*These are my own opinions. I’m not singling anyone out. I just really wanted to rant a little today.*
Back when I first discovered book blogs, I discovered Goodreads. Even before I started my blog, I created a Goodreads account. I freaking loved it. I found out about a ton of new books and there was finally a way to track all the books I’d ever read! Goodreads seemed to be a book lover’s best friend and I was in heaven.
Once I started my blog, I started using Goodreads even more. It was a great way to connect with other bloggers and spread the word about my blog. It was also where I found pretty much all of my Waiting on Wednesday books. It was such a wonderful resource for me.
As time went on, I started to see the less pleasant side of Goodreads. For some reason, people decided it was okay to be rude to people as long as it was just on Goodreads. I have seen some horrible discussions on Goodreads. Personally, I’ve never been bullied on Goodreads but I’ve seen it happen to so many authors and bloggers. I don’t think any one group of people is to blame but I think we should all be responsible for fixing this behavior. If you met some of these people in real life, would you treat them the same way?
The rude remarks aren’t the only bad behavior on Goodreads. One of my biggest pet peeves about people on Goodreads is when someone posts a review without having read the book. Why would you do that? How can rate a book 5 stars or 1 star if you haven’t had a chance to read it? It’s really misleading to people trying to find out information about a book.
Also, if you have no plan to read a book, why even bother adding it to your shelves? If you didn’t like the first book in a series, there is absolutely no reason to add the sequel and put in on a shelf titled “will-never-read.” That just seems a little rude to me.
Last but not least, I hate spammers! Please do not try to add me as a friend if you have 2 books and 3500 friends. That is not the point of Goodreads. I will ignore your request and if you send me more than one, I will block you. Also, I have a friend request question. If you really want to be my friend, answer it. It’s not just there for kicks and giggles. There is a point to that.
How do you guys feel about Goodreads? Do you love it? Hate it? In the middle? What are the most awesome or annoying things about it?
I agree with a lot of your points.
People rating books they haven’t read are the most annoying. I hate when that happens, but most of the time, these people aren’t frequent users. I’ve commented on a few reviews like that but never heard back from the posters.
The “will-never-read” shelves are another thing I find unnecessary. Now, I get that people have the right to do what they want, but this just seems like looking for attention I think.
And gosh, those rude threads with people attacking each other. I tend to stay far away from those and only interact with people on my friends list.
Anyways, great post, Katie!
I really like goodreads and haven’t had too many bad experiences with it. I agree with you completely about people who post reviews without reading the book. It’s useless to other readers and can’t imagine how frustrating it must be for people who haven’t read your book to give it a negative review.
I’ve used and loved Goodreads for years, but I definitely agree with these points! I don’t understand the “will-never-read” shelves, friend spammers drive me CRAZY (I’ve had to block a couple who wouldn’t stop trying to add men), and one of my biggest pet peeves is when people rate books they haven’t read yet. Um, guess what? You don’t ACTUALLY know that a book is going to be 5 stars material! So when 50 people rate it that before it even comes out, it skews the actual number when the book is released.
Oh, well. Clearly, my love much outweighs my hate, or I wouldn’t still be on it, haha.
Great post!
Oh wow! I didn’t know that some people had “will never read” shelves lol. That’s so mean! :0
I agree 100% about the people who put a 5 star review for the last book in a series that they want to read or something like that. It does skew the review, and also, when I add that book I think, “Oh hey, is it out already!? Can I track down an arc? Get some spoilers to whet my appetite?” And then am immediately sad when I realize none of those things are true. Luckily I haven’t had too many problems with spammers. I still love it though- it helps me keep track of what I am reading, what I have on hold at the library, and to easily find the books I am waiting for release wise to continually check if the library has gotten them in yet.
I never understood the reasons of will-never-read shelves either. Do they really need to remind themselves to never pick up this book?
I have seen a lot of the rumble around on Goodreads and when I walk into a situation I just go the other way. With the people I am friends with and the minor requests I get I am still able to ignore a lot. I guess when you are more popular it gets harder.
