I have been sworn to secrecy which is why I will not reveal my sources for this post. It appears, despite Athena Parker's claims, Carroll Bryant can keep secrets, and there are some who know this to be true. There are plenty of people out there who trust me just fine. That being said, let me fill you in on some thoughts and questions I have been having lately regarding Anne Rice's involvement with this fight against author bullying, and show you some evidence of Ms. Rice's own words that leads me to question perhaps her own agenda.
Back when Anne Rice first started to get involved with this fight, I just naturally assumed, like others have done, that she did her homework on all the players involved. At the very least, I figured she did / or would do soon enough, her homework on the primary players anyway. But I was wrong. She didn't. Not my words, but hers. You'll see them for yourself shortly in this post. Meanwhile, when she appeared onto the scene, my first thought was: "Great, now we will get big-time media attention and maybe other well known and well established authors will follow her lead."
That never materialized either.
So here we are, six months later after Anne Rice got involved and still, no other big time author has joined the fight. No major media attention. Not on the major news media outlets on the internet nor on the major news stations on TV like Fox, CNN, or even MSNBC. It would appear as though the great Anne Rice can't inspire others to get involved. But why? It should be major news, right? It's cyber bullying we are talking about here and cyber bullying in general is big time news! So why all the crickets surrounding Anne Rice's involvement? The answer is simple. The answer is obvious. (At least it should be.) The answer can be found in Anne Rice's own words.
But first, I sent out some emails to various websites / news sites to try and make contact with someone who might be able to help me with this question. Lucky for me, a few decided to FINALLY respond. To those people I say, thank you very much.
While I had already came to my own possible conclusions to that question, I was elated to learn that I wasn't the only one who saw it too. Now let's kick this off and get right to the nitty gritty of it all. We'll begin with this screenshot from Anne Rice's Facebook page. (These screenshots no longer can be found due to the fact that Anne Rice herself has already deleted them.)
You see, it all looks good on the surface, doesn't it? I mean, Anne Rice trying to explain her position and why she supports STGRB. Unfortunately, and what you will soon learn, this is more a case of the blind leading the blind. The fact is, Anne Rice doesn't have a clue as to why she is supporting STGRB and soon, her own words will demonstrate this. Truth be told, because of her own words, I, like many others more important than myself, question the Anne Rice agenda. You'll see what I am talking about shortly.
Now, in her post, she shows a screenshot of Nenia Campbell "carpet bombing." And while I totally agree with Anne Rice in her post, and support ending fake ratings and reviews of books, my primary objective was to help STGRB stomp out the attacking of authors in book reviews. (Real reviews or fake reviews.) That to me is where the real bullying aspect derives from.
While I also would like to end fake ratings and reviews altogether, I am realistic enough to know that this is a slippery slope. The slippery part being how to prove a rating of any kind is indeed a fake rating? There are times when a bully will confess their fake one star rating by saying they never read the book and yet they still leave a one star rating on it. These obvious fakes should be deleted by Goodreads and Amazon period! But too often times they are not. And where Anne Rice and I differ (as well as STGRB and Athena Parker) is that I am also against 5 star ratings. We'll get into that later in the post. (Like right now.)
This next screenshot raises that very issue.
Mary Ingles mentions fake 5 star reviews.
Here is the Anne Rice response.
Did you see it? Anne Rice doesn't assume that 5 star ratings are fake. She also asks why should fake 5 star ratings be considered a problem? Evidently, she sees nothing wrong with fake 5 star ratings. Unfortunately, Anne Rice, fake 5 star ratings are just as bad as fake one star ratings because ... because ... wait for it ... because ..... THEY'RE FAKE! THEY'RE FRAUDULENT!
In my book, fake 5 star ratings are just as much bullying as fake one stars. They do just as much - if not more - damage than fake one stars. The reason is because they are still misleading potential readers.
But as I stated earlier, fake ratings and reviews are difficult to prove unless the person doing the fake rating / reviewing admits that they never read the book. Beyond that, it's a tough call. A slippery slope. I have mentioned before that if I had to choose between a fake one star rating and trashing of my book or a book review / rating (real or fake) of the reviewer trashing me on a personal level in a book review, I would choose the fake one star. It's the attacking of authors on a personal level in a book review that I consider true actual bullying. You know what I'm talking about. The ones that say, "I hate this author. This author is a stalker. This author is a rapist. This author is a pedophile." - And so on and so forth.
But after reading that comment by Anne Rice, I am led to believe that she only stands against fake one stars, but fake five stars are just peachy keen?
