Rabid Reader Ramblings: Let’s Talk about Blogger Behavior.

So, I normally don’t go into a rant, and I try to be somewhat respectful at all times, right?  You guys know me.  I don’t go off on tangents about the behavior of others or anything like that.  But today, I just cannot help myself.  I have seen where a blogger has taken it upon themselves to call out an author as a fraud because they negatively reviewed a book and others had positive opinions of it, so those positive opinions must be sock puppet reviews, right?  I don’t think so.

I am not going to mention names, and this is a blanket statement on 4 different such scenarios that I have seen recently.  Some of the books/authors attacked were very popular works and widely enjoyed.  Others were not so well known and others were just starting out.

We have talked about authors behaving badly.  We have talked about ethics and how that relates to blogging.  I reiterate some of those points here.

When did it become okay for a review to become a forum for personal attacks?  Things like this have a tendency to effect whether or not we as reviewers are taken seriously.  When we fall to the level of the high school drama of name calling and finger pointing, we have degraded ourselves beyond repair.  When did it become okay to behave like that?

Now granted, I know that some of the reviewers out there are not yet adults.  And I have met some absolutely AMAZING teen reviewers/bloggers who absolutely inspire me every day.  But when a grown woman or grown man acts like a child and displays behavior that I abhor in my kids, I just have to shake my head and wonder why we do this to ourselves and to each other.

Blogger reviewers are just finally starting to come into our own and being recognized as a credible review source, one to be taken seriously and paid attention to.  We are finally gaining the recognition from major publishers and being viewed as a credible marketing tool for some of the newer books that are coming out.  And then we go and act like children and throw it all to hell.

It has to stop.  If you don’t like a book, that is fine and you are 100% within your rights to tell people that.  But you are not within your rights to attack an author just because you didn’t like their book and thought it was too similar to something else.  You also do not have the right to attack other readers/bloggers just because they like the book.  Who gives a rat’s rectum what someone else read and thought of the book?  You read it, you didn’t like it, move on and get over it.  In the words of Rodney King, “can’t we all just get along?”

And, even if it is fanfiction, so freakin what?  Some of the greatest books out there started as fanfic.  Amazon has decided to embrace that with their Kindle Worlds (or whatever they are calling it) program.  And isn’t emulating someone you are inspired by the highest form of flattery?

We need to all, as a community, step back and think about what we are saying and doing.  This goes for authors too.  If you get a negative review, please, please, please just walk away.

I am reminded of a few quotes right now.  One is:

“Opinions are like buttholes.  Everyone has one and most of them stink.  Let it go and move upwind.”

Oh yeah, the other?  ”Don’t feed the trolls.”

I am sure I am going to get some hateful comments on this, and I am okay with that.  I just hate seeing people treat each other so badly.  If it happens enough, people will stop putting out the books we love to read so much.  We can all lose quite a bit because of the actions of a few.  I hate the mob mentality and refuse to be a part of it.  Rather than attacking, why not make suggestions on how to improve?  There is nothing wrong with a negative review if it is constructive.  It is when it attacks that it crosses the line.  There is nothing constructive in that at all.

 

Okay, let me have it.  I know that there are many, many of you who have an opinion here and I want to hear them.  Even if you don’t agree with me, I want to hear from you.  But let’s just try to remember to be respectful of each other.

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Rabid Reader Ramblings: Let’s Talk about Blogger Behavior. is a post from: Just Another Rabid Reader