I have noticed that a lot of people have the section of their profile hidden that says how many books they have mailed and received.

I am a SUPER curious person and I wonder why someone would hide this information?

I like looking to see how active a swapper people are!  It also helps me know how long they have been around and how many swaps they have done, since we don't have "feedback" here like a lot of other sites.

I agree, I always wonder why someone does not want to show that. 

I do remember some talk about this a while back. Some members with high outgoing book numbers and low incoming book numbers received nasty PMs from members scolding them for "hoarding credits". 

Also the maps that are displayed when clicking on the numbers roughly show where the member lives. Some members stopped showing their book numbers for privacy reasons. Though, the map feature might have the option to be disabled now. I'm not sure.

Some people are very private and refuse to give out any information that may give away any clues about themselves and their identity.  Even if we may not understand what bearing this information has on their privacy, they do not wish to include that information for their own reasons.

Also some members have stated in these forums that they review that information when deciding to send out a book or not.  (If a person has not sent out many books in relation to how many they've received, or if they have not been very active here yet, those are statistics that members have said will cause them not to send out a book.  Your "hidden statistics" members may not want anyone to discriminate against them when they order books if their statistics don't "qualify" them.)   This type of "profiling" is not encouraged, but sometimes happens. 

Book orders should go out whenever the system sets up a transaction, unless extenuating circumstances intervene.

I know that when I signed up, the option to show how many books you've sent and received was turned off by default.  I changed mine to show the numbers.  I think that there probably are quite a few people who just haven't taken the time or realized that they can change the option to show the number of books sent and received.

Yes, I agree with Laura. It is turned off by default, and when I joined a year ago I went in and turned it on. After I was here a while and even realized what to do and how to do it.

Wow, some interesting reasons.  It would never occur to me to use those statistics for nefarious reasons.  Some people just have way too much time on their hands.  And as far as sending someone a PM???  That is just CRAZY!

I just looked at my profile and don't see anything under Books Sent or Books Received.  Does that mean it's turned off or is it because I'm looking at my own profile?  If it means it's turned off, how do I turn it on so people can see my book swapping history.  I looked at settings and didn't see it there.

Nevermind...I found it.

click on your public profile and it's under privacy controls.

I think this answers my question! It seems some people don't know it's there.

You are right, Jessica, many people don't even know that the numbers are available to be shown, much less that they are turned off by default until someone mentions them in the forums or in a PM while talking to them. And even if they notice, they often have to ask what it is they need to change to make them show.

I always find it humorous that some people do it so that their privacy is protected, it only costs me a credit to find your address, unless you use PBS for your return address. And most people end up making comments in their posts that eventually reveal where they are anyway, but maybe they aren't posters and use PBS return addy, so maybe they are secure, but I still find it a bit paranoid. Guess everybody entitled to their own little paranoias (sp?) tho aren't they? :)

I remember seeing a member post here that they had made their info private because they had gotten PM's from other members wondering why their books sent/ received ratio was so different. 

I personally have my books sent number on, but books received private.  I saw someone get attacked for the reason mentioned (the two numbers were so different) and so I figured no one really needs to know how many book I get from PBS.  It's nobody's buisness but mine.    But I do realize some people look at the Books Sent number for experience reasons, so that's why I display that one and not the other. 

but maybe they aren't posters and use PBS return addy, so maybe they are secure

Couldn't someone just grant them a WL book? Then their info would be available. It seems odd to me that there is even a PBS return address option. Their info is out there for anyone who sends them a book. Is there something I'm missing?

That's just so weird...I can't imagine deciding to send a book based on information like that. Most of the time I don't even look at the profile of the person I'm either sending to or ordering from. Sometimes I'll recognize a name of someone from the forums or someone I've sent or received from before when I print the label, but aside from that, I don't pay attention and don't really care where my books are going to/coming from. I do most stuff FIFO and just let the chips fall where they may. And I've had very good luck doing things this way, very few problems.

