Please ask any questions before you vote! :)

The moderators and VBB hostesses have been tossing around the idea of integrating the VBB books into the Owed Books Database. Lots of members are now entering their VBB books into the Database under Private Trades, so it certainly appears that many people would like to see them there. We've also had comments from Swap Hosts indicating they don't want to/won't check all the VBB's as well as the Database for members who are more than 6 months behind - if all the info was in ONE place, it would be easier to check and more likely to be done.

This would be a one time entry of the existing outstanding books owed in each VBB - we would not do any retroactive entries like we did with the swaps - and then each VBB would be entered into the Database at the end of each monthly round (or every other month, however the VBB is set up). This would eliminate all the individual VBB Out-of-Play threads. Transfer of data and updating would be handled by existing mods and database volunteers - if needed, we'll ask for an additional volunteer.

I see we have a few people voting no... I hope I'm not starting anything here, but I guess as a box organizer, I would be interested to know why people might be against it? Perhaps it's for reasons that we could allay, if we knew what they were?

I'm certainly not judging anyone for their views, I'm just curious to know. We want everyone to be happy, while at the same time making participation in these "games" a little more stable, if you will, a little less of a leap of faith, if you know what I mean?

Again, really don't want to start anything bad...

I voted for yes, as it would make it easier for me to keep track of everything I owe to other people.

But I am also curious about people voting no... :rolleyes:

I say of course.
Why should the VBB's be an exception? :wacko:
(to be honest I thought they were in the database already. guess I was wrong
It seems logic to have everything in 1 database.

Would VBB books posted on the database take into account CheriePie's book charity - so that if a choice is fulfilled by someone else, it would get updated on the database?

My guess would be that the people who are against the idea of the database in general, probably would be against the idea of keeping the VBBs in there as well. Which of course begs the question: "What is it that you find objectionable about the database?" which may be a can of worms people may be reluctant to open. :shrug:

Also this isn't the best place for it, but I didn't see it mentioned anywhere else. I just wanted to clarify the 6-month rule that went into effect June 1st means that if you are 6 months behind in mailing books from the Teen VBB, for example, not only are you not supposed to be continuing to play in the VBB, but you should be removing yourself (or placing yourself on hold) from all other VBBs, swaps or relays as well until you are caught up. Someone mentioned they were unclear about the scope of the rule, and I figured if they were unsure, there were probably other people who were unsure as well.

I only do VBB's and have no knowledge of how to read/use/view the database, other than the 5 minutes that I spent looking at it when it was brand new. So some of us may need a little hand-holding. :) However, I still voted yes because I'd love to see everything in one place. It is hard to track down all of the various threads.

I only do VBBs so don't know the ins and outs of the database, but it has gotta be better than trying to keep track of all the out of play threads I am in!!

Since mostly I do monthly things and one VBB, I'm a little unclear on exactly how the database gets updated when books are received?

But I'd be happy to learn. It does seem a bit easier to have one place to check for everything.

I voted yes, too. I think it's handy to have everything in one place and see at a glance what I owe...

I voted yes because it is much easier just checking the database instead of having to go into lots of other pages. Personally I can't see any reason at all for people voting no. :shrug:

Each book in the database has a link to the BC journals, and either the people involved in the transaction can update the record (the sender and receiver) or the site mods can also update it. They will periodically click through the links to see if the book has been received, or at least mailed and will update it appropriately.

Mods - please correct me if that's wrong! :)

Correct but other people do also update - Marlene is swaps champion and chambejd does relays and camis does helping :) I think that's everyone currently.

One problem that has come up in the mystery VBB is with books that aren't registered. What do people think about it? Should all VBB books be registered? or if not, should the member have some way of telling us how to track them or when they have arrived? :erm:

We've had a couple of unregistered books placed in the Romance VBB as well. My feeling is that if someone chooses to use an unregistered book, the onus is on them to make sure that all involved are apprised of the status of that book (i.e. if it's been mailed, or received) and if there's a question about whether an unregistered book is causing a person to be considered 6 months behind, the sender should be able to show some kind of proof that the book was indeed mailed.

I think that all the books used in VBBs and in swaps should be registered on BC. It makes it easier to track.

I agree. I'm fine with giving the BCID's later, but they should all have them otherwise it will be impossible to track.

