Unexpected consequences
The internet is a vast and amazing thing. It can connect us to people we may never meet in person, and occasionally it can stir up the sediment of one's past so that half-forgotten things bob to the surface.
Something along those lines happened to me after I posted about bad advice on my blog months ago. Someone claiming to be the man I'd mentioned by name in that post wrote to me. It was an arrogant, bullying post in which I was called a number of things, including smut-peddler, followed by a demand that I remove the post and a threat to the effect that I had raised an adversary more powerful than I could possibly imagine. This led me to think about Obi-Wan Kenobi for a moment, after which I ignored the whole post.
I thought I was done with the matter, but then this character contacted my publisher and asked them to use their influence to have me take down the post. They contacted me, and as they didn't know what was going on all they did was relay the message. I emailed back explaining that I thought this character was a troll and I was ignoring him. Once more, I thought that the matter was over.
Not so. Having received no satisfaction from myself or my publisher, this character then went directly to Goodreads, convinced someone there that he was indeed who he claimed to be, and asked THEM to make me take down my post. Goodreads asked me politely, and I explained that if the character had just come to me in the first place, offered some proof of who he was, and asked politely if I could delete his name as the connection was causing him some distress, I would probably have complied. But, as he started out with what he must have thought was the email equivalent of a nuclear strike, complete with insults and threats, I was disinclined to offer any kind of concession.
By then, the character had gone on to offer more insults, not just to me but to some others who had posted on the matter. Goodreads commented that they had passed on the character's 'request', and they didn't seem to see any need for further action. I went back and deleted the character's comments. He may have indeed been who he said he was, but from the start he'd managed to make his actual identity irrelevant.
Something along those lines happened to me after I posted about bad advice on my blog months ago. Someone claiming to be the man I'd mentioned by name in that post wrote to me. It was an arrogant, bullying post in which I was called a number of things, including smut-peddler, followed by a demand that I remove the post and a threat to the effect that I had raised an adversary more powerful than I could possibly imagine. This led me to think about Obi-Wan Kenobi for a moment, after which I ignored the whole post.
I thought I was done with the matter, but then this character contacted my publisher and asked them to use their influence to have me take down the post. They contacted me, and as they didn't know what was going on all they did was relay the message. I emailed back explaining that I thought this character was a troll and I was ignoring him. Once more, I thought that the matter was over.
Not so. Having received no satisfaction from myself or my publisher, this character then went directly to Goodreads, convinced someone there that he was indeed who he claimed to be, and asked THEM to make me take down my post. Goodreads asked me politely, and I explained that if the character had just come to me in the first place, offered some proof of who he was, and asked politely if I could delete his name as the connection was causing him some distress, I would probably have complied. But, as he started out with what he must have thought was the email equivalent of a nuclear strike, complete with insults and threats, I was disinclined to offer any kind of concession.
By then, the character had gone on to offer more insults, not just to me but to some others who had posted on the matter. Goodreads commented that they had passed on the character's 'request', and they didn't seem to see any need for further action. I went back and deleted the character's comments. He may have indeed been who he said he was, but from the start he'd managed to make his actual identity irrelevant.
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Fiona
(new)
Jun 06, 2012 11:10AM
This was just one of those situations that after I hung up the phone, I just shook my head and did an eyeroll... :)
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I haven't heard from my 'adversary more powerful than I could possibly imagine' since. Some days I think I should have left his rants up for others to chuckle over. Ah, well.
Another unbelievable story! Why people have to take things so seriously to the point of demeaning an author's work and sabotage his/her good standing is beyond me. I personally always find your viewpoints interesting and your work intriguing. Some Kuddos to you SJ....Alie38
Thanks! What strikes me as peculiar about the whole thing is that I hadn't seen the guy I mentioned in over 40 years, yet within a couple of days of me writing the post, there he (or at least someone claiming to be him) was. And apparently he'd never gotten around to writing that novel. I found the whole episode interesting, in a very strange way.