This is not right. This is flat out wrong. And this is why questions of Anne Rice's agenda come to the forefront of my mind. Is she really against author bullying or just against one star reviews? Over the past few weeks I have discovered that I am not the only one who asks that question and or is confused by what it is exactly that Anne Rice truly stands for. On top of that, it seems to be okay with her that people who leave five star reviews needn't leave an in-depth review of the book to prove they actually read it, yet she seems to be against one star ratings where the reviewer fails to leave a full in-depth review of the book to prove they read it. And again, I find this terribly wrong and hypocritical of her.
Now Zarah Robinson comes forth to ask a question. Anne Rice responds.
At this point, it is apparent that Ms. Rice isn't aware of Zarah's history. Zarah posts again and then Athena Parker chimes in.
Now the two seem to work things out. The conversation goes on a little longer, but my point with this is that even in the heat of the war, there are innocent casualties. My point of reason is that there shouldn't be. STGRB needs to be more careful. It is apparent that even Athena Parker makes mistakes yet I get the feeling she doesn't want to be condemned for it like she condemned me for my one time mistake. After all, we have already seen first hand on this blog how much of a liar and hypocrite Athena really is.
Now we come to an interesting slew of comments. It starts with Yvonne Mason then leads to an outright battle between Yvonne and Flora Bellini. (Not to worry, we're getting closer to some sketchy comments made by Anne Rice.)
On the surface, it would appear that Flora makes an interesting case. On the one hand, if authors don't want to be bullied by reviewers, then maybe some authors should stop bullying reviewers. It makes logical sense except, where Flora is concerned, it's none of her business. None of Yvonne's comments towards those other reviewers have anything to do with her personally, so my question to Flora would be, what business is it of yours? Whomever Yvonne picks a fight with it is strictly between her and that reviewer. Not between Flora and or any other person, bully or otherwise. Wouldn't you agree?
Personally, I think authors are perfectly justified to question any reviewer's review. The bullies seem to think that after an author writes and publishes their work, that work now belongs to them and or readers and reviewers. Nothing could be further from the truth. That work still belongs to the author. And I don't think that authors truly believe their books are their children, that would be borderline dementia to me. But it's still their work. No different than if I built a house and someone came along and began telling me where I went wrong in my design. I have every right to turn to them and say, "Shut the hell up." if I so please. From that point on, that little battle is between me and that person, not me and that person and their friends. Catching my drift here?
There lies the problem. When an author gets into it with one of their readers or reviewers, backup is always called in and then the proverbial shit really does hit the fan. And that's where the problem truly lies. All of this bullying is nothing more than others, who have no business with other people's squabbles, get involved. So while I understand where Flora is coming from, and to a certain point, I agree with her, she has to understand that whatever takes place between an author and someone else is of no business of hers. Even if the reader / reviewer involved is a friend of hers. It is, flat out simply, none of her business.
But in this next series of comments, I can really begin to see Flora's point even more when Yvonne comments back to Flora.
Yvonne says the absolutely wrong thing here. She tells Flora that she (Flora) - "should have asked her (Yvonne) before she (Flora) went looking" for information about her (Yvonne.)
Seriously Yvonne? Still, Flora lets her have it. (Keeping in mind that this is still (or was) on Anne Rice's Facebook page which she later deleted.) I now wonder why Anne Rice deleted it? Maybe because it made her argument look bad. You know, Yvonne's attitude was more out of line than that of Flora. (And Yvonne is the author here.)
The only problem I have with Flora's response to Yvonne is: "... Sure she was wrong posting one star reviews on your book, but you provoked her ..."
Just because two people do not get along and someone provoked the other is still no excuse for that person in question to falsely rate and review books one never read in the first place. That is a bully maneuver plain and simple. If the person who was provoked by an author wants to retreat to their blog and or group and bitch about an author and their behavior, fine, but to falsely lie about reading a book and or attacking that author by way of their books is one hundred percent wrong - end of story. In my world, there is absolutely no defense what-so-ever to lying about reading a book when you didn't, no matter the situation. Unfortunately, Flora doesn't seem to understand this. As for the rest of Flora's comment? I totally agree.
And as for Yvonne's behavior to this point? Huge fail!
Now let's move on to another comment.
There's no way to confirm Nettie's comment, but in short, I do agree with her assertions that it is hard to stand behind STGRB when they resort to using bully tactics themselves. And I can relate to her position. Before they covered my attack, STGRB did doc drop. Sure, they deleted it afterwards, but they still doc dropped. I saw the screenshot first hand once. Even Rick Carufel has evidence / screenshots of where STGRB doc dropped - posted on his blog. And as we seen earlier, even STGRB leaves casualties of war behind like Zarah Robinson.
