Play Book Tag discussion

Awhile back, people here were posting that they weren't getting notifications from GR. Now, it has happened to me.

I can see the activity for PBT and the other group that I am in. However, I am not getting any individual notifications about Friends' postings.

How do I fix this and if I need to, how do I contact GR for help?

Holly R W (Not Getting Notifications) wrote: "Awhile back, people here were posting that they weren't getting notifications from GR. Now, it has happened to me.

I can see the activity for PBT and the other group that I am in. However, I am no..."

Issues with notifications have been a major issue for a month or two at least. In the GR Moderators Group, everyone is complaining, as it makes it hard to manage certain groups. Some people have submitted requests to GR Help to no avail. GR doesn't care. You might be able to get some notifications for specific threads but they don't always last. Very odd, that GR doesn't support Groups, Friends, etc. since they are what bring us to the website regularly.

There is talk of leaving for other platforms but nothing else has all the features of GR.

You basically have to click that little box at the bottom of the post page - and just above the comment box you are typing in - to notify you. I just did it for threads I want to be notified in, catching rest when I check in.

What GR did was eliminate that list of notification options they had for you to choose to just one. I like this fine and have no problems - stays fixed. The negative was that when the change was made, without warning, all or most your notification settings were erased. Have to set again.

I did find in groups I moderate that certain notifications were not affected - where I had set up the thread.

Thanks for responding, Robin. Unless GR fixes this issue, the site will be cumbersome (and less fun) to use. GR sure makes it hard to contact them. It wasn't obvious to me how to message them when I went searching.

Theresa is right about marking specific threads but I don't know if there's an easy way to be alerted if friends post reviews and things like that outside group threads.

On the other hand - Maybe that's why I stopped getting annoying notifications! Someone who friended me years ago (maybe she was in a group with me once) would post a "like" every time I recorded a book as read. I don't write reviews on GR in general, I just give stars. So every time I would get a notification that this person, who I really have no connection with "liked your review". I would click on Notifications, thinking it might be important, and find that. I never wanted those. I actually do not understand at all why anyone cares about "likes" on any platform - I am the wrong generation, I guess.

I don't care to get the "likes" either, but I do enjoy getting notifications when people comment on my GR reviews and these notifications have stopped completely. I rarely have a chance to go back through my zillions of reviews to see if anyone has commented, and it bothers me that people may think I am ignoring them. Sigh.

Well, they completely stopped the email notifications, and there are more limited options for the little "bell" notification on the website.

Check your profile settings, Holly R W. That MIGHT help. But no guarantees.

I never wanted a lot of notifications but it was nice to know if someone had commented on a review so I could acknowledge.

My comments and likes from people to my reviews have not changed in volume nor has anyone dropped out from doing it that I've seen. I've always kept the box under the review checked that says show on my news feed or something like that -- and I always assumed that was why people saw them. I see Joy's reviews for example in my newsfeed, for example, because I have friended her no doubt.

I am still getting notifications when someone comments or likes.

I haven't found it a huge problem - yes there are some threads in groups I'm not seeing notifications when posts show up, but I also don't seem to miss them - I certainly catch them when I come on to post myself in a group. I also always found the multiple choices for notifications irritating - I was never sure what to choose and would end up getting notices I didn't want, so I usually went None.

I did try reviewing my profile settings. They were exactly how I wanted them, but I did re-click on them as updated, thinking that might help.

Like some others have mentioned here, I enjoy seeing other people's comments on my reviews and do answer them. Sometimes we get a real discussion going. Likewise, I comment on Friends' reviews and want to see how they respond.

I had a funny thought that will never work, because it's not doable. Imagine if hundreds/thousands of Good Readers stopped using the platform for a week and went on strike. That might get attention and action from the higher ups.

I stopped getting notifications a few days ago and just assumed it was happening to everyone like GR is wont to do every once in a while. Apparently not! But it's not just you, Holly.

When I saw this thread and realized it wasn't happening sitewide, I went through and unchecked then re-checked the "notify me when people comment" box on several of the threads I follow to see if it would reset them -- it did not.

I'm sure it'll be fixed in another couple of days or so. Periodic glitches is just something I have come to accept as part of the GR package unfortunately :( I temporarily have to deal with a lack of notifications a few times a year, even when GR isn't making big changes to their site design.

I don’t know if GR even cares if we participate. When Amazon bought GR, they bought us. They already have our names and emails and info on what we like. I stay here because of the groups.

@Robin, I thought that Amazon might value Goodreads, because our posts and conversations drum up enthusiasm /excitement for the books they want to sell. And, they know that we are their biggest customers for books. It's a win win situation for Amazon.

I hate how these big social media platforms gather private information about us.

I haven't had trouble. One piece of advice I've seen is to log off of GR on any and all devices, but perhaps also clearing your cache would help. This is what I always do, so perhaps that's why mine have been working.

Theresa is right. If you mark the group to not receive so you're not inundated with every single update, then you have to manually mark individual threads you want to follow. This is what I do because I don't want every single new message posted to show. up on my feed. For very busy groups such as this one, I usually just come and check rather than get updates.

Theresa wrote: "You basically have to click that little box at the bottom of the post page - and just above the comment box you are typing in - to notify you. I just did it for threads I want to be notified in, ca..."

It's annoying. Even when you create a thread, that little box is not checked (nor does it even appear. I just discovered if you've just created a thread you want notifications for, you have to refresh the page to even SEE that checkbox to check it. Ugh!

Robin P wrote: "I don’t know if GR even cares if we participate. When Amazon bought GR, they bought us. They already have our names and emails and info on what we like. I stay here because of the groups."

Agreed! :-(

Karin wrote: "This is what I do because I don't want every single new message posted to show. up on my feed. ..."

I don't either, but I'd at least like to know about threads I've created. And that doesn't happen now unless you remember to (reload after you create it, then) check the checkbox. :-(

Honestly, I'd also love to get notifications of threads I've commented on (but not created). I guess at least I now know how to turn those one.

ETA: Reread what I copied of Karen's message... I don't really care what shows up in my "feed", but I want notifications of these ones I've mentioned above.

I'd also like notifications of everything in certain smaller groups without having to check the checkbox for each one. Not this group or other busy groups, but some of the smaller groups (our PBT Admins group, the small group we had for BWF...), but those notifications disappeared.

LibraryCin wrote: "Karin wrote: "This is what I do because I don't want every single new message posted to show. up on my feed. ..."

I don't either, but I'd at least like to know about threads I've created. And that..."

Yes, you have to check the box now, which is annoying.

Karin wrote: "I haven't had trouble. One piece of advice I've seen is to log off of GR on any and all devices, but perhaps also clearing your cache would help. This is what I always do, so perhaps that's why min..."

Karin, thank you for this tip! I've been putting off trying it because I had a ridiculous number of tabs open -- and I was hoping whatever was happening would eventually fix itself -- but I finally bit the bullet and got all three of my devices signed out and now I have notifications for the first time in 10 days. It's amazing, and I wouldn't have thought of it. Thank you!!!