To bad that other people ruin your experience of such a great platform.
I honestly only use it for tracking books. I wish there was a way to not have “friends” at all just because I don’t use it that! I too hate when there is a 5 star review and I know that book isn’t out yet and ARCs aren’t around. I find it annoying. Didn’t know about the negative shelves. That is horrible!
I’d like to find a site purely for tracking my books, but nothing else. I guess I anti-social that way!!! I save it for the blogs I follow.
I’m building one! 🙂
I’m fully aware I’m two years late to the party here but I found the same with Goodreads – I logged in with Facebook and now all my Facebook friends get automatically added as my Goodreads friends and get to see what I’m looking for and reading. So to fix the problem I built Shelvable. It lets you create as many shelves as you want, each with a section for finished and unfinished books, and nobody knows what’s on your shelf unless you make it public.
I hate seeing negative reviewers…and by negative, I don’t mean “I didn’t like this book because x, y, z” – I mean the reviewers who have 50+ shelves and they are titled “This book makes me want to shoot myself” “Good job killing trees” etc. I’ve seen some awful shelf names and these reviewers never give a valid reason for not liking the book. I mean…I will read a review for a book that someone didn’t like if it’s not bullying. If they say, I couldn’t get into the story, it was dry, anticlimactic, etc. – those are reasons! I see more author/book/blogger bullying on Goodreads than anywhere else.
Luckily the few groups I belong in have no bullying and it’s a great community of book lovers.
You know, I don’t use Goodreads all that much. I just keep track of books I’ve read/want to read/am reading. I don’t follow reviews unless it’s for a book I’ve just finished and I don’t follow discussions at all. And I’ve got all of 35 friends on it, haha. I’m more more active on my blog than I am on any other site, so I guess I don’t really see the bad sides of Goodreads. You do bring up some good points though.
I don’t use Goodreads a whole lot, just to track books that I want to read. You do see an awful lot of people with DNR shelves for books though. That’s just unnecessary. If you didn’t like the book give it a one star and leave it in your Finished shelf.
Great post, definitely agree with ya.
I use GoodReads a lot and i love the first reads giveaways. I have never really seen that much negative behaviors on GoodReads but i definately agree with you on yiur pet peeves.
I use GoodReads a lot and i love the first reads giveaways. I have never really seen that much negative behaviors on GoodReads but i definately agree with you on yiur pet peeves.
I love goodreads for finding out about new books, checking ratings before buy and checking info like publication date. I do my very best to stay away from the drama!
I love goodreads, but for my own purposes. I don’t really use it to find out if a book is good or not. I will sometimes check out my friend’s reviews after or during reading a book. I also don’t see much of the drama really, I’ve heard of it but often just ignore it. Goodreads is probably the only way I keep what I’m reading organized and I have tried a couple other sites like it but nothing compares.
I guess for me the positives outweigh the negatives and I will probably use it for a long time yet. It’s a site you can do either a little or a lot with and I choose somewhere in the middle. I get what your saying but it doesn’t really make me dislike Goodreads, just dislike people more.
I used to love Goodreads but once I started blogging it kind of died on me. I get so caught up in trying to keep up with the blog world that I don’t get to mess with Goodreads as much or posting my reviews is always a “oh crap I have to put it on Goodreads”. Sucks. I’ve notice a lot of people get really nasty of there.
Luckily I haven’t personally had a bad experience with goodreads, but I agree with the points you made. It’s really annoying when people mark a book with stars that they haven’t actually read.
My one bad experience was a comment on an amazon review when someone told me my review was way too long and just got totally rude about it. If you don’t like my review, don’t read it! At least my review went through all the things I like and don’t like and didn’t just have one small paragraph that really tells you nothing. We all have different review styles and that’s what makes having all the different reviews so helpful, we get a variety of thoughts and opinions. I know I’m too sensitive, but that one really upset me.
