Authors should never respond to reviews?

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NRoach

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With all the GamerGate shenanigans and now this, I'm becoming increasingly regretful of not using a pen name. I wonder if it's too late?

I doubt it's ever too late.

That said, if someone really wants to, they'll almost certainly be able to find where you live. The trick is making sure that no one really wants to, which, in the case of the whole gamegate thing, I suppose means not condemning journalistic corruption.
 

Alessandra Kelley

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I doubt it's ever too late.

That said, if someone really wants to, they'll almost certainly be able to find where you live. The trick is making sure that no one really wants to, which, in the case of the whole gamegate thing, I suppose means not condemning journalistic corruption.

And no being a woman writing about gaming.
 

Fuchsia Groan

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On the paper's responsibility: On the one hand, this is a "personal essay," so readers should be aware Hale's views don't represent the official view of the Guardian. OTOH, if I, as a newspaper editor, received a submission like this, I'd have a LOT of questions for the author. I'd request corroboration of her statements about being mocked on Twitter, etc. I'd research STGRB to see how much credibility it has. Ultimately, if Harris or others who knew her told a different story, it would be time to kill that piece. You don't print hearsay just because it's culturally interesting.

Granted, they have used a pseudonym for Harris' supposed RL identity, but they've still given a platform to Hale's claims about her online persona.

By publishing the piece, the paper isn't necessarily condoning Hale's stalking, though one could argue it's validating that behavior by treating it as an episode of authorial quirkiness rather than a crime. What the paper is definitely doing is uncritically passing on Hale's view of GR as a shark tank where obscure, trolling vendettas can kill an author's career.

As I read, I found myself wondering, "Can that really happen? How often?" Since Hale's account doesn't reflect my own (limited) experience of Goodreads, I stayed skeptical while considering her claims. If I were a Guardian reader who knew GR only by reputation, I might have been swayed by her account, which was presented with no competing perspective.

Whatever the atmosphere on GR, all writers should be offended by the notion that expressing your feelings about a book frankly online is tantamount to harassing or trolling its author, or that the two actions tend to go together. Yes, opinions can be nasty, harsh and out of line, but It's a book. It's not a physical piece of you. If one reviewer is egregiously unfair, let other reviewers set the record straight. I've never seen a GR page where every single reviewer was in lockstep, and the range of reviews for Hale's book is a case in point.
 

veinglory

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The may not be condoning the stalking but they are participating in it. so I think they are still responsible for that
 

Witch_turtle

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I doubt it's ever too late.

That said, if someone really wants to, they'll almost certainly be able to find where you live. The trick is making sure that no one really wants to, which, in the case of the whole gamegate thing, I suppose means not condemning journalistic corruption.

Yeah, I do have a hard time believing that even a pen name can really stop people from finding out who you are.

I'm glad to have found a discussion about this on AW, though. So many intelligent points of view. Weirdly, the first person in my Twitter feed to link the article had done so with a comment that suggested they took Hale's side, so when I started reading the article I was a bit confused. I did not understand why I was supposed to sympathize with the author. That being said, I had never heard of STGRB before and had no idea there even existed this war between authors and reviewers. So, if anything, this whole thing has really opened my eyes. And it really, deeply disturbs and saddens me that there's so much bullying and harassment going on in the "book world", which I had previously considered...well, better than that, I guess. Perhaps that was naive of me.
 

meowzbark

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Yeah, I do have a hard time believing that even a pen name can really stop people from finding out who you are.

I'm glad to have found a discussion about this on AW, though. So many intelligent points of view. Weirdly, the first person in my Twitter feed to link the article had done so with a comment that suggested they took Hale's side, so when I started reading the article I was a bit confused. I did not understand why I was supposed to sympathize with the author. That being said, I had never heard of STGRB before and had no idea there even existed this war between authors and reviewers. So, if anything, this whole thing has really opened my eyes. And it really, deeply disturbs and saddens me that there's so much bullying and harassment going on in the "book world", which I had previously considered...well, better than that, I guess. Perhaps that was naive of me.

I'd say 90% of the bullying/harassment involves a small group of people. This would be one of those times.

Both the author and the blogger have a history of 'bullying'. The reviewer tends to write reviews that evoke emotion from authors. This doesn't mean that the author was justified in what she did. But, it doesn't surprise me that the situation escalated.

I can sympathize with both.

I've bullied by an author for a review I wrote. I spent weeks googling the author (after the event) and imagining an opportunity of confronting the author at a book signing or something. The difference is that I DIDN'T ACTUALLY DO IT. That crosses the line. I hope she finds other avenues to express her frustration.

For the reviewer, I understand what it's like to have your privacy invaded from someone you don't know. I had an ex-boyfriend who posted my picture, phone number, and address on an online dating sight and pretended to be me and then sent these people my phone/address. Until I moved and changed my number....I didn't feel safe.
 
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Buffysquirrel

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I doubt it's ever too late.

That said, if someone really wants to, they'll almost certainly be able to find where you live. The trick is making sure that no one really wants to, which, in the case of the whole gamegate thing, I suppose means not condemning journalistic corruption.

There was no journalistic corruption. And honestly? the people on the receiving end of the worst aspects of gamergate have not been the ones who made the claims about corruption.
 

Samsonet

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How about when we say we're not going to psychoanalyse strangers on the internet, we actually don't do it? Thanks :).

For what it's worth, I was trying not to.

