Your opinion: ask first: too many clicks?
June 12, 2008
Several people suggested in my previous blog post that the newly introduced system for “ask me first” has too many clicks.
Instead, they’d like to see it be possible for someone to mooch immediately from an “ask me” person, and the book owner is able to reject the mooch without any penalty.
That would definitely work, and be a less complicated workflow. It also has the advantage of removing books from circulation that are in an “ask first” stage so that others aren’t frustrated by being told they’re there, but not being able to mooch them since they’re reserved.
What do other people think of this alternative?
To recap, this would mean that the current “ask first” workflow would go away, and instead anyone would be able to mooch from an “ask first” person. People with “ask first” would get a slightly different “someone has mooched from you” email, that would make it clear that they can reject the mooch without any penalty.
Despite having put a bunch of time into programming the new “ask first” mechanism, I am open to switching over to this different way of doing things, esp if people think it’s better.
I do think this alternative idea has merit, so I’m opening it up for discussion. My opinions on this topic are not well formed yet, which is why I’m not expressing them. I really want to hear what others think.
-john
June 12, 2008 at 8:16 am
I like the new “ask me first” system! It’s a great addition to BM’s already great features.
As for why I think the “ask me” is superior to a mooch/reject-without-penalty: it’s clearer and it could help maintain the idea that rejections are for exceptional circumstances only. I think the primary danger with a mooch/reject-scenario is the potential for hurt feelings and confusion. Not everybody reads the BM instructions carefully and the ambiguity of two reject options might cause problems.
A compromise would perhaps be to keep the terminology of the new “ask me first”-system, but to have the acceptance of the bookowner result in an automatic mooch. Less clicks, at least.
June 12, 2008 at 8:19 am
This would definitely work better for me than the other alternative, since it is only books above a certain weight that I don’t send outside my continent. In my case and that of those who only send within Europe or North America instead of within a specific country, what would work best of all would be to be able to mark each book separately, e.g. “will send anywhere”, “will send within Europe/North America/Asia, etc.”, “only to my country”. It’s probably not feasible, but I thought I would throw the idea out there anyway.
June 12, 2008 at 8:19 am
I think this is an excellent idea, cuts out all the waiting and the frustration.
June 12, 2008 at 8:48 am
i agree with netla
mark each book as to where you are prepared to send it.
that way i would be prepared to increase my inventory by adding bigger books that will be for australia only.
June 12, 2008 at 8:49 am
Actually, the way it is now is exactly how many clicks one would need to have to mooch a book if they’d emailed first in the old system. You’d email, receive an email back saying you could and you’d have to go to the book listing and mooch it. Right now, you even have things made easier for you because the acceptance email has a link to the book, whereas before you had to go search for it (and hope the book was still available). So, no, I don’t think there are too many clicks. Just as many as before.
June 12, 2008 at 9:02 am
In case of an “ask first” book owner, I usually mooch first, noting in the comment field of the request that I’m ready to cancel the mooch if the book owner finds too inconvenient to ship the book.
(I also offer to send some extra point using the gift system)
June 12, 2008 at 9:11 am
Enforcing the “ask first” is an excellent improvement. As to exactly how many clicks it takes I really don’t care.
Netia’s suggestion would be great. Perhaps a “default” setting for your inventory with the ability to override it for individual books. I think that would be a better use of your coding time than marginally streamlining the workflow.
But as always I’m grateful for whatever you do.
June 12, 2008 at 9:19 am
I love the new system!!! I’d hate to see it go when it just got here! (I mean, how about we trial it for a while first?)
I love the fact that a person can choose not to send to you and the email you get is polite and uniform. That’s a much better response than the personal emails I get :-/
I vote for the already implemented new system!
June 12, 2008 at 9:20 am
Thanks for asking for our input.
I agree with the first post but suggest that “to have the acceptance of the bookowner result in an automatic mooch” would need to have the pending “ask firsts/requests” visible with other pending books and able to be cancelled to ensure that a request can be cancelled if circumstances have changed (no longer enough points for example) and also has the added benefit of being able to keep track of what has been requested.
June 12, 2008 at 9:30 am
Hey there John!
Actually my only problem with the system so far is that it doesn’t appear on my pending page - so I don’t remember what I “asked” about. I see this as a potential problem - since points don’t get deducted - someone could “over-ask” and then have all his requests approved and be out points because he didn’t pay attention to how many requests he made (and there is no place to keep track of it). So certainly your suggestion would solve that problem because your “requests” would show up on your pending page….
But my question is this: does it work both ways? What if I mooch a book and the owner never responds. When I cancel that mooch (after 7 days of waiting for a response) - does it still show up as “cancelled” on my account?
Those are my comments,
- Rena
June 12, 2008 at 10:42 am
Like Rena, I’d specially welcome having a record of the (tentative) mooch. In fact, it would be a great benefit to have somewhere to keep a note of sent EMails generally - even a personal notepad feature?
Warm regards
Dee
June 12, 2008 at 10:55 am
I think reinforcing the “ask first” principle is important. If I didn’t need/want to make a decision on a book by book, location by location basis, I’d have my status set to ‘worldwide’.
I think the suggestion about “ask me” requests being on the pending page is a good one - I currently use an excel spreadsheet to keep track of this, and it’s cumbersome (comparatively)
June 12, 2008 at 11:16 am
I love this! Since you implemented this new “ask first” system, I received one instantly. I think the other “ask first” way scared people off from the hassle of it all. I have a very long bio explaining the reasons for why and what I will send. I can cut some of this out now. ANYWAY, it will be easier for the moocher. They will know that their book will be on reserve.
I agree, it would be nice to have it show up on the pending page, though.
June 12, 2008 at 11:41 am
Either way works fine for me (I’ve already tested out the new ask first system - seems to work fine) - what I am really concerned about is that something show up on my pending page. Short-term memory here….
June 12, 2008 at 11:44 am
I agree with Annika at the top - the existing “ask first” system, but with an automatic mooch when the current owner accepts.
June 12, 2008 at 11:48 am
This idea of using a normal request seems more logical to me, coupled with a drop-down box response of “Excessive shipping costs” as a reason on the cancellation page. Why make things more complicated than it needs to be?
June 12, 2008 at 12:15 pm
I like the new “ask first.” I think one click would make it easier. Definitely have it put on the pending page.
However, if a book is on reserve for someone, it should say “on reserve” when another person goes to mooch it, rather than having it say “sorry, person only sends to their country,” when you’re in the same country as that person.
June 12, 2008 at 12:17 pm
I like the new system as it is. I agree that it’s better to save rejections for only extreme situations, rather than “softening” the term in some situations, as the proposed new system would.
Anyway, I think the new system we have right now is just fine in its number of clicks.
