State of the Site Feb 2018 check in

[S.E., Gray Mouser (Emeritus)]

Occasionally I recap trends in the group from the past year or so. In short, feel welcome to chime in to steer the direction of the group.

- For about 5 years we gained ~100 new members per year, but the past year has slowed a bit (50-70). There is no formal target group size to maintain--so this is just an observation.

- Any dampening of membership may be reflective of greater Goodreads trends (for that matter, even social media). Many of us in the US have experienced changes to frequency of Facebook interactions (apathy from the past year's evil politics----which we won't get into here--- combined with new algorithms for placing content are likely responsible). Ironically, the Facebook portal page for this group seems to draw some new members.

- Amazon bought GR in 2013, and since many things have not changed (i.e., GR's clunky interface) and others have evolved (the mobile App continues to evolve nicely).

- GR did just change their Giveaway policy in Jan 2018, and now charges >$60 just to run an event. This is irritating for many authors, and may have encouraged some folks to bail.

- Group reads have been occurring since Jan 2013. Check the banners out via Pinterest. Our groupreads are consistently drawing ~40 voters on the poll. Commentary is hit or miss, but I am always impressed by the number of members actually participating by reading books and tracking progress in GR (even though many do not check in to say anything). Introverts rock.

- We've had near zero members kicked-out or shunned from this group. We've had a couple reprimanded for over zealous spamming, which prompted a post on etiquette. By enlarge, the group has held to the "be civil" mantra. You guys rock.

Anyway, unless folks pipe in, we'll continue to man the rudders like normal.

If members desire to add/evolve features, just comment.

[Richard]

Sounds good. I've always liked the 'come as you are' approach to the group. Everyone I've interacted with has been friendly and courteous. Plus, my TBR pile has become a mountain.

[Al]

Rock on, SE. I really like this group, Love the book club, and though interactions between members are a tad sparse, I never feel irked by others input.