Open Letter to Goodreads re: Spam and Notifications
Dear Goodreads,
I love your site on principle. You list all kinds of books - including little ones like stuff I am listed in, so I get a swanky author's profile. Thank you. That is a nice thing. Also having the ability to rate and review books, get others' recommendations, mouth off in discussions, put up examples of my work and read others' work - all this is very good. I love being part of a book-based, international community. It is nice.
Also - may I say I think you look very pretty? I hope it's not too forward, but I like the restrained palette you've got going on - creams and browns with the bookshelf up top: very classy. I like your style.
What is not nice is the volume of email notifications I receive from you. Every time a friend of mine does something - anything - I get an email. Surely you could just wait until each time I log in to see this feed, no? I do not need to be force-fed my friends feed. That is not a good thing. It makes me feel less friendly.
Yes, I've gone into my account and notifications and feeds and turned a lot of stuff off for myself, but 'email everyone everything' shouldn't be the default, and there's another problem:
If I get emailed every time my friends do something: everything I do is being sent out to everyone I'm friends with, too. Not even every time I do something significant like write a decent-length book review,* but even every time I add another book to my bookshelves, or comment in a discussion - all my friends get pestered.
This is not cool. It's like sticking a loudhailer next to every bit of social networking smalltalk. I didn't mean to shout it. In fact: I didn't shout it. You made me shout it and now everyone (my mother included) is complaining about the volume. Stop it. It's not fair.
I realise I can turn off all notifications one by one by unchecking the boxes - but that means nothing turns up even on the Goodreads website itself. I like stuff turning up on Goodreads feeds - I just don't want to piss off the casual browser/friend by emailing them about it every bloody time, too. I'm sure it's pissing them off and this isn't on.
It's also not very smart from your point of view. When I Google Goodreads one of the first search terms offered is 'Goodreads Spam.' Your business reputation is at risk. Sort it out.
So - Goodreads - I have a challenge for you: Give each and every user the ability to turn off email notifications - both about what they recieve and about what they send out - without turning off on-site notifications. I know you can do it. We both work in online communications and I know you're not stupid.
Do it. Do it soon, or I'm walking out on you.
If you loved me you would.
*(I like my reviews, I think are pretty rad. However vain as I am, even I wouldn't want to email everyone every bleedin' time I write one.)