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Anyone finding the move to GR harder than they anticipated?
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Red52
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Mar 19, 2016 04:21PM
I don't think this format is as conducive to in depth discussions on topics as the nesting format is. And so I'm not as engaged as I was. Many of the individuals who I posted with are not posting at all or went to Leafmarks and aren't posting much even there. It's not that great of site. It does not work well on a mobile device. Nothing is as it was
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I hope you all stay! I'm a new PBT member and I'm really enjoying the group. I've only ever used Goodreads so I have no comparison, but I'm really enjoying your arrival. :-)
I'm sorry you're feeling this way. I've been in a reading slump but due to personal and life issues rather than the transition to GoodReads. I've been reading Cloudsplitter for the better parts of three months.
I have to confess that I'm not that sentimental a person. When one thing ends I generally tend to look forward to the next and I don't spend too much time thinking about the past. Unlike others who have been checking in over there, when I made the decision to move I just severed ties and moved over completely without looking back or reminiscing. Maybe that makes me unusual.
It's not that I don't miss shelfari. I do. Especially the look and the nested conversations. I don't think there's any doubt that our conversations over there were more in depth. That said, I've really liked a lot of the features here. I like that we can link to books and add photos.
I think the people make the group and I hope that over time you are able to feel more at home here. I think we'll all get there but it may take a little time.
I've liked meeting all the nice new people who have joined the group here and at my other group.
While I miss Shelfari and the finer things about it, I have found I'm adapting here better than I thought I would or wanted, despite it's weaknesses. There are ways to work around this system for better discussions, but it involves more work and planning. I would prefer the option of nested replies and a better background than white.
Jen wrote: "I'm sorry you're feeling this way. I've been in a reading slump but due to personal and life issues rather than the transition to GoodReads. I've been reading Cloudsplitter for the better parts o..."
I agree Jen there are lots of good features here and I am like you it that I said fine and severed ties and moved my books. The relationships I had with those few people are really what I miss- those discussions- and only time can build new ones.
Rina1775 wrote: "JThe relationships I had with those few people are really what I miss- those discussions- and only time can build new ones."Same here. Some of those relationships have continued here, so it's not as though we had to start from an entirely new slate, either. But I find myself going to Leafmarks a couple of times a week to keep up with a few other people, but not as many are there. However, at least one of my groups did because they have not been able to find as friendly a group for that genre here. I also go to LibraryThing somewhat, but I'm finding I'm spending the vast majority of my former Shelfari time here.
I am an extremely sentimental person, and have a hard time letting go. I continue to check in over there every day, but of course there is not much traffic, anymore. I have also taken screenshots of many of the pages there. That being said, i am doing better here than i expected to. Still not my favourite site, but this always has been my favourite group, and remains so, so its great that so many others came over, as well.
I am getting less reading done this year, initially due to to ge shelfari shuffle, but now due to my own personal things going on.
I am trying to keep up here on many of the threads, but im finding i skip more reviews than i used to at shelfari, due to the format we have because of the nonnested threads. Except for reviews, though, i mostly manage to keep up with all the other threads.
Im so sorry its so difficult, aj.
I used Shelfari and Goodreads concurrently, so in that aspect I'm not having a hard time. I also severed my ties with Shelfari very quickly since I had my stuff here already. And, most of my friends already used Goodreads not Shelfari, so that hasn't been bad for me either.BUT, I do miss Shelfari. I miss the layout and the look. I miss some of its features. I miss the nested conversations. And, I miss my shelves.
AJ wrote: "I didn't realise how sentimental I am. I haven't really been over at Shelfari since the move to Goodreads. I think it's also that I am struggling with a lot of stress, anxiety and illness at the mo..."If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that the stress, anxiety, and illness are probably driving most of your reading slump although I'm sure the move hasn't helped. I do hope that you persevere. Stay active in the group and I think you'll eventually feel more at home here although it will never be the same. Hopefully we all can offer you support and comfort in the transition.
I hope things get better for you soon in terms of your stress and illness issues. I will be thinking about you and sending positive thoughts.
AJ wrote: "I didn't realise how sentimental I am. I haven't really been over at Shelfari since the move to Goodreads. I think it's also that I am struggling with a lot of stress, anxiety and illness at the mo..."I'm sorry you're struggling so much and that you have stress, anxiety, and illness on top of the move. I hope things get better soon! *hugs*
AJ ... I really feel your pain. While I am not struggling with the move (I had a concurrent profile here all along), I am also experiencing a reading slump due to other more pressing issues in my real life. I miss the online interaction with all my book-loving friends, though, and try to check in every couple of days, just to get a little fix of happiness. Keep checking in occasionally, choose the threads you want to read rather than trying to follow everything, and let the rest go. (Easier said than done, I know.)
