4 ms·
Not the first time I see a post here about how terrible Goodreads is. I, for my part have always found it doing exactly its job. I am not an avid reader - aroun
by alentred 3y ago
Not the first time I see a post here about how terrible Goodreads is. I, for my part have always found it doing exactly its job. I am not an avid reader - around one book a month - and I use it to manage my bookshelves, review the comments before acquiring a book, share my reading progress with some of my friends who also use it, which gives me motivation to start the next book every once in a while. I leave comments from time to time too, mostly for professional books, not fiction.
I don't understand what is missing? Old-school UI? Come on, this is not Twitter, you are not supposed to be hooked to it 24/7. I spend 10-15 minutes on this website once a month, I can live with old-school. Ratings not realistic? This is a joke compared to Amazon. There are authors on the website? All the better, I can connect with the author (actually sounds amazing to me!). Lack of content moderation, although I didn't encounter any serious issues myself, is a problem I agree with if this is the case.
Anyway, maybe the fact that there is no popular alternative speaks for itself. I know there are some alternatives but nothing as known as Goodreads as far as I can tell.
- pavon 3y agoAgreed, the only "social" aspect of it that I use is when people insist on getting me gifts I tell them books are always a good option and point them to my goodreads to see what I've already read, and get an idea of what I like.
- loeg 3y agoYou've hit the nail on the head. Goodreads is pretty useful for readers.
- bwanab 3y agoTotally agree. I have a list of to-read books that will last more than my lifetime and I keep adding to it - with stuff I know I want to read. What possible value would recommendations be for me? I have found that I learn a lot about the books I've read from other reader's reviews, which I tend to read after I've read a book and not before. The UI is adequate. Who cares?
- stuart78 3y agoI entirely agree, and that is how I use it as well. Really it is just a log of the books I've read and my progress against my annual challenge. I appreciate that I can see the opinions of others, and I ignore 100% of their recommendations. I don't want or need it to do more.
- prepend 3y agoMy issue is that they don’t have good recommendations. And they shut down their api and don’t share their data with users who want to calculate their own recommendations. Their UI is fine. Their ratings are as good as any other ratings. I would hate a “modern” Goodreads and am glad Amazon bought it and abandoned it rather than Meta who tried to make book readers live stream their reading or whatever stupid stuff they’d try.
- esperent 3y agoThere's other places to get recommendations. This site has had some great book recommendation threads. Then there's lots of great threads on various subreddits.
- jsbisviewtiful 3y agoSure, there are other places to get recommendations - but what is the point of Goodreads, my collected reading library and my ratings if I can't get recommendations from the site?
- Llamamoe 3y agoCan you recommend said places to get recommendations?
- NegativeLatency 3y agoMost of my friends switched to StoryGraph and it’s been quite good
- jbaber 3y agoI second this. The recommendations have shown me books I'd never come across otherwise.