Moderator Support & Feedback

[Betsy]

Trisha wrote: "Congratulations, Catherine. It’s good to have you as a moderator here. Welcome to Betsy too, it’s nice getting to know more people through discussions."

Likewise, Trisha, I find this one of the nicest things about this group. Nice to meet you and glad we'll be talking about books together.

[Renee]

Thank you so much for the introductions. I also love fantasy. Circe is one of my favorites. I am more of a discussion poster. Thus I never really meet the challenge posters.


I like the idea of challenges but never seem to get around to them

[Tori]

Hello everyone, I wanted to give you all a quick update.

We've just added Betsy as a mod officially! I'm sure you all have seen her around as she has been very active on the threads. She has offered great feedback and ideas and is always willing to do more for this group. I am very happy to have her on the moderator team going forward!

Congratulations, Betsy!

[Betsy]

Tori, thank you so much for your comments! It's already been a really great time so far, and I'm looking forward to being more involved in the future.

As I mentioned before, if anyone wants to ask some questions or give feedback/opinions about anything to do with the group, I'm more than open to hearing it.

See you over in the discussions and summer challenges!

[Zeljka]

Just the other day I thought how Betsy was great at Welcome thread and definitely deserves to be new mod- so congrats Betsy:)

[Betsy]

That is so nice of you Zeljka, I really appreciate it.

[Joanna Loves Reading]

Welcome Betsy! I echo the sentiments. You’re contributions have been much appreciated!

Catherine and Tori have been awesome also!

I feel good about the moderating team size and contributors. It’s small enough for good communication but large enough to spread out the tasks so that it doesn’t get overwhelming. That’s not to say we don’t have room for Kasey or Marcos when they feel up to coming back ;-)

[Tr1sha]

That’s good news - welcome, Betsy.

[Zeljka]

In my comment yesterday I was happy for Betsy so forgot to mention something I believe many of us think, and that is that we have our "old" and "old new" mods that are doing great job for this group and that I feel all of them run the group with their hearts❣.
So congrats to all of you for making this such a nice place to be, and for running the group that has been growing rapidly as a result of your efforts in making it comfortable and interesting 😍. Thank you!

[Betsy]

Exactly, thank you to Tori and Catherine and Joanna for making this such a great space!

[Renee]

I think the group needed new energy. It is good to have a moderator actually participate in the discussions. I just wish that members had more say in choices made.

[Satrina]

I'll just say that without a doubt this is my favorite group in goodreads and it definitely has everything to do with our great mods (past and present).

Thanks a lot for all your hard work!

[Betsy]

That's great to hear Satrina and Renee. Thank you both for being so involved.

Renee, I'd be interested in hearing more about what you mean when you said that you wish members had more say in choices. What are you referring to, and how can your ideas be heard better?
By the way, I'm waiting to hear your thoughts in the Circe Spoilers Discussion because I remember you said it was one of your favourites!

[♛primadonna♛]

Welcome to the new moderators and thanks to you all!

[NancyJ]

Welcome to the new mods and members. I love all the positive energy here. I also love that you're always seeking feedback. You truly listen and use people's ideas. Thank you!

[Cheryl]

Renee wrote: "I think the group needed new energy. It is good to have a moderator actually participate in the discussions. I just wish that members had more say in choices made."

I agree that it's very helpful if at least one moderator participate in each book discussion, if just to help come up with discussion questions.

But what do you mean by wishing members had more say in choices? It is totally on us to choose the BotMs, no? Or maybe you mean choices about challenges, or about the structure of the group?

[NancyJ]

Joanna, Happy Moderator Anniversary! I just noticed it's been more than a year already. You've done a fabulous job and you're building a great team of mods and volunteers. Participation is very strong. Congratulations!

[Renata]

Hi Moderators: Just a quick note that the October Currently Reading List is still showing September's books. Can we update this? Thanks!

[Betsy]

Haha Catherine, I think we're both changing the books at the same time :)

[Joanna Loves Reading]

Hi all!

I wanted to let you know that I had a welcome surprise in my inbox. Kasey reached out to say she has been unable to be on Goodreads for awhile but is starting to have some time to ease back into participating. I believe she is going to pop in to say hello. I am very glad to welcome her back!

[Cheryl]

It would be neat to have her visit!

[Kaseadillla]

Hi all!

Just wanted to say hello!!! and give a big shout out to Joanna, Catherine, Tori, Betsy, and Marcos who kept this ship going while I had to step away.

Hope you are all doing well!

[Marcos]

Hi, Kasey!
Very good indeed to have you around! :-) A big hello from your friends!

[Renee]

Ohhhh both Kasey and Marcos. It is so goo to see you both. You have been missed. Maybe you can help get the group back to its former greatness

[Cheryl]

Welcome back! Would love to see your suggestions!

[Zeljka]

Welcome back to your group, Casey and Marcos! Glad to see you are both fine:)

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Renee wrote: "Ohhhh both Kasey and Marcos. It is so goo to see you both. You have been missed. Maybe you can help get the group back to its former greatness"

Welcome back to Kasey and Marcos! But I think in their absence Joanna, Catherine, Tori, and Betsy have done a terrific job of keeping the group great. Hopefully with everyone back our group will reach a new level of greatness!

[Renata]

Any chance we could get some tracking for April's BOTM? We're heading to over 50 messages and it's getting somewhat confusing. Only a week left for nominations, so it would be most helpful. Thanks!

[Joanna Loves Reading]

Renata wrote: "Any chance we could get some tracking for April's BOTM? We're heading to over 50 messages and it's getting somewhat confusing. Only a week left for nominations, so it would be most helpful. Thanks!"

Hi Renata — we’ll work on it and get an update within a day or so. Sorry for the delay!

