Do a lot of people over abuse the LendMe option?

[jbeygirls]

I only have one friend that actually has a nook and she just got hers.  Well, I decided to look on the discussion boards to see if anyone was listing something like "add me" or whatever and I found a few new nook friends because I wanted to see how it all worked.

Anyways, one of those new friends requested 5 books within one day....that seems to be a little over abusive of the option to me, especially since you can only lend each book just once.  I looked at the books they had available and they all seem to be the free ones that Barnes and Noble offers, so I wouldn't need to borrow them, I can just download it myself.  It just doesn't seem right to me.  I pay for books that I actually would like to read and am willing to share with my friends.  Shouldn't these people also pay for their own books every now and then and not mooch off everyone else?

Has anyone else come across this and what did you do?  Did you just delete them as a friend or deny the book request?

[jamieleeJC]

It's really up to you. You can delete them as a friend or only lend them one book at a time. I think that is overabusing, as I always tend to have at least one lendme book free if i add a friend.

[Momsquiettime0…]

Well I think i would call it a toss up considering I spend a lot of money on my books and i share them with whoever wants them. In turn i do read a lot but i will no longer be using the lend me option i have deleted everyone but my family. I didnt think i was a mooch reading other books. I have a library of over 200 regular books and i have read them all and i can still tell you about each one so in my opinion since i was borrowing the books if you dont like lending out to someone delete them.

[jbeygirls]

My apologies, mooch was maybe the wrong word. I dont mind lending out the books, that is what the option is there for. It just seemed a little much to request so many at one time. And like I said I couldnt see a single book available from you that wasnt a free one. I didnt mean to offend you honestly. I am new to the 'lendme' thing and just thought it was odd to request so many books at once. I thought maybe it was a scam thing somehow. So again, I am sorry if I offended you.

[bobstro]

I think some people get overenthusiastic "collecting" things, and this is just one example. They may be collecting books, or simply "friends". I suspect if you lent every title requested, they wouldn't all get read in time. 

Just do what you're comfortable with, and ignore the rest. Just like any other Social Media activity, there's no reason to get caught up in it.

[eaglewomanEP]

I only lend to people I personaly know.So don't have that problem. I wouldn't like it if someone I didn't know wanted to borrow all my lenable books, then there would be none left to change with my friends.

My friends and I usually talk over what books we are going to buy, so we don't buy the same book, and then just trade. If its not a lendable book we just trade NOOKs for a while.

[compulsiveread…]

When I went to the public library, I often borrowed 4-5 books at a time. Have for 40+ years. I would never imagine the public librarian telling me that I was abusing the priviledge unless I did not return the books at the end of the lending period. That's not really an issue with the B&N ebooks being borrowed but they can only be lent once, where the DTB books can be lent numerous times. A new person may not realize this so I would cut them some slack.

MANY ebooks in my friends list have multiple sources to borrow from so I would never feel awkward borrowing one of those books, even several of those types of books at a time. Some have only one person to borrow from and that book will NOT be available to anyone else once I borrow it. I am more conservative borrowing those books.

I can see where someone used to grabbing 4-5 books at a time at the public library would do the same here because that is what they've always done. I have asked for more than one book at a time myself when trying to borrow an ebook here, but that is because I EXPECT someone might be reading it when I ask and I can't borrow it then, but I still have a back up request out there. Someone might also not check their requests very often so it might be several days before I get an answer and, again, I had a back up plan, something to read in the meantime.
I don't pay much attention to who I have requested from because I have several hundred friends to borrow from. I assume if they requested to be my friend, or I requested them to be my friend and they accepted, then I am allowed to request a loan of an ebook. And they are allowed to say no. Or remove me from their friends list.

I sometimes borrow frequently, I sometimes borrow rarely. I almost always have a book loaned out. I don't keep count, it's what the lend me program is about. I would though want to make sure some books are being read while they are borrowed because I can only loan them once and it's not available by multiple friends. That is something I might check. I'm not sure that I would do that publically though.

[DeanGibson Distinguished Bibliophile]

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eaglewomanEP wrote:

I only lend to people I personaly know.  So don't have that problem. I wouldn't like it if someone I didn't know wanted to borrow all my lendable books, then there would be none left to change with my friends.

My friends and I usually talk over what books we are going to buy, so we don't buy the same book, and then just trade. If its not a lendable book we just trade NOOKs for a while.

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When I first saw the LendMe™ feature, I wasn't very impressed with the restrictions:  lend only once, and only for 14 days.  Huh?.  It seems to me that the LendMe™ feature is more of an "extended sample" feature that a true loan.  After all, if I loan as 500 page book (typical in my library), that means that the recipient has to read about 35 pages a day, every day, for two weeks.  After all, some of us do have lives ...

In my opinion, the LendMe™ feature is not even very smart from a marketing standpoint:  much better for the LendMe™ feature to offer to the lendee the option to buy a copy of the eBook, with the result that the lender could then lend the book again.  But then, I'm not a marketing genius ...

When I see the innumerable "Nook Friends need Friends" threads, I've wondered, who would loan a decent book to a complete stranger via LendMe™ , considering that it can then never be loaned (via LendMe™) to someone I know personally?  Not me, but apparently I'm not typical.  I do have real friends, and unless I were to determine than none of them wanted a particular book, and that a future close friend would not want that book (kinda hard to do), would I use the B&N LendMe™ feature as presently constituted.

However, it's a moot point with me, as the only eBooks I presently have that are eligible for LendMe™, are free anyway (so what's the point?).  Given the availability of used e-Ink Nooks (on CraigsList, or a spare after you upgrade), or even a new Nook Touch (this week's special price of $79 at B&N), it's much easier to just loan a spare Nook to a friend to read one of your books (or swap as eaglewomanEP said), with no restrictions:  I call it my LoanOut™ program ...

I do wonder if many of those that request to borrow a book, are somewhat naive about the Internet in general and the LendMe™ feature in particular, especially since many seem to be willing to post their eMail address in public (a practice that is generally not recommended on the Internet, unless you want to receive a lot of spam).  Suggestion to such users:  Ask potential friends to send you a private message via the B&N forums, where you can then trade eMail addresses.

[2noelle]

You can always hide those books that you don't want to lend.  I did this when one particular nook friend wanted to borrow a whole series of books that I wanted to share with my daughter.  Since you can only lend once, like you said, then that's your only option. The second thing to do is to deny the requests. 

[MichelleNC]

I use EBookFling, and I never mind loaning out my books... In order for someone to borrow a book, they have to have a credit with the company. In order to get a credit, they have to loan out a book to someone else.

I like this system, everyone gives and takes equally. Granted, there is an option to purchase credits, but at that point, just buy the book!

Michelle

[Sun_Cat]

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2noelle wrote:

You can always hide those books that you don't want to lend.  I did this when one particular nook friend wanted to borrow a whole series of books that I wanted to share with my daughter.  Since you can only lend once, like you said, then that's your only option. The second thing to do is to deny the requests. 

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If you trust your daughter with your credit card number (no expiration date required), you can permanently share any of your Nook books with her. You don't have to use the LendMe program.

[Momsquiettime0…]

Thank you.