OK, there has been a lot of grumping about posting WL books to FIFO and having them roll over multiple times. So I thought that perhaps we could make a thread to see just how much of a problem this is.

Here's what you do:

1. Post a WL book to FIFO
2. Note the number of wishers
3. Post here with the information
4. Update when there's a rollover or an accept
5. Post final data

I'll start with one in the next post.

Remember to update your one post regarding your book. No updates in additional posts, please!

If you don't want to state the title, that's fine. Just put [Title Withheld] instead of the title. But please do include the number of wishers at the time you post.

One last common-sense thing... NO NAMES! Don't post the name or other info for the wisher, please.

This morning I posted T is for Tresspass: 302 wishers. So here we go:

T is for Tresspass, 302 Wishers

Posted: 3/18

Offered to: 2 wishers (#1 - timed out, #2 accepted within 2 hours)

Accepted: 3/20

Total wait: 2 days

Too bad we didn't think to start this last week.  I posted a book with 48 wishers on the 12th.  The third person will time out later today.  The next day I posted the sequel to that book.  It was immediately accepted.

I just keep muttering to myself that I'm cleaning out dead wishlists and moving on with life.  Though at this point, it may be a week before I can mail that book any way, because I used the last of my postage this morning mailing the sequel.

Update!!!!!  I just accepted a request for this book.  It timed out on 3 wishers before finding a new home.  It's been a long week just waiting.

Kerry

I had a WL book offered to me twice (2 days apart) last week (one HC, one PB).  I declined the 2nd request once the 1st sender had a "will mail by" date, and all I could think of as I was cancelling the 2nd hold was how people have wondered why someone would decline a WL book.  So there's my reason...I didn't want 2 copies and am having faith that the book from the 1st sender will arrive OK!

i don't think it's so much wondering why someone would decline it as much as getting a bit annoyed at people who don't respond at all, and just let the request time out.  i know i only want to make one trip a week to the post office.  if i post several WL books at the same time, a book that goes through more than 2 non-responders will probably miss that week's trip, which means i'll probably end up making another trip a few days later.

someone who just declines in a reasonable timeframe is fine, especially if it's a long WL.

That's the point of the thread. To see how many are timing out, how many are declined, etc. Could be that it's not as big a problem as some think, but we'll only know if people post their experiences (postitive and negative).

1 posted last night (41 wishers) - requested by first wisher by the time I logged on today.

2 posted today (41 wishers and 52 wishers), requested right away. But I did go out of my norm and posted them directly to a buddy.

Best New Paranormal Romance
Author: Paula Guran

Members Wishing: 12 11 10

Posted: 3/18

Offered to: 1  second third wisher

Accepted: 3/22

Total wait: 4 days and a few hours

I predict that this will go quick, most of the books I post are WL books and I've always had them go pretty quickly

ETA: Well here it is almost 48 hrs and no response, so much for going quickly lol.  maybe after the holiday weekend?

ETA: now on wisher two. 

ETA:  Well third time is a charm!  LOL still I don't see the need for the level of angst that some get because it goes through more than a couple people before getting accepted. 

I'll experiment with you:

Killer Insight (Abby Cooper, Book 4), 13 Wishers

Posted: 3/16 9:05PM EST - Rolled over & offered again 3/18 10:00PM EST

Offered to: 2 wishers

Accepted: 3/20 11:15AM MST

Total wait: 3 1/2 days

I don't mind the ones that decline quickly either.  It's the ones that time out that are really annoying. 

I can't remember exact dates. But I posted a WL book about 2 wks ago with I think about 14 people in line.  I had another book I posted a day or 2 later that timed out on one person before being accepted.

1: times out

2: times out

3: accepted on auto request, cancelled 3hrs later

4: times out

5: accepted near end of time out.

(I think there might have actually been another time out  or decline in there but I can't remember for sure.  It was in limbo for over a week if I remember right.) 

This evening I posted my 2nd waitlisted book ever.  The first was earlier this week.  I hurried to finish the book because I knew someone else had requested it.  Posted it as available--- and it timed out.

Here's my 2nd:

Roadside Geology of Arizona

3 Wishers

Posted: 3/18/2008 5:01 PM ET

Offered to 1st wisher

Accepted within 3 hours.

This one is a little approximate on the times, but:

Motif for Murder, by Laura Childs

Posted Sunday around 6 PM.

Requested Sunday at 10:20 PM. 

Total wait ~4 1/2 hours.

Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell, 172 wishers

Posted: 3/18

Offered to: 1 wisher

Accepted:

Total wait:

This may be interesting.  I just posted WHEREVER YOU GO, THERE YOU ARE by Jon Kabat-Zinn.  There were 3 wishers for my particular ISBN, but a total of 10 for all the different ISBNs for this title (not including audio books).  I'm anxious to see if this gets offered to the other lists, and in what order.

