Virtual Witch Hunts

Eddyz Aquila · Apr 5, 2011

http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2011/04/virtual-witch-hunts.html

Very good post by Nathan Bransford in regards to the witch hunt that occured with Mrs. Jacqueline Howett.

This is a person who just wanted to have their book out there and has the same hopes and dreams as any other writer. Some rude Internet behavior negates all of that? People will ridicule her and scorch the Earth and trash what this author has built in the name of teaching a lesson?

Let's not kid ourselves that a lesson was taught, other than to remind us, yet again, that the Internet is a terrifying place to make a mistake.

Right on the money. Unfortunately, when you make a mistake on the internet, your career will take a serious hit.

Another good article on the situation:

http://www.thenational.ae/arts-cult...jacqueline-howettan-fired-back-at-the-critics

Thoughts?

Kate Thornton · Apr 5, 2011

Nathan Bransford said it for me.

While unprofessional responses to negative reviews are, well, unprofessional, this author seems to have been buried in an avalanche of nastiness. Unprofessional goes both ways.

I hope she can recover from this experience (maybe even write from it) and that all the negativity at least produces a few sales and some self-inspection by those who need it.

As a reader and reviewer, I have better things to do than trash anyone once they've been negatively reviewed anyway. As a writer, I feel badly that this circus and mob-mentality is about a book, with another writer at it's center.

It's time to stop. The best response to the initial review would have been no response. The best response to the author's response would have been no response.

''

muravyets · Apr 5, 2011

That drama is still going on? When I read the first rounds of comments about her, my thought was that she was lying in the bed she'd made by her unseemly outburst. But if this is still haunting her even now, that reflects much worse on her critics than on her (assuming she hasn't been active in it as well).

mscelina · Apr 5, 2011

The author was definitely out of line. Unfortunately, most of the commenters in the blog thread were too after about the first twenty or so. Any agent/publisher that read that thread added more names than just hers to the 'do not publish this wacko' list. Seriously.

There's a difference between pointing to an incident like that on the web as a cautionary tale--you know, the "You do not want to do this" mention that happened on a lot of writers' sites--and the wholesale vitriolic dogpile that happened instead.

pezie · Apr 5, 2011

mscelina said:
The author was definitely out of line. Unfortunately, most of the commenters in the blog thread were too after about the first twenty or so. Any agent/publisher that read that thread added more names than just hers to the 'do not publish this wacko' list. Seriously.

My thoughts exactly!

Unfortunately, the mob mentality is an issue across all sectors of the internet. People seem to forget their names are attached to these comments.

MJNL · Apr 5, 2011

Kate Thornton said:
Unprofessional goes both ways.

Right on the money. It's ok to point out when someone's behavior is inappropriate, but it's not ok to be childish and inappropriate right back.

No one learns that way.

fireluxlou · Apr 5, 2011

I can't help think that there wouldn't be much taken notice of her comments or it wouldn't have gotten this big if she was just polite about it like he was to her in his review. It could have been so much different and only a few people would have known of it, it probably wouldn't have blown up this big.

Eddyz Aquila · Apr 5, 2011

She definitely increased her sales and probably has more genuine fans now than before. I didn't read the book myself but I am pretty sure there are people who genuinely enjoyed it.

brainstorm77 · Apr 5, 2011

It isn't about what she deserved. It's the Internet. Everything goes viral these days.
If you are an author and you are going to have a melt-down online, people are going to react. And yes, some will get their kicks from it. This is nothing new.

Phaeal · Apr 5, 2011

Interesting blog post and article. What neither did, however, was to note how Big Al bent over backwards to say something positive about the novel in question. I still maintain he was a saint to wade through the terrible presentation all the way to the end. So, kudos again to Big Al!

Now that Bransford is involved in the social networking business (yes?), I'm afraid he will be exposed to many more examples of Internet mobbing. It's so easy to pick up those virtual pitchforks and torches -- don't even have to leave your comfy chair and brave the inevitable thunderstorms on the way to Frankenstein's lair.

