It might not actually be possible to start a new account on Booklikes, but just in case, I thought I'd advise anyone considering it to steer clear. The site was really great a few years ago, a solid competitor for Goodreads in the world of book social media. Then about four years ago it started having problems, and it's now basically unusable. Even worse, it doesn't seem to be possible to delete your account anymore.
Various other folks who used the site have theorized that its massive influx of spammers are responsible for the site's recent slowdown. The few contacts people have had from Booklikes staff indicate that Booklikes folks have worked on it and done everything they plan to do...which amounted to nothing. The site still works like crap, barely anything loads, and spam bots multiply like bunnies. Another Booklikes user noted that they may have started using ads on the site that are known for being a source of spam, so that doesn't help either. That was part of the last straw that prompted me to try to delete my account.
Except that I couldn't. Every time I tried, the site timed out. The best I could manage was changing my profile picture to a blank white square. I'm not even sure I can delete individual posts.
So at this point, there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about my Booklikes account. It'll have to remain as is, but I no longer plan to post there or check how things are going. Booklikes is essentially dead. From here on out, I'll just be posting my reviews on this blog, Goodreads (books only), and LibraryThing (all reviews from my blog, with the added bonus of spoiler tags).
That's what I'm going to do too. Leave Booklikes. I'll keep an eye on Goodreads and LibraryThing, but post reviews on wordpress.com until I can get my wordpress (.org) homepage up again. I suppose I need to do something about adding new books to LT too, but at the moment I mainly read free ebooks that I can't always find in the system.
ReplyDeleteYou can add any books you'd like to LibraryThing - go to Add Books, and if you can't find it via one of the search options, there's an "Add manually" link at the bottom left of the Add Books screen. I've done this for author freebies, Archive of Our Own novel-length stories I decided to review, and more.
DeleteI wish I could 100% leave Booklikes, but it looks like I missed that window. I hate that the site is so broken it's now impossible to even delete my account.
Peregrinations, here.
ReplyDeleteIt is not that they are have ads on the website but that they have partnered with a webserver company about which Web of Trust says, "This site is a source of spam and links using their service should be avoided." All connections to BL are routed through this company's server now. IMHO, worse than ads.
:-(
DeleteOn the one hand, I still want to occasionally attempt to delete my account. On the other hand, based on your explanation it sounds like just visiting the site might not be all that safe. I hate that BL has gotten so bad.