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View Full Version : Using a separate link for free books?



Mountain Dog
12-24-2013, 15:39
I appreciate those of you that cruise the free book lists and post them here. But, the down side of what is happening is that recommendations regarding books having actually been read are being camouflaged and are more difficult to find. Any chance y'all could use one link, something like "Free Books," and post all of the free books there? A separate link would make it easier for people to find recommendations from people who have actually read the books recommended. If someone gets a free book, reads it, and then wants to tell others about how it read, they could post their comments on this link about books.

T.S.Kobzol
12-24-2013, 15:59
I had to read this twice to actually understand what you are trying to say. I think one continuous thread for free books is not a bad idea except I think the free books are free for a limited time. Besides, I dont know why is it necessary to elevate one type of threads over another and I didnt really get the part of how threads are being camouflaged. :)

One thing is for sure, I appreciate the free kindle book threads much more than book review threads. just my 2 cents worth.


I appreciate those of you that cruise the free book lists and post them here. But, the down side of what is happening is that recommendations regarding books having actually been read are being camouflaged and are more difficult to find. Any chance y'all could use one link, something like "Free Books," and post all of the free books there? A separate link would make it easier for people to find recommendations from people who have actually read the books recommended. If someone gets a free book, reads it, and then wants to tell others about how it read, they could post their comments on this link about books.

10-K
12-24-2013, 21:18
Seeing these books posted here inspired me to subscribe to the daily list of 100+ free Kindle books from Amazon.

Rain Man
12-25-2013, 13:15
Sorry to be a Grinch on Christmas day, but I've been burned so many times with posts about "free" books that are NOT free, that I pretty muck ignore those "come on's" now. If a book is only "free" to people with PAID subscriptions, then it's anything but free.

As the saying goes, "Fool me once, shame on you."

So, I agree, something needs to be done about the issue of "free" books.

Rain Man

.

atraildreamer
12-25-2013, 13:39
Seeing these books posted here inspired me to subscribe to the daily list of 100+ free Kindle books from Amazon. Can you post a link to sign up?

T.S.Kobzol
12-25-2013, 15:20
I probably have over 20 free books on my kindle that I got because of these wonderful Free Kindle threads. I read about 5 books on the list.

A couple of times the book recommendation was not free. Not a bad statistic for me.

If only there was more free time to read but I'm not really complaining.



Sorry to be a Grinch on Christmas day, but I've been burned so many times with posts about "free" books that are NOT free, that I pretty muck ignore those "come on's" now. If a book is only "free" to people with PAID subscriptions, then it's anything but free.



As the saying goes, "Fool me once, shame on you."



So, I agree, something needs to be done about the issue of "free" books.



Rain Man



.










Sent from my vivid imagination and delusions of grandeur

BrianLe
12-25-2013, 15:53
So how about if I stick this free book link in this thread --- it's about long distance *biking* anyway, not hiking, so maybe somehow that all works out ... :-)

http://www.amazon.com/Biking-Across-America-Coast---Coast-ebook/dp/B00B85M1LW/ref=sr_1_5/190-6774481-3622217?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1387966142&sr=1-5

Mountain Dog
12-25-2013, 17:03
It's not about being able to advertise free books. It about being able to find book reviews/recommendations made by people having actually read the book, and that is what this link used to provide. I've bought 8 books based on specific recommendations, not just being free. I've also decided not to buy some books because of the book reviews posted on this link. Look at the link and tell me where you find book reviews/recommendations. What is wrong having one post with tons of free book replies and one post where people can find books reviews with recommendations from the book reader? This is not a novel idea. The "gear" link used to have a sub link people used to tell about good buys. Outside this sub link, people could discuss gear.

Ewker
12-25-2013, 23:51
In the past week I have downloaded 20 or more free books off Kindle. Most of the time these books are free for a day or two but mostly one day. If you see where someone has posted a link to a free book check it out as it still may be free. You have nothing to lose.

BrianLe
12-28-2013, 15:03
"What is wrong having one post with tons of free book replies and one post where people can find books reviews with recommendations from the book reader?"

Not sure why it's important that it be in a single post? Perry is good about saying "Free for Kindle" at the start of his posts. I didn't do that with a recent entry --- sorry! Will try to remember to include that preface if I add any in future.
I think there is some value in having separate posts for different "free just for now" books.

Is the issue that you want to be able to infrequently scan the list of threads in the 'book' forum and not have to wade through "free book" entries in order to find recommendations? Note that you can sort the threads; try clicking the 'title' link near the top (where it says "title / thread starter"), then use the "page 1 of x" controls to quickly skip by all of the ones with a title that starts with the word "Free".

Alligator
12-28-2013, 15:46
We might be able to set up a thread or a subforum to do this, perhaps automatically with an RSS feed. It might even be possible to do something fancy and have the thread close if it is no longer free or enter a post that the price changed or something like that. At the minimum, we could probably set up a subforum where the OP can self-close the thread if the item is no longer free.

