Shelfarians discussion

We can use this thread to introduce ourselves with our Shelfari screenname...I'm Mara B.! :)

Hi Mara, I'm still Sabina, here and over there. Lol, is the group avatar a reflection on the state of shelfari? I think I can spot a few blue bookcovers in there! :)

Sabina wrote: "Hi Mara, I'm still Sabina, here and over there. Lol, is the group avatar a reflection on the state of shelfari? I think I can spot a few blue bookcovers in there! :)"

lol, yes, I thought it captured our current situation of trying to locate both books and people against all odds!

Melissa wrote: "Hi! Wow. This is my first time actually posting in a GoodReads forum...maybe I'll now be able to get the hang of this.

Thanks for setting the group up, Mara.

Oh, I just realized that I'm showi..."

The posting will take some getting used to, that's for sure.. :)

Hi everyone....
The Bev is still in my name but I'm just acknowledging
home (Pennsylvania)
Hence PennsyGal Bev C

Each time I log in, I'll try to learn a bit more about the site.
But.... it is an unusual discussion forum setup

Hello Mara and the others. I had to change my name to Deacon John because, as one would imagine, John, John W, and John S, all derivations of my first, middle and last names were taken. Sometimes it is a curse to be named John.

Melissa wrote: "Oh, I just realized that I'm showing up as Melissa rather than AvidReader..."

At least your avatar's the same!

I know that I played around with my profile for some time before I got it to show up as Book Concierge rather than F Tessa B. Of course, I can't remember what I did, so I can't help you there ...

Oh, and of course ... Book Concierge here (and there)

One thing I've noticed. Good Reads requires that you use the < and > when trying to bold or italicize, etc. While Shelfari will accept either the < > or [ ] ...

Another thing I DO like about this site is the ability to include a link to a book ... just above the comment area you'll see add book/author and you can click on that, search for the book and insert either just a link or the cover art into your message.

Similarly, if you can't remember the html code you can click on the (some html is ok) link above the message box and you'll get a menu to help.

Okay, I have to try adding a book! Here goes:



I see there's an option to "preview" your post, too, which is a nice change...

Hi, everyone! Ok, I can see why people don't like the group format here...

I am LibraryCin at shelfari (and maybe here? Or am I showing up as Cindy? Sigh... Might have to play with that a bit. I'd like to appear as LibraryCin! You'd think when you type in a screen name, that would be what would show up!)

hmmm, it doesn't show you here in the group if you are already friends with someone. I'll need to double check some of you!

I used the same avatar, as well. I do occasionally change my avatar, but it's usually some variation on my cats.

Cindy wrote: "Hi, everyone! Ok, I can see why people don't like the group format here...

Booknblues or Fran checking in. This is a good idea.

LibraryCin wrote:I am LibraryCin at shelfari (and maybe here? Or am I showing up as Cindy? Sigh... Might have to play with that a bit. I'..."

hmm, even when I reply, it cuts off half of my note, so unless what I want to reply to what is in the first half... Learning as I go, I guess

Anyway, I went and changed my "first name" to LibraryCin. That seems to be what appears. The "user name" seems to be only for the url? Just a hint for anyone who wants to customize their screen name.

LibraryCin wrote: "hmm, even when I reply, it cuts off half of my note, so unless what I want to reply to what is in the first half... Learning as I go, I guess..."

Cin .. what I do is go back to the original post and copy/paste the relevant info I want to be highlighted into the opening italics of my note ... which I just did for this reply.

Hi, guys!

There is no reason we can't have the same Shelfari charm of a small group where you can check in each day.

Just need a "what are you reading" and a "drawing room" or "talk, talk" thread and much else is gravy. It just gets less personal when the group is too big. For example, I have a haven at a small group, "Books, Movies, TV, and Life". It could use a few more members like you. With enough critical mass this site could get up to speed pretty soon.

If you have tried to find friends among "top reviewers", you will have noticed some who get really creative with inserting of pictures, or even active gif files. For example, check out this one:
Nataliya's review of Master and Margarita.

