I am on a waiting list for a book, one that is probably going to take me forever to get.  I was previously 4 of 4 to get the book.  Then I went to 3 of 3.  I looked at it today and again i'm 4 of 4.  Anyone know why this might happen?

It happens when members are put back in line ahead of you for various reasons.

From the Help Center:

This happens when another member who was "ahead of you" in line previously (and who got an offer of the book already) gets back into line, for one of several reasons:

• The member's Wish List book never arrived, and was declared lost in the mail

• The member's Wish List transaction was canceled by the sender

• The member had had her account on hold, and has now returned from vacation and unHeld her account. She will go back into line at her previous position when she does this: if she was "ahead of you" before, you will move back a space.

Please be assured that we would NEVER put another member ahead on the Wish List without good cause--in order to go ahead of others on the Wish List, a member MUST have Wish Listed that item earlier (on an earlier date) than they did.

Couple of reasons--someone ahead of you had put their account on vacation hold with their WL not set to autorequest, so their 'wish' disappears although they retain their place in line. When the come off hold, they slide back into their old place. Or, someone may have posted the book, it was sent, and went lost in the mail or was RWAP (received with a problem--stained, water damaged or whatever) which also reinstates that person at the top of the list, thus pushing everyone else back. Or, the book was posted and accepted and then the sender cancelled it for some reason or didn't respond to the request.

I'd say since it's the holiday season just past when a lot of people do use the vacation hold feature, that's probably it in this case.

Cheryl

Some other member who has it on their wishlist probably had their account on hold, then they took it off of hold.

I have been moving a lot in the past few weeks on my wishlists; forward, as people put their accounts on hold for holidays, and now backwards as accounts are coming off of hold.