Book Lair discussion

Hey guys, sorry I have been quiet, I've been sick and I am trying to keep up with suggestions but having a hard time, so I hope you don't mind me creating this topic where we can discuss everything in one place. You see, one of the things that has been confusing me the most is that I am not sure we are all talking about the same stuff, so I would like to start by clearing up some terms to make sure everyone is on the same, and if I am wrong in any of it I trust you will correct me:


The forums are known in GR as Discussions. In Discussions, we have Folders, othewise known in other sites as subforums. Each folder can contain topics. There is no way to create a folder inside a folder, as far as I can tell.

Now, I would like to say that after reading those lovely suggestions my main goal would be to implement them in the best way possible, without there having to be unnecessary folders, that is why I keep asking if there's anything we can put together and trying to discuss what should go where. I am not sure if Discussions (also known as forums) would be very easy to browse through if there were a lot of folders, particularly if they had similar content.

So, let's start with:

Buddy Reads

A Buddy reads forum would contain topics for each book title, right? Someone would post something like Looking for buddy reads for Unwind or simply the book title Unwind and info like which date to start. Maybe volunteering some detail on how fast they read, and so on. Then someone replies that they want to do the buddy read. And then what? Do they discuss the book as they read it in that topic or do we create a seperate topic in Book Discussions folder? Do we add a Spoiler tag to the topic title or do we keep adding < spoiler> tags in our posts so that people don't have to read them if they don't want to?


Post your reviews

A new folder called Post your reviews for users to post their review about a certain book. We discussed before that it can either contain topics for each genre or topics for each book title. Personally, I always think it is easier to find a book if I have the title instead of having to browse a topic for it, particularly if I am not sure what genre it goes under. The fact is there are a lot of books I would have no idea how to categorize, especially when it comes to fantasy/horror. And besides, because of what I explained earlier about folders and topics, there is no way to create subfolders, which mean that there would have to be a topic for each genre (not a folder), which means that it would probably be a pain to find a review someone posted by a specific book, since all reviews of books of that genre would be in the same topic.

I hope that wasn't too confusing, I think I am confusing myself now! You can see why it's been hard putting my thoughts togethere, eh.

And finally, do you feel any of these folders would render any of the others unnecessary and/or pointless? Particularly Book Discussions and/or Monthly reads?


I am so sorry for making you repeat what you have probably already said, but this would really really help my tired brain! So thank you so much for bearing with me, I thank you all so much for striving to make the group better and really hope all members will post, because every single opinion matters.

What about a Folder entitled Member Reviews in which we each make our own topic with Kandice's Reviews (or whoever) as a title and post our reviews only in our folder. Anyone can read them and comment, but only OUR reviews (regardless of genre) would appear in the folder with our name?

Maybe a Buddy Reads folder with a topic entitled Looking for a Buddy where we post what we want to read and when. If we get any takers we can start our own topic and title that topic Buddy Read "title of book". That way anyone can join the discussion at any time and it will be easy to search because you only need to search for the title of the book.

Kandice suggestions sound interesting.

Regarding spoilers for buddy reads, I think it would be better to add spoiler tags in our posts directly, so as not to deter people starting to read the book, yet who wants to still take part in the discussion.
Like this, everyone can read at their rythm and still participate.

Melaslithos wrote: "Kandice suggestions sound interesting.

Regarding spoilers for buddy reads, I think it would be better to add spoiler tags in our posts directly, so as not to deter people starting to read the book..."

I understood that, which was why I didn't suggest a spoiler and a spoiler free thread. It also keeps things a little more streamlined. I know that in other groups it can be years after a "buddy read" or "group read" has died that someone brings an old thread back to life because they have discovered a book for the first time, so marking spoilers makes sense. I just have to be very, very careful and remember to do it! ;)

Have you ever visited the group TNBBC? There are folders for yearly goals with individual members topics where they list only their own and others comment. There are also individual topics in a page count folders for people who are striving to read a certain number of pages per year. Any number of Discussions with individual member topics and it works really well.

You can always search by title, name, etc. so finding what you are looking for is a bit easier.

It's also fun to have your very own folder! Makes me feel a little "famous". Obviously doesn't take much to excite me...

I am absolutely horrid at sorting books by genre which is why I've never added more shelves to my books here. I just want to read what I want to read. I don't care what anyone else thinks it is!

@Nolan, but what about books that defy categorization. As a for instance, when Diana Gabaldon wrote Outlander she, on purpose, set out to write a book that would be difficult to shelve. She had time travel so it would fit sci-fi, romance, adventure, historical fiction, and I can't remember what all else she said she included for just that reason.

It ticked her off that when she would search for something to read at the library or book store things were shelved differently than she thought they should be. She strongly believes in fiction and non-fiction. Every other category should be up to the individual reader.

BTW, I am not a very good review writer, but in another group our books read towards our yearly goal ONLY count if we write a review. I've found that much like singing, I don't have any talent for it, but I enjoy the hell out of doing it!

Maybe it's due to my laziness that I don't shelve more particularly! ;)

Having said all that about genres and them being tricksy, I am a sucker for anything someone else has shelved as dystopia.

I'll have to look at your "read" shelf and see if there are any you haven't read that I can recommend.

You have a LOT of shelves, but only 5 books on the "read" shelf. Are all the others book you would like to read?

