AsI'm in Europe I often have to turn somersaults to pay in dollars

You can also pay in Euros, by bank.

Hi Everyone, I've missed you. I've been away for far too long, taking an 10-year detour doing the tech startup thing in Silicon Valley, with some hits but many more misses.

Throughout my detour I've remembered how good I had it here at my first real website success, and I'm super happy to announce that I'm back and will soon be working on improvements to BookCrossing.

Actually, I just made the first change today.. the web server was set to block requests if your browser made more than 5 concurrent requests, or more than 10 requests in half a second. That was not a great configuration, as most browsers, especially on a fast connection, will exceed those limits. Symptoms of hitting that block include random broken images and broken scripts on the site. I was seeing those problems in Chrome, which is why I dug into it today. Changed the settings and voilà, fixed. :) Let me know if you notice the difference.

Moving forward: I'd like to hear from you all what you think the biggest (fixable) problems are with BC currently. You can use this thread to post your thoughts.

Please understand that one thing I will be particularly focused on is Growth. If a website isn't growing, it's dying, and BookCrossing has been on a slow downward slide in active members and revenue for the last several years. I have to be completely honest: if the course isn't significantly changed, BC has a real chance of going under.

I'm committed to doing everything in my power to make sure that doesn't happen. It would be helpful if, in addition to letting me know what BC's problem are, what your ideas for member and revenue growth would be.

I'll wrap this up by telling you the priority of the first three things I plan to tackle:

1. Site performance (starting with change I made today)

2. Site design (It's 2017 forgoshsakes. BC should have a clean, modern design that loads fast and is completely responsive on mobile.)

3. Revenue flow tweaks. It should be far fewer clicks to join Wings, and we should have recurring membership plans and clear benefits for being a Wings member.

Let me know if you notice the difference.

I do! It happened very often for me that some images of the site would simply not make it to the party. All cleared up now!

Head over to the Broken Bits forum, and you'll find the two issues that bother me the most right now: problems with credit card payments in the Store, and cover images on books not loading as they should.

Welcome home :-D

Welcome home :-D

DITTO!!! ; ) Welcome home...Cap'n!!! ; ) You've an OUTSTANDING TEAM!!! : D

Am wondering if the images being spoken of, are those of the book covers, as all I've been getting (and still see on my BC Bookshelf from a round of recently registered Children's Books) once I've registered books, is the delightful little white Ballycumber image on the blue background, even though several of the books showed their actual image when I was going through the registration process.

Sadly, I think part of BC's downhill spiral (would SO hate to see it go) may partially be due to the current "security climate" in the world, that is...Wild Releasing (in particular) books these days (which is an integral part of BookCrossing as I see it), as in leaving something unattended somewhere...ANYwhere, but especially around places children frequent...and hospitals, and such...is cause for great concern and scrutinization by others that we didn't see in the beginning.

Moving forward: I'd like to hear from you all what you think the biggest (fixable) problems are with BC currently. You can use this thread to post your thoughts.
=====
I'm committed to doing everything in my power to make sure that doesn't happen. It would be helpful if, in addition to letting me know what BC's problem are, what your ideas for member and revenue growth would be.

I'll wrap this up by telling you the priority of the first three things I plan to tackle:

1. Site performance (starting with change I made today)

2. Site design (It's 2017 forgoshsakes. BC should have a clean, modern design that loads fast and is completely responsive on mobile.)

3. Revenue flow tweaks. It should be far fewer clicks to join Wings, and we should have recurring membership plans and clear benefits for being a Wings member.

To me the site's design is a thing of comfort...like a favorite pair of jeans, or an old shoe...a GOOD BOOK goes without saying...but I will give these things...particularly GROWTH...some deeper consideration. ; )

THANKS FOR EVERYTHING!!! : )

Am wondering if the images being spoken of, are those of the book covers

The ones I mean are all the little parts of the site itself: design elements like borders and corners and backgrounds. Not the book covers. That's a different problem.

Am wondering if the images being spoken of, are those of the book covers

The ones I mean are all the little parts of the site itself: design elements like borders and corners and backgrounds. Not the book covers. That's a different problem.

Aaaaaaahhhh...thanks for your clarification, Moem...and for all of YOUR continuing and ongoing extra efforts as part of the BookCrossing Team and Family to keep the ship afloat and sailing smoothly!!! ; )

Nice to put a face to a name.

