SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion
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Notifications
My notifications have been flipping on/off like a light switch for the past couple of weeks. It's absurd.
Michelle wrote: "My notifications have been flipping on/off like a light switch for the past couple of weeks. It's absurd."Mine too!
Leonie wrote: "Michelle wrote: "My notifications have been flipping on/off like a light switch for the past couple of weeks. It's absurd."Mine too!"
Ironically, I received your notification, Leonie! The only one received for the past 6+ hours, as a matter of fact! I'm in a slew of groups and you can't tell me that everyone in all of those groups decided to stay mum. It must be GR pranking us 😂
Michelle wrote: "Leonie wrote: "Michelle wrote: "My notifications have been flipping on/off like a light switch for the past couple of weeks. It's absurd."Mine too!"
Ironically, I received your notification, Leo..."
And I received yours! 😂😂😂
Yes, it seems that GR administration of its site is getting shoddier and shoddier, as if its owner, Amazon, doesn't give a f..k about it. I have seen whole days pass with no notifications showing up, then, bang: i get a big batch all of a sudden.
Now that Amazon has a book club option on site, I can't tell if the conditions here are worsening or it's just me being salty.
Allison wrote: "Now that Amazon has a book club option on site, I can't tell if the conditions here are worsening or it's just me being salty."I didn't even think of that. Hmmm.
Allison wrote: "Now that Amazon has a book club option on site, I can't tell if the conditions here are worsening or it's just me being salty."Wow. Where did they get the developers for that? Oh. Yeah...
Are notifications broken again, or is it just me? It's been 5 days since I've seen any from the group. Very sad. This is using a browser (Firefox or Chrome).I don't see any mention of this in the GR "known issues" list, but the last "every month or so" update that I could find was from September/October. That's also a bit disturbing.
Mine are working right now, but they were down a long time earlier, not sure when, could be end of 2023, that was last year, who remembers that far?!
And now that I've claimed that they work, I did *not* get a notification for the latest post <_<edit: Oh, it was just late :D
I contacted Goodreads support about my missing notifications. They unfortunately weren't much help. Their only suggestion wasn't applicable to group discussion notifications.Today, after almost a month of these not working, I tried changing my group email preferences away from and then back to "notification only." I also logged out and back in. That combination worked. Why? Dunno. Maybe it was magic. This is, after all, SFFBC.
I'd close with Clarke's quote on "sufficiently advanced technology" but... never mind...
Raucous wrote: "I contacted Goodreads support about my missing notifications. They unfortunately weren't much help. Their only suggestion wasn't applicable to group discussion notifications.Today, after almost a..."
Yeah. Like hitting the reset button. Or unplugging it, counting to 10, and plugging it back in! 😊😊
You used to be able to click on "Follow this discussion" thingy. Now there is a box that has to be checked. "Notify me when people comment." However, I am still not getting email notifications. I used to get notifications of comments on my reviews too. Not any more. I'll go into settings and see what has changed.
Eric wrote: "You used to be able to click on "Follow this discussion" thingy. Now there is a box that has to be checked. "Notify me when people comment." However, I am still not getting email notifications. I u..."Most email notifications are no longer available.
https://help.goodreads.com/s/announce...
Changes to Goodreads Notification SettingsWe've simplified the way we notify you about activity on Goodreads. Within Account Settings, we've moved the notification settings to a new Notifications page.
Some notifications have been updated to only alert you on Goodreads and can no longer also be sent via email:
• When one of your groups is about to start reading a book
• When a Goodreads member answers your question for Goodreads Q&A
• Reminding you to write a review for a Giveaway you've won
• Requests to join your group.
Notification settings can only be modified on desktop and any changes you make will appear on the iOs or Android app. For steps to change or review the updated notification settings, see How do I edit my notification settings?
CBRetriever wrote: "now the little icon to see all your groups with new discussions marked in red doesn't work..."I was just coming in here to see if anyone else's discussion page had disappeared. So frustrating.
Defaulting every discussion I started participating in to email notification was intrusive, so I'm not disappointed it's just on the bell icon now. But it is alarming how things are getting pared down bit by bit. Eventually it'll be something I frequently make use of, it's just a matter of time.
Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "CBRetriever wrote: "now the little icon to see all your groups with new discussions marked in red doesn't work..."I was just coming in here to see if anyone else's discussion page had disappeared..."
So "Discussions" shows up on menu, but when you go there it's only an error?
An unexpected error occurred. We will investigate this problem as soon as possible — please check back soon!
