In September 2013, the Goodreads book reviewing site, which had previously operated a strict policy of free speech, began censoring reviews. The reviewers fought back, and the conflict was soon being reported in the mainstream media. This is the story of what happened, told in the protesters' own words.
The only problem with Off-Topic is that it's being read by people who already understand the problem. This book needs to be read by those that are saying to themselves "Why is this a problem? GoodReads is only making the site more pleasant for all of us - I don't need to see such animosity on my GoodReads site!" These people have no concept of the slippery slope censorship is. It always, always starts off small and reasonable. But it never, ever ends that way.
This book is an excellent cautionary tale about a site built on the good faith and enthusiasm of it's users and then sold off for cold, hard cash with complete disregard of those users. GoodReads is the perfect illustration of what so many companies do when they become successful - kill off the very thing that made them successful in the first place.
I recommend it to everyone.
Reading updates
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Started reading
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8 November, 2013:
Finished reading
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8 November, 2013:
Reviewed