Did a writer get bullied on Goodreads? (Salon Article)

[xg4bx]

Just a digression, ''bully'' and all the variations thereof may be the most overused words I've ever seen in my life. Every negative statement is seen as ''bullying'' these days.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by crdf

Not true. It does nothing when a review is not against the review guidelines! I had flagged many reviews and those have been removed. Also now you can freeze comments.
So the fact is that you either have not read those guidelines, you don't understand them, or you flagged that comment today and expect immediate resolution!

flagging is NOT equal having my wish carried out, cause then probably your review would have been gone long before the author commented on it. GR protects personal opinion. Seems a lot of people are not used to the lack of censureship

You didn't read my post correctly. I said GR does nothing if someone rates a book they haven't read to up a author's book rating. I've never reported any review or comment or expected immediately resolution from them. I don't know how you arrived at that conclusion.

Goodreads needs a good clean up that's all there is to it. It's a site that is no longer trust worthy with all the fan girls on there. I've used Goodreads for years and seen it come to this mess.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Tome Keeper

Because GR allows users to use ratings however they see fit, including to indicate interest. I don't agree with it but that is their rating system.

As for the comments it is very easy to stop them, go to edit profile then settings. In the 'Who Can View My Profile' section unclick the 'allow non-friends to comment on my reviews' button. This will mean that no-one can comment on your reviews unless you friend them. You can also delete comments that have already occurred.

I'd be tempted to name and shame any authors messaging asking reviews to be changed, but that would probably cause more drama, so just ignore and block. You can also set PMs to just friends, which may help, on the settings page.

That's why I hope Amazon steps in and fixes the site up.

Thanks for the tips! K to you! I can finally police comments makes me happy.

[BuddyBoy]

Originally Posted by hedwig

The author lied about death threats, misread GRs terms and now blames it all on PMS?! Does she realize she has just insulted every woman in the world? Obviously,women cannot control themselves because they suffer from PMS - seriously?!

Remember that the definition of PMS is that for three days a month a woman acts like a man does all the time.

Originally Posted by Catlady

Maybe so, but I was on the verge of finally deciding to join Goodreads, and this has soured me on the idea. Too much craziness.

I would say the same with respect to the social side, but I just signed up to give the book tracking and recommendations a try. Besides, as long as you have a good supply of popcorn and can managed wryly amused, vs. staying up all night typing on message boards because "someone on the internet is wrong!" (that last one is my weakness), the kerfuffles can be entertaining.

Originally Posted by Blossom

I use Goodreads to reviews ARCs and occasionally books I've bought or got through Lending. My problem is I have had authors comment on my reviews which seriously bothers me. Authors should never comment on reviews! Reviews are for the reader not the author. I've also had authors private message me asking me change my reviews.

In the days back before the Earth's crust had cooled and I worked at these places called "noospapers," I was responsible for the books and theatre reviews. Even in those ancient days of stone chipping and papyrus, we would get the occasional snarky letter or carrier pigeon from an author, and it would sometimes go into the letters to the editor page (the pigeons played hell with the presses, but I digress). I always felt it was immature and defensive to trade barbs publicly over a difference of opinion of taste - and I never compounded this by commenting after their letter. Contrariwise, if they pointed out a factual error in my review, I'd happily admit my mistake, likewise if they made a factual error in their criticism of my critique, I'd comment on it if I felt the matter was important.

I'm not sure if GR had the ability to edit comments on your review, but I wouldn't suggest blocking the authors' wholesale. Yes, most are immature scribblers, more so in the self-publishing world vs. BPHs, but sometimes they may have a valid critique of your review if, perchance, you misunderstood or misstated some key aspect of their work.

So speaks a wishy-washy Canadian.

[crdf]

There is one last thing I want to say. All those good reviews on GR are not posted after the book is read. Usually the reviewers work on them in the process of reading books.

[jersysman]

Also there are star "ratings" and the actual "review" writeups. One can give a rating without writing a review.

In May 2014, the third book in the Selection trilogy will be released: The One by Kiera Cass. I'm looking forward to it. The cover hasn't been designed, the book hasn't been written, and there are evidently no ARC copies available. Despite this, it has 305 ratings and a 4.55 star average. This seems to happen far more often with YA than the other genres which I read.

I don't mind people using star ratings for their expectations of a book, but this skews the usefulness of average ratings on GoodReads. If people are submitting an early rating or review, I would appreciate GoodReads implementing a method to ensure that they're reviewing the actual book: for example, if it's an ARC, either scan in the barcode (on a physical book), or quote something specific from the copyright page (on an ebook); they already have barcode scanning implemented.

If the book then isn't an ARC, users can continue to rate books early for their own purposes, but those ratings are restricted to themselves and their friends / followers. The general public, such as myself, can quietly wait for ARC ratings without having our most highly anticipated finalés rated hundreds of times before they've even been written.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Neverwhere

In May 2014, the third book in the Selection trilogy will be released: The One by Kiera Cass. I'm looking forward to it. The cover hasn't been designed, the book hasn't been written, and there are evidently no ARC copies available. Despite this, it has 305 ratings and a 4.55 star average. This seems to happen far more often with YA than the other genres which I read.

