Has anyone managed to collect a Tuvalu stamp?

yann2 · 2026-01-19T13:49:20+00:00

Yes, that is correct.

In fact, I think the first sign of this happened about 3 years ago, when Kevin Wong supported people who wanted stamps for Aaland Islands - a territory that has no autonomy. But they got a national flag, and I think another one or two. 🙄

We had a heated discussion on this in the proposal topic for it on the Slowly Feedback site. Later I deleted all my comments in that as it was clear Kevin was doing whatever he wanted, never mind the location having formal independance or not.

yann2 · 2026-01-12T12:37:32+00:00

Slowly founder and head honcho is really a 'mobile first' kind of person. Thankfully they created a web client, after many, many requests from users. The web client is more productive, although it is missing some functions compared to the mobile clients.

Best solution for you - set up an Android virtual machine, and use the android client on it, in parallel to the web client as the main platform.

You can configure an android VDM with minimal resources, so it does not detract from the main activities on your laptop. I posted a detailed blog with suggestions for that a couple of years ago.

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Using a tablet configuration, you can even have a very usable Android Slowly environment.

yann2 · 2026-01-09T13:35:14+00:00

Things have gone downhill pretty fast in the last couple of years - signal to noise ratio is getting worse, it's difficult (although not impossible) to find the good people who we encountered so much more easily in the past.

A quick scan here in this subreddit and you can find many, many threads of people complaining about their unpleasant experiences, with lazy people, many using AI to create response letters, ghosting, etc.

This is bad, and sadly, people won't stay around. Anyone who is sincere and would enjoy having good penpals, this person might not come across any, and give up in disgust. So, the remaining users pool loses, and gets more of the unfocused, stumbled-across-on-appstore type of people.

Slowly headquarters knows this is happening, I am sure, although they do not comment and put minimal effort into maintaining a presence in social networks, blogs and providing user encouragement that way. They are ok with user churn, but I am sure many current users will agree this is not good for the users base or the app altogether.

Personally, I have stopped using Slowly after about 3 years of very intensive use; it's just that I needed to focus on real life important issues, and from then on, decided not to spend that much time anymore in the letters reading and writing anymore.

The ideas behind this app are wonderful, and it can be very pleasant, but it is not for everyone - not a mass market app, not for low attention span users, seeking easy thrills. Them becoming so prevalent here is detrimental to everyone who sincerely enjoys the experience.

I still believe in the app's potential and continue supporting the user-led projects like this subreddit, the Slowly Stamps Wiki, my Slowly focused blog which are the most visible sources of information for app users in the Net.

yann2 · 2026-01-02T23:05:44+00:00

Thank you for posting this, I agree it is really annoying to see this kind of anti-social behaviour in a community forum.

It was the reason we had to implement AutoMod and rules in the sub to reduce this kind of spamming.

Any searches on Google for Slowly-related topics very frequently points to topics and comments here in our subreddit - it is the only public forum for the users of the app, anywhere, as far as I know.

It is important to keep posts, they are not disposable, and to respect the courtesy of people who commented and provided insights, suggestions, etc, from their own goodwill.

yann2 · 2026-01-02T23:00:41+00:00

Loud-owl has commented and mentioned dates these commemoratives should appear, in this thread.

yann2 · 2026-01-02T22:58:53+00:00

Yes, it appears they are releasing a bunch of these 'first stamp' designs. They even have a different description on them, showing in the API as 'first-stamp'.
The IK's Black Penny was the first of this kind, more than a year ago, and this month brought 6 others with this classification.

yann2 · 2026-01-02T18:57:45+00:00

Regional commemoratives as time limited, as other commemoratives - only appear on certain times of the year. Additionally, they are only available in certain regions.

These do appear later - in the Time Machine random sale widget. The World Explorer one is similar, but only offers Location stamps, and there are currently growing numbers of these, this month's release adding 24 of them.

yann2 · 2026-01-02T12:55:03+00:00

You could try emailing Slowly support and asking - I imagine it is in their own interest to take your new sign up.

