I posted a YA book with a long WL of 120 members.  It has bypassed 3 people and I am now waiting to see if 4th person wants it. I know 2 of the 3 let it time-out so I am assuming that they might be members who have abandoned their accounts since the membership changes in FEB.

Anyone else noticing similar activity in the WLs?

Oh yeah, I get that a lot! I think paper Towns which had over 400 wishers rolled through 8 before a taker. Each and every one before the 8th let it time out too.

This is precisely why members listing books need to be able to post to the next wisher with auto request on. If a member wants the book then have the credits and turn auto request on or just get out of the way. Just my opinion. If I have a wish list book and it is not on auto, I first check friends and then just dispose of it elsewhere. I am not a storage facility.

I don't think auto request would work for most..I have 3 credits with an almost 500 wl. If I put 3 on auto request, what happens to the rest?

You can put all 500 on auto-request. The first 3 that are posted will be requested for you. If a 4th book is posted before you've earned any more credits, then it will go through the normal 48-hour process.

The thing about "next member with auto-request on" doesn't really help. If the next wisher has auto-request on but doesn't have any credits, the book still shows up on your TBR pile with the WA icon.

Dormant or seemingly dormant accounts need to be weeded out. This was always somewhat problematic in the past and I think it might be more so now, after the change in membership. 

Back in the day, I could wait while my posted WL book went through multiple accounts - these days not so much. Life fluctuates and sometimes I have to put my account on hold. I just don't have the luxury of time now. I hesitate to post WL books with a multitude of wishers.

It's happened to me too.  Not everyone comes here every 48 hours.  But then it happened before it became a paid site, now it just happens more often.  ALC members have lost interest.  And some paid ones are frustrated by all the technical glitches and don't come around as much.  To be honest, were it not for the games, I'd be gone myself.  We ran a FIFO game, were all the books you offer MUST be posted FIFO other than the one title taken by the player who had your books at the end.  I always has a lot of 'roll overs' but this last time I waited 4 days before one book with lots of wishers and a fairly new pub date got accepted.

I also noticed almost all the top 100 most wished for books are old publications, not to be released.  WL numbers for heavily sought after authors are WAY down.  The ALC people are frozen at 100 and the Limited at 200.  It makes a difference.

Seems the issue could be resolved fairly easily. If a member lets a wish listed book time out, or fails to respond to a request, PBS could just put the account on hold. This would remove inactive accounts from the system.

Getting very few wish list books posted to me anymore it seems and many are on automatic.  I too order books for friends so not all are automatic.

If a member lets a wish listed book time out, or fails to respond to a request, PBS could just put the account on hold.

The system already does this. If you ignore wish list requests (I believe it's two), your account will be put on hold until you login and remove the hold.

I'm with Tibben. Many of the books on my WL are for my 3 daughters who all live elsewhere.  I love that I can have a book shipped directly to them without having to come to me first.

I had this happen before the mid-Feb exodus. I have posted WL books that have timed out through 7 wishers before being accepted. Yes, some of it is about dormant account, some is that people just can't be bothered to click 'no' or 'not now'. Despite all the FIFO lovers' laments, this is why I post directly to friends' WLs when possible. Of course, doing so isn't a solution for those on my  friends list who neither bothered to remove either their WL nor delete their friends lists before departing mid-Feb.

It does seem like it has happened more to me since the introduction of the fees. But I'm hoping that as inactive/deserted accounts are cycled through, they are put on hold and things get back to some semblance of normal.

I happen to have everything on auto-request, but I understand why others can't or don't. As a sender, I *wish* everyone had their whole wishlist on auto-request, because I could plan my trips to the PO more easily, but it seems like less than 25% of the wishlisted books I post are auto-requested.

The other thing, for me at least, is if I'm at the tail end of a wish list and 'like new' copy of the book becomes available via Amazon, I just buy it.  I do try and purge my WL when I do that, but wait till the book arrives.  Some Amazon sellers are less honest or books arrive damaged - once not at all.

