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Tuesday News: Goodreads deletes positive reviews; NY State cracks down on...

Another HBP video spoof. Definitely something you should watch with headphones due to the strong language.

Jane Litte is the founder of Dear Author, a lawyer, and a lover of pencil skirts. She spends her downtime reading romances and writing about them. Her TBR pile is much larger than the one shown in the picture and not as pretty. You can reach Jane by email at jane @ dearauthor dot com

9 Comments

  1. Maria F
    Sep 24, 2013 @ 06:03:37

    Do you mean NY state is cracking down? Headline says NYTimes.

  2. Amanda
    Sep 24, 2013 @ 07:58:58

    This whole Goodreads drama almost seems like a bizarre bad joke if it wasn’t so depressing. Its as if Amazon bought Goodreads to destroy it.

  3. It's Me
    Sep 24, 2013 @ 08:33:12

    Question regarding GR and review/shelf deletion. How do these people know their stuff is being deleted? Shelves I can see, but I would have no idea if they deleted one of my reviews.

  4. Meljean Brook
    Sep 24, 2013 @ 10:07:07

    @It’s Me: I believe they are getting e-mail notices that tell them their content has been deleted.

  5. Jane
    Sep 24, 2013 @ 10:16:09

    in the comments, Danielle shares that she noticed because her “read” shelf number of books was declining.

    How I’ve been finding some of my deleted positive reviewed books: At first I had about 223 books on my ‘read’ shelf; after reading GR’s new policy I saw some of my books had been deleted (the number was now 195); I look over at my 2012 and 2013 reading challenge section. On my 2013 reading challenge, I read 44 books . I discover 3 were removed. So (I’m still thanking God and myself for this) I went over to my book blog on tumblr and went to my archive. From there I compared my read books, found the three that were removed and re-added them on my ‘read’ shelf here. The same was done for the 2012 reading challenge (I read 70 books but now it says 64). Now my read shelf is up to 207 reads and some books (and reviews) are still missing. If they were not in my 2012/2013 reading challenge section then they’re books I’ve rated when I started this GR account in 2011.

    I have not been warned. And that’s the thing that makes me extremely upset. No email, no PM, nothing.

  6. It's Me
    Sep 24, 2013 @ 10:23:41

    That stinks! A lot of people don’t have anything to check against if their stuff gets deleted and they aren’t told. I have shelves titled ‘gave up on’ and ‘endings that pissed me off’, I’m surprised they’re still there, lol

  7. caroljay
    Sep 24, 2013 @ 10:24:05

    OMG. How is it that this situation has gotten so nuts? On the one hand, who takes reviews seriously? They are, after all, just opinions. I know, supposedly reviews drive sales, and may make authors feel good. On the other hand, am I the only reader who chooses to read books based on content, and not someone else’s opinion? I think it ‘s cool when I notice that other readers like the same things that I do, but that has never affected my reading choices. I have never, and will never, buy (or even read) a book just because it gets good reviews. I like GoodReads, or Amazon reviews, simply because I can see what is new, what’s out there. The nature of the reviews themselves, however, represent other, differently-biased, opinions than my own, and therefore have no effect (or affect) on my buying/reading choices (sometimes I still get reading material the old fashioned way, at a public library). ;-)

  8. helen
    Sep 24, 2013 @ 11:55:26

    The GR thing is so annoying. I use GR as a way to keep track of my books. Usually I just rate a book and don’t leave a review and the rating isn’t for the author or anyone else per se just me that way I know if I like an author or not and if I should be looking for the next in the series a year from now or whatever. I would have no way of knowing if my GR shelves were being pilfered by GR because GR is the only way I keep track of my books. I’ve read and rated upwards of 3500 books in the two years I’ve been using goodreads. I’d hate to have to try and remember them all to put them on another site or format!

  9. Jane Davitt
    Sep 24, 2013 @ 12:42:35

    I’ve been noticing as an author, not as a reader who posts reviews from time to time. Because I’m weird that way, I keep a note of my books’ ratings, number of ratings, number of reviews. In the last week, the numbers started dropping and I checked and saw some negative reviews had been deleted.

    I know because like many authors, 100 good reviews and one bad one and it’s the bad one I can still repeat word for word a decade later ;-)

    I’m annoyed. Sure, a scathing review makes my lip quiver and tears well in my eyes as I prepare to print it off, stamp on it, and use it to line the litter tray, but that’s one of My Readers you’re silencing.

    And last time I checked, yep, big girl panties are on. And I don’t appreciate the condescending little note from GR that pops up on a low rating. And they misspelled ‘OK’.

    Ok, you got a bad review. Deep breath. It happens to every author eventually. Keep in mind that one negative review will not impact your book’s sales. In fact, studies have shown that negative reviews can actually help book sales, as they legitimize the positive reviews on your book’s page.

    We really, really (really!) don’t think you should comment on this review, even to thank the reviewer. If you think this review is against our Review Guidelines, please flag it to bring it to our attention. Keep in mind that if this is a review of the book, even one including factual errors, we generally will not remove it.

    For more on how to interact with readers, please see our Author Guidelines.

    If you still feel you must leave a comment, click “Accept and Continue” below to proceed (but again, we don’t recommend it).

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