All About Books discussion
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Greg
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Oct 07, 2014 12:51PM
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Ah, okay. I didn't realise that. That is a shame - the trouble with a group being private is that a potential new person can't browse the threads and get a sense of the atmosphere and the discussions.
Gail wrote: "Ah, okay. I didn't realise that. That is a shame - the trouble with a group being private is that a potential new person can't browse the threads and get a sense of the atmosphere and the discussions."Yes, that's what puts me off private groups.
Greg wrote: "Bette, that quote by Groucho Marx cracked me up - a great quote!" I love it too; actually, I love lots of his quotes. But I sub-quoted it. The real quote is "PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON'T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT PEOPLE LIKE ME AS A MEMBER".
Telegram to the Friar's Club of Beverly Hills to which he belonged.
I guess there's always a trade-off - the more open you are, the more likelihood of attracting people who will abuse the group, while the more closed you are, the less likelihood of attracting people who could be active, chatty members.But I've never actually seen all these self-promoters here, so I guess they must get deleted pretty quickly.
Bette BookAddict wrote: "Greg wrote: "Bette, that quote by Groucho Marx cracked me up - a great quote!" I love it too; actually, I love lots of his quotes. But I sub-quoted it. The real quote is "PLEASE ACCEPT MY RES..."
Bette BookAddict wrote: "Greg wrote: "Bette, that quote by Groucho Marx cracked me up - a great quote!" I love it too; actually, I love lots of his quotes. But I sub-quoted it. The real quote is "PLEASE ACCEPT MY RES..."
Ha ha, I love it!
Me too! I wonder if they did though...I also find that whenever I become interested in a private group and think, oh maybe it's not too elitist after all, I try to look at the threads and discussions - but of course you can't!
Selection is a two-way process. How can anyone decide if it's for them or not? And what would be the motive in joining? No, I think we've got it about right in "All About Books" and hope there will be no move to change its status :)
Motive for joining can be wanting a place with a bit of privacy. Or a smaller group where you don't get overwhelmed with lots and lots of people posting about lots and lots of topics! Or even having that initial contact with the mods, letting them know a bit about you - it can feel more personal than joining a huge group of people anonymously. People have different motives. But yes, you can only really decide if it's right for you after you join - although I'd say the same applies to the open groups, to some extent. It's only when you get to interact with people that you get a sense of the dynamics and whether it's for you or not. And exclusivity can happen in open groups too, of course, in different ways. Sometimes the worst are the really open ones with no moderators (not seen this here, but on other sites).
Shirley wrote: "Gail wrote: "Ah, okay. I didn't realise that. That is a shame - the trouble with a group being private is that a potential new person can't browse the threads and get a sense of the atmosphere and ...Yes, that's what puts me off private groups."
Very happy to hear that, Shirley. I joined AAB because it was not a private group.
And as for privacy, if you want that, you can protect your profile. This is the Internet, Goodreads is not private and thankfully AAB is not private.
Think I'd have to jump ship if we became that type of group because I do NOT want other people picking the type of person I can communicate with.**
**TO BE CLEAR: Absolutely no disrespect or slight intended for our wonderful, capable and lovely Mods who make sure our group runs fairly, efficiently and without judgment.
Just to say that I'm very happy in the private group I'm in and I'm also superdooper happy in this group. I do think that having to apply to join a group is intimidating and it took me a while to gear myself up to do it. And I'm not usually easily intimidated. I wouldn't like this group to become private and by application. I can imagine that this would be even more intimidating for those for whom English is not their first language.
I wonder how many of the private groups actually reject people, unless they get someone saying they want to come and promote their book. I would imagine that if the group is well-run, it's more about making sure the people who join have have taken a look at the group description and want to join, rather than just randomly joining lots of groups, or planning to spam. Kind of like when people have a question to answer when you want to friend them - it makes friending more of a conscious choice than collecting lots of friends. Everyone's different, and personally I wouldn't automatically assume negative things about anyone who starts a private group, because that just becomes a different sort of snobbery.
