Goodreads Is Broken • Hacker News Board

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#151

Post by ancarda » Sat, Sep 07, 2019, 9:02 PM UTC

mooreds wrote: post #148

kristopolous wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's an interface problem. Users aren't able to express the fidelity needed through the current action set

Right. You only have four actions on Spotify as I recall (thumbs up, thumbs down, pause and fast forward). I guess some of the other apps have the larger bucket of 'who is watching/acting' based on account. I am not sure how many actions are needed, but I can think of a few more: * Not now, but later is fine * Maybe next month * Play the opposite of this * Something similar but new to me

It'd be nice to have an "I've already seen this" button that will mark an episode/season/show as watched so it doesn't keep coming back up. Netflix really wants me to watch Breaking Bad, but I've already seen it. I liked it; give me more like that, but not exactly that

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#152

Post by frosted-flakes » Sat, Sep 07, 2019, 9:08 PM UTC

ancarda wrote: post #151

mooreds wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. You only have four actions on Spotify as I recall (thumbs up, thumbs down, pause and fast forward). I guess some of the other apps have the larger bucket of 'who is watching/acting' based on account. I am not sure how many actions are needed, but I can think of a few more: * Not now, but later is fine * Maybe next month * Play the opposite of this * Something similar but new to me

It'd be nice to have an "I've already seen this" button that will mark an episode/season/show as watched so it doesn't keep coming back up. Netflix really wants me to watch Breaking Bad, but I've already seen it. I liked it; give me more like that, but not exactly that

You can do this with YouTube. Just click "Not interested" in the three-dots menu, and click the "Tell us why" link that appears.

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#153

Post by gagege » Sat, Sep 07, 2019, 9:11 PM UTC

caiocaiocaio wrote: post #124

1) I like about 75% of the recommendations I get, which is pretty good compared to other recommendation sites I've used. 2) I love the fact that Goodreads has an old-fashioned feeling. Modernizing it would mean a front-end JS framework - making it buggy and obnoxiously slow to use on my old laptop or phone - and a lot of aesthetic features that reduce usability. Oh, and probably light-grey text on a slightly-lighter-…

I agree with you about the old-fashioned-ness. Disagree about the recommendations.

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#154

Post by CydeWeys » Sat, Sep 07, 2019, 9:31 PM UTC

bredren wrote: post #79

CydeWeys wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At this point, Amazon is treating Kindle like Texas Instruments is treating their graphing calculators. Both have entrenched monopolies and have no need whatsoever to improve their product, which being able to sell them at ridiculous margin. It's laughable how much a new Kindle costs the consumer vs how much it actually costs to manufacture. If this were a non-monopolistic market then many competitors would be leapin…

I think some onus is on Apple, the only other player that could deliver hardware and has A complete store for books. I understand it that they would not release any ink devices that fragment their product lineup beyond iPhone and iPad. However, Apple‘s lack of action in providing quality reading experiences that reduce eyestrain and effectively Compete means that everyone has to deal with Amazon’s garbage. I hate to…

I'm with you up until the last point.

Reading is decidedly not niche in the US. Books (across all formats) are a huuuge market. They're roughly 2/3rds the size of the entire videogaming industry in this country, by revenue. The total annual revenue of the US book publishing industry is greater than YouTube's (but just barely).

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#155

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Sep 07, 2019, 9:32 PM UTC

k_vi wrote: post #56

basch wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a shame https://telegra.ph doesnt have the ability to save/send yourself an edit link. Being able to only edit your story on the computer you made it on is a big turnoff.

You can use @telegraph on Telegram to save/edit on your account.

[deleted]

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#156

Post by CydeWeys » Sat, Sep 07, 2019, 9:33 PM UTC

Ecolog wrote: post #76

CydeWeys wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At this point, Amazon is treating Kindle like Texas Instruments is treating their graphing calculators. Both have entrenched monopolies and have no need whatsoever to improve their product, which being able to sell them at ridiculous margin. It's laughable how much a new Kindle costs the consumer vs how much it actually costs to manufacture. If this were a non-monopolistic market then many competitors would be leapin…

Don't Kindles cost a lot to make simply due to the expensive display? E-Ink has a monopoly pretty much which keeps costs high

Monochrome e-ink displays are quite a mature technology at this point, and aren't very expensive. You can go on Alibaba for quotes on bulk rates for e-ink displays.

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#157

Post by CydeWeys » Sat, Sep 07, 2019, 9:35 PM UTC

StavrosK wrote: post #104

CydeWeys wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At this point, Amazon is treating Kindle like Texas Instruments is treating their graphing calculators. Both have entrenched monopolies and have no need whatsoever to improve their product, which being able to sell them at ridiculous margin. It's laughable how much a new Kindle costs the consumer vs how much it actually costs to manufacture. If this were a non-monopolistic market then many competitors would be leapin…

I'm fully aware I'm the minority, but I only read DRM-free books. What's a good ebook reader I can get these days that has good bang for buck?

I only read DRM-free books, and I just use a 5-year-old Kindle Paperwhite. You can use Calibre to convert ePub to mobi, and then view it just fine on Kindles.

You can also get a used Kindle Paperwhite for pretty darn cheap. I wouldn't recommend going to earlier Kindle generations prior to the Paperwhite, because they didn't have backlights which makes reading in low light conditions (like bed) a lot less pleasurable.

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#158

Post by dorchadas » Sat, Sep 07, 2019, 9:41 PM UTC

inimino wrote: post #64

duncanawoods wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I use my Kindle a lot; it's great for travel and I can use it while on an exercise bike or while walking much easier. However, I still only ever use Goodreads manually, and I've marked every book I've read for the past 4 years (at 52+/year). I prefer it manual, and often keep wifi off on my Kindle unless I need to update Scribd downloads.

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#159

Post by cglong » Sat, Sep 07, 2019, 9:58 PM UTC

aklemm wrote: post #41

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…

If you can’t bootstrap engagement with the Kindle integrations, maybe you could bootstrap community/engagement by integrating with public library catalogs and checkout records? Patrons could opt in to sharing their activity automatically and the library website could have update options as part of the checkout management process. Might be a nice little niche entrance into a customer base there.

Our local library's website is based on a platform called BiblioCommons that actually provides a lot of Goodreads' features (including some off the author's wishlist). I can organize all media in their catalogs into various bookshelves, privately or publicly, and add ratings and comments to each.

Amazingly though, this system also doesn't integrate with checkout/-in records, but this seems like a small, easily-fixable feature gap.

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#160

Post by hammock » Sat, Sep 07, 2019, 10:01 PM UTC

My list of books I want to read is way too big that I'll never catch up with it. So my problem is not finding new recommendations, it's deciding which book from the list I want to read next. That's what attracted me to Goodreads, because I can download a cab of the list and sort by different fields, etc.

Anyone else like me, what solutions do you use?