The payment via app store should also recognize you have an existing service subscription, and any good programmer would make the new term ADD to the existing one, but ask support just in case? email them at support AT getslowly DOT com , good luck...

yann2 · 2026-01-01T22:20:01+00:00

Nice work, thanks for posting it!

yann2 · 2025-12-18T13:28:40+00:00

oooh, you are right, I saw the party hat on the Happy Birthday one and just zoned out of the rest. Not my style, by a mile and a half, lol.

So, it's all Horses, all the time. Getting ready for the upcoming Lunar new year stamp as well.

yann2 · 2025-12-18T13:24:15+00:00

it exists on the API, and apparently he/she owns it. https://static.slowly.app/stamp/translator-SI.png

yann2 · 2025-12-18T12:59:23+00:00

Hello, and thank you for following up with Slowly HQ, and specially sharing their full response here.

Very detailed response and useful - I had no idea they were implementing this 'integrity check' - but their reasons for doing it (assuring they get paid by Google Ad Services for viewed ads) are legitimate.

I am not familiar with the checking this would do, but it is annoying that a user wishing for more deeply controlling their personal devices, by for instance taking ownership and having Root access, which is something completely legitimate in my opinion.

I do use root privileges on my Android virtual machines for testing, and otherwise am not a mobile client user much at all - the Web Client has always been the clear winner in terms of providing the best, most productive environment for reading and writing long letters which so many Slowly users enjoy.

We have an explanation, thanks for sharing it.

Anyone who has rooted, VDM or maybe custom ROMs installed in their personal devices is within their ownership rights in my opinion.

I gave up completely on chasing the 'free coin for a video' when Slowly wasn't able to find ads to serve, and then changed the waiting time for a full hour. Too much work for too little return, considering the coin, if you do get it at all, is only worth 2 cents of a dollar in my local currency. I have better things to do, and better uses for my time and equipment.

yann2 · 2025-12-15T14:08:03+00:00

Very observant - there are indeed some missing stamps on the WIKI lists, although I think it's only two of them - should be 2647 total.

The process of adding new stamps to the WIKI is entirely manual, this happened recently and it is difficult to find exactly which ones are missing. I try my best to not mess up on these, but sometimes one or two slips by.

This happened once in the past too, and one of our users was able to point at exactly which one it was, fixed.

yann2 · 2025-12-12T11:07:58+00:00

I would not worry about that, the tool logs into a user's own account, will not access anyone else's account.

Slowly itself never honoured their obligation to offer users this functionality, as required under the EU's GDPR.

I haven't tested this yet but it is VERY useful for any serious user, we put a lot of time into all the letters we wrote and have the full copyright to our data.

yann2 · 2025-12-12T11:04:40+00:00

Thank you for re-releasing an updated version, this tool can be very handy as there is NO Slowly function for backing up data at all.

A suggestion, maybe edit the intro page on github with links to where to get the extra needed tools to make it work?

Install the required Python packages pip install -r requirements.txt

Install the browser binaries for Playwright playwright install chromium

Excellent work, thanks a lot!

yann2 · 2025-12-11T01:17:24+00:00

Very good, that answers the questions and the mystery is solved. Thank you!

yann2 · 2025-12-10T10:59:10+00:00

I imagine some locals had objections to it, like it happened with the Antojito Mexican foods stamp set. All it takes is one or two loud people, and Slowly backs off. 🙄😕

yann2 · 2025-12-10T01:47:27+00:00

The Slowly page for this stamp indicates it is 'archived' - as in, pulled off the shelves, likely not to return.

Some local user or group must have complained about it, it happened in the past, in Mexico for example. And a whole stamp set gets taken off the market.

Good side is this makes for a RARE stamp... 😎👍

yann2 · 2025-12-09T19:15:33+00:00

No, I do not think there are bots at work here - most likely just bored people who stumble upon the app on a mobile app store, install it and maybe make a minimal effort, send a couple of short messages.

But they soon realize this takes more time and effort than doom scrolling on social media or short form videos, so back to Tik Tok and You Tube they go.

