When does it ask you to see if one your buddies had is WL?  Or should I assume that since I didn't see anything mentioned when I just posted a WL book that it's not on a buddy's WL? This is the first print book I've posted since I got the Gold Key. The other 2 were audiobooks and I wasn't really expecting them to be on the WL of a buddy of mine since they had very short WL.

When you go to post a WL book, if it is on one of your buddy's WL, there will be a drop down box to the right that will allow you to select which buddy to post to, or to just post FIFO.  If there was no drop down menu, then the book wasn't on any of your buddy's WL.

That's what I thought, thanks for confirming.

Mary, the drop down menu shows up on the same page where it asks you to confirm it is the same binding, author, ISBN, etc, then lists the other ISBNs/formats for that title....then below that list is the drop down box if one of your's friends has it on their WL.

The other cool thing I noticed is that when you are the recipient of a WL book via Gold Key, it tells you this in the box describing "books you've requested" and "books en route to you."  I don't pay much attention to my WL anymore but I had a WL book posted for me that I thought I wasn't real close to the front of the line but figured it moved quicker than I thought, and then I noticed it said, "You are receiving this book because your friend _____ is a Gold Key member." Very nice! That way if I ever post a book on her WL I will return the favor. :)

Cheryl

Robin posted a screen shot of the drop down in this thread so you can see what it looks like. 

I hve not paid attention  yet to Gold Key....my question is:

  If I am NOT a Gold Key member, and a  book on MY WL comes up, does the Gold Key owner of the book get to decide to send it to a "buddy" who is a Gold Key member, instead of it being offered  to me, or the next person in line?? 

This  sounds like what I just read, above.  

Another swap site I used to frequent more often instituted a similiar "friends" swap system, and the availability of wish listed books dropped dramatically, as people just traded between their friends.

edited for spelling boo boos.

Yes, M. PBS D., that is one of the benefits of being a member of the Gold Key. If someone with a Gold Key posts a wishlist book and there are members wishing for it that are friends of hers or members of Gold Key, she has a choice of who to send the book to. She also has the choice of bypassing the friends and going the FIFO route. Not all wishlisted books are on Gold Key member's lists and will be posted FIFO. Also, not everyone is a member of the Gold Key, like yourself. Currently, I have 7 wishlist books enroute to me. Out of those 7 books, only one sender is a Gold Key member, so the other 6 books went through the FIFO system. I really don't see a problem with the availability of wishlist books dropping.

The fact that GK members can choose who to send their WL books won't affect general trades much for several reasons:

• GK members are a small percentage of the PBS Membership (I don't know how many, but I'd be shocked if it's even 10%, which means that 90% will still be posting books FIFO)
• Not every WL books that GK members post is on any friend's WL. I have 200+ friends and when I last checked, only 5 of my books were in friends' WLs
• Not every GK member has 200+ friends like me (some don't have any) so they will probably be posting most of their books FIFO

Yes, M. PBS D., that is one of the benefits of being a member of the Gold Key.

Or, perhaps more accurately, a friend of a Gold Key member.

Note that all PBS members are able to post directly to others' WLs if they choose. A Gold Key member will simply be shown when she posts a book, which, if any, of her friends have that book on their WL. She can then, as Connie said, choose to post to her friend (who does not need to be a Gold Key member) or to FIFO. 

I've used the "post to a friend" exactly twice.  BOTH people clicked the "not now" button and it rolled over to FIFO.  I didn't care but it just shows that even when used, it will sometimes go into the FIFO.  Besides - if I post a wishlisted book to a friend, that moves everyone below them on the wish list, up one number!

I have posted at least 20+ WL books since becoming a Gold Key member and only once did that book come up as being wished for by a "Friend". It was someone who had sent me a Friend request since Gold Key was initiated...not someone that I really WAS friends with, so I posted it FIFO. Like others, I believe in FIFO and will continue to list my books FIFO. Don't get your panties in a bunch over the "post to a friend" feature -- in my experience, it is not going to have a very dramatic impact on the community as a whole.

so, even though I am NOT a gold key member,  a member who is will know that I have wl  a book they want to post if I am a friend of theirs?

Yes, that is true Adrienne.

I posted 5 WL books this week and not one was on any of my buddies WL. 

I just had 5 book requests and I don't think any were because of Gold Key.  One is going to MI and the other is going to OR.  Mostly books I've had posted for awhile and the people used the Order More From Member button.

I just looked at my enroute to me WL books and none show a Gold Key notices of anykind. So they all came from FIFO except for 2.  Those 2 were posted right to me by a buddy but not because of Gold Key.  She's sending me a game book and happened to have 2 of my WL books.  So she offered them to me to saver herself postage money.  And I said yes because they're 2 slow moving ones that I really, really want.

I send quite a few books and while I've only been a GK member for a short time, I have yet to get a notice that a book is on a friend's WL...so I really don't think this is something that will impact people's regular trading a huge amount. Even before GK, I would occasionally (maybe 3 times a year?) send a book to a friend outside of FIFO, and there have been those 'is this on your WL' threads in the genre threads that people use, so I don't think it's really much different than what's been going on anyway.

Cheryl

Haven't been on here in a long time, but I have a question.  The GK membership is sort of confusing me as far as WL books go.  I keep watching my WL and books seem to jump all over the place in the Estimated Time to receive them.  Is this because of the GK members posting to friends, making the wait longer, since those books aren't available for general members? 

For instance, one said 4 wks' wait for a long time, then finally moved up to 2 weeks, then one week for the last several weeks (!).  All of a sudden, it is now 7 weeks!!!  And the book listed right under it was at 4 wks. wait, but tonight it has disappeared from the top of the list completely.   Just when I start to expect an email about accepting the offered book, it is jumping to months more to wait!  Now, I have PLENTY to read on TBR = this is certainly not a problem and I don't mind waiting longer.  But...   How is this happening?  Anyone who wants can enlighten me here!    Thanks!

ETA:  Guess what - found the answer on another thread!  Thanks anyway! 

Diane, I don't think it has anything to do with Gold Key. The estimate is based on the frequency of postings.

If there were 7 books posted in the last 7 days and you were #7 it would show that you'd get the book in 1 week.

If in the next 7 days only 1 book gets posted, you are now #6 and the algorithm would show that you'd get the book in 6 weeks.

Its probably a little more in depth than that, but it shows how it can really change based on the number of books posted in the last 7 days. The estimates really can't be relied on for much accuracy, they just give us a general idea. Until you are at #1 and the book has been posted with some frequency I wouldn't be expecting the book.

Melanie, That is the best explanation that I've ever heard!  And it sure makes a lot more sense than the one in the other thread I found.  There it was explained that people are coming back from vacation and taking their accounts off of hold, so they are once again active and sending you to the dungeon on  the list...well, sort of, if they were ahead of you to begin with.   Somehow, that never seemed to add up to me.  I'm sure that's true in some cases, but certainly not all of them.  One thing, though - I am sure happy the WL has been cleaned up and makes more sense now.  Used to be, I'd find one with a 3 wks. wait below one with 80 or 100 wks. wait.  Now they are listed in sequence as they should be - thank goodness!  So, thank you for a good explanation at last!   :-)  D.

Book and vacation holds do effect your place in line. They wouldn't really effect the estimate though.  I don't think.

But what would effect the estimate is WL books timing out.  If a book is accepted by the sender and then not marked mailed-the wisher would go back in line, bumping everyone back, but the book would still show in the count for the estimater. If a WL cycles through several members before being accepted it would count each time as the book being posted.