Could this list be hurtful for authors?

[Müsli]

Browsing through listopia I saw a list that seemed to be made specifically with the purpose of hurting this one among other authors.

SUSPICIOUS LIST


Everyone likes different things, what's the point of creating a list like this? Hurting the authors? Imposing personal biases on others?

17 of my friends read and review this one, it has good reviews general approval and a 4.43 average.

[Müsli]

One more thing. This book has votes in other lists, yet for some reason the only one that appears in its page is the negative one.



Every book has a goodreads page, and every goodreads page shows two lists. This book is showing only one.

[Nanu]

I guess they made the list because they wanted to share their opinions, it has pretty much the same effect as a one star review. Although it could be hurtful for te authors, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. The intention behind goodreads is to share our opinion on the books we read.

[Müsli]

Nanu wrote: "I guess they made the list because they wanted to share their opinions, it has pretty much the same effect as a one star review. Although it could be hurtful for te authors, I don't think it's nece..."

I see your point and I somehow agree that sharing opinions is great, I just find suspicious that suddenly the other lists dissapeared. I don't like books, I say it rate the book 1 star, and move on. Some readers seemed to get too involved in hurting the ratings.

[Innocent Oblivion]

That's a very giggle-inducing list... Half of Alexa Riley works are there and seriously? Who publishes something like "THICK"?

*adds the entire list to TBR shelf*

It's weird that a superlibrarian or staff member took the time to vanish the other lists from the core page. Every book has at least two lists showing on their Goodreads pages so it's definitely suspicious, but it won't hurt the author. She's a USA today bestselling author, her book is topping the charts and many bestselling authors don't bother promoting their books in Goodreads.

[Parvati Patil]

For your information, the link to the list you posted is broken.


https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

I agree that it's suspicious, because clearly they know how listopia works and they tried to put their list on top of the others. If I were you, I'd block them. I'm here to meet book lovers, when I DNF a book I leave the ratings off. What they're doing is rude, but it is what it is.

[AℳY♔Queen of Fat cats♔Ain't no lie Baby Byebyebye]

*scratches head*, who the hell votes for Maas sensei books? They aren't even romance, they're new adult fantasy.Tip, make a back up account in Bookbub and Shelfari.

[Corinne]

Good catch. Not many people know how Listopia operates, and what your screenshot shows is highly irregular. When I looked at this page yesterday there were two lists that should've been featured in the main page instead of the one of your screenshot. However, the page is back to normal now. I'm glad you caught this. It could've been potentially harmful to the author if her books weren't regularly in the amazon bestselling lists.

[Motaung]

May be I am not understanding what this thread is about and being a non-American and non-European, I don’t really get the whole Indie vs publishing houses vs GR thing going on. But I think as a consumer I should be allowed to say what I feel about a product that I paid my hard earned cash to buy and this should apply to books as well. Let’s be fair, there’s no book out there that is liked by all readers and I, for one, want to hear what other readers are saying about a book that I am interested in, both good and bad. That being said, I like that list and I can actually think of a few books that I would like to add on, while at the same time there are some of my 5 starred books that are on that list. To each his own.

[Müsli]

Sophia wrote: "May be I am not understanding what this thread is about and being a non-American and non-European, I don’t really get the whole Indie vs publishing houses vs GR thing going on. But I think as a con..."

I'm not American either and my English isn't good and I suppose I made everything more confusing by making a mistake with the link. I'll try to explain myself better.

Every book in GR has certain information in its Goodreads page: Cover, Synopsis. At the top of their pages the rating and number of reviews, similar books, reviews, quotes, discussions, trivia, reader Q&A, purchase links, and the one I'm concerned about: Lists. Most books have two lists displaying in their GR pages. There are books that don't have votes in lists like The Exception by Sandy Lynn and for those books goodreads page looks like this



Devious lies was one of several Kindle Unlimited recommendations and to help me decide which book I should pick first I checked my friends average rating and the lists that come with the book. I always check the lists because they give me a heads up of what I can expect to find in a book: A villainous hero, a humorous story, a slow burn romance, Kindle Unlimited and so on.

