good potential, strange community
after 7 months of using this app, i can safely say that it has great potential as a tracker, and has space to host a variety of discussions. however the community is a bit cult like. as long as you are agreeing with them, you’ll be fine. but the moment you disagree or criticize the community the app or the founders publicly, you’ll get dogpiled by the top contributors. there is no moderation of their behavior. they literally take it upon themselves to act like guard dogs.
edit: it’s also become evident that the founders are not capable of responding to user inquiries in a professional manner.
edit: dropped down to one star, because it’s amazing how the founders are willing to let long time users bully others in the light of day. comments are being left up despite being flagged. what exactly are the values of pagebound if this behavior is allowed to go unmoderated? (to be entirely clear, this is a rhetorical question. actions speak louder than words.)
edit: it’s also become evident that the founders are not capable of responding to user inquiries in a professional manner.
edit: dropped down to one star, because it’s amazing how the founders are willing to let long time users bully others in the light of day. comments are being left up despite being flagged. what exactly are the values of pagebound if this behavior is allowed to go unmoderated? (to be entirely clear, this is a rhetorical question. actions speak louder than words.)
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Nope
Randomly signed me up for a newsletter I didn’t ask for or sign up for. Spammy. Also the app is not user friendly. The ONLY thing I like is the wrap up graphics
I like everything except reading progress tracker
i like everything except the reading tracker. Torah and fable have way better trackers. This one is not as easy or my app is glitching idk but it’s whack that I can’t add reading from past days even though it says I can’t no I can’t. I like the reading tracker much better on other apps because it is very simple to track your reading process on this app. Basically, if you don’t update it on the day of, it’s like running through circles trying to figure out how to add pages that you read yesterday the day before. It is advertised that you can edit this however, I just sat there in a loop for five minutes and I give up I’m not gonna waste that. In real life, I have a 300 page reading streak and I really am anal about my apps reflecting that for me and I really don’t like that. It says I only been reading I have been reading for much much longer and on the page where you can go into past days to edit what you’re reading it shows you the options to click and then it just goes to the book page. There’s no way to add it so I really don’t understand what but I don’t think that the UI is very good for that and it absolutely is going to affect how much I use this app I would lose it a lot more if I could get my streaks right because again the streaks mean something to me.
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#1 book app, drop the rest
As a female-owned & operated app, some of the features I love include no dated posts (as books are timeless), a place to record your progress on a book you are currently reading, selecting “my taste” books for your profile, and being able to read notes and reviews with clear spoiler alerts that flag the exact part of the book the poster has read so far, ensuring a safe space for reading content when you haven’t yet finished the book! Create your own bookshelves, make plans, set goals, join discussions, engage in forums, and create book playlists. What more could you ask for? Oh, and no ads shoved in your face! Also, it’s just so aesthetically pleasing.
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No Ads but Yes “Sponsors”
This is the best book community app there is. I think so many of the users are what make it so great. The new wrap ups with the paid royalty wraps are nice.
While advertised as not having ads, there are “sponsors” who get sales through “quests” and users get “badges” by buying those books (as some are not avail from libraries) so you’ll see a book with a low rating getting SUPER boosted on your feed not knowing it is “sponsored”. I think the work around wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t hidden-ish. Sponsored quests are called “Limited Time” quests etc , the badges don’t look distinguishable from the reader-made quests, publishers have user accounts that look like anyone else... So you wouldn’t know unless you know to be looking for it and hunting down every description. Idk why it cant be more straightforward, but it is practically illegal to mention it on the app.
Another two stars removed for the cultish qualities I’ve noticed (users take mental health breaks after being bullied by the hive) and the creators/leaders pushing for that even further this month.
“community-voted
User of the Month…The entire PB community can nominate a user they believe embodies PB values. The user with the most nominations will be awarded a badge-“
Encouraging users to embody their values… which do include not being allowed to comment about the app on the app unless it is positive. Even the app creator will dominate a users post. Like imagine you say anything, even nicely about an fb update and Zuck tells you that you shouldve come to him directly instead of mentioning it to anyone else ☠️ I’ll stop here. I yield my time!
(No developer feedback welcome on this review 🫶)
While advertised as not having ads, there are “sponsors” who get sales through “quests” and users get “badges” by buying those books (as some are not avail from libraries) so you’ll see a book with a low rating getting SUPER boosted on your feed not knowing it is “sponsored”. I think the work around wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t hidden-ish. Sponsored quests are called “Limited Time” quests etc , the badges don’t look distinguishable from the reader-made quests, publishers have user accounts that look like anyone else... So you wouldn’t know unless you know to be looking for it and hunting down every description. Idk why it cant be more straightforward, but it is practically illegal to mention it on the app.
Another two stars removed for the cultish qualities I’ve noticed (users take mental health breaks after being bullied by the hive) and the creators/leaders pushing for that even further this month.
“community-voted
User of the Month…The entire PB community can nominate a user they believe embodies PB values. The user with the most nominations will be awarded a badge-“
Encouraging users to embody their values… which do include not being allowed to comment about the app on the app unless it is positive. Even the app creator will dominate a users post. Like imagine you say anything, even nicely about an fb update and Zuck tells you that you shouldve come to him directly instead of mentioning it to anyone else ☠️ I’ll stop here. I yield my time!
(No developer feedback welcome on this review 🫶)
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