Group announcements > Likes and Comments

Since Pamela has asked to step down, at least for now, as our group's co-moderator, in order to focus on her health, Doreen has kindly agreed to step up to the plate and fill in. We owe her a big thanks for her willingness to help out!

Thank you Werner. I will whatever this group needs to help it and to help it to grow. This has always been my favorite group with the best members in it!

Doreen, you're a blessing!

Well said, Jt! Thank you.

The poll which will pick the book for our June 2023 annual group read is now up and open for voting, at our Polls link, here: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/1... . If you think you might want to join in this read, please cast your vote for the book you'd like best for us to choose! --Werner

AN ALERT for anyone who logs in through FACEBOOK:
From tomorrow on, you won't be able to do that anymore! The alternatives are through Amazon, Apple or your email. Since I don't log in that way myself, even though the notice is dated Nov. 6 (it apparently only comes up if and when you try to log in that way), I only found out about this today, through a post by one of my Goodreads friends.

Obviously, many people don't log on through Facebook; and some of those who do apparently got a notice about the change some time ago. But since my friend did not, and only learned about this today, she's making the attempt to alert others; and so I'm also trying to post this in all the groups I'm a member of where it hasn't been announced, to avert potential log-in problems for anyone else who might have been missed when the announcement was made.

Most members of this group know that we have very little discussion here anymore, although this began as a very active group. It's occurred to me that part of the reason for this may be that Goodreads does a very poor job of notifying group members of comments that are made on group discussion threads, and an even worse job ever since last fall, when they dropped the practice of notifying us by e-mail of new comments made on threads where we'd previously posted. So even when new comments actually are made, people who might be interested in replying may never actually see them. :-(

To stay in the loop, on any discussion thread you're interested in, click on the "Notify me when people comment" box at the bottom of the thread. If you do that, you should get a notification of any new comments at the bell-shaped icon on your Goodreads toolbar, at the top of any page on the site once you're logged in (right next to the main Goodreads search box). Clicking on the icon right next to it will take you to a list of your groups, with new comments on discussions in each one highlighted in red. (New comments are also highlighted in red if you click on the group homepage.)

Of course, because of the lack of proactive notification on the part of the Goodreads management, many of you may not see this post. The irony of that doesn't escape me. :-( But I hope that enough of you will see it for it to do some good!

In a couple of other groups I belong to, we do an annual classics challenge, in which each member is encouraged to keep track of how many classics he/she reads in that given year. (We don't compete against each other, but we try to see how high a combined total we can reach as a group.) Since the Early American Literature group mainly exists to encourage the reading of early American literature, I thought it might be good idea to have a similar challenge in this group. You can check it out at this thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... .

Just now, I've noticed that our group's bookshelf (which I confess I hadn't paid much attention to until recently!) has so far been mostly used only to shelve books selected for group reads. I also just discovered that when it was set up, it was set so that only group moderators could add books. On Goodreads as a whole, my impression is that that's actually the way most groups handle it. However, in most of the groups I belong to, I'm more familiar with a different approach.

Several of those groups, which are set up to focus on particular types of books, shelve any and all relevant books that any of the members have read on their "read" shelf. The idea is to build the shelves up to serve as a useful bibliography of books in the group's area of interest. I'd like to see us use our shelf the same way, to build up a good idea list for members looking for books by early American authors to read. Also, I'd like us to use the "to read" shelf to list books we'd like to read, as a resource for picking group reads. (The program won't treat any of them as actual group reads unless the starting and ending dates are filled in.) I've started shelving things accordingly, and I invite you all to do likewise. The program is now set up to allow all of us to add books to the bookshelves :-)

Here are some tips for coping with the gutting, last year, of Goodreads' former notification system (from another Goodreader, but shared with permission):

To receive notifications on your reviews:
After writing and posting your review, place a comment in your comment section, then click the notify me box before posting your comment. It is the only way you will receive notifications when someone leaves a comment on your reviews.

To receive notifications on your own status updates:
Once you post a status update, immediately go to your profile page. Locate your status update. Click "See Status". Once there, click the notify me box and then place a comment on your own status. This will ensure you will receive notifications if someone leaves a comment on your status updates. Same thing goes for when you post pictures on your profiles or in your group's photo section.

