Goodreads: What's The Purpose?

I stumbled onto a very interesting link not too long ago that raised the question: "What's The Purpose Of Goodreads?"

The question was asked on the "Linked In" website by a woman named Josie. And in the nine days following her question, she got 134 responses. Interestingly enough, most of those responses were negative. About 90% percent. People who said things such as, "There is no purpose, Goodreads is infected with bullies." And responses that were similar.

But Josie raises a very good question. I mean, here is a lady well into her golden years who has not been a member of Goodreads and now, she hears about them but before going there to start an account blindly, she asks others for their input about what Goodreads is all about. There's certainly nothing wrong with that, is there?

I just happen to find it interesting that so many people who responded, did so without hesitation and, to top it off, had something negative to say about the place. Obviously, with so many negative responses regarding Goodreads, Josie ended up posting a response declaring something to the effect that Goodreads didn't sound like her cup of tea.

Good call Josie.

You see, here is the truth; Goodreads has deteriorated a lot since I joined back in the Spring of 2011. 

What? You don't believe me? Okay, fair enough. I tell you what, instead of taking my word for it, how about we check the facts, okay? But first, listen to this - when I first joined Goodreads, it was ranked globally on the "Alexa" rankings in the top 150 websites on the internet. 

One hundred and fifty!

That was back in the Spring of 2011. At one point, I saw it crack the top 100. Fast forward to now. I took another look at Goodreads "Alexa" rankings and was stunned. Let me repeat this, I was STUNNED! to see that it had fallen all the way to 326 globally! 

That's one hell of a drop. Check it out. 

The first question that comes to mind is - "What happened?"

The answer is simple.

People have caught on to bully shenanigans. That's my belief. It was bad enough when the Goodreads bullies  were only targeting Indie authors, but ever since they started targeting reviewers, who review bully authors books poorly, they have opened a whole new can of worms that not even Amazon will be able to close unless they come to understand that for as long as the Goodreads bullies are allowed to roam their site and get people banned like they do, Goodreads will continue to sink further down the charts and eventually, end up in the sewer. And so will their investment. 

It's really just a matter of commonsense deduction. When the bullies get authors banned after attacking them, those authors friends and fans see it. When these bullies attack reviewers and get them banned as well, their friends on their friends list see this too. Then of course, STGRB or myself reports on it and even more people see this. The end result? People become afraid to participate on Goodreads for fear of being targeted by these bullies and having their accounts deleted. Let's face it, nobody wants to invest their time on a website where eventually, they run a good chance of being targeted by the bullies and then they have no choice other than to sit back and watch all of their hard work get wiped away just because the bullies didn't agree with their review of one of their bully authors books.

Even worse, no legit reader/reviewer is going to want to unknowingly become a fan or like a book of an author that was placed on the bullies shit list and then that reader gets targeted by the bullies and harassed, called a sock puppet and then eventually banned. 

And this is why I believe that finally, the Goodreads bullies have now hurt Goodreads bottom line. But is Amazon seeing this yet? Are they paying attention? Proof positive that once your reputation goes to the shitter, it's hard to clean it back up.

This next shot shows how Goodreads has dropped 3 spots just from the previous reporting date. Take a look. 

For a site like Goodreads, that means something. It is a trend. A trend that has been going on for a while now. It is losing its steam. And Maybe three spots isn't panic time, but when those three spots add up month after month, you end up going from a top 100, 150 website to not even a top 300 website.

I know what you're thnking; "Patrick Brown says everything is fine, Carroll. Goodreads has 20 million members."

Okay, but if Gooodreads has 20 million members then how is it that they can't even break the top 300 in websites? Especially when they were top 150 with 10 million members? You see, there is no point in having 20 million members if only a few hundred thousand actively participating. And when Patrick Brown says that the bullying on Goodreads is only one percent of the membership, he fails to tell you that only 3 percent of members are actively participating. This equates to 1/3 of active members bullying the other 2/3. (That's 33 % by the way)

Next you might be asking, "How can Goodreads be failing with 20 million members?" - A very good question indeed. Now here is how it happens.

Think about it, when people join a website, they go through a lot of shit that they have to do in order to get the best experience from it. But when you join and look around and decide, "This isn't for me." then how often do people delete their profile? The answer is very few. For the most part, many people don't even know they can delete their profile. Some people may know about it, but don't know how to do it, and honestly, who is going to spend an hour learning how to delete your profile when if you decide you don't want to be a part of it anymore, it's a lot quicker to just click 'sign-out" and forget about it.

So you see, there may be 20 million members, but how many of those accounts are inactive? Well, I have a theory. I do believe that if Goodreads were to delete all accounts inactive for at least six months, you will lose about 60 percent of membership. (Maybe more) We're talking about losing 12 million members here.