I just dug into the store CC checkout problem, and wow is that broken! After adding items to my cart, and selecting CC and entering billing address info, I got redirected to a blank page with a veterinary logo on it. Nice! :\

I've escalated the issue with Ecwid.com, our store provider, and should have a resolution from them within a couple of days.

In the meantime, CC orders should work fine if you start directly from the Ecwid store url instead of here at BC:

https://store212017.ecwid.com/

\o/

Moem, do you know how long that veterinary logo was at the top of the store? I'm sure that hasn't helped our order completion rate.

Moem, do you know how long that veterinary logo was at the top of the store?

The problem started being reported around December 12th.

I'm sure that hasn't helped our order completion rate.

It very much has not. It's not all orders though: some of them went through as normal, even with credit cards.

I got redirected to a blank page with a veterinary logo on it. Nice! :\

You do know that that is Bruce's clinic, don't you? They have been working on fixing the problem.

I got redirected to a blank page with a veterinary logo on it. Nice! :\

You do know that that is Bruce's clinic, don't you? They have been working on fixing the problem.

Yes, well aware of that. Apparently that logo was uploaded to the store a couple of years ago in test mode and it's been there ever since.

I got redirected to a blank page with a veterinary logo on it. Nice! :\

You do know that that is Bruce's clinic, don't you? They have been working on fixing the problem.

Yes, well aware of that. Apparently that logo was uploaded to the store a couple of years ago in test mode and it's been there ever since.

I've never seen it when I placed an order. It apparently just became a problem recently.

It's so nice to have you back where you belong!

Look who is there! Yeah!!!

This site isn't dying! This site was just waiting for your comeback! :D

Welcome home!

Welcome back!

2. Site design (It's 2017 forgoshsakes. BC should have a clean, modern design that loads fast and is completely responsive on mobile.)

A BC website that works easliy on all smart phones without an app would certainly be awesome! :)

It's great to have you back, and with great plans for this wonderful site and community.

Nice to have you here again.

Welcome back. We love this site/obsession and are thankful for all the support team who have kept our obsession going. (Third hand only) but I believe it is quite cumbersome for new members to sign up so streamlining that would be great.

Do you want feedback even if it not necessarily fixable?

I believe a lot of Bookcrossing traffic died due to changes at the US Postal Service. Rate increases in general and the loss of book rate for international mail made the trading and RABCK aspects of Bookcrossing far more expensive. It was very attractive to me that by spending around $3-5 I could arrange a trade with another Bookcrosser and I would get a new-to-me book and they would get a new-to-them book, or surprise someone with something from their wishlist. But with the changes at USPS, mailing a book abroad is now around $12-15. I can buy a new book for that (or several used books), so I rarely trade or RABCK internationally any more. My trading pool is now limited to US only, and that pool appears to grow smaller. I suspect attrition at Bookcrossing is because many other members also found making trades here a good deal until the mailing rates changed and it was no longer cost effective. As you cannot change the USPS’s offerings, I do not know what you can do about the loss of the use of Bookcrossing for the purpose of trading books.

No one needs to remind me that the original intent of Bookcrossing was to wild release the books, but honestly and practically, the trades kept me invested. Considering how infrequently I hear back from wild releases, I could release my books without any labeling (i.e., not Bookcross them) and hardly notice a difference. Additionally, the trades/RABCKs generate journal entries and you get the emotional thrill that your book went to someone who wanted it. People in Finland and Germany want the books that I have! But instead, I will release them here and get a JE saying, “I found a book,” once or twice a year if I am lucky. I like the idea of Bookcrossing, but do not need to spend money to give my books away. I do sometimes question sticking around because the tangible and emotional benefits have greatly decreased over time.

That said, I'm looking forward to your efforts to reenergize the site and am happy to see your commitment to improving Bookcrossing. Hope others are more constructive than I am.

Maybe we can try and create a Bookcrossing logistics community. I travel often and would not mind taking books from Netherlands to Spain for instance, as long as I would know that others would provide the same service gor me. Probably is fun to meet foreign BC-ers face-to-face. Maybe a tab with travel requested -travel offered?

Your idea reminds me of the Geocache Travel Bug. I think it is a great idea. I love finding out my books are in a new country where I've never been.

Maybe we can try and create a Bookcrossing logistics community. I travel often and would not mind taking books from Netherlands to Spain for instance, as long as I would know that others would provide the same service gor me. Probably is fun to meet foreign BC-ers face-to-face. Maybe a tab with travel requested -travel offered?

