Hi everyone, I wanted to respond to the big discussion around the new user experience in the forums and forum/list etiquette. First of all, I can speak for everyone in the PB community when I say we’re all so excited to have new readers here; the more lively Pagebound is, the more fun it is to be here. Pagebound is different from most social media sites; we’re focused on discussion and creating meaningful dialogue (leading to meaningful connections) which also means we operate a little differently than what you’re likely used to. Since the app’s launch we’ve had thousands of new users and Lucy and I are quickly realizing we have a lot of work to do to make new users feel welcome and provide the tools they need to interact on the site, while preserving the thoughtful and warm community that’s been fostered here.

Here’s our plan: Our Top Contributors are already working on an “etiquette” guide; Lucy and I will work with them to get this finalized and will pin it to the top of Pagebound Club. Lucy and I will work on the FAQ to make it more detailed and robust; we will also revisit the Posting Guide and see if we need to make tweaks there. We recently launched the “PageboundBot” which is an anonymous moderator account run by humans. PageboundBot may archive and leave a comment on your list or post if it doesn’t follow the guidelines set in the Posting Guide. This is intended to be purely a gentle reminder moment and not a slap on the wrist. Archiving ensures our forums remain high quality and relevant.

For those totally new here, here’s some context that might guide your posting: When you post in a book forum, your post lives there forever for future readers. It is also sent to the feeds of everyone with that book in their library. Our vision for book forums is a place to discuss books as you’re reading them, so you can see what others thought at the same place as you. We value discussion over memes and low effort “throwaway” posts (that does not mean we don’t value humor; I’ve genuinely laughed my ass off at some of your posts and memes, we love our comedians). It’s a tricky balance between fun and substance, but we find most of our users strike it well.

In the meantime while we work on the action items above, here are some quick and dirty guidelines. Historically, we’ve been lax with guidelines since we wanted to simply provide the tools for connection/discussion and see how the community used them. We’ve clearly outgrown that, so apologies if this list is still too vague, but this is truthfully the guidelines we have in place as of right now and we will work on getting them more formalized and less vague.

We are a site to talk about books, so your posts should be book related. Occasionally you will see a non-book related post, but since that doesn’t happen often, we let it slide (if this gets abused, we will be more strict about it). We do not want to become Fable or Tome where you see a mix of Instagram/personal blog type content alongside book content; if that’s what you’re looking for, the other book socials will be a better fit for you.

Forums are for timeless discussion. Good things to think about: Does this post spark discussion? Will someone else stumbling on this who doesn’t know me be interested? Personal updates do not belong in the book forum (posts like: “Read on the train today”, “Listening to the audiobook” etc). You can do this by commenting on your activity update in your feed. A no-context reaction post (like an emoji, or “WOW!“) will get archived; we definitely want you to post reactions, but without context its impossible to know what you’re reacting to (imagine you read a book 3 months ago and you see Thoughts from page 288: “WOW” - you’d have no idea what they’re talking about).

In general it is good practice to check the forums before posting. This applies to both Book forums, Quest forums, and the Pagebound Club. Repetitive posts compromise the quality of the forums and become a moderation headache (both in volume and in the dilemma of not wanting to punish someone for posting, but also wanting to preserve forum quality). In the book forum, you’re welcome to post a “repeat” if you have a different take than an existing post; but you also may want to consider jumping in on existing discussions.

Regarding Pagebound Club: we will revamp the club so its less overwhelming (example: having a separate place for book recommendations and PB-specific product questions) but in general, PB club posts should not be about a specific book or series. Those posts belong in the book forums. It’s worthwhile to scroll a bit or use the searchbar to see if your post is a repeat. Keep in mind: EVERY user on Pagebound will see your post. Ask yourself: is this something I want to blast to tens of thousands of people? Your post might be better in a Quest forum (example: looking for scifi recs - check out a scifi quest forum). PB club ideally is not a customer service platform; if you have a very specific question, see a bug, or need help with your account, submit a form or email Lucy and I directly at team@pagebound.co.

Lists: Lists are intended for the community; they are our way of providing human recommendations and helping you discover new reads that aren’t driven by an algorithm. If a list is mainly for yourself (“My Fall TBR”, “My Favorite books”) it should be a shelf instead. The best lists are specific and unique; “Good Thrillers” vs “Horror featuring Southern Gothic Mansions”. While making lists for series and authors is not explicitly “wrong”, it also doesn’t provide much value (series lists could be useful since we don’t have series data right now, but we often see repeats of these; we don't need 10 zodiac academy lists for example).

