Changes to the Goodreads site

[Werner]

Earlier this year (as usual, without announcing it to anybody! :-( ), Goodreads apparently changed the default setting on our accounts, at the part where we specify who can send personal messages to us. Formerly, the default setting was that any Goodreader could message us, but we could limit that to our Goodreads friends. Now, all accounts are switched to the other way around; only our friends can message us, unless we go into our personal account settings and allow other members in general to do so. I only learned this through a post about it in another group.

You may not have a preference anyway, or may prefer to only allow your friends to message you; in that case, you don't need to do anything. In my case, though, there have been times when non-friends needed to ask me something, or when I needed to contact someone I'm not friends with; so in those instances, the more general setting can be an advantage. (If you change your setting, remember to click "Save" at the bottom of the page!)

[Werner]

By now, some of you have probably discovered Goodreads' "new look" (which I'm quite certain no Goodreads members asked for) for book descriptions. The most notable change is to make the description pages much more cluttered (and correspondingly more of a nuisance to scroll through and navigate in), with a much greater and more aggressive emphasis on displaying cover art and links to sponsored "recommendations" and books that "Readers also enjoyed." But there's also significant loss of functionality. :-(

While you can still scroll down to read reviews of the book by your friends and others in the Goodreads community, you can no longer go directly from there to any review itself. This makes it much more difficult to read all of the comments or to comment yourself. Also, while you can still "like" a review from the description page, the program no longer shows you whether you already have done so; it just blindly displays a "like" button, even for reviews you may have already "liked" months or years ago.

Since the Amazon/Goodreads management has effectively insulated itself from any feedback by members (and would ignore it anyway), I'm not commenting to encourage that, but rather to share a workaround that may be useful to some people. If you want to go from the description's list of reviews to someone's actual review, click on his/her name or profile picture, which will take you to that person's profile page. There, bring up the person's bookshelves, and use the search function for the book title. From the result page of that search, you can go to the review itself. So it's still possible; it just now takes four steps instead of one. (The wonders of technological progress.... :-( )

[Werner]

The description pages used to have one-step links that would take you directly to the individual reviews; but they no longer do. That's what my workaround was intended to address.

Actually, my Goodreads friend Katherine S. has made me aware of a simpler workaround that does the same thing. On the book description pages, below each review reproduction, she writes, "Right next to "like" and "comment" there are three small dots "..." click this and you get a drop down, click 'View all Reading Activity' and it will take you to the review." I've tried this, and it works. Of course, it's two steps instead of one --but that's much better than four!

[E.G.]

Werner wrote: "The description pages used to have one-step links that would take you directly to the individual reviews; but they no longer do. That's what my workaround was intended to address.

Actually, my Goo..."

Thank you. Other than larger cover images, I didn't like anything about the 'beta' look and so informed GR -- as did many others. As you can tell, it was an exercise in futility.

[Werner]

E.G, wrote: "As you can tell, it was an exercise in futility."

Yes, the Amazon/Goodreads management cares nothing about the member's wishes. With them, it's all about what they think will make them the most money in terms of advertising and book sales, etc.

[Werner]

By now, most members of this group are probably aware that Goodreads no longer e-mails us notifications of comments on discussions we've taken part in. But you may not be aware that they also no longer send those notifications to the little bell-shaped icon on your Goodreads toolbar, even if your account settings request them to. (As usual for the Goodreads management, they never bothered to notify anybody about that change.) However, there is a way to restore those toolbar notifications.

At the bottom of every discussion thread in every group, and at the bottom of every review, there is a little box that says "Notify me when people comment." If you click it, notifications of those comments will again come to your toolbar. But you have to separately click the box for every individual discussion and review for which you want to follow comments. :-( (Going forward, my suggestion is that whenever you post a new review, you click the box as soon as your review shows up on screen.)

[E.G.]

Thank you for the update. I will be checking boxes for a while.

[Werner]

Me too, E.G.!

[Werner]

Here are some tips for coping with the gutting, last year, of Goodreads' former notification system (from another Goodreader, but shared with permission):

To receive notifications on your reviews:
After writing and posting your review, place a comment in your comment section, then click the notify me box before posting your comment. It is the only way you will receive notifications when someone leaves a comment on your reviews.

