We are readers, bloggers, and Goodreads members (not authors) who, inspired by those who have already taken a stand, have come together in an effort to stop the bullying we have seen on not only the GR fora, but other online fora as well (i.e. Amazon, AW, etc.) With the information we find online, it is our mission to educate and warn others of the outrageous behaviour of those commonly known as the GR & Amazon bullies.
Please note, we do not encourage harassment or attacks against the bullies of any kind. We do not encourage our readers to contact them in any way. We are simply here to expose their bullying behaviour.
The bullies are under the impression that any reaction to them is about critical reviews, using the argument that they have a right to express their opinions. We are not here to fight against critical reviews. That is not what our campaign is about. It is about their bullying behaviour towards others which is becoming increasingly disturbing.
Hi,
I’d love an email contact for yourselves. We often publish bullying related articles and would like to share them with you from time to time. You may find them helpful, inspirational or wish to share these articles with your readers and followers.
Here is an example of a recent article we have just published:
http://www.healthline.com/health-news/children-those-who-exclude-also-get-hurt-030913
Kind Regards,
The Healthline Team
Fetlife is Free Social Network for the BDSM and fetish community with over 2,700,000 users.
You have to be 18 yrs and over to join.
They have Groups for different interests. There are even Groups for Cyber Bullies.
The Website is out of Canada. There is a lot of Cyber Bullying going on. It was reported to
Fetlife and they have not done anything to remove these “sub humans”.
In the USA,we need National Cyber Bullying laws to protect our Children, Senior Citizens
and Adult Population. Please write your Senators and Congress people.
I really like your site, it’s very informative and I thank you for taking the time to create this wonderful and peaceful place.
Thank you so much for this site. I am an author and I was attacked by one of these people listed. She admits on her profile that she doesn’t even read the books, just the previews.. if you can believe she even does that.
I didn’t mind a 2 star when the commenter listed the things she liked and the things she didn’t like about my book. I know she read it and I have learned quite a bit from her comments. I appreciate good and bad critique.
Dawn –
If you read the latest version of the Goodreads Review Guidlines:
you will note that nowhere does it say that you have to touch the book, and definitely there is no requirement that you read it, even if you don’t finish it, in order to write a scathing review or place it on your “wouldnt-pee-on-it-if-it-was-on-fire” shelf, which is a shelf of one of the members of the bully list here on STGRB, the infamous TinaNicole ☠ Le Book Nikita ☠.
The ultimate in absurdity is the third sentence in the beginning paragraph of the guideline: “These guidelines are presented to help make sure Goodreads’ reviews remain the best and most authentic in the world.”
What it should say is that these guideline will insure abuse and is only eyewash for a beauty pageant. If authors believe that reviews on Goodreads will help their sales, they are profoundly mistaken.
Sarah Daltry’s ‘assistance’ is making the rounds pimping her latest book. I’m so glad I can still find your blog calling her out on her B.S.
I’m an author of fiction and non-fiction so I had two author accounts at Goodreads. As the fiction author I was the object of a 1* review troll attack which I fought vigorously and ticked off the Librarians at Goodreads. I learned you are never, ever to question a Librarian.
During the trolling attack, I tried to modify my Book Description page to indicate one of my books was under attack. That’s when the retribution started.
There are a number of features on Goodreads that don’t work correctly. Their IT support is a joke and things break often and take long periods to fix. One of them is the Get A Copy buttons if you have a book at B&N or AllRomance. After the trolling attack sort of died down, I turned my attention this other problem with the buttons. I tried to add the following line to the bottom of one of my Book Description Pages: “Get A Copy buttons don’t work for B&N and AllRomance. Links on my web site do: [redacted]” The note was removed by a Librarian without explanation. I put it back up, and it was removed and I was threatened with removal from Goodreads but I was not told what rule I was breaking. So, I put the statement back on with a note that it was affecting my sales, and please cite the rule. This is the only way you can get Goodreads attention as they rarely answer email in a timely manner, if at all. I was threatened again and told: “Please note that engaging in any activity which contradicts our author guidelines, librarian manual, or Terms of Use will result in a review of your account.” I read the guides and TOS and could find no mention of putting a link to my book web site as being prohibited. I asked them to cite the section and proceeded to put the link back up. My author account was deleted, not only for the fiction account where the problem was occurring, but also the non-fiction account where no activity ever took place. And here is the the rule citation I was finally given after my accounts were deleted:
You will notice it says nothing about links to book web-sites being prohibited in the Book Description Page. They could have cited this the first time they removed the link and we could have had a rational discussion.
The greatest irony in all of this sordid mess is that there is a flag button for graphics that have to do with avatar pictures. There is an avatar picture on Goodreads that is a young woman, perhaps an elf, sitting on Santa’s face. (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6515850-donna-j) If you click on the flag button for such pictures, one of the complaints you can report is for a pornographic picture. I’ve reported the abuse twice but it is still up. Of course the member is a Librarian.
My bad, I stand corrected. There is a one line rule that I missed the first time I read it: “The description field should not include any images or links to external sites.” However, even today (01/07/2015) you cannot find this section of the Librarian manual directly on the web site, and the warning email didn’t mention it. The link above was sent to me after they excommunicated both of my author pages.
The pornographic avatar was finally pulled more than a week after being reported. I was terminated 4 hours after I was warned.
Would it be news if a fundamentalist group targeted a Goodreads author for a symbolic book burning? It would be extremely easy to do since a Goodreads member is not required to read a book in order to review it or rate it. It’s explained here: http://goodreadsucks.com/#vulnerability
Think what you do is wonderful. I won’t even look at either of my profiles on goodreads anymore because I have been trolled. I now right under a pen name after having been made fun of by an agent, of all things, who made comments about my last name. Kudos to you! Keep up the good fight!
I had reason to come onto your web site tonight from another site. The first thing I saw was STGRB. I looked around the page and found no explanation of this acronym. I thought, “What the f*/k does STGRB stand for?” I looked at the top of the page for an About Us section and found Who We Are. I thought, “I’ll find out here.” When the page came up there was a lot of writing about who you are but no explanation of STGRB. And then there was another word, ‘for a.’ As I write this your software changes the word into two words whereas there is no space in the word. “What the f*/k does ‘for a’ mean.” I thought to myself. There was no explanation the first time this word was used.
I had to look both words up on the internet in order to find out. Why do you think you are so ‘cool’ by having secret words which you don’t explain? Why are you so piss sophisticated? It’s extremely irritating and I am not writing from the point of view of one of your ‘bullies.’ I’d like to finish off with the following joke:
“On overhearing his students wondering what was to be found in their new curriculums the master summoned them all into detention and made them sit on their ba and do their sa with empty ta.”
There. If you haven’t already laughed then you’re not as ‘cool’ as you think. I’ve given you enough clues. Stop wasting people’s time.
Hey genius, all you have to do is look at the url: https://stopthegrbullies.com/
Stop the GR bullies. Not exactly rocket science. Also, fora = plural of forum. I suggest you go back to school and study some English… and also some IT while you’re at it.
I really doubt the intention of the website’s author was to, as you say, “be cool” by using acronyms and plurals. Unless your definition of “cool” is very different from mine. If you think that’s cool, you must have some very intriguing standards.
I say BRB instead of “be right back” and I say “geese” instead of “gooses.” Man, I can’t wait to sport that leather jacket and slap on some sweet shades and have everyone fawn over me. Damn, I’m slick.