#YAMafia - my response.

[ceilidh_ann]

I wasn’t going to respond to the #YAMafia thing (although I do wish I’d come up with a much more creative phrase) because everyone else already had an opinion on it and there were a lot of great blog posts on it already without me throwing my towel into the ring (check out Justine Larbalestier’s post, where my GoodReads friend Phoebe North was

Comments

Snark

[anonymous]

You know, I think I'm going to officially ban the word 'snark'. It just conveys too many different connotations, and almost never positive ones. To be honest, I don't think you're snarky. Snarky makes me think of a ten-year old talking back to his parents. I think you're funny, sometimes saardonic, and sometimes outright sarcastic. Not snarky. That's too juvenile and the wrong label besides. Also, it always amazes me how people can twist words around to suit their own purposes. Did the person on HB's thread really not understand that your opening comment for the carrie ryan post was made tongue-in-cheek? Why is it most trolls and flamers never seem to have a good grasp of the English language?

[dolorosa_12]

THANK YOU for posting this. I'm a book blogger, as well as a book-reviewer in the 'old media' (I write reviews for a newspaper), and I mainly review YA, and I'm an incredibly honest reviewer. If I have a problem with something, I make it clear that I have a problem.

Leaving aside the whole publishing issue, which I think, all these authors saying 'be nice' are doing themselves a disservice. It is possible to be negative without being nasty, and it is possible to comment on problematic aspects of the book without being nasty, and it is essential that we as reviewers are able to do so. I think cleolinda mentioned this on her post on the subject, but reviews are not for authors. They're for readers. If we can't tell readers whether they may or may not like a book, we're not doing our job. (This does not mean that reviewers should inform readers' tastes, but rather they should make it possible for readers - who know their own literary tastes - to determine whether or not they're going to like a book

[rj_anderson]

I saw this because you referenced my name and it came up while I was book-searching. Thanks for acknowledging that the commenter's remark was problematic (to say the least): however, you did respond to that particular comment here, so it apparently didn't elude you entirely.

I'm not accusing you of agreeing with what the commenter said, or of wishing to promote violence against other women. I do think, however, that there's been an awful lot of viciousness going on in this and similar comment threads, not merely toward the books being dissected (which are, frankly, fair game -- they're out there, they're being read, and people are fully entitled to their opinions about them even when those opinions are highly critical) but toward the authors behind them

[rj_anderson]

+1

[rj_anderson]

IDK, maybe it doesn't need to, but I can really understand why people would be angry at not just the books, but the authors in this case. If a book was just badly written, I wouldn't be positive about it but I wouldn't at all hold it against the writer personally. But these books, these authors, are spreading disturbing anti-feminist messages which I think is something different entirely and does make me angry with the author personally.

[rj_anderson]

When you are really angry about something, I think that's a moment to be all the more careful that you are civil. Forgive me for being old fashioned, but I can't see any virtue in name calling.

[iamashamed]

lol at that anon. Way to miss the point of reviewing.

[ardeth30]

I wonder if it's partly a case of the authors being too close to their work. *scratches head* Y'know, like they think their books are perfect and how dare anyone else not worship/love/adore/etc said books? Something like that, anyway. It sounded better in my head.

And honestly? If someone has a problem with a book, they should be allowed to say so. For one thing how else will authors learn? If all they were pats on the head they wouldn't grow as authors. And if that's all they wanted they should put their stuff on FF.Net or something.

From what I remember of your reviews, you weren't vicious or anything-you were fairly polite about it; the reviews could be filed under constructive criticism, not flames.

*thinks* I wanted to add something else, but I can't remember what it is now. D*mn. *sighs*