Hi there, I joined up way back in the day but recently became active again and my, things have changed! To satisfy my curiosity, will someone please explain to me why people have chosen to mark the number of books they have mailed/recvd "P" for private? Thanks very much!

I suppose everyone would have their own reason, but I have heard some mention that they send out a large number of books and don't order very many, and other memebrs have contacted them asking them for free credits since they don't seem to be using them.  Very rude and unimaginable to me, but it has happened. :)

Hi Danielle - Glad you're back. :)

Having the books mailed and received 'private' is the default so a lot of people don't realize they have it private. Also, some members think it's nobody's business how many books they've sent and received. :)

Because that information isn't needed with the FIFO system, and really isn't anyone's business?

Seriously, I've seen discussions in the early years where people would try to get all sort of 'info' by taking the stats from someone's info and try to figure out if they'd be a good trader or not. Some people didn't want to trade with you if you had too many 'incoming' as compared to 'outgoing' because that meant that you must be (gasp!) keeping the books you received. Or if you were sending out more than getting in, then you must either be hording credits or trading only to sell credits. (Even though selling credits is legal!)  If you hadn't traded much, or often, compared to your membership date, then you must be a bad trader.

Some just seemed to look for excuses to put someone down, point fingers and figured if you didn't use the site like they did, then you must be an Evil Book Seller or doing something else wrong. A few even browsed books shelves and would comments on people's shelves contents. If  you had books they didn't like in your WL, or on your book shelf, then you must be some kind of perv.

For me, I just don't like the idea that people think it really is any of their business at all. So I usually keep mine turned off. It's a FIFO site, and works best that way. Any other information I share is voluntary and when I'm comfortable with the people I'm talking too, and for some of us we're just more comfortable not having it all out there.

And because it ticks some people off. Lol

I admit it, I like to peek at the numbers. Mostly because I am curious.

I have never not ordered or ordered a book based on that, though. That would be weird and too much work, to me. I order from whoever is up next in FIFO and I do like to preuse their shelves for more books to order, mostly because I often find additional books that I might have some interest in. If they have really fascinating shelves, I might send them a buddy request, too, just so that I can come back later and take another look at their books.

My honest opinion is that it is only forum posters who ever look at stuff like that, anyway. And forum posters are a small minority of PBS members. When I am peeking at shelves or profiles of people I order from, many, many of them have 0 forum posts.

As a very active member, (I ordered more than 500 books last year) I have never been able to derive any patterns of "bad" behavior based on mailing stats ... although I will say that the most blatant unpostables often come from long time members.

I personally don't care who knows how many books I've sent and received. But I remember someone posting how they got harrassing PMs from someone because they had sent out a lot more books that had received and how they should be spending their credits instead of hoarding them.   For a very long time my books sent was double my books received and no one ever questioned me on that. 

I agree with Mary in Maryland (interesting combo, don't you think?)  I personally don't give a r**'s a** if people know that I've sent out a lot of boks, more than I've ordered.  It's a game I play with myself to find books that others want, often more than is convenient to deal with at the moment, and send them off.  I get mint stamps off of Ebay and elsewhere for <face value and use those, often in odd combinations---another game, too.  (If you order from me, and mention it, I'll find a really odd combination of stamps to use on them for you,)

Another reason I've heard from people who are really privacy conscious is that the books received and books sent maps show where you live; some people prefer to not have that hanging out in the open.

Wow! Thanks for the replies, I never expected most of these reasons... I never thought about people hoarding credits or keeping books or any of these things. I dont think I'd ever try to hide my stuff so to speak, but I guess everyone is different, especially if they've been harrassed by busy bodies. I myself am curious about these numbers for reasons I cant explain (probably just from a volume/activity POV) and I think it's a shame that people cannot simply observe without making jerks of themselves and ruining it for the rest of us curious types.

I'm glad to be back, incidentally. I didnt realize how much I missed my every-so-often connection to a like minded community - lovers of books - and now that I have a two year old, I have indoctrinated her as well, mwahahaha. 

When I had both my books received and those sent numbers showing in my profile, I wasn't exactly harassed, but it was 'kindly suggested' that I could 'share' my extra credits with peeps.

Umm... no.  Most credits that I earn are used for deployed troops and if I have an abundance of credits I'll sell them in the BB and use the money for postage to send care packages to our deployed folks.  I just got to the point where my activity on this site wasn't really anyone's business, except mine, credit wise. 

And with the sister sites accepting credit transfers, it should really not matter.  Who cares if I use my CDs to get books or my books to get DVDs? 

But I do check when I'm looking to buy credits.