I only discovered Goodreads recently, but I like it for the most part. It has been a great tool for tracking the books I have read, and the progress feature makes it easy to record my thoughts about books while I’m reading them.
I haven’t gotten involved in any discussions, so I can’t say I have had a negative experience there. But I totally agree with you about hating reviews written by people who haven’t read the books. When I’m deciding whether to buy a book or not, I want to know what people liked and didn’t like about it. If someone hasn’t read it, their review isn’t going to be helpful.
I just finished a book that’s to be released in September and people have reviewed it … but haven’t read it. I wondered why people were giving it such low ratings, so I read a few and they’re just ASSUMING it would be bad. That’s crap!
And I hate it when people decide it’s okay to be rude on Goodreads. I posted a poor review of a book by a VERY famous author and someone totally came in and bashed me for it. Another blogger came in to defend me (since I had no clue what was going on) and he was yelling at her, too. Can’t we just agree that we won’t ALL love the same books?
I have a love/hate relationship with Goodreads, too. I think more times than not, I’m frustrated!
Great discussion!
I think this is a great discussion (rant) topic, Katie! I love Goodreads to death as well. I’m sorry you had to experience getting bullied on it, but there are some seriously mean people out there. I get SO ANGRY when people rate books without reading them, regardless if it’s positive or negative! That’s so judgmental, I think. I just try to ignore all of it. Awesome post, Katie!
I love Goodreads. I wouldn’t have read half the books I have had it not been for Goodreads. Back when I started reading, I used to stick to one author and try to find all the books – quite cumbersome even with Wikipedia, let me tell you. Then came along Goodreads – and my problems were solved.
I agree it has a bad side – all those ratings for no reason; the book hasn’t even released yet, damn it! Not to mention some ratings that have fooled me into reading a book. Then those insincere readers who just come to be on Goodreads to ‘make friends’, whom I honestly feel like informing that Goodreads is not a dating website. As for the discussions, I never entered any – from day 1. I would rather use that time reading books; even if I didn’t have anyone to discuss said books with (I have been on enough online forums to know I don’t want to get into a debate in cyberspace where it is so easy to be downright rude to people.)
So I do love Goodreads, even with it’s imperfections because I do love books and it brought me close to it.
This is a fantastic idea for a discussion! I too, have a hate-relationship with Goodreads. I think I agree with all your points about the “will-not-read” shelf. I like having a shelf like that(except mine’s not-for-me), and it’s not meant to be rude or mean in anyway. I deal with books a lot, like I’m sure we all do, and I really do have trouble remembering which books I want to stay away from based on reviews or experience with the first book in a series. Maybe multiple shelves of “worst books ever I haven’t read” would be mean, but for me, the idea of a “not for me” shelf is really useful.
I think my love for GR outweighs what I don’t like. It’s sad that people think it’s okay to be rude to fellow book lovers/authors. 😐
I created a Goodreads account way before I started blogging. I love that you can keeping track of your books. But I’ve never used it very heavily.
I agree, though, about the bullying. The things people feel comfortable saying online is crazy. And it makes me so nervous to read comments now, too.
I’ve been using GoodReads fro a while, and there are a lot of great things about it (like keeping track of books I’ve read, what’s coming out, bonding with friends and strangers over books…) but there are some bad sides, too. I’ve refused to post a review for a book before because the author was freaking out on anyone who left negative reviews, and I don’t see the point of a will-never-read shelf either! I do, however, have a shelf for my DNF books. In part so I don’t look at the book in the future and go “Oh, pretty cover, interesting blurb, let’s read this!” without at least acknowledging that I did try before… I don’t think I’ve been the victim of any spammer requests, at least. Thankfully, by the sounds of things!
Laureen @ Ms. Bibliophile.
People rating books on Goodreads before they read them is such a pet peeve. What’s the point? Unless you’re psychic, wait to read it and THEN give it an honest rating. A will-never-read shelf just sounds mean.