Gill and I are in the same private group, and I think it is a good one. :-) It's very thoughtfully moderated. I should add that I'm not trying to suggest this group becomes private too - I'm not bothered one way or another. I'm new to this group and still testing it out. I haven't quite worked out yet what sort of focus or dynamics it has.
Gail wrote: "Gill and I are in the same private group, and I think it is a good one. :-) It's very thoughtfully moderated. I should add that I'm not trying to suggest this group becomes private too - I'm not bo..."Ah, well that's one question I can answer, a few of us mods got together to write what it says on our home page, "we're here because..." It might seem general and non specific but that's because we wanted the group to be inclusive and friendly, and where we can chat about what we are reading and get to know one another. What I love about this group is its international flavour, which adds a richness to this group not easily found in other groups where the members are all from the same country.
Gail, I don't think it's to do with rejecting people. I think it's more a form of gatekeeping that will put many people off (whether or not this is the intention). I'm pretty confident compared to most people I know, and I found it difficult to apply.Re focus and dynamics, this is a warm and welcoming group, with wonderful moderators, and the dynamics of the group develop and change with the membership. And now I'm getting off this discussion, to leave the thread for new questions for the mods!
I think the whole private/public issue might have been raised as a way to combat self promotion (?).But is it really such a huge problem, how many posts do we actually get each week? (I haven't counted). We all pretty aware of it and none of us has any hesitation in bringing those posts to the Mods notice. They can just flick them.
I often get book invites to read a novel written by someone who has recently friended me. I just block them. Simple as that. The same can be done with AAB, no second chances, just out!
Shirley wrote: "Gail wrote: "What I love about this group is its international flavour, which adds a richness to this group not easily found in other groups where the members are all from the same country. ..."I like international groups. The ones I'm active in are all international.
Gill wrote: "Gail, I don't think it's to do with rejecting people. I think it's more a form of gatekeeping that will put many people off (whether or not this is the intention). I'm pretty confident compared to most people I know, and I found it difficult to apply...."I think part of my reason for applying was curiosity - I'd never joined a group where you have to apply and I was curious whether they'd accept or reject me and what criteria they would use. I figured I'd just be myself and they could take or leave me - I pointed out that I enjoy YA as well as literary fiction and classics (because of the group's emphasis that it doesn't read YA), and I think I mentioned that I'd read Twilight! Hehe - I figured if they rejected me for that, they'd be the kind of snobs I wouldn't want to join anyway!
Bette BookAddict wrote: "I think the whole private/public issue might have been raised as a way to combat self promotion (?).But is it really such a huge problem, how many posts do we actually get each week? (I haven't c..."
Yes, that is why I initially raised the possibility of vetting, because there was a discussion about an increase in self-promotion, and several people seemed bothered by it and were wondering how to stop it. I didn't realise at that time that only private groups could vet new members.
As I said, I haven't even seen these self-promotion posts, so I'm imagining they get dealt with pretty promptly.
Sandy wrote: "Is there a thread which lists current and upcoming readalongs by date? If not, would it be possible to have one? Trolling through the "would someone like to join me?" thread is a bit cumbersome. (I..."Here it is: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
It is in the folder "Upcoming Monthly Reads".
Sandy wrote: "Thank you, dely. My mistake. I saw that thread but interpreted 2013-2014 as the academic year (which would have ended in mid-2014). I have spent too many years working at academic institutions, I g..."Lol :D
Sandy wrote: "Thank you, dely. My mistake. I saw that thread but interpreted 2013-2014 as the academic year (which would have ended in mid-2014). I have spent too many years working at academic institutions, I g..."LOL! I have changed it to plain 2014 :)
I was wondering if there is any way of keeping more than seven threads belonging each heading showing on the main screen? I think maybe one reason people keep posting new threads is that it's not obvious at first glance that a suitable thread may already exist. ( I speak from experience since even when I know such a thread may exist, I can't always track it down!)
Gill wrote: "I was wondering if there is any way of keeping more than seven threads belonging each heading showing on the main screen? I think maybe one reason people keep posting new threads is that it's not o..."It can be changed, but then the home page gets too long. My best advice is to use the search box (on the right just above the ads) or do as Sandy did and ask here.