The comment by Mysti Parker (any relation, Athena?) is a bit concerning though, and I'll tell you why. It has a little bit to do with my opening to this post where I question Anne Rice's reason for fighting this fight. You see, Anne Rice gave the appearance that she knows why she supports STGRB when in truth, and as we are about to see, she doesn't know why. Poor Mysti thinks Anne is telling the truth about everything, unfortunately, we are about to discover that Anne Rice herself doesn't really know the truth about STGRB. And it all starts to come out when Autumn Turner leaves a comment. At this point, Anne doesn't realize that Autumn has been covered by STGRB as a bully.
My problem with Anne Rice and her "truthfulness" is; she is not very truthful here in her comment. STGRB are NOT the only ones out there trying to do something about the filth on Amazon. I do posts about the bullies and news flash! So does Rick Carufel. (Sorry if that bursts the Anne Rice "truth" bubble for you, Mysti.) So when I see Anne Rice asking; "Who else is doing anything about it?" - The answer is clear. I am. Rick Carufel is.
The only difference is, Rick and I use our real identities. That takes a lot more courage. Plus, he and I do not attack and or bully others who might simply disagree with us like STGRB does. And Anne Rice would know this if she ever did her research. But she doesn't. (Her words, not mine.)
In her second comment, Anne Rice states how much the bullies lie. That is true. They lie at every turn. However, had she ever done her research about STGRB, she would see that they lie too. Just saying. Now we get to the meat and potatoes of this post.
Anne Rice is thinking the exact way I used to think when it came to STGRB using fake names to fight the bullies. However, what I later learned is, there is a reason why Athena Parker is using a fake name. And that reason isn't exactly what Anne Rice thinks it is. The cause would be better served if everyone knew who STGRB really was. And in fact, through my sources, one of the reasons why the major media outlets won't pick up this story despite Anne Rice's involvement is because STGRB uses fake names to fight the fight.
You see, there is too many questions revolving around Athena Parker being Melissa Douthit. And it is a fact that Melissa Douthit was caught on Goodreads using in excess of 20 sock puppets. This is why she got banned from Goodreads in the first place. And no reputable news outlet or author will join the "fight" with Anne Rice because of this. And this is why, six months later, even someone as widely famous as Anne Rice isn't able to get the mainstream media to cover it. Evidently, from what I have learned, these reputable news sites share the same concern as most others do. That STGRB is now a "liability" to the integrity of the fight. And let's face it, at this point, it would only benefit the fight if STGRB finally, once and for all, revealed themselves. But maybe the reason they continue to not do this is because their identities alone would kill their credibility, and that of the fight against the bullies. It's something to think about.
Then Anne Rice lies again. She says she has been to the STGRB site and that she has read their posts, and in doing so, she doesn't see STGRB attacking or bullying people. I guess she missed the part where they called Rick Carufel a "coke monkey"? Sounds like an attack and bullying to me. But only when you consider that Rick isn't going around bullying people and you know, STGRB is an anti-bullying site? Nor does she see where they attack me. So again, I struggle with the accuracy of her words there. Especially in some upcoming screenshots where she confesses that she doesn't keep up with everything. That's coming. Meanwhile, we also saw Autumn, to her small credit, inform Anne Rice that STGRB did a post on her and labelled her as a bully. Why is this significant? You'll see.
Yes, Athena Parker jumps in to update Anne Rice (publicly) about Autumn Turner. (Why she couldn't have done this privately? I don't know. Just saying.)
Then Athena states that their hosting company didn't ask them to leave. Instead, Athena left them because she didn't agree with their ToS.
Really, Athena? And was this the same ToS you read before / when you signed up with them? Or did you not read their ToS prior to signing up with them? I may not be a smart man, but I do know that if I am going to sign up with a host for my website, one of the first things I am going to do is read their ToS. If I have a problem with it, that would be the time to NOT sign up with them. Especially after I just left a host prior to signing up with the second host after having problems with their ToS too.
If you all recall, back at the beginning of 2013, STGRB left their first host because they didn't agree with their ToS. The bullies were making so many complaints that the host kept taking them off-line periodically. So STGRB made a switch. I would think, after dealing with those ToS problems, the first thing I would have done when switching to the second host, I would read their ToS. But apparently, Athena Parker didn't do that. Perhaps she has done this with her current host, her third host in three years.
In this next screenshot, we see Anne Rice going off the rails and laying into Autumn big-time.
