Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion
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I was wondering a similar thing:Can I take turn off a popular, high-traffic "noise" thread, like the different word games or "last one to post wins." I don't want to eliminate those threads, obviously the participants are enjoying them, but I don't want to be spammed by them, either. If I could disable a thread from appearing on MY homepage, it would be enough.
There's no way I know of to turn off topics. I use a PC to go to the GR home page & it shows me all my groups with the top 5 or 10 topics with new posts in it. I open each in a new tab. Many I click on & close immediately because they're of no interest.
Mika wrote: "There's supposed to be, but it hasn't been working recently! Go to group home, click edit under 'you are a member'...."
That won't remove a topic or folder from the Discussion updates list on the GoodReeds landing page, though, which always displays either the 5 or 10 most recently updated topics in each Group of which you are a member, regardless of whether they are "new" or whether the are followed. Some members prefer to have no notifications and simply check what's new on Goodreads when they have the time.
We've never had formal rules for promotional posts in this group, other than to keep them in the Promotions folder. Maybe it's time to write some with regards to frequency and topics? Or, we could do away promotional messages altogether? Thoughts?
That won't remove a topic or folder from the Discussion updates list on the GoodReeds landing page, though, which always displays either the 5 or 10 most recently updated topics in each Group of which you are a member, regardless of whether they are "new" or whether the are followed. Some members prefer to have no notifications and simply check what's new on Goodreads when they have the time.
We've never had formal rules for promotional posts in this group, other than to keep them in the Promotions folder. Maybe it's time to write some with regards to frequency and topics? Or, we could do away promotional messages altogether? Thoughts?
I don’t think many members interact with these types of advertisements, and I personally would never pick my next read from a self-promoted post. I’m all for helping out newbie fantasy/sci-fi authors, but IMHO this method is simply not effective. My vote would be to do away with them.
I'm not particularly worried about this thread, but on my home page, I've disabled the "books" display. There are a couple of extremely popular series -- Harry Potter and The Hunger Games that have games running like "last one to post wins" and "word games." This basically turns those book topics into noise generators, with new posts coming in several times a day.My current solution is to say, "never show me anything about any books" only display groups. This seems rather counter-productive for a place like Goodreads.
Another solution would be to pull the popular books out of my library -- claim that I'd never read them. I'm unwilling to do that.
Theoretically, the site could clamp down on policy -- outlaw threads like that, but I don't like that idea. Kids coming here to play around and find a sense of community around books they like is a good thing. It shouldn't become a crime.
No, I'd just like a way to identify particular threads and mark them as "noise" so that I don't get alerted in any way when they update.
I don't mind seeing the promotions, although I'd be lying if I said they did much to actually persuade me one way or the other. What I DO find irksome though are the spammers. Post the promotion, sure. But don't constantly bump your thread as a means to get more views. That's just obnoxious.
Difficult problems here. As an aspiring author, I like to see somewhere that is available for me to do the occasional bit of promotion, or ask for reviews - without spamming! The real difficulty is getting that balance right. One current promotional thread (no names!) consists of 26 posts by an author, with a lot of graphics - and nothing by anyone else! He clearly has the balance wrong, but is still trying - another thread has recently begun, on the same topic.
When this discussion reaches a conclusion, can we have some improved guidelines please? Guidelines that include where not to post, and where we are allowed to post, e.g. to request reviews?
My intention is not to prevent authors from promoting their books - maybe people enjoy these threads (after all, the discussion folder is called "promotion" so they're not doing anything wrong). I however would never be inclined to read a book just because the author advertises it here or because they offer it for free in exchange for a review, but maybe that's just me. My use of goodreads would just be more enjoyable if we could individually select the discussions that are displayed on the home page.Above all, I think this is telling about the state of the publishing industry and, as someone who hopes to publish a book some time in the hopefully-not-so-far-future, a little scary.
"There's supposed to be, but it hasn't been working recently! Go to group home, click edit under 'you are a member'.
Scroll to the bottom of the page that comes up, and there is a line that says 'edit group discussion updates'."
That's a great tip, thanks. It can be used for existing discussions only, but if is works it's better than nothing.
You can also change your notification preferences at the bottom of each topic, above the "comment" box. Click the little "edit" and then pick ""None" for notification:
Like going through the group list, it won't change what gets marked as "new" or what shows up in your Discussion Update list, but it will get rid of email or GR notifications.
Like going through the group list, it won't change what gets marked as "new" or what shows up in your Discussion Update list, but it will get rid of email or GR notifications.