Ana,

Could we start a thread for Random Discussion for stuff like this? I didn't mean to spew all over your request for suggestions, but it's fun to talk about books! In general. In this case, with Nolan. :)

Kandice wrote: "What about a Folder entitled Member Reviews in which we each make our own topic with Kandice's Reviews (or whoever) as a title and post our reviews only in our folder. Anyone can read them and comm..."

Well, the thing is I am trying to think of the point of view of not only the people posting but also the person who comes to the discussions looking for a specific something. Speaking for myself, I may enjoy reading certain people's review but mostly I will be looking for books, particularly books I have not read yet and want to see what people thought of them or have read and want to compare notes, know what I mean?

Same for buddy reads. If the topic title already says the book name it saves a lot of browsing through topics. The person can post the book title, say they are looking for a buddy and when one is found use the same topic to discuss it? And we'd automatically know there would be spoilers in the topics on that folder cause that's the point of the buddy read right? Discuss thigns as it goes :)

Melaslithos wrote: "Kandice suggestions sound interesting.

Regarding spoilers for buddy reads, I think it would be better to add spoiler tags in our posts directly, so as not to deter people starting to read the book..."

I also like the thought of adding < spoiler > to each post, that way people can pick what they want to read :) Some people even like reading spoilers when they haven't read the book yet; personally, I don't, so it's good to have the option.

Kandice wrote: "@Nolan, but what about books that defy categorization. As a for instance, when Diana Gabaldon wrote Outlander she, on purpose, set out to write a book that would be diffi..."

I completely agree about not sorting by genre, particularly difficult when a book fits in several. Besides, since we use the link to book option, it's not that hard to right click it and see what the book is about and what genre it fits in ^_^

Nolan wrote: "Wow, I totally forgot what thread this was... our sincere apologies Ana. I guess this is what happens when one suddenly becomes deeply engaged in a mutual conversation pertaining books. Kandice, be..."

Ahah quite fine xD Glad you guys remembered to create the topic, it definitely sounds useful ^_^

Have you ever visited the group TNBBC? There are folders for yearly goals with individual members topics where they list only their own and others comment. There are also individual topics in a page count folders for people who are striving to read a certain number of pages per year. Any number of Discussions with individual member topics and it works really well."


I have not been to this group but I have noticed this sort of thing around. I guess we could have a Members Corner discussion folder and every member could create a topic for themselves? Maybe we could have that instead of monthly reads? As in, people could post their personal goals in their own topic as well as discuss anything they like. You could all be famous as you put it hehe and each of us could get to know the other members more closely ^_^

I'm sorry if I am being problematic v.v It's just that I feel that the things we have been talking about fit in different places so it's hard to find one that's 100% satisfying.

So... what about a Members Corner folder where each person has their own thread where they can post:

- A bit about themselves
- Individual reading goals (monthly, yearly, total pages, etc)
- Their reviews
?

Anything else you might like to see there?
I think something like this could make ya'll feel famous as you put it, I like that idea. Your own personal corner, not just for reviews but anything else you might want to post. Almost like a mini blog :)

And maybe have the seperate folder for Buddy Reads...

Ana wrote: "I'm sorry if I am being problematic v.v It's just that I feel that the things we have been talking about fit in different places so it's hard to find one that's 100% satisfying.

So... what about a..."

Realistically, I like this group, so whatever you decide to do will work for me. It's just a matter of getting used to whatever "format" we decide to utilize.

I have faith in your decisions!

Kandice wrote: "Ana wrote: "I'm sorry if I am being problematic v.v It's just that I feel that the things we have been talking about fit in different places so it's hard to find one that's 100% satisfying.

So... ..."

Aww shucks thank you so much, Kandice. I'm trying to incorporate everyone's ideas, especially yours which people like, but if you think it might not work please do make your suggestions!

Nolan and I plan on reading The New World and The Knife of Never Letting Go beginning tomorrow (ish). What's the consensus regarding threads for Buddy Reads?

I don't want to create anything in the wrong place.

I was hoping to hear more from people regarding my last post... But you can create the topic and I will move it later, Kandice.

Well, I went ahead and created the new folders.
Please let me know what you think!

I made a topic for the book we plan on reading. I can change anything you want, or maybe you can since you are a Mod? Anyway, doesn't matter to me where it appears as long as we can discuss the book! Thank you again for the group. :D

Nope, it's perfect! In the right folder, topic nice and clear, everythings looks great, thank you very much for posting!

You can imagine how ecstactic I feel then ;)
I just want to make everyone happy so please let me know how this work?

Thank you so much, I really appreciate it ^_^
So guys, what do you think about the Monthly reads folder? I am thinking what we're posting there could go in each Members Corner topic, so it's pretty useless now? O_o

I think you should keep it. It's nice to have a place where we can all interact on current reading events. Members Corner, as I see it, is more focus on each person, when Monthly Read is focused on the books of the month.

Yes, good point...

I guess what I am trying to say is that I would like to prevent having the same stuff repeated in different places, which currently happens a lot. If we cut down on a folder or two that's not necessary not only would it be easier to find things because they wouldn't be repeated but also we don't have to scroll as much to find the topics.

When I created Monthly Reads I wondered about featuring books that come out that month or are talked about a lot during that time (kinda like the monthly newsletter we get from GR) but I don't really keep up with that kinda stuff. It could also feature group reads - one book for the whole group to read during that month.

But I do like that it's more of a discussion of what people intend to read during that particular month. I'm just wondering if people will use it since what it offers to discuss can already be posted elsewhere, as happens with other topics.

Ok I moved this discussion to a new topic, so we can keep that for the two initially discussed if anyone wants to change anything :)