Today we received a comment from anon-a-bus reminding us of something very important:
I was wondering if you guys are going to do some kind of anniversary post. I think it would be interesting, mainly because a lot of the bullies thought this blog, and what is written about and discussed on this blog, would disappear like most of the other firestorms we’ve seen on the Internet up until now. But it’s been almost one year since you started posting about the bullies like Jane Litte and Ann S. and I think people are still as passionate about the topic now as they were a year ago…if not more passionate. I also think this blog has been underestimated by those like Foz M. and others who slammed it a year ago. There’s obviously a strong need for two sides of the so-called story and this blog has provided many, many people with a place to go when it seemed like there was no hope left. I think that’s important, among many other things.
And then Goronwy’s:
I concur. You guys have had an incredible impact, and I think we should celebrate.
Anon-a-bus and Goronwy are correct. It has been a year and as we here at STGRB celebrate the 4th of July and our independence as a nation, we are also reminded of the need to celebrate our one-year anniversary, marking one year of our readers’ independence from the oppression and abuse inflicted on them by those known as the GR bullies (also known as the Amazon fora trolls.) What we mean by that is that for a year now, our readers have enjoyed the freedom to come to our blog, which is bully-free, and tell their story, unloading all their pain and frustration, anonymously if they choose, without the fear of retaliation or damage done to the work in which they’ve put so much of their time and energy. STGRB is a shelter, if you will, a place where they can come take a breather and speak easy. At this time of year, we here at STGRB are reminded of the poem on the plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
And as G. Faso so cleverly put it:
So, what’s this year been like?
Let’s recap, shall we?
We first started this blog at the very beginning of July last year after we witnessed some horrific events, mainly horrible things that happened to several authors who either had done nothing wrong, were trying to make amends, or who spoke out against author-bashing reviews on GR. When we started writing our posts, we weren’t planning on announcing our blog or publicizing it until we had gathered enough information and at least covered the basics of what was happening. On July 11, 2012, our blog wasn’t even finished and we hadn’t even set up our sitemap for Google yet when, only after a week of going live, somehow Ridley and co. found out, word spread like wildfire, and we suddenly had over 10,000 blog hits in one day. Since then, we get thousands of hits every week and our list of followers keeps growing, especially after any particularly nasty bully attack. Following that day, we were featured in the Huffington Post, USA Today, Forbes, and The Passive Voice.
And what did the bullies do? Well, they tried to do to us what they do best: bully people into silence. If we had a nickel for every nasty, hate-filled comment and email we received in the first six months, we would be very rich indeed. Did it stop us? Hell, no! Athena just deleted the emails and our moderators deleted the comments, of course recording each name and IP address of the bullies who were stupid enough to leave their electronic footprint on our blog. Once the bullies saw that they couldn’t bully us into silence and that they would not be tolerated on our blog (as they are not tolerated on PG’s), they resorted to dirtier, more underhanded tactics like reporting Athena to our hosting company for a fake name and address (which she proved was real and then just had the blog locked down), reporting us for alleged copyright infringement (which was protected under fair use), and they even tried to hack into our hosting account (see Bully Crime). When all of these failed, they tried targeting specific authors they thought were involved with our site so that these authors would turn around and put pressure on us to take our blog down.
And yet… and yet… unbeknownst to the bullies, the silent stream of support kept flowing in (see Thank You Messages). Even the authors who became major targets of abuse because of us sent us emails basically saying:
Don’t worry about it. Keep on keepin’ on!
It was said that we wouldn’t last. It was said that we would get sued or shut down. It was said that we were a bunch of authors running this site who would eventually turn on each other due to the pressure. We were berated by people like Foz M. (who eventually went silent when we showed how she and Lucy threatened an author) and Ray Garton:
And . (who also told lies about Eve Thomas saying that she attacks reviewers, which is nonsense. The real story is that Eve was attacked for trying to apologize after attempting to promote her book on GR. For more on Eve, see Apology Not Accepted):
Then, we were scolded by John Scalzi with his ridiculous post called Bad Reviews: I Can Handle Them, and So Should You.
And… posts like this one from the bully butt-kisser herself, Stacia K., who said:
I don’t need you to avenge me, thanks.
