Shelves and Genres No Longer Display on All Pages

[Debbie's Spurts (D.A.)]

And if a deleted shelf was exclusive, I'm pretty sure a big dump of books on the read shelf.

Petty vengeance that. You made your "I won't be caught dead reading these authors" type of shelf exclusive; so when goodreads deletes it looks you read the very books you wanted to avoid. Those authors fans friend you because you had books in common. Authors books get a boost by showing lots of people marked/added as "read" in the review section and on books still showing shelf feature.

Yes, petty vengeance making sure you promote the very authors you wanted to avoid reading.

(I assume like always that if a shelf is deleted the books dump to an exclusive shelf; I don't think any of mine have been deleted so I can't swear to it. They might be deleting the book from your "my books" as well, but I doubt it or someone would have posted that information. We're a communicative bunch.)

[Literary Ames]

Kara said 6 hours ago:

Brandi wrote: "Posters Rachael and Iola had questions that I was hoping we could get clarification on please?

Rachael wrote: "So I can't have shelves of African American authors, or LGBT authors, or of Nobel Lau..."

The shelves you mentioned above (african-american-authors, lgbt-authors, nobel-laureates, ya-authors, na-authors, male-authors, christian-authors) are all fine and fit within our guidelines.

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

Well, my male author shelf is safe :D

Thanks Ames, for posting. I'd missed that. Actually, I've just realised I haven't gotten any updates from the big thread for a while. Hmmmm, I wonder why????? I better go have a look, see what else I've missed.

ETA: And the mods froze that little thread once Kara posted.

[AH]

Sandra wrote: "ETA: And the mods froze that little thread once Kara posted. "

They've been doing that a lot.

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

Yep, just finished reading the newest updates on the big thread - 2 pages worth, and there were a few comments to that effect.

[Ninab (Honesty is the Best Policy)]

Amy or "Ames" wrote: "Kara said 6 hours ago:

Brandi wrote: "Posters Rachael and Iola had questions that I was hoping we could get clarification on please?

Rachael wrote: "So I can't have shelves of African American au..."

That response is completely incongruous with GR's new policy of prohibiting shelves based on the author and not the book. It is in line with GR's new policy of being more interested in the business of selling books (hello, Amazon) than creating a space for readers in that GR will target shelves that might detract from book sales.

I've put up with the increasing (and increasingly annoying) ad space here on GR (after all it does need to create revenue somehow) but this new policy is just about too much. I've thought about switching sites but none seem to have the social capabilities that GR has as far as forming groups. Most (like Booklikes) seem to focus on shelving and reviews - unless there's something out there I'm missing?

And then there's the problem of some other site becoming popular, Amazon buying them out, and then having the same bad policies implemented again.

[AH]

Ninab wrote: "And then there's the problem of some other site becoming popular, Amazon buying them out, and then having the same bad policies implemented again. "

I give it 2-3 years max.

[Debbie's Spurts (D.A.)]

Ninab wrote: "…"none have the social ..."

There are more than 50 wanna be sites and I've barely looked at any -- but, The Reading Room has a social side including groups/clubs.

I'm getting cranky at hearing only one or two sites always being talked about when there are so many (that said, I am having fun on booklikes as well--and it seems to be attracting a lot of goodreads refugees--it's just not the one and only alternative to goodreads). I don't want all my "eggs" in one basket. Admittedly, I had went thru six other sites before coming here, my favorite being the defunct Visual Bookshelf (if Living Social revived that ... I'd go back).

I know a lot of members are keeping their accounts here for the groups but just not adding content. (Booklikes has an option will sync to goodreads and add reviews for you and goodreads api stuff potentially let's other sites do so). Dear Author is supposed to post about some alternatives Sunday.

Give it 3-6 months and most sites will be adding features to lure goodreads members or starting from scratch. I can see some current group centered sites adding book cataloguing/reviewing and book sites adding group features.

Everyone should make sure they have a good backup at least of books, notes, shelves and reviews ("my books," "import/export," export to csv). Doesn't help with all the group information. But is something. And in addition to policy changes, if staff posts are truthful, they are having data issues that are losing reviews/shelves and preventing them from restoring data.

I'm in limbo. I'm here but not adding content. I'm importing the csv file to sites that let me. I'm watching to see where my friends are finding new homes and what the feel of those new homes are in a month or so. I'm watching to see what what new new contenders appear, what changes current sites make, how much goodreads will change ...

One too many make it like amazon's reviews and community forum things is going to be unfortunate to the tone of community goodreads has always had. In their sanitizing to avoid hurting author feelings and scare off new members, they are risking the gaming their site sees ( don't like a review or shelf or post flag it to death and have your friends ...) and the taking over of groups, posts and reviews wit endless promotion by authors and nonstop whining. The amazon community forums have gotten just awful.

No doubt wanting to sanitize the site before the kindle integrations plus wanting to hire in new data analyzing people to better market our content and reading habits -- hard to do if shelves are too custom (I can see the amazon standard tags system moving in). I am sure the influx of members from integration with kindle will kee goodreads going for quite some time (not necessarily with very interesting content as most likely a lot of reading status updates and a quick rating when finished).

I see goodreads gaining members from kindle readers. Then losing a lot of authors, particularly the indie authors, as they follow the indie readers and reviewers (or the top reviewers n hopes) to other sites. Members accessing goodreads only from their kindles while reading books already discovered are not exactly discovering new books by the indies.