First off, Anne says; "It's all so dense and hard to follow." - Really Anne? But I thought you were following everything just fine? What is so difficult? Hearing truths about STGRB? Is that what is so dense and hard to follow for you? Just asking.
Then Anne rips Autumn for having so many "identities". Funny, I don't see her ripping Athena Parker / Melissa Douthit for having so many identities. *Scratches head*
Apparently, if you're a fake and a fraud, and passing yourself off as a good guy, you're okay. But if the fake good guy posts about a fake bad guy then ..... you know what? These shenanigans are confusing me.
Anne's second comment accuses Autumn of not informing her that STGRB has posted about her when she started asking questions and leaving comments on Anne's Facebook page. But wait! Sorry Anne Rice, but you lie again. To her credit, she did mention it to you. Here, let me show you. Please read the last comment.
You see Anne, she did mention it. So maybe next time you will slow your roll a little. Just saying. And she mentioned it actually before Athena got involved with the conversation. Normally, I don't agree with bullies, but in this case, you were actually wrong here, Anne. Maybe that's why you deleted this thread? Just asking.
Then Anne reiterates her support for STGRB while ranting on about all the games being played. She leaves it with a saying that she actually got wrong. She says: "What a tangled web we weave when we purpose to deceive."
Actually, it goes like this: "What a tangled web we weave when we first practice to deceive."
Just saying.
Any hoot, perhaps that's a question she could ask STGRB? Good guys or bad guys, it is wrong to hide behind a fake name or multiple fake names. Credibility for either side is questionable both ways. I like to look at it like this: Would you support a website that condemns child molestation? Of course you would. But what if that website was run by an anonymous owner? Probably yes, right? You would still support their cause of condemning child molestation. However, what if at some point it was revealed that the owner of that site was a convicted child molester? See what I mean? Wouldn't you have liked to know about that person ahead of time? Now translate that to the anonymous folks over at STGRB.
But that fact that Anne says everything is so hard to follow tells me that perhaps she isn't doing her homework on STGRB or the situation. Perhaps she jumped into the water before testing the depth. If you remove your emotions from the equation, it's not very hard to follow at all. Perhaps if Anne Rice did her research, she would be more knowledgeable about the players involved. The thing is, Anne Rice simply sees the surface of the water and not what lies beneath it. Heck, she seems to think that STGRB are the only ones fighting and reporting on the bullies. That should be the tell tale sign of her lack of research.
And again, this is why after six months of campaigning, no major news media outlet has jumped on the train. Because, from what I was told, not only are there lingering questions surrounding STGRB, Athena Parker and others, but nobody is really sure where Anne Rice stands. Is she against author bullying, or one star reviews? (Fake or otherwise?) And if she is against author bullying, why support a website that evidence shows they bully authors too? And leave innocent victims (casualties of war) in their wake? And who uses fake names?
If it's a stand against fake ratings and reviews, then why are one stars not allowed and yet, fake five stars are okay?
You see Ms. Rice, it's really not as complicated as you make it out to be. The thing is, you got too close to a fake person and bought into her lies based on what you see on the surface. Perhaps it would be wise for you to don your scuba suit and go below the surface of the waters and investigate. Perhaps it's time to start doing your research? Better late than never. I was fooled once too, and for over a year, which is why I am holding out hope for you to come around and face the ugly truth. That yes indeed, STGRB really is a hate site. You just can't see the forest because of the trees. I was like that once upon time also.
Perhaps if you read other blogs and posts regarding STGRB then you would realize your situation. Yes, I am with you that these bullies are horrible people. No argument there. I fight them head on using my real identity. So does Rick Carufel. And yes, for the most part, STGRB has done a lot of good. But they are not completely innocent. They are like a good cop who breaks the law just to nail the bad guys. I could never support such a cop or that kind of method. If you're going to fight the good fight, do so in the proper manner. You need not have to become a crook to catch a crook. And that's exactly what STGRB has resorted to. Their tactics have come under scrutiny. The rest of the reputable media sees this, so why can't you? Your love affair with Athena is blinding you from the truth.
And the reputable media outlets will not cover you and your campaign because they know that you will lead everyone to STGRB .... and STGRB is cluttered with controversy and question marks galore. And no reputable media outlet will risk their reputation for a website full of anons. And that's what my sources tell me.
I am not defending Autumn Turner in the least here. But if she insulted you in the beginning, Anne, then why didn't you state that in your first response? And again, as for her hiding the fact that STGRB did a post about her, why should that even matter? Just because STGRB says someone is a bully you just believe it at their word? You don't investigate the facts? Wouldn't it stand to reason that sometimes, STGRB could be wrong? And again, Autumn did mention that STGRB labeled her as a bully. I showed it twice. It just seems to me that you are jumping off a diving board with your eyes closed, and into an empty pool. The reputable media outlets will not do this. They did their research on STGRB. They have concluded that STGRB is not reputable. And the primary reason is, because you simply can't trust an anon from either side of the fight.
