LibraryThingTim
@librarythingtim.bsky.social
LibraryThing founder. Father, hacker, bibliophile, ex-classicist, Mainer, Catholic. I tweet books, libraries, technology, culture.
LibraryThing: @librarything.com
LibraryThing: @librarything.com
How many of you get these emails from Nextdoor? It's such a shitty pattern to present a tiny, tiny bit of the message, so you click it. When someone messages you on LibraryThing, you get the whole message in your email. If you don't want to go to LibraryThing, okay.
November 18, 2025 at 4:22 PM
How many of you get these emails from Nextdoor? It's such a shitty pattern to present a tiny, tiny bit of the message, so you click it. When someone messages you on LibraryThing, you get the whole message in your email. If you don't want to go to LibraryThing, okay.
I'm not sure I trust this algorithm.
November 18, 2025 at 4:55 AM
I'm not sure I trust this algorithm.
I'm sorry to find out that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has failed. My condolences to the former resident of this smoking crater.
November 10, 2025 at 11:57 PM
I'm sorry to find out that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has failed. My condolences to the former resident of this smoking crater.
Nick Bostrom's "Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies," which isn't programming but about the potential dangers of superintelligent AI, bucks the trend a bit, but peaks in 2020 when you'd think 2022 (the release of ChatGPT) would have really pumped it up.
November 10, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Nick Bostrom's "Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies," which isn't programming but about the potential dangers of superintelligent AI, bucks the trend a bit, but peaks in 2020 when you'd think 2022 (the release of ChatGPT) would have really pumped it up.
Also, I wrote back in English. I hope you can understand English. :)
November 10, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Also, I wrote back in English. I hope you can understand English. :)
Not a good sign that the CEO of Baker and Taylor is no longer on LinkedIn.
October 20, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Not a good sign that the CEO of Baker and Taylor is no longer on LinkedIn.
ChatGPT, which is basically the only chat bot normies use, dropped 70% when school got out. Education—mostly straight-up cheating, but it's a spectrum—is the main use of this technology for most people. And you don't think kids are using AI so much?
October 10, 2025 at 6:40 PM
ChatGPT, which is basically the only chat bot normies use, dropped 70% when school got out. Education—mostly straight-up cheating, but it's a spectrum—is the main use of this technology for most people. And you don't think kids are using AI so much?
3 Even if there were no studies, are you talking to professors? Students using AI to do assignments is a HUGE problem right now. I'm sure there's a spectrum of use, but it's absolutely ubiquitous—and hugely destructive of educational goals.
October 10, 2025 at 6:38 PM
3 Even if there were no studies, are you talking to professors? Students using AI to do assignments is a HUGE problem right now. I'm sure there's a spectrum of use, but it's absolutely ubiquitous—and hugely destructive of educational goals.
A modest proposal:
October 9, 2025 at 5:44 PM
A modest proposal:
Since you can't play with it, lest you write a program to solve it, here's some more examples.
October 9, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Since you can't play with it, lest you write a program to solve it, here's some more examples.
I'm not taking ANY criticism about use of AI here. AI scrapers have been absolutely POUNDING the site for days!
Some rarities—Anna Comnena (Byzantine historian), Joyce with a Tasmanian tiger pup [sob!], Dickinson with a banana slug, and Enheduana (Sumerian poet and first named author in history)
Some rarities—Anna Comnena (Byzantine historian), Joyce with a Tasmanian tiger pup [sob!], Dickinson with a banana slug, and Enheduana (Sumerian poet and first named author in history)
October 9, 2025 at 4:55 PM
I'm not taking ANY criticism about use of AI here. AI scrapers have been absolutely POUNDING the site for days!
Some rarities—Anna Comnena (Byzantine historian), Joyce with a Tasmanian tiger pup [sob!], Dickinson with a banana slug, and Enheduana (Sumerian poet and first named author in history)
Some rarities—Anna Comnena (Byzantine historian), Joyce with a Tasmanian tiger pup [sob!], Dickinson with a banana slug, and Enheduana (Sumerian poet and first named author in history)
In case you need some help.
October 9, 2025 at 4:55 PM
In case you need some help.
