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Thanks! Sounds like GoodReads gets its bright ideas from FB lol
so there won't be a way to contact forum moderators?
CBRetriever wrote: "so there won't be a way to contact forum moderators?"I'm gonna let the mods decide how they wish to be contacted in the future, but I have two suggestions for general workarounds (and the first will also work for contacting the mods, the second absolutely not!):
Discord. It's SFFBC-related, because in addition to DMing, you can join the Clubhouse! ^_^
For a completely GR-based option, start a secret group and invite the person you want to have a private discussion with. Is this absolutely fucking stupid? Yes, yes it is. But does it work? Also yes.
To start a secret group, go to Community -> Groups -> Create a group, Choose "This group is secret" and no one will be able to find it unless you invite them. To invite your friends, go to the "Send invite" link at the top right of the group's home page.
And of course if you're already chatting with someone on GR, you can privately share other contact info to keep chatting somewhere else. Please don't share any contact info in public, like in groups or in your profile!
The mods are investigating another way for you to contact us as well
Anna wrote: "For a completely GR-based option, start a secret group and invite the person you want to have a private discussion with. Is this absolutely fucking stupid? Yes, yes it is. But does it work? Also yes."Stupid that we should be forced to do this sort of thing by removal of useful functionality rather than actually dealing with the author spam issue, yes. But I have been using this 1-1 secret group thing for a very long time with people that I have ongoing conversations with rather than PMs. It's actually quite useful in that case. :)
I signed the petition to keep PMs. Not that it will matter. We've seen time and again that GR decides a thing, and feedback never changes their mind about it.
If a broadcast message is sent by a single Mod; I think members may be able to respond to that message individually and be able to talk. That is what is happening in a group I mod for. Otherwise, we are looking into other sites as back-up for our group. *sigh*
2025 is getting on my last nerves
Becky wrote: "I signed the petition to keep PMs. Not that it will matter. We've seen time and again that GR decides a thing, and feedback never changes their mind about it."Because they are not interested in making this site a good user experience for readers and social readers.
I expect private groups to be gone in time, too. So if you want to stay in touch with each other privately, I suggest you exchange contact info that does not rely on amazon. (Privately, of course.)
I have been getting random member adds, I'll add them, and suddenly they are private messaging me. It feels like bot/fake accounts to me, and that's why I see why they might be getting rid of them. Interestingly, I never pm'ed someone until this year and thought it would be a good opportunity to find a future husband because lots of people find their one via facebook/insta so why not good reads? But oh well!
It seems to be more than DMs though. I've been trying to get clarity on which "messages" we will no longer be allowed to post images and external links. Goodreads Support finally responded with:
Hi Beige,
While direct messages between individual members are being discontinued, you'll still be able to:
Send messages in groups
Message authors through their profile
The new restrictions on images and external links will apply to these remaining message types, which is why this information is included in the update. We hope this helps clarify the changes!
Sincerely,
The Goodreads Team
It looks to me like we are losing that from groups, right?
Beige wrote: "It seems to be more than DMs though. I've been trying to get clarity on which "messages" we will no longer be allowed to post images and external links. Goodreads Support finally responded with:
..."
Amazingly, they wanted to ensure that we could still message authors.... aren't those the ones that spam the most or would be spammed the most. humph.
Beige wrote: "It seems to be more than DMs though. I've been trying to get clarity on which "messages" we will no longer be allowed to post images and external links. Goodreads Support finally responded with:
..."
I understand that as: When you're a group mod and send a message to your group members, you will not be able to include images & links, just text.
And when you message an author profile, you will also not be able to include images & links.
Ines wrote: "I understand that as: When you're a group mod and send a message to your group members, you will not be able to include images & links, just text.And when you message an author profile, you will also not be able to include images & links...."
I hope you're right.
Discontinuing private messages between members really bothers me. I've exchanged email addresses with my gr friends to continue our private messaging. It's so idiotic!
I'm not sure why GR have implemented these changes, but there have been a lot of fake author profiles and other scams circulating recently. Removing the message feature makes it much harder for the scammers to operate.As for contacting authors, many have the 'ask a question' section activated.
FYI!!!It really DOES look like they intend to remove the ability to post external links and images from groups! Here is my latest exchange with GR Support....
I wrote:
I've shared your response with other goodreads group members and we are split on what you actually mean by "remaining messages". It's important for us to be 100% clear on what is changing, so let's try this again...
1. Within a group itself in the "messages" & "comments" we type to each other, which are located inside "topics" and "folders" - will we be permitted to post external links and images in those messages?
2. As a group moderator, I understand I will still be able to send a "broadcast to all members" - I assume we will no longer be able to post external links and images in these broadcast messages, is that correct?
GR Support Responded With:
Hi Beige,
Thanks for contacting us. Please note that external links are not permitted to be shared via the messages and comments section as well as the broadcast message sent by the group moderator.
If there's anything else I can help you with, please let me know. Alternatively, I can also suggest visiting Goodreads Help, where you'll find answers to many commonly asked questions about the site.
Sincerely,
The Goodreads Team
Thanks for doing the work Beige! Very much appreciated!And I was gonna rant about this yesterday but had no time/energy. I really hate how they've delivered this announcement. There is no official announcement in Help or anywhere else. Nowhere for people to ask questions and have a confirmed official reply. They've never been good communicators but this is really something else.
I'm so fucking done with GR.
edit: typo
Anna wrote: "Thanks for doing the work Beige! Very much appreciated!And I was gonna rant about this yesterday but had to time/energy. I really hate how they've delivered this announcement. There is no officia..."
I feel much the same.
Does anyone here know an active Librarian that can help spread the word? The Librarian group probably can't function well without external links, and maybe their voices are louder than ours?
