I'm not a newbie here by any means, and I have had several people request books with conditions.  Some I think are great if you really are allergic to pets or smoke.

I received a requestor condition today that accepts no "damaged/written in books".  The two books they requested are in excellent condition save for my old habit of writing my name inside.  I do this because I read at work.  I have lost books there that were returned to me because my name was in them.  Most of the swappers here have not had an issue with this.  I have since stopped writing in anything except for keepers and will take a chance on losing my book at work.

Do you think I should ship these two books to the person who did not want "damaged/written in books"?  I'd contact them and ask them, but I don't see any way to do that.

You would have to accept the requests first and then use the little gray PM box by the transaction to contact them.

Your books aren't damaged, and only "written in" on inside cover.  I'd take a chance and accept the request, then send a PM just to be sure they still want it.  You could always cancel after if they don't want it. 

But if you cancel, be aware your books will go to the back of the Sendout line, so if these are books that have many copies already in the system, you probably won't want to risk this.  If your books are finally Up for sendout in a long line of books, I'd just refuse due to requestor conditions, and neither of you will lose your place in line.

If your books aren't one of hundreds of copies in the system, however, I'd risk it and accept, then send PM.

Well there is no way to contact without accepting the request.  Personally I wouldn't accept since it says no writing.  RC's shouldn't need further explanation so its really what you feel comfortable doing.

RCs might not need further clarification in some areas, but perhaps on something like this the requestor is okay with someone's name being written in it as long as there is no other writing.  I think it's a worthwhile question.

One of the two books, I am the only person with the book in the system.  The other, I know of a couple of other copies.  So, I am not really concerned with losing my place in line.  They will come around again.  I think I'll risk accepting and contacting the requestor.

What I meant is the person should write their RC's out so you don't have to PM them.  It says so right in the HC- Your conditions should be easily interpretable and should NOT require (or ask for!) further clarification in Personal Messages. My only concern is what happens if they never answer the PM, do you send or not then?

If they do not answer, then I'll probably still cancel the swap and relist the books.

I would turn down this condtion - no writing, to me, would mean no writing period.  If the writing was in pencil, I might try erasing it and seeing how it looked, but in general I would just decline it. 

I consider "no writing" as meaning no notes, doodles, underlining, etc., not having a name written on a page (be it an author's autograph or the book's owner), but that's just my interpretation. 

I would just deny the request.  It's not worth the hassle.