Meshe your cow is too cute! Tell it to stop licking me though. :rofl:

Every time he licks you, it makes you get sweeter and sweeter... still want him to quit???

Yes please it's getting ready to rain and I don't wanna melt. :rolleyes: :lol:

I voted no this morning because I found the database incredibly hard to use, then this afternoon I was looking at it and found the filter thingy and it was like :duh:
So I would prob change my vote if I could.

Okay, I'll tell him to quit, but he really loves licking on Alabama girls!

Your cow has an udder, wouldn't that make her a girl?

I personally find the filter thing incredibly hard to use. I can't think of a better way to organize it, but having to scroll through hundreds of names, and if I move my mouse wrong and loose it having to wait for it to load whichever name I landed on and then scroll through hundreds (or at least that's what it feels like) of names again...

The database is fine once I get it filtered, though extra work for me as I have my own spreadsheets and have to remember to mark things as traveling SOMEWHERE. I HATE filtering it, though.

I know what you mean Kathy the first time I looked at it, I wanted to RUN, but Cherie went through it all with me via IM and got me to understand it :giggle: and then I was like ohhhhh that's ok.

no, it's a boy, he's just a mutant :rofl:

I hear ya Pepper!

I wonder if someone could remove the names of the people who don't owe anything/aren't receiving anything. Is it possible to re-add them if they choose to participate somewhere?
I don't know the first thing about how it works, so feel free to tell me that's too much work! :lol:

I don't know - we need Cherie to answer this :erm:

I don't think we can remove them completely because that would mess up the data for the books already received. Though I don't know if/how long we need to keep that data anyway. If we want to keep it indefinately then we can't remove people. Perhaps there is an option to not include them in the drop down list.

Personally, I don't mind the long list of names, but I would prefer to see it alphabetized instead of sorted by the capital letters of the names and then alphabetized.

See that makes sense :) why am I not so logical?

And yes I agree it would be easier to see that way.

seconded, or thirded, whatever... :lol:

I'm teen vbb mom, and that's how I track if they've been received or not. I would rather them be registered on BC, if they aren't, it just makes it a PITA for me. I can understand every now and again, say when you need a book to cover, and you buy one online, and just haven't gotten it yet.


And btw, I would rather see the vbbs in the database.

Actually I love the filter thing and find it really easy. :shrug:

I guess you could say I'm a fan of the database.

Oh, I have nothing against the database itself. I just don't like the REALLY long list of names I have to scroll through. Maybe if we had multiple drop down boxes... one for sent or received, one for the name... :shrug: I don't know.

I can't think of any way to make it easier, but I hate scrolling through the list.

The database is great once it's filtered, but... I can't stand filtering it. Drives me nuts.

Hm, interesting, the drop-down list doesn't bother me at all and I never would have thought of it bothering anyone - I like when people say why they are bothered by something then it makes sense! and also, we can see if anything can be done. I do agree that complete alphabetization would be nice rather than upper and lower case sorting first - we'll have to wait for Cherie's answer on that one. It is true it would muck up the history if we just deleted names though - so I think the question then becomes do we want/need the history & that might open a whole other question of whether the history is optional. Personally, once someone receives the book I've sent them, I'd never look at the transaction again - but others might have reason to do so.... Oh, Cherie!!!!! :)

Yeah I'm not a fan of the separation between capitalization and non-capitalization for the list. I just think it makes it unwieldy. Plus I can never remember if my name is in the capitalized section or not

Don't like separation by caps non-caps, and don't like having sender and recipient in same list, wish they were separate. :)

The results are overwhelmingly in favor of adding the VBB's to the database. Marlene and I will start moving the data this week - we'll be posting in the out-of-play threads of each VBB as we are working on them. If need be, we'll add another volunteer to work on it, but we'll see how it goes first. I'll also change the master list of VBB's (pinned in this forum) as each VBB is moved - the out-of-play thread for each VBB will be locked once the move is complete. Thanks everyone! :)

Like I posted in the Database thread, I have lots of spare time now that I am off work and would be more than happy to help out. Just let me know. You can always take away any extra status you give me after the transfer is done. :lol: I am just bored and looking for something to do.

Thanks Wendy! :)