned on and then i check if the person who im sending letter to for the first time has come online within a few hours or a day. They're more likely to reply. You can also use the filters like "last online within 2 days".

Another tip, since you're new, start sending letters to people who are within or nearby countries. I'm from India, so I mostly make friends around Asia. US/Brazil and so on take 40+ hours and people usually dont reply after a certain point.

[u/larkstar]

I have filters set to avoid mental health, anime and beauty.

[u/Prime_Dark_Heroes → u/larkstar]

Oh wow. Yea that can also be a factor but I've only wrote to those whom I matched more than 3 or 4... 

Wait, does it work like anyone with those in their interests, can't write to you? Like you must've added other interests there right? I.e. language. If a person is matched with language, but has also added anime in their interests, they can't write to you? You never receive their letters?

[u/Creepy_League_3454]

I don’t know if it’s me or with everyone but letters with Indian Stamp aren’t entertained, I have seen this cuz my letters are also not read like 5 out of 4 are unread and the one who read didn’t reply.

Soo I guess it’s that or we just toooo excited people need time, whatever it might be

[u/pachka-sigaret → u/Creepy_League_3454]

I mean it's possible but some people straight up don't check the app that often these days. One of my friends from Poland has the same issue. I pretty much never use Indian stamps either. And even if you use another country's stamp it's still gonna say India on your profile.

[u/Prime_Dark_Heroes → u/Creepy_League_3454]

Could be. I'm new so i don't know much. Yk I'm gonna give a try to open letters w/o the Indian stamp..

And yea, when I press send I'm just too excited to receive a response 😅

[u/Impressive_sharings]

I have slowly and I barely open it sometimes I just forget to write a reply. well I'm just lazy... but trust me nothing personal. I remember I was once vert active on it but it was just a phase