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SameRandomUsername t1_iy8f0cq wrote

They are just glorified ads. That's the reason I don't use goodreads and removed my account.

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Maxtrix07 t1_iya1pfe wrote

I literally just use Goodreads to keep track of every book I have read, and to not forget some books I plan on reading in the future. The reviews of books I like made me realize I can't use reviews to judge on what I should read.

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mjpenslitbooksgalore t1_iycq3xc wrote

Same and i like the book challenge every year. But i only read the bad reviews bc they’re usually pretty comical

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i-should-be-reading t1_iy9aahp wrote

Yeah they became ads when Amazon bought them. The big A is only interested in getting us to buy more of what they can purchase large quantities of (if they convince 20k more people to buy a title they can get a bigger discount etc).

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EvokeWonder t1_iy9biiu wrote

Wait, Amazon owns Good Reads?

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i-should-be-reading t1_iy9d8dz wrote

Yes they went on a buying spree several years ago (2013) and bought lots of smaller bookish companies. They didn't disclose price but it was rumored to be in the high hundreds of millions.

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felix_mateo t1_iy9p46g wrote

And Goodreads hasn’t received much in the way of updates since then. I still use it, mostly out of habit, but it’s not what it once was.

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iBlowAtCoding t1_iy9xdm8 wrote

There used to be a cool Goodreads feature on the Kindle apps, but they removed it :(

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QueenMackeral t1_iy9s3kx wrote

And then there's me and they only recommend me books that are in other languages. I get that I read a lot of translated fiction but at least recommend me the ones that are already translated.

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