Hi,

Yikes! I joined a couple of days ago and am astonished at the pushy  and demanding tone some of the RC's I've received (5).  I have no problem with people requiring conditions for the books they receive, but the tone!  Is this the norm? 

Before they changed it recently, the PBS help page that described how to write a RC advised people to word it starting  with "I will not accept", which many people have commented on as being rude.

Most of those people do not mean to be rude, they are using PBS's (old) recommended wording and I don't think they realize that it sounds rude.

Some of the new wording is not exceptionally polite, either.

Don't let it bother you.

Welcome to PBS!

Welcome to PBS, Susan.

Requestor Conditions (RCs) are the biggest controversy at PBS. It seems we are always discussing them.  We even have a thread devoted to writing good RCs that are polite and not as likely to be be declined. However, even the nicest RC gets declined as we discovered yesterday.

It helps to understand that most people post RCs because they''re frustrated and angry at receiving unpostable books despite the PBS criteria that is enforced. Others post RCs because they're picky-picky control freaks. The control freaks are easy to spot, though. So are the angry RC users.

Members have the right to write any RC they want. They can ask for the moon--and some do!  Luckily members on the receiving end also have the right to decline to swap with someone who has a ridiculous RC.

So if you don't like the tone or the demands in an RC you can decline. I highly recommend that you be all business and polite in your decline no matter how ridiculous and rude the RC is. Ususally "Book doesn't meet RC" will suffice.  I also recommend you do not get into an extended PM conversation over a book condition or why you can't send it. It's just not worth haggling with a control freak. They can move on.

Thanks Sara.  I think you're right, some people may not realize how grumpy they sound!