On Jan 11th, the GR page showed 2 lists for Devious lies: Slow burn romance and another list that I can't remember right now but I think it was most anticipated romances October 2019. Based on those lists I picked because I was in the mood for a Slow burn.

I visited Devious lies page on Jan 13 and found that the list terrible romance https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... came out of nowhere to appear in the main page displacing the other lists. The two lists that appear with any book in Goodreads aren't random, they're the ones with more votes. It seemed to me like several people voted for Devious lies at the same time with the sole purpose of making the other lists go away.

As Corinne rightly stated, the terrible books list isn't the top list for this book anymore. I probably would have picked something else had that list been the first thing I saw when I was picking up books to read. It's not big deal, but it stroke me as suspicious, because a group of people actually took time to create a list and get 13 people to vote for the same book at the same time.

I hope this long comment clarifies things.

[Motaung]

Thanks for the clarification. I also check the lists especially for similar books. It is worrying and you are right to be concerned if things can be manipulated to the advantage or disadvantage of some authors because that means we as readers are also not getting the true picture or correct information. Purposeful misrepresentation is plainly wrong because it sabotages the author. I am glad you picked it and called it out.

[❀❀Chicky Boom❀❀]

Sophia wrote: "Purposeful misrepresentation is plainly wrong because it sabotages the author. "

Sadly that happens all the time with review sites like Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB, Audible, Goodreads and sometimes Amazon.

[Motaung]

❀❀Chicky Boom❀❀ wrote: "Sadly that happens all the time with review sites like Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB, Audible, Goodreads and and sometimes Amazon."

There goes my innocence, I don't know how to process this. I am not sure if I would rather have maintained my ignorance or whether I am glad to know. I feel like a kid who has just been told there's no Santa. This sucks!

[AℳY♔Queen of Fat cats♔Ain't no lie Baby Byebyebye]

Sophia wrote: "There goes my innocence, I feel like a kid who has just been told there's no Santa. This sucks!


*jaws drop*
THERE'S NO SANTA........???
*cries*
Just kidding, no, the thing is that there's a santa equivalent here in goodreads. All you have to do is block the fake reviewers and admit friends requests from people who pay for their books. EXCLUSIVELY!

*blocks fake voters of terrible romance list*

I always block anyone pulling tricks like this. And even among my friends I unfriend people when I notice they're doing weird stuff...like Sarah J. Maas new book and the newest Jaymin Eve-Sharon Tate book and the next two books of the four horsemen series haven't been written yet and there are like so many people rating already? 5 and 1 stars for crying out loud!!! I mean what's wrong with them????. I unfriend if they're my friends and also block them. If you block the fake people when you're searching reviews the page will be free from fake reviews!! It's like realizing that Santa does exist if you know how to handle the fake santas!!!

[AℳY♔Queen of Fat cats♔Ain't no lie Baby Byebyebye]

❀❀Chicky Boom❀❀ wrote: "Sophia wrote: "Purposeful misrepresentation is plainly wrong because it sabotages the author. "

Sadly that happens all the time with review sites like Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB, Audible, Goodreads and..."

Not so much Amazon. They pull out reviews all the time, the paid ones, the fake ones, even real reviews, they took down one of my friend 'cuz she used my phone to post it and they detected my phone. I've been blocked from posting reviews 'cuz I tried to be funny and post the same review for the same book twice. So even genuine reviews like my friend's are pulled out the fake ones don't last long.

[AℳY♔Queen of Fat cats♔Ain't no lie Baby Byebyebye]

*puts on Detective Pikachu cap*

Guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuysssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Did you click on the votes? You can see what other lists the ones that tried to manipulate the lists have voted on. There's an antologhy that suddenly has a lot of votes in the Most anticipated romance lists...from the same people!!!

So my tips:
Block them, it might be that they will send you a friend request one day.
Keep your friend list free of unworthy people.
Create a bookbug and shelfari backup account. it may be that one day these trolls take over goodreads.

[Anto~mcbr]

I finished reading it just yesterday. I'm not gonna lie. I thought the book was pretty bad.

Wrote my review a little while ago, and checked to see what lists the book appeared to be in. Only one I'm seeing is Guys My Age Don't Know How To Treat Me.

