“Goodreads Plans to Retire API Access, Disables Existing API Keys”, 2020-12-13 (; backlinks):
In news that surprises nobody, Goodreads last week quietly announced the deprecation of their public APIs. And I mean really quietly—the only people who were told about this were those unfortunate enough to have their existing API keys disabled without warning. Other than a small banner at the top of the API docs which mentions vague “plans to retire these tools”, nobody else appears to have heard anything from Goodreads, including those whose API keys remain active…So this is an “announcement” much in the way a windshield announces its presence to bugs on a highway, and with the same consequences: dead bugs. Some developers have taken to the API discussion boards and blogs, but the overall impression I’m getting is grim acceptance. Really the surprising thing is how long it took them: Amazon has been in charge at Goodreads for almost 8 years now, and I think we’ve all been expecting this to come at some point.
So why now? What’s changed? Well, the fact is the market’s changing—and Goodreads isn’t. Alternative options are starting to emerge, and since Goodreads has forgotten how to innovate, it wants to use its market position to stifle innovation instead.