Library Cin said, "I am trying to keep up here on many of the threads, but im finding i skip more reviews than i used to at shelfari, due to the format we have because of the nonnested threads. Except for reviews, though, i mostly manage to keep up with all the other threads."I find myself doing the same thing. A book is rated 3 stars, I've never heard of it, I don't know the person posting - all these things contribute to some unopened threads. Maybe 3 people responded saying they gave it 5 stars, but I'll never know. With the nesting format, I keyed in to those postings and was occasionally surprised by a new, temping book.
I prefer the nesting format at Leafmarks but nothing about their site leads you into discussions. It takes 3 clicks to even see if there are new discussion comments and a 4th click to see which topic it is. Shelfari put the number of new comments on the group avatar on the home page, and I always have a red box flagging new activity on my notifications symbol as soon as I open up a page in GR. GR pulls me in faster if even I find the discussions less rewarding here.
I have, to my surprise, adapted quicker than I expected. It's the people I come here for, after all. But I do agree that the format here makes me skip reviews. I miss the nested conversations, but have gotten used to the way things are here.
I must say that I am periodically surprised when I suddenly notice a nice feature on GR. I just realized that on the particular book discussions. the rating that a person responding gave a book shows after their name in the light gray message box. Cool.
One of the features I really miss in Shelfari is how much easier it is to find your own comments and responses, as they put those in a different color from the rest. Also I wish the icons would be larger in size as I can barely see the pictures, which made it easier to recognize members when you're scrolling through the comments.
Denizen wrote: "I find myself doing the same thing. A book is rated 3 stars, I've never heard of it, I don't know the person posting - all these things contribute to some unopened threads. Maybe 3 people responded saying they gave it 5 stars, but I'll never know. ..."Yes, that was the nice thing. I admit that I didn't read all the reviews at shelfari, either, but I might catch some comments that intrigued me to motivate me to go back to read the review, but that doesn't happen here without having to open the thread first, which is what's not happening.
Denizen wrote: "I prefer the nesting format at Leafmarks but nothing about their site leads you into discussions. It takes 3 clicks to even see if there are new discussion comments and a 4th click to see which topic it is. ..."I also like the nesting at LM, but it needs to be "fixed" to make it easier to use and follow. The nesting is nice, it just needs to be implemented better, in my opinion.
I'm assimilating okay but like others I'm not as engaged in the discussions because of the nesting issue. But I don't plan on leaving. I still love being part of PBT.
I'm adjusting but it is taking some time and I find that a bit frustrating. I'm sure this is a great site but I miss a lot of good things that were in Shelfari - the nested discussion is a HUGE loss. I kind of hope that GR will consider doing that. I feel a bit disconnected from so many of the discussions - they just aren't as easy to follow. I'm trying to get used to where to post my things for the group. I'm sticking with it though - I love PBT!
Have people branched out and joined groups that originated here in GR instead of Shelfari? If so, what experiences are you having?
I just read that Shelfari has changed its closing date to May 31.
I'm not finding it very difficult, once I realized it was here or nothing I dove in. There are things I do miss about Shelfari, but I'm a realist and wishing for Shelfari won't bring it back. But there are a number of things I Ihave found here that I really like. The ease of linking to a book/author is great, I don't have to look the book up I just click the link. I think the Group Shelf here is far more robust and useful than it was at Shelfari. I find the ability to find the newest discussions very easy to access. I do miss my beautiful book of shelves - Shelfari was a far more aesthetically pleasing. But the most important thing is the group and so I am happy to maintain those Shelfari friendships here at GR.
Rina1775 wrote: "Have people branched out and joined groups that originated here in GR instead of Shelfari? If so, what experiences are you having?"I've joined a couple but find I'm not following them. I seem to have joined groups that have monthly reads - either book 2 when I have yet to read book 1 or books that don't really interest me. I've decided there's plenty of time later to explore.
Denizen wrote: "I seem to have joined groups that have monthly reads..."This is why I love PBT so much - I'm not restricted in what I read. I find it makes for more conversation when you have many books to talk about.
I am very much like Jen and Linda; I am a realist and tend to move on to new and different challenges very easily. While there are aspects of Shelfari that I miss (nested discussions being the main one), that is just no longer an option so I do not find value in dwelling on it.
Instead, I am really liking GoodReads! I find many of the features Linda mentioned a vast improvement over Shelfari and I still am learning.
I would have been devastated to lose PBT but am enjoying the new platform.
Denizen wrote: "Rina1775 wrote: "Have people branched out and joined groups that originated here in GR instead of Shelfari?"Like Denizen, I have joined a couple and a few of them seem to have great communities with a lot of potential. However, they read a single book each month and I have never been very good at that so I have not gotten very involved.