Sara at The Page Sage
I love it for what it is but I agree with you about some of the people. It’s so frustrating to see the drama and the snide remarks all over the place. I also HATE when people put the ‘will-never-read’ or ‘authors-behaving-badly’ shelves…it seems like a waste of energy to do that and it takes up unnecessary room on your page. The whole rating books thing drives me nuts too, just because you adore an author doesn’t mean their books are automatically 5 stars.
I do understand why people might not like Goodreads but I mostly use it to keep track of the books I’ve read and books that I have on my shelves since sometimes I forget that I have a certain book and end buying a second one. So in that repect it is helpful for me.
I love Goodreads, especially it’s barcode scanner, which is super handy if I can’t afford books but want to keep track of the ones I want to purchase.
I don’t pay much attention to groups, I probably should but there’s just so many conflicting opinions :p
– Krys
I adore goodreads, but I TOTALLY agree with the 3 books/ 3500 friends thing. Goodness, every time I see that my radar goes up and I all like CREEPER HELP ME..oh wait, I’ll just press this ignore button. Yay!! All better 😀
Happy reading
Jackie
Definitely in the middle. I feel like it’s hard to find books on there some times, and it’s also hard to find people’s thoughts! I prefer to just ask bloggers, since they’ll give me the best responses. I do love it for information about books though… So I guess I’m in the middle.
YES. THIS. ALLLLLL OF THIS.
Especially the friend requesting. I’ve gotten SO MANY friend requests recently and have only accepted two. TWO. Because they don’t answer my question. *le sigh*
I love this post, Katie!
♥Jessica(:
Just a Booklover
Same thoughts here, Katie! I saw a book the other day that I was super excited for. I know no review copies were out yet and it had an average star rating somewhere between 2 and 3 stars. Now I know enough that those aren’t accurate but I can’t help to think of people who just see that without investigating further and move on from adding the book, and that is terrible. I really wish people would stop doing that. Or people who give a book they want to read 5 stars before they even start because they are excited for it. *sigh* Just wait, please! There’s been plenty of books I thought would be automatic 5 stars too and have ended up being 3 or less. I don’t have as much time for playing around Goodreads as I used to, but I still love it. 🙂
Totally agree with all of this. Goodreads has been a handy tool for finding and keeping track of books, but I don’t understand the need for attacking authors/bloggers on it. And don’t even get me started on all the spammy friend requests. I’ve been bombarded by them this week and it’s super frustrating. I also don’t understand the point/purpose in rating a title you’ve obviously never read or creating “hate” shelves for books by authors you don’t like/don’t want to read. Like, you know you don’t like the author or their books, you don’t need a GR shelf to remind yourself not to read their books.
I’ve been really lucky to have never gotten any negative comments on my posts, but I know a LOT of friends who have. I do think GR has its negative sides, but for me, it’s been a really positive experience. I discover so many new books from it (like Angelfall!) and considering that the majority of my friendships were formed on there, it has a special place in my heart. I do agree completely with your opinions on it, though, Katie. 🙂
I agree with most of your points but especially the one about people rating books on Goodreads when they haven’t even read it. I understand that readers get super excited about a certain sequel coming out, but giving it 5 stars without having read it yet isn’t helping anyone.
The rude threads are definitely a problem, the rest I can get over but the putdowns have got to go. I take pride in being a book lover because we get to see and learn real life examples from the characters we read, but the things some people say to each other and authors is embarrassing and disappointing. I personally, keep away from them but I stumbled on one, where a really well known and one of my personal favourite authors was being attacked. It’s dreadful
Great post!
-Mari @ The Sirenic Codex
I very much agree about the negative comments! Although everyone is entitled to their opinion, there is an appropriate manner in writing it and answering other Goodread members. It’s sad seeing great books and hard working authors being put down!