As always, I wish you luck in your quest to fight the bullies. But my advice would be, do your research first. Make sure you know who the good guys really are. Support those who are brave enough to fight the bullies using their real identities. If you really are a spokesperson for authors, or hope to be, then support the authors, not a website full of anons. Support authors who were victimized by the bullies, not a website of anons who attack authors who were victimized by them, and call people "coke monkey". Not a website of anons where the owner has been proven a liar right here on this blog. Maybe you should try reaching out to various people and take a look at their evidence against STGRB. I tried to do that for you once upon a time but you refused to look at it. Don't get so hooked on the good cop gone bad, this isn't one of your novels. You can't write the happy ending to this story, fortunately, it will write itself one day. The fact is, if you want mainstream media outlets to pick up this story and assist your crusade against these bullies, you are going to have to do your research on STGRB. And then, you are going to have to accept the findings of that research and do the right thing. But only do your research when you can come down from your girl crush with Athena. It worked for me. I'm quite positive it will work for you as well. Just saying.
I'm Carroll Bryant .... and this is The Looking Glass.
UPDATE:
I just learned of
Rick Carufel's latest post regarding STGRB's lack of professionalism. Without any evidence to support their claim, they accused author Gavin Hetherington of being a thief. Because of their lack of responsibility for getting the truth, Gavin suffered at the hands of both the bullies, and STGRB. To make things worse, STGRB refuses to apologize to him for their mistake. Instead, they announced that Gavin! apologized to them? Yet another example of how STGRB leaves behind innocent victims (casualties of war) in the wake of their hate. And their disregard to any damages they may have caused him or emotional distress.
This attack on Gavin, by STGRB, didn't happen because Gavin attacked an author or anything, oh no, they attacked Gavin after stalking the bullies and watching them "eat their own". They proceeded to mock the internal battles of the bullies by doing a series of posts titled, "Once Upon A Time In The Land Of Booklikes", as if they were trying to pick some kind of fight. This aggressive behavior by STGRB also led them to do a post titled, "Gavin The Thief Fiasco".
While it is always humorous to watch the bullies turn on one another like animals, and we have seen that plenty of times the past couple of years, for STGRB to jump on that bandwagon and accuse Gavin of being a thief without evidence is a clear indictment on how STGRB lacks the proper training and qualifications to haphazardly call themselves an anti-bullying site. It also demonstrates why major news outlets and websites refuse to cover the great Anne Rice and her campaign to fight the bullies. It's also why Bullying.org doesn't want to be associated with them also.
After condemning me for my mistake of writing a post about Mr. Lucy Flood in my effort to try and help, she goes out and hatefully (and wrongfully) accuses an author of being a thief, and we're all supposed to be okay with that? Athena now sits upon her golden throne and accepts an apology from Gavin when in truth, she is the one who should have been apologizing to him. But that has always been my point, Athena never apologizes for her actions. Never! And she never will either. She never will because in truth, and as the evidence continues to show, she simply doesn't care. She's operating for her own personal and private agenda, which continues to roll on as she hides behind a fake name. I guess when you're sock puppet, you are entitled to operate that way. There's no accountability what-so-ever. Must be nice to be a sock. I wouldn't know. You would have to ask Athena Parker about that. Maybe even Anne Rice. But be fore warned, don't be surprised if Anne bans you for asking. Just saying.
More than anything else, this should be further evidence that STGRB and Athena Parker simply can't be trusted. They are causing more harm to authors than helping them anymore. They are also hurting the fight against the bullies. They need to be held accountable for their indecent indiscretions against Gavin, and since they won't hold themselves accountable, you the people need to do it!
Myself and Rick Carufel have been trying to warn you all about STGRB and their new practices. I hope now many more of you will start paying attention. You could be next on their hit list. And as for Gavin Hetherington? I don't know you. We have never interacted. Nonetheless, I am truly sympathetic to your unfortunate plight and encounter with the hate-site known as STGRB. I hope their premeditated assault on you didn't hurt your book sales. Not only do I hope you demand an apology from them, but I also hope you get it. You deserve it.
On a lighter side, you'll never see myself or Rick Carufel do this. But that's only because we are motivated by truth, and justice .... not hate. He and I are fighting for a cause, not a hidden agenda.
