Why Goodreads Sucks 3.0

Hey, good to see you.

Every day someone comes to my blog to read this post. It’s my most-read post, and had I known that when I originally composed the entry for my blog, I would have been more thoughtful.

Apparently many, many people have many, many opinions about this social networking community. Back when I composed this post, I was just coming off a frustrating round of nonsense and I was feeling frisky and rant-o-riffic.

What you are reading is the third version of the post.

It’s “Why Goodreads Sucks 3.0.”

Why have I revised it twice? Well…

The original post was a rambling, yet entertaining rant regarding my negative experiences with the site after doing a book giveaway for Leather to the Corinthians. It was fun, cathartic, and poorly organized. It didn’t get my points across in a clear manner.

Soon after posting it, I forgot all about it. But then…

I noticed that people were coming to the blog. Some nodded their heads in agreement. They had also had a bad experience. These people were readers, reviewers, and authors. Others had their fun with me. Hey, I’m good either way. I’m no shrinking violet.

But over time, as the traffic continued, I began to think (and overthink) the content of the post. I’d add to it, revise small pieces. The whole thing was a mess, all over the place. If this was the only thing of mine that someone was going to read, was it the best example of my work?

NOT BY A LONGSHOT.

So, I took it down and put up a lame poem about “Why Goodreads Sucks.” That sat for a while and the clicks kept coming.

So now we are here. Sigh. I’d love to retire this post because I am long since over it and the trolls have gone on to better targets. But, thanks to the permanence of the Internet, it’s probably always going to show up as a link, and if nothing was on the end of someone’s clicky clicky, I’d just look like a pussy for deleting the post.

I grew up in Detroit. That’s not going to happen.

OK. Still with me? Let us proceed then…

For the sake of transparency, I will break down the content of that original post and summarize the poem.

The Original Post (what I talked about):

• I hosted a Goodreads Giveaway.
• A cheater entered my giveaway using multiple false profiles.
• This user rated my book a 1 and 2 star using false profiles, just to be a troll.
• My ranting brought out a few of Goodreads meanies, who placed my book on shelves with insulting names.
• It turns out there’s all kinds of shitty behavior going on in the Goodreads community and some people are all bunched up over it.
• Turns out there are people that give books low ratings just to be dicks and are actually out to hurt people. These people are readers, reviewers, and writers. They are incredibly lame for doing so.
• If you write a book – if you put your work out for the public – you must be willing to take your lumps.
• If you rate a book, review it. Explain the high or low rating. Go on, give us a book report and tell us how you feel. It’s too easy to just click.
• I coined the phrase, “Don’t just click and you won’t be a dick.” All the kids are saying it now.
• I also posted a picture of a cute kitten.

That was pretty much it. Over time (it took a while) the folks running Goodreads cleaned up the nonsense that was going on. They were super cool about it. Also, a number of policy changes seemed to clean things up a bit.

My Second Post – Why Goodreads Sucks, Part II (what I waxed poetically about):

• Sometimes people suck.
• Sometimes I am full of shit.
• There was no kitten picture. Instead, I posted a picture of monkeys hugging.

Now THIS.

Why Goodreads Sucks 3.0.

I’ll be honest (I try to be, that way I never have to remember what I say or write). I am not really into Goodreads any more. When I finish a book and I am compelled to write about it, I post a review there and on Amazon. Other than that, I spend as little time as possible with it. Except the Bizarro Fiction reading group. Those people rock.

I don’t find it that engaging and I prefer to spend my social networking time on FB and Twitter. So…I don’t have a strong sense of the state of things today. I had a crappy experience, used my blog to purge it from my system and moved on.

So here we are. Hopefully you stuck with me to the end of this thing. Tell me, does it still suck? Is it better? Are people cooler now? What’s going on?

Why did you Google “Goodreads Sucks” and click on the link that brought you here?

I’m curious.

P.S. – There was a Part II (mentioned above) and III (not mentioned at all) to this saga. Those posts aren’t relevant any more, so I took them down. They weren’t that great or insightful anyway. And now that you’re here, all the way to the bottom – how about checking out some of my other posts. Thanks. YOU ROCK.

P.P.S – The secret code phrase for this article is Banana Hammock. Post this phrase in the comments below and you will have good luck for 7 years. Don’t post and you will have bad luck for 13.