An illustration of what's wrong with Bookmooch wishlists

An analysis of a highly wishlisted book - Twilight.

http://bookmooch.com/m/detail/0316015849

This copy appears on 387 wishlists. 302 of them are in the United States. I excluded the international wishers because Twilight is a heavy book that would be cheapest to send via flat rate for $13.25 to non-US countries… at over $4 per point, not worth it for many Americans.

Of the 302 wishlists in the United States, here is a summary of the activity on their accounts:
= 22 accounts inactive 3+ years =
= 78 accounts inactive 2-3 years =
= 83 accounts inactive 1-2 years =
= 27 accounts inactive 9mo-1yr =
= 8 accounts inactive 6mo-9mo =
= 22 accounts inactive 3mo-6mo =
= 27 accounts inactive 1mo-3mo =
= 35 accounts logged in past month, 29 not on vacation, 20 in past week =

So if a bookmooch member adds Twilight to their wishlist, there are only 35 US moochers who have logged into the site in the past month, but their odds of getting an email alert within the first few hours are 1/387, instead of 1/35 (or whatever time period you might define as being "active"). This is a prime example of a book that rewards those who stalk their wishlists and the twitter feeds… not that there is anything wrong with that, but it is disheartening to those who can't do so, these are usually the people unhappy because they never get a wishlisted book and who leave the site because of it.

When a new member is adding books to their inventory, they are often excited to list books that are wishlisted… only to be puzzled why none of the wishers are mooching their book.

Here is the more detailed breakdown:. Not on vacation (yet) means I spent my time and tied up my points so that in a week I can vacation that member.

1507 days inactive - on vacation
1455 days inactive - on vacation
1439 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
1436 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
1414 days inactive - on vacation
1350 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
1300 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
1290 days inactive - on vacation
1277 days inactive - on vacation
1276 days inactive - on vacation
1259 days inactive - on vacation
1218 days inactive - on vacation
1201 days inactive - on vacation
1197 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
1191 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
1189 days inactive - on vacation
1183 days inactive - on vacation
1142 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
1118 days inactive - on vacation
1111 days inactive - temporarily on hold
1106 days inactive - on vacation
1098 days inactive - on vacation

= 22 accounts inactive 3+ years =

1076 days inactive - on vacation
1076 days inactive - on vacation
1075 days inactive - on vacation
1062 days inactive - on vacation
1033 days inactive - on vacation
1031 days inactive - on vacation
1030 days inactive - on vacation
1025 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
1010 days active - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
1008 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
1006 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
1001 days inactive - on vacation
992 days inactive - on vacation
988 days inactive - on vacation
980 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
975 days inactive - on vacation
973 days inactive - on vacation
970 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
968 days inactive - on vacation
952 days inactive - on vacation
951 days inactive - on vacation
951 days inactive - on vacation
949 days inactive - on vacation
949 days inactive - on vacation
949 days inactive - on vacation
945 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
945 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
944 days inactive - on vacation
935 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
914 days inactive - on vacation
911 days inactive - on vacation
908 days inactive - on vacation
904 days inactive - not on vacation (yet)
900 days inactive - on vacation
877 days inactive - on vacation
874 days inactive - on vacation
872 days inactive - not on vacation (yet)
865 days inactive - on vacation
857 days inactive - on vacation
850 days inactive - on vacation
849 days inactive - on vacation
849 days inactive - on vacation
846 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
845 days inactive - on vacation
842 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
841 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
840 days inactive - not on vacation (yet)
833 days inactive - on vacation
833 days inactive - on vacation
831 days inactive - on vacation
831 days inactive - on vacation
826 days inactive - on vacation
820 days inactive - on vacation
817 days inactive - on vacation
817 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
815 days inactive - on vacation
810 days inactive - on vacation
805 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
801 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
800 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
799 days inactive - on vacation
797 days inactive - on vacation
797 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
797 days inactive - not on vacation (yet)
791 days inactive - temporarily on hold
791 days inactive - on vacation
790 days inactive - on vacation
787 days inactive - on vacation
787 days inactive - not on vacation (yet)
780 days inactive - on vacation
779 days inactive - on vacation
770 days inactive - on vacation
764 days inactive - not on vacation (yet)
757 days inactive - on vacation
756 days inactive - on vacation
749 days inactive - on vacation
746 days inactive - on vacation
744 days inactive - on vacation

