Author stalked blogger who gave bad review on Goodreads

[SilentRoamer]

Hale reads like a mentally unstable teenager - I mean seriously.

Now don't get me wrong I feel sorry for authors who are unnecessarily blasted by armchair critics - criticism needs to be levelled in the correct way IMO. It needs to be clear, concise and to avoid personal attacks. Even so, If I were an aspiring author I would expect unduly harsh criticism - the Internet troll can do naught but roar.

However, NOTHING excuses the authors behaviour which to me seems borderline psychotic.

EDIT: Guy who hit the woman with a wine bottle is clearly in need of help - 2 minutes on his blog shows that. Hopefully no one will buy his work and his claim to fame can be his continued reliving of being a Countdown champion...

[DanteGabriel]

And even that scenario is much less crazy that what the author in the OP did, because she didn't provide any warning at all, she just went over there to have her confrontation. Totally unacceptable behavior.

After lying to an intermediary (who justifiably feels pretty pissed) in order to get the address. Yup.

[Myshkin]

If this kind of behavior from authors starts being seen as acceptable, then a lot of us can expect a visit from Terry Goodkind in the near future. Shit, he already has my address.

[farseer2]

One wonders if The Guardian would have published this piece if Hale had stalked Harold Bloom or Michiko Kakutani. Actually there's no need to wonder, the answer is pretty clear; had she done that The Guardian would never have published her piece, and Hale's career as a writer would be over. Luckily for her she only stalked some internet nobody, so it's alright.

There are more differences than just being famous. Bloom and Kakutani, for example, are critics, not harassers.

Disclaimer- No, I do not condone the writer's actions either.

[polishgenius]

There are more differences than just being famous. Bloom and Kakutani, for example, are critics, not harassers.

Again; what evidence do we have, except the claims of the author, that the blogger did anything wrong? And even if you take everything there as read, as some have pointed out, almost all the interactions were started by the author, not the reviewer, so who exactly was doing the harassing?

[farseer2]

Again; what evidence do we have, except the claims of the author, that the blogger did anything wrong? And even if you take everything there as read, as some have pointed out, almost all the interactions were started by the author, not the reviewer, so who exactly was doing the harassing?

And again, we have no evidence of anything, except what people are writing.

All I'm saying is that people harassing innocent authors online is a much more common problem that authors showing up at their home. See this, for example:

http://www.thefrisky.com/2014-10-20/the-soapbox-on-kathleen-hale-the-thick-opaque-line-between-standing-up-for-yourself-and-harassing-your-detractors/

[jagilki]

If this kind of behavior from authors starts being seen as acceptable, then a lot of us can expect a visit from Terry Goodkind in the near future. Shit, he already has my address.

Goodkind and Stanek re-enacting the ending to Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back?

[Myshkin]

And again, we have no evidence of anything, except what people are writing.

All I'm saying is that people harassing innocent authors online is a much more common problem that authors showing up at their home. See this, for example:

http://www.thefrisky.com/2014-10-20/the-soapbox-on-kathleen-hale-the-thick-opaque-line-between-standing-up-for-yourself-and-harassing-your-detractors/

Those two things are not equal violations. People yelling at people is much more common than people murdering people, but yelling at someone is not equivalent to murdering someone, just as trolling someone is not equivalent to stalking someone.

Also, the onus is not on us to disprove Hale's claims; it is on her to prove them. If you wish to take the self-serving claims of an admitted stalker at face value that's on you, but most rational people would not.

[Iskaral Pust]

I agree with the posters denouncing the author. This is not acceptable at all. It reminds me that we still have a pretty strong expectation of separation between anonymous internet participation and real world.

I have seen some review trolls on Amazon and GoodReads but they are usually handled quite easily by readers reporting their reviews.

This also reminds me of some unusual behavior during university by a couple of girls during one-sided romantic entanglements (and that's a generous description). For a long time stalker behavior by women has drawn less criticism, but I guess that's because they are still less likely to abduct, rape and/or kill the object of their fascination.

[mormont]

[mod] Moved the discussion about RotyH to another thread. [/mod]

[polishgenius]

And again, we have no evidence of anything, except what people are writing.

The only evidence we have is that of Hale (and a couple of disgruntled tweets by one of the people she used). And even by that evidence, clearly slanted towards herself, I can't really see how the blogger was harassing her.

[Darth Richard II]

The only evidence we have is that of Hale (and a couple of disgruntled tweets by one of the people she used). And even by that evidence, clearly slanted towards herself, I can't really see how the blogger was harassing her.

She wasn't.

[Theda Baratheon]

Yeah, she wasn't and I'm seeing a lot of people calling Blythe scummy and it is really confusing to me considering half of the 'harassing' things she allegedly did was only known to the author because she was stalking her (looking at all her twitter updates convinced blythe was mocking her)

[Darth Richard II]

Yeah, she wasn't and I'm seeing a lot of people calling Blythe scummy and it is really confusing to me considering half of the 'harassing' things she allegedly did was only known to the author because she was stalking her (looking at all her twitter updates convinced blythe was mocking her)

And the other half are lies.

[EruditeFool]

Since I plan to be publishing my initial novella soon, I almost feel the need to put forward a little disclaimer on Goodreads:

Dear potential readers,

In light of a few unfortunate incidents of authors being butthurt and going after negative reviewer (sometimes going as far to stalk them), I would like to make this pledge to you.

I will not,

1. Take a negative review personally. If you don't like my work, I understand. I have no grand delusions about being the next Tolkein or Alexandre Dumas.

2. Obsess over who you are or track you down through the interwebz.

3. Stalk you in real life. That's just weird.

With this in mind, please feel free to:

1. Read my book free from pressure.

2. Leave an honest opinion or review free from fear of retribution.

3. If you thought the book had good things but could have been much better, please feel free to leave constructive feedback. It is appreciated and I will look at it (I might not follow your advice, but I will listen to it).

(btw, long time lurker, had an old account here with an email account that I no longer have)

[kairparavel]

This is how you respond to your online critics!

http://kitchenette.jezebel.com/chef-responds-to-bad-yelp-review-with-unhinged-racist-1650976766/+ishaaran?utm_campaign=socialfow_jezebel_twitter&utm_source=jezebel_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

NOT.

[Andrew Gilfellon]

This whole author throwing hissy fits because a reviewer doesn't enjoy their book reminds me of Amy's Baking Company and her appearing on Kitchen Nightmares solely for the reason she thought Ramsey would praise her food to high heaven.

[john]

From the article, I didn't find either of them particularly admirable. From the online response, I find it odd that there was such a fuss over what constitutes evidence. If Hale says something happened then that's evidence, you can believe it or not, as you like.

[Mark Lawrence]

Yeah, she wasn't and I'm seeing a lot of people calling Blythe scummy and it is really confusing to me considering half of the 'harassing' things she allegedly did was only known to the author because she was stalking her (looking at all her twitter updates convinced blythe was mocking her)

I also do not condone Hale's actions in any measure. But. Looking at someone's twitter updates IS NOT STALKING!

#justSaying

I invite you all to look at mine. It's kinda the basic premise of twitter...

[Theda Baratheon]

I also do not condone Hale's actions in any measure. But. Looking at someone's twitter updates IS NOT STALKING!

#justSaying

I invite you all to look at mine. It's kinda the basic premise of twitter...

obsessively checking someones social media accounts every single day and waking moment is sort of v unhealthy behaviour and she would never have known about the apparant terrible 'tweeting in tandem' had she not been engaging in this behaviour. She also freely admits her behaviour was stalking.