Complaint Department discussion

Good point, only I don't use the others (okay, Pinterest a modicum). It's just that the "over capacity" bit used to be rare, now it's common. AMZ fault, I guess?

Actually I rarely get the over capacity message lately. But there are lots of bugs in the GR system.

They tell me I no longer receive mail notifications because I don't have "no reply@goodreads.com" in my Mail address book. Well I do and it still doesn't work since January 18. After another moan I'm glibly told that I must contact my ISP. < rising shriek > I mean, it's Orange, and that's part of EE, which is owned by the French, and everyone knows how much the French hate the English. So how's that going to help? Huh!

Gee I haven't had any trouble with GR in a long time. *touch wood*

I'm being discriminated against for being British, then! Or maybe the broadband signal fades in the Atlantic?

Welcome to the club I'm forever losing stuff as it tries to cross the US border.

I don't want Goodreads to be built into Kindle hardware! (Too late now.)

Erk. On a related note, for some reason I got romance recommendations from Amazon this morning, but they certainly weren't geared around what I actually read: i.e. m/m & gay romance as opposed to general uninteresting stuff ... :o|

Has anyone else noticed the preponderance of GR members named "Grok Testuser" ? There's something like 200 of them and they keep reading the same books as me.

There appears to be 318 Grok Testusers registered as GR members, and one is currently reading 72 books—all at once?—the others none, and each has exactly 317 GR friends, all called… Grok Testuser.

Don't know what's going on, but it smells bad…?

Roger wrote: "There appears to be 318 Grok Testusers registered as GR members, and one is currently reading 72 books—all at once?—the others none, and each has exactly 317 GR friends, all called… Grok Testuser.
..."


From the point of view of a database analyst, GRok Test Users shouldn't have been added to the real goodreads database of users. If the programmers want to test something they should use a test database instead of a live one.

I'm confoosed. :/
Is this... is this where us crazies come to chat and complain?
Hello?
Is anyone there?
Hello -lo -lo -lo
Wow that echoed!
Is anyone -one -one -one
there -ere -ere -ere?
Hmm :/
I'm leaving.

Beck wrote: "I'm confoosed. :/
Is this... is this where us crazies come to chat and complain?
Hello?
Is anyone there?
Hello -lo -lo -lo
Wow that echoed!
Is anyone -one -one -one
there -ere -ere -ere?
Hmm :/
I'm..."

Come and play some games!

Games are busy (but you have to be very clever… ;-)

Hello Lo and Ro. :)
Games?
Clever?
Ooooooooh! *Homer sigh*
I'm not clever. I'm not even street smart. Whenever I cross the street, it crosses me.
See? Eye maka know sents.
But I could try
those
games.

Beck wrote: "But I could try
those
games."

Becks going to try! Yay!

You really don't have to be very cleaver with the poems and the stories…just frivolous and imprudent.

Are you calling me not very clever, frivolous, and imprudent…?

Roger wrote: "Are you calling me not very clever, frivolous, and imprudent…?"

In the words of Billy Two Shoes, "People who think 'You really don't have to be very cleaver…' means you must not be clever are often frivolous and impudent."

In the words of Owen Woe, "People who think 'People who think You really don't have to be very cleaver… means you must not be clever are often frivolous and impudent' means you must be frivolous and impudent are often my favorite people."

So now I'm one of your favorite people? :-)

Is Goodreads a place for people who like books?

Roger wrote: "Is Goodreads a place for people who like books?"

Yes. See: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

So I am finally getting around to reading Felixitations by our own Roger Kean. Why does GR list Harry Potter books first when I'm looking for Felixations and why, now that I have it on currently reading, does GR recommend I read Rex Stout or (and this is even more bizarre) Nora Roberts?

I think these are very subversive books you're being recommended by the Goodreads robot, Averin, best steer clear ;-))

However, I note Cmbwey and Monika read at least one book by Nora Roberts.

I do hope you enjoy Felixitations. It's certainly one of those books that seems to elicit praise and ire in equal measure, lol.