There will unfortunately be trolls all over any good thing the internet tries to do. I love Goodreads because it is such a great way to organize my books. But there are a lot of bad people on there that ruin it for others. I can’t stand people who go and 1 star every book just to ruin the averages. I wish they would do something about those profiles because it is obvious all their reviews are 1 star.
Julie @ Chapter Break
Haha I feel like I should have my say since I have a never-will-read shelf. I won’t read those books on principle and I do have the right not to and to shelf them accordingly whether I’ve read them or not. That’s what Goodreads is for – it’s a place where you can sort out your thoughts about books – what to read, what books to avoid, what books you loved or didn’t like, which authors you don’t like etc. And it can draw similar-minded people together.
And part of the reason why there is so much drama on Goodreads is because fans AND/OR authors of books go onto the negative reviewers’ posts and rant. Or they talk about the reviewers and their reviews on other social media behind the reviewers’ backs, someone tells the reviewer and they defend themselves. All of which could be avoided if the negative review was ignored. I’ve seen it, Katie. Even though I don’t have one, I recognize that those badly-behaving author shelves that some reviewers have are there for a reason. And, because it is a community those reviewers’ friends will support them – just like yours will you. 🙂 And let’s face it, if a person wants to read a book they will – regardless of how a Goodreader’s reviewed it or marked it on their shelves. I’m a prime example of that. I’ve read The Selection and I have The Elite by Kiera Cass.
I write negative reviews because I won’t lie to a reader or publisher about the way I feel about a book. To me, it is deceitful and kiss-assery to do so. If I don’t like a book, I don’t like it. Not every book is four or five stars. I barely give five stars because if a truly exceptional book comes along I have no room to tell everyone how wonderful it is, and that it is unique and special, if every single book or near enough to every single book I have on my shelf is five stars. If I truly love a book I want to be able to proudly proclaim it as a five star book and for the people who read my review to know that it is because I don’t make a habit of giving those kind of ratings.
I’m pretty new to blogging and I am kind of low key, but I do notice things and I don’t believe the drama that happens would go on if people didn’t react to incidentals like how book shelves are labeled or react to negative reviews. To be honest, when I was very new to Goodreads I was a little surprised and shocked at how the shelves were labelled, but now I just ignore them, because there’s more important things to worry about. If those reviewers want to label their shelves that way, it is their right to do so.
I hope you don’t mind me having my say, Katie, because I’m actually a pretty big fan of yours. 🙂
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How to repair shoes
Well, while I agree with some of your points, I think that happens with every social media. People think it’s okay to be mean and rude and all that on the internet, because it’s not Real Life. They don’t understand how that effects people, and that it hurts them. Or they do, and enjoy the ability to inflict pain from afar, where nothing can get you. Either way, there is not a single social media without it, so I don’t see it as a downside to GR, but rather for the internet as a whole.
As for rating books you haven’t read… I hate it, as well, especially the one stars because that just hurts the book. A biggest Pet Peeve of mine is rating books that not only you haven’t read, but are not even written yet. It drives me crazy!
However, I will mention regarding “Will-Never-Read”. I opened a self like this on GR for one book, because people kept recommending it to me, and there is just something about that book that made me make a conscious decision not to read it, and I wanted to both explain it and stop receiving the recommendations. I have not rated the book, because I haven’t read it (obviously), but I can’t comment on it without adding it to my shelves so I did it. If, in the future, there will be another book I’ll get recommendations for that I don’t intend to read, I will add it too to explain myself.
However, I will never hate a first book and add the second/third/etc to my “Will Never Read” because I agree there is not purpose to that…
As an author, I’m always totally baffled by the strangers who rate my books before I’ve even turned in a draft to my editor. Don’t get me wrong, my books will have early ratings from beta people and foreign publishers sometimes, but when someone gives book #3 in the series 5-stars before I’ve even finished writing book #2…what is that about?
Maybe they loved the series so far and are trying to be extra-supportive? It doesn’t really work though, because I don’t take ratings or reviews seriously if I know the person hasn’t read the book. Hey random raters, thanks but maybe next time show your support with a comment or a WoW post on your blog?
