His . We don’t even have to tell our readers what we think of this. You will all just know.
Wow! Just wow! It’s not what he says here. It’s his attitude. Can anyone else see it?
We leave the comment board open for all of you who wish to post what you think of this.
Johnny out.
We’ve been meaning to write this post for a while. Sorry we are so late in doing it.
In our last post on Anne Rice, we showed you how she has been lighting up the Amazon fora with her wisdom and advice for authors. We also mentioned her unfortunate encounter with the bullies :
Note her Warning to Authors at the bottom. Unfortunately, like everyone else who has braved the discussion threads of Amazon, Anne too has noticed the hostility and general contempt that the AFT (Amazon Fora Trolls) have for authors. In fact, we published some of her comments on this topic in our post, Words of Wisdom From Anne Rice.
So… do you think she got attacked for her warning? You bet.
Has she stopped posting and offering her advice to authors? Nope.
In fact, she has responded to the trolls with such sophistication and eloquence, it seems they don’t really know how to respond to her. She’s too smart and trolls tend to be … well … not so smart.
In our post today we’ll show just how smart she is. She was immediately able to see right through the Amazon bullies and make intelligent observations that get right to the heart of the matter and reveal these nasty people for who and what they are: internet trolls. What’s more, she managed to isolate all of the most well-known trolls who stalk authors and their books simply because they have nothing better to do with their time.
First we’ll show you her general view of the Amazon bullies:
Next, her exchanges with Anna Karenina, the most prolific AFT in the fora who thinks a little too highly of herself and her self-appointed intellectual prowess.
And here is her exchange with Cathyr:
Her exchange with Jane:
With Lady Lucretia
And finally, with Mayhem or Moonlight Reader or whoever:
It is interesting to note how she keeps asking them what they’re doing in the MOA (Meet Our Authors) forum. She is right. They have no reason to be there and yet they keep coming back to harass her, revealing their true intentions: to seek and destroy.
Anne, like the rest of us, has also found it astounding that the bullies think authors are like children who are to be scolded and talked down to when they “misbehave” according to some inane and entirely bully-invented rule that the authors should have automatically known:
She also happens to notice a few more important facts about the Amazon bullies: that they are small but loud, that they consider themselves self-appointed gatekeepers, that they attack customers as well as authors, that they twist words, that they game the system, that they can’t take criticism, and that they create a destructive climate on the Amazon fora:
But by far her most insightful observation about them is that not only are they so sure of their own superiority that they disrespect authors, they don’t even view authors as human beings:
And a perfect example of this “authors aren’t human beings” mentality can be seen quite clearly in Miss Mayhem’s words:
Uh… she thinks authors are just like people? She thinks? She doesn’t know?
Gosh, you know, I think the pope may be Catholic, but I’m not quite sure. He does this and he does that, just like a Catholic. So I think he’s Catholic, but I’m still not quite sure.
*major eye roll*
What? Can’t you tell, Miss Mayhem or Moonlight Reader or whatever you’re calling yourself these days? Of course, authors are just like people! They ARE people!
Anyhow… that’s it for today. That’s Anne Rice on the bullies of Amazon. So… what does she think of GR?
It says something that the bad press on Goodreads has had such a far reach that even literary superstars like Anne will have nothing to do with it. You see, although Goodreads has attempted in recent months to clean up its site, for many out there it was too little, too late. Its reputation as a legit and professional review site is shattered. As one of our blog readers stated:
GR booted most of the main trolls that had taken over their site. They even cracked down on their shelving and fake ratings. Unfortunately they acted too late and tarnished their reputation beyond repair. As for the bookraging trolls, they went out with last years garbage. Now they just complain and whine a lot or make fake accounts. They appear to lack the fundamental gift given to all lifeforms on earth – a life.
Quite right, Anonymous. Quite right.
Good news, everyone! Just recently, there has been a bright light gleaming from within the darkness of the Amazon jungle. Within the last month or so, literary superstar Anne Rice has taken to the Amazon fora to post positive and helpful advice for all authors everywhere — old and young, new and experienced, traditional and indie. Back in December, she started where she shares her knowledge and experience on editing and proofreading: For us authors: on copy editing, proofreading, what I know, what I can share:
Note her Warning to Authors at the bottom. Unfortunately, like everyone else who has braved the discussion threads of Amazon, Anne too has noticed the hostility and general contempt that the AFT (Amazon Fora Trolls) have for authors. In fact, we published some of her comments on this topic in our post, Words of Wisdom From Anne Rice.
So… do you think she got attacked for her warning? You bet.
Has she stopped posting and offering her advice to authors? Nope.
In fact, she has responded to the trolls with such sophistication and eloquence, it seems they don’t really know how to respond to her. She’s too smart and trolls tend to be … well … not so smart. 
What’s great about Anne is that she has no reason to be afraid of posting in the fora and saying exactly what she thinks. Like Dougie Brimson, she is a superstar and already has a huge fanbase with which she communicates on a daily basis.
