Seriously, is this article a joke?  Because if it isn’t, we have to say that we no longer feel disappointed in you.  Instead, we just feel embarrassed for you and we’ll tell you why.

What are we talking about?  In this comment, we were tipped off to a Salon article written by Laura Miller called, How Amazon and Goodreads Could Lose Their Best Readers:

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Just by reading the title, you can already see where this article is going.  It is a perfect example of poorly researched journalism, because guess who Laura considers to be Goodreads’ best readers?

*nod*  That’s right.  *eyeroll*

As is revealed in the screenshots below, Laura has been in contact with the GR bullies and is now mindlessly regurgitating the twisted information they have fed her:

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We want to stop right here for a second and draw your attention to this.  Attacking a Goodreads moderator’s “dismal inner life”?  Claiming a dead author participated in orgies with moomintrolls?  Are you serious, Laura?  Tell us, this kind of behavior — these “protestors’” (i.e. the GR bullies’) reaction to the policy change — this doesn’t raise any major red flags for you?  Not at all?  Not even just a little bit?

Obviously not since you seem to be laboring under the assumption that this is acceptable and it’s not.  You see, this is why we are embarrassed for you now.  Do you really not see how bad this article makes you look as a journalist?

And if you continue to read the article, it gets even worse:

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Only real resource?  Is that what they told you?  The fact is, these people are not a resource, let alone the “only real resource” Goodreads has.  They are a liability because they jeopardize the integrity (with false ratings and reviews) of the database that Amazon and Goodreads uses to market books.

Also, most members of Goodreads have either not noticed the change on GR or are happy to see these “best readers” go.  These people are abusive and they turn what could otherwise be a really great site and resource for authors and readers into a hostile cesspit of flame wars and poo-flinging.  This is why GR changed its policy and this is why they want these people off their site.

As Randall, a guest blogger on The Passive Voice said:

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Throughout this entire article, Laura fails to mention the fact that is on most people’s minds when they hear about the Goodreads policy change and that is the abuse that lead to the change in the first place.  Abuse that has been exhaustingly documented on our website for over a year now.  Fortunately, the people who read and commented on the article weren’t fooled:

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“Bullying by both readers and some authors.”  Yes, that is exactly right, and that is why we started our blog.  We are just happy now to see that our efforts, along with the efforts of all those who joined in, have had this positive influence on GR.

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