I don't mind people using star ratings for their expectations of a book, but this skews the usefulness of average ratings on GoodReads. If people are submitting an early rating or review, I would appreciate GoodReads implementing a method to ensure that they're reviewing the actual book: for example, if it's an ARC, either scan in the barcode (on a physical book), or quote something specific from the copyright page (on an ebook); they already have barcode scanning implemented.

If the book then isn't an ARC, users can continue to rate books early for their own purposes, but those ratings are restricted to themselves and their friends / followers. The general public, such as myself, can quietly wait for ARC ratings without having our most highly anticipated finalés rated hundreds of times before they've even been written.

Many, many legit reviewers on GR and other places mention if they have an ARC or if their copy was an ARC. Not that anyone wants to have to scroll through 305 reviews to figure out if there are any legit reviews...

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Neverwhere

In May 2014, the third book in the Selection trilogy will be released: The One by Kiera Cass. I'm looking forward to it. The cover hasn't been designed, the book hasn't been written, and there are evidently no ARC copies available. Despite this, it has 305 ratings and a 4.55 star average. This seems to happen far more often with YA than the other genres which I read.

I don't mind people using star ratings for their expectations of a book, but this skews the usefulness of average ratings on GoodReads. If people are submitting an early rating or review, I would appreciate GoodReads implementing a method to ensure that they're reviewing the actual book: for example, if it's an ARC, either scan in the barcode (on a physical book), or quote something specific from the copyright page (on an ebook); they already have barcode scanning implemented.

If the book then isn't an ARC, users can continue to rate books early for their own purposes, but those ratings are restricted to themselves and their friends / followers. The general public, such as myself, can quietly wait for ARC ratings without having our most highly anticipated finalés rated hundreds of times before they've even been written.

You think YA is bad the New Adult Romance category is the worst for this! Sooo many fan girls rating it 5 stars up to a year before the book is out. As a ARC reviewer I can say most of us do write a normal review when done. Perhaps Goodreads can open a new rating system for wanting to read and separate it from the Read category. This would easily solve the problem of false ratings.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Many, many legit reviewers on GR and other places mention if they have an ARC or if their copy was an ARC. Not that anyone wants to have to scroll through 305 reviews to figure out if there are any legit reviews...

I do this if I do read the book before release date otherwise I just do a normal review. I am very honest in my reviews it doesn't matter if it was sent to me for free, that doesn't influence me on how I rate a book.

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by xg4bx

Just a digression, ''bully'' and all the variations thereof may be the most overused words I've ever seen in my life. Every negative statement is seen as ''bullying'' these days.

Agreed. Other words include "racist", "bigot" and "misogynist".

[Tome Keeper]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I do this if I do read the book before release date otherwise I just do a normal review. I am very honest in my reviews it doesn't matter if it was sent to me for free, that doesn't influence me on how I rate a book.

If you are in the US, you should state if you got the book from a publisher or author regardless of when you review it.

More info here: http://michaelhyatt.com/five-ways-to...-bloggers.html

I agree, it would be nice to have some way of separating the ratings of people who have not read the book from those who have. Surely not too much of an issue to write a code that cross-references rating with the read shelf.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Tome Keeper

If you are in the US, you should state if you got the book from a publisher or author regardless of when you review it.

More info here: http://michaelhyatt.com/five-ways-to...-bloggers.html

Hmm..not sure what I think of that.
I'm not a blogger just a reader and I haven't been compensated for anything when I do a ARC review. I get a drm ebook that isn't mine to keep. The formatting is a mess and yes I do wish they would pay me to read it as sometimes it's just not worth my time.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by Tome Keeper

I agree, it would be nice to have some way of separating the ratings of people who have not read the book from those who have. Surely not too much of an issue to write a code that cross-references rating with the read shelf.

Wrong design, sorry. Why do I have to put a book I've read in that shelf? I can shelve it in "Favoritos, Leidos, Best Books Read...". Who avoids I put in the Read shelf books I haven't read?

[Tome Keeper]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

Wrong design, sorry. Why do I have to put a book I've read in that shelf? I can shelve it in "Favoritos, Leidos, Best Books Read...". Who avoids I put in the Read shelf books I haven't read?

On Goodreads I believe you have to put the book you've selected on either the Read, Currently Reading or Want to Read shelves, and then have the option of adding it to other shelves as well. You can rate books on any shelf so would solve the issue, maybe not to everyone's taste but it is one solution that allows people to rate books for interest but also allows other people to only see 'real' ratings.

Originally Posted by Blossom

Hmm..not sure what I think of that.
I'm not a blogger just a reader and I haven't been compensated for anything when I do a ARC review. I get a drm ebook that isn't mine to keep. The formatting is a mess and yes I do wish they would pay me to read it as sometimes it's just not worth my time.

There has been a lot of debate about it but in general I think it was concluded that any review copies were considered compensation, and that reviews posted on Amazon and Goodreads counted as well as those on blogs. There's lots to be found on google about it if you are interested.

I wouldn't worry too much as I've not heard of anyone being prosecuted and a lot of reviews still fail to disclose but it is something to be aware of.