>Absolutely a bad a idea. Scenario: System crashes, user goes on vacation. Record is locked for extended period. They'll never remember to fix it when they get back.
>
>>Or the first person to start the record marks it pending with their userid. If they lose the connection, only they can re-access the record. Any record without an id is available to be received.

Totally agreed. The first was a good way. Or - the second is a bad way...