I know how annoying that can be. It's a shame the site can't put peoples' accounts on auto-vacation somehow. Maybe after 3 books roll over, or if they don't log in for 14 days or something.

Personally, if I wanted to order an extra book from someone, I'd PM them first and let them know, then wait for their reply before ordering extras. Just to make sure.

They do suspend an account after this happens a few times. I don't know off the top of my head how many it takes, but when this happens you are essentially helping to weed out inactive accounts. It can be small consolation for some, but it is helping to get these accounts out of the system.

Have you been ordering books that may have been in the system for a while lately?  I think what can happen is that some people put up a book shelf with a few heavily posted or slow moving books on it and then when they don't get any orders right away, they forget about their account here--not bothering to close it before abandoning their account.

Like Liesl said, the unresponsive accounts do get suspended after awhile.  I guess the best way to think of it is that even though it's frustrating, you're doing all the active PBSers a service by weeding out some of the inactive accounts. 

I would almost prefer to wait 20 days to get the request (and then have it mailed promptly and arrive within a week like normal) than wait the 10 days for a request to be accepted and mailed and then another 26 for it to never get here. I have two that seem to be heading toward lostville and it's frustrating that I'll have to go through the whole process all over again. Hopefully that 20 day roll over request ships fast and you'll wait less time than some to finally get a book! Don't give up hope. It could be worse after all.

I've noticed that some genres seem to have more inactive posts than others.

Like when a bookshelf has mostly children's books, for example. I've had those requests roll over and over, more than any other type of book.

If a member doesn't respond to a request, the book is removed from his bookshelf.  If he doesn't respond to two consecutive requests, his account is placed on hold.  (He can remove the hold by logging on again.) So as frustrating as it is to see your request rolling over like that, you are helping to flag, and place on hold, abandoned accounts.

8:40 PM ET : Another book just rolled over 19 minutes ago.

That wouldn't be a rollover -- more likely the sender clicked that he can't mail the book.  The server cancels ignored requests, and books that weren't marked mailed by the deadline, shortly after 3:00 AM Eastern Time.

I've noticed that a time out is much more likely on a heavily posted book.  Some of them take so long to work their way up FIFO that by the time they do the person on top is no longer active.  Whenever I order a book that just has a few copies-it's rare for it to time out.  But when I order one that has 50+, it's pretty common to have it time out on at least 1 person.  I've only had a couple of WL books posted to me time out. 

I've had a lot of books recently time out.

Most have been new members.

My mistake is looking at the new members on the home page. Most have never responded and my requests timed out.

I thought I'd be nice and give a new member a chance and 9 times out of 10 I got screwed.

So needless to say, I do not check out new membersw bookshelves anymore.

Also, I see so many members with no books posted and no wishlist books.....................

Why can't these members accounts just be shut down.

It's frustrating to come across these more times than you expect.

As far as I'm concernec, these people are not members.

I've ordered 5 books from one person, one after the other, and they have all timed out.  And that person is still an active member.

When I mentioned this in a previous forum topic, and wondered why this person was still on PBS after letting 5 books time out, I was accused of trying to kick another member off PBS.

So no, just because they time out several books, they are still active members.

If they timed out rather than being canceled by sender, Leslie, you should check with the Admin Team and give them that info.  They would want to know if the system isn't working correctly.

I have the Hitchens book in my TBR, Scott....I'll read it after the reading challenge is over and post it to you if you are interested!

Patty - You mentioned above that an account is placed on hold after not responding to 2 consecutive requests but it may be that this person got other requests in between so that may be the reason why her account wasn't on hold? But even then, just by logging on she could unhold it?

When I mentioned this in a previous forum topic, and wondered why this person was still on PBS after letting 5 books time out, I was accused of trying to kick another member off PBS.

  If they let books time out again and again, w/o any explanation and w/o putting their shelf on hold, I think that account should be suspended temporarily.  If it continues after this warning, then I am all for having their account closed permanently.

I have had more than normal number of timeouts and cancelled transactions too after being a member for a year. What I have noticed on my end though is problems when I order directly from someone''s bookshelf--like when it says "order more from this member" and I do, then the second book somehow gets ordered by the system from another member too.  Then I have to cancel the second one so I don't get 2 copies.

Also, I see so many members with no books posted and no wishlist books.....................

That is not a good indication of a person's status as many choose to have their bookshelf or wishlist made public.

DG said: it may be that this person got other requests in between so that may be the reason why her account wasn't on hold? But even then, just by logging on she could unhold it?

That's what I was thinking, D.G.  But since Leslie ordered 5 books from her, one after another, the team would want to explain to her that using the vacation hold would be better than ignoring a request and then logging in and unholding her account.  And I'm just guessing as to what happened on her end -- the Team would be able to see what actually took place.  They are amazing when they get to work tracing something like this.  Everything becomes clear.

That would be frustrating to me, too (responding to the OP); right now, I'm waiting for the first book in a series I accidentally started from the end; I requested three books at the same time, and have received two of them. The third is still "waiting for member." I will say that sometimes life gets in the way for people, and they may not be able to check their account due to unforeseen circumstances. I know that when I was in school, I would often put my account on vacation hold when I went home for breaks, rather than either taking all my books (seriously a hardship, lol), or unpacking them all over the summer. I have also put my account on vacation hold when I knew I would be without the internet for a significant amount of time (over a week or two), because our library system doesn't have enough computers for the number of people served in the metro area. Plus, I would have had to go to the library, check my account, then go home, search out the books, go BACK to the library and then accept or deny the request. All this, PLUS, there is usually a minimum 90 minute wait to get on a non-express (15 minutes only) computer. No...I just kept vacation-holding my account until I was either back with unlimited access to the internet, because I didn't want to be one of those people who made a requester wait until the request timed out. I hate it when it happens to me, and I try to live by the golden rule.

Another possibility is that the person might be sick or even has passed away. The family wouldn't even think about cancelling accounts like this at the time. They might not even know the person's passwords. I used to trade books with a woman on another site and when I joined PBS she was on here. I added her to my buddy list and just recently noticed that her account was suspended. I did some checking and found out that she passed away.

I wish there was a way to know who you are odering from, before you order !!! I'v had the same problem with the same PERSON not answering their PM's and the book gets timed out. I want the book, but every time I order it, it is always the same person I know won't answer their PM's, it's going to time out again tonight, and I have send a PM to the librarian with no luck there either.

Normally, I only order books from people who have sent me books before. If I can't find something I like on their list, then I order from the FIFO and cross my fingers, toes and eyes hoping I get the book on the first shot.

The only way that I get time-outs and cancellations now is if I order a WL that pops up. That, I don't have a work around for.

One request I wish for is---if someone does cancel a request, it should be mandatory they put a reason why they can't send the requested book. It's rude and ignorant to just cancel the request and not care about telling the requestor why they will not be getting the book they were expecting. If they can click 'cancel' they are active enough to say why! :)

Edited: due to em-dash appearing as a question mark. :)

One request I wish for is---if someone does cancel a request, it should be mandatory they put a reason why they can't send the requested book. It's rude and ignorant to just cancel the request and not care about telling the requestor why they will not be getting the book they were expecting. If they can click 'cancel' they are active enough to say why! :)

I thought it already was mandatory (when the sender cancels, not the requestor).  At least if you say "you can't mail this book" or reject RCs there's a reason box that must be filled in.  Of course the person can just put in "." or some other non-answer.  Is that what you mean?  Or is there no mandatory reason if the sender cancels after accepting the request?  That just wouldn't make sense.