Comments: 13
Krazykiwi @ Kiwitopia 11 years ago
Very brand new wanna-be GR replacement by a couple of the crew run off GR by the reviews kerfuffle.

Lots of us imported our books, to kickstart it with some data, but it's very very new and wobbly yet. It has potential, to fulfill the book cataloguing aspects that GR did, but then, so does BL (and they've already said here they're working on a new book database that will aggregate the editions etc for reviews).

I for one will never trust all my data to one site ever again, and book-lovers-site-monogamy is not required, so, whatever, i'll give it a shot.
from what I understand, it was founded by two ex-pats from GR. Looks similar to GR in some aspects. I've made an account, and I'm about to export my GR csv file to them. We'll see. I like Booklikes quite a bit, because of the blogging feature, but their catalog is still lacking. Hoping for improvements. Still like Kiwi said, not trusting just one site with the data, and BL still doesn't have an export feature for your books. I'm keeping GR and BL sync'd for the most part so I can use GR as an export option.

Leafmarks looks good - but it's in its infancy still and I don't have much more of an opinion at this point. Not a lot of help, huh? :)
On the other hand, and I say this kwowing that LM is it's infancy, and having imported my CSV file there, I'm frustrated by the inability to add books. I'm going to read Dark Cybertron before it comes out in paperback form - comics, whoo-hoo - and if I can't add it, I can't write my review when I've finished. As unhappy as people may be with the database/way it's presented on BL, it's far superior to not having the ability to add new books to the database in my opinion!

I'm staying on BL, but I'll use LM to mirror the data, since I'm wary of sites right now. It's just more of a backup for me at this point.
I have no plans to leave BL. And I'm still on GR too, mostly for the interaction and their catalog.
Debbie's Spurts 11 years ago
I agree with all the above; by "new"—keep in mind Leafmarks launched last weekend. I like the plans for both booklikes and Leafmarks. Neither is yet there to be my primary site (I'll need data export, consolidated editions/reviews, and series features; and, booklikes need a book catalog independent of booksellers).

I'm http://www.leafmarks.com/lm/#/users/10049/profile . I like the atmosphere and friends at booklikes so will likely stay here no matter what sites step up the book features to become my primary.

Seriously, compared to emailing support at goodreads for permission every time I want to create a new shelf name or write a non-promotional book review or having to edit a deleted shelf/review if not--how much quicker is it to mirror your reading/cataloging/status stuff on multiple sites?

Because of the number of goodreads escapees I'm enjoying here and expect to on Leafmarks, I'm trying to juggle those along with everything else.
Debbie's Spurts 11 years ago
Honestly, right now, I still really like The Reading Room. I get the impression it doesn't have a very large or very active membership. I barely imported data on BookRabbit so a little soon to tell -- looks like features I want but not comfortable there yet even with just the shelves imported from data (neither site exact goodreads clones so post-holidays I just need to check them out more and get more comfortable).

I'm badly missing series features on all new sites I'm trying. I've always kept track of series on fictfact even in conjunction with goodreads; but, fictfact doesn't do book editions, social or standalone reads. Fictiondb looks like perfect for this series reader; except it lacks a social side (I didn't see where you could even see someone's shelves) and has a limited field, 200 record data import. Libib is just a non-social book catalog that's free and a very good book catalog (lots more ways to list, group and organize books than goodreads has and imports the csv file beautifully and can print reports); it's not going to be anyone's book site but it is a good place to mirror your data.

I figure on watching and trying some things and that six-months to a year, some site will either start up or step up to be a goodreads competitor. Just importing data once and sporadically catching up the currently reading on multiple sites isn't that bad. One a new review is written, not that tough to copy/paste to more than one site. I spent more time than planned on organizing booklikes catalog and manually moving over reviews but frankly booklikes is the toughest of all sites tried to figure out book features and blog customizations. In January I want to explore groups and participate more in The Reading Room (I actually don't think I need to do any catalog cleanup; import was 100% perfect). BookRabbit is next.
As far as Bookrabbit and The Reading Room, I can't find anything on how they feel about censorship of reviews. That's pretty important to me - when I read a shitty book, I want to be able to say, 'it sucked, and here's the examples/reasons why.'
Debbie's Spurts 11 years ago
Any site that removes content I will automatically drop unless they can convince me there was a TOS violation such as actually attacking, threatening or hate speech. No, it doesn't convince me of that if someone says a review or shelf name was mean or offensive. Negative reviews, shelvings or ratings do not equal bullying, threats, or hate speech.

At this point, any site that sells all or part of the company to a publisher or bookseller -- dropping. It is possible I made a mistake checking out owner ships, that some tie was deliberately hidden, or that investors/owners might change while I'm using a site. But, as soon as I figure that out, gone.
I agree. I'm just not bothering to sign up unless I hear that they're all for free speech. I'll keep those two sites in mind, but for now, I'm waiting for LMs to get a usable database - that is, one where I can add my new books, like Beast Hunters volume 2 and Dark Cybertron. If that doesn't happen in a couple months, I'll check out BR and RR again.
Debbie's Spurts 11 years ago
And in a few weeks Leafmarks will have a better idea how they need to handle the massive data loads they are likely to see. I expect initially they will need to scramble just to keep up with that, Nevermind other wanted or planned features. I waited a couple of weeks after the "big" exodus from goodreads to do anything on booklikes because they were so hit with data needs.
Fair enough. Like I said, I'll wait it out for a bit. I'm actually happy here - I like socializing, seeing what my friends read, and have to say, but mostly I want to catalogue my own books so I'm not as concerned with BL being like GR with the reviews all in one spot.