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Goodreads Is Broken

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61–70 of 292 posts

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#61

Post by inimino »

mottosso wrote: post #43
jwr wrote: post #14

I wonder if people posting on Medium realize that for many of us the articles are inaccessible ("Sign up for a free Medium account, and you’ll get one more story in your member preview this month"). It seems that people missed the change in Medium's business model and still think that it's a site for posting publicly accessible articles.

Without JavaScript, they load quickly and without popups or membership requirement on my end.

If you set up a non-standard browsing environment you can get around it, but it's still a trash experience for the rest of us. I no longer follow Medium links at all.

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#62

Post by javajosh »

b0rsuk wrote: post #39
xioxox wrote: post #7

Yes - Goodreads is pretty awful when it could be so much better. The searching is awful, the comment UI is grim and the suggested books lists are poor. The most useful tool I've found for finding new authors is this: https://www.literature-map.com/ I only use it for keeping track of what I've read and to look up negative reviews to see whether a book is likely to be one I won't like. The scoring system is almost usel…

I'm not impressed. Philip K. Dick next to Stanisław Lem. The two lived in the same period, and there's a funny anecdote about them (Philip believed Stanisław was invented by communists to trick him, because no single person could be so resourceful. Consequently, Philip K. Dick refused to communicate with Stanisław Lem). But their literature is very different. Dick's stories are typically short and easy to digest, wit…

Lem and Dick shared a penchant for framing abstract, deeply profound questions about society in the form of concrete science fiction stories. This is not common. Space opera has always dominated the genre, but neither of them spent time writing "bildungsromans with lasers". So, I'd call the connection is quite valid, having read both of them widely.

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#63

Post by akudha »

vertoc wrote: post #8
mmanfrin wrote: post #6

I read quite a bit and generally like Goodreads for what it is, but I agree that it's essentially not grown at all in 12 years. There are parts that are broken, there are features that are lacking, and it frustrates me to no end. Many, many times I've thought of how I'd build a competitor, but it is pointless because Goodread's moat is too big: the integrations with the kindle go a very long way towards cultivating e…

This seems like a fun side project idea honestly - can I ask what’s most broken and which great features are missing? I took a quick look and there is a official Goodreads API that you can use to pull titles from people’s accounts (once they authorize your app). Yes, Amazon could shut it down but eh, might be worth the risk

It is worth a try, but where does one get all the book cover images, ISBN etc in bulk?

I remember someone making open source version of IMDB (can't remember the link now), I think I saw it on Patreon. Would be nice to make something similar for books.

One feature I'd love as a user (specifically for non-fiction books) - given a book, show me all books referenced in that book (in the chapter, footnotes etc). I've found quite a few gems, simply by scanning the referenced books list in the books that I like. After all, the author is an expert on the subject, and it is safe to assume he/she would have read tons of books than me on the subject.

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#64

Post by inimino »

duncanawoods wrote: post #11
mmanfrin wrote: post #6

I read quite a bit and generally like Goodreads for what it is, but I agree that it's essentially not grown at all in 12 years. There are parts that are broken, there are features that are lacking, and it frustrates me to no end. Many, many times I've thought of how I'd build a competitor, but it is pointless because Goodread's moat is too big: the integrations with the kindle go a very long way towards cultivating e…

I wouldn't be so defeatist! I used Goodreads manually for a bit. Adding books only takes seconds which seems inconsequential compared to how long it takes to read them. I didn't continue with it because there just wasn't any real value. I don't want a trophy shelf of read books or get automated recommendations by "people who have read similar books" because those titles are very predictable. I'd need something differ…

I've only ever used Goodreads manually, have never owned and have absolutely no interest whatsoever in e-readers. (I trust physical books I can hold and write on, thank you very much!)

I've used it a few times to show other people what I've read and help them get book recommendations or even find a book title again.

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#65

Post by exergy »

duncanawoods wrote: post #11
mmanfrin wrote: post #6

I read quite a bit and generally like Goodreads for what it is, but I agree that it's essentially not grown at all in 12 years. There are parts that are broken, there are features that are lacking, and it frustrates me to no end. Many, many times I've thought of how I'd build a competitor, but it is pointless because Goodread's moat is too big: the integrations with the kindle go a very long way towards cultivating e…

I wouldn't be so defeatist! I used Goodreads manually for a bit. Adding books only takes seconds which seems inconsequential compared to how long it takes to read them. I didn't continue with it because there just wasn't any real value. I don't want a trophy shelf of read books or get automated recommendations by "people who have read similar books" because those titles are very predictable. I'd need something differ…

Fuck yeah to all your points

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#66

Post by lordgrenville »

The article doesn't mention my biggest pet peeve about Goodreads: it makes you type reviews in HTML. It's 2019, how hard is a WYSIWYG editor? Or at least accept Markdown!

One more complex feature I'd love from an ideal-world Goodreads is ephemeral book clubs. Find people who want to read this specific book, read it together with them, and then disband.

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#67

Post by ColinWright »

hatmatrix wrote: post #42
ColinWright wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, the window containing that message has a "close" icon at the top right, and then I can read the article. If you don't have a similar close icon I'd be interested in seeing a screenshot of what you can see. I have no love for Medium, but so far I've been able to read everything, so I'd be interested to see how my experience differs from yours.

I get "Read smarter, not harder. You have one story remaining in your free member preview for this month. Unlock the best of Medium when you upgrade for $5/month." down at the bottom.

I don't know what we're doing differently. I always get an annoying pop-up trying to get me to register or to become a member, but there's always a close icon, and I never seem to be blocked from reading.

I wonder how our setups differ ...

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#68

Post by munmaek »

inimino wrote: post #61
mottosso wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without JavaScript, they load quickly and without popups or membership requirement on my end.

If you set up a non-standard browsing environment you can get around it, but it's still a trash experience for the rest of us. I no longer follow Medium links at all.

All you need is one plugin, uMatrix, to solve it. Prevent medium from loading cookies and javascript, and you're good. You do need to enable the github gist javascript though to see gists.

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#69

Post by dorfsmay »

jwr wrote: post #14

I wonder if people posting on Medium realize that for many of us the articles are inaccessible ("Sign up for a free Medium account, and you’ll get one more story in your member preview this month"). It seems that people missed the change in Medium's business model and still think that it's a site for posting publicly accessible articles.

It usually opens fine in incognito mode.

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#70

Post by ErikAugust »

jwr wrote: post #14

I wonder if people posting on Medium realize that for many of us the articles are inaccessible ("Sign up for a free Medium account, and you’ll get one more story in your member preview this month"). It seems that people missed the change in Medium's business model and still think that it's a site for posting publicly accessible articles.

https://beta.trimread.com/articles/189
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