No one needs to remind me that the original intent of Bookcrossing was to wild release the books...

Talking about wild releasing! Since it is the age of 8 second attention span, it would be absolutely wonderful to have a faster and easier way to do wild releases! When travelling abroad, I love to leave my books to new places, but tbh, I don't always know my geographical location that well. If I'm not native/advanced speaker to the language of the country, it could prove to be really challenging to perform the whole release process! Let me try to explain: Let's think of the drop down menus and the whole releasing process: say I was in Germany, Berlin. Fine, we can all find these places from the country and state/province drop down menus so far. But then comes the the true challenge: first I'd need to know the EXACT city region of my location. Let's pretend I was at ONE80° Hostel at Alexanderplatz. I'm a tourist and I can't find Alexanderplatz from the city menu, nor do I have a map at hand. Fine, I'll need to do some googling on my limited data...to no avail. I start guessing and choose Mitte, but there's no such hostel either under ONE80° or Hostel or any other logical choice. Do I even have the right city region, is there and excisting release zone for the hostel, will I anger all the Berlin crossers by just being lazy and creating a new crossing zone, I'm on limited data and can't spend half an hour trying to find just ONE release site aaaarrrgggh! A bit dramatized perhaps, but I guess all you travelling crossers know the pain and frustration I'm talking about? So here's my question/suggestion: could we have a faster and easier way of finding the right place for releases? A simple search (f.ex "ONE80") that'd give you all excisting, matching release zones, sorted and listed by country and/or city, and you could just find the right one on the list, tick a box and be done with it?
We "old" crossers have learned to live with this system, but imagine a total BC newbie who's just gotten excited, wants to leave their mark to the book's travels and be faced with this location jungle...in Finnish. Or Russian. Or Japanese.

Great to see "new" enthusiasm on our beloved site! Thank you for all the work in advance, Reno!

When travelling abroad, I love to leave my books to new places, but tbh, I don't always know my geographical location that well.

I agree, this is a real challenge in Europe where you usually don't know the province you are in.

I guess all you travelling crossers know the pain and frustration I'm talking about?

Tell me about it :D I've learnt to spend quite a while online before my trips, googling places that I think I may be visiting and trying to find out which area they belong to, but it's outrageously incovenient when you try to do spontaneous wild releases in unknown countries. Even finding a right city can be a challenge since you need to know the province first, not to mention other possible area divisions (like Berlin mentioned above).

Talking about wild releasing! Since it is the age of 8 second attention span, it would be absolutely wonderful to have a faster and easier way to do wild releases! When travelling abroad, I love to leave my books to new places, but tbh, I don't always know my geographical location that well.

Oh yes, the perils of releasing in a country you're not familiar with! I tend to release a lot of books when I'm travelling (lately that's been the only time I've really released books), and it's always such a struggle to figure out what state/province/region/whatever you're in, and then the local spelling of the precise location - and having served on the region managers team, I know how much work it is for someone to fix my mistakes if I get it wrong.

It would be great to have a "I'm releasing at my current location" option in the mobile version that auto-geolocated and filled in those fields, and a "click on the map where I left it" option for the desktop version (because I don't have a smartphone, so I do my releasing when I get to somewhere with wifi later on).

The other thing that's been on my wishlist for a very long time (and I know it's been discussed in the past) is a better way of organising local meetups. Actual face-to-face engagement is a great way to convert vaguely interested newbies into committed bookcrossers. I certainly never would have got so involved if I hadn't been invited along to a meetup.

But at the moment if you want to let local bookcrossers know about an upcoming meetup, your only options are to post in the forums (which hardly anyone reads anymore), or send out hundreds of PMs. Or by-pass the bookcrossing site entirely, and use Facebook or email, which means you don't catch the new members (and once the organising of meetups moves off-site, it's very easy for the meetup to become disconnected from Bookcrossing, and just be a group of friends getting together once a month - which is fine, but doesn't help the site grow).

I'm not sure what the ideal solution is, but an easy way to organise and promote local meetups, and for new members to learn about meetups in their area, I think could do a lot to revitalise bookcrossing.

Oh, and welcome back Ron - great to see you involved again!

Love to see people that want to improve on something!

I love to leave my books to new places, but tbh, I don't always know my geographical location that well.

