In which Michelle has an opinion

[msagara]

If you spend much time on the internet in writers’ circles, you will no doubt have heard about the Stop The Goodreads Bullies web-site. Set up by anonymous bloggers, it purports to be a site created by concerned readers, readers who are dismayed and outraged by the bullies on Goodreads. These so-called bullies are reviewers. They are generally very

Comments

[nerthus]

OMG, what is WRONG with people?!! All this over book reviews?! I confess I rarely even check my goodreads account, so I had no idea this was going on. Why do people behave in such a reprehensible fashion? And do these idiots not realize that by their actions they are perpetrating a very disturbing type of 'bullying' of their own?

[msagara]

And do these idiots not realize that by their actions they are perpetrating a very disturbing type of 'bullying' of their own?

Clearly they don't. Idiots is, in my opinion, a kind way of describing them.

[salanth]

WTF. Fucked up.

People think that because it's just words on, "teh internetz" that there aren't real consequences and nightmares from their actions. It's horrible and invasive.

Thank you Michelle

[shirleymeier]

Most of these people have never been taught how to function in a polite society, and thoughtful commentary and downright outrage is sometimes necessary for any kind of discourse. The internet is an infant, clearly, as are most of these trolls.

Re: Thank you Michelle

[salanth]

Unfortunately, these are infants with terrible powers beyond their understanding.

[_ocelott_]

I went on a twitter rant about this just the other day. I'm not afraid of being targeted myself (not because I'm always super nice, cuz I'm not, but because I'm not a big enough fish to attract their attention). I am, however, sick on behalf of the reviewers who have been targeted. At least one of them has been threatened in real life through the personal information released on the GR Bullies site.

I realize different people can have very different definitions of harrassment, but as far as the author/reviewer connection goes, it's very easy for an author to disengage. Just don't read the reviews. Don't comment on the reviews. Don't head into what is essentially the reviewer's territory at all. None of the reviewers in question were chasing the authors down in real life or over the internet. All engagement was two-sided.

[msagara]

I realize different people can have very different definitions of harrassment, but as far as the author/reviewer connection goes, it's very easy for an author to disengage.

The reason I haven't talked about the reviews and the ways authors can avoid them is because, in the end, people focus too much on the reviews themselves. I've seen various people say they're mean or etc., etc., etc., as if this excuses the site. Oh, they were mean? They were mean girls so they deserve this? Really? I mean, seriously?

It's why I said it's irrelevant. I don't actually care what the reviewers read or say to each other. I don't need to evaluate the reviews. I don't need to read them.

They don't deserve to be exposed, to have their home addresses posted on the internet, period.

[salanth]

Exactly. No matter how much you disagree with them, there is no reason for violence or the threat of it. Ever.

"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." - Isaac Asimov

I'm aware that in terms of international issues, etc., they go deeper and are more complicated, but these are supposed to be Internet discussions and opinions, not political games or human disaster catastrophes.

Your daily life should not be a minefield.

[green_knight]

I don’t hand my home address and home phone number to total strangers in the bookstore

You could say that 'Michelle the bookshop clerk' is a form of pseudonymity - you can't avoid putting your real face to it, but people don't know anything other than what you choose to share with them, and most likely it doesn't get more personal than 'I'm tired' or 'my kid was teething last night', and even the latter is something that you would share with very, very few customers. Most of the time strangers don't know _and can't find out_ whether you're single, married, gay, disabled... they just see a role and see whether you do your job or not.

The internet doesn't allow for that compartamentalisation of life, so we need a different mechanism.

[la_marquise_de_]

Yes, absolutely. This whole thing is shameful.