With the new automatic tracking, the 'lost in mail' claims should go down.  But I will say, I had a book mis-delivered to a neighbor and they waited a few weeks to get it to me.  I did go into my archive and mark it rec'd and made sure the sender got a credit.  We had a period of about 2 years when all of us in the complex (it's a rural townhome complex and each building with 5-7 units has a mailbox area in the middle) were getting neighbor's mail as some carriers weren't watching where they put things.  I kept re-delivering things - including what looked like checks!  It got so bad, I was getting mail for different STREETS.  We finally got a few reliable postal delivery people, but with summer here, that means temps doing the routes, so we'll have all kinds of issues again.  

One book I sent with tracking was literally lost in the receiver's house, but a simple PM got him in gear and he was able to find it.  New Baby distraction.  Life happens.

I had my whole wl was on auto request until I got 3 books intended for my brother and SIL 200 miles away and I had to keep re-mailing them.  I pulled the auto on all but a few.  ANd if I don't want a book anymore, I do make a point of clicking on the 'no' so it can roll to the next person quickly and come off my WL.  It's only fair.

I agree though, people who left should have placed their WL's on hold or simply deleted them.  Keeping them does not hurt PBS, just members.  Since I only post WL books, I do try and send some FIFO rather than to friends just to keep things fair.

I understand about non auto because you are sending to other friends or family. I do it myself but it is a very small percentage of my wish list The rest destined for me are on auto. There is no excuse for failure to reply to a request or wish list .I am not believing that PBS puts accounts on hold after two or there would not be such an issue. For those who disagree, are your wish list request destined for you are auto? If no, why not. No defense for failure to reply and time out.

None of my WL is on auto accept. I prefer to see what is being offered before accepting, but it is rare for me not to be on this site daily. A lot of my WL books are intended for others, and sometimes we pick up WL books elsewhere. Maybe I'm at a thrift store buying that WL book right now while it is being offered to me. I want to be able to come home, log in, and say no thanks.

I am not believing that PBS puts accounts on hold after two or there would not be such an issue.

It definitely happens. I missed two offers because of circumstances beyond my control and when I next looked at my account it was on hold, with a message that I had not responded to two offers so my account was on hold until I verified that I wanted to be active again.

Sasssy25: I prefer to see what is being offered before accepting, but it is rare for me not to be on this site daily. A lot of my WL books are intended for others, and sometimes we pick up WL books elsewhere. Maybe I'm at a thrift store buying that WL book right now while it is being offered to me. I want to be able to come home, log in, and say no thanks.

Lori M.: It definitely happens. I missed two offers because of circumstances beyond my control and when I next looked at my account it was on hold, with a message that I had not responded to two offers so my account was on hold until I verified that I wanted to be active again.

Good to hear!

Mine is not on auto request but I check in every day..

Why not on auto request? Because you can't block senders and I have a few I wouldn't want to receive books from. That's when a not now option works best.

Like Marya, I will post WL books to Friends over FIFO because I am sick and tired of waiting while a book rolls thru multiple members waiting to be accepted. I think FIFO is a great idea and for years I continued to post FIFO over Friends BUT with some many abandoned/inactive accounts, I no longer have the patience. PBS could be more proactive in weeding out inactive members but they choose not to and thusly I choose to send to PBS Friends.

Why not on auto request? Because you can't block senders and I have a few I wouldn't want to receive books from. That's when a not now option works best.

You do not know who the sender is until AFTER you accept so I fail to see how having your wish list on 48 hour hold is useful?

Mary, you can tell who the sender is because there's a pm button. I always click the pm button before accepting. I did that this morning.  Sometimes I pm the sender before I accept and sometimes I accept and pm. I like to let the sender know my delight in being offered the book and I don't want a smokey book and I not a crazy wacko with a subjective smell RC.  I know this person is a nonsmoker from a past transaction so I did not pm today. 

For me, the pm button does not show up until after I accept. At that point, I would be able to see who the sender is and cancel. I do not have the ability to see who and then decide whether to accept or not. Since I don't know anyone it really wouldn't matter. If you had an issue with a sender, I can see how it may be desirable to block them from offering you books. Perhaps PBS should consider this feature.

I don't have my wl on 48 hour hold. I only hol dbooks if I order them from somewhere. I hold what I ordered so if for whatever reason my order doesn't come, etc I can unhold my books and still be in line. Once I receive them, I remove the books from y wl. However, I do not have a hold on my wl in general