The Fine Art of Goodreads Criticism and Update Feeds

[Félix]

I'm sorry. A what?

[Matt]

Elite hacker in Internet-speak.

[Félix]

Oh

[Sarah]

I don't know about that, David. I was online in the early '90s on Prodigy.

[Lori]

brb? p3nd?

[Sarah]

Okay, now, Brian knows I love him, but I think he's just given us a good example of the review-voting issue. His review of Rabbit is Rich is funny, and interesting, and entertaining, but it isn't really a review of the book. And yet, so far, six people have voted that they liked it. I really think people just vote when something is funny and not because it actually gave them information about the book, or helped them to decide to read it or not.

EDIT: I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. People should vote for any reason they choose. I'm just saying I think this is something that happens a lot.

[[deleted user]]

That's exactly the kind of review I love--it's what the books in the series made him think about.

[[deleted user]]

I generally vote for whatever reviews I read that don't bore me -- whether or not they have anything at all to do with the book. There're are just so many earnest (but earnestly boring) reviews on this site that the really entertaining ones are the exception. (And by "entertaining" I don't necessarily mean funny or wacky or controversial; I mean the ones during the reading of which I don't start thinking about when my next oil change is due or when my driver's license expires.)

[Chloe]

I don't know, Sarah. That review was enough to make me pull Rabbit, Run off of my shelf. But then, I'm pretty easy.

[Sally, la reina]

Well, I liked the review because it was well written and interesting, but is the book really all about blow jobs?

[Sandi]

I confess. I tend to vote for reviews by my friends. However, in my defense, I tend to vote only for real reviews or pithy comments that concisely sum up the reader's feelings about the book.

The reason I mostly vote for friends reviews is because those are the ones I see when I log on to GoodReads.

[Meen]

I rarely read reviews by anyone other than those folks who are friends whose reviews come up on my update feed. Or sometimes reviews of people who aren't friends, but my friends have commented on their reviews and the comments come up on my update feed.

[Sally, la reina]

I rarely ever vote for a review. I honestly just forget that it is an option.

[Sandi]

Sally wrote: "I rarely ever vote for a review. I honestly just forget that it is an option. "

I try to review everything I read. I mostly do it so I can remember what it was about and why I liked it or not.

[Jackie "the Librarian"]

I try to review everything I read, too, although I have ratings without reviews for books I read before I joined GoodReads.
I don't like reviews that go on and on, unless they are amusing. I don't want a dissertation, or a blow by blow analysis. That's too much work to read!

[Sally, la reina]

No,no. I review most everything I read. I don't vote on other people's reviews.

[Jackie "the Librarian"]

Why not, Sally? Will you start voting for reviews now, because of this discussion? Or will you maintain your "no voting" stance?

[Meen]

I vote that you continue your boycott of voting for reviews.

[Félix]

C'mon, Sally. Give it up.

[Dave]

Yeah, Sally, I need everybody's validation.

[Sally, la reina]

I'll start voting for reviews ahora mismo! I really didn't know there were people out there who wanted me to be voting!

*validate, validate, validate, validate*

[David]

I mainly read my friends' reviews, and sometimes a selection of other reviews if i'm considering adding a book to my to-read list. I do consider a "Liked it" vote as a reward. I mean, sure, why not validate someone who clearly put some effort into a review? We all need gold-stars once in a while since the world does a pretty good job of beating us down. So a thumbs up to me is a vote to say, thanks for putting this out there. JWD. My thumbs up may be triggered by a variety of reasons. Because the review was funny or courageous or smart or critically insightful. Just about anything could trigger it. It could be short or long. It could be for a book i would never read in a million years, but i just liked the review.

Personally, i think i write reviews for the same reason i write books. Communication--reaching out to be heard by the world. Contact. And getting validated means, i hear you. i think it's nice! Plus, the thumbs up is anonymous, too.

Also, although i have about 140 friends now, i try to keep up with almost all of their reviews. There are a couple people, i'll admit, who i dropped off my Top Friends list when i realized their books are not a good match for my taste. But overall, i follow most of them. A couple people i dropped off my Top Friends because...well, because they Add to their Update Feed every single post in every Message Board. Some posts are fun to see if they stand alone. But for fuck's sake, don't post every little blabber that out of context makes no sense whatsoever. It's part of a chain, right? I try to be very selective about which Message Board posts go into my feed.

So...that brings me to my final point which is that i put a decent effort into my reviews. To write them well, for them to be thoughtful or funny or sharp. And without any validation, it feels like no one is reading them. Which is disappointing. Not a huge deal, by any means, but it makes me think that I got cut from people's Top Friends feed...! Moi????

It's just like writing a story or a novel. I don't really want everyone to like my book. if they did, it would be goddamn mediocre. But if no one likes it then it's a piece of crap, and you're only talking to yourself.

[Sally, la reina]

Like this comment? (yes)



I'll remove people from my friends list if they jam up my update feed too. I like to know what my friends are up to, but not every blipping moment. Dear lord how I hate that. Every review, every book added to their 'to read' list, and every single comment from a variety of uber-polite and friendly group they belong to. "Well, thanks, Jane, you're right and so am I. Let's congratulate each other on our brilliance for 8 more posts."

[RandomAnthony]

I agree with, Sally. I hate hate hate update feed jammers, esp. with either "to read" books or rated books without reviews.