All the same, though, we find it incredibly sad that when a literary icon like her offers to engage positively with others online, the trolls immediately move in and try to pull her down.
And this is exactly why we call them trolls. This is what they do.
Yet despite their attempts to drag her down into the mud, she rises above it and continues to help those seeking her advice and in general, her thoughts on various subjects. In this post, we will show you some of those thoughts, such as her thoughts on editing and proofreading:
Why she started the thread:
Her thoughts on indie publishing:
On print on demand:
On NY publishing:
On audiobooks:
On B&N:
Her solution for poorly edited books (instead of leaving scathing, one-star reviews):
Her advice for authors:
And finally, her attitude toward keeping the Amazon threads positive and productive:
As we here at STGRB are all fanboys and fangirls of Anne, we happily applaud her offering to share her expertise and knowledge. We encourage all authors to contact her either on her , or through her where she interacts with both readers and writers:
She also has a public email address for those who wish to talk with her privately.
Thank you, Anne, for all you have done to make authors’ online experience better. You are one cool lady.
Well, apparently, Goodreads is still in the process of cleaning things up. We were just alerted to a user interface change being implemented on the Goodreads community book pages. Emily lays it out in a GR Feedback discussion:
And what does this mean as far as the trolls are concerned? Well, you remember all the nasty shelving that once polluted the book pages of authors who had become troll targets? Guess where they are now?
That’s right! Gone! As one commenter on the feedback thread remarks:
To give you an example, here’s a screenshot of three well-known trolls who’ve just “added” a book by an author they are targeting simply because she made a comment on an anti-troll blog post.
Of course, if you click on the individual links like “added it” or “rated it”, it will take you to a page where the shelves appear, but for the most part, all the trolls’ nasty shelving has been effectively wiped off the Goodreads community book pages.
Good job, GR!
And how do the rest of the Goodreads members feel about this? Well…
Nuff said.
Despite the recent banning of Angela, Miranda, and All Hail Grimlock, the drama llamas are out to play, folks! It’s been almost four whole months and they are STILL whining about the “horrible injustice” done to them by the GR staff.
(For more information on the policy change at Goodreads, please read GR Now Deleting Author-Bashing Reviews).
If you take a look at some of the GR feedback threads, the llamas are still going at it. In , Emily tries in vain to reason with them. Do you think she was successful?
Right.
The thread starts of with… guess who? Our favorite llama of them all! Ridley:
If you read the thread, there are several more whiny comments, but for the sake of keeping our post short, we’ll let you go to and read them yourself.
A little farther down Emily steps in and makes a valiant attempt at communication.
And then:
Why, yes, Sandra. It does only apply to abusive content. That’s why it’s called an anti-bullying policy.
And they wonder why they get ignored by the staff:
Hmm…
Then Batgrl says:
Politely-and-earnestly-worded? Is she serious?
If you want to see how polite and earnest they were, just check out the original announcement thread. You won’t be surprised that GR stopped communicating with them. But you know, it does our hearts good to see the Goodreads staff having to deal with these llamas. Now at least the they are getting a taste of what others on the site have had to deal with for years while they sat back and did nothing, or worse, actually supported them.
And speaking of that, here’s that will warm your heart. It’s between Reyna’s Mom, Emily, and KarlynP on page 2:
What’s telling here is the fact that the llamas still don’t get it. Even after Emily explains to them that deletions will only occur if activity/content violates their rules, they are still wallowing in their own self-pity and whining about the “unfair treatment”. You see, because the llamas suffer from acute martyr syndrome, they believe they are being singled out and discriminated against. They are still not seeing that it’s THEIR BEHAVIOR that’s the problem. They also fail to see that they are the only ones who are still complaining on the GR feedback threads ever since the anti-bullying policy went into effect. If they wonder why they are being noticed more than others by the staff, all they have to do is put two and two together. But apparently, they seem to be incapable of careful, reasoned thought. Here’s what’s happening. Anti-troll GR members are seeing their names in the threads, then they are clicking on their profiles and examining their reviews and shelves, and finally, they are flagging them. And then?
Bye-bye content.
Not too hard for a person with an average intelligence to figure out, but then again, we are talking about the GR bullies here. There’s really not a lot going on between their ears.
Anyhow, that’s it for today. If we get any more news from our Twitter and Facebook followers or from our blog readers, we’ll post it as soon as we can.
Peace out and stay safe.
Good news, everyone! Goodreads just got a little safer. We’ve learned just recently that Angela was banned from GR. If you click on her profile link below, you’ll see she is completely gone:
You can also check out her Booklikes page where she seems to be proud of the fact that she was banned for carpet bombing and for being generally abusive to others:
(Notice her question at the bottom of the page mentioning Leafmarks. For those who don’t already know, Leafmarks is another Goodreads-copycat website where the GR trolls seem to have taken refuge. For your protection, it is best to steer clear of both Booklikes and Leafmarks.)
Good job, everyone, for reporting Angela’s abusive behavior! We are one more step closer towards a better Goodreads!
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