Of course, I ship worldwide, so I’m not particularly worried about how this will affect me sending books to people — but I frequently *mooch* from “ask first” people, so it’s still going to affect me somewhat.
Thank you so much, John, for working so hard to improve our community constantly! It’s that, more than anything else, that makes this the best bookswapping site on the Internet (even though there are a lot of other factors that could also, alone, have made it so :P).
June 12, 2008 at 12:35 pm
I think the idea of streamlining the ask first to mooching directly and the owner suffering no penalty for a rejection (which I assume means no rejection showing up in his transaction history) is excellent. Things will work faster for everyone this way, and I can’t see any harm to either moocher or owner in this system.
June 12, 2008 at 12:42 pm
I like the new system as it is. I think people should have to think a bit about their “ask me first” mooching and if you make it a mooch straight away thing I suspect most people won’t pay attention to the fact it is a different kind of mooch they are making. I’d vote to at least give the new system a couple of months to settle in and then see if people are still clamouring for a more simple process.
I’m a non-US ‘ask me first’ Moochee and also have to often do the ask me first thing when mooching because there aren’t that many books locally so I’m affected at both ends of this and I’m quite happy to be involved in a bit of an email thread when giving or mooching.
Thanks for putting so much effort into this great site.
June 12, 2008 at 12:58 pm
I like the idea of the automatic mooch when the owner accepts the request. I also like the idea of putting them on the pending page.
I absolutely love the fact that it’s enforcable now, because I have admit that I’m guilty of mooching books just after asking, (without waiting for a reply) especially in demand books.
June 12, 2008 at 1:28 pm
I like the new idea. Several times I’ve sent an email to an ask first person, with no response. I’m assuming the emails most likely went into their junk folder and were never received. This would eliminate that problem. I’ve also had someone email me before I changed my status, only to have the book mooch by someone else in the meantime. Thanks for all your work and hard thinking John!
June 12, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Thanks for doing all that work, John, only to have us all suggest improvements immediately! I am very pleased with the new “ask first” system and am trying it out now. It’s friendlier than the old system.
As for specifying where you are willing to send a book, isn’t that what the condition notes are for? I put a note on all the heavier books in my inventory stating that because of the weight, I can only mail that one to the US and Canada. It’s worked fine and it makes it clear that the only reason I’m not sending it is due to postage costs.
Anyway, thanks John for working tirelessly to improve BookMooch when you could be (deservedly) resting on your laurels.
June 12, 2008 at 1:40 pm
I like the idea of this new system. As it is now, books highly in demand are already mooched up if someone from another country asks me if I’ll send it to them. I usually don’t mind to send to another country, but I just want the right to turn them down if costs would be too high.
Thank you for revising and revisiting policies as we need them!
June 12, 2008 at 1:54 pm
I think this would be great. I have removed myself from sending out of my country as I did not want to have to send large books. This would be great and I would again send books to other countries. It is a simple and easy way to handle it.
June 12, 2008 at 1:59 pm
I agree with Netla. I would like to be able to differentiate between books I would be willing to send internationally and books I would like to send only within my country. I now send worldwide, but I will not add hardcovers or heavy paperbacks to my inventory for fear I will have to pay international postage on them.
June 12, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Proposed work flow:
Moocher mooches book
Moocher is sent to the “Request sent” page.
The points are deducted from the moocher.
The book status is changed from active to pending (no one else can see it).
The owner gets the Ask First email with link to decision page.
If the owner clicks NO:
Owner goes to a send rejection email page where they can elect to use the standard “Sorry, but I have decided not to send this book to your country. Thank you for asking, though!” or replace with their own text - such as “I’m sorry, but I can’t afford to send this book to your country right now. I may be able to send it next month after I get my paycheck though. Please try again after (date).”
Points are returned to moocher’s account.
If the owner clicks YES:
Points are transferred to owner.
Book is automatically mooched - owner is sent to Pending page where they can continue (find address, click Accept/Sent/Delay, etc).
End workflow.
June 12, 2008 at 2:35 pm
I like the new system as it is, and I don’t think there are too many clicks involved. I’m not a friend of rejections (even if they are not listed in bold red in my history). Rejection sounds so negative. I’m more frustrated by rejected books than by reserved books.
But I agree with others, it would be nice to see the ask-first-books on the pending page.
June 12, 2008 at 2:36 pm
I agree with Zillah and think it would be a good idea to trial-run the new system. I also like the idea of having reserved books listed on the pending page. Thanks, John, for this addition and thanks so much for BookMooch.
June 12, 2008 at 3:23 pm
I like the new ask first method as it is now. I don’t think it’s too many clicks at all. The change proposed above, that when the owner says “yes”, that causes the mooch to happen automatically, sounds good to me too, and would make for fewer clicks. On the other hand, there are down sides to everything, and the down side to this is that one might “ask” for more books than one can afford with ones current points, in which case the first owner to say yes is the book you end up with, perhaps not the one you wanted the most.
I agree with the person who said let’s not dilute what a reject is. (Or, let’s not overload it, in programming terms.) I’d prefer to keep reject as it is now.
June 12, 2008 at 3:50 pm
I like the new system — the one you just implemented — a lot, actually. I like that the “ask first” policy is actually enforced this way, and it leads to less (possibly imaginary) hurt feelings.
Thanks for asking for input! I really appreciate all the hard work that goes into this site.
June 12, 2008 at 5:42 pm
There have been several discussions on the forum in the last few months about the “ask first” problems. The consensus has seemed to be implementing a hold period for international askers, which is what you have done. I guess the desirability of the added complexity is a judgement call. Regardless of the exact number of clicks, the new method introduces several issues regarding points spent, pending mooches, the unreliability of email, what a book’s detail page shows, and more I’m sure.
I think the obvious, simple solution would be to eliminate the “ask” shipping status. Everyone currently set to “ask first” could programmatically be changed to worldwide shipping. The result would be no more “ask first” conflicts and no additional complexity. I have expressed that opinion twice in the forum.
My sense is that people don’t like the elimination of the “ask” status because they don’t want to reject requests. They would prefer to reject someone’s request for a book by email outside the system than reject someone’s mooch request within the system. The difference is that one has a public statistic associated with it and the other doesn’t. Perhaps there could be separate counters for domestic and international rejections, with the understanding that international rejections should not be viewed negatively.
I think many members are challenged to understand several aspects of BookMooch without intentionally adding complexity when a simple solution is available.
I’m not saying the new method is bad and should be changed. It may be wonderful and have few negative side effects. Only time will tell. You asked for opinions so I shared mine. (grin) I think any solution is preferable to the way the “ask” system used to work. I’m very glad you have implemented a solution. Thank you.
