Permits authors to network and swap reviews, falsely inflating the perceived value of their work. Scam all the way. The site is set up to encourage scams like this, and they ban anyone who protests. Keeping unscrupulous authors happy is Goodreads' bread-and-butter. I like keeping track of my books there and sharing my opinion, but I would never buy a book based on the reviews I read there, and I stay far, far away if something was self-published. Too bad the scammers ruin it for everyone else!