Thanks for nothing, Goodreads…😡

On By MischenkoIn opinions, Rants, Reads

Warning: this is a rant. If you only allow yourself to be optimistic at all times, please refrain from reading this post.

😆 Just kidding, friends. I actually just want to share something that’s annoying me about Goodreads.

Over the past six months, I’ve been repeatedly blocked on Goodreads. I’ll be scrolling along, liking posts from books added to reviews—even adding books to my TBR, and all of sudden I’m blocked. This lasts for sometimes up to an hour. Goodreads has a cap of 70 likes allowed in a set amount of time. I believe it’s an hour. This probably doesn’t seem like a big deal, but for someone who limits themselves to mainly Goodreads for social media, it is. I don’t know of any other media platform that does this, do you?

What upsets me the most is that I’ve been a member on Goodreads for fourteen years now. Why would the system not be more sophisticated than that? Shouldn’t it be smart enough to know that I’m not a spammer?

I’ve contacted Goodreads three times—once six months ago and twice in the last week. I’m given the same response.

What is she even talking about? I only reviewed one book that day. Not only that, who even knows how long it’s been since I left two reviews in a single day. I’m averaging two reviews a week right now. Last time I was told that these ’regulations’ were temporary due to high levels of spam.

Goodreads has always been my number one social media. There was a time when I didn’t use any other social media at all. I’m barely on Twitter. Bookstagram hasn’t worked out for me (the algorithm is insane). It seems like I’m just going to have to suck it up and deal with it because Goodreads has features other sites don’t. I’ve actually considered only reading and liking reviews rather than everything. I just can’t understand—with Amazon being its parent company—why they can’t have a better spam system. These changes they’ve made haven’t helped from what I can see. Every day my messages and friend requests are loaded with people treating the site as a dating platform. Promotion links are posted on my reviews. I’ve even received friend requests from people promoting porn sites.

Has anyone else been dealing with these issues on Goodreads or am I just a crazy person? Are you a reader who doesn’t use Goodreads at all? Are you using another social media platforms for books?

❤️ Mischenko

50 thoughts on “Thanks for nothing, Goodreads…😡”

  1. I had issues with goodreads when I was cleaning out my tbr. If I deleted too many books I got blocked as well. While I guess think is some sort of anti hacking thing, it’s very annoying

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  2. Sorry you’re having problems, Jenn. I haven’t had any issues with them, but now I’ve probably cursed myself since I said that. I’m getting ready to add two reviews today, so I hope nothing happens. Hope you can get things straightened out, but I’m betting the odds aren’t in your favor.

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    1. It doesn’t do any good to complain, but at least it makes me feel better. 😆 I’ve never been capped on reviews before, so I have no idea what she’s talking about. My guess is she didn’t understand my question this time. It happens to me when I’m ‘liking’ everything. I have my feed set to everything, so that I can also get author updates (like your blog posts), book reviews, want to reads, highlights, author quotes… there’s a lot. 🤷🏻‍♀️

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  3. Ugh, yeah, I’ve been frustrated by the site on many occasions. The spamming is out of control, so clearly whatever they are doing to mitigate it is only keeping away those of us that actually use the service for what it is intended. I have been on the lookout for another site that has all of their features, and I am continually coming up short. Let me know if you come across anything better and I’m in, and I’ll keep you in mind if I stumble across something.

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    1. It’s totally out of control, and that’s sad because like you say: it spoils it for the readers who actually use it. In the past people have recommended BookBub, which is nice, but it’s just not the same. StoryGraph is one that Misty has recommended. My issue is starting all over with something after all these years…thousands of friends…it’s a lot to let go. I’ll let you know if anyone comments with others. Thanks for your thoughts!

