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Spam accounts rating my book
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Wow....that's really nasty, and worries me for everyone. I hope those who know more than I do will have some advice and support around stopping it or remedying it. I'm so sorry to hear this is even possible.
Carmel wrote: "Wow....that's really nasty, and worries me for everyone. I hope those who know more than I do will have some advice and support around stopping it or remedying it. I'm so sorry to hear this is even..."Thank you, I hope so too. I was advised by Librarians at first to flag the spam but you can't flag ratings or accounts. I've had to poke into every single one of the spam ratings and note all of the similarities between every other spam rating, and take screen shots. I don't know what else to do. I hope they all have the same ISP address so a tech person can see that clearly. There is no ambiguity; it's pretty clear they're not legit but am I going to be taken seriously or brushed off as a hysterical author getting upset about low ratings?
I understand that concern, and I hope it can be remedied. It's of concern that any one account could do multiple ratings, whether positive or negative.
Carmel wrote: "I understand that concern, and I hope it can be remedied. It's of concern that any one account could do multiple ratings, whether positive or negative."Agree. There is a tiny fraction of 5 star spam ratings. (three or four that came on the same day as the first wave of 1 and 2 stars) I'm more than happy to get rid of ALL spam ratings, good or bad, and keep my listings protected from future abuse
Denise wrote: "It happened to me once a few years back, Emma. I contacted Goodreads with a the rater's profile link and explanation as to why I believed it was spam. They took care of it within a day. Maybe it's ..."That is VERY encouraging, thank you!! It's awful that this is happening to other authors, but the fact that they take action is good news. I don't want to inundate them with screenshots since there are now 80 spam ratings, but maybe I won't have to if they're looking in to it.
Emma wrote: "Denise wrote: "It happened to me once a few years back, Emma. I contacted Goodreads with a the rater's profile link and explanation as to why I believed it was spam. They took care of it within a d..."We take these issues very seriously, but sometimes it does take some time for our team to investigate. We'll follow up with you directly via email.
Emily wrote: "Emma wrote: "Denise wrote: "It happened to me once a few years back, Emma. I contacted Goodreads with a the rater's profile link and explanation as to why I believed it was spam. They took care of ..."Thank you! I think I panicked at first and sent off a ton of screenshots, lol. But there are over 140 1 and 2 star spam ratings now and who-knows-how many 3, 4, and 5 star, so I'm very happy to hear it's being looked at.
.@goodreads There are several fake ratings on my book's profile. They were left long before the book came out. How can I have those removed? They are pulling my rating down artificially. I know I'm not the only author with this issue. My book is What the Night Sings. This issue really, really has to be taken care of. Goodreads should have an easy process for removing these. It's really detrimental to have several 2-star ratings pulling your book down BEFORE ARCs are even out!
Vesper wrote: ".@goodreads There are several fake ratings on my book's profile. They were left long before the book came out. How can I have those removed? They are pulling my rating down artificially. I know I'm..."Please email support (at) goodreads (dot) com and a member of our team can look into this for you. Since we do not handle these cases in this public forum, I'll be closing this thread.
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First off, I want to state that I have published ten full-length books and have received my fair share of LEGITIMATE low ratings/reviews. I do not have any desire to infringe upon a reader's freedom to rate a book as they see fit. HOWEVER, beginning last Sunday, I have received in excess of 60 one and two star ratings from obviously fake/spammer accounts. I can detail here how I know they're spam if I need to, but it's pretty obvious. I have reported this phenomenon to Support with no response yet. Possibly, it just takes time, but it's very worrisome to me since 1. more 1 and 2 star ratings are added EVERY DAY and the rating is dropping precipitously. 2. I have heard that Goodreads typically doesn't address this type of situation despite the fact they say it takes spammer/abuse seriously.
I can't flag ratings or accounts. All I can do is SAY they're spam, take screen shots, and hope that someone investigates this and sees how obviously they are not legitimate.
So my questions are, has anyone else ever experienced this? And how has Goodreads handled it? This is negatively impacting my book for illegitimate reasons. It's my most successful book in terms of sales and pages read, and yet it's being smeared unnecessarily. Will Goodreads take action or am I supposed to watch my rating drop to the point where it effect sales and I can't get a BookBub or other promotional listings thanks to the continuously sinking ratings?
ANY advice will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.