Reflection
When it came to selecting an online community, I decided to pick the book community on discord for the simple fact that I have been part of that community for more than two years. When it comes to the app “Discord”, I’ve been using it for approximately five years so I’m very familiar with the app itself which made it easy to go into depth about the structure of Discord and how the book community functioned on the server. While monitoring the discord, I decided to screenshot conversations that I was going to include in my observations or conversations that interested me enough to save for later if I found a way to include it in my observations. As I was completing my final analysis, I noticed that I was also focusing on how opinions and the understanding of one another brought the community together. The internet is infamous for spreading a lot of toxicity, but when it comes to the reading/book community, I believe it to be one of the more positive communities I’m connected with. While doing my observations, I found that reading other people’s opinions on books I’ve already read was very entertaining and eye opening specifically when they would share things I’ve never thought of. In order to get more insight on the community I decided to go onto other platforms such as Goodreads, Instagram, Tiktok. I also got information from different channels on the discord server. One of the course learning objectives that I believe I’ve met was the second learning objective which is “enhance strategies for reading, drafting, revising, editing, and self assessment”. One of the new writing strategies I’ve picked up from this analysis was writing a paper that didn’t focus on a thesis at all.
The World of Books: Discord Community
“I read because this world isn’t enough for me,” one of the most popular sounds used on tiktok to share book recommendations and experiences, has been used over 6,000 times and loved over a million times. Many might not notice that the book community is planted in almost every social media platform there is or at least every well known platform. That’s the thing about social media, there’s a space for every community to thrive in. The discord server is called “Booktok Library” where individuals get together to discuss books they’ve read or plan to read and share or get opinions from one another. Conducting this analysis provides individuals with the opportunity to realize that books are often perceived as mere academic requirements rather than a source of leisure and enjoyment.
Having the community with these members brings a sense of belonging that many understand the depth of a good story. Most of the members use reading to alleviate a feeling of emptiness in their lives. Many even use it as a coping mechanism for struggles in life like depression. The discord server is structured in a way where there’s many channels to discuss topics revolving around books as well as channels to discuss personal matters or to just connect with other members that don’t necessarily always revolve around books. While their mutual interest for reading brought them together, it is the bond forged over time that has resulted in their friendships. It is clear that a considerable number of individuals in this discord server belong to the same age bracket as me, including college students or those approximately 18 years old. One member in the discussion channel stated, “I can’t read for some reason. Ever since school started my reading time has gone down so much, like I would read for like hours, now I just can’t. I’m in a reading slump, I can only read like a page then stop. I can’t finish Priest or Imagine me or How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories. I want to finish them but I can’t. Please, how do I get out of a reading slump”. In their actual message they capitalized parts of their message which is commonly used to emphasize emotion or in a way screaming in text. Many proceeded to relate to that member’s same frustrations and continued to suggest ways to get out of that slump or things they did to get themselves out of their own reading slumps. Another member suggested to “read short things, start slow and build back up” while another suggested reading a different genre to keep you hooked to the story which would end up pulling you out of that slump. As many of the members in this community tend to encounter similar hardships, they form a strong connection with one another, which strengthens the sense of companionship. This bond is further strengthened between the members by the fact that many of them are able to help others by offering advice to other members by sharing their own personal experiences which allows many to grow together.
While doing this analysis of the book community on different platforms, I’ve realized many share different opinions on which platform they prefer and which seems to be more reliable than others. One member in the discord server stated “I just finished reading “A Court of thorns and roses” and I had a lot of fun reading it. I felt the more I read the more it felt like a movie was playing in my head”. She then proceeded to rate the book a 4.5/5. Then she started discussing how reviews on another platform called Goodreads were sharing opposite opinions/experiences compared to hers. She stated “But I have the strange pinging of guilt after reading multiple 1-2 star reviews and I just felt random guilt because I am liking and enjoying the books, like is there something wrong with me, I know I shouldn’t feel guilty, I can like a book and enjoy it but i’m kind of freaking out because I don’t agree with these reviews”. This message started a rant in the chat about the negative side of Goodreads and how their reviews aren’t reliable and you shouldn’t let it determine whether you decide to read a certain book or not.
To discover more on this, I decided to go on Goodreads and read some reviews. One review that caught my attention was on this book I plan on reading called “A Little Life”. This one reviewer rated the book a 1-star and stated in her review, “Nothing in life is positive, there is only human suffering, true connection is impossible, predators will always find and ruin truly good people, everything is evil, the people who love you are not enough to save you, and your happiness will turn to ashes in your mouth. The End”. She used this description to describe the book and then went on to state, “The implication that some people are too broken to help and we should just let them die is so, so harmful, and in no way does it help to eradicate the stigma against mental illness in this country. We should not be telling “broken” people it’s okay to die. We should be telling them they are not alone in their suffering, and help them find ways to cope with their illnesses and traumas. I will admit I checked out of the book then, and it was only a matter of time before I gave up and spoiled myself on the rest of it, so I wouldn’t have to torture myself mentally any further”. Many other reviewers who rated the book 5 stars disagreed with her opinions on the book in the defense that her book highlighted the negative side of the world that many don’t discuss and that if we don’t open our eyes to the bigger picture we miss the point she is spreading. I believe this disconnection in the community should be allowed in order for everyone to be able to express their opinion but I also believe it shouldn’t lead to the authors receiving a bad rating. In the end everyone will have their own opinions and as long as everyone understands that the book community will be able to thrive.
Many of the discord members also connect on another platform called “Instagram”. They expand to platforms like instagram to get to know each other more outside of their common hobby of reading. Instagram is also a good platform to get in touch with authors and receive new updates. On instagram, there is a feature called “highlights” and many readers use it to post every book they’ve read or they’re currently reading. They also include their ratings along with these highlights which makes it easy for someone to get your opinion on the book without having to go into depth. All these platforms end up connecting right back to the discord server and many platforms continue to be added so every member has more than one platform to expand and enjoy. The community continues to grow not only online but in person also with book clubs and hangout meetings set up to interact with each other more often and stay connected.
References
Goodreads. (n.d.). Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22822858-a-little-life
Discord – A New Way to Chat with Friends & Communities. (n.d.). Discord. https://discord.com/channels/1038784796475785256/1038784796916203620
