We just received this letter from Anne Rice addressing the growing problem of trolling in the Amazon jungle… I… I mean fora.  Thanks to Anne’s help, awareness of author bullying by internet trolls is growing.  More and more people are starting to understand what it is and why it is harmful.  In the letter below, Anne describes the troll problem on Amazon with such clarity and precision, we couldn’t have expressed it better ourselves.

Thank you, Anne, for all you do!

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To STGRB:

From Anne Rice:

As you know I am deeply disturbed with bullying on Amazon and have been studying the problem for some time.  And I appreciate the work your site does.

Brief update:

The above  links are to a few of the books I’ve been studying on internet bullying. I’ve been having quite a fruitful experience reading about this entire area. And the similarities between bullying on Amazon, and bullying on the net in general, are more remarkable than I expected.

Apparently these patterns occur everywhere. Bullies mark a target —- on Amazon it’s an author — and then they seek to objectify and dehumanize the target by characterizing the target as “defective.” On Amazon, the authors in question are presented as “badly behaving” or “needing a thick skin,” or “needing to grow a pair.” Language is used to infantilize them and denigrate them. There is also considerable talk to reduce the author to a function and one of very little value. “You think too highly of yourself. What you do is just make a product. It’s no better than manual labor.” The idea of course is that the author is less than, common, seen entirely in terms of the function, disposable and even interchangeable. “There’s more where you came from. You’re blacklisted.” —— This target in the view of the bully ceases to be human, is not worthy of common courtesy, honest dealings, or decency. Again, the target is “defective.”

If the target speaks out as to the injustice of this, then comes the backlash “Because you spoke out we will destroy you.” “You should never have spoken out. How dare you?” A new wave of persecution soon follows the speaking out, and bullies warn other “authors” to heed what “can happen” to them if they dare to speak out.

The books I’m reading tend to describe these bullies as motivated not by fun and games as I thought, but essentially by powerlessness.

There is much talk in these books of how these bullies hide behind pseudonyms the world over, and experience almost a new personality behind the pseudonym which is often nothing like their personalities in private life.

That might explain the coarseness here, the rampant vulgarity, the abrasive and and ugly talk that runs all through this thread as it is directed against authors.

The books also talk of remedies, solutions, and obstacles to solutions.

It’s very interesting reading.

This thread is a goldmine I think for anyone research internet bullying.

STGRB responsibly shames these bullies. It draws attention to their patterns of behavior. It documents their conduct which violates our social and ethical norms. Of course it’s going to make the bullies furious. They strive for power over their targets and their victims. They are necessarily outraged that a website would take them to task. Again, it’s about power. They maintain the illusion that they have the power. STGRB shows them that they do not necessarily have the power that they believe they have.

Anyone coming here to this thread on Amazon ——

can read the list of Amazon bullies (on STGRB), and just study the posts here. The bullies “out themselves.” The thread is a resource to be read along with the list of “Amazon Fora Trolls” on STGRB.

Thanks,

Anne Rice.

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