Today's LibraryThing discussion area is our discussion groups. I'm something of a discussion group obsessor and a pretty active participant; I check my groups throughout the day when I can. I belong to 24 at this point: (Dis)ability Politics, Ask LibraryThing, Bookcases: If You Build/Buy Them, They Will Fill, BookMooching, Caregiving, Early Reviewers, Fiber Arts, History of Science/Technology/Medicine, Jewish Cookbooks and Cookery, Jewish History , Judaica, Knitters Inc., Language, Librarians who LibraryThing, Maryland Librarythingers, Mawrtyrs, Medicine, Name that Book, Needlearts, Nurses, Redwall Abbey, Weavers, בעברית LT in Hebrew
How's that for a variety? Hobbies, special needs, intellectual interests, alumnae, and more books; that sounds like a pretty good summation of a large portion of my life. Well, in truth, not the alumnae part; I'm not the least bit active in BMC alum stuff, I kind of wish I could block a lot of my college experience out of my memory, but I'd love to hook up with some people I've lost, so that's my motivation to belong to that group.
I think my favorites are the BookMooching and the Name that Book groups. BookMooching is very important to me both from a recycling/reuse point of view and a money saving one. I don't find the BM forums very functional, so I prefer to discuss activities on LT. In fact, it was through LT that I first discovered Mooching. My wishlist there is now close to 350 books; I've sent out something like 30 already, and more keep going in and out.
Name that Book is a delight. I just love discovering books I'd forgotten, tracking down ones I can't quite place, and even finding new ones I'd never heard of which others describe. The energy and excitement they express about certain books they had once treasured and now have re-discovered translate into a deep desire on my part to find and read their bookloves.
A few of my groups are extremely inactive, but it's always nice to have them around in case an issue ever arises.
In any case, I definitely have found that of almost all the social interactions in which I engage online, LT groups are one of the better areas. Most participants seem intelligent, coherent, pleasant, well-spoken, well-read, and interesting. The only other online message board or virtual community I find so pleasant is Knittyboard, but of course while we go quite off topic there, the community is composed of knitters, spinners, and general fiber artists.
I'll be checking other LT bloggers' thoughts on this area, but comments and suggestions for groups and boards are more than welcomed; they're encouraged. Help me pretend to be social!
3 comments:
Wow! That's a lot of posting to read! In addition to LT, I post on two internet forums, so I have hundreds of threads to read. It's like a full-time job.
Lisa Lynne
Minds Alive on the Shelves
Book Mooching isn't something I've tried. I'm one of these people that hoard the books they buy. "You can only have it if you pry it from my cold dead hand" kind of thing you know. I'm a little obsessive about my book collection LOL
Jacquie, that's how I am (often other people don't seem to get it); unless a book is truly horrid, I know someday I will want to read it again, and even if I won't I'll want it again to show someone else, or someone will need it for school, or, or, or...something. You just don't get rid of books. It's not right. Still, there are a few things we're willing to part with--teaching materials I'm really not going to use in the next few years, crafts we're never going to be able to afford or that really just didn't pique my interest once I'd looked into them, duplicate copies of classics we own because I forgot we already had two or three copies and wanted to be sure they were available for the kids. That kind of thing. The problem is that most of the things I want to Mooch are non-fiction craft books which no one else ever gets rid of. Instead most of my points go to feeding (abetting) the kids' burgeoning book addictions.
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