Time posted:  7:21 a.m. EDT, 3/19/08

Time taken:   10:59 a.m. EDT, 3/19/08

Original list?: YES

Well, that was quick and easy!  =)

Okay, mine was accepted:

Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell, 172 wishers

Posted: 3/18  7:34pm ET

Offered to: 1 wisher

Accepted:  3/19  7:10am ET

Total wait:  Less than 12 hours

I rarely have a problem with books that have a long line like this one did.  On the other hand, a lot of the older books I find at library, etc. sales will have 1-2 people on the list, and they time out.  I assume they are people who have long since abandoned their accounts. 

Too bad there isn't something like a time stamp, if you log in it tells you when you were here last and if someone looks at your profile it says "this member was last online: anywere from Now to an actual date.  Sure I know people don't always have a profile available but lots do and it might give you a clue as to if it is an abandoned account or if maybe they just are busy or out of credits.  Might be something the site programmers might consider?

It might make it easier for those who get fustrated with a wait time.

Although that getting annoyed at time outs and going through more than one person allways boggles my mind, it's not like this is a gallon of milk which is going to spoil in 10 days.  An so what if you only go to the PO on certain days, choose the last mailing date (I alway do regardless of when I intend to send) and PM if it is going to be longer than that.  Hardbacks aside, I'm betting a good percentage of the books can go first class anyway so highly doubtful they will go lost.

I forgot to check how many wishers I had on my books but I posted 3 wish books last night about 8:00 and by this morning all three were picked.

I just posted 11 audio books, 9 were WL'd and were accepted by the next day and sent out to the first WL person to whom they were offered.  No time outs, no cancels, no posting to next WL person in FIFO line.  And in my personal experience (not too extensive, but still, I've been on PBS a year), almost every one of the WL books I've posted have gone out to the first WL member in FIFO line (and for the record, these were regular books, not audio books like this last batch).

I guess I've been lucky, considering what I read on the posts, but in my experience, FIFO has worked well, exactly how it was set up to work.  The only FIFO problems/cancels I've had have been on my end:  a couple of times, MY WL book comes up and I've had a couple people cancel them on me, putting me back in FIFO line without the book, and also:  my WL request (which are NOT on auto-request) came up on the weekend after I'd checked on Friday night and got cancelled before I checked in again on Monday.  Those missed books, which timed out on the Sender's side, were books I really did want and I put them back on my WL, now getting at the end of FIFO line, and I STILL have not gotten those books yet.  That's the only downside to FIFO to me - weekends can wreck my list even with a 48-hr hold period.  But I've seen SOOO many impatient PBS members that think even the 48-hr hold period is too long to wait, so my wanting -more- time (on the weekends) is definitely minority wishful thinking and never going to happen.  (The auto-request thing doesn't sit well with me, even though I want all the books on my WL, because I like to know I have some control over my credit spending and know what my credit balance is at all times.  I like to do swap games and such, and need to maintain a certain amount of spare credits.)

I posted 101 reasons to love the cardinals at 4:20 on Sunday afternoon.  I believe it had three wishers.

The first one times out so it went to te second on Tue at 5.  They accepted within 4 hours. 

It would be nice if there was a "Last log in" on our profilem, but i supose it wouldn't matter for al the people who don't have one.  And I agee that the time outers are more frustrating than the decliners.

I did post 4 wish list books last Friday and they were all requested within 10 hours. 

The last time I posted a large batch of books (about two weeks ago) I had 4 that immediately flagged as WL holds and several others that were on auto-request.   One of the WL holds was accepted immediately. The other three all rolled over to the next. One was canceled by second/last person in line. One rolled over twice, and one rolled over three times. That's the only one I remember the name of : The Handy Dinosaur Answer book. 

I guess it's just me that has the multiple roll overs everytime they post a WL book to FIFO.

I just posted some books this afternoon.  One had a wish list hold but by the time I got back home from dinner, it was no longer on hold and wasn't requested, so I guess the person cancelled.

Ginnie

I guess it's just me that has the multiple roll overs everytime they post a WL book to FIFO.

nah, i had one fairly recently that timed out on the first two people, and the third person didn't accept until about the last hour of the 48 hours.  i was checking around the rollover time, and shortly before that time she hadn't accepted.  since she was a forum person, i knew she'd logged in several times during that 48 hours, but maybe she was waiting for a credit to come in.

my last book WL posted to FIFO got accepted very quickly.

Can we do this the other way too? 

I had a WL book that was auto-requested yesterday (3/19) at 11:00am.  The book has a long waiting list, 439, so it was bound to be requested fairly quickly.  Right now it is a full 24 hours later and the poster still has yet to accept the request. 

All WL posts to FIFO qualify for this discussion. Even if AR seems like a guarantee, it isn't always. Sounds like the requestor in your case was out of credits, so the request went to standard 48-hours.