hi all sorry to bother you, but I keep noticing that I am going up in the wishlist line for books rather than down. I have a book where i was number 4 out of however many people, and now i'm number 5. anyone know why? thanks

Someone who had the book wishlisted before you had it on hold and when they took it off hold you were bumped down.

Edited for clarity

Yup. For example, I wishlisted all three of the new Alison Kent series The Dalton Gang. #2 and #3 are on vacation hold until I get and read the first one to see if I like it. If I do, then I'll take #2 off hold and everyone behind me will drop down one. The benefit of doing this is that I don't pull a copy out until I'm ready to read it so someone else gets theirs first and if it sucks, I don't have 2 and 3 sitting here using wasted credits.

I don't know if I get or believe this rationale.  I tracked all my books for several months last year and I had my position on many of my WL books increase, some as many as 3 or 4 positions.  If I have 100 books WL'd and on 10 of them my position moves back 1, 2, or 3 positions, all within, say, a month, something seems really wrong with that.  Something else has to be happening.  

I stopped tracking this because it was just ticking me off and I always got the "people are taking it off hold" or "the order was canceled" explanation when I questioned it but it just seemed too prevalent to be legit.  I just reviewed my WL and I saw one of the books I've had on list for several months and I see that a wish was granted last week and yet my position on the list is exactly the same.  Doesn't ring right to me or I am just missing the logic here. 

It could also be that someone did receive the book and there was a problem so they went back to the front of the list.

A wish granted last week but you didn't move up means someone posted the book directly to someone else who was on the WL but their position was behind yours.

Here's an example because a lot depends on genre of the book listed.

Maya Banks- Rush- published in Feb 2013. Today has a wishlist of 203 people.

There was a major annual erotica game played in Jan, Feb, and March and the main book had to be published within a certain time frame and have over a certain number of wishers. Rush was just about to come out and everyone in that game had it on their wishlist (probably 20 women). The book fit the criteria, so several ladies went out and bought a copy to play the game with. I think there were 6 copies offered. So 6 copies got purchased and 6 WL positions got removed.  Then 6 other ladies selected that book as their choice, so off come 6 more for a total of 12 spaces moved. After the game was over, there wasn't really another one in play in between the end of that one and the publication of the second book in the trilogy, so the playability of Rush in the Games died down a bit. Now the 6 ladies who won the book and any others that might have it aren't going to offer it in a game, so they might post it to a friend, offer it in a Wishlist Multiples thread, or do a private deal outside of the PBS system. Each of those swaps is outside of the FIFO line, so there can be a lot of moving in front of you and moving in back of you. As you can see, those 6 copies could affect 18+ wishlist spots in two weeks, and that doesn't take into account all the other copies out there.

Also it would still show a wish granted on a book that timed out on the senders end and was never mailed.  Which would move everyone up in the line at first and then everyone back in the line when it timed out. 

Lots of things can affect your WL position and if you try to monitor them all closely you will just give yourself a headache. I never pay any attention to my WL position.  I'll get it when I get it and I have plenty to read in the meantime.

PBS gives a book a month to arrive before it goes lost and if a WL book goes lost than a month later that person is put back where they were in line and everyone behind them moves back a spot.  If a book is marked RWP, again they back on the WL and everyone goes back a spot.  If a sender took the full 5 days to accept the book request, chose the last possible mail by date and then let it time out, 12 days later everyone moves back a spot.  There are people, like me, who constantly take their account on and off vacation hold.  I don't  always bother going through and autorequesting books. When my postage budget is hit and I don't want to mail anything for awhile, I go on hold removing myself from probably 100+ wl lines and causing everyone behidn me to move up a notch. When I come off hold again, everyone behind goes back a spot. 

eta: on a heavily WL, very popular book with many copies being posted each week, the line could fluctuate several times a day as requests get cancelled, timed out, lost, damaged etc.., 

on a heavily WL, very popular book with many copies being posted each week, the line could fluctuate several times a day as requests get cancelled, timed out, lost, damaged etc..,

This is why I think something is hinky with WL books.  In my case, the majority of the books on my WL are books that are old and/or out of print.  Not the kind of books huge numbers of transactions take place on, most having only a few transactions a year on them, which is why it is so bizarre that I move back 1, 2 or 3 positions in a week or so and not just on one book but on several.  Just irritating and puzzling. 

ok thanks everyone i know have several theories to choose from =) i'm glad it dosen't just happen to me though, i thought i was imagening it

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