June 12, 2008 at 5:47 pm
It’s interesting to see the strong feelings people have on this. Clearly improving ability to send amongst countries is a goal shared by many, and it is great to see the steps that this change takes to get us closer.
As has been said above, I also like the new system as it is, and do not feel there are too many clicks involved. I think the rejection area should be for more rare circumstances, so that bookmooch can steer its members gently to use the system well and not incur rejections (i.e. being prompt in sending and accurate as to what is in your inventory, etc.)
Thanks for a fantastic service.
June 12, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Personally, I prefer fewer clicks, and whether that means going back to the old ask first system, only with the rejected requests having no penalties, or using the new system but the books get immediately mooched if the owner is willing to send them, to me, its the same thing.
but, I do have two concerns about the new system. First, anytime I ask for a book, I’d like to see it in my pending page, because I will probably forget that I asked for it.
And how do points work in this? If you use the reserve system, and it takes a few days for the person to find out if the books can be shipped or not, and you spend all your points while waiting for a reply, you can’t mooch the book anymore. It would be really bad if the system is changed to an automatic mooch if the owner will send it and you don’t have the points. Maybe the points are already factored in, but I didn’t see it in the blog postings. Anyway, back to lunch!
PS. I really like being able to reserve a book for a someone else - I haven’t tried it, but I’m sure it will work wonderfully!
June 12, 2008 at 6:27 pm
I was really excited about the new system! *pouts* I don’t think too many clicks is nessecerily a bad thing…. The main problem (imo) was that the “ask first” status was so often ignored, people would just mooch without asking. The new system makes that impossible, and I REALLY like that. It demands a certain amount of (forced) respect, and I think that is a good thing.
The only thing I want to see different, as others have mentioned, is the notice when you try to mooch a book that is on hold. Having the notice be “won’t ship to your country” is VERY confusing when that person IS in your country… It needs to be shown that the book is on hold.
June 12, 2008 at 8:06 pm
One simple way to keep track of books that you have asked about would be to have a copy of the “ask me” email sent both to the moochee and the moocher (or does that already happen?). Then you would have a record in your email inbox, at least, of which books you have reserved and when.
I like the new system as is, but agree that it would be useful to have the “yes” reply automatically complete the mooch.
When a book has been reserved from your own inventory, how does it show up during the 7 days?
June 12, 2008 at 8:54 pm
If we revert back to the old ‘ask first’ (but without the asking first!) it will be incredibly ambiguous for users not familiar with the blog or forum, especially new members.
One scenario is people set to ask first would suddenly get all these international users mooching from them, causing them to reject for not asking first, and then those books are sent back into the system to get mooched by other people. I can see people being discouraged from sending internationally with that system.
I don’t know why saving a few clicks is a big deal- do we want to make things so efficient that we’re sitting at our computers doing nothing? X0) It’s a couple of finger depressions, not a marathon!
Personally, I think the advantages of the new system far outweigh the disadvantages - and vice versa for the proposed changes.
June 12, 2008 at 10:31 pm
I like the newly initiated system very much. Please give it a chance. And thanks again for changing it from the way it was prior to yesterday!! I’m getting requests and able to answer without rushing around reserving and hoping to avoid people getting mad either in my country or internationally. I don’t like people 2 continents away being mad at me. :)))
June 12, 2008 at 10:45 pm
I like the fewer clicks option too. I like to be positive when I mooch. Plus I mooch a lot of books and I don’t like the idea of having “pending” accceptance mooches for which the points haven’t been subtracted. I mooch, points are subtracted, the book is “mine” unless the owner won’t/can’t send to me. Within a week, the owner accepts at which time I do my “Happy Dance” or the owner rejects wihtout impunity and I seek another source for the text.
June 13, 2008 at 12:47 am
Would the moocher still know that the book (s)he was mooching was an “ask first” mooch?
June 13, 2008 at 2:57 am
From what I understand of the new “Ask First” system, I like it, and I prefer it over the old method. I am set to “Ask First” and I did not like it when people “Mooched” without asking about a particular book.
I kind of envisioned a two part scenario in a Win/Win type of programming format: If I had in my notes, that a book was “TOO HEAVY” to send internationally, and the moocher, STILL “clicked the ‘ask first’ button”, I’d like to be able to REJECT without a PENALTY. That’s a variation on what you asked here.
Second, part is this (and others, have already clearly indicated the same issue). The book, in the “Ask First” needs to be removed from the inventory, and at least be shown in the Pending Page, or somewhere. Meaning, hey folks, “this book is no longer in circulation.”
That’s my 4 cents.
I think the new system is fine. The number of clicks are fine. I go through just that many clicks on other sites.
June 13, 2008 at 3:46 am
I think what you proposed above is much better than the new system. I do think we should have an option of rejecting a mooch without penalty and like you said it also takes the book out of circulation temp. until the mooch is either accpeted or rejected. I think the idea of putting where you’re willing to send each and every book is a little much. Having a moocher who is interested in a certain book or books ask first would work much better in my opinion. But then again, you could always do a trial period first like some people are asking. I however think you should go ahead and reform the whole thing into what you suggested above. It shouldn’t have any comlications whatsoever.
June 13, 2008 at 5:25 am
I have not tried the new feature yet, so I can only comment on what I have heard.
First of all: I really like the enforcement of “ask me”.
It would be very helpful if the ask me mail also would appear on the pending page of both parties. Many people check bookmooch more frequently than their email.
It would probably also be less confusing if the book temporarily was removed from the inventory, so that other people don’t get frustrated over that the book cannot be mooched.
I do not think that there are too many clicks involved in the current system and I would be sad to see it go. I really like that there is an actual mail correspondance. Email is more personal and personal not can really make a difference.
June 13, 2008 at 6:11 am
I haven’t tried the new system quite yet but I don’t think it would be too much of a hassle. It seems like quite an improvement from the previous system and still encourages communication between the moocher and the moochee. I second (or third) those suggestions that there should be some sort of record of pending asks or somewhere where you can check and see which books are currently reserved for you. And maybe state clearly when a book that appears as available is reserved for someone else. Is making a reserved book invisible to all other users too complicated? would it necessarily require the book to be removed from inventory and readded or could it be hidden from view?
thanks John for all of the effort that these new features have required, we appreciate it
June 13, 2008 at 6:45 am
I agree with flaukie’s post, only in my oppinion, it should be easier if the system would work like this: the moocher clicks ‘ask me’, the books is reserved and other moochers see for how long it is reserved, the giver either clliks ‘no’, and the books is available for mooching again, or clicks ‘yes’ AND the system automatically understands it as ‘accepted’ (if it is possible to program).
June 13, 2008 at 6:55 am
Hi John
I really like the new system -it’s a great idea and really does help.