Went through this in another group. The poll results on where and how self promotions were acceptable contained the words in the thread heading "Author Self-Promotions". Those words, alone, drew a number of authors self-promoting their books.There is no answer. They will come. Like flies to turdpiles.
The only alternative is for Moderators to delete their posts, and that--I think--is more work than they need. :}
Chris wrote: "E.D. wrote: They will come. Like flies to turdpiles.If I weren't too busy investigating the latest turdpile I've discovered here on Goodreads, I might take time to resent that. (Yes, I'm an autho..."
As am I. So you know what I'm saying is true..., for many of our comrades. Many take the "advice" available online or in "how to" books without question or reflection.
A matter of personal ethics and professionalism? Yes. Understandable? Also, yes.
A site where readers--and potential buyers--congregate to share a love of reading? They will come. Like flies to....... :}
To be honest I have never seen any advice that says to spam Goodreads- I think what happpens is that authors know they need to market their books but have no idea how to - so I usually choc it up to a lack of experience and desperation rather than any evil plan.
To be honest I have never seen any advice that says to spam Goodreads- I think what happpens is that authors know they need to market their books but have no idea how to - so I usually choc it up to a lack of experience and desperation rather than any evil plan.
To be honest I have never seen any advice that says to spam Goodreads- I think what happpens is that authors know they need to market their books but have no idea how to - so I usually choc it up to a lack of experience and desperation rather than any evil plan.
Timothy wrote: "To be honest I have never seen any advice that says to spam Goodreads- I think what happpens is that authors know they need to market their books but have no idea how to - so I usually choc it up t..."Messages 18, 19, 20 . . . do 19 and 20 count as spam?? :-)
Alan wrote: "Messages 18, 19, 20 . . . do 19 and 20 count as spam?? :-) ..."
I think it's someone posting from the GR mobile app, which sometimes does that (and lacks delete & edit button.) I'd clean it up, but it might be deliberate use of irony. :)
I think it's someone posting from the GR mobile app, which sometimes does that (and lacks delete & edit button.) I'd clean it up, but it might be deliberate use of irony. :)
I think starting January 1 I'll limit author promotional posts to one per week. Almost all our authors already do that, so I assume it won't be an imposition.
OK, let me start by declaring that I'm an author.In my local shopping mall in Spain there's an advert which says "Si no te conocen, no existes" which roughly translates as "If they don't know you, you don't exist".
There's nothing intrinsically wrong with self-promotion. If somebody else won't do it for you, you have to do it yourself. It's when it turns into spamming that it becomes a problem.
Peter wrote: "There's nothing intrinsically wrong with self-promotion. If somebody else won't do it for you, you have to do it yourself. It's when it turns into spamming that it becomes a problem."The thing is, everyone's threshold between regular promotion and spamming is set at a different level—I know mine is pretty low. I'm already not likely to check out a self-published book (no offense to self-published authors), but if I get pestered by unsollicited self-promotion (i.e. posts not in the proper discussion folder or bumped up too frequently, private messages) the author can just count me out concerning anything they may write.
That being said, goodreads is a place to discover books, and I think limiting promotional posts to 1/week is a good idea to allow authors to promote their work while avoiding any excess (then again, if 30 or 50 authors do that...). I just wished there was a way to keep these posts separated so they wouldn't overshadow the book discussions and other posts that do interest me.
Alan wrote: "One per week? I have been limiting myself much more strictly than that, and hoping that a few good reviews would do my advertising for me . . . . "
One rule that isn't changing is that author self promotion is only allowed in the Promotions folder.
And I suppose one drawback to setting up a maximum is that some people will confuse it with a minimum or good behavior.
One rule that isn't changing is that author self promotion is only allowed in the Promotions folder.
And I suppose one drawback to setting up a maximum is that some people will confuse it with a minimum or good behavior.
G33z3r wrote: "I think starting January 1 I'll limit author promotional posts to one per week. Almost all our authors already do that, so I assume it won't be an imposition."
New rule: Authors will please limit their promotional posts to at most one a week, and continue to keep them in the promotions & advertisements folder.
I added this to the annoying yellow pop-up Group Rules box.
I mostly check this group's discussions on the goodreads homepage. My problem is that even after clicking "expand" and then "more" a frightening amount of the discussions consists of people advertising their own book, and the discussions that I want to read get quickly buried under several pages which I have to go through everytime, and I frequently miss some of them.
Is there any way to pick and choose the categories of discussions that are displayed on the home page?