= 78 accounts inactive 2-3 years =

726 days inactive - on vacation
723 days inactive - on vacation
722 days inactive - on vacation
720 days inactive - on vacation
717 days inactive - on vacation
713 days inactive - on vacation
704 days inactive - on vacation
692 days inactive - on vacation
691 days inactive - on vacation
679 days inactive - on vacation
675 days inactive - on vacation
669 days inactive - on vacation
668 days inactive - on vacation
668 days inactive - on vacation
664 days inactive - on vacation
663 days inactive - on vacation
661 days inactive - on vacation
660 days inactive - on vacation
658 days inactive - on vacation
657 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
649 days inactive - on vacation
643 days inactive - on vacation
636 days inactive - on vacation
632 days inactive - on vacation
630 days inactive - on vacation
621 days inactive - on vacation
615 days inactive - on vacation
611 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
609 days inactive - on vacation
605 days inactive - on vacation
591 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
590 days inactive - on vacation
579 days inactive - on vacation
578 days inactive - on vacation
568 days inactive - on vacation
568 days inactive - on vacation
565 days inactive - on vacation
565 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
560 days inactive - on vacation
557 days inactive - on vacation
552 days inactive - on vacation
544 days inactive - on vacation
538 days inactive - on vacation
537 days inactive - on vacation
533 days inactive - on vacation
529 days inactive - on vacation
521 days inactive - not on vacation (yet)
510 days inactive - on vacation
510 days inactive - on vacation
508 days inactive - on vacation
507 days inactive - not on vacation (yet)
498 days inactive - on vacation
497 days inactive - not on vacation (yet)
493 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
492 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
491 days inactive - on vacation
488 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
486 days inactive - on vacation
483 days inactive - not on vacation (yet)
470 days inactive - on vacation
470 days inactive - not on vacation (yet)
467 days inactive - on vacation
447 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
446 days inactive - on vacation
445 days inactive - on vacation
441 days inactive - on vacation
435 days inactive - not on vacation (yet)
434 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
432 days inactive - on vacation
429 days inactive - on vacation
428 days inactive - on vacation
412 days inactive - on vacation
409 days inactive - on vacation
405 days inactive - on vacation
399 days inactive - temporarily on hold
394 days inactive - on vacation
392 days inactive - on vacation
389 days inactive - on vacation
380 days inactive - on vacation
376 days inactive - on vacation
372 days inactive - on vacation
367 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
366 days inactive - on vacation

= 83 accounts inactive 1-2 years =

364 days inactive - not on vacation (yet)
360 days inactive - on vacation
359 days inactive - on vacation
357 days inactive - on vacation
357 days inactive - on vacation
357 days inactive - on vacation
356 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
352 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
351 days inactive - on vacation
337 days inactive - on vacation
335 days inactive - on vacation
334 days inactive - on vacation
330 days inactive - on vacation
329 days inactive - on vacation
326 days inactive - on vacation
326 days inactive - on vacation
322 days inactive - on vacation
319 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
310 days inactive - on vacation
308 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
300 days inactive - not on vacation (yet)
294 days inactive - on vacation
294 days inactive - on vacation
290 days inactive - on vacation
278 days inactive - on vacation
275 days inactive - on vacation
272 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory

= 27 accounts inactive 9mo-1yr =

257 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
256 days inactive - on vacation
237 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
236 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
218 days inactive - on vacation
208 days inactive - on vacation
207 days inactive - on vacation
191 days inactive - not on vacation (yet)

= 8 accounts inactive 6mo-9mo =

178 days inactive - on vacation
174 days inactive - on vacation
170 days inactive - on vacation
161 days inactive - on vacation
158 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
157 days inactive - on vacation
152 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
146 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
145 days inactive - on vacation
144 days inactive - on vacation
135 days inactive - on vacation
128 days inactive - not on vacation
127 days inactive - not on vacation
123 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
116 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
114 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
113 days inactive - on vacation
109 days inactive - not on vacation
101 days inactive - temporarily on hold
97 days inactive - on vacation
94 days inactive - on vacation
93 days inactive - not on vacation