What I've noticed is that people set up an image storage site like Photobucket, which makes it easy to link up to a particular image. (That site makes you OK a lot of potential sharing of your stuff, which is okay if you are just parking borrowed images). The using the html help menu to copy the img format, you will need to crank the size up from the default--somehwere close to half maximum seemed to work right for my one attempt. You can go back an adjust the specs in an edit if it doesn't work right.

For example, I set this stupid joke about men and women's brains to 400 wide to 500 high:


Another thing to note is to uncheck "Add to my Update feed" if you are just making minor comments in your groups. Otherwise your set of GR friends see it in the Facebook-like listing of activity. That's a peeve of mine with GR that along with new reviews by your friends you get notice of all their small talk (unless they toggle it off).

Hi everyone! I'm Tracey in Shelfari and here. Don't think trakka is showing up. For those wondering, Trakka is a nickname from years ago! I have a different avatar here because the only photo I could upload on my iPad was my Facebook one. Will have to play around a bit...

Book Concierge wrote: "Cin .. what I do is go back to the original post and copy/paste the relevant info I want to be highlighted into the opening italics of my note ... which I just did for this reply. "

Thanks, BC! Just did the same. Will try to remember that in future!

Michael wrote: Another thing to note is to uncheck "Add to my Update feed" if you are just making minor comments in your groups. Otherwise your set of GR friends see it in the Facebook-like listing of activity. "

Thanks for the tip, Michael! I've just done that (didn't realize that's what it did...). Is it "sticky" or will I have to uncheck it every time?

Mara, I'm following your instructions to import my books on Shelfari to Goodreads, but you neglected to tell me where "File Manager" is! So far, the books are in a list (which I've saved). Told you, I'm not savvy about this stuff. Oh - and it's a tsv file.

Hi all! This is Erin here. My picture is still the same but my call sign is MadameMonaLisa here not BookwormErin like it is on shelfari. I'm confused how this discussion threads work here but I guess with time I'll figure it out.

Marie wrote: "Mara, I'm following your instructions to import my books on Shelfari to Goodreads, but you neglected to tell me where "File Manager" is! So far, the books are in a list (which I've saved). Told y..."

It was actually Michael who posted the excellent detailed instructions, and I haven't gone through the process myself (I copied everything over here myself book by book, which is definitely not a recommended method! :-O ). I think, though, that you need to open the file using Excel. So if you find the file you got from Shelfari in a folder on your computer and right-click on it, you should be able to choose "open" and then select Excel from the list of programs. Correct me if I'm wrong, those of you who have done this!

Glad to see so many people joining the group! :) GoodReads doesn't seem to notify me about activity here or people joining, so definitely let me know if anything needs my attention as moderator as the group evolves.

Mara wrote: "Marie wrote: "Mara, I'm following your instructions to import my books on Shelfari to Goodreads, but you neglected to tell me where "File Manager" is! So far, the books are in a list (which I've s..."

Sorry, it definitely was Michael and I thank him. Still working on my adding books.......

Marie wrote: "... you neglected to tell me where "File Manager" is! So far, the books are in a list (which I've saved). Told y..." Yah, tsv. Just double clicking on it in your file manager (such as Windows Explorer accessed by right clicking on Start button) allows you specify "Open With ...", as Mara says. If you've seen the list, maybe you have Excel opening it. Anyway, that file you edit down to the few columns you want, arranged accoding to the template from Goodreads.

Don't expect the transfer to be without issues. Although all my books were transferred, I'm having to go in change many of the Read to To Read and enter dates when the book was read.

John: That's too bad about "date read" not making it. There is a column for that in the Shefari output. Maybe converting the Shelfari output date format from xx/xx/2008 to xx/xx/08 is important. Also the field name on the column has to be "Date Read" and not "DateRead" or GR won't recognize it. A file with just the ISBN numbers and the date read from Shelfari should import just that field (same for tags and reviews if you do them later)

Maybe converting the Shelfari output date format from xx/xx/2008 to xx/xx/08 is important.

Ah, thanks Michael. I will try that. As after saying it was relatively easy I noticed that I had the same problem as John, read more books than I thought!

Ok, so how come my first comment above isn't in italics and doesn't have "Michael wrote" before it? I copied the text from Michael's post....

Tracey wrote: "Ok, so how come my first comment above isn't in italics..."
May have dropped a bracket in the extraction.

