ROBUST discussion

A group of Trolls has invaded Good Reads. We haven't seen them in our little corner, but there is quite a tempest in the old teapot about them.

It seems they are reviewing books, insulting authors and (I think) making death threats.

DO NOT ENGAGE!

DO NO FEED THE TROLLS!

We must treat them like bears - pull up the bird feeder and put the random stuff away so they don't come here looking for something to eat.


Start here:
http://www.thepassivevoice.com/07/201...

Detour here:
http://stopthegrbullies.com/2012/07/1...

And this on for a good measure:
http://www.thebawdybookblog.com/posts...

That looks like a war in which I do not wish to participate.

Same here - better to know the bear is in the woods nearby than to walk into it on the way to the outhouse. (Kench)

From what I can see, most of the trouble has arisen because authors reacted to bad reviews. So don't react. I've had a string of 2 star/no comment flybys on GR lately. Too bad. I'll just keep writing.

I think that's the crew - I haven't noticed any new 2-star reviews. But I don't always see them right off.

The whole mess is starting to look like 2 troll queens in a face-off. I read enough to feel besmirched.

I'm still following this from a safe distance.

They seem to have descended upon The Passive Voice - but not enough to warrent a drive-by. LOL

Maybe it’s my background. I’ve worked with sex offenders and the gleefulness of the bullies as they blitz an author reminds me very much of sexual predators, specifically Anger-Excitation types. Good point here - troll behavior IS just like this.

I used to think of it as a 'hunt and kill' mentality, but this woman sounds like she'd onto something even worse.

I had no idea the discussion was on-going. Guess it's a topic that fires up a lot of people, but I can't see a benefit for either side in this war. I just write books and hope people will like them, but if they don't, that's okay -- no matter how they word their dislike.

Same here - I'll cringe in private and shrug it off in public. But I wouldn't want to start feeding trolls...unless I get really desparate for sales.

Then I might.

HOWEVER - if there IS an element of sexual sadist in it - I could write a really cool story about it some day.

I think that's been done.

REALLY?

I'm CRUSHED!

But everything else has been done, too, so have at it ;-0

Kench!

I'm not ready to start a new project - yet.

This is weird. The only one star review I ever had was for Mark of the Dragon Queen. It vanished from Amazon about two months after it was posted. Then I suddenly started getting 2 and 3 star ratings here on Goodreads, sending my average plunging, but today one of them was removed. Why give a book a bad rating and then remove it?

Maybe the authorities acted against a known malicious reviewer.

Trolls making death threats? What silliness the internet foments. I wish such people could meet reality in the form of the eldest Billy Goats Gruff.

Yeah - it's pretty silly.

But 3 minutes of digging around taught me more than I ever wanted to know about this crew of trolls.

Back in the late 90's, and a little into the 21st Century, negatively attacking another on the internet in volume with unprecedented vileness and unreasoning language was known as 'Griefing' and was also a punishable offense by the powers in control of the domain.

It looks like it's back in action. Old habits die hard for some, it seems. They were scum back then, they're still scum today.

I just went and read some of the stuff going down.

I can only say one thing about those Griefers.

They claim a First Amendment Right. Fine. I catch them stalking me outside of the Internet, and I'll put my Second Amendments Rights to good use. Then we'll see who wins that one.

The right to free speech is no excuse to violate any other right as described in the Constitution. Such damaging vocalization loses its value and becomes either slander or libel, depending upon the medium in question.

Stalking is a crime. Hard to prove, but still punishable. And Oklahoma's "Make My Day" law along with our Castle Doctrine goes a long way to establish such a stance in my favor.

I like occasionally making an example of one of them, or a whole gang of them, as I made of the Magnequest Scum in the '90s.

Andre Jute wrote: "I like occasionally making an example of one of them, or a whole gang of them, as I made of the Magnequest Scum in the '90s."

Ha ha, you're a genius dude. Seriously.

BLAST FROM THE PAST RECAP!!

Andre Jute wrote in 2005:

Dude, you've got far too much time on your hands. Ever thought about writing a novel or something? ;-)

I am, Grol. I dictate a letter to you in a voice transcriber by IBM called Viavoice, on another screen I type a novel. On several other screens I'm simultaneously reading some material, designing an amp a fellow commissioned, staring at a spreadsheet trying to work out the algorithm behind SRPP tubes with different value cathode resistors, rendering puppets for an animation, and so on. While doing all that I still carry on conversations when my family come into my study. You didn't think that your little soundbite requires my full attention, did you?

But it raises a question. What do you little jerks do while you wait for the smarter people to post something for you to make you petty, niggling little comment on? Pick your toes?

Andre Jute

I couldn't find anything from the 90's. Then again, the Net wasn't as big as it is today, and things didn't archive very well until around 2001 - 2003.

Still, it's cool you didn't lose your mojo. I never want to be on your bad side, bro.

Unfortunately, these silly trolls appear to be gumming up the works. I've gotten the 'overcapasity' error message twice in 2 days.

Andre - I may steal that line...have a character use it somewhere.

Daniel - there is something about the 2nd Amendment that stops stalkers cold - I think it's called a bullet for a bully...

Be my guest, Kat.

Hmmm- just tried to post something here and it didn't take. Drat it - all my best lines are gone.

(snivel)