FIN

I hope this was more helpful than overwhelming; like I said, we’ll work on distilling this into a digestible and easy to reference format! And final note: many users who have been around for a while may comment on a post (especially in PB club) directing you to an existing post; this is not a slap on the wrist, but rather a part of the culture here as often other posts have more context, or Lucy and I have responded in depth to a platform question somewhere else.

Feel free to leave your thoughts below, and I'm especially curious to hear from new users what sort of guidance would be helpful as you learn your way around!

Sometimes I like to scroll through the user pages to try to find new people to follow, and so far I think the highest amount of overlap I've ever encountered was around 30%. Curious, how much overlap have you guys had with others? 👀

I am just throwing this out here because it has been on my mind today. With the app being newly released, there are going to be a lot of excited new users here. (I was one of them!) Not everyone can read between the lines of what is “expected” or “wrong” in the vague FAQs. Many of us come from other book spaces and socials, so it is only natural that we bring some of that energy here too.

What has been disappointing is how quickly that excitement can fade when every post feels policed by other users. It started to feel less like a fun community and more like being told by my mom that I could not express myself because “those are the rules.” You all had to learn when you started, but there are not clear black-and-white outlines for what people have been policing on posts.

I was genuinely thrilled about this space. I even recommended it in several of my book groups, but I also had to warn them that it does not really feel like a safe space to post whatever your happy heart desires. I wanted to share this because it has happened multiple times over the last day, and I know I am not the only one who feels this way.

I can see how great this space can be, and honestly it has been weighing on me all day. I just hope moving forward we can make it feel more welcoming and encouraging for everyone, especially those who are new and simply want to share the joy of reading.

Edited to add what exact experience:

I made a list with books from Elsie Silver not all of them but the ones I liked. Someone then commented to guide me guidance that is not what list are for. Deleted the list.

Made a post in PB Club and do not remember the exact wording but it was asking for spooky vibe recs. Someone commented to guide me to look in the forum.

Posted in the PB Club, where can a new user learn so I don’t do something wrong again to try and learn. Given guidance to see the FAQs. I read the FAQs.

This is what I read: Copied this from the FAQ section More generally, a couple questions you can ask yourself before posting: 1.Will my post spark discussion? Does it provide enough context for someone to respond? 2. Is it something others have posted before and can I just comment my thoughts instead? Not every post needs to be insightful or analytical. Reactionary/funny commentary is great when it’s related to the book.

Where should I post what? For book or series-specific posts, post to the book forum. For your post to be sorted in readalong order, make sure to enter a page number or percent. For general bookish chatter, post in the Pagebound Club. For genre/niche convos, post in the Quest forums.

Thinking I had a good understanding. Made a post asking about other options people are using for their kindle oasis with very specific questions like the durability, pros and cons, etc. Also how did this work getting away from Kindle Unlimited? Someone commented and guided me to the forums again.

I just went back to look over the FAQs in the app and the same things are mentioned. It’s vague.

Copied straight from posting guidelines in the app:

Other ways to talk about books For general bookish chatter not specific to a book or series, post in the Pagebound Club. For genre/niche convos, check out the Quest forums. Head to the Discuss tab to see what the community is posting about.

I also do not see anywhere in the FAQs guidelines about list so who determines what qualifies as a good list as well?

This is why I shared my first comment and have now added this for the true context for better understanding.

I saw a post on here and the person was getting a lot of down votes. In case people want to get into heated debates, does Pagebound give us an option to block people? I tried looking it up in the FAQ.

Anyone else bad at giving well loved books a high rating even if you didn't like it as much as you thought you would? I will talk about how much I disliked a book and then look back at my goodreads rating and realize I gave it like a 4. I'm so bad at this!

So far my interest is not super peaked, but from mixed reviews I am curious to finish the book. I picked this one due to the unreliable narrator, which is a book characteristic that I enjoy.

“her areolas absurdly oversized, even on the massive breasts, each the size of a DirectTV satellite dish.”

ah yes it’s always a pleasure to read male authors writing MMCs 🤨😒