Tracey wrote: "Ok, so how come my first comment above isn't in italics and doesn't have "Michael wrote" before it? I copied the text from Michael's post...."

Did you hit the reply button just below his original remark? ... THEN when you copy/paste, you have to start AFTER the initial " quotation mark ... and remember NOT to exclude that closing bracket to end the italics.

Is anyone having problems logging into Shelfari today? I tried several times and keep getting service unavailable. I'm wondering if this is the beginning of the end.

Same here. Hopefully, they took the site down while loading some corrections for the error that Shelfari has been experiencing.

John wrote: "Same here. Hopefully, they took the site down while loading some corrections for the error that Shelfari has been experiencing."

Wishful thinking John? :-)

Trying the copying thing again and it worked. Thanks BC!

Madame Mona Lisa wrote: "Is anyone having problems logging into Shelfari today? I tried several times and keep getting service unavailable. I'm wondering if this is the beginning of the end."

I signed in early this morning with no problem. But I haven't tried yet this afternoon. I always have problems with my work computer because it's so darned slow ...

Watching the little "loading" circle chase it's tale around .. and around ... and around ...

Okay ... tried getting to Shelfari in a different window and it worked just fine.

Book Concierge wrote: "Madame Mona Lisa wrote: "Is anyone having problems logging into Shelfari today? I tried several times and keep getting service unavailable. I'm wondering if this is the beginning of the end."

I si..."


Ok I was finally able to sign on over there. Slowly getting more familiar with Goodreads

Hey all, sawcat on Shelfari. I think I show up as Sarah Williams or sawcat here

Regina L here. Finally broke down and joined. I do love the ability to scan books at the store. Thanks Linda!

Regina wrote: "Regina L here. Finally broke down and joined. I do love the ability to scan books at the store. Thanks Linda!"

Yes, and the covers are not blue! :)

Nice to see you here, Regina.

Hi everyone!! Glad to see some really familiar faces here.

Leah K. on Shelfari and same here :)

Hi all! I am also finally breaking down and joining GoodReads! However, I really dislike the discussion format :(

I am Nicole R on Shelfari - feel free to add me here as well :)

I am with you there Nicole. There are some things I like about Goodreads, such as the reading progression and the book giveaways but the discussion format? Not on the top of my list of favorites here.

Welcome aboard, Nicole. I, too, am not a fan of this discussion format. I do wish that Shelfari was better managed.

I feel the same Nicole. I don't even spend enough time here to find the book giveaways and such, at least not yet. I have so many books to transfer over, still! I keep thinking once I get that done (over the Christmas holidays, maybe...), I can take time to check out more stuff here.

I feel lucky that I've been a member of Good Reads almost as long as I've been on Shelfari ... I built my shelves on both sites one book at a time.

Completely agree with everyone who says this discussion format is terrible.

However, you CAN reference a specific previous post by hitting the reply link beneath that post. Your response will then start with an italicized reference to the previous post.

e.g.:
Nicole wrote: "Hi all! I am also finally breaking down and joining GoodReads! However, I really dislike the ..."

Then you can respond ...

Mara wrote: "We can use this thread to introduce ourselves with our Shelfari screenname...I'm Mara B.! :)"
This group is a good idea. Thanks Mara. I'm Kentucky Reader (Margaret) at Shelfari. I'll try to post the same avatar here so it won't be so confusing.

I'm Kristel both places. Thanks to BC, I found this group.

Kristel wrote: "I'm Kristel both places. Thanks to BC, I found this group."

Hi, Kristel!

Hi all, Linda C here and on Shelfari. I use a similar avatar but different. Small boat on Shelfari and Lobster traps here. Both representing my favorite vacation spot, Maine.

Hi Everyone,

I use Diana S for both and same avatar - A painting of some Texas flowers.

Welcome in, Diana

Wow! I never knew this group was here!
Thanks BC!
I am in a few groups at Shelfari -
Bibliophile Reading Group
Biographies, Autobiographies, & Memoirs
E-Reader Universe
Going to the Library
Southern Literature
Author, Author
B&N Nook Owners

and a few other that are not as active.
Come find me as Wendy B