The main idea of bookcrossing, IMHO, is to wild release, but there are so many other ways to enjoy BC too-- forums, challenges, meet ups, RABCK, rings and rays.the list goes on and on. I can see how some might consider the whole hunting aspect of bookcrossing "kinda dirty" -- I take it for what it is; just another aspect of bookcrossing. I don't (and I hope others don't either) abuse this small part of what BC is all about.
With that being said, if I happen to see a book I'd like to read that's AVL on a fellow active BC'ers shelf and I see that they are willing to trade, by all means, I may contact them with an offer to trade. If there is a book I REALLY want, instead of bothering countless BC'ers for a trade, I'll go to paperbackswap.com if I don't mind it used. If it is something earth-shattering that I can't live without, well, that's my clue to buy myself my own copy new! taaza -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of ecrust2001 Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 6:32 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [BookCrossing] Well, the hunting-page portion of BC IS about getting free books, kinda... ...at least, "free" if you don't count the time, effort, bus fare, and possibly admission fee to get to the release site in the first place {wry grin}. If Ron (the founder) didn't want people to at least have the option to try going book-hunting, he wouldn't have added the whole hunting-page section, not to mention the release- alert email option. The idea is not only to add an element of fun to BCers who like the idea of trying to hunt for other BCers' wild releases, but to tantalize non-BCers into watching the site and perhaps joining up if they find a book. There are BCers who would prefer that their wild books are found by people who were just going about their business and were not actually hunting for them; if you feel that way, you can either avoid making release notes altogether, or make the release notes well after the fact - that way the random passers-by will have a good shot at the books before the release-alerts go out. I have heard of situations - often involving mass releases - where someone would follow the trail of release notes and collect lots of books, and that's a bit offputting, but even in that case if the books are well and thoroughly labeled they will travel eventually. And just because someone does use the hunting pages to try and find a specific book doesn't mean that they intend to keep it indefinitely, anyway. Most probably, if they wanted free books to read (and if they succeed in finding the wild BC books, which can be tricky!) they'll pass the books along once they're done; and even if they just put 'em on their shelves at home, the books will move eventually. Spouse will have a yard sale, finder might sell a box of books on eBay, one of the kids might take books off to school... and there's always my favorite, the estate sale! Given the completely random nature of wild-book releases - different genres, different times and locations, different book-conditions, etc. - I doubt that very many people use wild BC books in place of normal book-purchases. Those people who do join BC to try to acquire free books are more likely to send out lots of PMs asking people to send books, rather than focusing on hunting wild releases, and in those cases I hope that the people who get the requests always keep in mind that nobody's required to mail books on demand. But that's a separate issue from wild-releasing, book-hunting, or setting the status to "PC"! -GoryDetails See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing <http://bookcrossing.com/referral/GoryDetails> .com/referral/GoryDetails [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Have you told a friend today? http://bookcrossing.com/tellafriend Archives and email list settings: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BookCrossing Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BookCrossing/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BookCrossing/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