Our response to her post?
That’s fine, Stacia, because we’re not. You’re not one of the victims. You’re one of the bullies. Big revelation for you, we know.
So, you see, everyone, what these simpletons have failed to understand this entire year is that this is not an author-vs-reviewer conflict. This is a bullies-vs-the-rest-of-us conflict. Statements and articles like theirs are beyond moronic because not only are they hopelessly misguided, they completely miss the point and come nowhere near the heart of the matter. And that is the abuse that went largely unnoticed for years, that has happened (and is still happening) to unsuspecting victims, author or reviewer, at the hands of the GR bullies. Our site has nothing to with bad book reviews. It never has and it never will. It has to do with the bullying of other people on the internet, in particular, on the GR and Amazon fora and other places that are linked to them.
We have given countless examples of this bullying on our blog, but this excerpt from our post, More Bully Lies, will provide a good summary:
There is a HUGE difference between a bully review and a negative review (otherwise known as bad reviews, or critical or unfavorable reviews). A negative review focuses on the book and addresses the issues the reader has with the BOOK. A bully review usually uses profane language and always focuses on the AUTHOR. See the difference? Bully reviews are usually written as personal attacks on the author in order to deliberately cause damage to said author and his/her career.
Unfortunately, these bully reviewers don’t stop with just their reviews in their bullying behavior. And when we talk about their bullying behavior, this is what we mean: cyber stalking, harassing, libeling, hacking into private accounts, personally attacking, threatening (click both here and here), leaving psychotic comments, contacting their charities, contacting their bosses, or people with which they have interviews or auditions. The bullies have done all of these things.
In addition to this, we even recall a time when the bullies tried to libel Dougie Brimson and then Emily Giffin on their Wikipedia pages (using Wikipedia as a weapon), only to be slapped on the hands by the Wikipedia moderators (see Minerva Gets Burned.)
And yet after all of their shenanigans, after all their bullying attempts to silence us, we’re still here, aren’t we? Why? Because of exactly what anon-a-bus said. People are still passionate about it. People need a refuge to turn to when they are silenced and discarded:
Something Rotten at the Core of GR
We are still here in short because people need us. And that is why we do it. That is why we started our blog and although our lives are filled with family, work, and social obligations, we take time out of our schedules to bring our readers news from various sources and to support those who’ve been mistreated. We also would like to give credit to those readers who’ve been our eyes and ears in addition to our sources. Thank you! And thank you to our readers who have steadily been there all year, reading, listening, and offering advice.
As for the bullies, what has happened to them?
Well, we’ve seen a few snake fights, haven’t we? As is the nature of all serpents, they inevitably turned on one another.
First, it was Kat and Archer vs. Ridley and Jane in the GR Bully Meltdown, Part 1 and Part 2. Then, it was Jane vs. Ridley and Looney in Ridley Goes Nuts. Then even Looney and Ridley had a falling out.
And then Angela turned against her friends/followers both here and .
Are we surprised by this? Not really. We were expecting it.
Now, we can’t help but notice how many of these bullies (our Biggest Offenders) have gone silent this past year:
1) Have we heard a peep from the Holy Terror after we showed how utterly nasty and vicious she is by trying to “ruin the career” of an author? Nope. Of course, this could be due to some of the claims that she is actually Minerva and there is some merit to that theory. But for the most part, she’s kept the public eye turned away from her real identity (Shannon D., The Holy Terror.)
2) How about Wendy Darling after we exposed her nasty hate campaign against an author? Nope.
3) Or Archer after we showed everyone that he cursed out a fourteen year old girl with Blythe H.? Nope.
4) Or Lucy ever since we exposed her lie about being stalked and her vicious threat against an author? Nope.
5) How about Kat ever since the GR Bully Meltdown and ever since we showed our readers what utter crap her reviewing “facts” are? Nope. Well, at least not about us anyway. She still smears people on her blog every week (post to come).
6) Or even the big bully herself with her Dear Author blog (see Why Jane Litte Was Banned From RWA, Beautiful Blunder: Dear Author Strikes Again and J.S. Cooper vs. Jane Litte). Jane obviously hasn’t stayed silent, but has made a rather transparent attempt this year to change her Internet persona into this “kinder, nicer” version in order to try to avoid negative media attention. Has it worked? Nope.
