Or the last date they logged on?  Someone mentione dit earlier and I can't find it now.  Is there a way to update your profile so it shows the last time you logged in?

Thanks

You can go into your Settings under the Account drop down menu now and update your privacy settings, and from there you can edit whether people can tell when you last logged in. Just hover over Account, click Settings, and click Privacy Controls at the top of the window.

Oh, I forgot to answer the other part of your question. If they don't have this option checked, the only other way I know of to tell if they are active, or at least how recently they have been active, is to look at their Bookshelf and/ or Wishlist and sort by Date/ Descending. That will show the most recent additions to their shelf or wishlist. That is, I think, a pretty good way to tell if a person is active. If they haven't posted or WL'ed a book in a year, most likely they are inactive.

Thank you!! 

If they haven't posted or WL'ed a book in a year, most likely they are inactive.

I agree with this statement in general, but there are also other reasons why a person might not be posting or WLing.  People use the site in different ways.  A person who hasn't posted or WLed in a while may be trying to use the site to reduce their number of books (therefore not WLing new books and not getting new books in other ways that they turn around and post).  That person might still be a very responsible trader!

If they haven't posted or WL'ed a book in a year, most likely they are inactive.

I disagree with this statement...if you looked at my account you'd think I was inactive because it has been quite awhile since I added a book on my WL and the books that I've posted I've posted directly to someone's account so, that is not an accurate way to tell.

Guys, I said that it seemed like the BEST way to tell, not THE way to tell. I realize that there will be exceptions, but can you give her a better way to tell if a person is active or inactive without actually PMing them and asking? So far, I have had pretty good luck with my method. Just two weeks ago I requested  a book from a person who had no Shelf or WL activity in about 9 months. I was like, oh great, now I get to wait 5 days for this to roll over to the next person. Sure enough, no response.

I generally look at the WL but I don't hold that as certain. I had a WL book I posted time out the other day-the person had added WL books just a few days before and still let this one time out. 

I rarely go by the shelf. I sometimes go months w/o posting a book to my shelf because I've either been posting WL books or I've been reading books for games.  The only reason I have some recently posted books is because my shelf is on hold and I posted some TBR books that have a lot in PBS already. I figure they can work their way up the FIFO line while my shelf is on hold for a move. 

Most of the ones I"ve noticed that are probably inactive are the ones w/no real profile, no reviews, no forum posts and no recently WL books.  If they have a lot of forum posts, reviews and such but no recently added books-they could just be on vacation and forgot to hold their account, are waiting to accept a request until it's closer to payday, out of credits and trying to get some before they accept a WL or something. 

I have requested a book (several copies in the system) but the first person posted books in 8/06 and has books from 8 & 10/06 but nothing more recent.  my guess is that this is probably an abandonded account but until it times out tomorrow night we'll never know for sure!

I would love to see a feature where if you haven't logged in at least once in 30 days your account goes on hold and an email is sent to you to either login and reactivate your account or you remain on hold until you do.  This would help with inactive shelves and cutting down the waiting time for them to respond as to whether they are going to send the book or not!

and of course there is no profile for this person so no way to know if they are active and just happen to have books on their shelf that have quite a few listed

ok, just curiosity....what difference does it make whether or not you can find out if the account is active...won't change the FIFO process for you because if you cancel and then repost or re-request it will just go back to that person.  If you wait for the system to work it will roll over so, why is it important to know if someone's account is active?

then you aren't wondering why the person hasn't accepted the reqest....its for those of us that are impatient!

Well by letting the request time out you are helping to flag the account as a possible inactive.  It is frustrating when you order a book and it just sits there w/no response.  Especially if it's part of a series and you're trying to read them in order.  I think the most I ever had a request go through was 2 people who let it time out.

I'm all in favor of a system that notifies members who haven't logged in within some specified period of time (say, 30 days or 60 days) that they need to log in within the next 48 hours (or 72 hours or whatever) or their account will be put on hold until whenever they do finally log in.  The free email services don't even give you a warning that you haven't logged in (of course, if you're not logging in, you wouldn't see the warning anyhow), they just go ahead and empty your mail--as I learned to my cost.  Hotmail only gives you 30 days and then bye-bye messages.   Being asked to log in occasionally isn't onerous and would help weed out the people who are no longer interested/participating from those who just have a low level of activity, like only waiting for WLed books, for example.  I do like the idea of a warning, though, because sometimes life is just crazy, and while someone doesn't have the time to visit PBS to look for books or participate in forums, they might still be trying to get rid of books or patiently waiting for WLed books.

If you wait for the system to work it will roll over so, why is it important to know if someone's account is active?

Well for me it's a matter of setting my expectations. If I look at the account of someone I ordered a book from and see no activity, I'll just be pleasantly surprised if the order is accepted by that person. Also, if I'm in a hurry-up situation (like I want to get the book before I go on vacation in a month), I might try the Bazaar or my buddies' shelves to speed things up if it seems that FIFO is likely to be non-responsive after a day or two.

But I usually just let the system do its thing. :)

Well I also do some trading on another book trading website that I won't name.  If you look at the persons profile it'll say last log on and if it's been a while, it'll say in bold lettering Possibly Inactive.  I do 99% of my trading here on PBS.  I joined the other one because you can put the book's condition in and I had some books that were unpostable here but still in excellent, readable condition.  Several were WL over there.  PBS is a much, much better site but I wish they had that feature.  I almost ordered a book there (that wasn't posted here) and was glad I checked the profile because the person hadn't logged in 6months.  Now granted if I ordered a book it would have emailed them but I decided not to bother.  So it would be cool if they would send a reminder email if you haven't logged in 30 days or something, instead of waiting until a bunch of request time out. 

Unfortunately, the people who don't log on often are also slow or negligent about posting that a book has been received.  I've had a couple books marked "lost" that d/c said were delivered, but the member never logged on to say it was received.