Typewriters

My problem with that is that I’m incapable to read myself after a few days… that’s why I love my typewriters.

Me too. I learned to be fine with it, but I also like to use my typewriter. And both pen and typewriter will make for a unique written object (see my reply to Illecors).

That’s very close of an idea I had a few months ago: some sort of fanzine. People interested would send me (I don’t mind giving my address) their typed pages, and I’d order them (using actual scissors and glue!) in a zine that I would copy and send to the people who sent me something

Scissors and glue, that's how I used to make my zine back in the 90s while I was partyi... studying). For the last issue, I had the 'genius' idea to make the cover out of aluminum foil (ium, for the barbarians :p). It took me about a gazilion attempts in order to get all the covers I needed. That damn thing was constantly tearing while I glued stuff on them and while I tried to emboss text. I hated it and that maybe the reason why it was the last issue...

this character only shares an anonymised version of the list, where each member receives a number along with a short description provided by the member themselves. Instead of sending the letter directly to the recipient, the sender sends it to the administrator, specifying the recipient’s number, and the administrator then forwards the letter. This would maintain everyone’s anonymity, but it presupposes trust in the administrator…

Exactly. The idea is still worth considering, having someone acting as the ‘warden of the keys’ so to speak. Like you mentioned, cost will quickly increase. And it will the whole process even (I’m fine with it being slow). At least for a starter, why not? Also, I’m pretty confident if we were to initiate something we would be able to devise a way to share the cost between all of us.

Another lead: if the cost is really an issue (and it would soon be one, seeing the international rates) we still should be able to initiate ‘local’ exchange ring and maybe once a year make an international shipment of some sort? Or grab any opportunity to have them shipped abroad, if some of us travel regularly?

Just thinking out loud, here...

And thx for the link, I will read the book. I enjoyed a lot reading all five volumes of his short story anthologies. Well, I enjoyed a lot four out of five (there is one I had to force myself to finish but I'm glad I did as it also contains my preferred story out of all four volumes.

Edit: corrected the number of volumes in the Cold Hard Type series, because I'm a pro with numbers.

I think the important bit in your text is the content exchange, not necessarily the means.

Yes and no. The means are part of the content, imho, not the most important part but not anecdotal either.

Each letter/object would be different and unique, because of the way it has been made, because of its quirks and defaults, and it would have to be shared and transmitted among members, one at a time as a unique object. Copies could be made, obviously, but they would just be copies and we would know/see it: it’s hard to copy the imprints of the slug into the sheet of paper, or the ink of the fountain pen being absorbed by the same paper.

As much as I can understand it (I’m no expert), before typewriters and carbon copies, people wanting to send the same letter to more than one person used to write multiple copies of it. But each copy would also be unique.

Postman cracking a smile every now and then is an extra, not the main gig.

Indeed, it is. While I was writing that comment I suddenly remembered a few anecdotes one of my friends used to tell me regarding the postman when he delivered my letters to him. I don’t think any email server ever had a smile on its face while delivering an email, no matter how funny/silly said email was ;)

As such - digital exchange can be done completely anonymously on a personal level and almost anonymously from the government’s perspective.

My ideas was not as much to get out of reach of spying authorities or to be anonymous. In the end, for most of us at least, all it takes is a warrant or some law to remove said anonymity. I don't think analog is a solution to preserve our anonymity either, btw. Here to, a warrant/a law is all it takes to be able to open any letter, while postcards are not even enclosed.

Here in France, I'm already legally bound to give my encryption keys if a judge ever asks for them, and if I don't comply I can be fined/imprisoned. Also, us foreigners willing to go visit the USA are now required to give border agents full access to all our social media accounts, including login and password. I have no plan to visit the USA anytime soon but if that was the case I certainly would not try to outsmart those people by hiding anything from them.

More than anonymity, I was considering getting away from the preying eyes of those (big) businesses and their AIs that are constantly trying to mine and to monetize our every move and words… and soon our thoughts too?

Also, I was following up on the idea mentioned by Joe in the video about (re) learning to value the imperfections in our (analog) works, to see it as the mark of a real human-made creation. Something dear to me and that would be hard to obtain digitally: there would not be much to visually distinguish my manuscript typed in Times New Roman 12 double-spaced, from any other manuscript typed alike. And it’s more indistinguishable when using completely unformatted text like in messaging apps or web forms. Or even when opening an epub.

Encrypt your message with a recipient’s public GPG key and off you go. The only thing that can be tracked is the fact the message was sent.

I have been using an encrypted email since the very early 00s and I have barely ever used it because almost no one is willy to use one on the other end of the tube. That's the main issue, I'm afraid. Adding PGP or even just to switch from, say, Gmail to a fully encrypted email provider like Proton or Tuta (even when it’s free and no matter how simple they made it) is too much to ask.

I really have no idea how doable this analog exchange thing would be. It’s just something I had been thinking about for quite a while and Joe’s video seemed like a very good opportunity to share it. Maybe, probably, it will go nowhere but it’s still worth trying :)

I kind of disagree here. The medium is the message, as one said, and I know that I don't read with the same spirit an e-mail and a snail-mail I received. We are definitively not robots, so the means of communication change drastically the reception of the message itself, even if the actual text is the same. And it's even more true when I send a message: the very text will be different is I type it on my computer, my phone, or my typewriter as not only my spirit, but also my capabilities and confort of writing will be different.