Why some book fans are leaving Amazon-owned Goodreads in wake of the U.S. election

[ownedbycats]

CBC.ca:

Hold onto your book reviews, because X isn't the only app that some users are ditching in the wake of the U.S. election.

Some readers say they've left Goodreads, a popular platform for tracking and reviewing books, in favour of The StoryGraph, which bills itself as an "Amazon-free alternative."

[neil_swann80]

There are plenty of reasons to dislike Amazon, but making the Washington Post and Goodreads apolitical (as regards endorsing a candidate) doesn't seem like a legitimate one.

[Terisa de morgan]

Well, if the database is maintained.... it would be hypocritical to leave a platform because is owned by the same company I buy books to. And X is not really only about USA politics but megalomaniacs.

[issybird]

Be careful not to stray into partisan politics with this topic. Noting that X doesn't seem relevant to ereading. Thanks.

[ZodWallop]

This reminds me of the spate of stories about users flooding over to Mastodon a few years ago. That never quite panned out. Now it is GoodReads and Blue Sky.

I wonder how many of those abandoning Goodreads will switch from Kindles to something else? Likely not many.

Of course, I recently migrated from Windows to Linux (not for political reasons though) and that is another trope that is semi-popular right now. Only time will tell what sticks, I guess.

[neil_swann80]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I recently migrated from Windows to Linux (not for political reasons though) and that is another trope that is semi-popular right now. Only time will tell what sticks, I guess.

Likewise. I always had a laptop with linux on, but I've made my main desktop Ubuntu as well as my smartphone. I have relegated Windows to a Surface device I have, which mostly rests in a drawer until I (rarely) need to fire it up to use a specific Windows only application.

Zero regrets.

[hildea]

I abandoned Goodreads some time after Amazon bought it. I've been avoiding buying from Amazon for ideological reasons for several years (about as long as I've had an ereader), but I left Goodreads because it seemed less and less useful. There's that quote (maybe from Doctorow?): "If you're not paying, you're not the customer, you're the product." Goodreads became more obviously about helping Amazon sell books, at the expense of serving readers.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by neil_swann80

There are plenty of reasons to dislike Amazon, but making the Washington Post and Goodreads apolitical (as regards endorsing a candidate) doesn't seem like a legitimate one.

There is more to it than that, but the details are best taken to a different subforum.

[Sarmat89]

I've just checked StoryGraph and it doesn't have any books or reviews there. That site is absolutely useless.

[maddz]

Originally Posted by Sarmat89

I've just checked StoryGraph and it doesn't have any books or reviews there. That site is absolutely useless.

If you look at the top right of the home page (you don't need to log in) there's a button: Browse Books. Click on that and you get taken to a list of books. Click on a title and there are the reviews.

It's quite possible that your books aren't logged on the site; somebody has to add the book in the first place, so you would have to do that - but you would on Goodreads as well. Looking at the list of books by H de Vere Stacpoole, it seems to be limited to what is commercially available not all editions like Goodreads or LibraryThing. It also doesn't appear to have any foreign language titles but given my linguistic skills are poor I'm unlikely to come across them.

I personally don't use the site or GoodReads (I use LibraryThing) because I dislike the social media aspect of both sites. My interest is keeping my book catalogue up-to-date and seeing which print book can be replaced cheaply with an ebook.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by maddz

It also doesn't appear to have any foreign language titles but given my linguistic skills are poor I'm unlikely to come across them.

I personally don't use the site or GoodReads (I use LibraryThing) because I dislike the social media aspect of both sites. .

Just a couple of addenda: TSG does have non-English entries - lots of them. Not as many as GR of course, but its non-English library is large and growing constantly. And on the social elements, one of the best things about TSG is that ALL social elements are strictly opt-in. I've been a paying user since day 1 nearly 4 years ago, and I get ZERO social noise, exactly the way I like it. This point was also the closing paragraph of a recent article about TSG in an online newspaper - that for those who want a silent space, TSG can be one.

[drofgnal]

I've stuck with goodreads, basically because it's automatic when I finish a book, the review comes up and then I select the number of stars for the review.

If I ditched a service or company because of their support for a particular candidate or their not speaking out, I wouldn't have much left. Publix, Home Depot, Amazon, and the list goes on.

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by maddz

Looking at the list of books by H de Vere Stacpoole, it seems to be limited to what is commercially available not all editions like Goodreads or LibraryThing. It also doesn't appear to have any foreign language titles but given my linguistic skills are poor I'm unlikely to come across them.

You can add missing books or editions by yourself, either via ISBN if it is in the worldcat, or manually. If you find errors, you can just fix them yourself (in rare cases you need help from support, though).

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

I've stuck with goodreads, basically because it's automatic when I finish a book, the review comes up and then I select the number of stars for the review.

The process is not dissimilar at TSG - when you mark a book as finished a link pops up inviting you to add a review. You can then choose to write a review, or simply leave a star rating

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

The process is not dissimilar at TSG - when you mark a book as finished a link pops up inviting you to add a review. You can then choose to write a review, or simply leave a star rating

I think drofgnal's "when I finish a book" meant "as soon as I finish the book on the device I'm reading it on." When reading a Kindlebook in a Kindle app (or on a Kindle device) there is no need to go to the Goodreads website to mark a book as finished in order to leave a review. The invitation to star and review comes up whenever you turn past the last page of the book.