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Upon the suggestion of one of our members and the feedback of several others, Read by Theme will be testing a "Pick It For Me" feature during the month of October.

Pick It For Me will be an optional feature that members will be able to participate if they so choose. The basic idea is that participants will be challenged to read a book chosen for them by another person.

The rules for Read by Theme's version of this idea have not yet been written--hence this thread. In the comments below, members are encouraged to contribute to the creation of a concise rule structure for the group to test out next month. We have five or six days, depending on where you are in the world, to form a general outline of the rules. On October first, those rules will become the first post in a "Pick It For Me" thread, which will be pinned in the Off Topic folder.

The month of October, then, will serve as the feature's trial run, and throughout the month, members will be able to give their feedback on the feature here, and the rules can be tweaked for future months if necessary.

In the meantime, let's brainstorm!

Here's what's been suggested or mentioned thus far:

* Partners : people who want to participate in the Pick It For Me feature during any given month could be partnered with another participating member, and these two members will pick each others' books.

* Specific Shelves : people who want someone to choose a book for them can specify which of their shelves a book should be chosen from; for example, someone might limit the potential choices to their "own" shelf

* Theme Tie-in : people who want someone to choose a book for them can specify if they want the book to coincide with the month's theme

* Compare Feature : when picking someone else's book, the "picker" would use the "compare" feature to find a book that the "picker" has read and the "reader" has marked as to-read

If anyone wants to offer feedback on these ideas, please do so. If you want to contribute ideas, that's much appreciated, too!

And thanks to Lamilla for suggesting this fun idea. :)

I think those are all great rules! Some people might like also to limit the number of pages in the book that is picked for them? (e.g. less than 500 pages)

I can't wait to try this challenge in October -)

Sounds great, am really looking forward to October!

fun idea! !

I'll be putting a rough draft of the rules in this thread during the next hour or so, everyone. After the draft is posted, feel free to offer feedback, opinions, or concerns!

Love this one!

Amara wrote: "I'll be putting a rough draft of the rules in this thread during the next hour or so, everyone. After the draft is posted, feel free to offer feedback, opinions, or concerns!"

Amara - Everybody participating in the challenge should have their profile status set as public, I believe, so that the compare feature will work.

Ok & do we find our own pick-it partner?

Janet wrote: "Everybody participating in the challenge should have their profile status set as public, I believe, so that the compare feature will work."

I think this is taken care of in the draft; didn't want to limit the entire thing to public profiles, so instead tried to point out what is specifically limited to public profiles. If I missed something, let me know!

Rules Rough Draft
Welcome to our first round of Pick It For Me! Pick It For Me is an optional feature that members can participate in if they so choose. The basic idea is that participants will be challenged to read a book or books chosen for them by another person.

The month of October will be our trial round. During the month, participants are encouraged to leave their feedback in this thread for moderator attention and member input. The rules for October are below; these rules may change for future rounds based on the feedback provided in the aforementioned thread.

Pick It For Me is designed to optimize options. Your first option comes in the form of your participation: each member may choose whether they want to be partnered or without partner.

What is partnered?
If you choose to be partnered, you will be matched up with another group member requesting partnership. You will have the ability to turn down any prospective partnerships; if you offer a reason for why you're turning down said person, you may choose to PM me that reason in confidence.

Partnered members should conduct their requests and choices through the PM system, so please only request to be partnered if you have PMs turned on.

At the end of the month, each partnered member may choose whether or not to remain in the partnership. If either party chooses to withdraw, a message can be sent to me privately. Any reasons for dropping a partnership are kept in complete confidence.

If you are waiting for a partner for a length of time that you deem too long, feel free to act as a non-partnered participant in the interim. Your name will remain on the partner waiting list until such time that you request for it to be removed.

What if I don't want a partner?
If you don't want a partner, you will participating with the crowd, so to speak. All non-partnered members will continue using the thread below for their requests and choices.

How does the thread work?
There are three different types of messages that should be left in this thread.

Partner Me!: If you want a partner, let me know below with a simple message. You'll be partnered as soon as possible.

Pick a Book for Me!: If you don't want a partner, go straight to requesting a book. Please note the form below when making your requests.

I Choose... You!: If someone has requested a book, the next person to post may respond to them! This person must adhere to the other person's conditions when picking.

Please do not request and pick in the same post.

