After wading through a bunch of PMs saying nothing more than "thank you" or "thanks" I'm ready to make a suggestion. I'm thinking of a button next to the PM window on the book received page that says "send a thank you" and that would be summarized on my main account page rather than making me visit all of the PMs. Anybody like that idea? If I'm not the only one I'll send a suggestion along to the team.

"that would be summarized on my main account page rather than making me visit all of the PMs" 

I guess I'm not clear on what you mean.  Your account page would show the words "5 thank you's sent" rather than giving you 5 PMs that say, "thank you"?  How would you know who thanked you and who didn't?  Or you don't think it matters?  My thank you's usually say more than just "thank you."

I agree that the PMs that just say thank can be annoying.  I personally would prefer not to get them.  But some people feel that's it's horribly rude not to receive or give on here.  And that anyone who thinks it's annoying must be a completely impolite person.  I say please and thank you in person. But I don't email Amazon everytime I receive something and say thank you.  I just don't think its necessary for an online transaction.  Unless freebies are involved.

Are you saying something like on your main account page, in the green part where it says what actions you have to do-something like "The recipient of X book says thank you"? And it just goes away on it's own after a short time?

I don't want to prevent anybody from saying thank you, or keep the sender from receiving them, Just trying to make it easier. The account page woudl say something like "3 thank yous were sent from the following people: John D for "War and Peace", Helen S for "Lord of the Rings, and Steve T for Start Wars" or soemthing like that.

To thank or not to thank is a hot button issue around here  ... surprisingly controversial lol!

Actually William, I kinda like the idea...you should submit it.  Sometimes a longer message is necessary, say I want to mention that the wrapper wasn't adequate to USPS Media Maul.  But for a transaction that goes well, I still like to acknowledge the efforts of the mailing member on my behalf.  Some members prefer not to receive multiple 'gratutitous' thank-yous, so a single (combined) communication could be preferrable.  Kinda like Goodreads sends updates, how long they are depends on the activity level in our registered groups.

Now that I fully understand it, I like your suggestion.  I could still send and receive my thank you's and members that dislike all the PMs wouldn't get them in that form.  I second you submitting the suggestion.  ;)

I've always been told it's polite to say 'please' and 'thank you'.  If you are sending out that many books that require 'wading through PM's', I envy you.  I always appreciate when someone acknowledges with politeness and I will continue to send a 'thank you' when I receive a book as I feel it lets the sender know you have received it and appreciate their time spent sending it  - it is a little more 'personal' than just hitting a button to send an auto reply.

Thank you - have a great day.

I'm one of those annoying people that do send thank yous.  I also acknowledge the thank yous with a you're welcome.  (sorry, I have a Southern mama and grandma who are big on the social niceties)  I do it for my own person reasons, but totally understand that many people are annoyed by the messages.  I like your idea of just having a summary on your account page where they are listed instead of the PMs.  That way, I could still send my thank you's and not annoy people.

Do you think some people would then complain about the laziness of those who can't be bothered with even an auto-thanks?  Or the insincerity of an automatic thank-you?  I think it's great to have the little box to communicate many things besides a "thank-you" I would really miss that feature.  If it's not broke, don't fix it. Those who don't read my thanks or notes, well I'm OK with that. Once I hit send after saying I appreciate your brand new book wonderfully packaged I feel fine. People like having their extra efforts aknowledged. As observed elsewhere, this is more than a business transaction site to some members. Let it be.

You can set your account to not send you an email when you get a PM.

I want the option to say more than just thank you.  I want a place that I can add feedback about the wrapping or book condition.

I've been on the Swap A CD site.  It surprised me how much I missed those thank yous.  Makes it feel like more than a business deal.  It's sharing a love for books.

William,

You can leave those PM's unopened and delete them. It's easy. I also would love to have received lots of thank- yous and the credits you are earning.  But I respect your feelings about it and that's fine. You are an upstanding member of the PBS community and that is a good thing. There is a lot of back and forth about this topic, but we are all well meaning.

Thank you.

Arggh I guess I'm not being clear. I'm not saying take away the PM window, that's still there to say whatever you want. I'm not anti-thank-you, I actually like getting them. I don't want to opt-out. I would not advocating having an automated thank you sent, that has to earned, you would have to at least push a button to have a thank you sent. What I'm  saying is a streamlined thank-you process, easier for both sender and receiver. The sender only has to push a button, The receiver only has to read his/her account page, not load a seperate page to read/delete a PM.

Simple e-mail -like functions for the inbox page such as "mark all as read" would do the trick for me.  I only read them occasionally so they get removed from my list of pending things.  I also find the unnecessary thank you's annoying, and wish I could hunt down and smack all the people who send them to me. :)

Michael,    OUCH!  You know, that really hurts. Psychic wounds are the worst.

I acutally dislike the thank you only PMs too, but for a different reason.  Maybe I'm a pessimist, but every time I see a note from a recently completed transaction I expect the member to be unhappy about something.  So I have a mini-heart attack until I open the PM and see it's just a thank you.  My blood pressure needs a break!  (LOL)

I rather risk insulting someone with my manners than insult them by lack of them. This is however based on how I feel. I do not expect a thank you, though I like them as it tells me all is well with the book and wrapping, else they had the chance to mention it and didn't.

An automated thank you would fit my needs just as well though, I would be able to say the thank you and not have to worry so much about it annoying someone! What good are manners if they annoy others right? So I think you should submit your idea!

As for not thanking Amazon for books sent, I am not in community with amazon. The people that work there are out for profit, it is a job. Here, the people are a gift and I treasure them and their time. They could be seeing books on Amazon but instead they share them here. It is not "free" persay but it trading and not everyone is open to trade. I value those who are. It is nothing like Amazon and I feel the need to thank them.

Thank you for reading this! :)

I almost always thank the person and tell them I can't wait to get started on the book.  I'm a Southern gal and it's just what we do.  It's bred into our DNA.

"As for not thanking Amazon for books sent, I am not in community with amazon. The people that work there are out for profit, it is a job. Here, the people are a gift and I treasure them and their time. They could be seeing books on Amazon but instead they share them here. It is not "free" persay but it trading and not everyone is open to trade. I value those who are. It is nothing like Amazon and I feel the need to thank them."    ---   +1

Because nice matters.

That's what I was thinking louieg, this topic became a non-issue on 5/26 when the new receiving process went into place. Unless the transaction is marked as a problem there is no place to leave a comment at all, so no more thank yous.  

You mean somebody thought of it before me? Great! I'll wait and give it a try with the next book I receive. It was kind of an obvious idea so I'm not surprised. You can still PM I presume, just not directly from the book received window?

You would still be able to PM from the Transaction Archive or PM from the Enroute window before marking it received. But if you mark that the book was received in good condition you just click that, I think all you do is enter the postmark date and that is it (only done 1 so far, a few days ago), there isn't even a place to leave PBS feedback on it anymore.