Featuring New Features: Release Note Update
March 2, 2008
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As we continue to update the site and create new features, we thought we'd highlight some of them here in the Newsletter. Our inaugural effort focuses on an upcoming (and really cool) feature for all BookCrossers and a feature just put in place for Members Plus folks.

We've heard from all over that people like being able to see how books have travelled on the map. The only problem was that controlled releases could not be captured and depicted, because there were no coordinates listed for them. Our IT team has been hard at work on a new release system and soon you'll be able to map your controlled releases as well. Think of it: all those rings, rays and boxes can be mapped as they move from Nevada to the Netherlands to New Zealand. Our new release page will allow you to choose which type of release you wish to make. Wild releases will work exactly the same (only the page will load faster) and the new Controlled Release option will take you through to the city level for your release. You'll put your specifics in the release notes, and the release will be mapped to the city level with no release alert generated to folks in that city. (You can still use the old method of making a journal entry only to release the book, but there would be no mapping feature available for that method.) Watch for this feature to appear for beta testing soon!

Available now for Members Plus members is the option to create your own "default" note for journal entries and release notes. If you are one of the many folks who use the same introductory note for your books or the same release alert, this feature is a real plus. The feature is available while your Members Plus status remains active. When your wings fade away, your options will revert to the standard "default" notes (blank for regular first-journal entries on newly registered books or wild releases and to "A pre-numbered label was used to register this book. No additional comment provided." for pre-numbered labels. When you renew Members Plus, your personal notes will be restored.

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I love that they are integrating the Controlled Release books into the mapping. Maybe this will help with those who always insist that Controlled Releases are not valid releases.

I also love the default note feature. I use the same thing for all of my PBS and BookMooch releases and now instead of having to open my saved notepad entry and copying it for each release I will have it right there. Nice feature.

I agree with you!!

LOVE the default note thing. That's enough to get me to purchase annual wings. Love it, love it.

COOL!
I knew that Controlled Release stuff would be coming soon because it was less than a year ago that Bruce told me so in person at the BC convention!

And you think that WE take a long time to implement things here, huh?

I am going to have to work on a default journal entry. I've been putting it off but I really need a nice intro for when I wild release books.

Hmmm maybe I should start doing controlled releases. I have never done it because of the aforementioned controversy, do most bookobsessors use them? Are they advantageous?

boomda181 wrote: Hmmm maybe I should start doing controlled releases. I have never done it because of the aforementioned controversy, do most bookobsessors use them? Are they advantageous?

I have always used Controlled Releases. I have always felt that they were there to be used so I might as well use them.

It helps me to have a true record of my releases, since I very rarely Wild Release. No where in my hick town for that. So 99 percent of my releases are controlled.

boomda181 wrote: Hmmm maybe I should start doing controlled releases. I have never done it because of the aforementioned controversy, do most bookobsessors use them? Are they advantageous?

Yeah we discussed this in length about a month ago in some thread or other here.

I use them all the time for books that I'm giving away or trading. So long as it's not part of a book ring that's coming back to me or going home to someone else at the end, or a lending situation, where we also know it's exact route and where it will ultimately end up. Those are the cases where I don't use Controlled Release Release Notes.

But otherwise, when I send them off to someone via a trade or RABCK, I have no control or knowhow as to where they'll eventually end up after that stop, so I definitely consider those candidates for a Controlled Release Release Note.

boomda181 wrote: Hmmm maybe I should start doing controlled releases. I have never done it because of the aforementioned controversy, do most bookobsessors use them? Are they advantageous?

I don't use them. Mainly because I do a lot of wild releasing & like the easy access to my number of books left in the wild.