What I wondered was - what happens if the person you’re trying to mooch from doesn’t respond? The book (presumably) just goes back up for grabs when the 7 days expire.
I’ve ‘asked first’ on one book - the member has been online several times. I’ve emailed her and even said I can organise an angel if she’d prefer to send within her own country, but I’ve had no response at all. I’m now worried that my time will expire and the book will be ‘released’. Is there any way we could have an option to lengthen the time books are held for on the grounds of no-response from the person with the book?
June 13, 2008 at 8:08 am
I think the new “Ask First” system is fine as it is now, and I think all the latest changes are brilliant. Thanks for all the hard work.
June 13, 2008 at 8:11 am
I’m going to make two changes to the current system, based on feedback above:
* later today, I’ll introduce an email notification to the requester, telling them about the “ask first” they just sent. That way, they can put that email in a folder to track their requests.
* on my todo list, I’ve added “show reserved and ask-first items in the pending page” — this is a lot more work, and I want to redo the pending page as well, so this is a lower priority to other work.
June 13, 2008 at 8:19 am
re: auto-mooching
Several people asked if the “ask first” system could automatically cause a mooch if/when the request is approved.
Unfortunately, that wouldn’t work, because
a) the requester hasn’t provided their postal address
b) the requester hasn’t had their points deducted
c) the requester might have changed their mind during the waiting period.
I think the “right way” to do this idea would be to do the alternative “mooch right away, book owner can reject w/o penalty” approach.
For now, though, enough people are ok with the new system that I’m going to leave it alone, and work on other stuff.
This reservation system was a lot of work (about 15 very long days of programming) so I’d like to move on to the rest of the to-do list, since there are some good “juicy” ideas on the list.
June 13, 2008 at 8:27 am
re:
Having the notice be “won’t ship to your country” is VERY confusing when that person IS in your country..
I agree, and this was changed yesterday. The new system says “no-one is willing to send to you” and then shows you each of the copies that are available, and next to each, why they aren’t willing to send to you, such as “I only send to my country” or “the book is reserved for someone else”
June 13, 2008 at 9:32 am
I think the new system it’s great, the very thing I was missing at Bookmooch. Thanks, John.
The moment entered Bookmooch (even if I had the ask first thing checked since the fist moment)I started having people who mooched without asking. Since I didn’t knew then that I could ask them to cancel their mooches, I rejected a few before I learned that. And I only learned that after asking in the forum.
I felt realy bad rejecting and I wrote down at my profile and at the coments of each book that I could only afford sending books within Europe. Even then, some people kept mooching for America and I had to ask them to cancel and splain why again and again.
June 13, 2008 at 10:09 am
I agree with what Netla said, and if her suggestion doesn’t work, I actually prefer the old system: what I don’t like about the new one is the automatism.
Right now I ship worldwide, but I might want to add a few books I’ll not want to ship outside of Europe; with the old system, I could have noted this in the Status message, and people could have mooched the other books right away; with the new system, they’d have to go through the whole asking process even when they know that I’ll accept the mooch.
I also don’t really see the problem with cancelling/rejecting (of, I was naive enough to think that people who mooch directly from someone with an “ask first” option will be the ones the cancel again if they’re told the sender can’t send the book to them.)
June 13, 2008 at 11:24 am
Thank you John,
I think the new way of asking first is wonderful and solves about all the previous problems.
What I like about the extra steps is that the book is now reserved for the “first asker” so nobody else can mooch it in the meantime. Which happened to me often as a moocher, and in the beginning when people mooched from me (before I changed my profile into “will send everywhere”).
At the same time it still discourages to reject. Which, I think, is more correct towards the people who are willing to send everywhere.
Thank you for all the work on bookmooch, it is a wonderful website, which works so well!
June 13, 2008 at 12:16 pm
I know that it’s a little late to comment on all the changes this week, but i wanted to check out the new system before i posted. I’ve now mooched ask-first books and reserved others, and it works great! I mistakenly assumed that the ask-first also automatically mooched when it was accepted by the book owner, but i know better now.
I’m sure that this has been a lot of work for you John, and i want to reassure you that it’s really appreciated. The prior ask-first was causing a lot of angst, so this plus the reserve system is really going to benefit a lot of users. Also, the reserve is a much neater option for Bookmooch Angels.
Reduced-clicks is probably a good idea, but agreed there are other priorities to work on. Perhaps the revamped forum software/format is one of them?
Thanks again, this is a huge leap forward for an already-great site.
June 13, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I had some thoughts about this. I get frustrated with ask firsts and generally don’t mooch from them - you’re either willing or not. But if for financial reasons the book is too heavy to post internationally, then I can see the merit. As someone else has already said, if there was a mechanism for having an ‘ask first’ or ‘will not send abroad’ on individual books, it might clear this up. Not really either of the options you’re outlined, but yet another alternative. Sorry.
June 13, 2008 at 1:13 pm
I like the current ‘ask me’.
Would like to have this show on the ‘Pending’ page, and an automatic Mooch on acceptance.
While you are messing with ‘ask me’ options, is there a way an ‘ask me’ button could be available for all mooches, so we could request info on a book where there are no condition notes, or where you just want more info? I lost a book or two emailing for condition info and it was mooched while waiting for a response…
Wow. Appreciate all your work.
June 13, 2008 at 1:16 pm
I haven’t even had a chance to try the new ask first yet! Please leave it in for a couple of weeks so we can get used to it, then we can discuss the pros and cons of yet another system.
June 13, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Very interesting idea. I like it. I had an “ask first” and they didn’t and was absolutely pressured to send it which I ulitmately did. I even found myself suspended over rejecting it and found that you really aren’t permitted to reject even with an ask first option. I was cowed and abused and humiliated. I simply changed to putting a comment on my bio page to please ask to prevent me from being pressured again to send something without the option of refusing. I so hated what I went through. It was truly a miserable experience. All other experiences here have been lovely.
June 13, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Leah,
It has always okay to reject an international request on the grounds of the book being too expensive to send.
No BM member has ever been suspended for this, nor asked to send a book that they cannot afford to send to another country.
Mark W
Bookmooch Team
June 13, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Hi John!
I like the new “ask first”! Thank you so much for all of your hard work!
I would like to make just a couple suggestions, perhaps others might weigh in their opinions on these as well.
Is there a way to make the link on my home page for “Books received” take me to that page in my History instead of the beginning of “Books Given”? Yes, it’s a small point, but my “given” section is going to keep getting bigger (I hope) which means even more pages to scroll through. =)
A second minor “irk”, but since I have no idea how difficult this would be, I’m willing to suck it up if it would be a pain to do! Adding 2 buttons to the Pending page: “Accept all” “Send All” (”Accept all” would give you that drop down thingie to say when you’re shipping and a field to add a generic comment if you choose to.)
