What's with the Paranoia?

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by cvkemp

Here is may take if you are that worried about your privacy, don’t have a cell phone, and don’t have or ever get on the internet. Other than that use some common sense and enjoy life.

For some of us, "common sense" means picking and choosing which companies get which information from us. I chose to register my Kobo, but if some people choose not to register with a bookstore that will access their reading statistics etc., I'm not going to criticize their choice.

However, I don't sign up for store reward/discount cards at every store I ever shop at (I'm talking about stores I shop at in person, locally). I don't want them all to have my personal information and keep track of everything I buy.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If it's not paranoia to not register a Kobo or a Kindle, what is it then?

If you've bought a Kindle direct from Amazon, you already have an account and the same goes for Kobo.

I have registered Kindles and Kobos as well as unregistered Kindles. I do it to keep my normal ebook and fanfic libraries separate.

It's a pain to browse/look for stuff given e-reader firmware generally don't have the organizational, searching and filtering capabilities of a PC. Plus I've had issues with Kindle Cloud Collections interfering with Calibre Collections+LibrarianSync.

I do plan on getting another Libra H2O and registering it to a new Kobo account because I just hate having my libraries mixed together.

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Nope. Fiction never changes any of my habits.

I seriously doubt that. One of the reasons we love stories is that they tell us something about ourselves. Or maybe you were saying that with tongue-in-cheek?

[fabricalado]

Originally Posted by rkomar

I seriously doubt that. One of the reasons we love stories is that they tell us something about ourselves. Or maybe you were saying that with tongue-in-cheek?

Also, to quote that guy who wrote Sapiens, everything we do is based on the fictions we choose to live by (for instance, capitalism and society the rule of law), so...

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by rkomar

I seriously doubt that. One of the reasons we love stories is that they tell us something about ourselves. Or maybe you were saying that with tongue-in-cheek?

No. I read fiction (the same goes for fictional movies) to get away from myself and the world I live in. Not because I want to learn something about myself. Nonfiction is for that.

I guess it may be different for others, then. But I want my fiction to have as little to do with myself and my everyday life as possible.

[MGlitch]

I honestly don’t know why Jon even made this thread. He’s asked the same question in the Kobo forums when someone doesn’t want to register and gotten the same replies as he has here. He then dismissed those reasons because he doesn’t agree with them.

Clearly other people do agree with them. This isn’t rocket science, it’s barely even basic logic and reasoning. So how anyone who reads to the extent that an ereader is a worthwhile expense can pretend to be this confused over this issue is truly beyond me.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

So how anyone who reads to the extent that an ereader is a worthwhile expense can pretend to be this confused over this issue is truly beyond me.

That's a very good way to say it. Agree 100%.

But I will say, that other posters in other threads have baffled me as well. My assumption about a forum that is dedicated to reading is that the members are probably of higher than normal intelligence, older and more experienced (probably not too many high schoolers here), and have good logic and reasoning skills. And also, being well-read, are more tolerant of opposing viewpoints. I don't always display those traits myself (I wish I did!), but I continue to be caught off guard when some poster totally blows these assumptions out of the water. [ This paragraph contains my general observations about the MobileRead experience, not about this thread in particular. ]

[Thasaidon]

Originally Posted by haertig

That's a very good way to say it. Agree 100%.

But I will say, that other posters in other threads have baffled me as well. My assumption about a forum that is dedicated to reading is that the members are probably of higher than normal intelligence, older and more experienced (probably not too many high schoolers here), and have good logic and reasoning skills. And also, being well-read, are more tolerant of opposing viewpoints. I don't always display those traits myself (I wish I did!), but I continue to be caught off guard when some poster totally blows these assumptions out of the water. [ This paragraph contains my general observations about the MobileRead experience, not about this thread in particular. ]

Well said

These are more or less my feelings about MobileRead down to the

I don't always display those traits myself (I wish I did!)

.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If it's not paranoia to not register a Kobo or a Kindle, what is it then?

Not something they need to justify to you?

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by haertig

That's a very good way to say it. Agree 100%.

But I will say, that other posters in other threads have baffled me as well. My assumption about a forum that is dedicated to reading is that the members are probably of higher than normal intelligence, older and more experienced (probably not too many high schoolers here), and have good logic and reasoning skills. And also, being well-read, are more tolerant of opposing viewpoints. I don't always display those traits myself (I wish I did!), but I continue to be caught off guard when some poster totally blows these assumptions out of the water. [ This paragraph contains my general observations about the MobileRead experience, not about this thread in particular. ]

One of the more universal human desires is the desire to belong to a group. Frequently, belonging to the group means buying on on the various beliefs and prejudices of that group. Readers can be among the worse when it comes to elitism and looking down their nose at people not in the group.

Well read and toleration are very different things. Of course well read can mean different things. For some, well read means someone who has read "the right" books, for others well read means reading a number of divergent views. We seem to have both here.

[JSWolf]

To me,"well read" means you read a lot.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

To me,"well read" means you read a lot.

Can’t agree. Reading a lot of genre fiction, for example, doesn’t make you well read, although there’s certainly nothing wrong with it if that’s where your heart lies. I’d say it’s a combination of reading in breadth and depth, as pwalker said in different words, and the proportions can vary; there’s no ideal mix. But focusing exclusively on westerns or romance, for example, does not rise to being well-read.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by issybird

Can’t agree. Reading a lot of genre fiction, for example, doesn’t make you well read, although there’s certainly nothing wrong with it if that’s where your heart lies. I’d say it’s a combination of reading in breadth and depth, as pwalker said in different words, and the proportions can vary; there’s no ideal mix. But focusing exclusively on westerns or romance, for example, does not rise to being well-read.

How about well read being that you read a lot of different genres?

[issybird]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

How about well read being that you read a lot of different genres?

There’s still no depth there; I think there needs to be a mix of depth and breadth to consider a person well-read, as I said.

No judgment. We’re all past the age where there’s going to be a test on Monday and reading is for love. And we’re centuries past the point where a well-read person could be knowledgeable about everything. But if you’re going to refer to being well-read, then I think it ought to mean more than simply “reads a lot.” IMO, of course. Use the term as you will, but I think there comes a point similar to that where all the kids get a medal. The term becomes debased beyond any real meaning.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by issybird

There’s still no depth there; I think there needs to be a mix of depth and breadth to consider a person well-read, as I said.

No judgment. We’re all past the age where there’s going to be a test on Monday and reading is for love. And we’re centuries past the point where a well-read person could be knowledgeable about everything. But if you’re going to refer to being well-read, then I think it ought to mean more than simply “reads a lot.” IMO, of course. Use the term as you will, but I think there comes a point similar to that where all the kids get a medal. The term becomes debased beyond any real meaning.

But the thing is, these days it's possible to be well read without actually reading books. You can learn a lot online without the need to read books to get this information. That's why well read is actually an obsolete term.