LibraryThing's @librarycat.org is battling AI scrapers, so we build a unique cat- and literary-themed captcha.
October 9, 2025 at 4:55 PM
LibraryThing's @librarycat.org is battling AI scrapers, so we build a unique cat- and literary-themed captcha.
One of the first pages on LibraryThing.
September 20, 2025 at 4:25 PM
One of the first pages on LibraryThing.
OMG! We asked members what other social sites they use and someone said Steepster.com. It's basically LibraryThing for tea.
IT'S LIBRARYTHING FOR TEA!
IT'S LIBRARYTHING FOR TEA!
September 20, 2025 at 5:13 AM
OMG! We asked members what other social sites they use and someone said Steepster.com. It's basically LibraryThing for tea.
IT'S LIBRARYTHING FOR TEA!
IT'S LIBRARYTHING FOR TEA!
We posted a LibraryThing survey—a really long one. In addition to all the multiple-choice questions, we added an "Essay Questions" we emphasized we didn't expect people to fill out. So far 212 out of 381 filled out "Why do you love about LibraryThing?" 🥰
September 20, 2025 at 4:55 AM
We posted a LibraryThing survey—a really long one. In addition to all the multiple-choice questions, we added an "Essay Questions" we emphasized we didn't expect people to fill out. So far 212 out of 381 filled out "Why do you love about LibraryThing?" 🥰
Killed a spammer sending review-scheme messages written by an LLM that had read my profile. Although the LLM managed to mention I'm head of LibraryThing, it did not understand that sending spam to the head of the website you're on is not very good strategy! And God, I hate this kind of writing.
September 17, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Killed a spammer sending review-scheme messages written by an LLM that had read my profile. Although the LLM managed to mention I'm head of LibraryThing, it did not understand that sending spam to the head of the website you're on is not very good strategy! And God, I hate this kind of writing.
4/5 A few sites still have an "Inbox" in 2025, including some I respect, like Ravelry and BoardGameGeek. Goodreads still uses an Inbox metaphor and it's really everything we wanted to get away from. It feels like work and looks like a relic.
September 17, 2025 at 8:06 PM
4/5 A few sites still have an "Inbox" in 2025, including some I respect, like Ravelry and BoardGameGeek. Goodreads still uses an Inbox metaphor and it's really everything we wanted to get away from. It feels like work and looks like a relic.
2/5 This is actually the third change. LibraryThing started out with "comment walls." Remember those? Well, they were how it was done when we started in 2005. Friendster, MySpace and early Facebook all had them. Amazing times.
September 17, 2025 at 8:06 PM
2/5 This is actually the third change. LibraryThing started out with "comment walls." Remember those? Well, they were how it was done when we started in 2005. Friendster, MySpace and early Facebook all had them. Amazing times.
1/5 LibraryThing has changed our messaging from the older "inbox" interface metaphor to the more modern and common "conversations" metaphor.
You can see the difference below, and a few thoughts.
You can see the difference below, and a few thoughts.
September 17, 2025 at 8:06 PM
1/5 LibraryThing has changed our messaging from the older "inbox" interface metaphor to the more modern and common "conversations" metaphor.
You can see the difference below, and a few thoughts.
You can see the difference below, and a few thoughts.
Library Tech: I've made a handy tool for testing if a library computer can reach various common services, like Syndetics Unbound, HathiTrust and NoveList. www.librarything.com/serviceteste...
September 12, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Library Tech: I've made a handy tool for testing if a library computer can reach various common services, like Syndetics Unbound, HathiTrust and NoveList. www.librarything.com/serviceteste...
Signs of the (depressing) times.
June 29, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Signs of the (depressing) times.
You want to know what AI is actually good for? Finding that tweet. No sentience required.
May 28, 2025 at 6:19 PM
You want to know what AI is actually good for? Finding that tweet. No sentience required.
I'm not joking. This is what they fed into the photocopier, as it were. www.xda-developers.com/llm-raspberr...
May 28, 2025 at 6:19 PM
I'm not joking. This is what they fed into the photocopier, as it were. www.xda-developers.com/llm-raspberr...