IS THIS REAL

I'll let some of the more experienced members answer you questions in detail.

I'd just say that you should follow your heart, but don't stop listening to your head.

Welcome!

It's an awfully big adventure.

also can you use LOL and BRB txt wording etc in your letters cause it says you have to use english only, can also make it hard if i want to say something in Maori or even a town name thats Maori, can i use these.

Hi everyone, im new here. As of a week ago i sent my first WAP to a guy on DR.
I have so many questions running thru my head.
I have since sent another letter thru snail mail, but i was wondering how many do you send?, do you wait for a reply before sending more? But what if he dont have stamp to reply etc, but i dont want to hassel him if he dont want to write back.
Also in his profile it says he never received mail yet (after 17 years) can i believe this or do they all say that, not that it makes any difference but can you believe everything they say. I have written to him honestly and woud be nice to know i make him smile and forget where he is even for 2mins. Im guessing it would cost him allot to post from there to new zealand, how can i help him in this way, im just as excited to get mail as he is, and also what are you aloud to put in mail, i dont want to get him in trouble, can you use twink, and nice smelly paper?
i just really want to make his day and when i get a letter back he will make mine. I dont want to write to any others at this stage, id rather wait and see.
Please help. I think i have read so much up on Ely it scares me, prison over there is nothing like home jail, here the guys go on holiday, i just cant comprehend how they are treated.

A lot of these questions i think you will only get answered once you actually get to know him. As for can you believe everything they say? Its no clear cut answer to that one some people lie some people dont goes for both people in and out of prison. Some people have got more than 1 letter in circulation at anytime some dont it all depends :)

also can you use LOL and BRB txt wording etc in your letters cause it says you have to use english only,

LOL and BRB are abbreviations of ENGLISH words. So to answer your question, yes you can.

Hi everyone, im new here. As of a week ago i sent my first WAP to a guy on DR.
I have so many questions running thru my head.
I have since sent another letter thru snail mail, but i was wondering how many do you send?, do you wait for a reply before sending more? But what if he dont have stamp to reply etc, but i dont want to hassel him if he dont want to write back.
Also in his profile it says he never received mail yet (after 17 years) can i believe this or do they all say that, not that it makes any difference but can you believe everything they say. I have written to him honestly and woud be nice to know i make him smile and forget where he is even for 2mins. Im guessing it would cost him allot to post from there to new zealand, how can i help him in this way, im just as excited to get mail as he is, and also what are you aloud to put in mail, i dont want to get him in trouble, can you use twink, and nice smelly paper?
i just really want to make his day and when i get a letter back he will make mine. I dont want to write to any others at this stage, id rather wait and see.
Please help. I think i have read so much up on Ely it scares me, prison over there is nothing like home jail, here the guys go on holiday, i just cant comprehend how they are treated.

Whenever I send an email through WAP, for the initial contact, I wait until I hear back. I don't see the point in sending an email through WAP and also sending out a letter by snail mail. Especially when I haven't even heard back from the person. But that's just me.
Did he say he hasn't received mail or does his profile show a little red icon and a line that says "Profile Alert - This member hasn't received any mail yet!" ? If that's the case then it just means that he hasn't received emails through WAP before. That doesn't mean that he hasn't received any mail through out his entire 17 years in jail. As for believing what "they" say. It's the same like on the outside. You play it by ear. Get to know the person, see what he's like. As ashy mentioned, there's people on both the out- and inside that will be dishonest with you. Dishonest people are everywhere. What you're allowed to put in the mail, to find out for his facility the best thing to do would be to check the mail regulations for his facility/his state. You can usually find those on his state's DOC website. Since you mentioned Ely, you'd have to google "Nevada DOC".

Just chill, wait for the letter and take it from there.

Yes, just wait for a letter and take it from there. I understand all the questions running through your head, I hope you get a reply soon and see it goes. I did send a email through wap and sent a letter too for one of my penpals. I think I done it to double ensure he got it. Now a couple of years down the line I see that they do indeed get them.

all the best.

also can you use LOL and BRB txt wording etc in your letters cause it says you have to use english only, can also make it hard if i want to say something in Maori or even a town name thats Maori, can i use these.

As long as the body of your letter is in English (or Spanish), words or phrases in other languages will probably not even be noticed. I frequently use pidgin and latin in my letters.

Only problem I ever had was when I had my whole letter translated into Greek. It came back to me with a request to provide a certified translation into English. My local Orthodox Priest obliged, and the letter got through the second time.

