Blogging. I haven't done it for years. With the advent of social networking sites, I haven't felt the need to write out anything overly interesting or in depth on a platform like this. I can chat and discuss and enjoy things like books on social sites and get far more into (and out of) reading than I ever had in the past. The same regarding my dog, opinions, and political shenanigans.
At least, that's how it used to be.
I joined Goodreads in 2007. I initially used it just to catalog the books I read. Then I began to realize how much I relied on reviews (from friends and others) to determine what books were worthy of my time. And because I relied on the reasoned opinions of others, I began writing reviews, I began taking part in book discussions, I became a "Librarian" to help catalog data.
A year or two ago, I realized that Goodreads staff had "hidden" at least one of my reviews (others are "missing"). I am going to assume the author and his/her friends flagged it and GoodReads made it "go away." I think this, because the author has not (as of the writing of this entry) logged back into Goodreads. Shame, really, because s/he would have realized that I found out about it (while reading the feedback forum) and discovered my review was hidden. I contacted GR staff who "unhid" it after "reviewing" my review, to determine that it never violated policy and could stay.
I thought that fascinating, especially in light of their insistence that a person reviews each flag. If so, why did they hide my review to begin with? But I decided to stick with GR, I figured it was some sort of fluke and I continued on my happily reviewing/chatting way.
Then Amazon bought Goodreads. This created quite a kerfluffle, though I don't think many were too surprised. I know GR and other sites exist to make money, and I'm glad Otis & Co came up with something as awesome as GR. A good many people left GR at that point, not wanting to become datapoints for Amazon. Not happy with the acquisition, maybe worried about what would happen to the site, to OUR data. Whatever their numerous (and valid) reasons, I chose to wait it out, hoping Amazon would leave it alone, like I feel they had Audible (another acquired site I use frequently).
And I waited. I was saddened by the loss of opinions as many people I knew left the site and took their reviews down. I loved their opinions, I loved seeing why I should or should not read a book. I felt a bit of grief over my favorite social networking site. I created an account at LibraryThing that I could never quite get into (I didn't care for the interface), and GR seemed quiet enough.
And then a few months ago, GR started "enforcing" new (or old, if you listen to them) policies regarding shelving names and reviews. In the past, GR (including Otis himself, actually) had said that Goodreads was a site for readers and we could shelve our books as we saw fit, that we could write reviews as we sought fit (as long as it didn't get out of hand). Now they were unceremoniously deleting people's content and shelves.
And that bothered me. It is, in my opinion, the beginning of Amazon's censorship and abuse of the site, not to use the reading data to help sales and pimp books, but an attempt to tailor the site to make authors happy. To sell us to them, to tear up the honest and useful reviews and fill the site with rainbows and kittens.
Will I stay on GRAmazon? I'll keep my account there for now. I'll probably keep my content up for now as well, but I don't think I can bring myself to contribute any more unless the stupidity ceases. I want a site for readers. Some place where I can honestly talk about books and authors (I believe authors are an intrinsic part of their books and sometimes deserve being discussed as well) without worry about what kind of datapoint I'm presenting to Amazon and how and when they'll censor me. I didn't mind being part of GRAmazon's data feed, I do mind them manipulating what I'd like to say.
So that's why this blog is here. Until I am comfortable on another social reading site enough to keep my reviews there, I'll be reviewing here. I don't get the site traffic my reviews might get on GRAmazon, but at least I won't have to worry about what will happen to my reviews.
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