Something with coordinates and a system able to calculate the closest release zones?
Lot of calculations needed and a very big and almost impossible update of the release locations (I will volunteer to slowly help update the zones, starting with: somewhere in ...)

Or a search option within countries, to skip states and so and look at least for cities.

Welcome back. :)
I haven't been active for the past 6 years. I blame two children and stupid earthquakes.
However now they are older is it something I should get back into doing, releasing books about the place.

Welcome back!!!

Nice to see you after so many years away!

As someone who likes to make release notes "on the go" via my smart phone, I'd love to see a streamlined mobile version of the site. Or perhaps even an app (but let's not get ahead of ourselves here!). Something that allows me to do the basics of releasing and catching books quickly and easily, without using too much of my data allowance.

PS This has reminded me that my Wings membership expired a little while ago. I really should get around to renewing it!

Nice to see you after so many years away!

As someone who likes to make release notes "on the go" via my smart phone, I'd love to see a streamlined mobile version of the site. Or perhaps even an app (but let's not get ahead of ourselves here!). Something that allows me to do the basics of releasing and catching books quickly and easily, without using too much of my data allowance.

PS This has reminded me that my Wings membership expired a little while ago. I really should get around to renewing it!

I second that!

I cannot do releases on my iphone, that sucks. It is the main reason I hardly ever release nowadays.

I have been bookcrossing for 6 years now and love it. I believe a number of things would improve the traffic.

1. I was talking to someone about BC at work one lunch time and he went to the front page and lost interest. There is not enough info there to grab someone's attention and without logging in its not so appealing. A. new exciting front page giving an explanation of what book crossing is may attract more passing traffic.

2. Another page that requires an upgrade to attract more business is the page that comes up when someone has found a book for the very first time and has entered the bcid without logging in. I have had feedback from a few friends that it is hard to use and they have given up trying to make a journal. These understand the concept of book crossing because I have had many conversations with them about it but they aren't really into IT and finding out how something works. They need simplicity and something that guides them along as they go. I am convinced they would have become book crossers if they had been able to write a journal or two for me.

3. The slowness and down time. I have become frustrated, at times, this past year with not being able to access. Getting timeouts and even one day it was down for 24 hours! How many finders of books have come to make a journal entry during those times and found it too slow or inaccessible then forgot to come back later? Hopefully the changes made will solve this.

I believe the BC support team do a wonderful job keeping the site up and running and thank them for everything they do for the site and us. The spam seems to be increasing recently but poofff!!! it's not around long ;-)

Sounds to me that we may have some interesting changes afoot and I look forward to testing them out. welcome back :-)

2. Another page that requires an upgrade to attract more business is the page that comes up when someone has found a book for the very first time and has entered the bcid without logging in. I have had feedback from a few friends that it is hard to use and they have given up trying to make a journal. These understand the concept of book crossing because I have had many conversations with them about it but they aren't really into IT and finding out how something works. They need simplicity and something that guides them along as they go. I am convinced they would have become book crossers if they had been able to write a journal or two for me.

I did a controlled release for one one, where the receiver did write a JE as AF because he hadn't figured out how to join! So maybe it should be made easier to join as well as write a JE?!

maybe it should be made easier to join as well as write a JE?!

I don't disagree, but at the same time, I have no idea what 'easier' would look like. After all, there will always be some fields to fill in.

maybe it should be made easier to join as well as write a JE?!

I don't disagree, but at the same time, I have no idea what 'easier' would look like. After all, there will always be some fields to fill in.

I don't know where in the progress the problem was. But maybe it should be easier to "click here to fill in the form to join, hit "join" and get automatically redirected to the bookpage of the found book". I didn't join because I found a book, so I'm not sure exactly how it works at the moment though.

maybe it should be made easier to join as well as write a JE?!

I don't disagree, but at the same time, I have no idea what 'easier' would look like. After all, there will always be some fields to fill in.

In France, with a french ID, to join, the first part is in french, but the second part is in english - and lots of french people don't speak english, so they give up ...

I believe a number of things would improve the traffic.

I've been a BookCrosser for years and plan on sticking around indefinitely - but I gave up promoting the site a long time ago! Too many negative comments, various permutations of: unwelcoming, not user friendly, couldn't find my way round, not intuitive ....

Too many negative comments, various permutations of: unwelcoming, not user friendly, couldn't find my way round, not intuitive ....