To be able to follow updates on a friend's review or status update:
You will need to like their status updates or reviews from your updates feed page first, and also post your initial comment to their status and reviews from your updates feed page as well. This is the only way that the notify me box on their postings will stay checked, and to ensure you get regular updates on their postings whenever they or someone else leaves a comment there.

To stay updated on group posts:
Sometimes your notifications will not come through. This is not going to be corrected by GR. No matter how many times you adjust your settings for groups. To make sure you are up to date on all group happenings you will simply need to make sure you are reading all group emails sent to you by your moderators.

You will also need to begin to make an effort to go directly to your groups' homepage(s) whenever you are on the platform. From the homepage, click on the discussion board link. This will show you every group section's new post and thread in that group. Simply click on the red numbers of the threads that you are following. You will see every new post in that specific thread.

Unfortunately, the notify me box is no longer working on Polls. Only the creator of that poll will see when you comment. You are no longer able to get a notification after you post a comment on a poll and check the notify me box. Once you leave the poll page, that box becomes un-checked. There is no work-around for this. If you want to stay informed on comments on polls, or videos posted in your groups, you will manually have to go to that poll yourself, in order to view them.

Make sure that you also are logging in and out on whatever device you use, every time, when logging into GR. This is the only way that GR will track your profile activity properly and keep you up to date on your most recent activity.

These steps are the only way you will continue to make sure that you are an active and informed member of your groups and this community platform as a whole.

Below, I'm passing on another tip (also from a fellow Goodreader, and shared by permission) dealing with the Goodreads phone app, and how you can, if you want to, access the Goodreads desktop version from your phone instead. (A caveat: I'm not familiar with the app from personal experience, though I've often been told, by people who are, that it's less functional than the desktop version.)

"If you are using the Goodreads App, then don't.
The App makes it very difficult to navigate groups and communication on here, among other things. If you are on your phone, uninstall the App first. Then go to the Goodreads website and log in directly onto the site by phone. After you log in scroll to the very bottom of the page to ensure that you are on the desktop version and not the mobile version. Once you do this, you will be able to navigate this site as if you are working at your desk or your laptop.

If you are not currently using the App, still check to make sure that you are on the desktop version and not mobile version when logged in. Once you switch to desktop, it will stay that way every time you log in and out. If you are currently on the desktop version, then you will only see the option "Mobile Version" if this is the case then don't change anything because it means you're already using the desktop version. If you see "Desktop version, click on it. This will then put you on the desktop version.

If you follow these steps correctly then you will be able to see all things on this site as if you were on your laptop or PC.

Save the Goodreads website as a shortcut to your home screen on your phone. This way you'll always have quick access to the website and log on and off as if you were still using the App."

Werner, that is exactly what I do. This way, if one goes funky, I still have good access. There are things you can do kn the website that the app won’t do. Good idea.

Ruth wrote: "Werner, that is exactly what I do. This way, if one goes funky, I still have good access. There are things you can do kn the website that the app won’t do. Good idea."

That's helpful to know, Ruth; thanks for the feedback!

One more tip (again, from a Goodreads friend, and shared with her permission), this one dealing with how Goodreads calculates the time when you were "last active" on this site"

"There is another site glitch that is affecting the personal profile status of its members. This glitch is in the area where it states when you joined GR and when you were last active on the website. Those of you who actively log on and off every time you visit the site, shouldn't be affected by this. Those of you who use the App or who stay logged in on the website itself, without ever signing back out when you leave the site, will see this issue.

Those who are affected- It is only showing the last date that you actively log on. So even though you have been consistently on the website, your last active status may show that you were last active back in September, October, November, or even further back; depending on when you last actively signed into/out of your account. This began back in June-Aug of 2024. As some members are showing they were last active back in June, even though they've been on the website consistently since June. To avoid this affecting your accurate account status, moving forward, just log in and out of your GR accounts every time you visit the site. This will reset your status for you and keep it up to date as long as you're logging in and logging out. This will also cut down the likely hood of your accounts being hacked as well.

