I have a book that has a small smudge on the the front blank page.  It bugs me and I'm thinking of cutting it out of the page (about 1 square inch).  Also thinking of removing the whole page.  It's wishlisted and I don't know if I will ever trade the book.  What would you do? 

will an eraser do anything?

Use an emery board and lightly "buff" the area.

I would just remove the page if I decided to trade it. It will still be postable.

A mark on a blank page is postable as far as I can see.  I would just post it and PM the swapper.

A mark on a blank page is postable as far as I can see.  I would just post it and PM the swapper.

I would consider a smudge to be a stain (not writing). A stain anywhere on the book is unpostable, doesn't matter if it's a blank page.

I would just remove the page if I decided to trade it. It will still be postable. 

Me too.

I agree with remove the page.  Libraries frequently remove blank pages - those books swap here with no problem.

I agree with a couple of the comments above.  First, try an eraser.  If that doesn't work, try an emery board and/or sand paper, being careful not to cause any tears or holes. (You would be basically removing a thin layer, which is mostly the dirt smudge and a bit of the actual page paper.)  This usually works on a lot of stains except for anything that has oil or grease, or a tomato base.

Personally I wouldn't accept a book that had a page removed.  I didn't think that was permitted here and would have RWAPed a book I received that did.  I guess I'll have to put it in as a condition.
 

It is permissible for a blank page to be removed. I've heard members often remove a blank page that had an inscription on it from when they got a book as a gift.

I wondered if it was permissible to remove a blank page containing an inscription.  Glad to know it is.

Inscriptions are postable, no need to remove pages with inscriptions. Unless you want to remove a personal one, for some reason.

Personally I wouldn't accept a book that had a page removed.  I didn't think that was permitted here and would have RWAPed a book I received that did.

If it's a blank page and it was removed carefully, how would you know it had been removed?

I could not find anything in the Help Center about missing/removing a fly page. Turns out the stain is inside the thick cover AND on the fly page.  I tried rubbing out the stain but I wore away a layer of the the cover.  Looks like I'm stuck with the stain.  I guess the stain makes it unpostable.  

I like the idea of removing the page to keep the inscription.  

Val, The only books that I've seen with a page removed, it is obvious a page has been removed.  Other than unbinding and rebinding a book, I don't see how it can be done without being noticed.  I can also tell when a blank page should have been there.  Rarely do you open a book and the first page you see is the title page, even paperbacks.

The PBS rules say, no missing text pages. Not, no missing pages.

I've always seen that interpreted to mean that missing pages are acceptable as long as they are not text pages. Blank pages, book order coupon pages, etc, book review pages .... those can all be missing. 

What Sara said (I type that alot!).

I've pulled out blank pages of books if they had stains on them and/or if they were torn.  They are not text pages, so I never have seen it being a big deal to rip out a blank page.

I also wouldn't mind getting a book missing a blank page...

The PBS rules say, no missing text pages. Not, no missing pages.

PBS rules also say "no torn pages"**

It doesn't specify no torn text pages, just no torn pages. 

When removing pages things could get dicey with different perceptions, opinions, and interpretations of the rules.  If you remove a page I would suggest being very careful when removing it. A page that has been torn out is still a torn page. I think I've seen people suggested removing it cleanly with like an exacto knife or something.

**Just wanted to note the no torn pages rule does allow a tear in a page up to an inch as long as it doesn't interfere with any text.

Think of it like a dust jacket.

The PBS rules say that if it's there, it can't be torn (more than 1 inch).

However, it can be completely missing.

Same with non-text pages. They can't be torn, but they can be missing.

That's how the rules are generally interpreted by most.