It’s a minor irk really, but I sure could have used it for the 11 book mooch I sent today. =D
The last one, I feel a bit weird about pointing out, but just in case no one else has mentioned it…In your blog post on 3/17 in the “never giving-fixed” section you said “The new way it works is that now you can mooch only one book, and no more, until you get at least one mooch request.”
Well, I’m not accusing anyone of abuse or anything like that, but I have noticed that many new members post several wishlisted books when they join. This results in several to quite a few immediate mooch requests, which pretty much nullifys what you fixed IF you intended it at all to be a sort of “barrier” to a potential scammer. Again, IF that was your intention, my recommendation would be a small change to “until you have sent one book”. Just thought that was worth a mention.
Sorry for the long post, thank you for reading it! I love Bookmooch!!
Mary
June 13, 2008 at 9:09 pm
Thank you so much John!!!!!
June 13, 2008 at 9:51 pm
> Well, I’m not accusing anyone of abuse or anything like that, but I have noticed that many new members post several wishlisted books when they join. This results in several to quite a few immediate mooch requests, which pretty much nullifys what you fixed IF you intended it at all to be a sort of “barrier” to a potential scammer.
When I joined, I immediately imported all of my Amazon wish lists, which was over 200 books. But that is just a “wishlist”; that does not mean that one can mooch all of those books! What John said is that one can’t *mooch* more books until one has sent some out, which remains true. It doesn’t matter how many books are on your wishlist, or even if they are available.
I hope that makes sense.
June 13, 2008 at 11:46 pm
I like either “ask first” system. Both are a vast improvement over the way it was before - WITH ONE EXCEPTION. I came across a flaw in the “ask first” method.
I have “ask first” selected so I can explain to potential Moochers that I can’t afford to send out single mooches. The new system has only a yes/no response, no way to attach a note. This was a problem as the Moocher has my email address blocked!
June 14, 2008 at 1:28 am
Stephanie (smoorefu on bookmooch) said:
What John said is that one can’t *mooch* more books until one has sent some out, which remains true. It doesn’t matter how many books are on your wishlist, or even if they are available.
What I meant was, I’ve noticed that many new members *post in their inventory* several wishlisted books when they join. This results in several to quite a few immediate mooch requests, etc. =)
I’ve seen new members who have received mooch requests when they first list their inventory, immediately use all of the points given to them from the requests to mooch books. They are definitely able to mooch more than one book without even accepting any of the requests made.
I’m sorry I wasn’t more clear.
Bookmooch rocks!
Mary
June 14, 2008 at 2:13 am
I like the idea of having the book being taken out of inventory while the “ask first” repsonse is being waited on.
June 14, 2008 at 2:46 am
“The new way it works is that now you can mooch only one book, and no more, until you get at least one mooch request.”
I don’t think I ever saw this blog post, and now that it’s been brought up here, I think I need to comment. That doesn’t stop scammers in the LEAST. I’m sorry, but it really doesn’t. I have come across many scammers who HAVE gotten mooch requests, and have accepted them, but then never send, and in the meantime keep mooching and recieving books themselves.
This is the very big, very serious reason why I think the mooch ratio should NOT count pending mooches… okay, so-and-so has 6 pending mooches to send out, but has actually sent NONE, and yet has mooches and recieved 4 books. Technically that ratio would be 4:0, right? 4 books recieved, NO books sent. But because the ratio isn’t calculated that way, the person can keep it up with no penalty.
I see it often, and I really don’t like it.
June 14, 2008 at 3:00 am
To respond to some of the recent posts in regard to attempted fraud:
The new barrier is indeed limiting some fraud attempts. And it also encourages new members to list wishlisted books.
We have many tools to prevent fraud here on Bookmooch, so only about 1% of all new accounts are able to defraud the system, generally only to a small degree.
So the current system, which trusts new members to a degree (as they indeed trust us by sending out their books), need not be altered to try and stop that 1%, which would likely persist in their attempts regardless of the level of BM security.
Mark W
Bookmooch Team
June 14, 2008 at 8:45 am
The ‘ask me’ feature is great idea. Im just wondering if there is a BookMooch forum somewhere? If don’t have one, it’ll be a nice idea to have. I’m not sure if that has been asked before.
June 14, 2008 at 9:48 am
I like the new Ask Me feature. Like others I do have to reject some mooches due to the weight of the book. Postal prices out of Europe (I am in UK) have risen so much, even Surface Mail can be prohibitive.
I agree with Netla that a ‘mooch within my own continent’ feature would be useful, as it is costs are more affordable within Europe. I presume it is the same within America/Asia etc.
We do need a feature like this, as even if I have labelled a book for UK/Europe only die to weight people have tried to mooch it from ‘further afield’. Perhaps they just see the title and don’t read the condition note and further details?
June 14, 2008 at 10:34 am
I like your suggestion. Have emailed people to ask for books only for them to be gone later - have also had people email me to ask and for others to have requested them before I see the original email. Then the emailer gave me grief for giving it to someone else first.
June 14, 2008 at 1:08 pm
KRYZ and others interested, you can get to the forums by following this path - Member Home -> About Book Mooch -> Forums (http://lists.magnatune.com/read/?forum=bm-discuss)
It’s very slow to use the forums online so it’s best to sign up and get the posts to/from your email inbox.
June 14, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Thanks tremendously for this week’s new features. Previously the lack of them caused lots of frustration, I’m glad it’s over now. Excellent!
June 15, 2008 at 12:11 am
I like the idea of “ask” and the book being placed on hold while the askee decides. There is nothing worse than finally seeing a long wished for book come up and having to wait. You know that the book will be gone long before your acceptance email will be returned.
And the rejection bites if you mooch and ask at the same time! I have done this and been slapped hard, how dare I! Trouble is when I get that long anticipated email I dont always look to see how big the book is I just act to be the first to respond.
Thats John.
June 15, 2008 at 8:53 am
I agree with Nic.
Whether I am willing to send worldwide depends on how much I spent the previous week or month on worldwide.
Last week I spent about $75.00. I cannot do this regularly.
I still mourn over a particular book I missed because I was too late in responding.
June 15, 2008 at 10:46 am
I like the new “ask first” setup the way it is. Thanks so much John for changing this!
June 15, 2008 at 3:48 pm
I’ve tried out the new ask first system, and I really like it. It’s simple and neat to use. I have a record of my “asks” in email form. So far two out of four givers have responded and that’s super, so I think probably the 7 day response period will be enough.
About the interaction with the wishlist. I’m quite used to having a few non-moochable books on my wishlist - that is, only to [someone else's] my country ones, so having temporarily reserved/asked books showing up is not really a problem.