Roger wrote: "I think these are very subversive books you're being recommended by the Goodreads robot, Averin, best steer clear ;-))

However, I note Cmbwey and Monika read at least one book by Nora Roberts.

I ..."

guilty

Who had the nerve to elicit ire?????

Lol… sorry Monika! We're all allowed one subversive book in a lifetime…

I hate when I lookup a book on GR and the data on GR s not correct as I have the physical book in my hand and GR won't let me enter the info for the edition I have because it has the same ISBN.

Or, this book: Rough Trade referenced in this book: Wide-Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965 as being written in 1964, NOT 2008 as GR says. I tend to believe Boyd as GR says author Lou Rand died in 1976.

Averin wrote: "I hate when I lookup a book on GR and the data on GR s not correct as I have the physical book in my hand and GR won't let me enter the info for the edition I have because it has the same ISBN.

Or..."

If you were a GR Librarian you could enter it as a new book without an ISBN and then merge the book with the other entry as a different version so both versions would show up in the same entry.

Preston wrote: "Averin wrote: "I hate when I lookup a book on GR and the data on GR s not correct as I have the physical book in my hand and GR won't let me enter the info for the edition I have because it has the..."

I'm glad I'm not as I would completely OCD.

It was republished under a new title, long after the author's death.

Then there is this gem, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... half of it printed one direction, is a G.A.O. report. The other half printed the other direction is rambling rantings of a total homophobe. Republished numerous times with different page counts.

If I had the powers of a GR librarian, I wouldn't be long for the funny farm.

I hereby complain that Averin should check her GR PMs (snicker...sorry, unintentional at first, but then I decided to leave it) and email.

[Image of Eric creakily ducking and running like hell for cover.]

Puhleeeeeeeeeeeeze????

Eric wrote: "I hereby complain that Averin should check her GR PMs (snicker...sorry, unintentional at first, but then I decided to leave it) and email.

[Image of Eric creakily ducking and running like hell fo..."

Sorry, thought I sent you a reply? Trying to finish papers & study for finals. I have no objections, but I think someone else snapped them up. Doesn't mean you can't beta for me.

Averin wrote: "Eric wrote: "I hereby complain that Averin should check her GR PMs (snicker...sorry, unintentional at first, but then I decided to leave it) and email.

[Image of Eric creakily ducking and running..."

Absolument! Send it along! (And I'm truly being cereal here, not fascist.) >g<

Hello, I need help, my book was published by DIP-Press but I cannot seem to reach them!!!! Can anyone please help me?
Title Spellweaver author Grizelda Stassen

Their website is up and running (http://dip-press.com), but the whole thing looks suspect to me: 3 books on the home page and nothing else. The "dip.pub page seems to be nothing but food snacks.

It asks you to log in, but there is nowhere to register in order to be able to log in. So I for one am at a loss about it.

Did you try the "Contact Us" email form and get any reply?

Thank you for replying Roger! I have emailed, phoned and sent numerous emails to the contact on the web page but still I have had no reply.
They don't even reply on their Facebook messages! Does this mean that I am free of my contract with them???

Obviously I don't know how the contract is constructed, but one thing is pretty standard: if you have not been paid according to the contract (an advance on signing, for instance), DIPRESS will be in breach of contract and all rights should revert to you.

When did you first learn of this publisher? I haven't heard of them, but I'm by no means an expert on the growing range of ePublishers. I'm curious because their website seems so completely unusable…

They sent me a message via world cloud 3years ago and published my book last year December, they breached almost the entire contract. I need to find out if I am now free of them because I am signing with Partridge Africa
A PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE COMPANY

I would hazard a guess that they're not even in business anymore. I just clicked one of the home page books and it says the link doesn't work, clicked a second one, which went straight to the DIP.PUB food page; and the third "read more" goes to AMZ and there is the book listed as published December 2013 by DIP Press. The Look Inside has a DIP Publishing House disclaimer basically saying they're not responsible for a word in the book, which is against almost all international laws of defamation, libels, whatever. As publisher they most certainly are responsible.

