Just Talking Showing 2,901-2,950 of 3,141

[Lena]

Plate glass?

[Darren]

the strip on the left might be glass, but the other two strips look like stonework?

[Kathleen]

How intriguing, Darren. Could it be a ceiling of some kind? On the bottom it looks like a piece is missing, and something is showing through. I'm thinking upstairs downstairs kind of barrier?

[Darren]

Kathleen wrote: "...upstairs downstairs kind of barrier?"
not sure what you mean Kathleen

I'm thinking, if any of it is stonework, that rules out roofs (too heavy) so it'd either have to be a stone-clad wall (taken at a jaunty angle!) or a floor of some description (but why the gaps?)

and there's a metal rod at the bottom-left and a metal "rose" ended pipe at the bottom-right...

[Lena]

I think if you stacked plate glass in a warehouse it would look like that. Or it’s something from under a microscope.

[Luke]

Beginning Sept 1 2022, Amazon is getting rid of Creative Writing, Favorite Authors, the Recommend Feature of Review Writing, Owned Books, and likely other things, as I only received info about what I myself have used. You also won't be able to download your data for this after that date. Eager to see what else they do to gut the community for the sake of profit.

[Lena]

Yeah, it’s troubling. Has anyone else started migrating to a back up account? Storygraph, etc?

[Amyjzed]

Here's what I got... (Interesting that they are not providing a list of everything they are removing, just the things they have records of us using):
"We will be phasing out the following for which our records show you've added content:
Friend stories, Quizzes, Trivia, and/or Adding a photo to a book
Goodreads will no longer support the creation of new quizzes, trivia, friend stories in the friend list, or photos to a book page effective July 5, 2022. These features will be removed from Goodreads on Sept. 1, 2022. "

[Lena]

Here’s what I got:

Favorite authors
We are simplifying how you can stay updated on authors whose books you love. We will be removing the favorite authors list on Sept. 1, 2022 and instead encourage you to follow your favorite authors. Select ‘follow’ on your favorite authors page or on each author’s profile page. This will ensure you get news about these authors and updates on their new books.

Updates to reviews creation
To streamline the review creation page on desktop, we will no longer include the options of who recommended a book and who to recommend it to after July 5, 2022. If you would like to recommend a book to a friend on Goodreads, you can do this easily from the recommend a book page. If you would still like to record who recommended it within the book review, we suggest you add this directly to the review or in the private notes section on the review edit page (learn how to add a private note).

Owned books
As part of streamlining our reviews creation page on desktop, we're phasing out the option to add details about owned books such as condition and purchase date on July 5, 2022. Members will still have the option to mark a book as owned within the 'more details' section when writing their review on desktop. You can later view a list of your owned books by adding the owned books column in My Books (learn how to customize the My Books page). Visit our help center to learn how to create and add books to your 'owned' bookshelf.

Friend stories, Quizzes, Trivia, and/or Adding a photo to a book
Goodreads will no longer support the creation of new quizzes, trivia, friend stories in the friend list, or photos to a book page effective July 5, 2022. These features will be removed from Goodreads on Sept. 1, 2022.

[Luke]

Amyjzed wrote: "Here's what I got... (Interesting that they are not providing a list of everything they are removing, just the things they have records of us using):
"We will be phasing out the following for which..."

It's a good way of keeping folks in the dark about significant chunks of the process while claiming that they're being fully transparent about their actions. Typical.

[Darren]

also, I assume we have all noticed that GR are getting rid of "I would recommend to:" and "Who recommended it to me:" from reviews,

this is in addition to the stealth removal of some update comments (that they claim will be restored but I'm not holding my breath)
I have cut right back on posting update comments. which is a shame cos I use them to share quotes, and they enhance a review.

I am basically hunkering down to quitting GR completely :o(

[Greg]

Had some family illnesses and other challenges so I've been off Goodreads for the most part for a couple months, but I'm happy to be resurfacing!

[Nidhi]

Good to see you Greg.

[Greg]

Nidhi wrote: "Good to see you Greg."

Thanks Nidhi :)

[Amyjzed]

Random comment here, but I wondered if others have checked out the podcast The History of Literature -- http://historyofliterature.com/ -- by Jacke Wilson.
He has a fairly informal/goofy manner and has been podcasting about the meaning & feeling of literature via various authors or works for about 5 years. I recently enjoyed the two episodes about Christina Rossetti & "The Goblin Market": in
Episode 415 "The Goblin Market" he reads the poem and brings up a some commentary and questions. In Episode 419 he gives a sketch about Christina Rossetti's life that could help the reader understand some of the context of the poem, and also how and why Rossetti was probably unfairly judged by some literary critics of her day (namely John Ruskin).
Tons of other episodes to look through. I'll probably go back to one on Soren Kierkegaard and the story of Abraham next.
Unfortunately, there have been more advertisements in recent episodes, but I guess things should be paid for one way or another.