Yes, the monthly read or the restricted genre limits my involvement when I am not in the mood for the book or the genre, so I have so far limited myself to PBT, and I find that's plenty! I tried joining other groups in Shelfari and found myself not getting involved for those very reasons. I have not yet tried to join other GR groups.
I have some similar feelings. I wasn't as active on Shelfari the last couple years, but I never forgot it and really miss the old format. But I'm finding some cool things to like about goodreads, and I'm also just happy to be back in a book group in general.
I read as much but I'm having trouble keeping up with groups when I once did. I check Goodreads several times a day but I seem to have trouble with groups - I keep missing challenges and such. It frustrates me. I try to get back into it and it lasts a day or so and then I drop back off.
Rina1775 wrote: "Have people branched out and joined groups that originated here in GR instead of Shelfari? If so, what experiences are you having?"I have been active on Goodreads for several years, so was already in about 16 groups here before the Shelfari "pink banner of death" appeared.
I've never found a group that is as good at discussions as the Shelfari groups, though there are a few that have robust group reads, including some interesting, thought-provoking back-and-forth remarks re certain issues. (Similar to what we find here at PBT with a member's review and then responses and counters, etc)
What I REALLY enjoy about Goodreads, however, are the various challenge groups. Crazy Challenge Connection and The Seasonal Reading Challenge (a/k/a SRC) are two really good ones, with great moderators who really keep on top of things in running multiple challenges. Some are easy - for example, Spell "MARCH" using the first letter of the title or the author's first or last initial; some are more complicated - like, read a book by a new-to-you-author, whose initials (all initials count) can be found in MARCH MADNESS. Some of the challenges are month-long, some year-long, some have no deadline at all. SRC, as it's name implies are always 3-months long.
I've also moved a couple of my Shelfari groups here that focused on challenges and combined them into one group:
Grab a Book and Play Booktivity!
And the Shelfari groups of
Paging All Bookworms -and-
Book Chat
are also here on Goodreads. These groups do NOT have a group read, but encourage members to share whatever they are reading, and sometimes have a fun challenge involved.
Oh ... and about the nested replies and book discussion.I always liked this feature on Shelfari ... whoever was running the discussion of a group read could post each question as a separate response to the main topic, and then members could reply to each question (nested). Even years later someone could go back to such a discussion and respond to question # 2, for example.
However, this is really not the way a dynamic F2F discussion goes. Those who are in book discussion groups know that someone asks a question or makes a comment and the conversation flows naturally from that point. That's sort of the way that "discussions" flow here. The couple of times I've lead a book discussion I start with one question, let people respond for a while, and if it's been a couple of days of silence, I ask another question ... etc. You can see an example of how that worked HERE
Leah wrote: "I read as much but I'm having trouble keeping up with groups when I once did. I check Goodreads several times a day but I seem to have trouble with groups - I keep missing challenges and such. It f..."Leah, do you have notifications turned off? I used to have them off all the time, but I do enable them for a few groups ... for example, right under this box where I'm typing I can click "Notify me when people reply" and then I'll know there's new responses to check out.
Book Concierge wrote: "Rina1775 wrote: "Have people branched out and joined groups that originated here in GR instead of Shelfari? If so, what experiences are you having?"I have been active on Goodreads for several yea..."
You had to mention book challenge groups I haven't heard about when I am trying not to join anymore of those. Even though I know I shouldn't, I know I'll click on those just to "see what they are." I'm already in your group Book Chat...
Book Concierge wrote: "Leah wrote: "I read as much but I'm having trouble keeping up with groups when I once did. I check Goodreads several times a day but I seem to have trouble with groups - I keep missing challenges a..."I do have notifications on. I just don't check them for some reason lol
That was very helpful Book Concierge. The groups. The discussion link. All of it.
I feel your pain! I think it's partly because the move arrived right after I had a baby so I just don't have the extra time necessary to learn a whole new system right now. I'm participating minimally compared to before and I very much miss nested replies. I find it much harder to follow conversations here. Hopefully as the interface becomes easier I'll participate more again.
I feel your pain! I think it's partly because the move arrived right after I had a baby so I just don't have the extra time necessary to learn a whole new system right now. I'm participating minimally compared to before and I very much miss nested replies. I find it much harder to follow conversations here. Hopefully as the interface becomes easier I'll participate more again.
I've been very frustrated by the number of books that have been changing from "to read" to "read". After a bit, I figured out it was always books I had recently looked at. Yesterday evening as I created a shelf for the books I hoped to read for the April challenge, I discovered that when I moved the cursor towards the "search shelves" box, I was a little to close to the "read" shelf and was somehow clicking on it on the way to the search. Touch pad too sensitive? Slowing down and hovering a tad too long over "read"?Thank you to all the people who liked that I've read a book I haven't read, or I would not discover my accidental changes.