[Laura H L]

Hi! Is it possible to get the tracking up for the BOTM nominations? I know people get busy but it is hard to see which books have been nominated and the seconds. Thanks!

[Nikita]

if the tracking is a bit of a pain, could I recommend that someone else be in charge of tracking? I always do my own personal tracking because I like to see what's been nominated and how much, so I don't mind posting it but I didn't want to seem like I was taking over

[Joanna Loves Reading]

Laura wrote: "Hi! Is it possible to get the tracking up for the BOTM nominations? I know people get busy but it is hard to see which books have been nominated and the seconds. Thanks!"

Sorry! I had not realized that is wasn’t up there.

Nikita wrote: "if the tracking is a bit of a pain, could I recommend that someone else be in charge of tracking? I always do my own personal tracking because I like to see what's been nominated and how much, so I..."

If you have it already available, please go ahead and post. I can double check throughout the day but it may be evening before I could do it.


Thanks Laura and Nikita! I will also reach out to check in on the other mods too.

[Tori]

I'm so sorry about the BOTM tracking. I was having some internet issues. It should be fixed now!

[Renata]

Hi Moderators: Just a quick note to alert you to several books in the bookshelf that are incorrectly classified as "classics". They are Love in the Time of Cholera, Silent Patient and Circe.
Thanks for all your efforts! Hope this helps.

[Joanna Loves Reading]

Renata wrote: "Hi Moderators: Just a quick note to alert you to several books in the bookshelf that are incorrectly classified as "classics". They are Love in the Time of Cholera, Silent Patient and Circe.
Thanks..."

Hi Renata, I will update. For some reason, every time we change the status of a book the classics shelf gets added by default. I do check occasionally to make sure the modern & classic shelves match in numbers, but that is how it happens. Thanks for letting us know.

[superawesomekt]

is there a discussion for Les Miserables (quarterly read) yet? I only see count of Monte Cristo but I'm not sure if I'm looking in the right place..?

[Joanna Loves Reading]

Karren wrote: "is there a discussion for Les Miserables (quarterly read) yet? I only see count of Monte Cristo but I'm not sure if I'm looking in the right place..?"

Hi Karren, yes, it’s under the Currently Reading folder. It will move to the same folder as the Count at the end of the month.

Pre-read link: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Spoiler thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[superawesomekt]

thank you!

[CYIReadBooks]

@Catherine so sorry to learn about the illness in your family. Take care and I'm praying that you all will get through it safe and sound.

[Zeljka]

I am very sorry to hear that, and wish that everything ends in a best way for you all.
In my opinion you are a great mod and I hope to see you here again.
Best wishes.

[Renata]

Hi Moderators: Just wondering about the result of the Sept. BOM poll for the re-read section. Since two books tied (Dune and The Book Thief), shouldn't we be having a tie-breaker poll?

Also, FYI: "Flowers for Algernon" is marked as "read" in the bookshelf. It should be "to-read", so it will show up in the Upcoming section.

Thanks for all your efforts. I love this group and really appreciate all that you do.

[Joanna Loves Reading]

Renata wrote: "Hi Moderators: Just wondering about the result of the Sept. BOM poll for the re-read section. Since two books tied (Dune and The Book Thief), shouldn't we be having a tie-breaker poll?

Also, FYI: ..."

For the Sept. BOTM, we used a tie-breaker of how many times the book has been read by the group and Dune has only been read once whereas the Book Thief has been read twice. I will include that info in the newsletter. We also created a new folder for Upcoming Reads: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group.... The tie-breaker is mentioned there too.

Thanks for the heads up on the Flowers of Algernon...it should be fixed now. Thank you!

[Renata]

Moderators: The October Poll for Modern BOTM is missing "Coraline", which received the most seconds in the recommendations.

[Marcos]

Renata wrote: "Moderators: The October Poll for Modern BOTM is missing "Coraline", which received the most seconds in the recommendations."

Thanks, Renata, and you're right. I left a note for Tori as a comment on the poll.

[Joanna Loves Reading]

I think I may be to update. I will see if I can do that and reset the poll.

[Joanna Loves Reading]

Joanna Loves Reading wrote: "I think I may be to update. I will see if I can do that and reset the poll."

Oh never mind, for some reason I thought it might be possible. I did send a message to Tori too. If it can't get resolved quickly, we can include Coraline in the next month's poll automatically. That has happened in the past a couple times, I believe. Or we could do a featured buddy read if preferred.

[Joanna Loves Reading]

Catherine wrote: "Hey everyone,
Thank you so much to those who sent me kind words of support and love here and in my inbox, you guys rock! <3

I'm sure some of you have noticed that I've slowly been worming my way ..."

Glad to have you back Catherine :)

[Betsy]

Joanna, who has worked tirelessly to keep EHRTBM running smoothly, will be stepping down as a moderator in the new year due to other commitments. I want to thank her for her dedication to this group's wellbeing, and her patience! She has been a rock :)

Which leads me on to say that we are looking for one or two people who want to join the ranks of the moderating team. The volunteering position would begin with a trial for a couple of months, and would progress to taking on more responsibility in different areas. Please send me a private message if you're interested! Thanks

[Susan]

Thank you, Joanna, for all you've done during various transitions to keep this group anchored! I'm sure there's lots from earlier in 2020 that I don't even know about, and also sure that we all owe you a great deal for your hard work and planning! Great to see that we have a wonderful team of moderators keeping this all going now, and hope for someone equally great to start learning in Joanna's spot next year. Will miss her there, but completely understand.

[Cristina]

Hi! I thought we were reading A Christmas Carol this december but I've just received an email saying we're about to read A Tale of Two Cities. Is there a mistake or did you decide to change it?