Weird, since when I click on the link in the first comment, the book is, too, on that "Terrible Romance" list. Even though it doesn't show up on the book's page. Nor when I click to see all the lists the book's in.

Personally, I think it's earned its place on the "Terrible" list (not all books appeal to everyone), but I wish GR would stop messing with things and just show everything. I'm old enough to make my own decisions regarding what books I want to read, and I don't appreciate people curating things to sway me one way or the other. Just give me all the info and let me decide.

[Payal]

I just checked out the list... y'all, it has



THE WHOLE ENTIRE SERIES! Its not a romance series, its fantasy and magic. I'm shook!

[AℳY♔Queen of Fat cats♔Ain't no lie Baby Byebyebye]

Payal wrote: "I just checked out the list... y'all, it has



THE WHOLE ENTIRE SERIES! Its not a romance series, its fantasy and magic. I'm shook!"

I think I might have voted for it.... but that's because I was angry to see MAAS sensei books there.

[AℳY♔Queen of Fat cats♔Ain't no lie Baby Byebyebye]

Anto wrote: "I finished reading it just yesterday. I'm not gonna lie. I thought the book was pretty bad.

Wrote my review a little while ago, and checked to see what lists the book appeared to be in. Only one ..."

Oh voting for it in terrible romance is valid, but not the way they did it. They literally manipulated the listopia feature. Trolls!!!

[Payal]

AMY (pronounced Ⓐh-ℳeⓨ) ♔♔Queen Of Fat Cats ♔♔ DIE YOUNG ADULT GENRE DIE!♔♔ wrote: I think I might have voted for it.... but that's because I was angry to see MAAS sensei books there...."

That list is all over the place.

[AℳY♔Queen of Fat cats♔Ain't no lie Baby Byebyebye]

Payal wrote: "AMY (pronounced Ⓐh-ℳeⓨ) ♔♔Queen Of Fat Cats ♔♔ DIE YOUNG ADULT GENRE DIE!♔♔ wrote: I think I might have voted for it.... but that's because I was angry to see MAAS sensei books there...."

That lis..."

The grishaverse is shelved as Romance cuz people always mishelve books. I don't like the grishaverse, they killed the best characters. it's so meh!!! I would've voted for it in terrible romance, cuz I avoid overpriced YA, but I really like six of crows.

[Corinne]

Anto wrote: "Even though it doesn't show up on the book's page. Nor when I click to see all the lists the book's in."

That's a different edition.

[Payal]

AMY (pronounced Ⓐh-ℳeⓨ) ♔♔Queen Of Fat Cats ♔♔ DIE YOUNG ADULT GENRE DIE!♔♔ wrote: "Payal wrote: "AMY (pronounced Ⓐh-ℳeⓨ) ♔♔Queen Of Fat Cats ♔♔ DIE YOUNG ADULT GENRE DIE!♔♔ wrote: I think I might have voted for it.... but that's because I was angry to see MAAS sensei books there...."

Wait, I didn't realize that goodreads goes by readers' shelves?!? Or am I misunderstanding what you said?

[Corinne]

Leslie wrote: "In my opinion, authors should stay off goodreads if they are unable to handle criticism."

I agree, but the situation we're discussing here isn't criticism. Someone organized a campaign against this book using multiple accounts. The same accounts that had been used to vote for a romance anthology in lists such as "Most anticipated romances." In my opinion, these voters should stay off Goodreads if they're unable to support "their" books in a way that doesn't hurt the reliability of Listopia.

[Jeanny]

Is it suspicious? Perhaps, but I think low & high ratings/ good & bad reviews have a place on GR. I’ve given up on being selective on who’s friend request I approve only bc it became tiresome. That said, I am selective of who I let impact my reading selections. I have GR friends who’s ratings (even 1 star DNF ratings) I find beneficial. I’ve interacted with these individuals for years & am confident we have similar taste in reading material. I 🤔 think that’s what makes GR relevant. If all I wanted were Anonymous reviews I’d use book websites (Amazon, Books A Million, Barns & Nobles etc). A list of books a person enjoys or not serves a similar purpose bc GR gives us the ability to see their past ratings, comments, & even compare the books on their shelves with ours. It’s up to us to determine how much weight we put on their opinions.