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    1. I need to do the same. Misty introduced it to me to it some time ago. Just the idea of starting something new turns me off. I’ll give it a go though for the charts alone! 👍

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  5. Wow, I didn’t even know GR had limits. I admit I’m not very active there. I use it to post reviews, and I always participate in the reading challenge, but other than that, I don’t really do much. This post was an eye-opener. I can see why you’d be come frustrated if you use it so heavily.

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    1. This started not too long ago. It’s incredibly annoying but probably not worth complaining about because there’s nothing any users can do. This is supposed to be their way of controlling spam messages and fake users. Sadly, it doesn’t seem to work. Maybe over time they can make it more user-friendly. When you have thousands of friends on there, it’s hard to just like 70 things when it includes book adds, author updates, quotes, etc. Thanks for checking out the post, Mae. ☺️

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  6. I think I signed up for Goodreads years ago but haven’t used it. I have four different sites similar to, and including, BookBub who offer regular suggestions and aside from my own searches, that’s about it for input. My TBR pile is overflowing without more so I’m good. I can see how it could be a good tool though.

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    1. BookBub is neat, but it doesn’t seem to have all the same features. You’re right though about the TBR. 😆 Same here! If anything, I need to remove some.

      Goodreads has always been my favorite because I have more people there than anywhere else. It’s this major concentration of readers where a lot of talk happens. I get that here, but it’s not at the same level.

      Thanks for your input! 😊

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  7. I use goodreads a lot. I have gotten frustrated with friend requests from men who only have female friends and then want to start messaging and asking personal questions, also those who are trying to scam me. The only time I have been shut out is when I was cleaning up my TBR. I was deleting a whack of books and after a bit, it didn’t save. I have posted 5 reviews in a few hours (children’s books) and not had a problem. Sorry, I’m not much help. I do agree they need to do something.

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  8. There’s a reason I call it Devilreads and quit back in ’13. Of course, it wasn’t these reasons, but it is symptomatic of the underlying issues there. I’d recommend LibraryThing, but I doubt they have what you’re looking for. It is definitely focused on the cataloguing and reviewing over the social side.

    Good luck trying to find a happy medium….

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    1. I’m actually on LibraryThing already. I’ve been on there for years, but I’m not a huge fan of the interface.

      We’ve talked about Goodreads before, so I know where you stand on that. It’s not like I’d die without it, but there are so many readers that I chat with there. I just wish they could fix this problem without blocking good people from using the platform. Thanks for your thoughts! 😁

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      1. At some point you just have to decide when something is broken enough to counter the good points of the people you’re involved with.
        That’s why I still whine about WP even while i have no intention of leaving, hahahaa 🙂

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      1. Yeah the algorithm is horrible. I recently had an issue on Instagram because I commented to much and liked to much. I’m also currently having an issue where I have a notification but when I go check there’s nothing there.

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        1. Of course. 🙄 Sorry to hear you’ve had issues with it. Well, I’ve already discovered that it isn’t going to work with me for books. I don’t appreciate that they have a hand in how many people see your reels. Seems like they should go out to the same people every time. I suppose this is just all social media.

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  10. I’ll be honest. I don’t use the social media aspect of Goodreads like ever. I mostly just keep track of what I’m reading. So,I’ve never run across that myself. So sorry you’re having issues 😢. But, I will say this – I have noticed a lot of men following me on there lately and it’s feeling like it might be getting like Twitter that way, though I hope I’m wrong. I just shoo those men away so I’m not sure of their intent. 😂

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    1. Same here. I’ve stopped adding friends now unless they have plenty of friends, books, and activity. Before I answer their friend request, I check out their profile. Usually you can catch most that way, but some start sending messages and you know something is up then.

      Do you mainly just use WordPress and Instagram?

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        1. I don’t do much on Twitter either. The other day I received a notification: Nice job! Your tweet is getting noticed and it’s been seen 26 times! 😆 Goodreads is where I have the largest concentration of people.