= 22 accounts inactive 3mo-6mo =

85 days inactive - temporarily on hold
85 days inactive - on vacation
83 days inactive - not on vacation
81 days inactive - on vacation
79 days inactive - on vacation
77 days inactive - on vacation
76 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
67 days inactive - on vacation
64 days inactive - not on vacation
63 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
62 days inactive - not on vacation
61 days inactive - on vacation
59 days inactive - not on vacation
57 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
54 days inactive - not on vacation
53 days inactive - on vacation
52 days inactive - not on vacation
51 days inactive - not on vacation and can't be b/c 0 inventory
51 days inactive - not on vacation
50 days inactive - not on vacation
49 days inactive - not on vacation
42 days inactive - on vacation
40 days inactive - on vacation
39 days inactive - temporarily on hold
36 days inactive - on vacation
33 days inactive - not on vacation
30 days inactive - on vacation

= 27 accounts inactive 1mo-3mo =

29 days inactive - ACTIVE!!
28 days inactive - on vacation
28 days inactive - ACTIVE!!
26 days inactive - ACTIVE!!
23 days inactive - ACTIVE!!
21 days inactive - ACTIVE!!
20 days inactive - ACTIVE!!
20 days ago - ACTIVE!!
17 days ago - ACTIVE!!
15 days inactive - on vacation
12 days ago - on vacation
12 days ago - ACTIVE!!
11 days inactive - on vacation
9 days ago - ACTIVE!!
8 days inactive - on vacation
7 days ago - ACTIVE!!
6 days ago - ACTIVE!!
6 days ago - ACTIVE!!
5 days ago - on vacation
5 days ago - ACTIVE!!
5 days ago - ACTIVE!!
5 days ago - ACTIVE!!
4 days ago - ACTIVE!!
4 days ago - ACTIVE!!
4 days ago - ACTIVE!!
3 days ago - ACTIVE!!!
2 days ago - ACTIVE!!
Yesterday - ACTIVE!!
yesterday - ACTIVE!!
23 hours ago - ACTIVE!!!
21 hours ago - ACTIVE!!
14 hours ago - ACTIVE!!
14 hours ago - ACTIVE!!
11 hours ago - ACTIVE!!
logged in now - ACTIVE!!

= 35 accounts logged in past month, 29 not on vacation, 20 in past week =

The more detailed breakdown illustrates how accounts that are grossly inactive and on vacation are cluttering up the wishlists. It also illustrates that accounts which are temporarily on hold, usually (not always, I know), a sign of someone abusing the system, are also cluttering up the wishlists which is ridiculous.

Holy smokes, you did a lot of work on this! Thanks rainbowgirl, this is a great example of the problem.

The solution to this is to mark those accounts, not to auto-vacation the lot.

Break the wishlist into 3 parts

# active
# possibly inactive
# inactive

Oh, and imo, accounts on hold shouldn't get wishlist notices.

I've often thought when reading the discussions about inactive accounts, that even tho my husband and some friends know that I BM, I'm not sure it would occur to anyone if I died that they would need to find my password and try to close my account. I wonder if this is the case with some of the accounts that are inactive. I do think that there should be some criteria whereby BM would close inactive accounts after some period of time. I wonder what actually happens when you go in and "close - abondon BM acccount forever"?

Maybe BM should offer some options when you sign up
e.g.
If my account becomes inactive for 365 days:
1. Automatically close it but leave open the option that I may rejoin at a later date
2. Automatically close it permanently

Or something along those lines that way it won't tie up other users and cover those who "abandon" their accounts.

>1 rainbowgirl28: That's only one Twilight edition, too! There are several other editions, and at least one of them has about 70 wishlisters. :( Thank you for the illustration. It's a good example of what's wrong with the wishlist system atm.

>5 infiniteletters: Yes! Accounts on hold shouldn't get wishlist notices, it is so annoying that they do. Also, while people who haven't been on in a long time sometimes do come back, I think anyone who hasn't logged in for over a year shouldn't get wishlist notices.

