justinberding

7 ms·

1.
by justinberding 5y ago
To clarify on the magic link, you only have to do that the first time. The authentication in the backend remembers you when you go back to the site, automatically logging you in. Ideally you'll only have to check your email once.
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by justinberding 5y ago
The email you're referring to is just the single "magic link" email to get you signed in for the first time, which is how Slack and other "magic link" sign-in processes do it too. You can reply to every other email
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by justinberding 5y ago
Yeah, we're using Heroku, which host all of their own services on Amazon's EC2 (meh), which was an unfortunately short-sighted tech decision early on that we're looking to remedy. We're hoping to transition to Azure or G
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by justinberding 5y ago
We're pulling all of our book data from the Google Books API, so Booqsi itself doesn't store any of that data. As for reaching out, feel free to email contact@booqsi.com.
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by justinberding 5y ago
Thanks for the feedback! The book's info page doesn't have a lot going on, except to see some info about the book (or add it to a shelf, or recommend it to a friend) and see if any of your friends have read it. Your comments about
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by justinberding 5y ago
I agree, reading by nature is very personal. Have you tried reading when you're surrounded by a group of friends talking? Yeah, hard to do. Doesn't really work. But, where I've found the "social" element being impor
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by justinberding 5y ago
Love this idea. Gamification of reading is something people have dabbled with for awhile; would be great to eventually build in something like you mentioned.
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by justinberding 5y ago
Definitely. On the roadmap, with Google as one of the first we're rolling out. Not only does it reduce the barrier to sign up, it also helps you discover (or invite) friends.
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by justinberding 5y ago
The goal isn't to be another reviews or ratings site; that's been done before. The goal is to leverage the power of your personal book community to help you better decide what to read next. Drop book recommendations to each other,
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by justinberding 5y ago
Looks cool. Good luck!
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by justinberding 5y ago
No downside, it's just not something the site provides today as part of beta. An anonymous experience is something we're exploring.
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by justinberding 5y ago
1). Persistent design choice, as its built to be primarily a social platform. We felt like an account with your name was bare minimum for something like this to function correctly. 2). No GIFs. But, noted that GIFs could be a fun add.
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by justinberding 5y ago
Sorry to hear that you lost all of your data. That's rough. We're starting first with an import feature so that you can move all of your data into Booqsi, but an export feature is a natural follower to that. You should see both be
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by justinberding 5y ago
That's a great question. I can't say for sure that Goodreads was part of Amazon's affiliate program prior to them being acquired in 2013, but I don't see why they wouldn't have been. Booqsi is specifically not part
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by justinberding 5y ago
Totally get the sentiment, but also felt like a membership wall was required for building out a platform that is primarily social in nature. Would be interesting to see what anonymous features we can provide down the road.
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by justinberding 5y ago
Thanks! Google Books is our source currently.
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by justinberding 5y ago
Definitely! Goodreads import is in the pipeline. Agree on the author-sentiment too. The long-term vision is this to not just be a site for readers, but a site for authors, publishers, bookstores, etc. A true ecosystem. As a reader, you can
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by justinberding 5y ago
The problem we're trying to solve is that existing book platforms don't provide the social features many book lovers are looking for and/or are archaically designed. The Amazon-less part is a bonus.
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by justinberding 5y ago
Right, if the question is asking about exporting your book lists from Goodreads and then (eventually) importing them into Booqsi, that's definitely allowed.
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by justinberding 5y ago
Ha, totally get that as well. Yes, private bookshelves are available! The only ones that are "public" are the shelves on your Profile.
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by justinberding 5y ago
Definitely a must. We're working on it; stay tuned!
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by justinberding 5y ago
To be honest, if you're looking just for book info, ratings, and reviews, Booqsi probably isn't the right site for you anyways. It's specifically meant to be a social platform, not a ratings or reviews site, which is why we d
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by justinberding 5y ago
Thanks! Yes, having Booqsi be independent of Amazon was one of the inspirations for wanting to build it in the first place. You're not the first to use their Reminders (or Notes) app for book lists. If you're not interested in the
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by justinberding 5y ago
Yes! We realized pretty quickly that we need a way to import booklists (specifically from Goodreads), so we're actively working on that! Should be rolled out soon. Yes, I've used StoryGraph as well, but felt like I needed somethin
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Show HN: A more social, Amazon-free alternative to Goodreads(booqsi.com)
478 points by justinberding 5y ago|187 comments