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.