>6 dudes22: I keep planning to make a record of my usernames and passwords so I can put them in a safe place with some instructions in case anything happens to me. (Morbid, I know.) I do sometimes wonder, especially about accounts that were really in good standing until a certain point where all of a sudden everyone started canceling due to non-response. We've definitely had members pass away where people knew about it and could petition admin to close the account, but that's a general problem with the internet. You can't always know why someone vanished.

>7 rxtheresa: - That's a great idea.

>8 chelonianmobile: - I must be morbid too - but I haven't done anything about it. But I will... I promise... soon...

I would tell you to forward this message to Buckman, but I honestly don't think he would pay the slightest bit of attention.

We all know that this is a problem and that it isn't going away. It does become a more pressing problem if certain books cost more, based on how many people have them wishlisted. Especially when some poor sod picks up a copy specifically to get 5 points off of it, only to have no one mooch it.

An amazing amount of work, Becca.

Yeah exactly, it becomes an even bigger issue if John is going to consider variable points or anything else for "highly wishlisted" books.

Another example: today I picked up a book from the FOL shelf that has 62 wishlisters. I decided to go through to see how many of them were active. Having approached just shy of halfway through with only five active moochers, I gave up. There are about twenty copies available, and I wouldn't be surprised if fewer wishlisters than that were actually active.

This really is getting ridiculous.

edit: I should note that I have fairly negative feelings regarding the author, so I only got the book because I recalled seeing it on a fair number of wishlists.

Re the OP: I wonder if John will finally admit something needs to be done about long-inactive accounts if he saw THAT. That's.... wow. It's... ridiculous. Simply, completely, ridiculous. THAT is what is wrong with BookMooch. Both with overall BookMooch inventory (because some long-inactive accounts *still have books in inventories dangit*), and overall reality of wishlists. That's... pathetic, really.

In happier news, I just had a book I thought would languish for ages on my inventory mooched within eight hours and by a member who didn't have it wishlisted.

So apparently John has seen this thread and TPTB are looking into the issue. I mean they've been aware of it for a long time, but I think the detailed analysis helped in that department as well.

16: Awesome!

Nice!! Good job :)

#16
I think someone sent him a copy of your very hard work.

msg 14 you are so correct and to rainbowgirl28 sincere kudos for all the work.

Unfortunately this issue has been addressed in the past. . .see MarkW's response on how to eliminate inactive accounts and the derision from MarkW and others about such a "crusade".

I do hope that all of the hard work you have done here will have some positive effect on BookMooch.

Still the crusader msg 5 :)

>20 JDVotier: The concern here is wishlists in particular, not inactive accounts in general. Even when inactive accounts are vacationed, their wishlists are still in the system. You'll note that Rainbowgirl identified a specific problem, gathered facts, offered an analysis, and put the whole thing up for discussion. Well done. In contrast, although i know your intentions were good, you identified a very general "problem" (inactive accounts and their inventories) for which there was already a solution (auto-vacationing), and your proposed course of action (bombarding admins with requests to vacation individual inactive accounts) was counterproductive to put it mildly. It was i - not infiniteletters - who used the word crusade. Perhaps "Quixotic quest" might have been more accurate.

Sorry, i'm really not trying to be unkind, but i think it's important to point out why you didn't have much support and why Rainbowgirl does.

Infinteletters, my true and sincere apologies, my very bad mistake.

jfThing, we both agree that Rainbowgirl has done an excellent job, far better than what the thread about inactive accounts that I started did but to deride and discourage change, as you did on the other thread, is counter productive. Remember also that MarkW asked for the solution of sending reports to Admins, then backed off as it coincided with the Rachel Ray promotion. . .

Sadly it seems up to members with many points to vacation accounts so their inventories don't show and that does effect with lists as with no inventory showing from "inactive" accounts their inventory goes away. That is a sad thing as it should NOT be the responsibility of the membership to do the work of the site.

As for the wish list for "vacationed" or "on hold" accounts, well as I've stated before it is a programming issue and BookMooch should make this happen.

I also believe it is important to point out to you that I did have a lot of support until the sarcastic and condemning posts started, nothing like intimidating and minimizing the efforts of others is there?