I suppose since the wishlist email goes out anyway for asked for/reserved books, the general wishlist email text (for all wishlist emails) could be modified slightly. Perhaps to mention that where the owner is set to “ask first”, the book will be reserved for 7 days for the first moocher to ask first, and after that time it becomes available again. Therefore if the book is reserved when you attempt to mooch it, perhaps it should be mentioned that it is worth checking back in 8 days to see if it has reappeared as an available book.
I think the mooch and reject alternative proposed could prove very ambiguous. I’m not even sure that having two drop down options on the rejection notice, and a comments box would make it clear enough that it was a rejection notice because the person is set to “ask first”, rather than any other kind of rejection. The two drop down options might be something like “Sorry, I am unable to send this book to your country at this time. Thanks for asking.”, and “Sorry, this book is too heavy to send to your country. Thanks for asking”.
June 15, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Some people say that they will send smaller books internationally. Maybe the users who select ‘ask first’ in their profile could be given the option of saying ‘worldwide’ or ‘only to my country’ on a book by book basis. Each book would visibly show one or the other. This would reduce the uncertainty.
June 15, 2008 at 9:45 pm
It would be much more helpful to have an auto-mooch feature. I don’t check my e-mail every 5 minutes. By the time I do, any availabile book is already taken. The most frustrating message on BM is “No copies available (someone else got the last one)”. Similar swap sites have auto-request features with a queue of recipients in the order that each added the book to their wish lists.
June 15, 2008 at 11:01 pm
I’ve mooched a book using the new “ask me” system, and I love it, especially its reserve feature.
A potential problem with the immediate-mooch/rejection-without-penalty system would be that some people might set their sending option to “ask me first” when they actually have no intention of sending their books overseas, and simply reject all international mooches without suffering a penalty.
The reason I suspect this is because many people (not me) would not send books to international moochers who do not do the same, although whether this is a legitimate reason for rejection has been debated. In other words, there might be some “only to my country” people under the guise of “ask me first.”
I’m not arguing for those “Don’t mooch from me if you are not willing to send overseas” people (though I understand their sentiment). I simply don’t want to waste my time inquiring of people from other countries who have no intention of sending their books overseas in the first place. Maybe I’m too skeptical. Just a thought.
Anyway, thank you so much, John, for constantly improving the already wonderful system. I love BookMooch.
June 16, 2008 at 1:46 am
I would love to see a ‘reject with no penalty’ option for the ask first people…for me, 95% of the books I request now are wishlist books, as my bookshelf is quite full. I never know what to do when I’m notified of a wishlist book, but the person is an ‘ask first’…because I know if I wait and ask, someone else will request, and I’ll never get the book. Allowing me to request it, and them to reject with no penalty, sounds like the best of both worlds. Keep up the great work, this is a wonderful site!
June 16, 2008 at 3:31 am
I already mentioned my vote is for keeping it the way it is with the new “ask first”. But I just wanted to add, that if you did reduce the number of clicks in the process, it would also reduce the adrenilin rush of the mooching process, and thereby reduce the fun.
June 16, 2008 at 8:15 am
I just mooched an ‘ask first’ book today, and I love it! I’ve emailed a couple of people before about wishlist books, but they either didn’t reply or replied saying the book had already been requested by someone within their own country.
I’ve tried to get this book for a little while now, and have missed out on two or three copies, so when I was able to mooch it today I was so happy!
June 16, 2008 at 8:41 am
I just used this new service for the first time today and am very impressed. What a great idea, much better than the person getting an email asking and a mooch request from 2 different people. It was for a wishlist book and I can now be happily confident that the owner will get chance to answer my request before someone else in his own country gets a mooch in.
A very good system, well done.
June 16, 2008 at 1:02 pm
John, I prefer the process to stay just as you have it now. One reason is that I am a collector of a certain imprint, and I always want to know before I mooch if the offered book is the edition pictured. (I’ve gotten burned a few times by folks who just add to their inventory the first edition that comes up with their title.)
I also agree with the person who pointed out that there really aren’t more clicks this way for the requestor or the sender.
June 16, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Can this system be adapted for angel mooches? I am an angel and frequently get requests. But…the book has already been mooched. Is there any way an international moocher can reserve a book until an angel can mooch it for them?
The system is working well for the “ask first” books. I just mooched 2 of them! Good work!!
June 16, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Even though the reserving feature from the asking mail is a good idea, I’m not quite happy on the amount of ‘junk’ mails the system generates.
I always put condition on my profile that I’ll send anywhere in Europe, and it works just fine. People from Europe just mooched, ones outside of Europe asked, and sometimes I accept, sometimes I reject, giving the reason why. I never had any problems with it. Why is everybody so afraid to reject and cancel anyway? Is there a penalty of having records of rejects and cancellations?
I think the phrase ‘Ask first’ itself is somehow vague. It gives the impression that everybody that sets their shipping condition as ‘Ask first’ must always wanted to be asked. Maybe it’s only me, but I’d prefer that people just ask by the way of mooching right away instead of filling up my bulk email folder. When they’re in the process of mooching, they’ll be able to read my status anyway, and will know what’s the conditions and locations I will send books to.
Then again, my gripe could probably only be understood by someone else living in a small countries with many neighboring countries where local mooch is more the exception than the rule.
June 16, 2008 at 7:03 pm
i def like the second proposal better than the current set up.
June 16, 2008 at 7:09 pm
I would like a “will send within my continent” kind of idea. I’m in Canada and I don’t need to be asked if I’ll send to the USA, but I would like to have a chance to think about a request from Japan.
I really appreciate the new “reserved” feature — it has eliminated the bottlenecks I was struggling with.
Change is okay, but please do continue to take into account the “fairness” and “easy to use” factors. I’m average in technical knowledge and I’ve been both the victim and the unintended cause of “injustices” in my life on the web (all non-Bookmooch) because I didn’t fully understand the impact of my communications through the site’s interface.
June 16, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Oh, and I personally don’t care about the “number of clicks” factor . . . I once read an article on web design that claimed that as long as people feel they are making progress, they actually don’t care how many clicks it takes to get somewhere. It’s the clicking around furtively that is actually being reflected in the “too many clicks” complaint.
June 16, 2008 at 9:29 pm
I definitely prefer this new idea. Not because of the extra work, but because the book often gets a mooch request while I am trying to figure out if I want to pay the postage to send out the book overseas. Then I have to reject someone either way.
June 17, 2008 at 4:52 am
Like one of the posters above I generally don’t mooch from ‘ask firsts’ - I tend to figure either you’re willing to send the book or not, and I can do without the ambiguity.
However what I would like to see is books be put on auto mooch, so that the book goes automatically to the person who has had it on their wishlist the longest. I think it would be more fair that way. If you’re not constantly at your email you can miss out on getting the really popular books.
