Our Community Guidelines are intended to provide clarity on interactions with
all of Goodreads' features and services. Our goal is to keep Goodreads a
welcoming place where people can come together to share reviews, participate
in discussions, and enjoy interacting with readers and authors. We appreciate
all that you contribute to the Goodreads community. Thanks for being a part of it!
Goodreads is a community where you can discuss exactly what brought you here
in the first place—books! Our goal is to help you find and share the books
you love. We do that in part by maintaining a welcoming space with the help
of all our members. These guidelines apply to all areas of community interaction,
and by using Goodreads you agree to abide by them.
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We want you to have the best possible experience on Goodreads. The Goodreads
community is diverse and passionate. Not everyone shares the same point
of view, and that diversity of opinion is what makes Goodreads a great
place to share your ideas. Respectful, lively debates are encouraged, but
consider the impact of your contributions on individuals and the community
as a whole before jumping in.
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Hate speech, bigotry, threats, and ad hominem attacks are not tolerated.
Criticizing the opinions of others is permitted, but attacking individuals
for their opinions is not.
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You should communicate openly with other members, but spam and self-promotional
content are prohibited. Abusing Goodreads features to promote yourself
or your product detracts from the experience of others and breaks our
rules. (Authors can check out
Author Guidelines
for specific information
on how to interact with readers and use Goodreads.)
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We support original, creative contributions to Goodreads. Where you can
add content, go for it. Just make sure it belongs to you—plagiarism
and copyright infringement are not allowed.
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You are welcome to post images, but images containing nudity, sexually-explicit
content, or graphic violence are not allowed.
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Bring your authentic self to Goodreads. Please don’t misrepresent your
identity or create accounts to harass other members, abuse features, or
evade our rules. Spammers and scammers are not welcome.
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Artificially inflating or deflating a book’s ratings or reputation violates
our rules. This includes activity like creating fake accounts to manipulate
book ratings, purchasing reviews, and incentivizing votes, likes, or other
actions on Goodreads. It’s not just that we don’t tolerate this; this
kind of behavior ultimately diminishes the community’s trust in you.
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If you see content that breaks our rules,
report it
or
contact us.
Don’t take it upon yourself to correct other people’s bad behavior,
and don’t encourage bad behavior by acknowledging it. Staff members
evaluate each flagged item, typically within 72 hours, and take action
to educate members about our rules. If a conversation is deteriorating,
you can opt to disengage.
Simply put, add value to the community—don’t diminish it. If you’re here
because you adore books and you make it your business to treat others
with respect, then welcome to your literary home!
Here are a few disclaimers:
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Goodreads reserves the right to remove content at any time for any reason.
It is at our sole discretion to decide when content violates our guidelines.
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The content posted on Goodreads contains individual and subjective opinions.
The opinions expressed are those of Goodreads members and not of Goodreads.
We do not endorse any of the opinions expressed by members.
For additional information about community interaction in groups, please refer
to our
Group Moderator Guidelines.