To receive notifications on your own status updates:
Once you post a status update, immediately go to your profile page. Locate your status update. Click "See Status". Once there, click the notify me box and then place a comment on your own status. This will ensure you will receive notifications if someone leaves a comment on your status updates. Same thing goes for when you post pictures on your profiles or in your group's photo section.

To be able to follow updates on a friend's review or status update:
You will need to like their status updates or reviews from your updates feed page first, and also post your initial comment to their status and reviews from your updates feed page as well. This is the only way that the notify me box on their postings will stay checked, and to ensure you get regular updates on their postings whenever they or someone else leaves a comment there.

To stay updated on group posts:
Sometimes your notifications will not come through. This is not going to be corrected by GR. No matter how many times you adjust your settings for groups. To make sure you are up to date on all group happenings you will simply need to make sure you are reading all group emails sent to you by your moderators.

You will also need to begin to make an effort to go directly to your groups' homepage(s) whenever you are on the platform. From the homepage, click on the discussion board link. This will show you every group section's new post and thread in that group. Simply click on the red numbers of the threads that you are following. You will see every new post in that specific thread.

Unfortunately, the notify me box is no longer working on Polls. Only the creator of that poll will see when you comment. You are no longer able to get a notification after you post a comment on a poll and check the notify me box. Once you leave the poll page, that box becomes un-checked. There is no work-around for this. If you want to stay informed on comments on polls, or videos posted in your groups, you will manually have to go to that poll yourself, in order to view them.

Make sure that you also are logging in and out on whatever device you use, every time, when logging into GR. This is the only way that GR will track your profile activity properly and keep you up to date on your most recent activity.

These steps are the only way you will continue to make sure that you are an active and informed member of your groups and this community platform as a whole.

[Werner]

Below, I'm passing on another tip (also from a fellow Goodreader, and shared by permission) dealing with the Goodreads phone app, and how you can, if you want to, access the Goodreads desktop version from your phone instead. (A caveat: I'm not familiar with the app from personal experience, though I've often been told, by people who are, that it's less functional than the desktop version.)

"If you are using the Goodreads App, then don't.
The App makes it very difficult to navigate groups and communication on here, among other things. If you are on your phone, uninstall the App first. Then go to the Goodreads website and log in directly onto the site by phone. After you log in scroll to the very bottom of the page to ensure that you are on the desktop version and not the mobile version. Once you do this, you will be able to navigate this site as if you are working at your desk or your laptop.

If you are not currently using the App, still check to make sure that you are on the desktop version and not mobile version when logged in. Once you switch to desktop, it will stay that way every time you log in and out. If you are currently on the desktop version, then you will only see the option "Mobile Version" if this is the case then don't change anything because it means you're already using the desktop version. If you see "Desktop version, click on it. This will then put you on the desktop version.

If you follow these steps correctly then you will be able to see all things on this site as if you were on your laptop or PC.

Save the Goodreads website as a shortcut to your home screen on your phone. This way you'll always have quick access to the website and log on and off as if you were still using the App."

[Werner]

One more tip (again, from a Goodreads friend, and shared with her permission), this one dealing with how Goodreads calculates the time when you were "last active" on this site"

"There is another site glitch that is affecting the personal profile status of its members. This glitch is in the area where it states when you joined GR and when you were last active on the website. Those of you who actively log on and off every time you visit the site, shouldn't be affected by this. Those of you who use the App or who stay logged in on the website itself, without ever signing back out when you leave the site, will see this issue.

Those who are affected- It is only showing the last date that you actively log on. So even though you have been consistently on the website, your last active status may show that you were last active back in September, October, November, or even further back; depending on when you last actively signed into/out of your account. This began back in June-Aug of 2024. As some members are showing they were last active back in June, even though they've been on the website consistently since June. To avoid this affecting your accurate account status, moving forward, just log in and out of your GR accounts every time you visit the site. This will reset your status for you and keep it up to date as long as you're logging in and logging out. This will also cut down the likely hood of your accounts being hacked as well.

This is also true for Moderators. As on the groups you moderate, after (60) days of not being active on the site, it will show your last active date of logging into GR on your group's homepage next to your profile picture. Which will in fact affect if your members think you're currently active on the website or not.