I’ve started poking around SG because of the 2023 MR challenge and I have mixed feelings, some of which, of course, are related to the learning curve.
The good: No ads! This in itself is sufficient justification; the ads on GR have taken over. I also have to pay some attention to the recommendations since people think they’re spot-on. Again, GR’s recommendations are terrible and just another form of ad. As with others, while I don’t need more books or help to find something to read, I’ll never turn down the perfect book.
There’s also the general “cleanness” of the interface; I’m not being assaulted with irrelevant clutter. I spend much less time at GR than I used to and this is largely the reason.
The not-so-good: Even given a learning curve, I’m finding adding and labeling books to be both fiddly and not as intuitive as GR; the same goes for looking at my lists and organizing them. What takes literally seconds at GR can take a couple of minutes at SG. While I expect to pick up some speed, I don’t think it’ll ever be as efficient as GR.
I’m finding the way SG characterizes books to be squishy and antithetical to the way I think about books. How SG describes me as a reader is almost as alien to my sensibilities as any of the cowboy romances GR thinks I’d like to read. I can always ignore it as I ignore so much at GR and maybe it’ll become useful in time, but for now it’s offputting.
Akin to the learning curve as in going with the territory, there’s the loss of the community aspects at GR that
are useful to me, especially my GR friends whose taste is similar to my own and where I’ve discovered so many terrific books. Something that can be addressed over time, but a distinct drawback at the beginning. I wonder to what extent the vaunted SG algorithms can match or exceed the personal element?
Finally, the flip side to no ads, of course, is where the money comes from. I wonder how useful if not necessary the paid functionality is. I don’t see myself paying the sticker price for it; it’s too high.
The upshot: A big old “I dunno.”
But I’ll continue to explore it for now.