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Old 08-06-2012, 09:44 AM   #2
andreabc
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Posts: 107
Karma: 1226339
Join Date: Jul 2010
Device: Kindle (4th gen)
No, it wasn't a pirate site.

I used Lendink a few times (not very successfully, as the site was mostly abandoned by its creator and didn't have many users.) It was just another lending site, similar to the ones discussed on this thread -- all of which are way more popular.

I found out yesterday about the brouhaha and find the whole situation very ridiculous. People went on the attack without understanding what the site was.

OK, the site's interface wasn't too clear on some aspects.
When you did a search and found a book:
if it had copies available then you could send a request to the book's owner, who could then go on Amazon/BN and lend the book.
If no copies were available, then you could still see a grayed out button to "request to borrow" the book... Then you'd get a message that the book would be added to your "watchlist" in case it became available later, but people assumed that all books listed were being pirated by the site.


I still think that the FAQ made it mostly clear that they didn't host any books and were just a matching site for lenders and borrowers.

Anyway, people went crazy and the site has either been taken down or collapsed due to traffic. Some were justifying things because Amazon sent a reply saying that Lendink wasn't authorized to host files or lend books -- and that's true, but Lendink wasn't doing either of those things.
All lending happened through the Amazon or BN site.

If anything, I think ebookfling works on a grayer area as they actually sell their "book credits".
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