7) And you’ll notice, more surprising than this, even Looney has managed to shut her gaping hole. Haven’t really heard a word out of her, have we? Nope.
And why?
Is it because we went over into “their spaces” and bullied them into silence? Or because we’ve retaliated by sending our people in to attack their books? Or because we hunted down their PII and threatened to publish it (like Lucy did)?
Of course not. We have never and would never do that. All we’ve done is report on their behavior by taking screenshots of already publicly published material and stating our opinions on it. (Notice the word public — key word there.)
So why have they been so quiet?
Because they know people are watching now. They know that we’re taking screenshots and showing them to the world. The bullies know that they are embarrassing themselves publicly. And every time they speak out against what we do, they end up embarrassing themselves even further with the verbal diarrhea that comes out of their mouths.
I remember someone comparing them to cockroaches who have had the light shone on them and have gone scurrying frantically into hiding, back under the rocks of their to discuss their next plan of action. Cockroaches is an apt description.
So, that’s it in a nutshell, folks. I know we’ve skipped a lot, but really, there is just too much to be said about these people to put into one post.
And this is why we are celebrating! Because for the past year, we’ve put it all into one blog (that we hope to expand this year, btw, to include forums for our readers.)
STGRB is a blog for everyone who has either witnessed or been a victim of the cyber abuse and bullying by the people known as the GR bullies.
Happy Anniversary, Everyone!
Congratulations on one year of outing the bullies, STGRB.
About that Stacia post, yep I read that a while back, and I’ll never forget it. I don’t think I’ve ever read a blog post as vicious as hers, and that’s not the only one on her site that’s vicious. Doesn’t Stacia’s agent and editors know how she acts online, and the kinds of things she says? When I read her “Avenge” post, I literally felt like throwing up. It made me sick to my stomach the things she was saying.
Then she had another post where she wrote that she was depressed over negative reviews. It’s okay for her to voice concern over bad reviews, but not anyone else because readers can “say whatever the fuck they want about your book!”
With the way she spouts the F-word on her blog, her nutty rants remind me of Angela’s, and it’s a wonder Random House even bothers with a woman like that. She’s unhinged, probably because her sales are poor as compared to self-published works that she loves to look down on. I call it poetic justice.
For instance, her book Chasing Magic, released a year ago, is #86,911 on the kindle ranks. That’s pathetic for a Random House published book. Famous bestselling authors have even helped her market or promote her books by giving her rave reviews, and Stacia still does not have a best selling book. That’s pretty bad if you think about it.
Could have something to do with her diva melt-downs on her blog? She’s wrote that an author who was self-published didn’t sell any books because her books were “shit” or something to that effect, and her books were “garbage”.
Yeah, in real life I bet Stacia’s a fun person to be around, judging by her personality that’s shone thru her blog posts.
Nasty person.
Happy Anniversary! I for one would not have survived GR this past year without this blog. Sure, I’m on the other side of the table from the authors as a reader and reviewer, but I had some “friends” who were steering me wrong. They were at the time just getting involved with the bullies, and I was along for the ride, berating people for their tastes in reading material. I was, simply put, looking down my nose at people for their choice of books, and I was angry about it. Very publicly so. Then I found STGRB, and simply put, found the light.
I was starting to doubt the crowd I was hanging out with, but being “all alone” is a scary feeling, even for a grown ass woman. I just didn’t know what to do about those doubts, so I stuck around. Then one of the bullies started to moan about this blog, and I wanted to see for myself what they were whining about. Reading your early posts was a real light-bulb moment for me, that sense of “aha!” you get when you realize something that has been eluding you.
I knew then that I needed to clean up my act, and quickly. There was no way in hell I was going to be lumped in with these morons, I have a mind of my own for fucks’ sake. I know how to think, I don’t need to follow the sheep – or rather, wolves in sheep clothing.
Enough to say I don’t go into someone’s review space unless I am there to leave a comment of encouragement, to say something positive.
I’m generally not an angry person, I don’t hate the world, but I was being seduced by these bullies. That seduction was power, being one of a very loud crowd. It’s all too easy to fall into their trap, even if you’re old enough to be half way through your life.
