Frequently asked questions
On this page you'll find a list of frequently asked questions. You can open the answer to a question by clicking on it.
What is Penpal International?
Penpal International is a website that provides the posibility to search penpals around the world based on interests, location, age, etc. By joining Penpal International other people can also find you. Penpal International also provides a safe way to write with other people by a closed message system which doesn't discloses email addresses.
How can I join Penpal International?
You can easily join Penpal International by filling out the signup form (Menu 'Join PPI' at the bottom of the website). After submitting the form an email message will be send with instructions how to activate your account.
Is Penpal International free?
Penpal is a free service and intends to stay this way. Maintenance and support is done by volunteers. The costs of hosting and servers is covered by advertisers and donations.
Are you sharing my account data with third-parties?
Penpal International is not sharing any information with third-parties. Other websites often share information with third-parties, but we believe personal data should only be used for purposes it was given for. In our case it's to search and find penpals on Penpal International. Please note that all account data besides your email address is publicly browseable. If you don't like some information to be shown, you are free to leave certain fields empty.
I've forgotten my password!
You can request a reset of your password at the login page. At the bottom half you can fill in your email address and submit it to request a reset of your password. An email message will be send with instructions. We can't resend your old password, because passwords are stored as (salted) hashes.
I've lost my password and I can't access my email!
Access to your email is necessary to reset your password. Please send us an email message with your old and new email address. In case we can't honor your request, please create a new account. Any account that is not accessed or re-verified in 6 months is automaticly removed.
How can I remove my account?
If you login into the members section you'll find a menu item 'Remove account'. After confirming, your account with all messages and photo's will be deleted. This action can't be undone. You are always free to open a new account.
I can't find my account in the list or via the search
It can take up to 30 minutes for your account to show up in the lists.
When I try to send a message, I get an error that I've send too many messages
We have a a limit of sending at most 1 message per minute. This limit is set to make the life of users that abuse and spam our members harder. If you send a personalised message to other members you are unlikely to encounter this limit. And by the way, everybody appreciates a personal message.
If you encouter a member that has send spam or abusing messages, please report this to us, so we can take action against this member and keep Penpal International a nice place to send and get messages.
If you encouter a member that has send spam or abusing messages, please report this to us, so we can take action against this member and keep Penpal International a nice place to send and get messages.