We could also set up an RSS feed for AT media, regardless of cost free or not. I think mainly we would not want to overload the new posts with too many extraneous posts. Users do have the option to ignore threads and subforums now, and we could also set up a subscription forum for this, meaning, let the user decide to see the forum as another way to limit the new post impact.

The AT Trail News forum comes in on an RSS feed. If the first post in the subforum identifies the item as a free book for instance, as mentioned, that would be the first post in the thread. Reviews could follow. A subforum is a possibility in books for instance.

What would be helpful while considering this would be what are the best search terms for finding these.

Southeast
12-28-2013, 15:53
I read the intent of the OP to be they just want one thread for book reviews, where the books can be free or paid, doesn't matter.
Of course I could be wrong.

Ewker
12-28-2013, 16:00
It's not about being able to advertise free books. It about being able to find book reviews/recommendations made by people having actually read the book, and that is what this link used to provide. I've bought 8 books based on specific recommendations, not just being free. I've also decided not to buy some books because of the book reviews posted on this link. Look at the link and tell me where you find book reviews/recommendations. What is wrong having one post with tons of free book replies and one post where people can find books reviews with recommendations from the book reader? This is not a novel idea. The "gear" link used to have a sub link people used to tell about good buys. Outside this sub link, people could discuss gear.


there are reviews when you scroll down the page of a free or bought book 90% of the time. If you are getting a free book what does it matter if there is a review or not. If you don't like it delete it from your Kindle. If you have to pay for a book and there are no reviews then it is up to you to buy or not. Just because there are reviews doesn't mean you will like the book. People have different opinions about books, movies, life in general, etc

Mountain Dog
12-28-2013, 19:25
Thanks for your thoughts Alligator. But, you've over thought the means. A simple link under "Books", something like "Free Books posted Here" would do. People could post all free book posting there and with the frequency being seen, that sub link would always be at the top of the overall "Books" link.

Ewker, it does matter that everyone does not have the means or even the desire to download everything that is free and then scrub all the free stuff. This site used to be used primarily for book reviews. Now, I might have to see 100+ postings to find one book review. If I've been in the woods a couple of weeks then I might have 500+ postings to weed through. I might not agree with the review, or even disagree with it after I read a book, but the reviews are helpful. I just wish I could find them without being tied to my computer instead of hiking.

The gear forum almost went the way of this book section a few years ago. But, people stopped making new threads and used those already started concerning good deals, One of the threads was something like "Sch..no good deals here". That was good. It simplified finding articles about gear and finding good deals.

Alligator
12-28-2013, 22:25
Thanks for your thoughts Alligator. But, you've over thought the means. A simple link under "Books", something like "Free Books posted Here" would do. People could post all free book posting there and with the frequency being seen, that sub link would always be at the top of the overall "Books" link.

Ewker, it does matter that everyone does not have the means or even the desire to download everything that is free and then scrub all the free stuff. This site used to be used primarily for book reviews. Now, I might have to see 100+ postings to find one book review. If I've been in the woods a couple of weeks then I might have 500+ postings to weed through. I might not agree with the review, or even disagree with it after I read a book, but the reviews are helpful. I just wish I could find them without being tied to my computer instead of hiking.

The gear forum almost went the way of this book section a few years ago. But, people stopped making new threads and used those already started concerning good deals, One of the threads was something like "Sch..no good deals here". That was good. It simplified finding articles about gear and finding good deals.I see what you are saying now. People should post the free books in the Media Forum, perhaps in a single thread. The thread could be stickied for quicker viewing. However, there are still issues with timing. If it was one thread, a person could subscribe to it then anytime anything was posted to it, they would be notified by PM or email. But I still think that the timeliness could be improved with an RSS feed (perhaps). If the search terms worked well, it would be faster than waiting for someone to post about it, particularly if these are only free for short periods of time. If the search terms were just good, we might be able to place a moderator on it to weed out erroneous books, we do this in the News section. I'm not sure we would be too keen on this though, the timeliness may be slowed waiting for the mod to check the post. I'm kind of curious how folks are finding these, as I browsed through Amazon the other night looking for books for my new Kindle. Somebody could set up their own RSS feed and just post it too. It doesn't have to be complicated.

People do not always put gear threads/posts in the correct forum. They often put questions about specific gear in the Gear Reviews Forums rather than the Gear Forum. The problem is we do not have a Gear Review moderator nor do we have a specific system for gear review in place to better illustrate that the forum is a gear review forum. What then happens is that non-review posts end up in the review forums because there are specific gear categories there and people think that is the correct place for them. General Gear Talk is the place for discussing the gear. The Gear Review Forums were meant to be more specific with user reviews.

The correct place for the free Kindle posts would by in Media. It gets overlooked I think because people tend to think these days of "The Media" and perhaps don't associate it with the plural of medium. Sometimes it helps to read the subtitles on the forums. We could work on keeping them in one thread so people can subscribe if that's what people might like to do? A person should just understand that the book might no longer be free, that note could be put in the first post.

Book reviews should go in the Gear Reviews Forum under Books, that's specifically what that subforum is for. I do not suggest making it a single thread as the subforum would only have one thread, plus what if multiple people comment on different books, it would be messy.