The latest news and updates
by gerdemb on March 19, 2012 .
Discussions : Comments are closed.
by gerdemb on March 16, 2012 .
I have changed the way information is displayed in the user profiles in an attempt to make the information clearer. I have added information about the number of requests that were rejected or automatically canceled as well as the average time the member takes to accept a request and mail the book.
Finally, I have added an experimental ratio statistic. The ratio is simply the number of points for books you have sent divided by the number of points for books you have received. For example, if you requested one book worth 2.00 points and sent one book worth 1.00 points, your ratio would be 1.00 / 2.00 = 0.50 . At this time, the ratio number is displayed only for informational purposes and there are no requirements to have a minimum ratio although we may reevaluate this in the future.
To see what your public profile looks like, click on the "Profile" link at the top of the page and then click "View your public profile" on the right side.
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by gerdemb on March 15, 2012 .
It has come to my attention that some members were having trouble marking their requests approved, sent or received. There was a problem with the site that I have now fixed. Please let me know if you are continuing to have problems.
Additionally, if any of your requests are in a strange state such as book received, but request never marked accepted or sent please let me know and I will manually fix it for you.
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by gerdemb on Feb. 27, 2012 .
Today I am releasing a new system that allows our members to leave feedback for each other after a book trade has been completed. Once a book has been marked as received, both members can leave a score and a short comment on the trade.
The feedback scores are "+1 positive", "0 neutral" and "-1 negative". The sum of the feedback scores for a member is displayed in parenthesis after their username as well as on their profile page. Additionally, the feedback comments are shown below each book when browsing the completed trades of a member.
Members who have already completed trades can add feedback to them by going to "My Trades" and then clicking on "All Requests.
Finally, senders of books are limited to leaving either "+1 positive" feedback or no feedback at all. This is to avoid "revenge feedback" if a sender receives a negative feedback and also because I don't believe the sender of a book has as much to say about the trade as the receiver.
As always, I appreciate your feedback and comments about the new system or anything else on the site.
Discussions : Comments are closed.
by gerdemb on Feb. 11, 2012 .
Today I was looking over my list of new ideas for Chango Books. There are many things I would like to improve, but before getting started I thought it would get some feedback from our members.
I've created an experimental new feedback area where members can suggest and vote on new ideas, report problems or ask questions. To get things started, I've gone ahead and added a few new features that I've been planning to work on. Please vote on your favorite features or add your own new ideas. I want our members to influence the future of this site.
http://www.changobooks.com/feedback/ (Also linked at the bottom of every page)
Discussions : Comments are closed.
by gerdemb on Jan. 24, 2012 .
I've made another change to the way requests are canceled. Now, if a user has a approved a request for one their books, but does not mark the book as sent within 30 days the request will automatically be canceled and the requestor's points refunded.
In summary, requests for books should be approved (or rejected) in 7 days. Once a request has been approved, the book should be mailed within 30 days of that date. Failure to meet these timelines will cause the trade to automatically be withdrawn and the sender's account put on temporary hold.
This should cleanup some of the trades from users that have gone inactive. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Discussions : 3 comments
by gerdemb on Dec. 11, 2011 .
I wanted to take this opportunity to wish all of our members a happy holiday. I hope that you can spend it with your family and of course a good book too.
Personally, I'm going to be spend the next month traveling and with family. I probably won't be able to check on the site and forums as often during this time, so please be patient if there are any problems. I will get back to you!
Cheers,
Ben, Chango Books founder
Discussions : Comments are closed.
by gerdemb on Nov. 21, 2011 .
I've made a change to the way requests are canceled. Instead of allowing users to withdraw their requests I've decided to automatically cancel any request that hasn't been accepted or rejected after seven days. This means that it is no longer possible to withdraw a request after you have made it.
When the request is canceled, the points will be returned to the requestor's account and the sender's account is automatically put on hold. To reactivate an account that has been put on hold, the user has to log in again and agree that they want to be an active member of the site.
I hope this new system will help us prune out inactive accounts automatically.
Discussions : 3 comments
by gerdemb on Nov. 5, 2011 .
Today I added the ability for members to withdraw a request for a book. If you've requested a book and you want to withdraw the request, (if the sender never replies for example), go to your "My trades | Sending" page and click the "Withdraw request" button.
Discussions : Comments are closed.
by gerdemb on Oct. 26, 2011 .
I have improved the interface for searching for books. It is now possible to filter any search for books that are available to request or, if you are logged in, by books that can be mailed to your country. Finally, I have introduced an experimental feature that orders search results by "Recommended for Your".
As always, I look forward to your feedback about the site. Let me know what you want think by comment below.
Discussions : Comments are closed.