 | | |
|
| msaggie : forum comments they have written | |
BookMooch Blog : John's official BookMooch Blog
|
|
|
|
re: International mooches now 3 points
I think the increase of international mooches to 3 points hurts the BookMooch members who are newer, and have less points to start off with, the most. When I first joined almost 4 years ago, it was wonderful to have the boost of the extra 0.1 point for leaving feedback - but then, when I accumulated more points from mooching, the extra 0.1 point was not as missed as they would have been when I started out. Now, many new members who have a limited budget to send books and accumulate points, and have very few points upfront will probably opt out of mooching from outside their country. Thinking of how we can have incentives for new members, and help them build up points, could the 0.1 reward be reinstated for a limited period until they have a more solid BookMooch history? (e.g. the first year of membership). A major advantage of BookMooch over PaperBack Swap in the US was the international community. I am sad that the participation from non-US members may be impacted (especially from all the posts so far on this) - I still am mooching internationally (well, I now live in Australia, so most of the books available are from outside my country), but that's because I have "spare" points - maybe that's what it's come to - i.e. to push those with many points to use them, and one can use them faster by mooching internationally. But the new international mooch system now favours the "rich" (i.e. those rich in points are more likely to be less affected, and thus will continue to mooch internationally) - thus I think that BookMooch is becoming more capitalist (in response to what Julia in Japan said about the old system being almost marxist!)
|
|
msaggie
13 years ago
|
|
|
|
|
re: International mooches now 3 points
I missed the blog about this 3 months ago, and I am dismayed at the increased cost in international mooches to three points a book. I just moved to Australia from the US, and really feel the great disadvantage of being an "international" (i.e. non-US) member of BookMooch now. New books are much more expensive in Australia compared to the US (e.g. a paperback which costs $7.99 in the US would cost $23.99 in Australia - and the Australian dollar is now equivalent to about US$1.05). And as it now costs 50% more in points to mooch from outside of one's country, I can also see how it will be detrimental to international mooching - and particularly discouraging for new members. I hope that this is not a permanent change, and that we will get the previous system back (i.e. an international mooch costing 2 points) after this trial is over.
|
|
msaggie
13 years ago
|
|
|
|
|
re: A dangerous idea
I too think that having a two tier system, one paying and another non-paying, would alter BookMooch in a negative manner. There would be two BookMooch communities - the aristos (who can pay) and the peasants (who want it free). I think how BookMooch runs is fine as it is - and I think the very large majority are very happy with it (alas - we need the silent majority to speak up!). Like I said before, more books, and a greater diversity of books, would come with greater numbers of members. How would having a paying BookMooch membership differ (i.e. what are the advantages) from us getting a book we can't find on BookMooch ourselves by buying directly from Amazon or alibris or The Book Depository? Amazon marketplace has many secondhand books which are relatively cheap. The Book Depository (which sells new books) ships all books for free wherever in the world you are.
|
|
msaggie
13 years ago
|
|
|
|
|
re: Wishlist griping
John, thanks so much for making BookMooch better and better. I just wanted to comment about people who are "not listing books when there are more than 5 copies available". I have listed my books when there were more than 40 copies of that same book available, and it still was mooched within a few weeks! I think if you are a reliable sender of books, with a good history, then BookMooch members would still prefer to mooch from you than someone else who did not have a good history. And, as someone else had said, the book sitting in your inventory for more than a year could be a new member's longed-for treasure. I liked Jenny's analogy that BookMooch is like a yard sale. If you can't find the books you want, and can't wait for them to turn up on either BookMooch or Paperbackswap (as people have said, membership for PBS is open to US residents only), go to the library and borrow it, or buy it off a secondhand book site (since all BookMooch books are secondhand in some way or other), if you don't want to get it new. And I find it odd that people are blaming John for the perceived lack of diversity of the overall BookMooch inventory. Like the gene pool in a community, to get more diversity, you need more new members - and incentives which encourage more new members should be something to be focused on. So, I would support continuing the 0.1 point for listing a book.
|
|
msaggie
13 years ago
|
|
|
|
|
re: Best price feature
Actually John deleted my post too from a few days ago - I thought perhaps John wanted to keep posts which were more informative (as my post just said something along the lines of "BookMooch is wonderful" and "thanks so much John for making it better all the time"). I think John has been very dedicated in making improvements to BookMooch and working on a voluntary basis. And it is now the best online book-exchange site available. The Amazon prices are very informative and do give us a choice to buy if we can't wait to mooch. These are all positives. John, I sincerely hope you never ditch BookMooch - the naysayers are fewer than the supporters - and in fact, many of the supporters of BookMooch don't come to post on the forums - they are the silent majority. We are all so grateful that you can facilitate our sharing of books and create a BookMooch community at the same time. I have made new friends through BookMooch, and it has been such a positive thing in all our lives.
|
|
msaggie
13 years ago
|
|
|
|
|
re: Wishlist page updated
John, thanks so much for improving BookMooch all the time. I love the fact that I can have as long or as short a list as I want, and can change the amount of details in my wishlist, etc. And the lovely big red button to mooch - just so we get to our books as soon as possible once they become available! Many thanks again!
|
|
msaggie
13 years ago
|
|
|
|
| | | |