Place names should be no problem. For a long time my address was:

Silas Sydenham
Weeahporoinah
RSD Goongerah 3888

I've written in Dutch, French, Arabic and it got through fine. Then again, I never wrote ENTIRE letters in those languages. Just phrases here and there. My guys know I speak a lot of languages so they'd always want me to say something in said languages. I have this habit of signing off each letter in a different language. They love it. They will guess what it means and sometimes even try to look it up. And I usually explain what it means in my reply. It's this fun little silly "game" we have. And now I'm being slightly off topic. lol. My bad.

As long as you don't write entire letters in all kinds of different languages, you should be fine.

also can you use LOL and BRB txt wording etc in your letters cause it says you have to use english only, can also make it hard if i want to say something in Maori or even a town name thats Maori, can i use these.

hi and welcome...i will try to answer some of the questions. if this man has been locked up 17 yrs. chances are that he won't even know what lol means I don't know what brb is myself. on the language i'm thinking maybe stick to english, i read somewhere on here that a book was denied to the inmate cause of it having some language besides english even though there was a translation of the language in the book. hope this helps. oh and the no mail thing is from whether they have recieved email from W.A.P. yet. please members don't yell at me if i'm wrong..lol.

Do NOT send scented paper to Ely State Prison in Nevada. Nevada is notorious for having fits about things other states are more lax about such as scented paper. (by fits I mean, the letter won't be given to him, not that he'll get in trouble.) Yep, Ely is a hell of a place.

Long termers do not know what text terms like BRB mean unless they've had friends or family keep them up on such things. They have no personal access to the web and went in before any of that existed. I'd leave that out of your writing unless you know for sure he's up on it. Mine knew what LOL meant but that's about it.

hi and welcome...i will try to answer some of the questions. if this man has been locked up 17 yrs. chances are that he won't even know what lol means I don't know what brb is myself. on the language i'm thinking maybe stick to english, i read somewhere on here that a book was denied to the inmate cause of it having some language besides english even though there was a translation of the language in the book. hope this helps. oh and the no mail thing is from whether they have recieved email from W.A.P. yet. please members don't yell at me if i'm wrong..lol.

I use a lot of abbreviation even BEFORE texting. More like my own shorthand. w/o is without. W/ is with. Stuff like that. Plus I DO use lol and all that and figured my guy wouldn't know WTF I was saying and I use them like real words (I've been keeping a journal forever so it's second nature to me) so I just sent him a glossary of YMI terms explaining things like ROFLMAO and all that jazz. He took up using lol because his first letters everything was hahaha heeheehee. LMAO! I think he likes LOL better now too.

thanks everyone, yeh just a waiting game now,
I have also looked up Jpay and $3 for 5 pages is cheap for me as letter cost $2.40 to post with a 5-10 period to get there but does anyone know what country the dolors are set in I mean $3 on web could be $15 new zealand ???????
and thanks Melanie LOL i did think of that, but surely someone would have told him by now LOL.....oh and BRB is be right back LOL

i think everything's pretty much been answered, but i want to add my bits about some things:

Also in his profile it says he never received mail yet (after 17 years) can i believe this or do they all say that...

[I]personally[/I], i don't believe that, and i'm going to tell you why. he's on death row, right? my pal is on death row too, only he's in texas and not nevada. we had this discussion in one of our most recent letters. everyone on death row in texas has at least 2 pen pals. he said guys go there and sometimes have letters waiting for them that got there before they did. it happened to him. he was there for 2 days and got his first letter from someone - no pen pal ad up or anything. people write to people on death row. it's just how it is. pen pal ad or not. those that post the ads surely get more mail than those who don't. remember, though -- [U]this is in texas[/U]. i can't speak for nevada. but i'd imagine that it can be the same everywhere. but don't use this as an automatic "what a liar!" i just personally find it a little hard to believe, but he could very well be telling the truth.

also can you use LOL and BRB txt wording etc in your letters cause it says you have to use english only, can also make it hard if i want to say something in Maori or even a town name thats Maori, can i use these.

make sure he knows txt speak before starting all of that. :) i personally draw my own little emoticons - my smiles, my winks and my :p also, in my letters i'll throw in random stuff in italian and we've never had a problem.

and welcome to WAP - happy writing!

thank you i will keep that in mind

Yeh i do not lik what i have read or seen, i guess having a pen pal open eyes to things you dont normally see or hear, we sure dont hear about any of the things that go on over there in New Zealand

Hi firenewzealand, I have sent letters containing NZ place names on without problem, in letters and on the back of photos, also phrases such as "kia kaha" without problem.