The few friends I have introduced to BC have said the same things :-( Because I love it here so much I take it as a personal insult!! Haha...

I agree with what you are saying. I have had a few friends start to journal a book and then the frustration factor set in. Not all readers have the attention span that we BookCrossers display. ;-)

I have been bookcrossing for 6 years now and love it. I believe a number of things would improve the traffic.

1. I was talking to someone about BC at work one lunch time and he went to the front page and lost interest. There is not enough info there to grab someone's attention and without logging in its not so appealing. A. new exciting front page giving an explanation of what book crossing is may attract more passing traffic.

2. Another page that requires an upgrade to attract more business is the page that comes up when someone has found a book for the very first time and has entered the bcid without logging in. I have had feedback from a few friends that it is hard to use and they have given up trying to make a journal. These understand the concept of book crossing because I have had many conversations with them about it but they aren't really into IT and finding out how something works. They need simplicity and something that guides them along as they go. I am convinced they would have become book crossers if they had been able to write a journal or two for me.

3. The slowness and down time. I have become frustrated, at times, this past year with not being able to access. Getting timeouts and even one day it was down for 24 hours! How many finders of books have come to make a journal entry during those times and found it too slow or inaccessible then forgot to come back later? Hopefully the changes made will solve this.

I believe the BC support team do a wonderful job keeping the site up and running and thank them for everything they do for the site and us. The spam seems to be increasing recently but poofff!!! it's not around long ;-)

Sounds to me that we may have some interesting changes afoot and I look forward to testing them out. welcome back :-)

So glad to see you again.

My issues with the site are the covers not loading as they should, and the numerous steps involved in releasing a book. Just releasing one is fine, but when you are taking a pile of books to a meetup, say, it takes ages, despite the "release another book to this location" thing.

...and the numerous steps involved in releasing a book. Just releasing one is fine, but when you are taking a pile of books to a meetup, say, it takes ages, despite the "release another book to this location" thing.

Yes, this bugs me too, sometimes. It would be much easier if all the steps one needs to fill in were on a single page so that you don't have to wait for the next step to load.

So glad to see you again.

My issues with the site are the covers not loading as they should......

This has been a major pain recently. I've registered books, the cover is there when I'm filling out the data, then *poof*, it's gone and the update covers (pick your source) don't work. I'm getting nada when I KNOW the cover is really there on Amazon.

I get those imagey thingies, instead of someone's wings, often in the forums.

Maybe my browser is the issue - Microsoft hijacked my laptop and force fed it Win 10 and Edge as the browser last summer - but the above worked back then. Just stopped maybe a month or two ago?

Welcome back, Reno

Nice you found your way back to us, hope you find a solution for the motivating of the members!

welcome back

Welcome Reno. I have a problem with the filters for a long time.
Exactly when I want to find members from my country: Argentina, the resoult is 0 Members found. :( and there are about 3000 members. Thanks!

Hello and Welcome Back

One thing that I miss, and which I understood was at least a small contributor to revenue flow was the links to book-buying locations, particularly Better World Books. I liked thinking that a tiny bit of my book-buying addiction benefited BookCrossing.

I can understand it having gone away with the updates if it cost more to maintain than it brought in. But, if not, I would love to see that link back.

One thing that I miss, and which I understood was at least a small contributor to revenue flow was the links to book-buying locations, particularly Better World Books. I liked thinking that a tiny bit of my book-buying addiction benefited BookCrossing.

I can understand it having gone away with the updates if it cost more to maintain than it brought in. But, if not, I would love to see that link back.

The page still exists but for some reason it doesn't seem to appear anywhere as a link.
http://www.bookcrossing.com/buy

Reading this reminded me that I wanted to gift wings to a few friends, so I went to the store. Which reminded me why I had slowed down on doing that -- the package that let you buy wings for a month for a bunch of people is not there. I know it can still be done the other way, but it feels like more work somehow.

Just a thought.

I have the same problem, when I:
Log in via Facebook
Searching to check, which book I released where

Yes, I had this problem and ended up not bothering to buy them.

Welcome back!

Please remeber when amking it mobile/tablet friendly, still tomake it easy to view while on a desktop.

Thank you

Please remeber when amking it mobile/tablet friendly, still tomake it easy to view while on a desktop.

Thank you

Yes, please. I very much prefer using a real keyboard when I can, so I definitely want the site to continue to be usable on NON-mobile devices as well as being mobile friendly.

