THE Group for Authors! discussion

Every time I try to access a five star positive review, a big, angry red, deeply insulting and discriminatory pop up appears.
How do I get rid of it?

Andrew, It's being discussed over in the Feedback group:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/5...

Maybe it's because I hate it, but it seems to me most members are opposed. As it is now, you can't get rid of it, but I'm hoping Goodreads will get rid of it.

Right now as I type this, a warning is hovering next to this box INSISTING that I not "sell my book" and letting me know when it's okay to mention my book and how, and suggesting when I shouldn't and where the Author guidelines are and urging me to act like I'm not 12. I feel like an adult being babysat by a lobotomized 11 year old. Don't lick the electrical sockets, ya big f#&ker. Unbelievable.

I have to tell you. I just read that whole embarrassing thread in Feedback, and it was so sophomoric from a few vocal corners that I couldn't bring myself to post. I don't want to bother. There are some really cogent and thoughtful responses (Ralph, BunWat, David, Abigail etc), but some really bizarre posturing. No thanks.

What's weirdest is the belief that we can't be grownups, and that we want to talk to people who aren't grownups. Ugh. Awful. Obviously this policy will get edited at some point, because it's simply too stupid and insulting to last.

Spamming strangers or hardselling projects seem like such idiotic ways of building a career trajectory. Umm, duh? And I'm baffled by the idea that we must protect the delusions of a few reviewers who want to be "left in peace" under some kind of imaginary veil when they're posting on a website crawled by Googlebots every half hour.

One of the things I hate most about the internet is these endless squabbles with adolescents and shut-ins. Someone isn't minding the shop on this one. Goodreads will have to sort it or people will bail.

Lisa wrote: "Andrew, It's being discussed over in the Feedback group:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/5...

Maybe it's because I hate it, but it seems t..."

Thanks, Lisa. I'm not sure I still want to bother. Thinking about it.

I thought the box was rather strange, too. I only noticed it for the first time this week.

Another thing I noticed on the 5070 discussion was a strange perception that GoodReads reviews only appear on GoodReads. The truth is, they are spread from GoodReads all over the internet.

Given the dissemination, I frankly don't see how the TOU protect GoodReads --in theory-- from liability for the content of hateful reviews, because non-members see the reviews, also.

Thanks for the comments here. We recognize that the messages went way too far, and I apologize if anyone was offended. We are removing the warning on messages, and changing the review message to be toned down and only show on negative reviews by strangers. Again, I apologize if we offended anyone.

Patrick wrote: "Thanks for the comments here. We recognize that the messages went way too far, and I apologize if anyone was offended. We are removing the warning on messages, and changing the review message to be..."

Thank you Patrick.

This is at least a step in the right direction.

For your information. The only time I contacted a reader about a book of mine was because he friended me and asked me about them.

Let me repeat: He friended me. I don't invite people to become friends, and I say so in my profile. I also explain that this is not out of arrogance, but just because I don't want to give false impressions.

A few weeks later he asked which book of mine I would recommend. I said I would look through his shelves and reviews to get a feel of his tastes. I spent more than an hour. Then I mailed him back that none of my books were good for him. They would give him nightmares. I could clearly see he was far too sensitive.

I spent over an hour convincing somebody not to buy one of my books.

A day or so later, when I just want to read a review, I am insulted as a possible harasser and spammer.

I am neither. I am an idiot.

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edit (one hour later):

Ah well, now that I've got that off my chest: I just had a marvelous sample of author service as well. Fair is fair.