My husband has been bugging me to put books he wants on my WL.  My WL is always full, and already about 25% of it is taken up in wishing for books for my kids.  I told him to get his own account.

I know PBS allows 2 accounts per HH, and I know that the 2nd account is not eligible for startup credits.  I have noticed, though, that there seem to be people who have had issues with opening that 2nd account.  Can anyone give me reassurance and/or warnings regarding the process of opening a 2nd account?  I want to know what to tell him to expect.  I also don't want to have him go ahead and sign up and risk the credits I currently have.

Thanks for any info on this!

Sheila, I think the issue has been that the person opening the account has to administer it.  In other words, he would have to go in and do all of the browsing, ordering, responding to orders, etc., rather than him dictating what he wants and you using his password and doing the actual administration for him.  So, it should be something he's interested in getting involved in on a regular basis, not just in receiving books from the account.

Diane

Oh, he would have to.  I do enough to maintain my own account, LOL!

I guess my question has come up due to the fact I have seen other people with 2 account households saying that sometimes everything is fine, while sometimes it's not.  I agree that each person should maintain his/her own account.  What I'm asking is what seem to be the red flags with 2 account households?  Are we going to have a problem if we both log in and out on the same computer?  Are we going to have problems if I'm logged in on my laptop while he's logged in on his laptop at the same time?  I'm just trying to prevent any issues and make sure I do it right before it even gets going.

Personally I'd contact TPTB regarding any potential Red Flag issues.  Ask if there is anything special you need to do to avoid any problems.  This would sort of protect you in the future so you could say you notified TPTB about your spouse opening a second account.

I don't think they would actually tell you what flags them to one person using two accounts as that would really be telling you how to get around their safeguards, they would probably just tell you what Diane has said, make sure there is a clear separation of usage. When he sets his account up, don't try to take anything off of your account and put it onto his. Even if there is stuff of his on your account, just leave it one yours for now and establish his with new stuff. 

My husband apparently has an account - I never knew!  Obviously, there hasn't been a problem.  I don't think he does much with it, honestly - I think he just opened an account to look around and then left it alone.

There are MANY households with two accounts that have no problems at all - we just hear about the 1 or 2 in a blue moon that have issues.

I think some people have run into issues when trying to get referral credits for hte 2nd household member, moving in with another PBS user and when one account is used, logged out and the other account immediately logged into and used.  So you should be ok as long as you aren't using each others accounts.  You might want to get in the habit of logging out each time if you use the same computer.

Thanks for all the responses so far! 

I would never do anything to intentionally harm my PBS standing or reputation--I am not willing to risk my account or my Tour Guide status by doing something that is against the rules.  So, I'm definitely not looking to get around any rules already set in place, merely trying to avoid problems if possible.

If your dh has a computer at work, could he use that one?  That way he'd have a different IP.

Thinking back to members posting regarding problems with the second account, the majority seem to stem from the two start up credits.  If it's clear the second account 1. did not receive free credits, and 2. has a designated & different user, you shouldn't have any problems.

I think that PBS ought to expect that 2 accounts in one household are using the same computer and the same mailing address. I am sure it is actually very common for that to be the case.

Although my husband does not have a PBS account, it is even very common for him to be using the computer, and I just pop on for a couple of minutes when he takes a little break. So, I think it is kind of crazy to expect that users would not be using the computer one after the other. In a 1 computer household, I would think it would be quite common for one person to log off and another person to log right on. I can't tell you how many times I go let my husband know I am waiting to use the computer, and to let me know when he is done. Every day!

I think their criteria for detecting abuse is some combination of factors, which they don't publicize exactly. But in the case where you have 2 legitimate accounts, I am sure in the case of some problem, that you could contact them and work out whatever issue they think there is.

I wouldn't worry about it, except don't try to obtain the referral/startup credits.

Nope, startup credits not an issue--I'm well aware of that one!

OK, well I think I'll have him set it up tonight after work and we'll see what happens.  Thanks, everyone!

I mentioned that because someone came on and had their spouses account closed on them.  Because PBS said 1 person was maintaining both accounts due to log in and useage times being so close together.

My daughter and i both have a PBS account. We live at the same address, we use the same computer, we have two different email addresses.We manage our our accounts. IF we HAD to we could get into each others accounts, as all of the passwords are on the rolodex, but would only do that with permission, and just long enough to take care of the necessary business.

One flag does seem to be logging in on one computer right when the other logs off.  As if one person did both accounts.