A couple of you are on "friends" probation for those sins. You are warned.

[Cyril]

Some people (er,not me) have the update preferences checked off without realizing it. This happened to someone I know after the GR upgrade. A gentle reminder might be a better option than dropping someone from a friends list.

[shellyindallas]

I don't know whether my "friends" are getting constant updates from me or not. I never tinker w/ the settings. Guess I'll go try and figure it out.

[David]

Oh, I also forgot that I like to give a thumbs up for certain reviews because I DO want to share them with my friends. It's a way to say "hey, take a look at this clever review."

[Dave]

Great, now I have to go check my settings.

Someone dropped me yesterday. I doubt it was because of that, but now I'm paranoid.

[David]

I think it's a good policy to look at the "Add to my Update Feed" box before hitting "post". The settings seem to set a default, but i think sometimes that is affected by the last time you posted. So if you Add the last post to your feed, then it may reset to "Add" instead of not add. I dunno. Sometimes the way GR works is mysterious. Like...when i add a book to my To-Read list, i always uncheck the "Add to my Update Feed" button but it adds it anyway! I can't seem to stop it. So then i have to go to my Profile page and manually close the entry so it doesn't go into the feed. Oh well. It's quite a complex site so i give them kudos for how well it does work. I work in website development and although there are many things that could make the site better, it's still pretty amazing how well it does work.

On a side note, Dave (#86), someone oddly dropped me yesterday too. I think i sent them a friend request about a month ago, then they added me as a friend on Friday. I sent a brief email yesterday that said, "Thanks for the add! I look forward to your reviews." Later that day they dropped me. wtf???

[Dave]

Someone just e-mailed and told me the person who dropped me left GR altogether. It was somebody I hadn't interacted with that much.

There have comments that I've made in groups that I wish I had remembered to delete from my update feed, because I didn't want one of my "real life" friends who wasn't in the group, to see. I'm somewhat different when talking to you people than I am talking to off-line people.

[[deleted user]]

Remember this Summer when my mom was on goodreads? shudder

[Dave]

Is Momtambo gone?

[Félix]

So Dave ... are you saying that what we see is just a "Dave" persona?

[[deleted user]]

She hasn't logged on since August. phew

[Dave]

No, you see the real me. I have a persona in "real life." It's all very Pirandellean.

[Félix]

Ah yes. I see.

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players ....

[trivialchemy]

Crikey, I hope I haven't ever been given the boot for an Update Feed offense. I don't monitor that function at all; but I'm fairly sure the "Add to my Update Feed" box is always checked.

[Sally, la reina]

I'm with Sarah - there are a lot of people on Facebook from my professional and family lives whom I'd rather not share this part of me with. Only rarely do I put group comments on my update feed because it might signal to my boss, my mother in law, or someone I'm not even considering yet that I have this outlet. If they were to know I'd feel violated, because they've never told me that they read these posts.

This is a different thing than the lurkers.
*waves*
I know lurkers motivated by sheer voyeurism enjoy the banter and never summon the chutzpah to comment, but if someone I know is reading and not commenting, well that's just icky.

[Lori]

I enjoy getting comments, books listed, etc. updates from my friends!

But now I'm all paranoid, just removed myself from updates. When GR changed their format, I forgot to change my profile. There. I realize I'm a blabber and probably take up entirely too much space for you fussy people.

[David]

LOL. Looks like i've started mass paranoia! To clarify my position: If someone puts into their feed a few Group posts, which are interesting or amusing, i don't mind at all. It's just when they feed every single one, especially all the ones that don't make any sense out of context, i get irritated. Just that they are taking up so much feed bandwidth than i can't see what all my other friends are doing. i don't mind new books in feed because then i can see if it's an intriguing sounding book worth checking out. i think it's just a matter of common sense and politeness. Is this a post/book/update/review that would actually interest my friends? Will this post make sense out of context and is it particularly thought provoking, funny or outrageous? That's all. Just consider your audience a bit.

[Lori]

It's too late David, I've already succumbed to massive insecurity here!



:)

[Sally, la reina]

David, it seems you are responsible for every thought I've had this weekend.

[David]

You mean like Professor Xavier? Or Charles Manson? Neat.

[Sarah]

My parents have Facebook and my GR updates are on my Facebook profile. So yeah, I'm careful about what I post.

[Sally, la reina]

I tried to add that app but I don't see any action on my Facebook. Maybe I did it wrong.

[Sarah]

I don't know. I did it through Facebook I think, and not through GR.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

The most annoying thing going through the update feed is the vote whores. These are people who already have 15 votes and 36 comments on a review which is 3 weeks old, but have edited one sentence in order to push it into the queue again and get more votes and comments. I've reached the point where if a review already has 8-10 votes, I don't even want to read it.

Also annoying: the personal reviews that barely discuss the book at all.

And: when you block a person, all you block is their comments. You still see their avatar, their reviews, and everything else about them. I think if you block a person their avatar should become a desolate black blob and everything about them should melt away as if drenched in acid.

[Jonathan]

Only "as if" drenched in acid?

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Point taken....we ought to be able to virtually disembowel a blocked person's avatar and impale the avatar's head on a pike before administering the acid bath.

[Jonathan]

Now you're cooking with gas.