Thanks Faith!I'm pretty lost without email notifications. But I'll try to get used (or set it up) somehow :-)
Bonnie wrote: "So "Discussions" shows up on menu, but when you go there it's only an error?"Exactly. It says "Page unavailable. An unexpected error occurred. We will investigate this problem as soon as possible — please check back soon!" It's driving me round the bend. (I should stop worrying over it; I'm just a teeny bit scared they'll decide not to fix it.)
I'm now going herehttps://www.goodreads.com/group?ref=n...
and I at least see a New posts below each group
That's what I've been using today as well. Or just clicking into each group and checking discussions for new that way. (Not that I NEED to be doing this, but I wanted to procrastinate with the usual ease, dang it!)
CBRetriever wrote: "now the little icon to see all your groups with new discussions marked in red doesn't work..."That's the fallback that I've been using when notifications stop working. Sigh...
Michael wrote: "Thanks Faith!I'm pretty lost without email notifications. But I'll try to get used (or set it up) somehow :-)"
I'm completely lost without them. And when I go to settings it says that I "don't belong to any groups." (!!) Well, I'm going to belong to a lot fewer of them if I have to use the 'bell' on the website to try to keep track of new discussions.
Cheryl wrote: "Michael wrote: "Thanks Faith!I'm pretty lost without email notifications. But I'll try to get used (or set it up) somehow :-)"
I'm completely lost without them. And when I go to settings it says ..."
Cheryl, I belong to a bunch of groups and it said I didn't belong to any under my settings: notifications: groups. Customer service had me send pictures and information and the developers even asked for more information. I gave it to them, they did some work, and then asked me to check that area to see if my groups show up there now. They do show up now and I'm hoping that maybe the problem was fixed for everyone so you might check to see if you can see your groups there now.
I'm not having problems with the Discussions tab, but I am having to "resubscribe" to all the discussions threads I was previously getting (any kind of ) notifications for.
Thank you Marilyn. Unfortunately it is not fixed for me. And I don't have the patience to do the work you did, so I'm resigned to my fate.
Meredith, thank you; I just clicked the little box that says "Notify me when people comment" on this thread. I hadn't noticed that it wasn't clicked before. I'll go check some other threads that are particularly important to me right now.
Cheryl wrote: "Thank you Marilyn. Unfortunately it is not fixed for me. And I don't have the patience to do the work you did, so I'm resigned to my fate."I understand, it's one thing after another, as functions get taken away ☹️
So now we have to check this silly box for every thread in each of our groups that we want to follow? Wow, how tedious.
Michelle wrote: "So now we have to check this silly box for every thread in each of our groups that we want to follow? Wow, how tedious."That's why I look at the My Group Discussions as it usually shows the most recent 10 threads that have responses
CBRetriever wrote: "Michelle wrote: "So now we have to check this silly box for every thread in each of our groups that we want to follow? Wow, how tedious."That's why I look at the My Group Discussions as it usuall..."
I am doing that. I'm in a lot of groups.
Michelle wrote: "So now we have to check this silly box for every thread in each of our groups that we want to follow? Wow, how tedious."If it works, even.
I think we'll wind up having to go visit each group. And so I will be leaving several.
CBRetriever wrote: "it's fixed as of this moment in time"It's great that they fixed "My group discussions." Now I have my fallback for when "Notifications" fails. Which it just did for me. Again. Sigh...
Raucous wrote: "CBRetriever wrote: "it's fixed as of this moment in time"It's great that they fixed "My group discussions." Now I have my fallback for when "Notifications" fails. Which it just did for me. Again...."
I don't use notifications as the Amazon account is in Mr CBR's name and goes to his email and he might be a little upset at the number of notifications coming in
I wish I could get emails about group activity. But according to my settings, I still don't belong to any groups. And now I can't even post! (This is my second attempt.)
Hey it worked. This time I hit the Preview button first. I wonder if the other group comment I made is pending or lost... anyway, I'm not having fun anymore.
Another thing that's changed is that I no longer receive the weekly email detailing posts by all of the authors I'm following.
Michelle wrote: "Another thing that's changed is that I no longer receive the weekly email detailing posts by all of the authors I'm following."Yeah, same for me. And it's hard to keep updated.
now feels like a good time to remind folks that this book club also exists on LibraryThing, the Story Graph, Amazon Book Clubs (don't get me started on how crazy that is) and Discord! I've been watching GR functionality slowly decay over the past several years. If we get critical mass in any one direction, we'll likely switch our primary group space!
Until then, we'll do our best in our "home" forum :)
Until then, we'll do our best in our "home" forum :)




Nothing anyone (except Goodreads perhaps) can do about lack of notifications. but it does seem to be a recurring issue on Goodreads. You'd think they'd have got it sorted.