[Sara, Old School Classics]

Greg wrote: "Had some family illnesses and other challenges so I've been off Goodreads for the most part for a couple months, but I'm happy to be resurfacing!"

We've missed you, Greg, and so glad to see you again. I hope all the illnesses are recoveries now and that you can have a smooth ride for the rest of the summer.

[Savita]

Greg wrote: "Had some family illnesses and other challenges so I've been off Goodreads for the most part for a couple months, but I'm happy to be resurfacing!"

Nice to have you back again , Greg ! I hope all goes well for you now .

[Greg]

Thanks so much Sara and Savita! :)

And yes, things have settled down. Many members of both my family and Ron's family are getting quite old, including our remaining parents; so there will be medical issues. It's an inevitable part of life I suppose. But I will make a point even more so of cherishing their periods of better health while we are lucky enough to still have them here. And it seems to have settled again into a good period, which is a blessing!

[Savita]

Greg wrote: "Thanks so much Sara and Savita! :)

And yes, things have settled down. Many members of both my family and Ron's family are getting quite old, including our remaining parents; so there will be medic..."

God Bless !

[Kathleen]

Been thinking of you, Greg. Glad you're back and things are on a more even keel.

[Sara, Old School Classics]

Greg wrote: "Thanks so much Sara and Savita! :)

And yes, things have settled down. Many members of both my family and Ron's family are getting quite old, including our remaining parents; so there will be medic..."

Definitely a stage of life we all come to. Glad there is a period of grace at the moment.

[Lynn, New School Classics]

Aubrey wrote: "Beginning Sept 1 2022, Amazon is getting rid of Creative Writing, Favorite Authors, the Recommend Feature of Review Writing, Owned Books, and likely other things, as I only received info about what..."


Thanks for the heads-up. I have not received any notifications of things being deleted. But it is a good reminder that things do not last forever.

I used this opportunity to make a new tab on my book spreadsheet. It is named 6/24/2022 Goodreads Backup. I went to my read books and clicked print. With 100 books per page I had 14 pages. I copied and pasted each page onto my spreadsheet. The entire process took 15 minutes or less. With the worldwide scope of Goodreads and the ever growing data for each individual user, I cannot imagine how much data storage capacity is required to hold the information. Better safe than sorry.

Although it is not a perfect analogy, I once played an online game with millions of worldwide players. After 5 years the game was "retired". We were warned, but then it was simply gone. We had developed "families" within the game and communicated much like on Goodreads. In fact, Goodreads was a substitution for that game. It happens. Things end.

The irony is some of the overseas members of the family seem to still be playing and I sometimes get stray messages from them. The game was just throttled in the U.S.

[Greg]

Kathleen wrote: "Been thinking of you, Greg. Glad you're back and things are on a more even keel."

Thanks Kathleen! :)

[Terry]

Glad you’re back, Greg! I have enjoyed reading your posts and hope to read more in the future.

[Savita]

Greg wrote: "Thanks so much Sara and Savita! :)

And yes, things have settled down. Many members of both my family and Ron's family are getting quite old, including our remaining parents; so there will be medic..."

The care , concern and love shown for the elders in your family is commendable , Greg ! That's the way it should be !

[Greg]

Thanks Terry, Savita! :)

[Graham]

Hello!

I know that I have appeared on some other boards before in the past but I've also been very in-and-out with the group before as a result of trying to get myself off the internet more (especially off of Goodreads and YouTube). But I have also enjoyed receiving notifications from the group so I thought I would hop onto one of the discussion boards I haven't really gone on before and say hey.

I hope everyone is doing well. I don't know what else to add so I think I'll end with this one of my favorite quotes from my favorite book ever, The Secret History by Donna Tartt:

"I hope we're all ready to leave the phenomenal world, and enter into the sublime" - Tartt 34

[Halima]

Brilliant quote!

[Graham]

Halima wrote: "Brilliant quote!"

Thank you! Donna Tartt is a master writer.

[Joseph]

My wrap up of the 101 - 200 Greatest Novels of All Time:

https://100greatestnovelsofalltimeque...