Again, this is BookMooch's issue, a programming issue and the burden should not fall on the membership to make things right. The new feature of "auto point" well a joke when many of us are much more concerned about the issue above and the excellent work that Rainbowgirl has done that will be ignored yet again by John, Mark and the Admins.

I see this is the first time you, jfthing, has contributed to this discussion. Interesting, do you have my account flagged for posts? Just very odd. . .

Rainbowgirl, you rock!

>22 JDVotier: If you look carefully at the "Eliminating erroneous inventories" thread, you'll see that starting with messages #18 and 20, people started expressing concerns with your approach. Then Mark WP intervened and confirmed that sending lists of inactive accounts to admins was indeed counterproductive and he discussed the alternatives. The comments imploring you to let it go (including my own) only began when you continued to list reams of inactive accounts. It just wasn't helpful; in fact, it was quite the opposite. That's why some of us were eager to move on. I'm sorry to hear that you experienced those comments as derisive and intimidating. That was never the intent.

On a related note, when I was going through the process of making the original post, I mooched a book from any inventories with owners that had generally been MIA over a year. It was more than just listed here... I just deactivated 25 accounts. One person came back online and I already received their book (which I totally don't want, but I can spare the point, and they get props for a perfect paper wrapper) and another person came back to the site and at least hit the accept button.

24: And this is why I don't want auto-vacation. Yes, I have a low chance of getting books from inactive accounts, but if they're auto-vacationed, I have _no_ chance. Long tail books. :)

>25 infiniteletters: Exactly, and just to clarify, in post #21 i used the term "auto-vacation" but i actually meant the process of vacationing an account after a request is ignored for 8 days. As illustrated by Becca, it's a process that works.

(Edited for clarity)

I would never support *just* auto-vacation, but I definitely support the idea that's been mentioned multiple times, of an auto-email sent out to users who haven't logged in (for 6 months? a year? more?), asking if they are still interested in participating. If inactive users would respond to mooches, I see no reason why they wouldn't respond to an email like that. And if they don't log in after the email (a month after the email? more?), then they get vacationed.

I don't often mooch with the intention of vacationing, but in my ongoing quest for Danielle Steel and Mary Higgins Clark books for my mom, I've found waaaay too many accounts inactive for over a year. Yesterday I started mooching some, since I actually have points to spare right now, and it's starting to annoy me.

Yeah I don't think many people support a true auto-vacation. What I have suggested is if a member does not log in for 3 months (and this time frame is flexible) that the site automatically send them an email asking if they wish to remain involved with the site.

All they have to do is click the link in the email, or otherwise visit the site, and they are good to go another 3 months or longer if they log in more often.

If they ignore the email, odds are HIGH that they would also ignore a mooch request.

But as you can see from my illustration, the current vacation system does not adequately address users who abandon their accounts. There needs to be an "inactive" setting where users' inventories and wishlists are hidden but would return as soon as the user logs in.

People who are too indolent to check their wish lists, and sit back waiting for messages, get (or actually don't get) as they deserve. Excess passivity is an unwholesome attitude.
It's always the same few people who kvetch all the time. They seem to have a lot of time on their hands, but are in danger of ruining their eyesight by huddling over their computers seemingly 24 hours a day.
Go out and look at some flowers, there is a real world out there.

I have a double header M H Clark "WHILE MY PRETTY ONE SLEEPS; LOVES MUSIC, LOVES TO DANCE" right at the top of my inventory. I send everywhere, mostly via air mail. Your mother is welcome to it.
Account name is NINABRYNA.

Take a few minutes before definitely adding the book to your inventory to check out whether wish listers are still alive and kicking. Then send emails to live one and see those books disappear.

> 29 So, wait. I should compulsively check my wishlist, which would prevent me complaining...but the biggest complainers are those who sit in front of the computer 24 hours a day, and need to go outside?

You're sending out some mixed messages.

If the site worked properly, active members would have a MUCH higher chance of getting email notification of books on their wishlist.

I don't have a problem with the concept of the wishlist emails going out randomly, but I do have a problem with them going to so many inactive accounts... which BTW is probably why the site emails end up in so many spam filters. Too many bounced emails gets you marked as a spammer.

Bookmooch members should have to not bear the burden of deactivating inactive accounts, nor should we have to fish around on a wishlist to see which members are active. Both of those are signs of a broken system.

