Before we get to Old Rocker, who was originally on our sidebar for being an AFT, we want to share the following with our readers.  We were tipped off to this feedback discussion on Goodreads created by a GR member who is now gone from the site:

OneStarRatings

In response, a GR member named Jenny attempted to shed light on the subject:

Jenny

But as you may have guessed, unfortunately, the thread was hijacked by the trolls who spewed their nonsense and created 12 pages of hateful invective.  So, let this be a warning.  Tread carefully in the Goodreads feedback discussions.  The trolls stalk those threads like there’s no tomorrow and if you post a comment they don’t like, they will come at you hard.  You see, there is a reason Goodreads in the Goodreads feedback discussions and not site-wide.  Because they knew that the small group of users it would affect (i.e. the GR bullies) would see it there.  The majority of GR users don’t care.  As PG said in one of his posts, he “doesn’t think the vast majority of Goodreads users are terribly upset about a few offensive items being removed from the site.  Most have not even noticed anything.”  We tend agree with him.

Now, as for the recent barrage of one-star ratings, we’ve heard from several sources that the appeals to Amazon and GR staff are working.  The carpet bombs seem to be disappearing.  However, if you feel that your books have not been cleaned of the crap left on them by the angry dung beetles and you’ve already contacted Amazon/GR about it, some information from another anon might help you:

Goodreads is located in California. I recommend reporting them to the California Attorney General for fraudulent business activity:

http://oag.ca.gov/consumers

As for Amazon, it’s headquarters are in Washington.  Here is the website for reporting Amazon:

http://www.atg.wa.gov/fraudfighters.aspx#.UlbzHlCkqgk

Now, remember from that particular post, we showed you an attorney left a comment on Anne R. Allen’s blog, stating that customer reviews are a form of ‘endorsements’ or ‘testimonials’ and that:

“SELLERS HAVE AN AFFIRMATIVE DUTY TO ENSURE ANY CUSTOMER TESTIMONIAL THEY USE TO SELL PRODUCTS IS TRUE.”

If you find that Amazon/GR isn’t listening to your request to have false one-star ratings removed from your book(s), you may want to contact the offices of both California’s and Washinton’s Attorney General to report the fraud.  Or seek the services of an attorney.  Or both.

Now, for carpet bomber #7 of our Carpet Bombers Series, we want to show you some of the shots we got of and bookshelves before the carpet bombs were removed.

ORsProfile

ORsFriends

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If you take a look at Old Rocker’s book shelves now, this is what you will see:

Gone

We hope this trend continues.

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An addendum.

I forgot to add to the post above.  Now that Rick Coke Monkey is no longer in , we feel it is safe again for authors to join (or rejoin) the group.  There is also a link on our sidebar.

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