ROBUST discussion

I had someone send me a friend request on Goodreads the other day. She was new and only had a few friends, so even though I didn't know her, I thought 'what the hey?' and pressed accept. No, I couldn't do that, it said, I had to answer a question first - "Who is your favourite author and why?" Easy. I wrote the answer and pressed send. No, I couldn't answer like that, it said...

I had to answer using ONLY ONE WORD!

Who wrote the rules around here?

They sent you a friend request, and then wanted you to answer questions?

Command-W closes the window without replying on a Mac. It is my most common reflex action.

I bet Windows computers have a similar convenience.

I've gotten very few friend requests here, but the ones I've gotten did not include a question. All I had to do was accept the request.

I accept all friend requests on goodreads, except people who are obviously trying to sell me something. Most of the time I never hear from the person again.

I accept all friend requests on Goodreads, too, except those that demand I fill in a questionnaire.

I always check the profile before I accept, but I can't think of anyone I've turned down.

Kench, Andre!

J.A. wrote: "I always check the profile before I accept, but I can't think of anyone I've turned down."

Ditto me. But no one has ever asked me to answer questions, especially ones with rules attached for the answer.

We're not very clever answering your question, are we, Katie. Kench...

Katie, how can you answer "who" and "why" with one word? Maybe someone's looking for passwords.

Ahhh, now the clever one chimes in...

There is a function on Goodreads that does something like that. Sounds like the person didn't get the set up right.

It's a privacy setting of some kind.