I'm another person in the "pragmatic" category. I'm mostly just grateful that so many PBT members did follow us here and that we are reassembled and carrying on despite the challenges.
I miss the nested discussions more than I thought. A lot more.
I love the linking to books in a post though and the group shelf.
If I could ask one thing of our members it would be to make a concerted effort to open and read at least a couple of reviews whenever you visit. Especially reviews that don't have any comments yet. The way Shelfari worked, this process was just much more natural, but now it takes more effort. Yet people are continuing to write some terrific reviews! So it is a shame some are missed.
Another thing I do like is that we've gotten some amazing NEW members who have leaped right in and also helped us to better use Goodreads! That's been my favorite part so far!!
Anita wrote: "If I could ask one thing of our members it would be to make a concerted effort to open and read at least a couple of reviews whenever you visit. Especially reviews that don't have any comments yet.."From a personal perspective, I spent quite a bit of effort on two different reviews that nobody commented on.
I don't always read every review, but I do try to read the ones that nobody has commented on.
The other side of that is when we are actively posting reviews, they slip out of sight quickly.
That is exactly my concern, BooknBlues, and I really think it is primarily a problem stemming from the format. There are no visual cues to indicate the nature of a given review without opening it, and that is a big negative. we could try one big
argh. hit submit on my tablet by mistake.As I was saying, we could have try one big thread to see how it works. We could experiment and make the "Other Book" thread be one long string of reviews and comments.
Do people want to try that to see if it works any better?
Booknblues wrote: "Anita wrote: "If I could ask one thing of our members it would be to make a concerted effort to open and read at least a couple of reviews whenever you visit. Especially reviews that don't have any..."What books are they and when did you post them? I looked back at your comments in the group for the past week and didn't see any, but I admit I didn't look back further than that. (We chatty ones will have *lots* of comments!)
Anita wrote: "argh. hit submit on my tablet by mistake.As I was saying, we could have try one big thread to see how it works. We could experiment and make the "Other Book" thread be one long string of reviews ..."
I would find that very hard and probably would not participate at all.
EDIT: This was my quick response, but I was envisioning how it might be. I just checked the Other Book thread this month. To date, there are 472 comments for 101 books. That means that the comments on those books would, for the most part, be scattered throughout that thread. Following a conversation would be difficult, at best. Following a conversation now is relatively simple.
One thing I have done is to not be notified of any threads, and then click to be notified on only those threads in which I have commented/participated or think might be interesting. I get site notifications only rather than email, but that is what works best for me.
Anita wrote: "There are no visual cues to indicate the nature of a given review without opening it"What do you mean by "visual cues?" (The title of the thread has the book title, author, and star rating. Should there be something else?)
Anita wrote: "If I could ask one thing of our members it would be to make a concerted effort to open and read at least a couple of reviews whenever you visit. Especially reviews that don't have any comments yet. The way Shelfari worked, this process was just much more natural, but now it takes more effort. Yet people are continuing to write some terrific reviews! So it is a shame some are missed..."Yes, the nested comments made the reviews so much easier to see/find. I agree that it's a shame many of them are being missed. I'm so busy trying to clean up my books, that I know I'm missing quite a few myself. It's also cutting into my reading time! I am beginning to see the end of the tunnel though. I'm still down over 40 books but that's a drop in the bucket and it isn't the books I've read and reviewed so that's something.
Yes, it is harder to see the reviews. I've tried commenting on at least some that no one has commented on, but there have always been some reviews no one comments on, even on Shelfari. There is no way I have time to comment on every review, and I'm sure no one else does, either, but it's nice to see that there are comments on all reviews. It takes time and work to write them, and then sometimes not one person even reads them. I don't know what the best solution will be.
Anita wrote: "argh. hit submit on my tablet by mistake.As I was saying, we could have try one big thread to see how it works. We could experiment and make the "Other Book" thread be one long string of reviews ..."
Perhaps a weekly thread? Even that might be too long, but it might be worth a try.
Anita wrote: "argh. hit submit on my tablet by mistake.As I was saying, we could have try one big thread to see how it works. We could experiment and make the "Other Book" thread be one long string of reviews ..."
Without nested comments, I think that would be WAY too hard to keep track of everything. I think it would be a giant mess.
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "on only those threads in which I have commented/participated or think might be interesting. I get site notifications only rather than email, but that is what works best for me.."That's what I do as well.
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Man Tiger (other topics)The Way Back to Florence (other topics)
Beauty Is a Wound (other topics)
