Sherri, I like your ideas: either a moderated group or an announcement folder in this group. Either/both would be an asset to the site.

Otis, perhaps introducing a folder (or even a moderated group) for announcements related to GR authors might sooth the touchy feelings roused here. GR is indeed intended as much for authors as readers (where would one be without the other?) and such announcements would be of interest to a general audience. A group or folder for posts would be more timely than waiting for a newsletter, and would help draw a line between legitimate announcements and the spam we all dislike.

I get excited when I see some of my favorite authors join GRs, so I understand and feel your joy Lori. :-)I'm seeing more and more author's names pop up as "goodgreads authors." Hope this becomes the place to be for authors AND readers. :-)

Thank you for cleaning up this discussion, Otis.

Congrats Lori!

I think it is a relevant thing to post here, because a part of Goodreads is getting authors to participate, and helping members interact with them. If we can improve the site to do that more, it will be a better place, so this is a big win.

But insulting each other is not necessary, so I deleted a bunch of posts from this thread that were imho crossing the line.

Lisa wrote: "ThatStalkerGirlBehindYouWhoIsAlsoACreeper,

As Rebecca mentioned in another thread, this group isn't like a lot of other groups at Goodreads. This is one of the few official groups, and we use it t..."

I was wondering if anyone else noticed!

ThatStalkerGirlBehindYouWhoIsAlsoACreeper,

As Rebecca mentioned in another thread, this group isn't like a lot of other groups at Goodreads. This is one of the few official groups, and we use it to conduct official Goodreads business.

I'm glad that you're enthusiastic about the site and about participating, but this is one of those groups where it's best to post messages when you have something new to add, and not post just to chat. Perhaps your last post #33 was to express another opinion but, for instance, your message #29 didn't add anything to this discussion.

There are many other groups here where replying to every thread would not only be okay but welcomed, so feel free to post as much as you want in those groups.

Thanks so much for understanding.

Well, I hadn't thought of that but the word team here has usually been to indicate a Goodreads staffer member. Lori, Perhaps you again need to change the topic title; I actually think it would be a good idea to do so.

LOL yah! I thought she meant someone joined the GoodReads staff haha.

Me three, SQRL! My first thought was, "Hmm... maybe they've hired an author to oversee the author program..." :)

SF SQRL wrote: "Hmm, the subject line made me think this author had joined the staff, not the site."

Oh, thank you! I'm so glad that that wasn't just me thinking that. :)

Hmm, the subject line made me think this author had joined the staff, not the site.

COOLIO!!!

I want to enter this discussion from the perspective of one who is not involved with any dispute regarding this particular author. My concern is that I felt that GR Feedback was not the place to discuss books or authors, except in a general way. It seems to me that this is why we have all those groups out there. I was wondering why I was getting a notification about Niffenegger, because I have never read her books.

Thanks for all your hard work, Lori! We all appreciate you!

Your welcome Ben!

That is too cool, Lori. Between Niffenegger and Gaiman, GR is well on its way to world literary domination. I haven't read anything from Niffenegger, but this is impressive, and another very positive sign of the ongoing progress going on with GR.

Thanks for sharing. : )

Sorry to have ruffled some feathers with the rule bending. I interpreted Lori's post as:
* Hey Feedback group, this cool thing has happened
and NOT
* Hey, people in Feedback should come join my group

In my mind, the former is announcing something that people in Feedback might like to hear about as a benchmark in Goodreads development. The latter is promotional, and for the record, promotional posts in Feedback are NOT ok.

The promotions folder wasn't my idea.

I searched for a moderators group when I first started being a mod in a group, but I couldn't find one.

I thought there was a moderators' group but I guess it was discontinued. I was a member of one at one point.

Tricia, We're each entitled to our opinions and I don't take offense at others' expressing their opinions.

Bun, a promotions folder is sort of a good idea but I could see it getting incredibly crowded to the point of not being useful. Perhaps if there were some firm guidelines it could be an asset.

Lisa, thanks! I'm excited to see that you are excited too :)

BunWat wrote: "Congratulations on getting that Q&A set up Lori, that's quite a coup! You know this made me think of something. A long time ago now we talked a little about making a group for moderators - to shar..."

This is a good idea, or perhaps the staff could make a promotion folder here? As this would corral all of that sort of stuff people don't come here to see in it's own folder? (much like other groups do)

And lisa, this is not meant in a mean way (people tend to take text differently then speech) but I dont ever feel bending the rules is ok.
But that is not my call to make, so if the staff want to bend the rules its their call. /shrug

Thank you Bunwat, and I really like the idea you are suggesting up above. It would be an excellent way for moderators to spread the word about events like this and others.

Lori, Thanks for posting. I joined a group I might otherwise have not discovered. I loved The Time Traveler's Wife and I'm very excited that this author is now a Goodreads author.

Tricia, I saw your original point but sometimes it's good to know when it's ok to bend the rules and Lori's announcement seemed to fall into the "okay" realm to me.

Congratulations on getting that Q&A set up Lori, that's quite a coup! You know this made me think of something. A long time ago now we talked a little about making a group for moderators - to share ideas and information and ask questions about moderating groups. It just occured to me that if we had such a group a posting like Lori's would really fit there, because then mods could let their groups know about the opportunity if they thought it would interest their members. Also other moderators could congratulate Lori on her hard work.

This is the first time that an independently run group on Goodreads (instead of our internal staff) has gotten a major author to participate, so Otis and I are happy for Lori and the NBBC. It is a nice sign that Goodreads is growing in clout, and that groups within the site can become movers & shakers.

Tricia is right that we prefer not to have promotional posts in the Feedback group; however, we also want to use the forum to pat each other on the back from time to time, so I hope no one minds that we're making an exception in this case.

Hi everyone!
In light of the below comments, I am revising my post to make it a bit more Feedback friendly.

I just wanted to make the group aware that Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler's Wife, and Her Fearful Symmetry joined Goodreads today. She is currently participating in an author Q&A session in this group

http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/2485...

She was in there for a short time today and will most likely make additional appearances throughout the rest of the weekend into next week, when she will then start her book tour.

WOuldn't it be great to see more events like this one here in Goodreads?