No, I haven’t found God or Jesus, I’ve simply seen the error of my ways. I wouldn’t have been able to do it on my own, I needed the helping hand of STGRB to take the first step on the road of enlightenment.
A year ago I had a lot to say here on STGRB, I was writing comments all the time. The way I see it, it was a process for me to rid myself of all the negativity I had been surrounded with. I really needed STGRB more than they needed me. Since then I’ve been less vocal, but I’ve been reading each and every post every time they post something new. Unless life takes me to crazy places, I go in and read all the comments, and every now and then, when I feel I have something to say, I’ll leave a comment.
STGRB will continue to have my wholehearted support for as long as they are around. We need them, readers and authors alike. People of STGRB, I am grateful that you are around. You came along when I needed it the most, and you’ve now been helping people finding their way for a year. I am humbled by the work you do, because I know I would not have been able to this. Thank you.
You’re welcome, Good Belle! Thanks for the comment!
And we did need you, too. We needed all of our supporters.
I was the same way! And they all ended up turning on each other anyway. I was so glad I deleted my GR and don’t associate with them anymore, they need to grow up.
I’ll gladly keep supporting STGRB, even if in secrecy. I’ll delete my goodreads account after my books begin standing on their own. Why shouldn’t I use goodreads as a means to market my books? That’s supposed to be what the site is for, for authors to participate, and for readers to find new books to read.
To play dev’s advocate, there’s tons of goodreaders who are, well, good people. Even wonderful people, and it’s a damn shame that a fraction of bullies have to ruin the entire site, making authors live in fear of unfounded accusations by bullies, getting stalked, and libeled.
Amen!
Happy Anniversary! Thank you, thank you and thank you for the support you’ve given me. I’m a STGRB supporter for life.
STGRB is my favorite go-to blog. You have done such good work over this past year. Sending the cockroaches scurrying has been an incredible and much-needed feat. You’ve given many authors and readers hope for justice. You’ve shown that bullies are cowards, and when exposed for who they really are (Brandi Grondine, etc.), they will scurry away like the nasty rodents they are. However, as we’ve learned, the most mentally ill trolls among them will pop up again and again with different names and tactics (hence, the much-needed “Whack-A-Troll” app – ha, ha!). STGRB keeps the bullies on their toes and the spotlight of public awareness trained firmly on them. Good job! And to get Looney to close her gaping pie-hole is definitely something to celebrate!
Happy Anniversary, STGRB!
😀
Well said!
It’s been a great year for authors thanks to this site. We can only hope that real change will come moving forward.
Thank you so much for this site! When I was on GR, I was getting sucked into the crowd of bullies, and I’m really ashamed of my past behavior. Having that power was, like another supporter posted, was seductive. You could be part of the pack and “flex your muscles” so to speak, but in the end it was just embarrassing. I had a lot of prejudged notions about this site, but I’m glad I took the time to actually get acquainted with it and realize the error of my ways.
Congrats and thanks for exposing all this about all the bullies. Those like Stacia K. got away with too much for too long. And now they know people are going to fight back and not just take it as they have in the past.
Happy Anniversary STGRB!
This is such a wonderful blog. STGRB has always offered me support and I think of the people on this blog as my friends now.
I used to get so frustrated watching the Goodreads and Amazon bullies. So many times I watched them target both authors and reviewers. I’ve seen them twist peoples words beyond any recognition. I’ve seen them telling lie after lie after lie. I have seen them purposely trying to destroy authors careers and then they turn around with the usual lie of “that author lost the plot because someone gave them a one star review!” Lie after lie.
I stood up for my self and others many a time on Goodreads, but the bullies would contact their bully pals and they would then attack me brute force. The bullies can never stand alone, they always need their gang of thugs around them.
I was so thrilled last year when I found STGRB. At last there was a blog that showed the true story. STGRB showed the bullies up for what they really are. STGRB always shows screen shots (ie PROOF!) of what they post about. STGRB put a spot light on those spineless bullies! At last people had somewhere to come to talk about the awful things that happen on Goodreads and Amazon.
