Grrrrr...
Got an email from Shelfari with book recommendations. Nice of them, you might say. It would be if they had actually used the information they hold to provide me with relevant recommendations - like when I log onto Amazon I get recommendations based on books I've bought, said I own, showed an interest in... that makes sense. But Shelfari, who have records of books I own, books I've read, books I've marked as favourites, books I've given x number of stars to, etc... Shelfari don't seem to have made any attempt to access that information and use it. So their email lists a whole load of books I've never heard of by authors I've never heard of, each under the heading of "if you like XYZ, you might also like: ................." when XYZ is a book I've mostly never heard of...
oh, there's one exception, it's the bit where they say "if you liked Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, you might also like To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee," which is interesting as (a) I really don't remember if I liked Catcher in the Rye and even if I did like it when I read it probably about three decades ago, I have absolutely no idea if I'd like it now; but, more importantly, (b) To Kill a Mockingbird is a book I've actually listed on Shelfari as a book I've read! (and that book I actually remember liking very much)
So, big brother ain't doing all that well :)
Got an email from Shelfari with book recommendations. Nice of them, you might say. It would be if they had actually used the information they hold to provide me with relevant recommendations - like when I log onto Amazon I get recommendations based on books I've bought, said I own, showed an interest in... that makes sense. But Shelfari, who have records of books I own, books I've read, books I've marked as favourites, books I've given x number of stars to, etc... Shelfari don't seem to have made any attempt to access that information and use it. So their email lists a whole load of books I've never heard of by authors I've never heard of, each under the heading of "if you like XYZ, you might also like: ................." when XYZ is a book I've mostly never heard of...
oh, there's one exception, it's the bit where they say "if you liked Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, you might also like To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee," which is interesting as (a) I really don't remember if I liked Catcher in the Rye and even if I did like it when I read it probably about three decades ago, I have absolutely no idea if I'd like it now; but, more importantly, (b) To Kill a Mockingbird is a book I've actually listed on Shelfari as a book I've read! (and that book I actually remember liking very much)
So, big brother ain't doing all that well :)
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