Please do not pick back to back. If you were the last person to pick for someone, let someone else have a chance to pick before you go again. If we see a huge turnout or if this becomes problematic, a limit of picks per month may be imposed.

How do I limit what I might have to read?
You may use any of these conditions if you have a public profile. Italicized conditions are not compatible with private profiles. You may also create your own conditions. Popular original conditions may be added to this list.

- Please only pick from my ______ shelf/shelves.

- Please pick a book that fits this month's theme.

- Please use the compare feature.

- Please pick a book with fewer than ___ pages.

- Please pick from one of the following books.

- Please pick from the following Listopia.

What is the compare feature?
When looking at another member's profile, there is the option to "compare books". If a member has requested the "compare feature", this means that the responder should "compare books" with them. From the comparison page, the responder should locate a book that s/he has read and which the other requester has indicated intent to read.

The compare feature has the most potential for partnered members, but for non-partnered members has the bonus of assuring that at least one group member will familiarity with the book.

I finished my picked book, now what?
If you don't have a partner, you may post again in the thread requesting another book. If you have a partner, PM your partner with another request. You may do this as many times as you wish during the month.

What if I don't want to read the book chosen for me?
Of course you don't have to! If you know right away that you don't want to read the chosen book, let the thread know! Say something to the affect of "Message #X, no thanks. Another pick for message #X, please!" or likewise. Please be polite!

What if my partner stops responding?
First, how long have they been "missing"? Could they have simply missed your message, gotten sick, had a family emergency, taken an impromptu vacation, etcetera?

If you have been waiting long enough for a response--and it's up to you how long is enough--you have two options.

A) Request a book from the thread in the meantime.

B) Request a new partner. It is recommended that before you request a new partner, you send your current partner a message explaining the situation and asking what's going on. After you receive a new partner, the partner you've replaced will receive a message from a moderator explaining the situation.

If you have been blocked by your partner, you should consider your partnership severed. The moderator will not confront the other member about the block unless it is reported that the same member has established a pattern of blocking their partners.

At this point, the blocked partner may choose whether s/he wishes to be partnered again or whether s/he wishes to remain unpartnered.

Can I see an example thread?
Yup! Go .

Vicki wrote: "Ok & do we find our own pick-it partner?"

Ah, sorry, missed your comment! So far, it's that people will be offered partners in order of who signs up requesting a partner, but potential matches can be turned out with or without providing a confidential reason to the moderator. If anyone does/doesn't like this setup, let me know and/or propose something different!

Which reminds me, if this becomes a particularly popular feature, it may facilitate the need for another moderator in the near future. If that happens, I'll let everyone know with a broadcast message and put up a nomination/application/something similar thread.

Amara wrote: "Vicki wrote: "Ok & do we find our own pick-it partner?"

Ah, sorry, missed your comment! So far, it's that people will be offered partners in order of who signs up requesting a partner, but potenti..."

Oh, I see. That's a great idea too. When will sign-ups begin because I'm in!

Vicki wrote: "When will sign-ups begin because I'm in!"

I'll be posting the rules above (or the final draft of the rules above) in their own thread in the Off Topic folder on October 1st. Partnership requests, book requests, and book picks can begin as soon as the thread is up. :)

Amara wrote: "Vicki wrote: "When will sign-ups begin because I'm in!"

I'll be posting the rules above (or the final draft of the rules above) in their own thread in the Off Topic folder on October 1st. Partners..."

Very cool. Thank you!

Sounds really cool. Amara, you did a great job making these rules so easy and fun, thank you! I'm certainly in. I believe it will be - pick a book - for me.

This sounds amazing! Amara, thanks for putting all of this work & thought in! I am currently buried under a backlog of books, but once that's cleared through (okay, lightened up a bit, ha ha), I'd love to give this a try!

Two questions:

From the rules :Partnered members should conduct their requests and choices through the PM system, so please only request to be partnered if you have PMs turned on.

What is PM system?

2nd question, will we post in this thread that we want a suggestion or will there be a different thread set up for that? I'm more interested in the non partnered.

PM stands for private message, meaning the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ member-to-member messaging system.

The thread that starts with the rules post will be the place for all partner requests, book requests, and request responses. I'll get that thread up as soon as I get back to my computer. :)

Thread is up. (And December's poll will go up momentarily.)