A lot has happened in the last year, I feel STGRB is having a really positive effect on Goodreads and Amazon. Oh the bullies are still bullying, but some of them have toned it down a bit because they know that STGRB and their followers are ALWAYS watching and ready to take screen shots of every attack that happens.
Sadly I have witnessed another sickening attack on the Amazon forums this week. They have attacked an author in the most brutal way. They are accusing him of horrendous things. They post lie after lie. They are really hitting an all time low.
The BBA thread is the most hated thread on Amazon. Every post has so many down votes that you have to click each comment if you want to read it. The bullies refuse to believe their posts are been down voted because people dislike them. No, the bullies think anything but that. Some of them think a “down voting fairy” is doing the down voting. (Okay???) Some of them think an author has secret software that automatically down votes certain posters the minute they post. The bullies call this a down voting robot *snigger* (They are starting to sound really crazy now!) And some of them think that one author has 14 sock puppet accounts and that he logs onto all 14 accounts one after another to down vote their comments. (The bullies are getting more and more paranoid!)
The truth is that the people who post on the BBA thread on Amazon are vile lying bullies. They are the most hated group of people on Amazon. People are disgusted with their lies and therefore people down vote the hateful comments. No fairies, no robots, just people who dislike the bullies. Simple as. When anyone disagrees with them they dismiss the comment as an authors sock puppet account. Mega troll Anna Karenina had a melt down on Amazon last week. She accused countless people of being sock puppets. She even started going onto threads where people were happily chatting between them selves and she started fighting with them and calling them sock puppets. She is crazy and paranoid! Really REALLY paranoid. I guess that is understandable when you think of all the dreadful things she has done to other people.
I wish STGRB every success in your second year. There are plenty of bullies still at large and unfortunately I’m sure they will give you plenty to write about this year.
Happy Anniversary STGRB and thank you for being there for us!
Happy 1st year!!!!
Happy Anniversary and may you have many more! Thank you for all that you do!
Thank you, Anonymous! And you’re welcome!
Happy anniversary, y’all — keep fighting the good fight!
Happy Anniversary STGRB and thanks for all you are doing to report and expose CYBER BULLIES!! I personally believe in good and evil. I can see no purpose whatsoever in these bullies that spend their entire lives online, bullying self published authors who are new to writing. I also see no purpose in so-called book-reviewers who write a review then obsessively watch it to make sure that other bullies agree with them, praise them and fortify their horrible behavior. I’ve seen this too many times to mention, and it has to stop.
There is nothing but GOOD here on STGRB, and the other side is pure evil as I see it.
Please continue the good work for all bullied authors, readers, and anyone else who has been beat down by these freaks.
Had a weak moment this weekend, I couldn’t take the constant mocking and passive abusive torment. I did break,and in a polite, yet firm manor asked a bully, why she hated me so much. I put up a post stating my disappointment with being ganged up on for a simple question, plus I blogged trying to dissuade bullies from following every move I made. It was stupid on my part, but sometimes the stress of trying so hard to avoid their attacks, just tears us down. My twitter account was attacked, I was “quoted” as say I’m a STGRB for life, like that’s the friggin’ news of the friggin year. It’s no secret I support STGRB. And I refuse to let anyone dictate who I follow, what blogs I read and how I express myself. Every name that came out to gang up on me, call me illiterate, stupid, bully, BBA, Whore, street walker (new one)etc.. Are ALL listed on here under Amazon FORA. I hate myself for breaking the rule not to respond. But I hate the fact GR refused to help stop this bullying more. I made maybe Two comments, neither were nasty or abusive, the next hour, the bullies spent it tearing me down, in post after post. And they were accusing ME of TOS violations. I deleted the blog post that started it, which was just a message to one of my biggest bullies, and I admit it was sarcastic, no name calling, just basically telling her she can stop following me around because I wasn’t going to help her co write her next book, (funny but dumb) but hell I was so exhausted and drained, and pissed, thinking about just giving up..like I said weak moment. I just want them to leave me alone. Anyway thanks for letting me vent. I am so grateful for the support you have given me. I don’t think I would be able to deal without it.
I want to add my congratulations too. The bullies might say they don’t care about this site, but you’ve got them looking over their shoulder now. Thanks for staying on top of all these bully situations. It is good to have you watching.