June 17, 2008 at 1:43 pm
I’d like to echo a suggestion already said several times above. For some of us living in Asia or Europe, it’d be great if we can have an option of “will send anywhere in my region/continent”. It could even get further specified to South East Asia, Eastern Europe, etc. This is because postal rates usually don’t differ much in the same region, but increased markedly when sending to another continent.
June 17, 2008 at 4:11 pm
I think that’s such a great idea! And more importantly, I wanted to thank you for making such a *great* site here. I’ve used a few book-swapping sites and they were no where close to as nice as this site! Paperbackswap tries to bill themselves as better and may for now have a bigger market, but I used them before this and was frankly appalled by how they let people cheat the system for points and give damaged books without penalty, and all the little features they lacked that you provide. It was a breath of fresh air to my book-loving soul when I found this site.
Feedback, international mooches AND all the extra features that make it so nice. Thank you so much for doing it for us!! 
June 17, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Having had negative experiences with the “ask first” option when I first joined, I haven’t mooched from anybody with that setting. I just tried under the new system and it works beautifully.
I really like that there is an exchange of emails in connection with the “ask first” setting and that the book is saved for the duration of the email communications. So no more lost books due to following the rules!
June 18, 2008 at 6:24 am
I really like the idea… I just used it a few minutes ago. I especially like how it will reserve the book until the person decides if they want to allow the mooch or not.
June 18, 2008 at 10:07 am
I second this great idea. Simpler is better !
June 18, 2008 at 3:51 pm
I’m a relatively new moocher, but I’d already seen an instance where someone asked first and then had the book mooched out from under them, so was glad to see that change. But I’m now going through my first ‘ask first’ and definitely finding it annoying.
Ideally, I would be able to address a package, take it to the post office, find out what it costs and if I’m okay with sending it, say yes, and pay and leave it there at the time. With the current system, I have to shlep it to the post office unaddressed, ask for a shipping rate to outer-nowhere, decide if I’m willing, bring it home, wait to get the address, and then take it back to actually send it. Two trips to the post office is one too many.
June 18, 2008 at 6:15 pm
I’m confused.
I’ve just had an “ask first” email and two hours later - i.e. before I even saw the initial email - the “asker” mooched.
I was under the impression that this couldn’t happen in the new system. Now I either have to ask the asker to cancel the mooch (when the system is now set up so that there need not be no drawn out discussions and haggling) or I have to reject it and carry the strike against me.
Can there be a delay built in, like there is when you’re trying to mark a book lost in the post?
June 19, 2008 at 3:03 am
Nic, John explains the situation you described and suggests how to handle it in the last four paragraphs of this post:
http://blog.bookmooch.com/2008/06/11/ask-me-first-now-completely-revamped/
June 19, 2008 at 10:40 am
I can only speak for myself,
but I selected “ask me” when I saw the choice
because I imagined I’d be open to international sending. After all, don’t I internationally mooch?
Suddenly I was inundated with requests,
and I honestly became exhausted quickly with the task of dealing with so many international mailings.
I switched back to “no” because of this feeling of being overwhelmed - if there were some kind of limit I could select (such as one international request at a time) I probably would be very open to the idea.
June 19, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Nic, here’s what John Buckman had to say:
“To support this informal dialogue, I decided to let the requester mooch the book once they have asked first, even if the book owner has not clicked YES or NO yet. The reason I did this, is because I tend to not like computer systems that require people to do everything their way, and which don’t support the reality of human interaction.
In other words, after you send an “ask first” request, if you get an email back from the book owner saying “sure, go ahead and mooch it!” you can go and mooch and the system won’t stop you, because you’ve asked for permission, and BookMooch assumes that if you’re mooching after asking for permission, it must be because you’ve obtained permission.
The downside to this approach is that someone could click “ask me”, and then 5 minutes later, mooch the book, even though the book owner hasn’t yet replied. In that case, the book owner would simply reject the mooch, and give negative feedback to the moocher, as well as (possibly) reporting them for abuse.”
So give negative feedback and report them for abuse. I would. This is why I haven’t used Bookmooch since the first month I signed up. International moochers can be so pushy!
June 19, 2008 at 4:26 pm
i like the new system, and i think i would prefer it to the new alternative you propose here.
but i wish that, rather than having to follow the link in the email to a special page, these type of requests would show up on my “pending” page along with everything else i’m sending, or being asked to send, or mooching. it would just be nice to have everything in one place.
June 20, 2008 at 12:34 am
I’d like to be able to select certain countries that I will always mail to. Canada is very affordable from the US and I’m always willing to send there. Shipping to other countries is cost-prohibitive and only makes sense with a mooch of multiple books. I don’t want Canadians to have to ask or wonder if I’ll send when I definitely will.
June 20, 2008 at 11:15 am
Great idea. Do it!
June 21, 2008 at 3:15 pm
It would help if we saw a notation that indicated the book was on hold, for example, PENDING - International, or something like that. I’ve hated to disappoint people.
June 22, 2008 at 7:45 am
As a victim of someone who didn’t ask me first and gave me two negative feedback points (later rescinded under management urging)I say keep the new system. People seem to ignore the ask me first note and charge on ahead. And it’s true, they do get frustrated when they see a book they want and can’t get it. So keep the new ask me first system!!
June 22, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Sounds like a good idea.
June 22, 2008 at 4:29 pm
The new ‘ask me’ tab is great (I’ve already had two book requests accepted!…whereas before I kept loosing out to other moochers)
I don’t think an extra click here or there really matters and its certainly easier to now mooch the book directly if it was accepted.
I was wondering if there would be anyway to get a direct link to the Angel network in case of a refusal???….would that be possible??
Keep up the great work…..SUPER site!!!
Alison
June 22, 2008 at 5:56 pm
hmmm… i don’t know if this the right place to post it. but i have a suggesstion to make. could you please add an option to sleect books thorugh places too? for eg. i live in mumbai so it would be easier for me to mail and recieve books from ppl in mumbai itself. so if i have a search option tht narrows down the books frm tht region itself it would be easier for me to select a book.
i hope my suggestion is worked upon.
by hte way i am a new user so i may yet not know how o make new friends and so too. so is it necess to make frnds? can we borrow frm them only?
June 22, 2008 at 10:55 pm
I must say my initial reaction to “ask me” was to be very pleased. I found that lots of folks were not asking and although I had not rejected anyone it certainly seemed rude!
From a book owner perspective - it’s wonderful!
Now from a moocher perspective I am not so thrilled. There are quite a few people who have “ask first” option but in their notes say they will always mail to Canada. Now I have to request the books and wait - even though I already know they will mail to me. Not only that, if I want three of their books - I have to ask first for all three! They have to respond to all three requests and then I have to mooch all three……sheesh - value schmalue - too many clicks!
