Simplypheyie
I am a chronic reviewer. I really should start getting paid for it 🫠
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A Tale for the Time Being
Ruth Ozeki
These are the kinds of books that make it difficult to go back to shallowly plotted stories. Once you’ve read something where you can tell the author put real thought, research, and attention into the story, it becomes so obvious when another book hasn’t been given the same level of care. It’s hard to read something like this and then go back to books that feel underdeveloped.
I’ve seen quite a few posts since I’ve joined PB about forum etiquette, and one of the most prominent sentiments I’ve seen is to avoid making repeat posts. I agree with this idea and see why it’s important, but my reading preferences are going to make it difficult for me to put this into practice.
This is because I’m an extremely spoiler-averse reader. Seeing any spoiler, even a small one, will impact my enjoyment, as progressing through a book blind and discovering all it has to offer for myself is an important part of reading for me. This is a problem for checking if something I want to post is a repeat idea because percentages can vary so widely across different editions/formats of a book. If a forum post just has a percentage marker in the title, I won’t want to look at it until my own percentage is 5-10% higher than the post’s to be sure I avoid spoilers. There are some forum posts that include a chapter in the title, which solves my issue (thank you so much to everyone who does this!!), but unfortunately a lot of posts don’t include this.
So I’m at a bit of a loss for how to handle this. I don’t want to be that person who makes a bunch of repeat posts, but I also don’t want to run the risk of unintentionally coming across spoilers either. Participating in the forums has also been enhancing my reading experience, so I would rather not avoid the forums entirely. Does anyone have any tips for how to handle this dilemma I’m having??
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Simplypheyie commented...
I might be different, but I don’t think you have to sacrifice your own reading experience just to avoid making a repeat post. If you’re very spoiler-averse, checking other posts to see if someone has already shared the same thought could potentially spoil the book for you, and I don’t think that’s worth it.
Your thoughts are still worth sharing, even if someone has posted something similar. They’re part of your reading experience, and because they’re added to your “My Journey” as you post, holding them back means losing that moment from your own record.
I think that would dampen the fun more than making an occasional repeat post. If the forums are making your reading experience better, I’d just keep participating without worrying too much about whether someone got there first.