6 ms·

Sorry, I didn't know what to say; I had explained it previously. The only books on our website are those picked by an author. There is no "aggregate" rating sys

by bwb 3y ago

Sorry, I didn't know what to say; I had explained it previously. The only books on our website are those picked by an author. There is no "aggregate" rating system of any kind or even a rating system. The only "kinda" system we have is for our favorite 3 reads of the year, we showed which books were picked the most.

racional 3y ago
There is no "aggregate" rating system of any kind or even a rating system. Yes there is. Pick a genre, and you get a list of books explicitly ranked (rated, same thing) by the number of people who reviewed it (in essence, by "likes"). So not surprisingly you get authors like Stephen King, Michio Kakio, etc floating the top. The same predictable blandness you get at any large chain bookstore.
- bwb 3y ago
  No, the default sort is serendipity :). You have to actively choose “most recommend “. Can you try again to use a bookshelf?
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - racional 3y ago
    I was referring to the "Best Books of 2023" section, which (for every sublink) produces the behavior I'm describing. So okay, fine - only part of the site is based on straight-up favorite counting. But then I did some topical searches, and the result definitely appears to be algorithmic as well (judging by the large number of plainly off-topic matches). I'm not saying this is a horrible site or that there's no potential for the basic idea behind it. It definitely seems to be more appealing, and potentially more useful than most online bookstores I've seen. But whatever you're doing - it's definitely not the same as actual human curation.
    - bwb 3y ago
      Yep, that is just a small section with a combined total of authors ' favorite reads of the year :) that is only 1% of the website. Just try search for any book, author, topic, or genre you are interested in. Here are some explore points you can try via search: Sci-fi explore point - https://shepherd.com/search/shelf/9008 https://shepherd.com/search/shelf/9008 Sci-fi bookshelf - https://shepherd.com/bookshelf/science-fiction https://shepherd.com/bookshelf/science-fiction Book list by authors - https://shepherd.com/best-books/science-fiction-for-fantasy-readers https://shepherd.com/best-books/science-fiction-for-fantasy-...
      - racional 3y ago
        Just try search for any book, author, topic, or genre you are interested in In my post above: "Then I did some topical searches ..." For large / concrete topics, the result sets look good enough. For smaller / more nebulous topics, they start to fall apart. Which is not the end of the world, of course. But which definitely leaves behind a distinctly non-human aftertaste, shall we say. Look, I have the feeling we're talking past each other. It's your site, go ahead and have fun with it.
        bwb 3y ago
        Will do, just wanted to make sure you realized it wasn't that small award feature we did :)

by bwb 3y ago

racional 3y ago

There is no "aggregate" rating system of any kind or even a rating system. Yes there is. Pick a genre, and you get a list of books explicitly ranked (rated, same thing) by the number of people who reviewed it (in essence, by "likes"). So not surprisingly you get authors like Stephen King, Michio Kakio, etc floating the top. The same predictable blandness you get at any large chain bookstore.

bwb 3y ago
No, the default sort is serendipity :). You have to actively choose “most recommend “. Can you try again to use a bookshelf?
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- racional 3y ago
  I was referring to the "Best Books of 2023" section, which (for every sublink) produces the behavior I'm describing. So okay, fine - only part of the site is based on straight-up favorite counting. But then I did some topical searches, and the result definitely appears to be algorithmic as well (judging by the large number of plainly off-topic matches). I'm not saying this is a horrible site or that there's no potential for the basic idea behind it. It definitely seems to be more appealing, and potentially more useful than most online bookstores I've seen. But whatever you're doing - it's definitely not the same as actual human curation.
  - bwb 3y ago
    Yep, that is just a small section with a combined total of authors ' favorite reads of the year :) that is only 1% of the website. Just try search for any book, author, topic, or genre you are interested in. Here are some explore points you can try via search: Sci-fi explore point - https://shepherd.com/search/shelf/9008 https://shepherd.com/search/shelf/9008 Sci-fi bookshelf - https://shepherd.com/bookshelf/science-fiction https://shepherd.com/bookshelf/science-fiction Book list by authors - https://shepherd.com/best-books/science-fiction-for-fantasy-readers https://shepherd.com/best-books/science-fiction-for-fantasy-...
    - racional 3y ago
      Just try search for any book, author, topic, or genre you are interested in In my post above: "Then I did some topical searches ..." For large / concrete topics, the result sets look good enough. For smaller / more nebulous topics, they start to fall apart. Which is not the end of the world, of course. But which definitely leaves behind a distinctly non-human aftertaste, shall we say. Look, I have the feeling we're talking past each other. It's your site, go ahead and have fun with it.
      - bwb 3y ago
        Will do, just wanted to make sure you realized it wasn't that small award feature we did :)