Until moments ago, I had never evaluated either goodreads or librarythings. I still don’t profess to be an expert on either website. At a glance, however, I formed a couple of opinions.
I registered for and entered the librarythings site first. I am a visual person; and I did not care for the appearance of the site. It seemed a little grandmotherly to me. I was, however, enthusiastic about all of the discussion groups that seemed to be ongoing. Yet, on closer examination, nothing seemed to be happening in either the children’s or young adult book groups—the only groups that I would consider joining. Disappointed, I jumped to the goodreads website.
Goodreads definitely has a smoother, more polished appearance. I was encouraged by my first impression of that website. Yet, when I actually scrutinized the children’s and young adult book discussion groups, little seemed to be happening there, either—at least not on a professional level. It appeared that a few mothers were asking a few questions and getting some very short answers. For parents or nonprofessionals, this website might be sufficient.
Goodreads does have a nice search feature; and people are allowed to rate and review books that they have read. Still, I was hoping to find a serious group, who would be more committed to in-depth discussions of children’s literature.
It does not appear that either of these sites offers that service. I admit, however, that I may simply have overlooked something valuable that actually is happening.
In making these quick observations, I seem to recognize what appears to be a less than favorable trend. It seems that there are numerous blogs "out there;" but no one is minding the store.
In my opinion, the Internet needs fewer starts and more finishes in the blogs department.
3 comments:
Jackie, I looked at Librarything as well. It's funny, I liked the plan appearance of it all. I find that so many sites are too cluttered for me. I like to take my time to digest things so when a page is too busy, I tend to miss a lot. I did not delve to much into what was happening in the group but I thought the variety was interesting. I did find it an exceptionally useful tool for organization. All of the other features were a bonus!
I think I might give goodreads a try after reading this post. I did my review on librarything, but this is the second review that mentioned the cleaner layout of goodreads. I also agree with you on the abandoned blogs. They either need to be removed or updated. When you see that the last blogpost was posted in January of 2002 it gives you a feeling like you just clicked into a ghost town!
Aaaaaaaah! "Ghost Town!" Very Well Said!
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