Great post, Katie. I like the idea of free speech and believe that people have rights to shelve books as will-never-read or worst-shite-ever, but like you said, if you wouldn’t say that to someone’s face when you meet her (or end up next to her on a panel someday–I’m talking to you aspiring writers) then why are you trolling?
I LOVED Goodreads before I was blogging. I read reviews before purchasing and really utilized it. When I first started I was still enjoying it but lately I feel like I’ve let my feed get junked with people I don’t communicate too and I have a few that all they do is spam me with book recs. Books that are not at all anything I like to read. that annoys me and wastes time. I should go through there and pick out top friends but who has time to do that? Ugh. So I find I barely glance at my feed now. Great rant! I think we can all relate.
My Friends Are Fiction
Oh, I have to add I REALLY annoys me when folks rate a book they’ve not read. GRR. Ok, I just needed to add that 🙂
I totally agree with the whole reading-before-reviewing thing. I hate it when people rate books before they’ve even been released; this happens quite a lot with popular Y.A. authors like Cassandra Clare and Becca Fitzpatrick. Read before rating, always. I’m okay with people who couldn’t finish a book, but those who don’t even bother should be given a swift kick to the behind.
[/rant]
I’ll never understand the “never to be read” shelves on goodreads. It’s like – is it really worth the extra time to go out of your way to add a book to this shelf, and then spend time commenting back and forth with others who agree. It sucks. I don’t know any other way to describe it.
And the friend request thing? I only ever accept like one for every ten I get because no one answers the stupid question! It’s like. Just say something, I don’t care!
And YES. It’s like how people post things on Facebook – if you won’t say it to the persons face, don’t say it at all. That’s what private journals are for.
Great post!
Definitely agree with the non-read ratings! Great post!
also agree with the non-read ratings, totally misleading. since I’ve discovered do many new books since i started following your blog, I like that it tells me when a book on my “to-read” shelf has been released or when an author I’ve read comes out with a new book. no way would I be that organized on my own!
also agree with the non-read ratings, totally misleading. since I’ve discovered do many new books since i started following your blog, I like that it tells me when a book on my “to-read” shelf has been released or when an author I’ve read comes out with a new book. no way would I be that organized on my own!
I guess you have to take the good with the bad. I’ve made some wonderful friends on Goodreads and have learned to live with the things that irritate me.
To me the worst is someone writing a scathing review for a book and starting it with “I dislike this genre…”. Well then, why on earth did you read the book?
I like using Goodreads for myself. I don’t really take part in any discussions or even read others reviews really – I just like to track my own books and find some other books that I might enjoy reading.
http://www.alicekouzmenkowriting.blogspot.com
Alice K, I’m the same way. I am part of discussion threads, but I never have time to go read what people are talking about. I’d be there for days on end if I did that.
The other thing is I don’t think I know how to fully take advantage and utilize all of Goodreads great components.
It does bug me that Goodreads will allow a user to give a rating without having read the book. There should be some kind of kickback that if the book is not on the read shelf, it should kickback their input or block out the ratings and review fields so information cannot be entered. It is definitely not a true depiction of the reading population’s opinions.
I don’t get friending people without also having a lot of books on your shelf (I’m very skeptical whenever I see someone with my friends than books-not really the point.) But I mostly stay out of the discussions and use it to track my ratings and reviews so I don’t see much of the ugly side (thank God!)
You’ve made a lot of really excellent points that I agree with. I’m not on goodreads all that often. I usually just pop in to add a book to my ever growing TBR list. I also like seeing what my GR friends have added. The lists people comprise for future releases are also really great. In terms of keeping your books organized and such, it’s a great place. It’s a shame that no matter what the online outlet is, any website will always attract trouble. I think maybe Goodreads should crack down on a lot of the stuff you’ve mentioned. I’ll never understand people who just join to add friends but don’t actually read. There are plenty of other websites out there to mess around.
