I’ve added a “power user” button into the catalog (next to “search library”). I’m going to hang a lot on it later—I want to keep the interface simple for new users, but give people with hundreds of books new options.

At present it just adds two things: the delete icon , which people have been clamoring for, an a icon, which tells you if you’ve reviewed something ( just tells you it’s reviewed). When you’re in power-user mode you can also sort by whether or not you’ve reviewed it. It sorts your reviews first, then books reviewed by others, then unreviewed books.

Now my question: Clearly I need a page listing what books a given user has reviewed and another listing recently-reviewed books, books with the most reviews, etc. But how much stress should reviews have? How interested are people in it? Should I, for example, have a “Reviews” tab like the “Tags” tab? Would this convey the impression that LibraryThing was all about reviewing and discussing? I want to keep some focus. This site is not a universal book portal. It’s a book-cataloging service with some diverting social extensions.

Opinions pro and con solicited.

PS: Next up—”Power tagging.” Vroosh!

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