Social Anarchy @Goodreads

   Anarchy usually is referred to governing bodies, governments, and is defined as a state of lawlessness and disorder, but it also extends into social networks and beyond. In a world of anarchy a long list of words can be used to describe it such as crime, vigilantes, and chaotic to name a few. This is what happens when the governing body fails to enforce its law. This also applies to social networks that do not enforce their terms of service resulting in their infrastructure to breakdown and allows anarchism to prevail. When moderators cannot take control of their own platform, the people take control of it for them. They then enforce the law and carryout punishment as they see fit. This is what has happened to Goodreads - Social Anarchy. Rather than enforcing their own TOS, the community does it for them in their own special way. Why would Goodreads do this? Well, let’s pretend we’re them. If the members monitor the community, how would this be beneficial?

                             Less Staffing 

Fewer Responsibilities

 Zero Liability                      

   That’s a pretty good deal, if we’re Goodreads that is. The problem is that Goodreads is a platform that depends on both members and authors. When Social Anarchy is the law of the land, members and authors of goodreads are free to comment and say whatever they wish. Authors are free to harass reviewers, and reviewers are free to harass authors, so on and so forth. This, however, is where Social Anarchy comes in. Since Goodreads fails to enforce their terms, the community now does it for them. It even encourages groups to form and take action into their own hands. This lack of governing has divided portions of the community; those who are against abusive authors and those who are against abusive reviewers. With hardly any intervention from Goodreads, it’s not surprising that this model has spiraled out of control.

   This has created a warzone within Goodreads. The battle field - author book pages. All it takes is a small group of friends to single out and spread rumors, harass, belittle, and slander their target through comments and reviews on that author’s book page. Now anyone who accesses that product page can view the battle scars, a permanent record if you will. If anyone dares to step into these threads to defend the author, they too become a target. Basically, authors cannot stop it, nor will Goodreads do anything about it. This isn’t a one sided story either. Authors do it to, but if an author responds to a negative review, the hands of ill-justice are swift and deadly – the community strikes back with a vengeance. Authors, I would NOT recommend doing that.

   The entire platform of Goodreads is built around books which were intended to bring the community closer together, but that model has imploded in some aspects causing it to backfire, not because the model is broken, but because they are not enforcing the TOS. The product pages which were intended as the central attraction, reviewing and commenting about the book, are being abused by many members. Now they comment and boost the threads while carrying on a discussion which insults, harasses, and belittles the author. See anything wrong with that? Anyhow, it didn't take long for members to realize that authors were reading their comments – thus began the war of words.

   Some members are using book pages as social threads between friends to bash the author, and the negative reviews have become double attacks. Spiteful reviews not only trash the book, they trash the author as well. For instance, 1* review: “I read the first page, and it was complete shit. My five year-old could write better than this. What kind of author would publish such crap?” Ouch. Both book and author slammed, and they didn't even bother to read the book. This type of review is very common, and it’s more than just rude, it’s also a trap. It invites the author to respond, and for those who take the bait will learn a very harsh lesson as members retaliate and multiply the damage by adding more hateful reviews and ratings. Goodreads will not remove a review like this, nor will they remove anything that spawned from it. The bigger problem is that these personal attacks permanently scar the authors product page. For an author this can be a huge risk. It is also very disturbing and troublesome for all parties involved, because if Goodreads wont enforce their TOS, that means everyone, including members, are left alone and to fend for themselves.

   These community spats are why Goodreads probably chooses to use Social Anarchy as the law of the land. Goodreads is a social website for both readers and writers. The more members they gain, the more likely customers will invest into advertising. Since Goodreads main focus is on books, its main customers are, you guessed it, publishers and authors. Hence, therein lies the problem. Without a ton of members or unique visitors, publishers and authors are less likely to advertise or sell their books with them. No advertising, no revenue. Do they back the community who populate their website or do they back authors who provide their revenue? It’s one big conundrum. No matter how they approach this problem, it all cycles back to their bottom line. This is why it’s in their best interest to avoid most of the community conflicts.

   As an author, it didn't take me long to realize that Goodreads is basically a facebook for books. I even took a couple review attacks – a swipe at my book, and a swipe at me. I even had a small group target my work by filing it into inappropriate labeled shelves. They also left nasty comments and several 1 star ratings just because they could. They do it to many authors, and this is just one of many similar hate groups. In one day alone an author can receive dozens of 1 star ratings and nasty comments followed by an avalanche of inappropriate shelving. No matter how many times you report the incidents, Goodreads will not respond or do anything about it. I've seen 1 star hate reviews that stated nothing more than, “This authors is an asshole.” Yet, this is okay by Goodreads because they will NOT remove it. I've tried many times. Now IF the author is daring enough to respond to that same review, that author will not only be targeted by numerous members of Goodreads, they most likely will be removed from the community all together.

   Goodreads rarely enforces their TOS when it comes to book reviews, and reviewers know this. Over time, it has grown out of control. Goodreads does step in, but it usually is in defense of the community, not the author. I've seen it time and time again on many book pages. There’s a vast graveyard of skeleton threads. The members still remain, but the author, long gone. It doesn't take a private investigator to figure out who Goodreads ultimately sides with. This should confirm one thing, ALL risk lies with the author – heed the warning. The lack of moderation on the website has caused several blogs, websites, and groups to form. The attacks on authors are daily now, and you can find several reports on these incidents found here: http://stopthegrbullies.com. Several of the same people who abuse Goodreads TOS are screaming bloody murder because somebody finally had to step in to report the abuse. These very same people have been running groups for a long time encouraging the attacks on authors. Many of them are authors themselves. Goodreads did nothing to stop them either. One of the groups is called Badly Behaving Authors found here: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/68876-badly-behaving-authors. What’s even more startling is that most of the members are librarians.