Great post. I agree with so much of what you said. I hate it when people rate books they haven’t read, it just is not the point of the whole system and mucks up the genuine average rating of titles.
I aslo have issues with the ‘never read’ book shelves. Sometimes it feels like a linch mob and just because one person has added a book to a ‘never read’ shelf everybody else does without really understanding the reason why in the first place. There is a lot of talk of author’s behaving badly and I agree some of the author behaviour has been awful but it works both ways. I have seen readers and bloggers attack authors without any real reason.
I also hate the way commenting has turned into a land mine of social issues. I cannot comment on someones review to tell them I politely disagree without someone telling me I have no right to come onto someone elses review and say that. I am only starting conversation with a fellow book reader and then suddenly I am bullied into backing off because my opinion doesn’t match this person and thier firends.
I also hate it when I add a book to my to read shelf and I get messages saying that the author is bad and I shouldn’t read it. Or the book contains something that others have found offensive. I like to make my own mind up about books not follow everyone else.
Yet for all the negatives it is a website I go on it everyday, I love some of the people on there and have met some great readers, bloggers and friends. As a blogger it has made my job a million times easier.
Thanks for posting this : )
Kate @ Reading Under the Willow Tree
A great post! Goodreads has a lot of great qualities and unfortunately a few qualities that I don’t appreciate. A couple of beefs: authors who only friend you to promote their book. I realize this could be tricky territory as they need to self-promote. But seriously, the third time I ignore you, you may want to leave well enough alone. Second, goodreads has an abysmal search engine. J/S. Third, reviewers who rip up a book in a review and do not cover spoilers. It is just an opinion after all.
I kinda agree with you, but the one thing I do love about Goodreads is the connections and the groups I have found. I wasn’t reading much until I joined Goodreads back in January, I found my inner reader again, and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I hate some of the features, like why can’t you undo the to read button, especially if you click it by mistake or on the wrong kind of book. I am still terrible at writing reviews, but at least I have tried to be completely honest in the one’s I have written.
I still appreciate seeing what others think about Goodreads
I found goodreads, when reading a book and feeling annoyed with it, I would look for reviews to see if I was being picky or if others had the same issues. Since then I write reviews on pretty much everything I read.
I tend to avoid ignore the overall star rating of the books (as almost all books have ~4 as there are fans of everything out there and someone will love it). So while I notice foolish people rating a book, I don’t pay it much attention. But I will read the individual star levels, mainly 3, 2 and 4 to see other’s take on a book, especially if someone is recommending it and I am leery. And I often read some of the comments and have seen some ridiculously long comment interactions criticizing a particular review.
I have had a couple of reviews where people disagreed with my review and sought to enlighten me about why I was wrong. Given I didn’t know them, and that they were able to make their argument in their own review, and that I wasn’t suggesting anyone else was moronic for liking the book,I didn’t really get the need, but I responded and they tended to stop after a couple of exchanges. But later I deleted the comments. Since it was my review I can delete all the comments, not just my own. In fact, I think if someone was particularly unpleasant, I would likely just delete it without responding at all. They probably would never know.
I wonder though if this tends to happen more with books/authors having particularly strong followers, who think that others who cannot appreciate their current favourites are cretins or imbeciles?
I will note that I have only received a bit of spam and few requests. I only have 7 friends (and actually pared that down) but I manage to find books to read. I do make a habit that, when someone likes a review, I look and compare books (if their profile is open) and read some of theirs and see what else they have liked, so I manage fairly well. I am always disappointed when they don’t write reviews but just have star ratings 🙂
BTW, how are you enjoyed the Rae Carson books?
Yeah, I too love Goodreads for the excellent reviews but when I see people rating a book that’s not even out, that’s just been sold and not even written yet? I think that person should be banned from reviewing for a month or so, because how can you give any rating without reading it. Especially for bad ratings, but good ratings too because that’s not objective either.
I LOVE Rae Carson! she’s so awesome 🙂