Amadan · Apr 5, 2011

Ya know, I don't think people should be saying nasty vitriolic things about the author personally, but I think it's a kind of justice that her book has been trashed on Amazon. That's not a "witch hunt"; that's "an entitled, unprofessional author getting righteously spanked." And since it probably has increased her sales (irony!) I find it hard to feel sorry for her.

Moral: show your ass on the Internet, the Internet will show you its ass right back.

brainstorm77 · Apr 5, 2011

Moral: show your ass on the Internet, the Internet will show you its ass right back.

Indeed.

Perks · Apr 5, 2011

Amadan said:
Moral: show your ass on the Internet, the Internet will show you its ass right back.

And everyone will end up with ass on their faces.

brainstorm77 · Apr 5, 2011

Perks said:
And everyone will end up with ass on their faces.

They may. Though I suspect in this case, most of the commenters on the blog and Amazon don't care. Someone ever uploaded a picture of a turd on her 'Twins' book page on Amazon.

ETA: I read the book. I didn't even bother to review it. I did not see the point in doing so with all the spammy reviews on there.

Phaeal · Apr 5, 2011

Detached ass, and if so, whole or fileted? Or maybe some dainty scallopines, sauted with shallots and baby artichokes?

Cyia · Apr 5, 2011

Big AL definitely went above and beyond to give the kind of review he did, and I could even have understood one comment from the author to inquire whether or not he reviewed the first (format-flawed) upload of her book or the second (format-fixed) version. But once she determined that his issues weren't with format, but rather content, she should have backed off.

Sadly, I think she's the perfect example of why some people shouldn't be published - not aren't capable, I mean shouldn't. They're not able to handle what comes after.

So many people who want to "get their book out there" idealize their own words and are bedrock certain that everyone who reads them will be enamored of them. When it doesn't happen, they read a crit of the book as a strike against their person, then they react just as fiercely as they would to a physical assault.

This author didn't understand that requesting a review (yes, she asked for the review) doesn't obligate nice words or a positive outcome. She also didn't understand that the comment stream was public access, meaning others could - and would - weigh in. Those first few comments were actually in support of BigAl, not condemning of her book. They didn't turn nasty until she did.

Things like this become instances of cyberbullying (read some of the comments on Amazon, if they haven't been removed. There are suggestions of bodily harm involved)

brainstorm77 · Apr 5, 2011

I reported the turd pic days ago. It's still up.

She did not know the comments were public, and that people had access to comment?

fireluxlou · Apr 5, 2011

Cyia said:
Big AL definitely went above and beyond to give the kind of review he did, and I could even have understood one comment from the author to inquire whether or not he reviewed the first (format-flawed) upload of her book or the second (format-fixed) version. But once she determined that his issues weren't with format, but rather content, she should have backed off.

Sadly, I think she's the perfect example of why some people shouldn't be published - not aren't capable, I mean shouldn't. They're not able to handle what comes after.

So many people who want to "get their book out there" idealize their own words and are bedrock certain that everyone who reads them will be enamored of them. When it doesn't happen, they read a crit of the book as a strike against their person, then they react just as fiercely as they would to a physical assault.

This author didn't understand that requesting a review (yes, she asked for the review) doesn't obligate nice words or a positive outcome. She also didn't understand that the comment stream was public access, meaning others could - and would - weigh in. Those first few comments were actually in support of BigAl, not condemning of her book. They didn't turn nasty until she did.

Things like this become instances of cyberbullying (read some of the comments on Amazon, if they haven't been removed. There are suggestions of bodily harm involved)

Basically if you can't take criticism you better not enter a creative field. She is an artist too and I would have thought she'd be able to handle it, as in Art College I was taught how to take criticism no matter how bad and take the positives from it as criticism can help you grow as an artist, and others can see what you can't. Maybe she just gets the same (false praise maybe, like the kind your family gives you because they're being nice and don't want to hurt your confidence) praise for her art as she does for her books.

