Message From the Soap Box: Cyber Bullies

Topic: Cyber Bullies

This is a term we all know entirely too well. The sad part is, is that 99% of us that spend all day hearing about them are in fact adults and not 12 year old prepubescent children.

The sad part is, is that the majority of the people that are “against” cyber bullies are only against the ones that target authors. Granted these bullies are low lives lacking any kind of social skills to function as a “normal” member of online society and seem to get their “jollies” off by trashing authors and their books. But this post isn’t about those bullies. There is nothing I can add about those individuals that the entire online world doesn’t already know.

Instead the main focus of this soap box rant is aimed at the cyber bullies that just so happen to be authors.

Believe it or not, more authors bully reviewers than people bully authors. I know it’s hard to imagine isn’t it? But it is fact. There are a lot of authors who will automatically assume anyone that gives them a low rating or a critical review is a troll and out to destroy them.

Case in point, my sister is a damn good reviewer, better than me even! She reads everything with a professional and very critical eye. She even comes to me and asks me if her reviews sound harsh because it’s not her intention to tear an author down or to make them feel bad, she just feels if she’s going to review a book she’s going to do so thoroughly. Which she has done with me playing her “wing man”. She’ll review, I’ll add it to my tbr and comment on how good the review was and how even if the book’s flawed it’s caught my interest. (This works great since I like a ton of books my sister has read recently).  I’m going to assume the trouble my sister is having at this point in time is due to me not being around when she posted her review. I just know she’s outright being bullied by this author.

I myself have been bullied by an author about two months ago (maybe more maybe less it wasn’t important enough to mark the date on my calendar). This author trashed me all over her facebook author page for not one valid reason other than a lie told to her by someone else. Instead of being an adult, this author opted instead to mock me, make fun of me, lie about me to her fans, and call my mental stability into question when I hadn’t even said anything to her.

These authors and several others play all the same dirty tricks that the trolls play, so what makes them exempt from the “anti-bully” campaign? Why is not okay to tell an author that their actions are wrong and unjust? Why is it okay for an author to bully someone but not some Joe Nobody to bully an author? I assume by now you see the real topic of this rant yeah?

A Bully is a Bully. Whether an author, a reviewer, a blogger, freaking Jo Nobody.. NO ONE deserves to be bullied by ANYONE. NO ONE should have to be afraid to post an HONEST comment/review/blog post, or whatever because of the fear of someone coming along and bullying them because of it.

Everyone one online is a face in a box, not a single person here is better then or beneath anyone else here. That goes for the authors too. Until you’re making six figures and aren’t ALLOWED to mingle with the commoners, you’re no better than the rest of us.

Bullies are typically created due to poor upbringing. Whether the bully was picked on by older siblings mercilessly or by their parents it still comes down to that fact. It doesn’t make them better than non bullies and it doesn’t make non bullies better than they are.

Several people, author and blogger alike, whine and cry and call themselves victims, while in the same breathe they post nasty blogs about the bullies, or set the “dogs” on them or do those asinine “I’m going to give all your books 1 star ratings because blah blah blah” whatever. Grow up… Stop feeding the problem and the problem will get bored and go away.

So long as everyone continues to act like spoiled little children who aren’t getting their way, the bullies will always win.

You have to remember, especially if your an author, your actions and your behavior reflect upon YOU. if you bully someone for giving you a bad review, what does that really say about you? Who’s going to want to review a book for you if they’re petrified to?

Bloggers and Reviewers, if you’re trolling authors and giving false reviews and rating, it’ll eventually come to light, some people aren’t sheep you know. But your actions will reflect upon you as well. I mean who’s going to want to trust someone with a book that’s just going to trash it and the person that wrote it?

The Jo Nobodies which let’s face it, bully or victim, NOTHING happens to them to hurt their reputations, not one thing. They are nobodies so there’s nothing to tarnish, but An author’s, blogger’s, or reviewer’s reputation can be shot six ways to hell over one stupid bully move.

Please, think twice before you become the thing you all claim you hate the most.

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