Just my honest opinion………..
June 23, 2008 at 4:58 am
Zinnia, welcome to bookmooch! And no, you are not required to have friends to use and enjoy bookmooch, and you can mooch books from anyone, not just your friends.
HTH
June 23, 2008 at 1:04 pm
I like the new system; however, I have had one potential moocher ‘ask’ and I’m still waiting for the mooch. Perhaps they don’t understand that now they have to mooch the book OR perhaps they need a week to decide whether to really mooch it or not? Your new idea would eliminate the limbo (I’m not impatient at all, but I have heard of others in my position who are and want to know NOW).
On a slight side note. I love the new reserve for friends or specific user system! This is terrific when you know your friends are looking for particular books for a book club reading or a collection of some sort. However, I have noticed that friend requests have jumped (most wanting something in my inventory reserved for my friends). Could we have a field for an explanation when we reject the request? Just rejecting them seems harsh (I felt like I was in high school or something), and then emailing them from their profile pages to explain involves more steps than necessary.
June 23, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Sorry, I should’ve put that side note on the previous blog post!
June 23, 2008 at 9:40 pm
I love that you are always trying to improve BM. For me, an amazing, now much loved sight. My little comment is this.
I just opened an email that said a book, I have been eagerly waiting for on my Wishlist, was available. I jumped to mooch it, but was told it was reserved. Total bummer! Highs and lows usually saved for my boyfriends…
In a perfect world, if a book is reserved, then maybe only the 2 people involved need to know about it??
Just a thought.
June 24, 2008 at 4:46 am
Sorry, did not read all the posts, but would like to add a comment now that the subject has been raised. I have been frustrated several times lately by finding a book I really want only to find when I try to mooch that the person is no longer active or doesn’t any longer have the book.
Any part of what you are fixing that would fix this when books are listed as available would be great.
June 25, 2008 at 12:58 am
I don’t like the idea of a book being taken out of my inventory while being asked for internationally. A lot of my books are heavy textbooks, and despite listing in my profile that I only send books under 8 oz, I still get requests for the 3+ pounders. I’d hate to lose a domestic request over that.
June 25, 2008 at 5:20 am
The only part I don’t like is that the book still shows up on my wish list even though someone has “asked first”, and it is reserved for them until the person either accepts or denies it.
June 25, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Since the subject was brought up, and the forums link doesn’t seem to work - I agree with Nanci.
We need to have the inactive user’s inventories pulled from bookmooch. When I find 2-3 books, only one copy available of each all by the same user who hasn’t logged on for 300+ days…I think its safe to say they aren’t coming back if they’re not on a vacation status.
On the subject of cool featuers - could you add a field to the bookmooch search engine to search by paperback or hardcover? I prefer hardcovers and I hate sifting through all the paperbacks - at least make it more visible in the search results
Thanks, bookmooch is the best!
June 25, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Those who want to use qualifications that don’t fit under the current system, but don’t want to inconvenience those who meet those qualifications can set themselves to send world wide, then put the qualifications in the status message.
June 26, 2008 at 12:16 pm
In general, the new Ask First system works well for me, thanks (not too many clicks). But like some others here in the forum I think that if we could have the option “Will send only within my continent” that would be even better because I really don’t mind sending anywhere within Europe, but cannot always send to other countries outside the EU.
June 26, 2008 at 7:49 pm
i sent an email last week but didn’t receive a response. is there a place to send HELP emails for this site?
one suggestion i have is waiting at least 48 hours on a wishlisted book. it’s so disappointing when one pops up but has already been given to someone else. first come, first served would be great. just an idea. another suggestion is having a place to put member preferences. frankly, it’s appalling, the condition of some books i receive. i should not have to specify every request… no highlighting, no underlining, no beat up books, please include dust jacket, etc. i guess i’m too picky. but the books i send are in very good condition, so i expect to receive the same.
thank you moocho for reading this. jil
June 26, 2008 at 9:15 pm
I definitely vote for the “reject without penalty” option - much smoother!
Thanks so much for all you do!
June 27, 2008 at 11:50 am
Some people here mentioned sifting throught accounts and vacationing those inactive ones. I think, a good idea would be something like an automatic program, which would filter all accounts, say, once a year, and would vacation those inactive for 300+ days automatically, plus, inform the owners of such accounts by email about this and suggest closing their accounts, if they no longer plan be BM members. This would clean up BookMooch a lot, and ease our active members’ lives greatly.
June 27, 2008 at 2:22 pm
I think its a great idea! “ask me first” is a pain in the but.
June 27, 2008 at 5:22 pm
For those of you who are having problems with the “possibly inactive” accounts, especially if they list a book you want, I have a suggestion.
Go ahead and mooch that book from that possibly inactive person. Wait a week. If you haven’t heard anything, cancel the mooch, and pick the option “never heard anything from book owner” or whatever it is. When you do this, that person is automatically put “on vacation” by the system, which means their inventory no longer shows up. Also I think they are sent an email letting them know this.
If on the other hand the person has not visited bookmooch, but still pays attention to their email, why then your mooch might end up getting you the book after all!
It’s a win-win method, and it’s the one I employ. I recommend it to all.
June 29, 2008 at 7:26 pm
When someone asks you to ship to their country and reserves a book - the only option we currently have is to reject the request. I would like to be able to say why I am rejecting the request (the book is too large, too expensive to ship, etc.). I rejected one request a week ago because the book would cost too much to ship overseas. I just received the same request from the same moocher and I would like to be able to tell them why I’m rejecting it.
July 3, 2008 at 6:03 pm
At first I did like the new system. In the meantime my opinion changed a bit. Ok, I still like it, but there’s one thing that really bugs me.
I received several ‘would you send to my country’ emails, after replying whith ‘yes’… no mooch, no email, no nothing.
Of course with the old system this also happened. But a) now it’s much more frequently and b) the book in question is reserved and so not available for other potential moochers. I know that I’m not the only one who is annoyed because of this.
So I would like to see an automatic mooch on acceptance.Otherwise I will soon reach the point where I send nasty emails to ask-but-not-mooch people LOL
July 26, 2008 at 6:47 pm
I’ve been noticing the same as Sandra aka bubobubo and am wondering what’s up, as well!! It’s both ways: people are rarely responding to my Ask first requests, which is getting really frustrating, and the other way too: it’s becoming more and more frequent that potential moochers are simply not mooching after I have approved their request. So now their books are reserved but no mooch. Hm. Did they just change their minds about the book? Are they not getting these emails? Is it because they are not checking their junk mails? Is there a glitch in the system that part of this transaction is getting lost in cyberspace?