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  11. It’s not just Goodreads but all social media has sets of limits, how much you’re posting in how much time be it adding, deleting, likes, comments or even follow/unfollow. If you do that in huge numbers all of sudden all social media has way to detect it and considers you a bot and so blocking you from doing it. All social media wants to make sure it’s not robot doing drastic change or someone who has hacked your account and gives you a warning or caution that you use social media in a humanly possible way.

    I advice to wait couple of minutes between likes and comments, use a limited time frame like 30 mins and come back later for another 30 mins.

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  12. So interesting — I had no idea there were caps on activity within a day, but I don’t use it nearly as much as you do, so it wouldn’t have come up for me. I do get a lot of those gross pick-up messages via Goodreads (I wrote a whole rant about it a while back), so I’m much more picky now about which friend requests I’ll accept.

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    1. Me too, Lisa. It doesn’t seem that hard to figure out which users are potential fakes.

      This started a while back. I stopped using as much for a while because it’s such a nuisance.

      Thanks for sharing your thoughts. ☺️

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  13. I’m a heavy Goodreads user and have only encountered the limit issue when I’m liking other reviews, which I believe they count in the “rating” bucket. My biggest issues arise as a group administrator when I’m trying to create multi-topic book discussions and get the dreaded captcha notices after adding too many. All the social media sites are grappling with more sophisticated hackers and spammers given that so many in the desired demographics are heavy users and corporate entities rely on them more than other metrics.

    Goodreads used to be a fun place for book discussion forums but like everything else, that’s shifted. It’s my primary place for tracking my books and reading but the group discussions are waning. I’m not going anywhere because in time, they’ll experience the same. I’m just adjusting my expectations for the future😢

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    1. They cap me at 70 likes, no matter what the likes are—reviews, author updates, quotes, or progress. It’s ridiculous.

      It’s understandable that they do something, I just wish it were smarter—for example, have users that have been members for 14 years on a safe list or something. How can we not have this tech by now? I’ve never been capped on Twitter or Instagram, but who knows. ☺️

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      1. We’ve suggested all of that but Amazon no longer seems to have the group of people who were with GR from the beginning to advise them on smarter security moves. They just have a bunch of people making security decisions that are ignorant of the community and how it works from a user standpoint. Goodreads seems to have gained little from he affiliation with Amazon.

        *sigh*

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        1. Ah, that’s what I figured. The lady that replied to my help message totally missed the mark. I surely don’t claim to be perfect, but it seems like their system is worthless. It has to bring them loads of revenue! As long as the ‘Amazon’ button works… 🙄

          Liked by 1 person

        2. Actually, where they’ve made their money now is with publishers. Goodreads review ratings are part of a book’s measure of success, which is awful because they’re so lax in standards for how they allow ratings to be assigned. It’s now just another Amazon racket.

          Liked by 1 person

        3. Interesting. Yes, I have noticed that on GR, ratings aren’t monitored at all. Amazon doesn’t hesitate to remove thousands of reviews when they believe they’re unfair. I suppose it’s bad to even associate GR with Amazon anymore because they aren’t related at all.

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  14. starjustin

    Ok, I’m confused now. So the more reviews you write then GR adds to the # you can read and like the next day? And then if you don’t personally write a review for a day then does GR take away from that # the next day? 🧐

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  16. Hi – I want to use Goodreads more – and might – but I can see why it works for you – because you love books and that site has some cool features – and now from his post I see it also has limits.
    I would try to not be upset about the hourly reset – because remember that you might be in the very small percentage of folks who actually do like and post and read a lot in a short time. I think most people have a cognitive limit and ore of a schedule restriction and so maybe smile because you might be a little “rare” in your “amount” – still quality but not the norm – also, the more I learn about bots and tech stuff, the more I realize limits like that are important for reasons we might now know.
    In regards to the dating and porn stuff – well that is terrible and I hope they fix that. – how annoying

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  17. Pingback: March Wrap-up 2022 – Five-Year Anniversary! #books #bookreviews #music – ReadRantRock&Roll

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