Cyia · Apr 5, 2011

brainstorm77 said:
She did not know the comments were public, and that people had access to comment?

She didn't understand why they would, I mean.

darkprincealain · Apr 5, 2011

brainstorm77 said:
She did not know the comments were public, and that people had access to comment?

From reading her earliest comments there, she certainly didn't seem to. Unless I'm misreading her, which is entirely possible.

Libbie · Apr 5, 2011

fireluxlou said:
Basically if you can't take criticism you better not enter a creative field. She is an artist too and I would have thought she'd be able to handle it, as in Art College I was taught how to take criticism no matter how bad and take the positives from it as criticism can help you grow as an artist, and others can see what you can't. Maybe she just gets the same (false praise maybe, like the kind your family gives you because they're being nice and don't want to hurt your confidence) praise for her art as she does for her books.

I tend to agree with this. My generation, and possibly the one before it, and definitely all those that have come after it, have been raised to believe that they are just way too precious, that anything they do can and should be lauded. Criticism is a natural part of exposing your creative efforts to the world. If you can't handle hearing that your book was good in some ways but also had some serious problems (which was a very fair and kindly review on Big Al's part, by the way) then you shouldn't be selling your book. And the ungracious way she responded to Al was, to me, indicative of this Precious Child culture we've created, where people are automatically beyond reproach just because they exist.

On the other hand, holy crap did people dogpile on that poor woman. One of the things I hate about the Internet is the me-too culture. After two or three people had told her she was out of line and that criticism was something she must expect, did we really need to hear everybody else say exactly the same thing? It was appropriate, I think, for somebody to say she needed to chill, but for EVERYBODY to say it? That's not "helping her learn a valuable lesson" or anything of the sort. It's nothing but mob mentality. I know mob mentality is human nature to some extent, but we can still choose not to participate.

Ugh. Internets.

Rhoda Nightingale · Apr 5, 2011

Eh. Pitchfork wielding is unseemly and extreme, but I believe anyone who acts like a damn fool on the internet pretty much gets what's coming to them.

And she flamed first.

Did The Internet overreact? Well, yeah. That's what The Internet does best. It's chock-full of trolls and sock puppets who leap at any and all opportunities to lay waste to some poor innocent bystander--which this lady is not. She got nasty with a very kind and generous reviewer, and she got called out for it. Is it right? Maybe not. But that's what happens. If she can't deal with that, she needs to find a different line of work.

shadowwalker · Apr 5, 2011

Libbie said:
I tend to agree with this. My generation, and possibly the one before it, and definitely all those that have come after it, have been raised to believe that they are just way too precious, that anything they do can and should be lauded... And the ungracious way she responded to Al was, to me, indicative of this Precious Child culture we've created, where people are automatically beyond reproach just because they exist.

I don't think she's of that generation(s) - she's my age, and that era certainly didn't believe in coddling the children. She's just one of those people who hasn't learned to "count to ten" before responding. She certainly earned the first few 'rebuttals', but if it's continued, that's uncalled for. A slap on the hand is one thing - a beating is something else.

Libbie · Apr 5, 2011

shadowwalker said:
A slap on the hand is one thing - a beating is something else.

Right. It got a bit out of hand, to say the least.

I will admit that I did respond to the thread on Al's blog, but what I said was that people had said enough to her and needed to put a cork in it already.

Perks · Apr 5, 2011

There was some piling on to be sure, and some that was a bit nasty, but most of it seemed like people adding their own reactions to the back and forth offered by the writer at the beginning. Less dogpile, in my opinion, than a hard lesson in how big even one little corner of the internet is and how much everyone likes to have their say.

If a thousand people say "oh my" at the same time, it sounds like a thunderclap, but still it's only "oh my".

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