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I put in Translation State by Anne Leckie and at first glance the recommendations looked good. But at a closer look, what I was getting was "female scifi autho

by esperent 10mo ago

I put in Translation State by Anne Leckie and at first glance the recommendations looked good. But at a closer look, what I was getting was "female scifi authors". Exclusively female. And as I scrolled down, the "scifi" part got dropped and it was just female authors of all kinds. So apparently the only recommendation worthy thing about this book is the author's gender.

bwb 10mo ago
So Anne Leckie's books have only been picked once by someone for their 3 favorite reads (a small number of votes). You can try that here: https://shepherd.com/bboy/2025 https://shepherd.com/bboy/2025 We don't know the authors' genders or anything like that. Maybe you searched the entire website and then ended up on a book recommendation list? What is the URL you are at? We have about 12,000 author-created book recommendation lists; they are deeply personal and may include gender. For example, Ryan Southwick did a list on the best sci-fi books that broke the mold: https://shepherd.com/best-books/science-fiction-that-broke-the-mold https://shepherd.com/best-books/science-fiction-that-broke-t...
- esperent 10mo ago
  I have no idea, I clicked on the search icon at the top, then typed "translation state" and then opened the first result. It didn't look like a handpicked list, I assumed I was getting the algorithmic recommendation. If I'd seen a page titled "Susan's List of favorite female scifi authors" or something like that, it would be fine. But the page didn't look like I was on a handpicked list, there was not much to differentiate it from other pages.
  - bwb 10mo ago
    Gotcha, sorry I don't know that one but we have 12,000 lists by authors I've interviewed over the last 5 years. Here is an example: https://shepherd.com/best-books/sci-fi-fantasy-historically-written-by-women https://shepherd.com/best-books/sci-fi-fantasy-historically-... We try to make it really clear who picked them, who they are, and what they wrote. What do you think?

bwb 10mo ago

So Anne Leckie's books have only been picked once by someone for their 3 favorite reads (a small number of votes). You can try that here: https://shepherd.com/bboy/2025 https://shepherd.com/bboy/2025 We don't know the authors' genders or anything like that. Maybe you searched the entire website and then ended up on a book recommendation list? What is the URL you are at? We have about 12,000 author-created book recommendation lists; they are deeply personal and may include gender. For example, Ryan Southwick did a list on the best sci-fi books that broke the mold: https://shepherd.com/best-books/science-fiction-that-broke-the-mold https://shepherd.com/best-books/science-fiction-that-broke-t...

esperent 10mo ago
I have no idea, I clicked on the search icon at the top, then typed "translation state" and then opened the first result. It didn't look like a handpicked list, I assumed I was getting the algorithmic recommendation. If I'd seen a page titled "Susan's List of favorite female scifi authors" or something like that, it would be fine. But the page didn't look like I was on a handpicked list, there was not much to differentiate it from other pages.
- bwb 10mo ago
  Gotcha, sorry I don't know that one but we have 12,000 lists by authors I've interviewed over the last 5 years. Here is an example: https://shepherd.com/best-books/sci-fi-fantasy-historically-written-by-women https://shepherd.com/best-books/sci-fi-fantasy-historically-... We try to make it really clear who picked them, who they are, and what they wrote. What do you think?