Goodreads and Role Plays

I've been getting (for a while) emails from people asking what happened to several role play groups since my initial post "Goodreads: Or Good Pedophilia?". The biggest complaint is that the links I provided in that article no longer work.

My response is this: They claim to have deleted those groups. However, one person emailed me to clarify that this is not entirely accurate. You see, there is an option for Goodreads groups where you can set your group to private. This means, none of the posts that are made inside the group can be seen by non-members. Plus, you can't join these groups unless you are invited by one of the groups mods or until your request is accepted should you ask to join.

Now, ever since my article(s) on the subject matter of sexual role plays between adults and minors in these role play groups on Goodreads were posted, many of these groups have gone "private".

Here is the real horror of truth - many of these groups also went "stealth". 

By this I mean: There is also a setting that allows these groups to go off the "grid". Where not only have they taken these groups private, but they have taken them so private that you can't find them in any GR group search. They won't even show up on people's profiles or "group listing". But rest assured, they are there. 

Only members of the group can see these listings on other group members profiles and group listing pages. They can also see it on their own. But if you're not a member of any of these groups, you will never see them. Thus, making it appear as though these groups have been deleted. (But they really weren't)

This is classic "Patrick Brown" behavior. First, he and the rest of the GR staff ignored the problem for years - even after these groups were flagged for their content - and now, it would seem that all he has done in response to this problem is - just another cover up. 

Some people have also asked me about the importance of role play groups on Goodreads. The common misconception is that they are not essential in the big picture where Goodreads is concerned. To this notion, I say that nothing could be farther from the truth. 

Role play groups are perhaps the bread and butter of Goodreads. Since the Alexa Rankings (And many other website ranking websites) are determined by "clicks" - role play groups and those who partake in them, do so almost on a daily basis. Current data shows that the ordinary GR member logs onto the website about 3 or 4 days a week. Obviously, some more, some less. However, the average role player logs in about 5 days a week. 

Non-role play members click on average about 20 times per log in. Where as role players click an average 75 times per log in. With over 1750 role play groups, and about an average of 70 members per group. (Some at 100 to 300 members) that's a lot of clicks. 

And while other factors go into the Alexa Rankings, things like membership and "linked to" statistics, one of the biggest factors is the total over-all "clicks" of the mouse on said website/blog. 

Alexa Rankings also help to assist in a websites and or blogs "value". The higher up the rankings it is, the more valuable that site or blog becomes. The more money it is considered to be worth. Which creates a sensibility factor that Patrick Brown would not delete these groups because it would be detrimental to the Goodreads bottom line. And now that Amazon has come into the picture, why would they want these groups to be deleted? They just spent a ton of money. It's an investment to them. So obviously, if these groups were deleted, Amazon would lose a lot of money for their investment because they would lose a lot of "clicks" and therefore, their Alexa Ranking would go down. Not to mention, they would lose a lot of members in the process. More bad news to their newly acquired investment. (And their bottom line)

So while I notice in their group menu that about 300 groups have magically "disappeared" - the truth is - they haven't. They're still there. You just can't see them anymore.

And furthermore, if a government agency wanted to go in to investigate the activity of sexual role playing on Goodreads, they would probably see that on the surface, it's not as bad as they might have thought. But that's because they wouldn't be able to see these hidden groups either. Unless they got a warrant to get inside the Gooodreads program where they could have access to those "hidden" sexual role play groups. 

So before you go to thinking that Patrick Brown and Goodreads addressed the problem - think again! All they really addressed was the "visibility" issue. Those groups are still there. Those groups still have sexual role playing taking place and those groups and role plays still consist of adults and minors. And it is my challenge to penetrate one of these groups and show you. The problem with this is, new members are not being accepted so easily since I broke the story. They are checking people's membership length, friends list to see if they have a lot of friends participating in role plays. They are checking to see if potentially new members are actively role playing and for how long. There seems to be a requirement in that department. And trust me, if anything on your GR account has me on it (ratings and reviews of my books that are favorable) or any other person who can be connected back to STGRB, its supporters or authors on the bully "shit list", then you will be denied access to these groups. 

It could take months before I could build up a "role playing" reputation. But not to fear, all may not be lost. I have made a few contacts who seem to be able to meet these new group membership requirements and I hope to have some screenshots in the near future. 

I will stay on top of this and will continue to attempt to bring you proof positive that these groups were not in fact deleted, but still very much going strong. 

I'm Carroll Bryant .... and this is The Looking Glass.

Things We Learned Today:

* Role play groups are essential in Goodreads Alexa Rankings (Value)

* These role play groups may not have been deleted after all (Merely hidden)

* There is still sexual role playing going on between adults and minors on Goodreads

* Carroll is still on the case

* Role play groups with sexual content are more selective in who they make as a member