Mod
I'm not sure, think that is the layout of most groups on goodreads. I do get what you mean, when I first joined the old group I was a bit nervous about starting new posts in case they were already there and I wasn't sure how to work the goodreads groups, it wasn't until I took the time to really look over all the threads that I got how it worked. I would suggest writing up a post where new members can go if they are looking for something, for example where to look for recommendations. But if you are saying it might not obvious to many people, it might just be a waste of time.
It might be a good idea to point out somewhere that clicking on the name of a folder will bring up the list of threads in that folder.
amber wrote: "It might be a good idea to point out somewhere that clicking on the name of a folder will bring up the list of threads in that folder."That sounds a good idea amber.
Mod
That sounds like a good idea.
There's space for one more topic in this general info section. Perhaps it could be called How to see all the discussion threads, or something like that. Then it could just be a couple of lines explaining how to do it.
Mod
Thanks Gill and Alannah! I have an easier time doing that then using the search box because I find the search tends to either bring up a 1,000 things by searching all posts or misses the thing I'm looking for by not connecting two titles that are a little different. For example if I look up "have you read" I either get 4,000 posts by using the all posts option, or I get the What Have You Just Read thread by using the titles only option, but I don't get 'Has Anyone Read This Book, which is the thread that is most like what I would be looking for when searching for have you read.
Hi mods, I know you are all busy people. When one of you has time, would it be possible to set up the section for 2015 Challenges? It was set up about this time last year. Many thanks.
Gill wrote: "Hi mods, I know you are all busy people. When one of you has time, would it be possible to set up the section for 2015 Challenges? It was set up about this time last year. Many thanks."Just finished doing that Gill!
Leslie wrote: "Gill wrote: "Hi mods, I know you are all busy people. When one of you has time, would it be possible to set up the section for 2015 Challenges? It was set up about this time last year. Many thanks...."Thanks, Leslie! I just saw your other comment and was about to delete mine! So exciting!
Leslie, am I being gormless? I can't see where it is!
Gill wrote: "Leslie, am I being gormless? I can't see where it is!"I think it didn't show until I put a post in it as I couldn't see it either!
Leslie wrote: "Gill wrote: "Leslie, am I being gormless? I can't see where it is!"I think it didn't show until I put a post in it as I couldn't see it either!"
Great!
Hey Mods, I won't have access to the internet from November 11th until November 20th. Can you please arrange someone to do the This Day in Literary History thread for me? Ta:)
Bette, thanks for giving us a heads up! We'll figure something out. Any volunteers?
Jenny wrote: "Bette, thanks for giving us a heads up! We'll figure something out. Any volunteers?"Bette, you should also ask in the thread (after all, people reading it should have a vested interest in volunteering!).
Can you help me please? My Dickens challenge is an ongoing one. (When I planned it, it was a two-year one anyway, but may now be longer as I've inserted stuff!)I've edited the title to show two years, but don't seem to be able to add it to the "2015 challenges" folder without it disappearing from the 2014 one. Is there a clever way of duplicating it do you know? Or should I just move it quickly on December 31st?!
I think if you want to save all the comments in it, then moving it on the 31st is the best way. I will do the same with my Philosophers-project.
Mod
Alannah wrote: "I was thinking we have a seasonal poet, would you guys be open to the idea of doing a seasonal author as well? I understand though if you guys don't want to do it. I know it might be extra work. I ..."Hmmm... as an ongoing feature? or just for the holiday season?
I think our group has quite a lot of official books going on but an unofficial 3-month "seasonal" author readalong might work. I do like the author as opposed to title idea, as we can all hear about different books by the same author...
Mod
As an ongoing feature, pretty much the same way as the seasonal poet works. Four different authors a year.
New self publicity post started under general.
Thank you Gill, I deleted it.@Alannah, I quite like the idea. I was sceptical at first because we already have so much going on, but making it seasonal might work.
Any other opinions?
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All About Books
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