Also, the time period is important. If a deadline was given and you can't make it in time, the trader will end up sending back your blank discs, and you will have prevented somebody who could have met the deadline from getting the show. Most traders keep shows on their hard drive to make copies, and don't want to keep the same shows on their hard drive forever. A very important part of the above offer is that the trader will accept the first 5 people who e-mail him. This means that you must get your message off quickly.
Some traders pick random requests, and stop accepting requests at a certain time.
When you do reply, it helps to add some of your personality to the request. Even though some traders accept the first x number of people, it helps if you don't treat them as robots. And thanks for posting such a generous offer. I used to trade tapes, but stopped after getting many lousy quality tapes. I'm just starting to get into shows on CD, and don't have anything yet.