Cheryl

I like looking to see how active a swapper people are!  It also helps me know how long they have been around and how many swaps they have done, since we don't have "feedback" here like a lot of other sites

One of the books that I had to mark RWAP was from a member with lots of swaps.  The # of books sent doesn't seem to match with the quality of the book in my experience.

Couldn't someone just grant them a WL book? Then their info would be available.

Yes, if their wishlist is not private. 

I can't imagine deciding to send a book based on information like that.

Me neither.

For me, the numbers aren't accurate since they don't reflect books I've sent out in deals and books I received in deals. I'm not sure if I have it turned on or not but the information on me is inaccurate, so I don't feel a need to share it.

If everyone took the attitude of only trading with members who have sent out a lot of book then newbies would never get any orders and we were all newbies at one time.  So using that to decide to order from someone or not is not in the spirit of PBS.  (FWIW-the worst books I've gotten haven been from long time members with a lot of trades-they were also the ones who gave me the worst time about getting a credit back). 

Like babs, I can think of several ways for that information to be inaccurate.  I've donated credits, and given some to teachers for classroom books, and given others to to friends...and *psst* I sometimes hoard a few credits also.  So yes, my numbers would be noticably different...nobody's business tho, and now it's mentioned I don't think my number feature is turned on.

Another explanation I have heard is that when these numbers are visible you can click on them to see the map of where the books came from/ went to. The middle point on both of these maps is always going to be your location. What this means is that if you want to keep your location private you need to disable this feature as well.. 

What is the objection to "hoarding credits?"  And what exactly does that mean? Since I joined in December, I've sent out about three times as many books as I've received.      So I have built up quite a few credits.  I haven't used them  simply because I have too many books already and no time to read.   My reminder list is longer than my transaction list!   

So if somebody looked at my numbers, they would see I have more credits than books received.   Does that constitute hoarding?   And if somebody wants to accumulate credits and use them later, or give them to friends, or whatever, why is that bad?  After all,  if I've earned them by sending out books, aren't they mine to do what I want with?

My guess is the people who complain about others hoarding credits are people who aren't getting a lot of book orders.  They might feel like if the credit "hoarders" spent their credits then they might get some book orders.  Just a thought. 

I used to hoard credits.  But after that whole frugalreader collapse thing-I decided to lower my credit stash here and went on a credti spending spree.  I've also cut down on the books I send-but that's more of a financial thing for me.  I need to cut down on my expenses and if I have 20 credits here-there's no incentive to hurry up and read WL books.  Especially with credits selling so cheaply now-it's not worth it to build up a lot of credits and sell some for postage money.  But it's helping me to finally get around to reading all these heavily posted books I have. 

I'm not getting a lot of orders.  But I figured that was simply because of the particular books I've posted, not because people aren't willing to spend their credits.   I'm perfectly willing to spend mine, when I find a book I want and have time to read it.

When I have a pile so high I can't get through it, and feel I "have" to read, reading gets to feel like homework and it's not fun anymore.

I wouldn't want people to get the wrong idea by looking at the numbers in my profile, which is why I don't show them.

I am like Cheryl, I just send books, I don't look at anything.  I'm not spending my time trying to figure out which books I should send, which swaps MIGHT be a problem.  Order from me (when I go off hold) and I'll send you a book.   Sometimes, I think persons on here overthink the whole swapping idea and make it so complicated it's no longer fun.

 Sometimes, I think persons on here overthink the whole swapping idea and make it so complicated it's no longer fun.

AMEN!!

I have only looked at the number of books sent and received when I want to buy credits from some one. If that person has that hidden and wants to sell me credits, it makes me wonder what are they trying to  hide? I am new and don't want to get scammed, so I am just trying to be cautious. If I see some one has not mailed many books, I will wonder where the credits came from. I realize some people are active in the sister sites with CDs and DVDs and can transfer credits here. I just think if you want to have people send you money, you should be willing to show some information like books sent so people will know you actually have credits to sell. Otherwise, it is none of my business and I don't care.