One last update...unless you have any other suggested clarifications?I wrote:
Okay, we are getting much closer to 100% understanding. I shared your latest response with a few of my groups and this is the next question:
- Within our group messages/comments we currently aren't able to post an external link into the "a href" html code, but we can copy and paste a URL and it turns into a link, a link where you can see the address before you opt to press.
- With the upcoming change, will we no longer be able to copy and paste a URL and it turn into a link? Will we have to post URLs as plain text?
GR Support Responded:
Hi Beige,
If you are going to enter a URL, even in plain text, the system will still recognize this as an external link so you will not be able to add this.
Sincerely,
The Goodreads Team
So URLs & links will need to be manipulated - like www dot goodreads dot com. People will find a way. Good times. I wonder if (when?) this change will impact reviews as well. Though, I'm not sure. Reviews are (or can be) shared with other sites/search engines via this setting, and making links prohibited would prevent people from being able to cite sources or add context etc, which would make GR content less valuable to these other sites:
[ ] Allow partners of Goodreads to display my reviews
Goodreads allows some partner sites access to book reviews via an API. This access is granted in the spirit of openness with the goal of spreading the love of reading. Current partners include Google Books, WorldCat, and more. Uncheck this box if you don’t want the text of your reviews to appear on these sites.
Beige wrote: "One last update...unless you have any other suggested clarifications?I wrote:
Okay, we are getting much closer to 100% understanding. I shared your latest response with a few of my groups and t..."
All of these updates and your questions, as well, have been really appreciated. Thank you very much, Beige.
This is all so irritating, at this point. I really love this site and I really do NOT want to start over elsewhere. I keep hoping that GR will get it together and go back to what it was or someone gets some balls and start a new site with the old formula. I don't know. Just venting.
Yeah, I find it irritating too. I enjoy being a member of GR and taking part in different groups, expanding my TBR-pile. DM is an important part to GR and I can't understand that they don't see it that way.
Saar The Book owl wrote: "Yeah, I find it irritating too. I enjoy being a member of GR and taking part in different groups, expanding my TBR-pile. DM is an important part to GR and I can't understand that they don't see it ..."GR doesn't seem to take members complaints seriously. I have never seen any updates that were requested by users.
Sadly, that's what I thought.
Alondra wrote: "GR doesn't seem to take members complaints seriously. I have never seen any updates that were requested by users."Back in the early days when I joined (2008), they did. The only thing that they never did and were adamantly against despite user requests back then was half stars. But then Amazon bought GR, and everything changed, and then functionality just started disappearing, and nothing replaced it, and the interactive GR staff/member group was deleted and replaced by the completely useless "Help" page where apparently anonymous AI just gives the same non-info answers to every variation of question and insists on circularly referring back to itself.
Exactly. They became so big, so fast, I guess that they got overwhelmed. Decided to hand off responsibility to a 3rd party and now the site/community is compromised.Edit: Also; I have been having a ton of issues responding to comments, by hitting "reply".... I get that long, pink error box message. Ugh!!
I get that message also and an 'error' if I want to like reviews. It goes slowly to reply or post messages.
Alondra wrote: "I have been having a ton of issues responding to comments, by hitting "reply".... I get that long, pink error box message. Ugh!..."That long, pink error box usually comes around when GR gets too busy. I'm thinking wishfully it's because many are logging on to complain about the upcoming changes :/
I am getting that huge pink error too. I also hate that the comment box is now only at the bottom of the page, regardless of whether reverse comment order is used. I don't know if that's a bug or an intentional change, but I've resigned myself to it being this way forever. SO annoying.
I've messaged the GR - board with all the concerns. I woke up this night and made a whole DM in my head. It's just so stupid that they decide this like that.
Folks are reporting that the GR email accounts are full and not accepting any more messages?? But the 'contact us' form still seems functional...https://www.goodreads.com/about/conta...
I also learned the folks who created the petition are a bunch of young people and that makes me want to help them :D For anyone interested, here is what they have created:
◼️ A Petition on change.org:
https://www.change.org/p/urge-goodrea...
◼️ A Protest Group with Resources: (It already has more than 1000 members)
A form letter to send to GR and where to send it, Suggestions for status updates, etc.
I created a summary of their links in their group here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Folks are reporting that the GR email accounts are full and not accepting any more messages?? But the 'contact page' form still seems functional...https://www.goodreads.com/about/conta...
I also learned the folks who created the petition are a bunch of young folks, that makes me want to help them. For anyone interested, here is what they have created:
◼️ A Petition on change.org:
https://www.change.org/p/urge-goodrea...
◼️ A Protest Group with Resources: (It already has more than 1000 members)
A form letter to send to GR and where to send it, Suggestions for status updates, etc.
I created a summary of their links in their group here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Beige wrote: "Folks are reporting that the GR email accounts are full and not accepting any more messages"I'm going to die either laughing or crying.
Beige wrote: "Folks are reporting that the GR email accounts are full and not accepting any more messages?? But the 'contact page' form still seems functional...https://www.goodreads.com/about/conta......"
That email account has been nonfunctional and full for years. Goodreads has no means of email contact, other than through the Help site.
In case anyone hasn’t seen it, we’ve created a form to contact moderators. The post is pinned in group business but here is the link to the post: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Folks! We heard from a real live human!A goodreads employee who is the moderator of the Librarian Group responded.
They apologized for the confusion and said they are NOT removing external links and images from groups. It still really sucks that DMs are going but thank goodness, groups are staying the same.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Beige wrote: "Folks! We heard from a real live human!A goodreads employee who is the moderator of the Librarian Group responded.
They apologized for the confusion and said they are NOT removing external links..."
Beige, thank you for all of this and for finding answers! This is awesome!
https://c.org/6tzwkpMhBK