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[General] ATTN: After the Birthday Party and There Is a Balm in Gilead: Our Memories of Hope are deleted from Goodreads
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They did that? Wow. That sucks. Whatever happened to due process??
I know right? Looks like there's no such thing as due process here. Remember that issue with negative book reviews being removed? I feel that this is the same thing. What sucks is that it isn't even negative.I use a "spam" email account for my social networks. Good thing I checked this email account (only because I joined a new social network, which is My Independent Bookshop). What if I didn't?
That was totally offending. Those folios were part of our TFG history. And while we're at it, what do they mean by "causing other librarians work"? Were there a lot to fix in the first place?
There isn't even anything to fix! I can't find anything that is "at cross-purposes to established policy."
Huh. What is that established policy? And what does Rivka mean with causing librarians work? Dagdag sa aayusin? :/ And the PDFs of the books are available there, didn't they bother checking? :/ hmpf. I was thinking we can just add it all over again, kaso uulit lang, so go ahead and post it in the Librarians group. I'll go and support your post when I get home (currently writing this while in a bus hehe).
I don't understand what Rivka meant by that. It's as if we are deliberately making her work unbearable (her profile says she's a Goodreads employee). Probably she only read the first line of the introductions:Inspired by the reading and discussion of The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro...
These Memories of Hope were inspired by the life story of Rev. John Ames from Gilead by Marilynne Robinson...
Then she decided oh, these are not books.
I think she got hold of my details because I happened to be the last librarian to edit the details of this book (because I emailed Goodreads support to remove my author page, which used to be associated with it, and of course, I had to put something in the author field). It's a bit creepy because my email address is not displayed and this Rivka emailed me. Not PM, mind you.
Oh my. Sorry just got home and still in a state of confusion and shock because of the events that has transpired. What do they mean by "published" works? Just to be technical. I am trying to view this as objectively as possible.
Like Tina have mentioned, we have PDF's ergo ebook copies of the 2 books. Does that count as being published? There are independent writers who publish online are their works invalid too?
But 100% agree that they should have called our attention first prior to taking the works down. My heart is hurting, got thos feeling na nadaya tayo somewhere.
I already posted the concern at the Goodreads Librarians Group. A few minutes later, my topic was deleted. I reposted it and then took screenshots. Again, my topic was deleted. I decided to PM 8 out of 10 moderators (the 2 moderators do not allow me to send them PMs), and here's what I said.* * *
Hello there,
My name is Angus and I'm sorry for the bother. I'm sending this message because I am trying to raise a concern at the Goodreads Librarians Group (which is indicated after this message), but someone deleted my post, twice, and now someone has removed me from the group. This is a rather alarming behavior.
If it's any help, here's the (nonexisting) link to the topic:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Here are screenshots for further corroboration (please take note of the time at the lower right):
https://drive.google.com/folderview?i...
Below is a copy of the topic. Your feedback will be very much appreciated. Thank you.
Regards,
Angus
CC: Goodreads Librarians moderators, namely Elizabeth, Otis Chandler, Jessica Donaghy, Patrick Brown, Ettore Pasquini, Dave Kirlin, Meghan Krogh, and Sarah Munro. I cannot CC Rivka and Emily because the former's profile is set to private and there's no option for me to send her a mesasage, while the latter doesn't accept messages. Kindly check one of the screenshots.
* * *
I included the content of the topic (an edited version). Now, I've exported all my books because I might wake up one day to find that my account has been deleted.
This is a sad turn of events. I am gravely disappointed.
Wow. What is up with that. :/ I think Otis is the owner/CEO of Goodreads; I hope he responds. That's just really strange behavior. At least someone could have just explained. And the topic was deleted in less than 10 minutes. :[ Have you tried replying to Rivka's email, by the way?
Tina: I didn't. She did invite me to raise the concern at the Goodreads Librarians Group. And look what at happened. :/
Ugh, I hate that we're so powerless against this. If they don't reply, try posting it in the Goodreads Feedback Group. Same mods din, but there are more people there, and hopefully someone would notice before it gets deleted.
I should check if any of the mods are online before posting. I saw Rivka kasi, and although I don't want to think that she did it, it's a possibility.
This topic has been frozen by the moderator. No new comments can be posted.
Our publications have been deleted from the database and I feel that we have to pursue this issue at the Goodreads Librarians Group. If you feel that we should, kindly read what I intend to post over there. If you feel that we should let this pass, I'll keep my mouth shut.
* * *
Hi everyone,
My name is Angus and I've been doing some minor librarian work since I started here at Goodreads. A few days ago, I received an email from Rivka. For the purpose of transparency, I would like to post the content of the email here:
(view spoiler)[
May 7 at 2:13 AM
Hi there,
It's great that Goodreads has so many hard-working librarians, and we are happy to count you among them. But it seems you are working at cross-purposes to established policy, not to mention causing other librarians work.
Please keep in mind that to qualify as a book, an item must have been published. Goodreads Groups are not authors, and discussions in a group are not books.
If you have any further questions, feel free to come discuss them in the Librarians Group, which I'm happy to see you are a member of.
Best,
Rivka
Goodreads Librarians Group Mod
(hide spoiler)]
Our group, The Filipino Group, privately published two books, which are collections of short stories written by some of our active members. These are After the Birthday Party and There Is a Balm in Gilead: Our Memories of Hope. We've added these books under good faith for our respective shelves, and we chose to use our group's name as the author because those publications are results of our collaborative efforts (The Paris Review is listed as an author, so I don't see any reason why our group's name cannot be used). Since these items are published, they count as books, yes?
Rivka argues that discussions in a group are not books. I agree. However, our two publications are not discussions. They are creative works of our members which are inspired by books that we've discussed (view spoiler)[If you are inclined to ask what these books are, these are The Remains of the Day and Gilead (hide spoiler)]. No, they are not reviews. They are, I repeat, short stories written by creative minds.
Furthermore, the guidelines state the following when adding a new book:
Our group's publications may not have ISBNs (and they don't have to, that's clearly stated), and they are definitely not periodicals. I feel that the deletion of the books is a rather rash judgment. I feel that our attention should have been called first before deleting these. So what are we going to do with the reviews that are associated with them? Are they deleted permanently? Can they be recovered?
I feel that we have not violated anything. If you feel the same, we wish to add these back to the database.
Regards,
Angus