I did a search through the members lists for people that live in my state and then I narrowed it down to people who live in my town.  And I found to my delight that there are 8 other people from my town on this site (a smallish town/city)

Ths may sound odd, but I'd like to add them to my buddy list but when I look up most of the names they don't sem to be really active.  (No books sent or recieved, that sort of thing)  Is there a way to find out if a member is active without PMing them?  (I don't want to look like a stalker chick).  What I'd really like to do is to be able to have a person here in town that shares my love of books (*snort and rolls eyes*  NONE of my family reads)

Is it tacky to advertise the fact that I'd like to make contact with other from my vicinity in a thread and if you recommend that, where would it go?  Can you suggest alternatives?

I really NEED someone that I can toalk to about books that doesn't live halfway across the country dammit!  LOL!!  Someone to book shop with! *sigh*  I REALLY need a life beyond books, reading,  good coffee, and chocolatesl

Have you seen the place where they have chapters in different states and towns??  You should start a post there if you want to start a group.  It may take a PM to each person that you have found to get some interest though.  I don't get a notice when I get a pm ( can't get that feature to work for some reason) so they may not see your message but you should try.  I know what you mean...I read a lot of true crime and none of my friends will touch a book like that..so it's fun to find people with the same likes.

Thank  you Nicki for posting back to me.  I didn't know that there is a place for different chapters and towns, where do I find that? 

The problem is I feel like a "stalker" PMing someone I don't know - I especially don't want to make anyone uncomfortable that lives in the same town I do. LOL!!!.

Maybe you should se if someone could help you with that notification thing?  I find it invaluable when I have posted new books.

It's called PBS local Chapters...it's a couple of lines under this group on the forum page.  Don't feel like a stalker..they will ignore you if they don't want to chat with you:)  I notified R&R about not getting PM notification but they said it must be the Yahoo I use.  It sends me their newsletter and I also get book requests..so I don't know why I don't get PM notification.  I have it marked correctly in my settings I think.  I rarely get any PM's..so it is no big deal but it would be nice to be notified..

I know several PBS members who live near me. That is how I found the site. I have only looked at one of the bookshelves and it was different from my current interests. I am not sure of some of the others names here yet. I would not be offended by a polite PM inquiry. I think it would be fun. I agree some people would consider it bad but they chose to make their location public. I think I would mention that in the PM. Something like....I saw from your profile you are in the same area...

Nicki -I use Yahoo so not sure if that is the entire problem. Around half of my PBS messages go in my spam though.

Patti..I don't have any checks in the ~check this if you don't want pm's or several other things ~but I don't get a notice for pm's..they don't go to my spam either because I always check that before deleting them.  R&R said it was my email program..but it does seem weird that I get the newsletters etc....I have PBS as a contact in my address book too.  I wish it worked...but I like to use Yahoo for things like PBS

Ths may sound odd, but I'd like to add them to my buddy list but when I look up most of the names they don't sem to be really active.  (No books sent or recieved, that sort of thing) 

Two things -- sending someone a buddy invite is no big deal here.  I sent invites out to local people, people who have cool shelves, people with good sci-fi, or French books, people who have helped me out with info here.  If they decline my invite, I'm not notified, so I don't get my feelings hurt. :-)  Most people accept, I think, since they want people to keep track of their shelves.

And also, with the new privacy controls, the default is that it doesn't show "books sent" or "books received."  So if you're seeing a couple of little lines instead of numbers there, the people may be active traders, but their stats aren't showing, either by choice or more likely, IMHO, because they don't know they have to activate those options now.