Please remeber when amking it mobile/tablet friendly, still tomake it easy to view while on a desktop.

Thank you

Yes, please. I very much prefer using a real keyboard when I can, so I definitely want the site to continue to be usable on NON-mobile devices as well as being mobile friendly.

Same here. Thank you.

I became a Bookcrosser about 10 years ago, & did not know you, so it's great to "meet". 'Great to hear about the improvements coming. Cheers from Canada!

I think the most urgent problem to solve is shop payments with credit cards, I hope this will soon be possible again. I want to have wings again! :-)

Something minor that bothers me too: when I don't visit the website for a few days and then return, I am logged out and have to log in again. Couldn't it be possible to stay logged in for longer time?
(I hope you unterstand what I mean.)

Thanks for all your work!

...Something minor that bothers me too: when I don't visit the website for a few days and then return, I am logged out and have to log in again. Couldn't it be possible to stay logged in for longer time?

Finn7, that is very likely a matter of your browser's settings. I've been actively on BC for 6 years, and in that time I've only become logged out twice or thrice - if we don't count getting logged out on my PC when I use the site on my mobile, and vice versa. :)

I still label each and every book I release to local Little Free Libraries. The trouble is, I'm running out of labels and I had a few negative experiences with the BC store years ago. Once I got a batch of labels that was water damaged and wrinkled. Worse was the time I ordered quite a few to give other BCers as gifts and they came imprinted with MY user name instead of blank, as I had requested.

I absolutely loved the early artist labels. The trouble with the user-created labels we have now is that so many of them are made with stock images. Maybe you could require that label creators use only photos or other artwork that is their own original work.

If the store offered beautiful, original labels and backed them up with a guarantee, I would definitely start spending money for Bookcrossing again.

I absolutely loved the early artist labels. The trouble with the user-created labels we have now is that so many of them are made with stock images. Maybe you could require that label creators use only photos or other artwork that is their own original work.

So glad to hear your enthusiasm Reno!

I feel the same about labels, also it's worrying that there could be copyright issues.

Your idea of recurring membership would be very welcome, I sometimes forget to renew my Wings, and would be very happy to have something along those lines.

I haven't been here long enough to be able to say welcome back, as we've never met, but I sure am glad that you are back. Looking forward to seeing what you'll cook up. :D

Hi Reno, we haven't met but I'm very happy with the news the website will get attention! I am a great BC fan, and would love to contribute to the Growth of BC. First, let me say that in my opinion, BC could charge more for wings. I would not mind spending more, with or without extra features. Why not have an option of a 5 year wings for $100? Saves us the trouble of renewal every year. An expiry alert will ensure you don't miss a month. That has happened to me a few times: you only know that your wings have expired when you cannot use a specific function. You might want to create other functions and add an extra level to the program. I would be happy to pay more for extra's. 1/2

you only know that your wings have expired when you cannot use a specific function

.
Euh, the last 5 days you can see them fade away.

Ah, good, I never noticed that. maybe I need stronger glasses! :-) But still, an alert would be great!

That has happened to me a few times: you only know that your wings have expired when you cannot use a specific function.

Your wings expiry date is also displayed as part of your account details. Just click on the Home tab, then Manage Profile.
http://www.bookcrossing.com/editprofile

That has happened to me a few times: you only know that your wings have expired when you cannot use a specific function.

Your wings expiry date is also displayed as part of your account details. Just click on the Home tab, then Manage Profile.
http://www.bookcrossing.com/editprofile

Or move the mouse arrow to on of the wings by your username at the very top of the bookcrossing pages. Then you'll see which date your wings expire. EDIT: go to your profile page, and you'll see the same if you move the arrow to the wings there as well.
AND if you hold the mouse arrow over the wings of someone that has posted in the forum, you'll see "Expire soon" together with the wing description if the wings are soon to be gone.

Or move the mouse arrow to on of the wings by your username at the very top of the bookcrossing pages

That was news to me. Thank you ChatrineB.

Or move the mouse arrow to on of the wings by your username at the very top of the bookcrossing pages

That was news to me. Thank you ChatrineB.

and me. Thank you

Or move the mouse arrow to on of the wings by your username at the very top of the bookcrossing pages. Then you'll see which date your wings expire. EDIT: go to your profile page, and you'll see the same if you move the arrow to the wings there as well.
AND if you hold the mouse arrow over the wings of someone that has posted in the forum, you'll see "Expire soon" together with the wing description if the wings are soon to be gone.