And if Goodreads decided to delete all accounts inactive for at least a year, about 40 percent of memberships would be gone. (8 million) And then I think that if Gooodreads deleted all accounts inactive for up to three years, then at least 25 percent of membership would be lost. (5 million)

But guess what? Goodreads doesn't do that. This is why that 20 million membership number carries no meaning. It's a fraudulent number. It's just a shiny penny to dangle in front of the media. The point is, what's the purpose for 20 million members if only a handful of them are even participating?

Then you might ask, "Then why does Patrick Brown tell us that everything is fine?" - Well, because that's his job. What do you think he's going to say? "Hey everyone, we have 20 million members, we're awesome! But only three percent of them (or less) even bother to participate. We suck."

Of course he's not going to say that. It's his job to paint a pretty picture and blow smoke up your ass, hoping that you don't see the truth.

Then there is the sexual role play scandal that I revealed on February 1st of 2013. How many parents were alarmed about that? ... Plenty! And of course Patrick Brown came out publicly acting like this was the first time he ever heard of this and was so, so concerned about it. But as we later learned, and I had posted and showed as well as STGRB, Patrick Brown knew about it for several years. He simply chose to turn a blind eye. When people saw this, they knew he was a liar. They knew their kids weren't safe from on-line sexual predators on Goodreads. And what did these concerned parents do? They took their child off the site. And many of them probably didn't bother deleting the accounts, they probably just had them sign off and then blocked GR from the computer with parental controls.

Then there was the bullies, Patrick's friends, coming out and saying that my report and evidence, and that shown on STGRB was false. However, many of you went there to GR and saw for yourselves the truth. This probably hurt Bully Nation's credibility the most. Now, not only were these bullies bullying authors, but they were putting kids at risk by trying to convince parents that it wasn't true. How many parents fell for their lies? You know there had to be some who did. But the evidence showed otherwise.

I think this also contributed to Goodread's decline. 

But guess what? Goodreads isn't the only one hurting here. Back when I joined up with Amazon Kindle Boards, it was ranked in the top 100,000 globally. Now let's take a look at where it stands today. (Shot taken in July 2013)

It has dropped over 190,000 spots since its last reporting date.

It would stand to reason, seeing how the Amazon bullies/trolls also run rampant there too. 

So what does this all mean in the long run? It means, allowing bullies and trolls to run the show will hurt your bottom line. That's what it means. It also means that Amazon is in some big financial trouble if they don't do something about these bullies/trolls. It also means that the public has caught on to what Goodreads and Amazon are really all about.

I think Amazon has about a three to five year advantage over Goodreads. Meaning, in about 3 to 5 years, we're going to see Goodreads dropping 190,000 spots in the rankings. After all, the bullying from the trolls has been going on longer and is far worse there on Amazon than on Goodreads. This means that Amazon Forums had a head-start. And if Amazon higher ups don't address this issue on Goodreads like they failed to address it on their Forums Boards, GR will be right behind them. The changes needed are not only to get rid of these bullies/trolls, but to change their review policy. No legitimate reader is going to spend 30 minutes on their review just to see the bullies and trolls attack it, report it and Amazon, delete it. You eliminate the very reason why you have a book review forum in the first place. And trust me, there are more legitimate readers and reviewers out there than there are bullies and trolls. But Amazon has allowed the wrong element run the show for so long, the good people are simply leaving. They are leaving but not all of them are deleting their accounts. They're just simply walking away.  

Are you seeing this Patrick Brown? Do you see what your bully friends are doing to your website? Better yet, are you Amazon executives seeing this? It just goes to show that BULLYING doesn't pay. Instead, it hurts your image, your reputation, your book sales, and obviously, your rankings. And while it may not show in your membership count, then please explain to all of us how you can have 20 million members and still not even crack the top 300 rankings?

IT'S UNHEARD OF!

The message is being sent loud and clear that people do not want to participate on websites that allow, condone, endorse, promote, encourage or turn a blind eye to cyber-bullying. This is what people like Angela Horn, Jude Henderson, Ade, Belle, Mrs. Joseph, Rick Gualtieri, Elly Helcl, H.J. Leonard, and those who are like them and or support them, do to bottom lines. But I'm not saying it's all "Bully Nation's" fault. People like them and their bully pals were given the keys to the asylum by people like Patrick Brown. It's his responsibility to ensure that all members of Goodreads are afforded the opportunity to have a pleasant experience on GR, and that the ToS is distributed fairly, evenly and appropriately instead of Willy Nilly like they do, only to protect the bullies. When you don't don't protect the good people then the good people protect themselves. They protect themselves by not going to Goodreads like they used too.They protect themselves by leaving. And that's what's going on. This is why Goodreads is fading away. This is why three to five years after Amazon Forums disappear, GR will be disappearing too.

