"Administrative Review"

Help! I have been locked out of bookmooch since June25. It says "Sorry, but you are not allowed to return from vacation until an administrator has finished reviewing your account. " They will not respond to my emaIs (about 10, inc. 1 to John) asking WHY? Two weeks ago I sent out about 45 books. Normaly I send out 5 to 10 a week. I have no idea what is going on, but now have been locked out for 10 days with NO explanation. I am a very active trader, and enjoy the folks I "meet" on the site (most of them, anyhow). I have been a member many years, and have sent out more than 800 books. If you have any ideas of what I can/should do, please advise ASAP. Thanks, Al

Be careful about sending too many e-mails. Some admins don't respond very favourably to that.

The only thing you can really do is wait. As MsCellophane said, sending too many emails can make it worse. This happens every now and then, and sometimes it is resolved quickly. Sometimes it isn't.

Has anyone ever successfully had an administrative review lifted? I've only ever heard stories of it being placed and then that user being either permanently ignored or worse, berated by bookmooch staff for wanting their account re-activated.

I have not ever heard of one being lifted. I am sorry you having problems Iskandor. I hope you do get this resolved.

I am actually waiting for a book from Iskandor. As soon as it arrives I plan positive feed back as he kept communication going during the postal strike and I plan to write to the admin about how wonderful he was. He is still sending out books to those whom he has addresses for.

It would not seem unreasonable for the person concerned to be advised of the nature of their 'crime' and given the opportunity to present a defence as the very first step in an "Administrative Review".

I think we can all agree that many accounts need administrative review. The problem lies in the secretive nature of the action. What would be so difficult with the admin letting the member know why they are being reviewed and providing them with a timetable or list of steps that need to be taken before their account is reactivated.

Instead there is silence, with a warning that if you ask too many questions you will be punished with a longer suspension.

I have a stack of books to add to my inventory, but will do so only as my point total remains under 10. I don't want to lose all those points if I get suspended. I realize there may well be good and substantive reasons for each and every suspension, but the lack of openess in the process leaves a lot of room to worry. Yes, BM is a private business and can behave however it wants, but they do seem determined lately to destroy all the goodwill BM had stored up through the years.

I feel the same way Kay. I had over 150 points before all the hoopla started on BM and I have been mooching like crazy to get it down to a reasonable number just "in case" something were to happen to my account and I would be unable to use them. I still have 78 and don't see myself adding any of the 3 boxes of books I have until I get down to a much smaller number.

Yeah these administrative review snafus are the single biggest thing that makes me scared to get too involved with bookmooch anymore. Way more than the international point changes or any of that stuff.

I wonder what happened to the admin who used to monitor the forum here and answer our questions. It would be nice to have him back.

While working through inactive accounts for the inactive account project I found quite a few "Temporarily on Hold" accounts which had been inactive often for months. It seems that there needs to be some kind of automatic reminder to have administrators resolve issues with accounts which have been put on hold for whatever reason. And communicating with the account holders would seem to me to be the obvious first step. All interactions I have had with a volunteer administrator when I have had a problem have been prompt and conscientious. It seems, though, that some accounts that have been suspended fall through the cracks.

12 - He's very selective about what posts he replies to and has been conspicuously absent in all discussion of this topic.

I heard Markwp has been busy with his job. I have not seen him in any thread here for months.

Yes, If you check his profile he doesn't list BM as one of his groups. I think at one time he did but I'm not sure as I know you don't have to list it as a group to check it. He seemed to disappear after all the point controversy heated up.

I would have too. He'd only have been a lightning rod for complaints, without being able to change anything. I hope he comes back when/now that things have calmed down a bit, though, it was nice getting an insider view.