Reading the World discussion

A place to share helpful tips about Goodreads or the challenge.

Thanks to Shirley -- this is how to post a link to a review (or whatever you are linking to).

When I get ready to post a comment pointing toward my review, I open up a tab to post the comment. I open up a second tab that has my review. (I open a second tab because terrible experience has shown me that you can't leave a comment page open, go to another page and come back -- the comment I was working on disappeared once I visited another page.)

Instructions for Tab #2 (Review tab): To get to the page with the review:
1) Click on the book you reviewed;
2) Scroll down the page until you see "My Activity";
3) Right below your Review, click on the blue letters "see review". This will take you to your Review page which has the URL for that page. You will use the URL address in Tab #1 (Comment).

Instructions for Tab #1 (Comment tab):

When you get ready to add your review,
1) Click on (some html is ok) above the comment box;

2) Where it says "link:", left click on the coding to select it, then right click to copy it.

3) Paste the code in your comment

4) Delete the following code: http://www.goodreads.com.

5) Go to Tab #2 (your Review page), and left click on the URL address to select all of the address, then right click to copy it.

6) Go back to Tab #1 and left click what you just copied to paste and replace the goodreads address you just deleted (you will be adding your review URL between the two quotation marks "").

7) Delete the text my link here and replace it by typing here (or any other text you want to use).

That's it. Once you do it a couple of times, it goes really fast. My example is here.

How do I bold, italic, strike through text?


Bold - <*b>Bold<*/b> (remove the *)
It looks like this: Bold

Italic - <*i>Italic<*/i> (remove the *)
It looks like this: Italic

Strike Through - <*s> Strike Through<*/s> (remove the *)
It looks like this: Strike Through

To provide a link directly to one of your posts:

Right click directly on the date and time of your post (in the gray bar directly above your post). Scroll down and click on Copy Link Location (this will vary depending on which browser you use, but it should say something about "copy link"). In the box for your new comment, type:

< a href="
then paste the info you copied above. Then type
">
Type in the text you want to show up in your link -- for example: Update, message #2, then type
< /a>

The trick to this is to OMIT the spaces I've left after the < in both the first line and the last. If I don't put those in, the code won't show up here. You DO want the space in a href or it won't work right.

How to add some symbols to your post:

(REMOVE THE SPACE AFTER THE & SIGN, remember to include the ; )

& #8226; = a small black circle •

& #9733; = a solid black star ★

& #9734; = a star outline ☆

& hearts; = a solid black heart ♥

& #10004; = a heavy check mark ✔

& #10006; = a heavy X ✖

& #162; = cents sign ¢

& #163; = pound sign £

& #176; = degree sign °

& #8364; = Euro sign €

& #9834; = music note ♪

& #9835; = music notes ♫

and more

I also found some others. As above, remove the space between the & and the #, but don't forget the ; at the end!

& #9785; = frowning face ☹
& #9728; = sunshine ☀
& #9729; = cloud ☁
& #9730; = rain ☂
& #9731; = snow ☃
& #9732; = comet ☄
& #9734; = star outline ☆
& #9742; = telephone ☎
& #9744; = blank box ☐
& #9745; = box with check mark ☑
& #9746; = box with X ☒
& #9760; = skull & crossbones ☠
& #9762; = radioactive sign ☢ (maybe good for those AWFUL books? LOL)
& #9774; = peace sign ☮
& #9775; = yin & yang ☯
& #9824; = black spade ♠
& #9827; = black club or shamrock ♣
& #9829; = black heart ♥
& #9830; = black diamond ♦
& #9825; = white heart ♡
& #9826; = white diamond ♢
& #9828; = white spade ♤
& #9831; = white club or shamrock ♧
& #9988; = scissors ✄
& #9999; = pencil ✏
& #10007; = slanted X ✗
& #10008; = heavy slanted X ✘

Of course, you can always simply copy and paste a symbol too :)

To Change your Display Name:

1. Hover your mouse over your profile picture in the upper right corner of any GR page.

2. In the drop-down menu that pops up, click on "View Profile".

3. When your profile page opens, click on "Edit Profile".

4. When that page loads, you'll see boxes for your first name, last name and display name (and more info).

5. Goodreads won't let you set your display name, so if you want it to be something other than your first and last names (or first name and last initial). Here is how to work around that:

If you have a last name or initial entered in your profile page, delete that. In the box for your first name, enter whatever you'd like your display name to be.

Remember to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page and click on Save Profile Settings.

UPLOADING AN IMAGE TO GOODREADS

1. Go to my profile. Best way is to click on your icon picture located to the upper right corner of your window.

2. Beneath your icon picture, you'll notice a link for "more photos". Click that.

3. To the far right, click on "add more photos".

4. Click "Browse" and locate your image that's saved on your computer, then select "Open".

5. Enter your metadata -- this is the information about your image such as the Title, Description, and Tags. Then click "Upload".

6. It'll take a while to upload and Goodreads will take you back to your photo list. VIOLA! Done!

HOW TO ADD AN IMAGE TO A GOODREADS DISCUSSION

Let's assume you've uploaded your image to Goodreads OR a photo-sharing website (Photobucket, Flicker, etc). Now you want to make it appear in a Goodreads Discussion.

1. Go to the image on the web that you want to add. Right-click and select "Properties".

2. Highlight the entire Address (URL), then Right-click and select "Copy". Be sure to close this tiny window, too.

NOTE: For me there is no "Properties". Instead I choose "Copy Image Address" and skip #2 in these instructions.

3. Go to your comment box for the discussion and right-click INSIDE the box to "Paste" (or for those who use keystroke shortcuts, type Ctrl-V)

4. Now add the appropriate html coding around this web address. Then click Post.

5. Viola! Your image is added.

Kelly wrote: "UPLOADING AN IMAGE TO GOODREADS


Question for the group. If I upload the photo and then add it into comments. Can I delete the photo and have it stay in the comments?

Kelly wrote: "Kelly wrote: "UPLOADING AN IMAGE TO GOODREADS


Question for the group. If I upload the photo and then add it into comments. Can I delete the photo and have it stay in the comments?"

I got the answer. You can delete the photo from your profile -- and it does remain in the comment.

How to get an edition of a book added to Goodreads:

You'll have to snag the attention of a Goodreads librarian to add a picture to an existing entry, and to edit the edition information. It's a bit of a chore, though I do it quite a bit since I'm always buying stuff out of thrift shops that aren't in the Goodreads database.

First thing is to make sure the Goodreads entry matches the edition you have--the easiest way to do this is make sure the ISBNs match (If the edition you have was published before ~1970, it won't have an ISBN.) If it's different, it's actually easier to add a new edition than to edit an older one already loaded into the database.

If the editions match, then scan a picture of the front cover of the edition you have, and then upload it into the pictures in your profile. Then go to the Goodreads Librarian group (https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...), and start a new topic--probably under book cover help. Don't add on to an existing topic because it might never get noticed. Start a new topic and title it something like 'adding a cover scan from my personal library' or something similar.

In the initial post, explain what you are doing, and add a link to the page that has the edition you want to have edited. Include the ISBN if the book has one, and all the other data that's missing from the Goodreads page, like page count, format, language etc. Then add that the scan can be found in your profile picture.

All the librarians I've dealt with have been super helpful, but they are busy, so it may not get dealt with right away. If you don't get a reply in a couple of days, you might try bumping the thread until someone notices it. But you'll see by the quantity of threads that that group is overloaded with people trying to get books edited.