This kind of fall also hurts advertising. Let's face it, everybody wants an ad on a top 100 or even top 150 website that is on the move. Very few want to spend their money on a website that isn't even in the top 300 and is sinking fast. It's like the Titanic. When the Titanic first set sail on her maiden voyage, everybody wanted to ride her. But when she struck the bully iceberg and started sinking, everybody wanted to get the fuck off. Then there was the captain, Patrick Brown, calling for the ship's band to play classical music while telling everyone who was knee deep in water that, "Everything is going to be all right."

One thing is for certain, if I were running the show, I would be very concerned about these falling numbers. It would be enough for me to start making some major changes and overhauls. The first thing I would start with is making sure that these bullies and their libelous attacks on authors and other reviewers are put in their proper place. They would be history. I would be working real hard to let the people know that bullying would no longer be tolerated or allowed on my website. People like Angela Horn, Ade, Belle, Mrs. Joseph, and the like, would be gone! There's just no room for people like them on a website. They only stir up trouble and cause pain to others. They destroy, not build. They infect your site with fear and hate. Good people won't tolerate this. Good people aren't because the good people are leaving. The numbers show this.

I'll keep an eye on this situation in the future. We'll revisit this issue in about six months and see where things stand then. Will it get better? Or will the numbers tell the tale of another Roman Empire collapsing in on itself? There still might be time to turn it around, but if things don't change and I mean, change fast, then Goodreads will be just another victim of the Goodreads and Amazon bullies/trolls. 

There's a reason why bullies live on the bad side of town. There's a reason why good people avoid the bad side of town. There are more good people in this world than there are bad. I believe this! And there is a reason why good people are now avoiding Goodreads and Amazon Kindle Forum Boards. It's because they have now become the bad side of town. 

What is the purpose of Goodreads? Amazon Kindle Forum Boards? ... Absolutely nothing. There is no purpose anymore. Except to be attacked by their gang of thug bullies. Who wants to sign up for that? Certainly not me. And looking at the numbers, I'm not the only one.

I'm Carroll Bryant .... and this is The Looking Glass. 

Things We Learned Today:

* Goodreads is falling in the ranks

* Amazon Kindle Forum Boards is falling faster

* Bullies are now hurting GR amd Amazon's bottom line

* Titanic is a good movie

* All we are saying .... is give peace a chance

UPDATE:

Interestingly enough, after I had this post written and ready to go, I stumbled onto this comment by TinaNicole on Goodreads. It is obvious, TinaNicole is one of the "smart" ones of "Bully Nation". 

NOT! 

Take a gander.

Obviously, she is taking the democratic approach to the unemployment figures released recently showing 7.4 percent. Not realizing that one million people stopped collecting unemployment benefits and have given up looking for a job. And that 70 percent of the new jobs "created" were part-time jobs or people in full time jobs downgraded to part time. (This is how I associate the GR membership numbers) 

So TinaNicole, I see you and the rest of Bully Nation are bragging about Goodreads and their 20 million members? Then perhaps with all your wisdom *sarcasm* you would be the one who can explain why a website like GR and it's 20 million plus members can't even rank in the top 300 of the Alexa rankings? And falling? And can you explain the 190,000 position drop by Amazon Forum Boards? ...... TinaNicole? ...... Are you there? ...... Hello)))))))))) ..... Yeah, didn't think you were very bright. Not many of the bullies are. LOL

You see folks, this is what I have been saying all along, the bullies never do their research. They just spew off at the mouth as they go. They really haven't a clue. But there is someone out there who does have a clue and that is author G.L. Briggs. And she tries her best to educate TinaNicole but with little to no success. (Okay, to no success.) Check it out. 

You are so right G.L. Briggs. You hit the nail right on the head. And notice that G.L. didn't need to read my post to know this. This is because she does her homework. She knows the deal. These comments were posted before this post was released. Once again, "Bully Nation" was put in their place. This post and the facts presented clearly supports G.L.'s comments, and makes yet again, the bullies into the fools that they are. And another reason added to why you just can't trust a single thing that comes out of their mouths. Good call G.L. Briggs, good to see that you get it. That you know the truth and that you - unlike the bullies - do your homework. And while I applaud your effort to educate the bullies, perhaps this post will assist in that department. Maybe you should leave a link for them to this post to further educate TinaNicole on the facts you described to her. I still doubt she will learn anything, as learning is not a bully strong suit. However, proving their lies is still fun, so feel free to shut them up with this post. Then again, even when presented with the facts, the bullies still maintain residence next to the river of denial. My GR sexual role play article is proof of that. They still don't think that stuff takes place on GR.