Unimportant Musings

As a long-time lurker and recently active Goodreads member, not really having any stakes in the matter, I watch the chaos unfolding and escalating there with some wide-eyed, popcorn-munching enjoyment tinged with sadness even I'm surprised at. The 'rents are fighting, and it's not a pretty sight. It's sad because of how, had Goodreads had thicker skin, stupidly unnecessary this whole hot mess of affairs, once so easily side-stepped, has been. 

Here's what I know, or think I know: Goodreads screwed up somewhere in a big way. Certain members were silenced for jeopardizing their bottom line. Who cares about them, anyway, am I right? Understandably, they were angered by such overreaching. On principle, others jumped in to throw in their support. Soon afterwards, something of an exodus took place. There's even a book chronicling this entire spectacle, too, called Off-Topic: The Story of an Internet Revolt, the title as dramatic as their version of events calls for it to be, and I'm hard-pressed to dismiss any of it as an overreaction.

It's clear who's in the right here, yet I remain skeptical if anything of this outcry will hurt Goodreads any. It's undoubtedly hurting its members, though, even some bystanders, especially those like me who get my kicks from reading scintillating and often inventive book reviews, the more prolific writers of which appear to have moved shop here. No surprise I tagged along. On a related note, that "semi" in "semi-migration" in this entry's title obviously means I have my other foot still planted, if gingerly, at Goodreads, and I don't really care how blasphemous such an association has now become. The facts remain that (1) I'm a junkie for great book reviews, (2) not everyone has come here, and (3) their dumbass policies aside, Goodreads doesn't stress me out as much to navigate. But don't let that turn you off when I stalk follow you out of the blue.

To this site's credit, apart from a few hiccups that common sense fixed quickly enough, the transition has been more or less seamless. As it stands now, much needs tweaking here. The do-it-yourself blog layouts, because the available ones are so a decade ago, are going to take some getting used to, particularly for lazy ignoramuses like me, having dabbled before in CSS or not (never has that old use-it-or-lose-it adage been truer). The way my browser freezes up for a few seconds before a blog fully loads makes me twitch. But this place has huge potential, and with its customer service that I hear is fantastic, I hope to see most of it realized in short order.