I was wondering what people thought of this idea (especially mods, since they have to do all the work!)
Premise: When I read a book I love, I desperately want to talk to someone who “gets it” – unfortunately I don’t have those kind of people in my life and whilst I considered joining a bookclub to find like-minded people, the choice of books has always put me off. Enter the internet/Reddit.
Idea: I was thinking it might be nice to have a corner of this subreddit dedicated to chatting about your favourite books. In my mind, I would create a new post for book X so that anyone who loves this book can join in on it and we can exchange what we loved about it. This would not be a place for people who didn’t like it to come and spoil the party because I don’t want to feel like defending something I love. A pure love-fest, if you will. Then the same would be done for book Y and book Z, etc.
I don’t know how feasible it would be to implement and maybe this subreddit is not the right place but seeing as everyone talks about books here, it felt like it could be. Maybe this would be a better idea for a separate subreddit?
Would appreciate your thoughts on this 🙂
by bnabound
3 Comments
Using flairs can be an effective way to categorize posts, rather than creating a separate corner. Flairs allow people to easily identify the type of content they’re interested in engaging with.
Here are some ideas for flair categories:
Recommendations,
Discussions,
Book Praise,
Challenges,
Reviews,
Spotlights
Having said that, if the intention is to only allow praise for the book, then posting in the author’s own subreddit might be more appropriate. Having multiple perspectives on books here helps evaluate both the book and the author and why this subReddit exists, otherwise it will be just another echo chamber.
This will not work if you ban the people who don’t like the book from posting here. So what are you gonna call the thread anyway? “Worship the books I like?” What if someone already made a review of the book and gave it 2 out of 5 stars? Are you gonna ban his review?
Keep in mind that you are not just gushing only at a book but by telling people that you like this book, you are also promoting the book to others. If that is the case then people who dislike the book should also have a say on the thread.
Remember, this entire subreddit is made “to foster and encourage in-depth discussion” about books and the authors who made them. And telling others why they dislike a book is an important matter in that discussion.
Imagine I start a “gush your heart out” thread with your rules to a book called, “The Revival of the Ku Klux Clan and why we should embrace them in this modern time.” Do you thinkpeople will have a better understanding of the book if all they hear about it is the good side of the story and nothing else?
The aim of the subreddit is to foster discussion. People just raving about a book at each other isn’t really discussion.
Really you should just post about books you love. If someone didn’t like it, that’s really not going to affect your enjoyment at all if you don’t let it! As long as they’re civil about it, they can often make you think about *why* you like the book more, and so you don’t have to think of how to respond or counter them, really, it’s just another viewpoint.