Thank you, I did not know this!

Or move the mouse arrow to on of the wings by your username at the very top of the bookcrossing pages. Then you'll see which date your wings expire. EDIT: go to your profile page, and you'll see the same if you move the arrow to the wings there as well.
AND if you hold the mouse arrow over the wings of someone that has posted in the forum, you'll see "Expire soon" together with the wing description if the wings are soon to be gone.

Thank you, I did not know this!

I accidently figured it out in the forum. Then, when I saw a previous post here, I had to investigate a bit more, and figured out the rest.

Glad to be able to share it!!

Thank you for all the help for me figuring out when my wings expire.
Please consider alerts to keep in touch with us and charm us into extending our wings, like with other subscriptions. To be honest, I cannot think of any other membership that does not do reminders or alerts.

An expiry alert will ensure you don't miss a month.

I think that is a fine idea. Sure, we have ways to check on our Wings, but the site could also actively reach out with a friendly email.

Tx for the support!

Hi Reno, we haven't met but I'm very happy with the news the website will get attention! I am a great BC fan, and would love to contribute to the Growth of BC. First, let me say that in my opinion, BC could charge more for wings. I would not mind spending more, with or without extra features. Why not have an option of a 5 year wings for $100? Saves us the trouble of renewal every year. An expiry alert will ensure you don't miss a month. That has happened to me a few times: you only know that your wings have expired when you cannot use a specific function. You might want to create other functions and add an extra level to the program. I would be happy to pay more for extra's. 1/2

I agree it would be great to be able to renew more than one year at a time. AsI'm in Europe I often have to turn somersaults to pay in dollars and once sorted, it would be easier if I didn't have to do it every year.

Meanwhile I'm still anxiously awaiting the return of the books covers...
I do love bookcrossing, and am grateful it exists! I especially love rings as a way of reading books I wouldn't want to keep, but I notice these are not as popular as they once were.

AsI'm in Europe I often have to turn somersaults to pay in dollars

You can also pay in Euros, by bank.

AsI'm in Europe I often have to turn somersaults to pay in dollars

You can also pay in Euros, by bank.

I did at least once, and it seems to me I ended up paying a fee for the exchange commission.

it seems to me I ended up paying a fee for the exchange commission.

Exchange from what to what? Are you in a non-€ country?

.First, let me say that in my opinion, BC could charge more for wings. I would not mind spending more, with or without extra features. Why not have an option of a 5 year wings for $100? Saves us the trouble of renewal every year. An expiry alert will ensure you don't miss a month. That has happened to me a few times: you only know that your wings have expired when you cannot use a specific function. You might want to create other functions and add an extra level to the program. I would be happy to pay more for extra's. 1/2

5 years for $100 is less than the current charge, I believe, not more.

Welcome back!
It's great to know that the team working hard in the background is (re)joined by someone who seems passionnate about BookCrossing.
But, as much as there is a lot of potential in BC, you do know that growth is not infinite? (Not to bust your bubble nor to start a philosophical discussion....)
Or do I misinterpret the idea behind your "growing"?

If a website isn't growing, it's dying, ...

Welcome back!
It's great to know that the team working hard in the background is (re)joined by someone who seems passionnate about BookCrossing.
But, as much as there is a lot of potential in BC, you do know that growth is not infinite? (Not to bust your bubble nor to start a philosophical discussion....)
Or do I misinterpret the idea behind your "growing"?

If a website isn't growing, it's dying, ...

Welcome back Ron! I have the same concern as Bluemchenblatt though.

2/3 I have asked before for a link to Google Maps, to have a visual of where your books were last seen. No GPS accuracy, just the town and country would be great. I use my books as reversed souvenirs, and release them often abroad, so it would give me a great overview of where I have been and where my books went next. Happy to pay extra for that. Some statistics on that will create a little competition too.

3/4 I would like to see some enhancements on the fora sites, when I respond to a thread, it would be very helpful to receive an alert by email indication someone has reacted to your response. Now you have to go into the specific thread to find out, and I am just not that often on BC.
Also an alert that a thread has been started on your favorite fora, would increase the commitment and community feeling.