33: Sooooo much this.

People who complain about never getting wishlist emails are complaining for a good reason!! Most of them aren't too lazy to log on and check their wishlist or anything like that.... They are told by the site that they will get an email if a book becomes available, and when they don't, they are understandably irritated. It's not made clear on the site that wishlist emails are staggered, either.

And, as I just posted about over on the BM forums, when you are on a book-wishlist with 30 other people, and 20 of those people are inactive.... You may be waiting a loooooong time for that random-email to cycle around to you.

It's not our faults that we get pissy about the emails, it's BM's fault that the feature doesn't work as it should.

And how many newbies have posted to ask why, when they get an email, the book is always gone, or asking how long they would have to wait before getting a notification email.

Recently I mooched several books for a Canadian member who said these books had been on her wishlist for awhile. Each was wishlisted by between three and sixteen members.

This is a problem that could easily be solved if TPTB recognized it as an issue. How is it that Becca's seriously detailed research didn't produce a single reaction?

I took your point indirectly for me - since I am not very active on bookmooch at the moment, due to all my books being in storage and me not being near home often (work means travel) I have reduced my wishlist down. But I do keep my most wished books on it :)

It's discouraging that this problem has still not been addressed :(

And frustrating when I list a book on BM because it's on dozens of wishlists, only to have it sit and sit in my inventory.

The Inactives Project has made great progress vacationing inactive accounts. This has helped with the inventory issue (one of the reasons the number of books showing as "available" has gone down in recent months). It does nothing, however, for the wishlist problem and there seems to be no indication that that will change. One reason the cynical voice in my head thinks that is not going to change is because of TBTB's insistence on the fictional 200,000 members number. If all those long inactive, on hold and vacationed accounts were actually closed there would be a much more accurate count of membership. This would, of course, make advertising on the site much less attractive.

Uhm, why was Twilight picked as an example? 'Love to hear how the ol' BM circulation is going along with say, Ulysses

Great comment, rainbowgirl. Thanks for the work.
#7 seems a simple solution, but it will take time. However, it could be easily done without changing any existing rules! Better late than never!

40> Because it is a book that was once heavily wishlisted, but is now fairly easy to get, so most of the current wishers are inactive accounts.

>42 rainbowgirl28:

Of course, thanks. My feeble attempt at being snobby...

Bump. It's a shame this never got resolved, seems like it wouldn't be that hard of a tweak.

You know, I did some cruising around BM recently and I found a preponderance of inactive accts. I think I mentioned that on another thread. The zombie accounts.

I had mentioned an essentially similar example a few weeks ago over at the vent/rant thread (I apparently forgot about this excellent research, RBG).

But my copy of Eclipse was finally Mooched off my shelf! It had been on about 300 wishlists, for weeks.

Sad this never got fixed.

Truly! I used to check BM at least twice a day to see if I had a wishlist hit, but I go weeks without even thinking about it now. I've had some hits lately, and even some mooches from me! I hadn't had a book mooched from me in so long...

LT can show me books that people are requesting, but whenever I go see why my book is still sitting in my inventory, they are invariably inactive. Very discouraging, to say the least.

I leave books in my inventory for a l-o-n-g time. Up to three years, as long as I have the storage space. That's a problem right now.

Each of my books has condition notes. I think that's a big plus. I've had people mooch even overly-loved books. I will also send smaller books overseas.

I joined PBS a couple of years ago at the recommendation of a friend, and then BM recently because I saw on my LT listings that there seemed to be many "availables" on PBS and many "wishlisted" on BM. I really like the BM feature of allowing "condition" notes, and I started putting books into my BM inventory because they had creases in the covers, or I had taped the spines as I frequently do with older paperbacks, and I thought I shouldn't list them on PBS. I'm delighted to send my no-longer-wanted books to people who want them, and I'm perfectly willing to send to other countries, so I now have about 30 points and have had no hits to my wishlist. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised because most of what I want is nonfiction in various categories, but at least on PBS I can see how many people are in line ahead of me for those books. I wasn't aware of the "inactive account" problem on BM until I saw it mentioned in this group. I'm also one of these people who assumed that I would get notification if one of my wishlist books became available; I don't know anything about RSS feeds and don't know how to check my wishlist, and after reading some of the comments here, I am getting a little discouraged about BM, especially if they are going to kick me off the site for not mooching books that aren't available to me.

mirigall: I don't think the nonfiction category is the problem - I have mooched 274 nonfiction books in the last 7 years, and I missed out on quite a few because many people don't send abroad (yes, I use the Angel system, but it doesn't always work).

