'There's no place here for bullies' … (from left) Jerry, Spike and Tom. Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive
Now, I am all for a nice literary feud, and I can't help but watch with glee when authors respond to their critics (and when those critics are subsequently reported to the FBI … ), but after being alerted to the existence of the Stop the GoodRead Bullies website by my favourite romance blog, Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, I feel a little as if I'm falling down a rabbit hole.
The site says it was set up by "readers, bloggers, and Goodreads members who, inspired by those who have already taken a stand, have come together in an effort to stop the bullying we have seen on the GR fora". They give examples of this bullying – the reviewer who wrote: "I'm adjusting my review to reflect that the author of this book was very rude to me on a social network"; one who called a book "an absolute fucking trainwreck", and said "the author of this book just disgusts me to high hell"; one who said "I don't think I've ever been so offended, so disgusted and just so damn pissed when reading a book. It genuinely pains me to see that people actually enjoyed this."
The angry reviews, it appears, are often the result of authors responding to bad reviews of their books. It's not a new phenomenon – Publishers Weekly touched on it in January, as did author Julie Bertagna for the Guardian. But the situation is mushrooming: there's a list on GoodReads devoted to authors who have replied – angrily – to negative reviews, called "Author Temper Tantrums", and the STGRB site gives examples ofauthors who have apparently given up writing after being subjected to bullying on the site.
The intention of STGRB is to "out these bullies one by one, using online public information, screencaps, and other related, non-copyrighted pictures". So, while remaining anonymous themselves, they're posting details about these bullying reviewers on the website, including their photos and real names.
Good god. It's mirrors within mirrors, worlds within worlds, the (outed) bullies (anonymously) bullied. I'm not sure any more who is doing the bullying – authors bullying reviewers, reviewers bullying authors, readers bullying reviewers – but it's certainly leaving a bad taste in my mouth. The only good thing to be said about any of it is that it shows how much people care about books.
But "outing and attempting to shame reviewers for doing what everyone does in different forms and different venues is counterintuitive, cruel, and hypocritical (especially the part where those doing the exposing hide behind pseudonyms)", says Smart Bitches. Hear hear. Let the snarkers snark, I say, and if you're that worried about what people think, then it's best, perhaps, to follow in the footsteps of Siri Hustvedt, and steer clear of reviews altogether.