Everything Booklikes & Leafmarks discussion

Is anyone checking out Litsy as a potential alternative to GR and/or BL? I tried it out during #24in48 I'm dabbling there and finding a whole different community of book-lovers than I did on BL :-)

JLsBibliomania on all 3 sites

In the about us, Litsy says "No book bullying" and that you have to keep it positive (although can agree to disagree). (From http://litsy.com/about ).

I believe in not bullying humans.

Commercial products, including books, cannot be bullied -- nor do I wish to participate on any site which thinks they can.

*ack* what has happened to consumer speech?

I believe equating a negative opinion of a commercial product -- even a book -- to bullying is demeaning what anyone who has ever been bullied has suffered. It drastically undermines bully prevention efforts. Makes me actually ill to see bullying a person equated to not liking or not promoting a book/product.

Even though most of my own reading and reviews are positive, where I likely could stay out of trouble on that site -- I firmly believe in "honest reviews and book activities" (seriously, how many readers deliberately start books they don't expect to enjoy?). Truthfully, if not a positive reading experience, I usually just ditch the book and don't bother posting about it.

I believe in honest consumer reviews. Positive or not. I can see book ads and publisher/author/publicist ads and promotions if I want positive; I need a book site that let's me engage with fellow readers honestly and manage my book catalog n a manner helpful to me.

No offense, but if a site wants only positive (*whisper* *cough* *cough* "promotional" content) they can hire promoters; I have no interest in participating to churn out free content for them.

If a site considers me to be bullying a book because I don't like it and feel perfectly justified in my consumer speech to warn fellow readers of a defective commercial product -- well, the last thing I want to do is be a bully so I won't participate there.

Nosireee -- I am no bully. I despise bullying. I won't knowingly participate in a site who thinks I am bullying because I don't praise a book I didn't enjoy.

ETA: When it comes to book sites -- it's my personal reading, my time, my books, my opinion/review (not a professional reviewer or there to churn out for anyone other self and fellow readers), my opinion of what makes sense in how I catalog my books - and I love hearing from and engaging with other readers.

Once upon a time, I chose goodreads over LibraryThing because LibraryThing at the time objected if you tagged a book even something mild like "not for me.". I realize some sites and people think it makes me a bully if I don't think every book is an awesome amazing ★★★★★ read but I just unapologetically do not think that or that every reader should have the same opinion of a book.

How many readers seriously need a book site to have only positive content and would feel it wasn't a safe place otherwise? Do a lot of consumers/readers consider a badly rated book was bullied (I'm not sure even do a lot of commercial-interests/authors do despite the huge ruckus a few who do make)?

Think a book (versus the book's author by something behind the scenes that was more than just a reader rating, reviewing or posting negatively about their book) was bullied? Ask someone more qualified about bullying like the folk at http://stopbullying.gov or http://RAINN.org

Is it only an app? I don't use apps so no can do.

It's only an app (and only an ios app at least for now)

I'll admit to not having to read the Litsy TOS all that carefully.

I started an account because I wanted something less intimidating than Twitter as a place to find more folks to interact with during #24in48 and the organizer of the readathon was encouraging people to meet there.

I'm still not sure what I think. The app does have thumbs down and "bail" buttons. And with the character limit, the opportunity for nuanced discussion is limited. I'm willing to give them the (the developers) the benefit of the doubt and see what they actually choose to enforce before deciding whether I'm going to be active on Litsy outside of readathon times.

Debbie's Spurts (D.A.) wrote: "Even though most of my own reading and reviews are positive, where I likely could stay out of trouble on that site -- I firmly believe in "honest reviews and book activities" (seriously, how many r..."

Well said,the honest reviews mean the most.Whether it's a good review or bad.

Anyone remember when goodreads was quite clear that -- outside of TOS or review guideline violations -- staff would resolve any dispute (including whether or not a review or rating was allowed) between a reader and a commercial interest (author) in favor of the reader?

I liked that: protect consumer speech, make it clear this was a consumer review site and not for commercial use. Go so far as to insist "no commercial use" in your TOS.

Of course I expect sites I use to prohibit members being attacked, harassed, bullied, etc. People. Members.--including authors Anything said about a "thing for sale" -- even a book -- is just consumer speech/opinion (or else has a lot of disclosing to do under U.S. law).

I don't like the phrase "no book bullying" as part of site policies. I'm fine with prohibiting suspicious activity and gaming the system -- the no attacking people and no gaming phrases could be used to prevent a flurry of negative attention on a book when an author is being bullied.

Things cannot be bullied.

It's not a consumer review site with reviews that can be cross posted if you are required to be positive and not "bully books" (aka "do not bully commercial product ").

If Litsy means they don't want any bullying -- of readers/reviewers or of the book's author -- they need to say that instead. Too late for me, I don't trust a site saying "book bullying" is a thing (plus positive only is useless when looking for actual opinions). I also don't trust sites like a Reader's Favorites which only let's 4 and 5 star reviews posts yet thinks they are entitled to say they use a 1-5 star scale because you can privately send -- no public posting -- lower reviews to the author (not that I consider them a consumer review site since have paid reviewers -- paid from a pool of funded services despite the marketing to authors that they are getting "free" reviews).

Lobstergirl wrote: "Is it only an app? I don't use apps so no can do."

Yeah, same here.

A friend in booklikes emailed them and their return email said something about how by "positive" they did not mean no low ratings and no negative reviews, they meant "constructive."

Which still doesn't sit well with me. Too close to "constructive criticisms only". Too close to only content that is constructive, helpful or useful. In that, "constructive to who" can open up to censorship by who; if constructive (helpful or useful or any other synonym) voting comes to site that just opens it up to gaming ... how close do they mean that to supporting authors insisting reviewers are bullying their book by not providing any useful/constructive feedback in their reviews because that's the only conceivable reason to allow a negative review, supporting authors who say they can handle constructive criticism but that review needs to go because just mean and bullying their book ...

I'm looking for book community that just wants honest consumer reviews and reader interactions (plus good book cataloging features). That does have usual TOS provisions and guidelines protecting all site users from attacks and harassment (including authors ); don't even mind a "keep it civil" rule or that everyone has to "be respectful" of each other.

At this point, if Litsy did remove the "positive", "book bullying" and potential "constructive" phrases -- too late for them to be in the running. I still don't trust them because from what I've seen in all their startup talk and current site terms they clearly do think books need to be protected from being bullied.

It's the principle of not being censored (and of not demeaning or mocking people who were/are bullied). Almost always I write positive reviews because I usually abandon books I don't like quietly and move on to the next read. Since the 2013 censorship debacle here, on all new book sites I now make sure to throw in a negative review of a required reading, a few negative shelves and share/write a negative post about unethical author behavior to test for censorship (and make sure fellow readers don't accidentally engage with an author who might attack).

I'm afraid I feel perfectly justified doing anything to any commercial product -- including books -- I purchase or browse/shop/sample so long as not damaging one that's someone else's personal property or retail stock. I mean without harming people that is -- of course I'm not justified to throw a hardcover book at your head giving you a concussion. Of course I'm not justified in bullying an auhtor or another reader. If there was such a thing as bullying a book -- I'd feel perfectly justified doing so (although how I would commit repeated acts of harassment on a book causing it psychological trauma when it's an inanimate object with no psyche I cannot imagine -- nor could I imagine why I'd want to repeat any acts on a book other than re-reading or referencing).