It is with great sadness, a heavy heart and more than a little anger that I hereby resign my membership from your online community. A member since 2008, I will be deleting 497 book reviews this week. As I'm sure you have guessed, my discontent largely stems from the events of the past few days.
In all of my years as a Goodreads' member, I have never been involved in any controversy. I largely avoid the forums in favor of simply checking in to see what my friends are reading. My most controversial shelf label is "Did Not Finish". I've never participated in a reviewer-author argument, although I have been the recipient of a handful of not-so-nice messages from authors who were unhappy with a less than five star review. On the whole, I'd say my personal experience with Goodreads has been rather benign.
One could say, in fact, that I have no dog in this fight. I might very well continue on my merry way, using the features I've come to love on Goodreads, interacting with my small circle of friends, and keeping track of the books I read just as I've been doing since 2008. I might, that is, if I did not possess a moral compass.
It's this moral compass, you see, that tells me the actions that Goodreads has taken over the past week are just plain wrong. While I do not dispute your right to take these actions, it was done to make one particularly vocal group of users happy while sacrificing the freedom of expression of all users. To prohibit discussion of author behavior in a review (excepting autobiographies) is ludicrous. The deletion of entire bookshelves and reviews with no advance notice was lacking honor. The deletion of bookshelves regardless of their names just because they contain certain authors is madness.
What I am seeing is an online community that has decided it's interests lie more with authors and publishers than it does with readers. And while there may be short-term revenue in that interest (your flashy-ads must be generating some big-bucks), it might behoove you to remember that without readers to actually visit and review books on Goodreads, there is no Goodreads. (Okay, so there might be a Goodreads, but it wouldn't be using up much bandwidth and trust me, that's not how you want to save money.)
You are entitled to run your company as you (and Amazon) see fit. I am entitled to post my reviews where I see fit. I no longer see fit to post them at Goodreads.
If you ever change your policy, you can find me at
where freedom of expression still reigns supreme.Sincerely,
Have you tried Shelfari? I've been a member for a number of years and never had the problems you describe at Goodreads. It's got a great 'bookshelf' graphic and lets you decide how much participation you want in any of their groups. I mostly just keep to myself posting books and reviews to my shelf and occasionally searching for book and author information for my blog.
ReplyDeleteI have a good reads account, but have never really used it. I've seen a few tweets flying around about good reads recently, but haven't fully investigated the problems. Did they delete your 'Did Not Finish' shelf? Hope you find a good alternative soon!
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing this -- I am really on the fence about leaving. I applaud you your decision -- I'm pushing myself toward doing so. if I leave, I'll have to quit Shelfari, too, as it is also Amazon-owned. So far, LibraryThing seems the only viable indie on the market, but it doesn't have that social aspect I so love about GoodReads...
ReplyDeleteWell I guess I'm not totally up to speed on what is going on here. I just made the jump to Goodreads here recently since I will no longer be blogging. Based on what I saw, it was the most widely used and I wanted to still commune with my reading friends and keep track of my reads. I am disturbed by what you are saying. Can they delete anything they want, whenever they want?
ReplyDeleteI am still hyperventilating over the no longer blogging thing. I don't want to talk about it. You are in my top 3 book bloggers ever list, you know. But you are right, I was remiss in not talking about the backbone of the situation and I will address that in a post first thing tomorrow morning! You're not the only one who isn't filled in on the whole thing and I should have thought of that....
ReplyDeleteThey sure implemented them in a crappy manner, Ti. No big email, no requiring everyone to acknowledge a new ToS. Here's the link for you: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1499741-important-note-regarding-reviews
ReplyDeleteI hear you. When Amazon bought them, I didn't want to think it was all going to change. I ignored it. I love seeing what my friends are reading and seeing their status updates. It's my favorite part of GR. But this smacks of money. Kowtowing to publishers and authors, changing policy to encourage more positive reviews in order to garner more book sales so that Ammy can make more money. Don't get me wrong. Ammy has it's place. When I want to buy a book I will sometimes buy it from them. But don't manipulate me. I don't want to buy a book from or because of GR. I can make up my own mind, thankyouverymuch.
ReplyDeleteI feel exactly the same way. I'm not one of those reviewers who was deleted or argued with authors. But I'll be damned if GR is going to use my reviews to further their financial goals when they value whiny authors like the Stop the Goodreads Bullys (or whoever they are) Group over members who have contributed their reviews to the site loyally for years. What a bunch of baloney!
ReplyDeleteYes, LT is 40% owned by Amazon. But I believe Tim Spalding kept it to 40% on purpose...giving him the freedom to keep Ammy's nose out of his business and preventing them from having any say-so in business decision making. Thank goodness. LT's only rule is no personal attacks and NO AUTHOR SELF PROMOTION. You can say a person's idea is completely idiotic, but you can not say the person is completely idiotic. The distinction is clear to me and I like it. Anything else goes so people simply need to grow a thick skin.
ReplyDeleteNo, they didn't delete me, Jackie. But holy cow, they are behaving as bad as the child-like morons they are trying to "punish." It's like Kindercare over there for crying out loud!
ReplyDeleteI have, Trish, and I really liked it! But they said that they weren't going to put anymore support or money into it which made me sad. So what we have now with Shelfari is what we get. It won't improve with technology. :( I know a lot of peeps are heading over to the Booklikes, but it's just going to be another shit-slinging Goodreads, so why bother, I figure.
ReplyDeleteWell said. I'm not directly affected by the changes either, but how can I feel comfortable using a site after something like this? (Something that the majority of their users probably still aren't even aware of...)
ReplyDeleteWow. Thanks for sharing. I am not even sure what to think. They have apologized but I would have been majorly ticked off if they had deleted my reviews without asking.
ReplyDelete