I wanted to open a thread for us to discuss how to handle the book commitments that people have made who are now MIA. I think someone had suggested a while back, that for the people who are owed a book by someone who's now MIA, they should be entitled to a "credit" for each owed book to use at their discretion. So for example, if I was owed 2 books by someone who's MIA, I'd had 2 "credits". Maybe I'd use one credit this round to take out a book I wanted, without having to put one in as usual, and maybe I'd save the other credit for future use.

That sounds pretty fair to me, and if the MIA people ever do send out the books I wouldn't want the people to have to "repay" the credits or whatever - I think the fact that they waited so long for the books in the first place should be enough.

This is just one idea though - if other people have ideas on how to handle this sitch, I'd like to hear them so we can come up with something that's most fair.

This is a tough one. You can get into so many what ifs. For instance what if I took a book from someone and they still post now and then but after a year I still have not gotten my book. Do I get a credit? What if I took a book from someone and they seem to have disappeared and have not been onsite in a couple of months and I get a credit. Then they show back up and meet their commitments. Do I have to give the credit back? What if a lot of folks start disappearing and we start handing out credits. Where will the new books to replace the 'credited' books come from? How long does a person have to be missing before we start crediting the books they owe? Who is going to be in charge of issuing credits and determining when a person is truly MIA?

Don't get me wrong, I am not opposed to the idea. Just want to play the Devil's Advocate and throw a few what ifs out there. :P

Another question would be: What about people who have left the box and still owed a book?

I like the credit idea. You can always pay them back if the missing player decides to honour their commitments.

Can you leave while still owing?

I think there have been people who have left while still owing a book - probably because most everyone here knows everyone else is generally good for sending owed books. Also, someone might drop out of a box, but won't usually disappear from the site totally. We're all too addicted for that! :lol:

Maybe you're thinking of the unspoken rule about not leaving a box while you still have books in it?

I like the idea of credits. And yeah, you can always add an extra book in later if the one owed to you finally makes an appearane.

I think that credits should be issued once a book is late a few rounds -and- the person who is supposed to send it has gone MIA. Like if I owed a book from 3 months ago, but am still here and trying to take care of everything, then OK, but if I owed the same book and have gone missing for the same amount of rounds or so, never making any contact with anyone, then the person who chose my book gets a credit.

Or maybe the owed person can remove a **book without replacing it?

That's all I can think of.

:)
cheers!

Sounds good to me (since I'm owed several from folks who are MIA) I wouldn't mind putting one back in if a book ever did show up. But I could definitely use the credits

The only problem I can see with the proposed credit system is that there are actually quite a few books outstanding from MIA players. If a credit was given for each book - and the recipient used it to take a book and not replace - the VBB is going to look pretty empty! (having had a quick count up, it is something like 12 books - enough to make a big dent in the box).

Personally (and it is only hypothetical becasue I'm not owed anything) I would just write it off. If I didn't get a book I was owed, well, it happens. Some of us put a lot of books in at the very beginning without getting anything back - perhaps those that are owed might like to consider it a gift to the box?!

Plus, this doesn't include people who have left the box with books owing - I guess we're all assuming they will be mailed eventually :unsure: Some of those people aren't that regular around here - when would we decide that they are MIA and start issuing credits for those books? Because that would completely collapse the box.

Sorry if that sounds a bit harsh but I am concerned that we will lose an awful lot of books from the box with nothing to replace them.

I just wrote this whole long post diagreeing with something someone wrote and then I realized that's not what they said at all. :lol:

In my lack of typing skills the question should have been::

Another question would be: What about people who have left the box and are still owed a book?

BTW, I sort of agree with Camis. Sometimes shit happens and so what. Personally I think I have enough books to read for awhile :rolleyes:

I dunno, I tend to agree with the 'let bygones be bygones' camp - Lord knows I have enough to read (I'm offering some up for postage if anyone is interested!). To be fair to those who are feeling jilted, I thought maybe we could come up with a way to address what happens when someone's owed a book. And I agree the whole credit system has its flaws - that's why I wanted everyone's input! I just wouldn't want anyone - especially some of our new people - to be put off of playing with us because they duly sent off their chosen books but had the misfortune to choose a book from someone who then disappeared. But if most people dont think we can/should do anything about it, I'm cool with that too.

Maybe the credited book could go back "into" the box on some sort of separate "need to replace" list. That way if the player did come back, they'd have to replace or send the book first.

We could also ask for donations again if the box starts looking low.

I think it would be a good idea to have a credit option to avoid hard feelings. Personally, I won't need any of my MIA books credited, I've pretty much let them all go at this point anyhow. I can see how other people would want that option though.

I'd be happy to donate more books to help rebuild the box if needed.

That sounds like a good idea too to me. That way there's less of the problem with credits and replacing and everything. What do other people think?