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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To not 'mind my own business'

139 replies

buymeabook · 02/11/2015 11:36

Facebook one I'm afraid. Acquaintance advertising for people to sign up to her 'book exchange' scheme. You send 1 book and get 36 in return. I replied saying isn't this just a pyramid scheme, and people at the bottom won't get anything? (It works by everyone signing 6 people up, and you give a book to someone 2 steps up. So by the time you have 11 levels you are up to 60 million people needed....)

She got really shirty with me, telling me to mind my own business if I wasn't interested and not be so negative. I probably should have kept out of it, but she's normally an intelligent enough person and I'm pretty sure wouldn't want to rip anyone off, so put it down to her not really understanding.

(And yes, I am definitely being unreasonable for starting a fb thread).

OP posts:

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 02/11/2015 13:20

Heh - I thought it sounded chain-lettery when I got a link to it from a friend (actually a teacher but English, not maths, there you go then!) but didn't think any more about it apart from "we have enough books, I don't want a bunch of random books from other people when we've probably already got them anyway".

I like the person who sent me the invitation though, so I'll have to think carefully before I decide whether or not to send her a link to that thread!

HamaTime · 02/11/2015 13:25

It's on my FB too, posted by a very nice, genuine, but slightly eccentric woman. At first I thought 36 people bought a book each and posted them round in a circle until everyone had had a go of each book, which sound like a ballache but not a pyramid scheme, then I read it a few times and the penny dropped.

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 02/11/2015 13:27

Ignoring all the silly pyramid stuff (although LOVED "it's not a pyramid it's a triangle" )... who actually wants 36 books??!

Must admit I did something similar once. I took a proof of my address to the local library and got myself a library card and one each for my two children which means I can get 36 books FOR FREE and I didn't even have to buy ONE book! I even get to choose them and swap them for different books. Marvellous

VinylScratch · 02/11/2015 13:31

My friend posted this too. I ignored it because I don't want random internet weirdos having my address to send me books or anything else.

Felyne · 02/11/2015 13:33

I haven't seen this on my Facebook yet but I can already guess who of my friends is most likely to post it!

CalonDu · 02/11/2015 13:33

I remember a 'send on a pair of knickers!' similar chain letter years ago. Then, I just thought, but how do you know what size knickers to send?

Now, I think, ew.

nowahousewife · 02/11/2015 13:34

Think I'm a bit older than lots of you and don't do the Facebook thing but is reminds me of a very similar chain letter I got about 10 yrs ago. Similar idea but I thought it was really nice. You sent a book you already had and liked with a brief note explaining why you enjoyed the book to the one person at the top and then you sent the letter to 6 other people inviting them to do the same. I did it and eventually I received about 4-5 books (not the promised 36!) from strangers with nice notes hoping I'd enjoy the book as much as they had.

As a book lover I really liked this as it cost nothing more than the postage, you were sent books you'd probably not thought of reading therefore expanding your literary horizons and the notes that came with them were really nice. Was also exciting getting surprises in the post.

Nothing money grabbing about it, just a different way for book lovers to share.

That said your friends reaction was a bit off OP!

lougle · 02/11/2015 13:34

Nobody receives more than 36 books. But it gets harder and harder to get the sign up required to get your 36 books.

Original poster

buymeabook · 02/11/2015 13:37

nowahousewife

Just a question then, if you got 4 or 5 books but only sent 1, where did these other books come from? And of the people you signed up, how many of them got anything?

OP posts:

LetGoOrBeDragged · 02/11/2015 13:39

If she has deleted you from her friends list then you have dodged a bullet.

nowahousewife · 02/11/2015 13:44

Well I sent 1 to the name at the top, then sent my letter to 6 friends who were then supposed to send letters to six friends each hence the 36 books I should have received. Obviously not many did as I only got 4-5 books!

Must say I have never done chain letters before (and they were quite a thing in my teenage years a long long time ago) but I just liked the look of this one. Seemed to be aimed at sharing something you liked rather than generating a huge pile of shiny new books which your book exchange seems to be aimed at.

Namechangenell · 02/11/2015 13:51

Someone got shirty with me for not getting involved in one of these once. Idiot.

IKnowRight · 02/11/2015 13:56

I have had SO MANY of these bloody book chain things on my facebook feed over the past couple of days - some of them from women who are usually perfectly sane and rational. I will not be joining in [grump] we have shitloads of books already and dd2 only ever wants to read the same two or three over and over and over and over and over again

Original poster

buymeabook · 02/11/2015 14:01

I think you missed my point nowahousewife. If you got more books than you started with, someone else must have got nothing. Are you happy with that?

OP posts:

bachsingingmum · 02/11/2015 14:52

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_scheme

Way older than the internet! Of course I don't think there is any suggestion of fraud here, but this shows why it will collapse quickly.

nowahousewife · 02/11/2015 15:31

I think I am missing your point OP. Potentially there were 36 people who could have sent me books. I would have been one of potentially 36 people sending books to the person at the top of my chain.

As I said it was a harmless nice thing that cost the price of posting a book I already owned.

Original poster

buymeabook · 02/11/2015 15:38

It was nice for you, you got 4/5 books out of it. Most people who send books in these things don't get anything. Do you think that's nice?

OP posts:

Dontneedausername · 02/11/2015 16:00

Here's a breakdown :)

Dontneedausername · 02/11/2015 16:00

I've been de-friended for questioning it! I called it a pyramid.... Apparently I didn't "think about the kids"...

lougle · 02/11/2015 16:12

Although....thinking about this some more, it isn't strictly a pyramid scheme.

In a true pyramid, the pool of potential participants decreases as levels progress. Once you've signed up, you're out of the pool of potential participants, because nobody will sign up for a membership twice. If you are a (for example) Forever Living consultant, you won't ever then be tempted to become a FL consultant again, because you are one already.

However, with a scheme such as this, your participation ends once you have sent your book and then sent your letter to 6 others. From that point on, you've met all the terms of participation and your 'membership' ceases, which means that you return to the pool of potential participants. In theory, in a 5 level scheme you could rotate your role regularly top become either a giver or receiver of books and everybody would have the opportunity to get and receive books at some point.

Whether it actually is a pyramid scheme would depend on the behaviour of the participant pool and their desire to perpetuate the scheme.

Original poster

buymeabook · 02/11/2015 16:32

If everyone gives as many as they get then yes it's possible people don't lose out.

But taking your 5 level scheme for instance...there are 1555 people in total. If it was to be truly circular then you would need to run it that many times, with everyone taking their turns at the various positions.

OP posts:

RaspberryOverload · 02/11/2015 19:53

I don't do chain letters, so this scheme would have been filed in the bin.

Much better to encourage people and their children to support their local library, you know, those places that are under threat. You'd be able to read far more than just 36 books, and without charge.

HypodeemicNerdle · 02/11/2015 20:00

Weirdly I had a very similar scheme pop up on my Facebook today. It's a 'secret sister' scheme where you sign up 6 friends, each send out a gift worth 'more than £10' and you will receive 36 gifts back.
My plan is to quietly ignore the poster and not bother PMing her for details

Rollermum · 02/11/2015 20:01

I remember the knicker one too! I git three pairs - all new but hideous. We have our sizes I think.

I think with the book one people just think 'oh lovely, children reading' and don't think the logic through.

GabiSolis · 02/11/2015 20:26

Yes I remember the knicker one as well. I didn't participate but I remember a couple of friends did. This was probably 15 years ago now.

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