Back in the day Erik was first building All Consuming he was thinking of it as a way to let people share the experience of a book while they read it. So for historical reason’s the first link is “I’m consuming this”. In 43 fashion, we matched the link with “I have consumed this”. Now we are thinking about changing the first link to “I want to consume this”.
Is that how you are already using All Consuming? Would you get more value out of keeping a list of what you want to consume or do you use the list to keep track of your current reading/watching/listening.
Let us know how you use All Consuming.
November 30, 2005 at 3:46 pm
Couldn’t we have three states? “I want to consume this”, “I am consuming this”, and “I have consumed this”?
The “I want” state could be like a wish list, the “I am” could be a journal, and the “I have” could be a history.
November 30, 2005 at 4:44 pm
I have always used All Consuming as a way to let others know what I am consuming, but more so what I have consumed. I wouldn’t mind if it was all three (”I want to consume”) as well.
November 30, 2005 at 6:27 pm
Since I have verrry long wishlists for both books and movies, I’d probably keep using the site to track what I’m actively reading/watching/listening to (or things I have read/watched/listened to). But if other folks also wanted to keep track of what they want to consume, that’s fine with me.
November 30, 2005 at 7:58 pm
I agree with Carrick and Athena - having a place to record the books I want to read would be extremely handy (and I wouldn’t have to abuse my Amazon Wishlist), but I still do use the “I am consuming” and the “I’ve consumed states”. If I had my druthers, I’d go for the three states over any two, but if we stuck with two, I like “am” and “-ed”.
December 1, 2005 at 1:09 pm
Add me to using “I’m consuming” as what I’m actually reading, not wishlisting.
December 1, 2005 at 2:09 pm
This turned into a mind-bending conversation in the office today about the psychology and utility of “want to consume”, “consuming” and “consumed”. Thanks for all the feedback.
December 1, 2005 at 2:12 pm
three states would be perfect! in my point of view to be used like Carrick sad..
December 1, 2005 at 10:58 pm
I currently use it as it’s written, “Am Consuming” or “Have Consumed”, but I have always wanted to use “Want to Consume”. Follow that gut instinct.
Just this week I organized my various forms of wishlists (bookmarks, txt files, Amazon.com, and even All Comsuming) into a Backpack page.
December 3, 2005 at 10:51 am
I’d say go for the “I want to consume this” option. I like the idea of planning to do something and then actually doing it. I would find it useful to keep a list of stuff I want to consume…
December 3, 2005 at 12:11 pm
Congratulations. First I want to say that the job you’re doin’ is great. I love all the sites of 43net.
But… There’s always a “but”. System by which you’re dividing the sites to separated sites is bad. Really, some people want to learn new things, some people want to see new places and so. But not everybody wants to travel the world, read new books and meet people at the same time.
The idea of sites is great but their application is not that awful. If all these sites will be combined to one big site, with much more complex interface. You would be “able” to visit places, try new foods, watch movies all on one major site.
Because all these activities are activities. And to divide them to separate groups is a bit absurd. You would have to create sites for sports and other so specific sites. Which would lead to less and less users on each one. There are many people in the world, connect them to one big community not split them into many small.
This is how I see it. Good luck with all the things you’re planning to be done. Good luck!
December 3, 2005 at 2:09 pm
I side with the ‘three options’ voices. Three is a nice number, future/present/past consumption seems like a logical interface.
December 4, 2005 at 1:19 am
Agreed about the “3 states” suggestion - I’ve either got stuff in a queue, in a completed pile, or in progress.
Keep up the great work, I like where it’s going!
-E
December 11, 2005 at 12:43 pm
All three please!
From the backend perspective do you need to differentiate between whether an item is consum[e/ed/ing]? Couldn’t those three things just be recommended tags that the site will sort by default?
December 14, 2005 at 8:13 am
I’ve used other databases to keep track of movies I’d like to watch, and would love to have that functionality here too. Then I could add the books, and whatnot.
Of course then I need to find some batch upload because my films-to-watch list is some 600 strong.
December 15, 2005 at 8:00 pm
A third option is a MUST have. That’s the only thing keping me from diving into allconsuming.net and putting everything in. If I could only get that I would use this for nearly everything. I already like 43things.
Second MAJOR suggestion, for all sites you NEED a BATCH edit feature. If only I was smart enough I’d make a greasemonkey script for it.
December 15, 2005 at 8:01 pm
A third option is a MUST have. That’s the only thing keping me from diving into allconsuming.net and putting everything in. If I could only get that I would use this for nearly everything. I already like 43things.
Second MAJOR suggestion, for all sites you NEED a BATCH edit feature. If only I was smart enough I’d make a greasemonkey script for it.
December 17, 2005 at 1:01 am
add it!
December 17, 2005 at 1:35 pm
I sent an email a while back, and there is a serious bug with the reading/read pages on my account.
December 18, 2005 at 8:12 pm
Another vote for adding something like a “wishlist”, please!
December 21, 2005 at 7:48 am
Adding a third state of “I want to consume ” would be fantastic. Want to make it really awesome? Check out what they did over at http://www.metawishlist.com, then do the same thing…but better. I’d like to be able to look at something someone else is consuming and then mark that “I want to consume.” I’d also like to be able to use a bookmarklet to submit something from any webpage as an item I’d like to consume (that’s the best feature of metawishlist and the only real reason I’m using it over allconsuming).
December 22, 2005 at 5:38 pm
I’ve been using both for things I’m currently consuming and am waiting to consume. I think three lists would be best: have consumed, currently consuming, and a “to consume” list.
December 27, 2005 at 9:25 am
The book list of to-buy-someday made an easy x-mas list for me. Hmmm … maybe I should have used a to-consume tag.
December 28, 2005 at 9:16 am
hmm… i’m not sure about the word “consume”
ties too much (for my comfort level) into our current culture of consumerism….
and, in terms of consuming things that are not so commercial, well… the 43things pretty much covers it, doesn’t it?
-a puzzled bookish…
December 28, 2005 at 5:06 pm
3 options! want to/am/have
I love this addition to the 43 family and I am glad it is not limited to 43. I have a long book/movie wishlist and would love to post it here. Then it would become a todo list (and I could remove a few things from my 43T list).
Thnka you for all the great work!
January 2, 2006 at 4:11 am
What I miss from the new ‘All Consuming’ is the option to add I have purchased this book, it’s unread/read/. it was also useful to have the link to Amazon so if people found a book they liked they could go and purchase it if they wished. Wouldn’t that create some revenue for your site?
It would be useful to have Books/Movies seperated on the main All Consuming Page, rather than clumped together. I know you can click the option to look at them seperately. Sometimes I wish to have an overview of everything that I have read/seen without having to work out what is where.
So how do I use All Consuming? To keep track of the books I am reading, books I have read and ideally the books I would wish to read.
If it isn’t already clear fantastic site btw!