Problems with Goodreads

[Christmas Carol ꧁꧂ , She's a mod, yeah, yeah, yeah!]

Neers post (on another thread)

I don't know what is wrong with GR. I am not able to submit reviews. Anyone else facing this problem?

Has everyone received a message &/or an email from Goodreads

Here is the email I have received.

Hello reader,

In the coming weeks, we will be making some updates to how messaging works on Goodreads.

What's Changing?
• Direct messages between individual members will no longer be available
• Images and external links will no longer be supported in messages

While direct messages between individual members are no longer available, you can still access your past messages from your inbox, Group moderators can still send broadcast messages to their group members, and you can still send group invitations to your Goodreads friends. All other public interactions, such as writing and responding to book reviews, remain unchanged.

-The Goodreads Team

There is now a lot of confusion about what this will entail.

[Christmas Carol ꧁꧂ , She's a mod, yeah, yeah, yeah!]

One of the main consequences for groups is that moderators will no longer be able to privately warn a member about their conduct. I've never had to do this in this group (yay us!) but I certainly have in the other groups I have moderated. So now any warnings will have to be in public - not the way I like to treat people in the first instance.

Neer has mentioned that she can't post a review.

Yesterday I had all sorts of problems posting the threads for the Death in the Andamans read.

There are issues with Librarian work. The one with combining different editions of the same book predates this latest change, but there are others. Librarians & group moderators trying to get clarification from 'Support' are getting all sorts of contradictory replies.

One of the reasons they may be stopping private messages as there have been lots of problems with woman members getting hit on through the messages. Authors have had problems with spammers trying to blackmail them. & so on.

Amazon/Goodreads is gradually removing all interaction between members. Its been a couple of years since you could comment on the GR Choice awards, earlier this year they have stopped members being able to on there editorial threads like this one.
https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/3...

[Christmas Carol ꧁꧂ , She's a mod, yeah, yeah, yeah!]

Changes to the notification system, has resulted in most groups being quieter.

If groups are removed I will probably look for another book review site.

[Jackie]

groups are the ONLY reason I come here - do you think they might be removed?!

[Neer]

Though I joined GR more than a decade back, it is only in the past couple of years that i have discovered groups. My interaction has been limited but mostly enjoyable. I tried Storygraph but didn't enjoy it as there were no groups or interaction between members. I too hope GR continues with groups.

[Neer]

Thankfully, I was able to post reviews today. What a relief!

[Neer]

" Images and external links will no longer be supported in messages"

Carol, plz do ask GR how we would link covers @ Abe Books/ Amazon etc while making a request for books to be added if external links are no longer to be supported. All this is so confusing.

And I spoke too soon, after posting two reviews, my third review could no longer be saved.

[Christmas Carol ꧁꧂ , She's a mod, yeah, yeah, yeah!]

Jackie wrote: "groups are the ONLY reason I come here - do you think they might be removed?!"

Well, I hope not. But groups are quieter now.

[Christmas Carol ꧁꧂ , She's a mod, yeah, yeah, yeah!]

Neer wrote: "" Images and external links will no longer be supported in messages"

Carol, plz do ask GR how we would link covers @ Abe Books/ Amazon etc while making a request for books to be added if external ..."

I'm hoping that applies only to dms.

Another moderator received a reply from Support indicating it might apply to posts in the groups. She is still trying to get some clarification.

A lot of confusion, a lot of unintended consequences.

[Jackie]

Carol wrote

But groups are quieter now.

not surprising, as they keep making everything less user-friendly. sooner or later, someone is going to come up with an alternative that works and then mass migration!

[Christmas Carol ꧁꧂ , She's a mod, yeah, yeah, yeah!]

in other groups they are suggesting this could be the move in some countries to protect minors. That would explain Gr making changes as what surely must be the worst possible time of year for them.

If that's the case, expect to lose DMs on the 10th of Dec, US/UK time.

[Susan in NC]

Christmas Carol ꧁꧂ wrote: "in other groups they are suggesting this could be the move in some countries to protect minors. That would explain Gr making changes as what surely must be the worst possible time of year for them...."

Thanks Carol.

I was having a hard time posting a review earlier today, I just copied and pasted my review and refreshed the page. It finally saved.

[Jackie]

I had the same problem, Susan, so frustrating!

[CindySR, Moderator]

Sometimes logging out of GR then logging back in after awhile might work.