But I do think it's a problem if you don't know how to check your wishlist on BookMooch. So here's how.
1. Open your wishlist.
Either
2a. Click on "Count" - this will move the available books to the top of the list
or
2b. Choose "Show moochable now" from the dropdown menu - this will only show the available books and hide the others.
3. Refresh regularly.
Done!

I can also recommend expanding your wishlist. The more books you have on your wishlist, the more hits you can get. And your wishlist can be as big as you want it to be.

>50 mirigall: I can sympathize with you on adjusting to a different system. I was so frustrated when I first joined PBS. The books I wanted all had long waiting lists that never moved. The only books I saw active were bestseller type books I had little interest in. I eventually got used to that system, but it was an adjustment. Give it time and as wester suggested, expand your wishlist. While PBS restricts your wishlist, and charges you for extending it, on BM your wishlist can be as long as you want. There is no penalty for not mooching. Keep your inventory smaller -- add books when your points start to go low -- I try to keep my points at around 20, which is enough to mooch anything that comes up without making me feel I have to mooch anything.

Because your wishlist is not restricted, this is a good place to list obscure and hard to find books, as well at the books you've run into that look interesting but that you're not sure about. I clean out my wishlist every few months, so I know it's reasonably up to date. If you add books that haven't been released yet, you can sometimes snag ARCs (advance reading copies), which is fun and they aren't tradeable on PBS.

As with any two systems, there are things I like about both, and things I think the other site does better.

Thanks! That's a big help.

RidgewayGirl: I think you're right, I'll just have to see how it goes. Actually I am parsimonious about my wishlist simply because at this point I am trying to give books away, not to acquire more. In that respect BookMooch has worked very well for me so far! I just didn't realize that there might be a penalty for giving away too many books.

Don't worry, there's no penalty for giving away too many books! And it is satisfying knowing that they are going to someone who really wants to read that particular book.

And I would add - when one of your wish listed books shows available, check out the person it's coming from. Most people are pretty good, but there have been times when I've wanted to mooch a book and the person seems to have a lot of books canceled or rejected. BM is more likely to get upset if you mooch a lot of books using your points but aren't very good about sending books out. I recently mooched a book from someone who was new and hadn't sent very many of their books out but was mooching from others using those points. After about a month I noticed that their account was "on vacation" which I suspect was done by BM because they hadn't sent out any books. Many people will say that if you wait for a message that you have a book available, some else will probably mooch it first. I don't know much about RSS feeds either, so I kind of haunt my wishlist a couple of times a day to see of anything is available. I've got mine set to sort on Count like wester mentioned so they pop up at the top.

RSS feeds have been my best friend when it comes to finding books on my wishlist that are available. Every time I am on my computer I click on it and I can see if any of my wishlisted books are available without even logging onto the site. Here is how to set one up:

Log into your Bookmooch account and go to your wishlist page. At the top left above the sort field (mine sorts by Author) you will see the words Your Wishlist and an an orange icon with white stripes coming from the bottom left corner. Click on the icon. It will take you to a page that has an option that says subscribe to this feed using Live Bookmarks. Click on the box below that says "subscribe now". A dialog box will pop up. Click subscribe. At the notification bar at the top of the screen you will now see the RSS icon with the words RSS BookMooch available books from Wishlist (your name). This is your RSS feed. Click on it and if you have no wishlist books available you will see a popup that says "Open RSS available wishlist books". If there are wishlist books available then the title of that book will pop up and you can click on the link and go to your wishlist to mooch it. Since it is up there any time your browser is open you can click on it any time you are online to check for wishlisted books without actually having to go to the BM website. I have found countless good mooches this way that I would otherwise have missed. Good luck!

>57 dadena: dadena: thanks for the instructions! It seems to be working, and that will indeed simplify my life a little.