4/5 when I register a new book, written or translated into Dutch, very often the ISBN is not recognized. I am not sure why, but even Dutch bestsellers, that surely have been registered a hundred times before, do not show up, regardless of the source I use.

very often the ISBN is not recognized. I am not sure why, but even Dutch bestsellers, that surely have been registered a hundred times before, do not show up

It doesn't search in previous registrations. Just in the Amazon/Google database. That's why.

that's my point, thank you.

What can we do to make it easier to find a book and limit the number of manual inputs?

5/5 for now. I cannot believe that BC is not on Instagram. Also the country BC's are not active at all on Social Media. If we want new members, we have to spread the news, and just a FB account from HQ with limited activity is not enough.
I would be glad to help out any way I can on any topic. However, I do not see a volunteer network or any other attempt for a cocreating community. Let me know what I can do.

Tx for asking, Reno!

5/5 for now. I cannot believe that BC is not on Instagram. Also the country BC's are not active at all on Social Media.

Tx for asking, Reno!

But we are!!!

Where?

Regarding the Instagtam account, which name do you use? I seem to only get specific country accounts. Tx for your help.

Welcome back, Reno.

I'm a former moderately active Bookcrosser (I maintained several book baskets at Qualcomm San Diego for 2-3 years until they died from inactivity). My SO Kate, another BC member, and I have loved the annual BC Christmas gift exchange.

Lots has changed out in the world. Some of that change is tough for book lovers (YouTube and video in general as an entertainment medium; the move away from paper books to ebooks). Some changes might actually be good for BC...see below.

3. Revenue flow tweaks. It should be far fewer clicks to join Wings, and we should have recurring membership plans and clear benefits for being a Wings member.

Little Free Library boxes have proliferated. And for every LFL box there's at least one owner/maintainer. What if BC were to do a push to recruit LFL owners as a new category of BC member? Perhaps an LFL/BC member would get free book labels once or twice a year. Maybe a special BC label can be made to fit a standard LFL box. Or LFL folks could keep a few BC flyers in their boxes for folks who either pick up donate books.

What do you think, folks? :^)

Little Free Library boxes have proliferated. And for every LFL box there's at least one owner/maintainer. What if BC were to do a push to recruit LFL owners as a new category of BC member? Perhaps an LFL/BC member would get free book labels once or twice a year. Maybe a special BC label can be made to fit a standard LFL box. Or LFL folks could keep a few BC flyers in their boxes for folks who either pick up donate books. What do you think, folks? :^)

I think so, too. I use the two LFLs in my town; I'd like to see a connection. Maybe make them OBCZ (Official Bookcrossing Zones, remember them?)

Welcome back, Reno! It's been a very long time. I'm looking forward to your ideas for positive change.

I agree with others about making the site more user friendly for newcomers - easier to journal a book, easier to join BC.

Also, I'd like it to be easier to surprise other BCers with wings. When I renewed this last time, I couldn't see how to do that, and I'd done it several times before. (That is, the "year for me; a month each for 5 others")

I'm glad you're making the site more accessible for mobile phones. I'm still holding out hope for a Bookcrossing app for smartphones, eventually. I'd love to be able to scan the ISBD to register, journal, and release books, and to upload a photo of the release location.

it would be very helpful to be able to see all available bookplates again so we can re-order ones we've seen in the past.

Thanks.

it would be very helpful to be able to see all available bookplates again

Oh yes, this is high on my wish list too. Plus, the ability to order bookplates that you see on other people's books (that have been registered using a prenumbered BCID).

it would be very helpful to be able to see all available bookplates again

Oh yes, this is high on my wish list too. Plus, the ability to order bookplates that you see on other people's books (that have been registered using a prenumbered BCID).

I agree, those two are quite important for me too.

it would be very helpful to be able to see all available bookplates again

Oh yes, this is high on my wish list too. Plus, the ability to order bookplates that you see on other people's books (that have been registered using a prenumbered BCID).

I agree, those two are quite important for me too.

Yes, I'll stock up on bookplates when I can do those two things. Always happy to support the site, when it lets me. : )

it would be very helpful to be able to see all available bookplates again

Oh yes, this is high on my wish list too. Plus, the ability to order bookplates that you see on other people's books (that have been registered using a prenumbered BCID).

Absolutely. I'd also love to be able to buy some of the earlier artist labels if that's an option. There were a few of those I really liked.

it would be very helpful to be able to see all available bookplates again so we can re-order ones we've seen in the past.

Thanks.

Oh yes. This is top on my wish list too. Would be great if you could do somethig about it.