[Lynn, New School Classics]

Joseph wrote: "My wrap up of the 101 - 200 Greatest Novels of All Time:

https://100greatestnovelsofalltimeque..."

I commented on the blog too. Wow what an impressive list of books and a very complete review of the list. NIcely done. I recommend everyone go look at his work.

[Joseph]

Thanks Lynn...page views, and especially comments on the blog make my day :)

[Terry]

Joseph, congratulations and great blog!

[Joseph]

Terry wrote: "Joseph, congratulations and great blog!"

Thanks Terry. I saw your comment on my blog. I've got Sometimes a Great Notion on my TBR for the next 100 :)

[Wreade1872]

One of the most interesting ideas i've ever read about is Roadtown from 1910 and now it seems like the Saudi's are going to try and build something very much like it :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYqNO... .

[Laurie]

Wreade1872 wrote: "One of the most interesting ideas i've ever read about is Roadtown from 1910 and now it seems like the Saudi's are going to try and build something very much like it :)
https://www...."

This is a fascinating concept for a city. I can't imagine it will ever be built, but I would like to see more in depth plans because I love some of the ways it would make an ecologically sustainable and very livable environment. Vey cool that you read about something similar from a story over a century old.

[Terris]

I don't know if this has been discussed but --
I got a notice on my landing page that basically said "Thank you for participating in the beta something,something. We will now go back to the regular pages, while we prepare beta for ALL of our customers."

???!!! I hate that beta page! I want the same set-up as we have now!

Does anyone else have an opinion on this?
Of course, I'm sure we have no say in what will happen, but I still want to know if anyone else feels as I do.....

[Cynda]

Absoooluuutely Terris. I have given my input several times. Did it go anywhere? I have asked questions. Did I miss the answers? Those are just my largest problems with the beta page study/beta page itself.

[Terris]

Cynda wrote: "Absoooluuutely Terris. I have given my input several times. Did it go anywhere? I have asked questions. Did I miss the answers? Those are just my largest problems with the beta page study/beta page..."

I didn't even know we could give feedback. Probably too late, but how did you do that?

[Heather L]

I also gave my negative opinion of the beta page multiple times. They seem determined to proceed with it, despite the feedback from GR members. No one I know likes the beta page. 😠

Oh, and apparently they have not reverted to the old format. I just tested it and it still leads me to a beta page for which I get an ‘error’ message. Jerks! (Not really the word I want to use.)

[Kathleen]

Terris wrote: "???!!! I hate that beta page! I want the same set-up as we have now!"

I completely agree, Terris. And like Heather said, I have only heard complaints about it.

[Cynda]

Terris wrote: "Cynda wrote: "Absoooluuutely Terris. I have given my input several times. Did it go anywhere? I have asked questions. Did I miss the answers? Those are just my largest problems with the beta page s..."

I was invited to. I don't know if everyone invited to, but assumed so until now. When "Beta" showed up and I tapped on it to toggle back, I got the invite then.

[CindySR]

I kind of got used to it but the spoiler reveal doesn't work. It still has plenty of bugs. I'm not surprised. 🙄

[Luke]

Ever since Amazon got rid of GR's legitimate feedback group and put the horrendously gatekeeping nonsense in its place, I knew any show of accepting public feedback would be just that. A show. I've weathered their nonsense for nine years now, so I'll just have to see if the book page horror show ends up being the final straw.

[Terris]

I was never asked any questions or for my opinion on the new beta page. I didn't know I was part of the "grand experiment," or they might call it a "trial period." I just noticed it was different sometimes -- different in a way I didn't like!
I'm so sorry our opinions don't matter to them. I am dreading the permanent change :/

[Cynda]

Did you ever toggle on/off Beta? In that box that popped up was the invitation. Something like " We would love to hear from you." (The italics were theirs )

[Terris]

Oh, I guess I didn't see that.... Not that it would have made any difference, I guess :/

[Wreade1872]

Oh cool... the Merril Collection of free old sci-fi/speculative fiction pdfs, that i've been reading through seems to have updated, looks like about a 100 more items than it had before.

Tears of Angels, When the Moon Fell, the Lost Dryad... love these names, bet most of these arn't even on goodreads :) .

I can't put the link but its in my review of The Doctor of Souls .

[Sara, Old School Classics]

How do I hate the new book page? Let me count the ways! Why do they have to fix what isn't broken and I am shivering thinking of all the other "features" here they are bound to play with.

[Terris]

I know!! Now I’m scared!!
What might they do next?!