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Every time Goodreads comes up on HN it sounds like a cross between Facebook and drug addiction. I am very glad that I care about as much about other peoples' opinions on the books I read as I do their opinions on my wanking technique.

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One thing it's good for is when you read a book, hate it, and can find someone on Goodreads with a review that gripes about the exact same stuff you hated about it. Especially if the book in question is highly praised or award-winning. Do I need someone else to validate my hate-read of a book? No, but it scratches an itch.

I do this same thing for IMDb and Letterboxd, and it’s fun, I get to find others with similar tastes in movies and TV shows, and I appreciate reviews of content I like and dislike vicariously without having to feel badly about not having seen the content myself.

Strange. Letting a bad book give me negative feelings a second time feels masochistic.

I totally agree. I don't understand this at all. It's a form of status seeking that only happens in these particular circles and appears totally insane to everyone on the outside.

From reading the article the whole thing appears to be caused by their job and their friends.

If I had that job maybe I'd get infected by this mindset too, I'm glad I'm not.

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