On the STGRB site -- I'm starting to get worried about my own safety now, since that site has mentioned me my online pseudonym quite a few times. What if someone ends up at my house...?

Stalking is so much more romantic in books.
 

absitinvidia

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KH is engaged to an SNL writer who happens to have a serious journalism/publishing pedigree. Perhaps that had some influence on the Guardian's decision to publish her essay?
 

Perks

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That's a question in my mind also: why did the Guardian choose to give publicity to this?


Apparently she's engaged to Simon Rich, which would also make her the impending daughter-in-law of notable writer, Frank Rich, and Gail Winston, an editor at Harper Collins.
 
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Perks

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The literary Twitterverse is calling for a statement from HarperTeen.

The combined stress of Chelsea Cain's, John Grisham's, and Kathleen Hale's publicists has now developed its own gravity and has started pulling in light. We're witnessing the birth of a black hole of bad publicity.
 

aruna

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s.

Both the author and the blogger have a history of 'bullying'. The reviewer tends to write reviews that evoke emotion from authors. This doesn't mean that the author was justified in what she did. But, it doesn't surprise me that the situation escalated.

I can sympathize with both.


.
this is the first I'm hearing of the reviewer's history of bullying, apart from the author's claims. On the contrary, at least two people have claimed that the behaviour she's accused of is out of character. Usually in such cases people produce screenshots of the bullying - not this time. I've seen the review in question and it was quite measured - in fact, she begins by loving the book and only later ends up hating it.

I have zero sympathy for the author. Her self-admitted behaviour is inexcusable.
 

Roxxsmom

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I doubt it's ever too late.

That said, if someone really wants to, they'll almost certainly be able to find where you live. The trick is making sure that no one really wants to, which, in the case of the whole gamegate thing, I suppose means not condemning journalistic corruption.

I think with Gamergate it's more about not being a woman who has the audacity to be critical about elements of game design or the male domination of the gaming industry. The claims of journalistic corruption came from the people who were attacking said women :(

And this is the hard part. The things you need to do to incite the vindictive ire and obsession of another person, or group of people, can be highly variable and dependent on who you are. John Scalzi and Jim C. Hines have both pointed out in their blogs that while they often embrace topics related to gender equality on social media, and that such often attracts trolls who attack their masculinity, they just doesn't get the same kind or degree of harassment that women writers who embrace the same topics do.

But in this case, misogyny wasn't the problem. It was between two women, and it seems that even expressing your opinion about someone's novel can land you in scary territory sometimes. And it's interesting that the author herself was the one behaving so erratically and obsessively. It's expected that fans and followers of authors can get weird and obsessive sometimes, but an author who is trade published, at least, is supposed to be a professional and to have the wise council of their editors and agent behind them in these matters.
 
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BenPanced

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I scanned through some of the comments on the Grunyon's site and a few people have pointed out that many, many of those in favor of Hale are from first time posters.
 
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Cyia

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this is the first I'm hearing of the reviewer's history of bullying, apart from the author's claims. On the contrary, at least two people have claimed that the behaviour she's accused of is out of character.


It's very, very out of character - to the point that I don't believe it. That particular reviewer is blunt, but on the positive and negative side. She does stream of consciousness-style updates as she reads, then a final review. Her average is over 3 stars, so she's hardly someone out trolling or auto-posting bad reviews.
 

yayeahyeah

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It's very, very out of character - to the point that I don't believe it. That particular reviewer is blunt, but on the positive and negative side. She does stream of consciousness-style updates as she reads, then a final review. Her average is over 3 stars, so she's hardly someone out trolling or auto-posting bad reviews.

Completely agree with this. The reviewer is harsher than I am but not in a bullying way.

Also, the Guardian Books team routinely tweet authors with negative reviews posted on their site - that seems far closer to bullying than anything I've ever seen this reviewer do.
 

Fuchsia Groan

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A more general question: Is it standard practice for online reviewers to tweet negative reviews to authors?

When I tweet a review, both the tweet and review are directed at readers. Now I'm thinking I should go out of my way to avoid the appearance of shoving the tweet in the author's face. (Most of the local writers I review are older or anti-technology and don't "do" Twitter, so it hasn't been a big issue.) This is one of the Twitter etiquette issues I don't really get, but I admit I wouldn't be happy if someone bombarded me with links to negative reviews of my book (as opposed to just tweeting them and integrating my handle).
 

yayeahyeah

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A more general question: Is it standard practice for online reviewers to tweet negative reviews to authors?

No. I follow 2000 or so people on Twitter. I would say 100 or so review at least semi-regularly (wild guess, but rough ballpark figure). I don't recall seeing ANYONE other than Guardian Books tweet negative reviews to an author for a long, long time, as most people realise it's massively insensitive.
 

Bloo

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I would guess that some reviewers on Twitter do something like (and I'll use my own handle here just for an example--but with a fictional book title)

"Just finished Gambler's Torch by @eerobert a 1* read goodreads.com/blahblahblah"

I have no evidence of anything like this (I have Twitter, I tweet but I'll be honest I usually skim my Twitter timeline and don't get me started on how bad I am at responding to DMs)

_I_ wouldn't call that someone tweeting at me, just giving people who view my twitter a chance to see the review, but I could totally be wrong in that (or I just don't care about social media reviews LOL--I mean reviews would be great but I don't obsess over them. I looked at my Goodreads page for the first time in a long time last week--only because I wanted to pull some of the review quotes for a trailer I was making).
 
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