   The BBA group promotes and encourages the assault of authors who they feel did something "bad", regardless of what Goodreads TOS states. They basically bully the author through mob mentality.  Several of them target the authors work through reviews, shelving, comments, and ratings, but it doesn't stop there. They write blogs, youtube videos, and even target the authors websites. Out of control hardly describes the conduct, yet this behavior is perfectly acceptable to them. Why? Why not. If Goodreads won't enforce their own terms, why should they? And since they make the rules, they are free to enforce them however they see fit. How do I know all of these things? Easy. Not only have they done it to several authors, they have done it to me! Yep, even a video. I’m not kidding either. They'll do whatever it takes to insult the author and attempt to ruin their sales. Goodreads knows about them, but they will do nothing to stop them.

   Goodreads knows damn well that this is happening, but they choose to ignore it. Yet, they still ask authors for advertising dollars and to give their books away through giveaways. They even ask authors to pay for a premium author program and to sell their work on their website. Basically they ask for money but continue to allow librarians and members to assault and humiliate authors. They allow them to file these authors books into shelves with names like SHITLIST, DO NOT BUY, BBA, and TOILET as a 'warning' to other readers who view the book, and they leave nasty, slandering comments about the author on the book page as well. It makes one wonder how Goodreads even has the nerve to ask authors to purchase their advertising and promotional packages.

   In closing, I want to state that neither side is innocent. There are authors who abuse the system just as there are readers who abuse it. The sad part is you can't really place any blame on any of them because ultimately it is Goodreads responsibility to enforce their rules of conduct, and they don't. At the time of this post I did have an account. Before I knew how they operated, I went ahead and paid for some advertising. Shortly after that, my books became the focus of an attack due to a disagreement on another website. You read that correctly, ANOTHER website. I reported the attacks, but Goodreads ignored my requests. Not only did this upset me, it infuriated me because I was a paying customer. I was brushed off and ignored. I even wrote them a letter to have the comments removed. They responded stating that it didn't go against their TOS. Guess what, their TOS clearly states that it is NOT allowed. I've read them, but it does make one wonder if they have. They just don’t value the community or our money.

   In the end I feel as if I'm paying for librarians to run rampant, trash authors, and list authors in listopia's titled, Badly Behaving Authors so their buddies can vote on it and talk shit about the authors for all the public to see. Hell, they even have Stephen King on the list. Don’t believe me? Well check out the link where Goodreads Librarian's congregate:  http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/20953.Badly_Behaving_Authors. And just for the record, I did write and ask Goodreads to take this list down, and they told me no. Goodreads is no longer a friendly place for authors to hang their hat, rather it is a place where Social Anarchy has taken over. My advice to publishers and authors is to NOT create an author account or invest into any of their programs. As for everyone else, I would recommend not using this website, deleting any accounts you may have, and finding another book site like Shelfari or just stick with facebook and twitter book clubs. That is... Unless you like being stalked and bullied by rabid Goodread Librarians and Admins.

Disclaimer: Not all Librarians on Goodreads are rabid, just some of them.

Goodreads TOS can be found here: http://www.goodreads.com/about/terms.

UPDATE 5/26/2013: Since I've posted this article Goodreads has rapidly declined as a friendly or bennificial website for authors to use. It's at the point that I would not recommend this website to ANY person whether they are an author, reader, or just a social member. The hate groups on Goodreads have spiraled out of control, and they continue to poison the entire website. They attack authors, their books, and anyone who dares to even defend, like, or leave positive reviews to any of the authors or members they have targeted. What's more sinister is that something shady is in the works behind the scenes as of late because now anyone who opposes these groups are having their accounts mysteriously deleted and many are being banned. These ringleaders are forming new groups such as Asshate, Badly Behaving Authors, and more. They continue to trash books with false, misleading, 1 star reviews and ratings, and anyone who questions or opposes their fake reviews are finding themselves deleted and banned. In addition, Goodreads was exposed in recent months that they were allowing minors to partake in social RPG sex groups as well. Goodreads does not give a shit what happens on their website, and neither should you. Stay clear of this corrupt site and warn others. For updates on Goodreads and the Admins/Librarians/members who are corrupting the website, check out STGRB for the latest articles at www.stopthegrbullies.com.

Similar blog posts regarding the same topic:

Stephanie Sinclair Humiliates Reviewer @Goodreads http://www.stopthegrbullies.com/2013/07/27/stephanie-sinclair-humiliates-reviewer/ …

The Looking Glass Of Carroll Bryant: @Goodreads Accounts http://theloo…kingglassofcarrollbryant.blogspot.com/p/goodreads_16.html …

Sharon Desruisseaux Troll attack @Goodreads  http://www.sharondnovels.com/1/post/2013/02/troll-attack.html …

What the &*#$@*! Is Happening @Goodreads? http://bookwatch.yolasite.com/social-networking.php …

Jaq D Hawkins post @Goodreads poor management and not enforcing their TOS http://jaq-d-hawkins.bravesites.com/turf-wars-on-goodreads …

The Criminal Abuse of Indies Writers @Goodreads http://indie-publishing.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-criminal-abuse-of-indies-writers.html …

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.