SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Guy wrote: "I was just kidding Penny.

Agreed on all your other points."

:)

Chris wrote: "One of the things I like is how friendly people are here. I am on other sites which most decidedly are not friendly"

Agreed! I'd guess that one of the reasons for that might have something to do with the fact that we mostly use our real names here. I'm not sure why it's different from the rest of the internet that way, but it does seem to be.

Well I can't speak to this group in particular, since I haven't been here that long, but there are definitely trolls and unfriendly folks on Goodreads.

I'd guess they are in much smaller ratios to non-asshats than many other social networks/forums around the internet however.

You visit any forum that discusses gear, like photo gear or computer gear and its just insane

Rob wrote: "Well I can't speak to this group in particular, since I haven't been here that long, but there are definitely trolls and unfriendly folks on Goodreads.

I'd guess they are in much smaller ratios to..."

Yes, there are some very not nice people around. I still can't decide which side of the GR bullies story I believe for example.

I also had a not very pleasant experience when running my first nomination thread for the group. I was new to this and I made mistakes and it felt like there was a guy leading a mob asking for my head on a spike! (I may be reading too much SoIaF). I was over sensitive cause I was new to all of this and I felt like I'd really let Kim down, but he told me to ignore the mean parts and stick with it and I'm so glad I did. It all worked out in the end and I've really enjoyed being a mod on this group.

I don't use my real name. The reason is because at the first time I registered my first ever social media, FB, because I want to participate in a local Science Fiction short-story writing event. I was using a pen name, so I create a FB account based on my pen name. Then I join GR based on my FB account. :P

Some my RL friends introduced me about GR, so I am a rare user who can be convinced to use GR by RL friends (Can this be categorized as a shameless self-appraise?).

So far I haven't found any unfriendly user in GR. :D

Penny wrote: "Carolyn F. wrote: "I've had a few friends join and then they stopped using it after they initially signed up. My daughter uses it mostly for rating her books and looking for new series to read but ..."

I found it as a link on the Diana Galbadon website. When I signed up I liked it mostly so I could keep track (or try to remember) all of the books I've read or am reading. I'd read what other people thought of a book I had just finished, comment or not comment, see which groups had read that book, lurked in those groups and now I'm all Goodreads. I have no idea why other readers wouldn't love the website. There are literally groups for everyone/every genre. I don't know why they're not attracted to it.

Lara Amber wrote: "Guy, I think you have a good point. People who are drawn to Good Reads are willing to devote some non-reading time to the hobby, whether it's book reviews, finding out more about their favorite au..."

I found/find that if I pull up a book I love and then look at the groups that have talked about or have that book on their bookshelf, you can find a common ground within a group. That's the way I find groups that read same/similar books as I do. I've narrowed my groups when nothing interesting comes up or for several months the BOM is not a book I would read but I have found other groups that I absolutely love.

This is my first post. Talk about lurking! It's okay to be shy, Pards. Some of us just have higher levels of anxiety about everything.

Well I don't really have any real life friends anymore. Just lost touch with all of them because they weren't putting any effort into the friendship. I did see that a former friend was a member on here and I tried to friend him but turns out he hasn't been active on here in a long time. I have a few close internet friends but none of them are really into books that much and like gaming more.

I actually joined Shelfari before I joined this site and I tried to convince my sisters who are both avid readers to join that site, but neither of them was interested in it. I guess as much as they love to read, they just aren't that interested in tracking their reading or being social about it.

Most of my personal friends actually don't read that often.

Those that do don't particularly share my tastes in books. Many are more into very light reading: SF series based on movies or even some game-related SF series. Others read a lot of mystery and non-fiction which I don't do very often.

And even among those who do have reading habits close to mine, not many of them are really into discussing what they've read beyond the "I found I didn't care for that one much" or "it was a pretty good read" level.

So **shrug** I'm used to not having personal real-life friends to talk about my, uh...excentric?...interests, and having to rely on total strangers like here and on some music geek forums to fill that side of my life.

But do I look bothered? 'Cos I'm not bothered. ;)

I got a facebook account linked to GR and I got tons of friends on it but I NEVER use Facebook other then the automatic updates from here. So if people wanna get a hold of me - they just gotta come this way. This tactic has actually been working so-so. But I did get one friend to buddy-read 1Q84 with me :-D

Some people who love to read a lot are not social by nature; so they seldom go out except to work, school, or family functions.

Since they prefer to stay home and read, you would think that they and a site like Goodreads would be a perfect match; but perhaps some find a cyber social environment as intimidating as the real thing.

Jim wrote: "Some people who love to read a lot are not social by nature; so they seldom go out except to work, school, or family functions.

Since they prefer to stay home and read, you would think that they and a site like Goodreads would be a perfect match; but perhaps some find a cyber social environment as intimidating as the real thing.
"

I can most certainly relate to this as that is how I was (and still am really) before joining GR. My girlfriend got me to join in 2013 and I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience so far. It's fun to catalog the things you've read, see your progress, gets recs and discuss books with more than just one other person. I'm very glad I took the plunge.

As far as getting other people hooked, I have mentioned the site to other family/acquaintances and some of them have joined but aren't as active with the site. I think it may just take people a little while to realize everything GR has to offer.

Probably the best thing to do if you haven't yet is to invite your Facebook friends to Goodreads.

I did this again a month or so ago and was surprised to see there were a dozen or so people I could have added here as friends.

Still no luck getting my mom on the site. I'm sure she'd like talking in some of the Mystery or Thriller groups.

I joined because 2 real-life 'casual friends' were members and encouraged me to, saying we'd all be able to keep in touch by seeing what each other is reading and talking about. But I almost never see their activity - and I don't know why. It's like they have their feeds set to not send anything out.

But anyway, I have no TV, no FB, and no real friends in RL (except my husband, of course) and so I love all the smart friendly people on GR.

I've been trying to get my wife to join for a couple years. She's a reader (when she has time), but she just keeps shrugging her shoulders.

Someday....

I wasn't going to join GR (I was just reading some reviews and browsing the lists), except an online friend convinced me and since has disappeared from GR.

Now less time for reading while I add too many books to read and participate a little to few groups.

I don't try to convince people to join it but I tell how useful it is even if it's only for lurking.