Sadly some sites are seeing goodreads refugees as wanting a new base to threaten and harass authors. It sure does make good headlines to say an author was threatened with rape; too bad the articles skip that goodreads policy never allowed any such content and that it would always have been deleted once brought to staff attention. Nevermind mentioning that even the author in the article says it was not true, that's just not an exciting story.

[Debbie's Spurts (D.A.)]

What I'm not finding yet is a good site for having series information (other than fictfact which I adore but only handles series books).

Of course, it's going to be a really good time to be a paid reviewer as top reviewers stop providing goodreads with content. If you don't mind risking the FTC fines for failing to disclose in your review that you were paid (and the FTC is on to the claim that the review was not paid for but rather other services -- if there is a financial relationship or money trail or just a free product, it has to be disclosed. Most fines are five-figure ones).

[Ninab (Honesty is the Best Policy)]

It seems Booklikes will be implementing groups:
http://blog.booklikes.com/post/344083...

On another note, I emailed them a question and got a response in about 20 minutes, and I haven't even signed up there yet!

[Literary Ames]

Ninab wrote: "And then there's the problem of some other site becoming popular, Amazon buying them out, and then having the same bad policies implemented again."

I think this is why some are starting blogs, where they're in control.

[Debbie's Spurts (D.A.)]

Ninah beat me to it, I just went to my booklikes and their daily to members blog post (so nice to have sitewide communications) has a list of upcoming features including implementation of discussion groups/bookclubs.

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

Kara has posted an infomercial about what is and what isn't allowed, in the Feedback Group, here is the link for those that haven't seen it.

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

[AH]

Thanks for the update, Sandra.

[Steph, Serious series addict]

All of this makes my head spin. Hubby's got the bucket ready for when the green sludge starts spewing from my mouth. LOL! It's been a crappy time to be AWOL from GR, that's for sure. Each time I return I feel more lost than I did to start. I really appreciate those who are providing links to "hot spots" and refreshers/updates on what's happening now as it seems to change with the wind. <--- a sloooow wind, not a cyclone, but still

Like others, I've started a BL acct, but I'm stickin' with GR until ... well, probably until there's no one left to chat with. LOL! I love the groups and relationships formed because of them. BL is growing exponentially and I appreciate their desire to meet the demands of the masses heading their way. They are certainly bending over backwards to accommodate everyone and their desires. But, as others have said, it's (probably) only a matter of time before issues start there as well. May take years, but it seems eventually "the man" (whoever ultimately buys them or rules the site for profit) will get a piece and mix it up (for better or worse).

Too bad we don't all live within close proximity to each other ~~ a barrel of wine and like-minded friends would make a great party right about now. :)

[AH]

Steph wrote: "Too bad we don't all live within close proximity to each other ~~ a barrel of wine and like-minded friends would make a great party right about now. :)
"

I feel that way, too. I really miss talking about books with people who get what I'm talking about.

[Steph, Serious series addict]

We're still here. :D

[Christina (AKA Babbling)]

I'm hoping the changes don't spill into the groups. I always thought they were the best part of GR and I'd hate it if they ended up like the Amazon boards. :-/

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

We'll do our best to keep them real Christina :D

[Christina (AKA Babbling)]

I know. :) I'm more worried about GR/AZ imposing new rules on the boards that the mods would have no control over....comply or the group will be deleted type things. (I know, worse case scenario). Like "you don't have to be a member to post in the group" and there's no such thing as a private group. :(

[Debbie's Spurts (D.A.)]

Hopefully the rest case scenario with group would be a need to go private.

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

Debbie - very appropriate new avatar, both here and the real world :D

[Christina (AKA Babbling)]

Debbie - tell new policies to all; if = no author behavior = delete both good and bad author behavior content - wrote: "Hopefully the rest case scenario with group would be a need to go private."

True. But do you really think, considering their track record so far, that GR would go that route? If they want more integration with the Kindles, they're likely to make it easier for people to join a conversation by eliminating the need to join the group first. They may not give the groups the option to go/stay private.

[Debbie's Spurts (D.A.)]

No, I meant that some groups (like the previously public bba) would choose to go private rather than have authors constantly flagging shelves and content to support for removal -- or worse, the new context telepaths deleting group content as not appropriate to the tone of the community.

I don't see goodreads/amazon as wanting to make anything private. Not groups, shelves or reviews.

[Christina (AKA Babbling)]

Debbie - tell new policies=no author behavior=so delete both good/bad author behavior content - wrote: "No, I meant that some groups (like the previously public bba) would choose to go private rather than have authors constantly flagging shelves and content to support for removal -- or worse, the new..."

Understood. But my point was -- If, and this is a very big if, GR/AZ decides to change the groups so Kindle users could comment without joining that group, they could also eliminate the ability to make it private as well. Current private groups could be forced to comply or be deleted. In other words, no more private groups AND no need to join a group in order to comment. Completely open forums.

GR/AZ may never go this route. Can I see the possibility, based on past decisions? Yes. If they ever do make that change, I think it would be the final straw for a lot more people.

I know a lot of the GR refugees are hoping for groups soon, but I hope that Booklikes takes the time to do it right and not rush it because everyone is clamoring for it. My fear is that they'll launch forums just like the one I described above -- completely open and without the ability to make them private.

"I don't see goodreads/amazon as wanting to make anything private. Not groups, shelves or reviews."

My point exactly.