If they aren't in business, you're free to go, Grizelda. One thought, does the contract have one of those standard clauses near the end about "serving notices" which will usually have words to the effect of "a notice is served by post, electronically by email, fax, etc, etc" to a specific address, and also a term of time, which if nothing is heard deems the contract void. If you haven't had anything back from an email, that would also be ammunition to set you free.

And Penguin sounds so much better!

Good luck in all cases, and let us know how this goes on.

Grizelda,

With all due respect to Roger (who I am confident is quite knowledgeable about publishing contracts in general, considering he's had a wee tad more than one or two books published), any of us who offer you "advice" are doing what he opened his most recent comment with: hazarding a guess.

None of us know the terms and conditions of your contract with the DIP*ahems*. None of us know where you are, where DIP is, and what law governs the interpretation of your contract. For example, in the U.S. it's entirely possible for someone in New York to enter into a contract with someone in Atlanta that provides any disputes will be governed by the laws of California. (Yeah, weird, I know.)

I hate to say it, but I think you really need to consult a lawyer. And if Penguin doesn't already know about this situation, you may well be obligated to tell them, because if you assume you're free of the DIP contract and you don't tell Penguin, and then DIP raises its head when it figures money can be obtained, you may find yourself in trouble with Penguin. And I rather suspect that if an author has problems with a major publisher like Penguin, word will spread elsewhere.

Bottom line: If going with Penguin is a good deal for you (and sheesh, don't I wish I could get an offer from anyone!! >rueful smile<)...as it logically would be...please get legal advice now so as to avoid potentially far more legal issues and expenses down the line.

Just my USD .02.

Eric

Eric is right!

I've not only signed any number of publishing contracts, I've written and issued a few hundred, but only after a legal brain has checked the wording. And as any lawyer will tell you—the devil is in the detail.

Thanks for the input Eric, I have informed penguin about this and they looked into DIP as well and have found that in truth they seem to be out of business. To answer your question I am in South Africa and DIP In Atlanta Georgia USA.
Is it possible for us to exchange email addresses so that I can tell you more about the contract as I don't think it is very wise to post it on such a public place?

Eric wrote: "Grizelda,

With all due respect to Roger (who I am confident is quite knowledgeable about publishing contracts in general, considering he's had a wee tad more than one or two books published), any ..."

Your two cents are worth twice any others so actually that's $0.04.

My original reason for joining GR was to keep track of my books. So, I have a shelf that only has books that aren't books I ever want to read again, but were so bad, except for the titles, they've never left my head. So I think it is funny when GR posts "Based on the contents of your trashy shelf, we think you'll enjoy these:" Um, no.

You could use that shelf as a filter. "Oh, GR thinks I may enjoy The Dog that Caught Josephine because I shelved The Dogcatcher in the Rye in my Garbage shelf. Why don't I just preemptively say "Not interested" and never have to worry about reading that thing."

Dusty Bibliophile wrote: "You could use that shelf as a filter. "Oh, GR thinks I may enjoy The Dog that Caught Josephine because I shelved The Dogcatcher in the Rye in my Garbage shelf. Why don't I just preemptively say "..."

Because sometimes the "Not Interested" button doesn't work? I know there are times when Goodreads' recommendations make me go "uh?" LOL

Lori wrote: "Dusty Bibliophile wrote: "You could use that shelf as a filter. "Oh, GR thinks I may enjoy The Dog that Caught Josephine because I shelved The Dogcatcher in the Rye in my Garbage shelf. Why don'..."

I don't click on "Not Interested" anymore because GR will move it to another shelf or ignores me. I ignore it.

Arrrgh, I've just learned how to make private note on books on GR, something I think more people should know.

Averin wrote: "Arrrgh, I've just learned how to make private note on books on GR, something I think more people should know."

A new profile image! You look great :-)

Preston wrote: "Averin wrote: "Arrrgh, I've just learned how to make private note on books on GR, something I think more people should know."

A new profile image! You look great :-)"

Thank you