I don’t believe negative reviews or lists are necessary but I do believe them to benefit other bookworms & I don’t think they reflect negatively against the person who published said list/opinions.

Caveat: In cases the person’s communication is disrespectful, malicious, or disregards other humans said comment/review/list/rating is a reflection of that person & it does reflect poorly on them. They lose credibility & I disregard them going forward.

[Jeanny]

To clarify I would disregard the list bc it was likely manipulated but I think lists like these are beneficial. It is up to the person choosing the reading material to decipher the disingenuous list/ratings/ reviews/comments etc. As it was mentioned before this is imo common sense we should all be applying all things on the internet. The algorithm is easily manipulated & a whole line of business was created to do just that. People get paid to leave good comments/reviews/ratings on sites like google, yelp, amazon etc. Same coin other side people get paid to open twitter accounts to spread misinformation. Misinformation campaigns have become increasingly common on the internet. All good/bad reviews should be researched to see if a trend can be established to determine if the published reviews/comments/rating are genuine.

[AℳY♔Queen of Fat cats♔Ain't no lie Baby Byebyebye]

Jeanny wrote: "....People get paid to leave good comments/reviews/ratings on sites like google, yelp, amazon etc."

*coughs* Goodreads *coughs* The difference is that Amazon staff cleans out fake reviews whereas GR staff doesn't. In my opinion, GR staff spends more time plotting against Thalassa sensei (they constantly monitor our buddy reads) than taking care of the fake reviews.

[AℳY♔Queen of Fat cats♔Ain't no lie Baby Byebyebye]

Scarlett wrote: " I would look up the creators of the list to see if their accounts show "suspicious" reviews."

Private profiles so you can't see their reviews, bet you those accounts were created the same day of that list. But I looked up the votes and realized they all have spammed other list in favor of certain author and certain anthology. I won't say the name of the author cuz it's against the rules but you can look it up.

Guys! Follow my advice and block these people, the block feature is the best way to protect yourself from trolls!! Trust me!!!

[Tammie]

Do you know how many times I will do a search and see a list and go yes, then I look at it and go, oh I thought that book was amazing. Oh that book wasn't for me and it was rated high. I don't think it matters what is on the list or any list for that matter. It is up to the READER themselves to decide what they like.

And to be honest, I look up a book on both GR and AM to read the description of the book and sometimes I look at other readers reviews. I see some are rated not so high and I go, I want to give it a try. And then I love it 5 star rating for me. Where other times it is rated high on lists and reviews and I read it and oh man, I didn't like it at all. I think it is up to the person themselves to use a list as a oh, i want to try list then anything.

As for this list in particular, I saw several books on there that I have read and loved. I saw some on the list that I wouldn't even touch to read. Again, I don't think it hurts any author since this is a list someone, somewhere made for their opinion, it isn't your opinion. Use what you like, give it a try, you might just love it!

[Müsli]

Tammie wrote: "Do you know how many times I will do a search and see a list and go yes, then I look at it and go, oh I thought that book was amazing. Oh that book wasn't for me and it was rated high. I don't thin..."

I respect opinions but this isn't an opinion. This is a group tampering with listopia. All the evidence points towards a group of fake users orchestrating their efforts to put a book there. The those same users vote in other lists to put an anthology there. Check for yourself.

[Müsli]

AMY (pronounced Ⓐh-ℳeⓨ) ♔♔Queen Of Fat Cats ♔♔ DIE YOUNG ADULT GENRE DIE!♔♔ wrote: "Scarlett wrote: " I would look up the creators of the list to see if their accounts show "suspicious" reviews."

Private profiles so you can't see their reviews, bet you those accounts were created..."
I will block them.

[Corinne]

@Jeanny, I'm sorry I had to erase your message.

[Corinne]

Innocent Oblivion wrote: "It's weird that a superlibrarian or staff member took the time to vanish the other lists from the core page"

I just took a look at the core page, and I'm positive that the staff had nothing to do with the lists, not for this very irregular situation. The other lists vanished because a lot of fake accounts manipulated the listopia system.
The situation with the default edition of is a total different animal, so I'm inviting you all to voice your opinions in the discussion Amy started. Is it a coincidence? What are your thoughts?