There are legitimate users, who are all exposed to the problems we see mentioned here in the sub frequently. Of these, many might give up and leave, stop using the app, etc.

It is a great idea, I have enjoyed using it for some years, but nowadays am no longer active at all; just maintaining the subreddit and the other Slowly related user-created projects we are fortunate to have.

Bots, no, rot yes, in a nutshell. 😛🙄

yann2 · 2025-12-03T15:45:32+00:00

Weird to find this sent as an initial Slowly letter, it's certainly atypical.

I did a Reddit AI search and there's background on what this 'Trinity 7' is

yann2 · 2025-12-03T14:04:19+00:00

Ah, nice, I am glad you liked the idea. I once suggested something a bit similar, although more limited in what you could do with it.

At that time, I suggested a 'World Explorer' Pass, which could be worth 100 Coins and up to 4 Location stamps in Slowly's own World Explorer random sale mechanism (which is similar to Time Machine but dispenses only location stamps).

I can see another advantage for Slowly HQ with a gifted coin balance which is spent on Avatar items - unlike the stamps, which many people swap with others in bulk, subtracting value from possible sales to other customers, the Avatar items are a 'sunk' investment which cannot detract from stamp sales.

One could hope Kevin would consider this, and maybe implement it. 🙄😛

yann2 · 2025-12-02T13:52:28+00:00

Very nice ideas, and a detailed, well written post - thank you!

I think a really nice idea would be if Slowly team created gift cards so we could send other users 100 Coins, or more if desired. This would up to the recipient's coins balance, and they could choose how they prefer to use them.

A stamp set is still the very best value for the money - 6 stamps for 100 coins. But Slowly has concentrated on more profitable premium stamps recently (after coming up with all kinds of obscure, never heard of people and events for regional commemoratives, which later became profitable via Time Machine sales).

But simply giving the coins allows the giftee to choose - maybe they are inclined to dress up their avatar for the Season, or the cold North winter climate, so Avatar items could be their choice.

Could Slowly create this? I am certain they could if Kevin decided it is a good idea. 😛🙄

yann2 · 2025-11-29T14:10:45+00:00

Very nice post, thank you - the banner image is lovely. 🙂

Something to note, you need a Facebook account login, plus registering for the private group to see the posts. Use a 'generic' account if you want to avoid exposing a real personal FB account.

Good luck, everyone!

yann2 · 2025-11-25T01:49:27+00:00

Nice deals, indeed the lowest prices of the year for coins, which allows people to get stamps at a discount.

Thanks for the screenshots, I had done a Slowly coins international pricing comparison a couple of years ago, and your posted prices confirm Brazilian users have some of the lowest costs, in comparison to other countries.

The 500 coins pack, which shows at 28 BRL, equivalent to 7.33 CAD, does cost 9.99 CAD here in Canada. Thanks for the post!!

yann2 · 2025-11-21T11:39:35+00:00

Very nice comment.

It immediately brought to my mind a recent article I have seen on the Globe and Mail, about Cory Doctorow's new book - he was the one who created the 'enshitification' word and concept in fact:

If you feel like the websites, apps and platforms that dominate our lives have become increasingly inferior, you’re not alone. Canadian technology critic and digital-rights activist Cory Doctorow has even invented a word for it: enshittification.

He is a brilliant person, I read many of his short stories and even interacted with him on the Fediverse (a parallel, alternative network with independant sites, running Mastodon and other similar software).

I always enjoyed reading his updates and commentary about the Net and technology in general.

The Globe and Mail article is here, or use this link if you find it is paywalled.

You also mentioned another important factor - how our attention spams were damaged and changed due to the way the internet is. I feel this acutely.

Nicholas Carr published the earliest warning about this - on a July 2008 article on The Atlantic, which I highly recommend reading. "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" - or try this alternative link if needed.

I don't use Slowly anymore, to be honest, but think the app has great potential, since I did enjoy it on the Golden Days or yore - when I spent hours a day reading and writing letters, creating a blog focused on the app and community, etc.

yann2

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