Have the Trolls of Amazon and Goodreads Gone Too Far?

 Troll Bait

 It was said by fellow writer Rick Carufel that the trolls had committed internet crimes of stalking and bullying. They'd tried to put authors in a negative light using the forums, chat rooms, and social media. Lets keep in mind that teenagers have killed themselves over bullying of this nature. Not Rick, that guy is as tough as an old rusty nail. This isn't just happening to Rick. This is happening to indie writers everywhere. There may or may not have been crimes committed when Rick first mentioned it, but now there most certainly has been. He's not a modern day Nostradamus. Rick did predict exactly what would eventually happen.


The Crimes

 First we have to look at the irony of the situation. The STGRB website is routinely criticized by the trolls for stalking beyond the forums, chat rooms, and blogs. I've even heard them say that they've had job opportunities lost because of STGRB. I'd be willing to bet that over half of them live in their mother's basement. I'd bet the other half are old used up drunken housewives that hate their life.

Rick knew he had done time for trafficking cocaine, and he'd told me that one day the trolls would find out and try to persecute him for it on the forums, chat rooms, and blogs. He was right. The trolls are doing exactly what they criticize STGRB for. Only I've never put my eyes on a bit of proof that the anti-bullying website did any of that. I do have proof that the trolls did it to Rick Carufel.

These trolls don't like Rick or his books, although they've never read them. He's affiliated with a website that they don't like. So it only seems right to post his home address and personal information online. The local newspaper in Rick Carufel's hometown misprinted information due to poor fact checking. They refused to do a retraction and legal action is being taken. These trolls are basing their facts on misinformation. Then they run for the high road as quickly as possible.       



The List

According to Angela Horn these are 12 ass hat authors to avoid.


1) Mysti Parker - Amazon/Goodreads

2) Robynn Gabel - Amazon/Goodreads

3) Jack Eason - Amazon/Goodreads

4) Rick Carufel - Amazon/Goodreads

5) MT Dismuke - Amazon/Goodreads

6) Jaq D. Hawkins - Amazon/Goodreads

7) L. Kirstein - Amazon/Goodreads

8) Gail Briggs - Amazon/Goodreads

9) Melissa Douthit - Amazon/Goodreads

10) Emma Paul - Amazon/Goodreads

11) Charlton Daines - Amazon/Goodreads

12) John Reeves - Amazon/Goodreads



These are authors that supposedly responded to negative reviews of their book. I know that #12 on the list has never done that, and I strongly suspect that the others on this list didn't either. Rick wrote a couple of non fiction and highly controversial essays. The trolls are picking people off that leave a positive review of his essays. They have referred to me as a Sandy Hook denier. After the blog post I wrote regarding that issue it never has came up again. I made it pretty obvious that there was no validity to the claim. That left them with no choice but to shut their mouth.

Angela has placed me on her list. This list is allegedly made up of badly behaving authors. I know at least half of the people on the list from groups like, Facebook, Linkedin, and Goodreads. These are not badly behaving authors and neither am I. These are people who were attacked by the trolls on Amazon and Goodreads. I never responded to a single review. In fact they started attacking me after I gave a review, and when they found out I was a writer they started shelving and rating my books with one stars. They never read the books they were reviewing, and had no problem admitting that they'd never read them. 



What's Next?

http://indie-publishing.blogspot.com/2013/08/amazon-says-stalking-bullying.html



So according to Amazon  it's not against the rules to post someone's address in the public forum. Nobody really needed to know that Rick Carufel had sold cocaine. Stephen King was a cocaine addict and admits that several of his books were written under the influence. He says he doesn't even remember writing Cujo. So while these trolls are riding the high road they actually look worse than Mr. Carufel. Because people who have a grip on how the world works realize a person overcomes and changes throughout life. The problem is that the trolls had the facts wrong as usual, and thought the charge was more recent than it was.They came off like fools for assuming this man hasn't turned his life around.

Maybe they knew he'd changed. Perhaps they knew he wanted change in a flawed system that allows the trolls to run things. I've seen him in the forum ripping them into pieces. They know he's bold enough to enter their domain, and it's hidden in the depths of the romance section. They've seen him engage in verbal combat with 25 to 50 trolls in the forum. I know for a fact that he's on a crusade for change. I believe he'll cause them to make changes in their ridiculous terms of service.