This is also true for Moderators. As on the groups you moderate, after (60) days of not being active on the site, it will show your last active date of logging into GR on your group's homepage next to your profile picture. Which will in fact affect if your members think you're currently active on the website or not.

In a new development that apparently just started on Tuesday afternoon, in any new discussion thread that you create in any group, the "Notify me" box no longer works. Even if you check it properly, the program will uncheck it after you close the window. (This was reported to me by a fellow moderator whose information I know to be trustworthy; but I also confirmed it by creating a test thread. :-( ) It appears that (at least so far) older threads are not affected yet.

I have not reported this to the Goodreads management as an accidental glitch that they might wish to correct; but at this point, I have no reason to believe that it actually is one. It seems to be the latest in a series of unannounced policy changes, all of which underscore the reality that, in order to stay abreast of all developments in your groups, it's very important to check the group home page regularly, or at least to frequently click the "speech bubbles" icon on the Goodreads toolbar.

Are you sure- I created a thread in another group this morning and it worked fine.

Pamela, thanks for letting us know that! On Tuesday evening, I posted a test thread (in another group) and made a point to check the "Notify me" box. When I want back to the same thread a while later, the box was unchecked; and at least two other moderators have had the same experience. But if your "Notify me" box stayed checked, then the program is evidently not un-checking it in every case. That's one of the more frustrating features of Goodreads as it is now --it's sometimes unpredictable in the way it operates.

Over the past year, I've also noticed that I sometimes get notifications of comments on threads where I definitely did NOT check the "Notify me" box, though I can't see any pattern to how that works. Maybe the same thing is happening in your case. I don't know if I'd have been notified if anyone else had commented on my test thread, since I deleted it before anyone did. I've posted a new test thread in this group to test for that, here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... . If anyone would like to post a test "comment" there, that will be helpful!

Silvia, thanks for commenting on the test thread! I saw, by checking the speech bubble icon just now, that you'd posted; but I got no notification at of your comment at my bell icon, and when I want back to the test thread just now, the comment box was unchecked. So, the issue is definitely a real one!

Since my last post, I've tested the theory that posting a second comment, after your first, on a new thread, and checking the "Notify me" box before you post the second one, might keep the box checked, and allow you to be notified of comments. That theory provided some hope while it lasted; but it turns out that a second post has no more effect than the first one. The box still reverted back to unchecked, and I was not notified of another member's comment even though it was made after I posted my second one.

After a lot of bad news, there's finally been a good development! It's been confirmed that the glitches for notifications have been corrected. Your notification boxes are now working as they should on all status updates, reviews, polls and new threads created within groups. You will need to continue to check those boxes to remain informed of new posts or updates; but the good news is that these boxes are now remaining checked, once you've clicked on them. Hopefully we won't encounter this disruption again (but please do remember the workarounds, just in case we do!).

As an unrelated tip, for some time, many Goodreaders have complained that their update feeds don't show updates from all the friends whose activity they'd like to see. Some of this can be due to shortcomings in Goodreads' algorithms; but there actually is a function you can use to help with this, if you're having that problem.

Whether you know it or not, in the eyes of the Goodreads program, you have two kinds of friends, the regular ones and "top'" friends. Every time you accept a friend request, or you friend request someone and they become your friend, the program automatically checks them as a "top friend" for you. At that time, you can uncheck it; but if you didn't do that, their input may get prioritized in your update feed.

If you want to prune your "top" friend roster, go to your friends list. Once there, click the edit button at the top. Here you will see the option to either select or deselect someone as a top friend. You need to do this on EVERY page of your friends list. Once you've done this, click the Done button at the top and move on to the next page.

You can also customize your updates feed. On your homepage, select the customize icon button at the top of your updates feed, (you'll see this button right above where your updates begin). It will look like this once you click on it:

UPDATES........................Customize (you would click this)

UPDATES FEED PREFERENCES:

Content:
(What types of updates you see):
-Book updates only
-Reviews only
-Everything

People:
(Whose updates you see):
-Goodreads community
-All friends and people I follow
-Top friends and people I follow
-Top friends only

This gives you some input on what types of updates you see, and who you see them from. Hope this is helpful!