I am like you, also wanting a signal before interacting.

I think for me, a big reason is because I’m autistic and I won’t be able to perceive any ‘cues’ from other people, so I default to assuming they don’t want to talk unless they’re extremely explicit about the opposite.

But I think a lot of people also look for a signal, they’re just better able to read it from body language and whatnot?

That’s adorable! Does anyone know what kind it is?

No, that sounds like a great use of AI. I would be happy if a non-corporate option could be used for these kind of tasks for those that benefit from it.

For me though, I don’t think it’s about bad recommendations for books but the idea of seeking recommendations at all. I’m almost never in a “I want to read something but I don’t know what” state. If I don’t have a book in front of me or in my mental queue, I’m usually doing something else instead. My queue is almost never empty.

I don’t follow strangers hoping for recommendations, I just follow someone that I feel an affinity for and sometimes that results in learning about a new book, seeking it and reading it.

The idea of receiving book recommendations feels overwhelming, especially from a system that would find a million interesting things, just for me. But I’m not opposed at all to such a tool existing!

Impressive! And yet the plant seems happy up there?

I may be strange on this, but I have never felt like I need automatic recommendations, and any I have gotten feel more like a nuisance.

I have my list of books on BookWyrm and sometimes I look at it and go like “oh I wonder what this author has been up to” and I look it up, or I participate on some online discussion about what people have read and if something sounds interesting I add it to my BookWyrm list.

I’ve also added a couple of books from people I follow there, who have interest in common but sometimes add this entirely unexpected book and I get to explore it.

I’ve been on BookWyrm for a bit and I quite like it. I’ve actually written my first reviews (something I never did on gr).