This week’s question asks me to think about LibraryThing and make suggestions on how to make it better. Since I’ve only been a member for two months, I have to think a bit. Let’s see, so far . . .
- I’ve primarily wandered around the website, trying to figure out how to do things by clicking and, well, clicking some more. A nice how-to page would be helpful.
- I wish I could change my LibraryThing name. I used Joyfull but should have used Joyfully Retired. If there is a way to change it, I don’t know how. A nice how-to page would be helpful.
- I have two friends and I have no idea how they found me. There is no way for me to see if some of my other friends are on LibraryThing and would like to link up. Or at least I don’t know how. A nice how-to page would be helpful.
- Last week there was a message posted on my home page asking me why I didn’t subscribe to the newsletter. (I didn’t know there was a newsletter.) It sent me to some page so I could change the settings. Now I get the newsletter. Of course, I can’t find that page again. A nice how-to page would be helpful.
- I joined three groups but they each have large membership numbers and the comments go on and on. That’s not what I was looking for. I’d like to find some groups with maybe less than a hundred? I also would like to quit the groups I joined but I don’t know how. A nice how-to page would be helpful.
I’ve always thought of myself as a fairly intelligent person – not in the rocket science category. I can usually figure most things out with enough persistence. LibraryThing does not make it easy. Don’t misunderstand me, I am not unhappy with LibraryThing. I love being able to catalog my books and see how many other people are also reading that book. I haven’t figured out how to ask those people what they thought of the book. A nice how-to page would be helpful.
I joined GoodReads a week or so ago. It’s a nice site too and a little easier to get around and make friends. However, I can’t figure out how to get a button from them so I can post it on my blog. A nice how-to page would be helpful from GoodReads as well.
To read more answers to this question, visit Wendi at Wendi’s Book Corner.
I totally agree! I can’t figure out how to find friends on LT either.
I wish their were an easier way to find friends. I will look for you now that I know your name.
I know that you can change your username, but they always have it disabled so it’s not much use whether or not you know where it is.
I got that message about the newsletter, too. I think it’s a new feature, so they were probably just trying to get everyone to sign up. But you should be able to change your user name by clicking on the “edit profile” thingie on your profile page. You’ll get a page that allows you to change your user name or password there. I’ve never changed mine, so I don’t know if it actually works, but it’s worth a try. Yes, I agree – a nice how-to page would be very helpful!
To find friends, click on the search box at the top and a menu of search options will come up. For example, I went to “Members and Location,” and pretending I didn’t know your LibraryThing name, I just entered Margot. There were 46, and it didn’t take long to find the one next to Joyfull. But Margot happens to be an unusual name. If I do my own, Jill, I get over 500 hits. If I do rhapsodyinbooks I don’t get a hit, even though my webpage is posted on my site (but not my webpage *name.* But you could search by my email name, nbmars, and it pulls right up. I guess you have to know a little something about the person.
For Groups, you can click on the Groups box at the top and go to the group page and just browse them. Or you can do searches. The number of members for each is shown in parentheses. For example, there are 1929 people in the Historical Fiction group, but only one in the I Hate Books group…..
To change your account name, go to your profile page and click on Edit Profile/Account Settings (it has a pencil in front of it.) Next to user name, it lets you click on an option to change that user name. Then you’ll have to do a save to save your new settings. This is also the section in which you can opt to receive the newsletter “State of the Thing.” (It’s under Account and then under “E-mail Settings”.
I hope all this makes sense!!!
Margot, if you scoot down to the bottom of your profile or home page you will see Help/FAQ – it’s small but it’s there. That will take you to the how-to-page. You are the one person I have found on LT without knowing a user name first – I searched on Margot and when I found the name Joyfull there you were. Lucky you didn’t have a more common name!
I’ve never been on LT and have heard that it is a great catalogue site but that Goodreads is a much better site for social interaction. I don’t have any idea if that is a fair comparison or not. But I do know that I interact daily on Goodreads and participate in many great group discussions each month.
To add their Widget to your blog, go to the “Hi Margot” tab on the top right of your screen and select “My Account.” Then select the “Widgets” tab and pick the one you want to put on your blog.
As for a How To section, at the bottom of any page in teeny tiny print you will see links for About Us, Contact Us, etc. and one of them says Help. Click on that to get to a list of FAQ’s and a place to submit an inquiry if it doesn’t answer your question.
I don’t use Library Thing anymore, I ran out of time to update it, I think, and now I’m out of time. This post made me laugh about it though, I loved the repetition. I guess I don’t have much to add content-wise, I just thought the style of the post was quite funny
I don’t think I got a newsletter notice. I put my books on LT but I move around blindly.
I am not on that site yet but I dont know if I have the time to figure out another site.
Hi Joyfullyretired,
Found your post and wanted to point you to our how it works page. See the “widgets” section for how to generate a widget or button to post on your blog.
http://www.goodreads.com/about/how_it_works
best,
Otis
LOL! LT is not very user friendly. I’m using it, but not really like I could if I took the time to figure it out. Now, if only I had a how-to page on how to stop buying books I’d be in great shape!
Wow – an appearance by Otis – he is the creator of Goodreads don’t you know! Bless him.
I agree that LT isn’t the easiest to navigate, but I like the functionality more than some of the other book cataloging sites I’ve looked at. Another (admittedly silly) thing – I like that it looks less cartoonish than some of the others.
I completely agree with you Margot! Easy-to-find How-to information would be very helpful! I can occasionally stumble onto helpful information, but generally take a lot of time to look for it. . .
As for friends, again – I completely agree. I generally stumble onto those as well, simply recognizing other’s names and clicking them!
Thanks for stopping by and participating in Thingers last week! I’ve got the post up for this week. ~ Wendi