Goodreads: Smoke And Mirrors

There certainly appears to be a lot of celebration going on lately. Ever since the "big" announcement on STGRB that Goodreads is "cleaning house" by way of deleting author bashing book shelves. I think there are a lot of people suffering from concussions by way of hitting their heads on their ceilings from jubilation of the news.

What the hell?

Really? This is exciting to you? Goodreads starts deleting author bashing book shelves and you're pissing your pants over it? 

Here's the thing; I'm not buying it. And no, it's not because I'm some disgruntled old man who simply enjoys chasing the unruly teenagers off his lawn either. I'm not buying it because, in the scheme of things, it's small potato's. There are a lot more important things than author bashing book shelves. 

While I might bend just enough to say it "could" be a step in the right direction for Goodreads, let's just call it what it really is; a miniscule step at best. 

I, more accurately, refer to it as simply smoke and mirrors. A dog and pony show. While everyone else seems to be elated to accept Patrick Brown's table scraps, I will reserve my elation until I see actual efforts of goodwill. Meaning; when it comes to doing the right thing, you're either "all in" - or your not. 

Goodreads, Patrick Brown, is not "all in". (Not yet anyway)

So, you're probably asking, "What do you consider to be "all in" Carroll? What is it that you are waiting to see from Goodreads and Patrick Brown that will finally convince you that Goodreads is now finally starting to "change" their ways in regards to this bullying issue?"

Very good question. Allow me to answer.

I will be more impressed when Goodreads starts to delete author bashing reviews. I give those higher priority. Let's face it, if author bashing book shelves are an issue, then why isn't author bashing reviews an issue? See where I'm going with this? 

If calling an author an asshole is wrong for a book shelf then how is it not wrong for a book review? To me, it's more of a priority to delete that as opposed to the book shelves. 

Yes, the book shelves should be deleted. Yes, it's a nice little gesture, but then again, so is opening the door for someone, but who is to say the person opening the door for you won't slam it shut on you once you start to walk through? 

If I were to be given the choice of what to start deleting first, author bashing book shelves would be last on the list. The first thing on it would be, delete the author bashing reviews. 

Then there is account deletion. Yesterday, in all the excitement of the "big" news, many have overlooked that three, count them, three member accounts (at least) that I know of were deleted by Goodreads staff. One account was of Mary Shelly, who saw her account get deleted after she made a comment on STGRB. A second account was deleted of a member who showed support for bullied authors. Her account name was "Sugar Sinn". And finally, another member account was deleted when a girl flagged the reviews on my books that are bully reviews. 

Doesn't sound like Goodreads is doing anything good to me. It sounds like Goodreads is still up to their same old shit. I would be really super-duper impressed if Goodreads actually started to delete the accounts of those who are in fact violating their ToS. You know, the ones leaving those author bashing reviews. People like, "All Hail Gimlock", "Steph Sinclair", "ETA:Soon", "Mrs. Joseph", "Belle", "Ade", "Pete Morin", and the like. 

Instead of stalking my blog and STGRB looking for comments by our supporters, and deleting their accounts, why isn't Goodreads deleting the accounts of those who are actually violating their ToS and bashing authors? And while we're on the subject, why is Patrick Brown and his staff going after people who comment on sites outside of GR and deleting their accounts for simply speaking their opinion and or disdain for GR? Those comments are not being made on Goodreads. Nobody is violating GR ToS by speaking about the matter on an outside blog or website. Talk about attacking people who are exercising their right to free speech. It just looks to suspicious to me, and very unprofessional there, Patrick. Do you have "soft skin"? Well, maybe you should take the bullies advice to authors and grow some thick skin there yourself big boy. 

So yes, instead of deleting membership accounts on Goodreads of members who are not violating GR ToS, how about Goodreads start deleting the membership accounts of those who are? 

And finally, for goodreads to go "all in", maybe a good gesture in that direction would be if GR offered to reinstate those authors (and other former members) who were attacked by the bullies and banned. You know, since no evidence has ever been shown that the people who were banned had ever violated the GR ToS in the first place. You see, that would be a reason for celebration. That would be the miracle. Kind of like watching Jesus turn water into wine. That's what would impress the shit out of me. I would risk my own concussion for that occurrence. 

So you see, while I am happy that, on the surface, some progress appears to have been made, the cold hard fact is, it's not. Not yet anyway. So excuse me if I don't carelessly jump into the pool on this one. There's still more evidence pointing to this as being nothing more than smoke and mirrors. A dog and pony show. A public relations stunt from a website that could use the slightest uplifting story to try and counter balance all the negative ones preceding it. 

And no, I don't see anything that would even remotely suggest to me that Amazon, Goodreads, or Patrick Brown is "all in" when it comes to righting the wrong. Or doing the right thing in general. I'm sorry, I just don't see it. 

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


Update:

Well, that didn't take long at all. Shortly after this article was posted, I got this email. The identity of this person has been covered.

My thoughts EXACTLY!



Update: 09-24-2013:

I just found out recently that Mary Shelly was really Rick Carufel. Do I feel a bit humiliated about it right now? Yes. But I'm a big boy so I guess I'll get over it. However, the other people who had their accounts deleted on Goodreads, to my knowledge, were not socks. If I learn different in the future, I'll update this post again. 

Things We Learned Today:

* Deleting author bashing book shelves is fine, but what about the author bashing reviews?

* My supporters and those of STGRB are still having their accounts deleted for things they say away from Goodreads

* The Goodreads staff are still stalking my blog and STGRB 

* The GR bullies accounts are not being deleted

* Dog and Pony shows are cute, but this one being performed by Patrick Brown and Goodreads is not

* Concussions are bad for you

* Carroll Bryant isn't buying that Goodreads really wants to put an end to bullying on their website, or are enforcing their ToS fairly and evenly 

* Goodreads bullies are still getting preferential treatment from the GR staff 

  

  

Goodreads Staff Bullies: Kara Erickson, Emily Finley

As everyone knows by now, I have taken on the fight against cyber-bullying and stalking. Just as the website STGRB has. The fact is, I didn't really have much of a choice in the matter seeing that I was recruited to fight this battle by the bullies themselves.

The biggest battleground, for me, started on Goodreads. Not to take away from what is happening on the Amazon forum boards. Most of the bullying taking place on both of these sites are done so primarily by the same people. The fact that Amazon has bought out Goodreads hasn't lifted any spirits of these bully attacks being stopped any time soon.

These bully attacks started out against primarily Independent authors. Recently, however, the bullies have started to attack reviewers as well. But only those reviewers who write poor reviews or rate poorly, books written by the authors who run with the bully crowd. In many cases, reviewers have seen their accounts on Goodreads get deleted because of this.

One of the biggest questions being asked is; Who are the people deleting these accounts? Obviously, the bullies are in cahoots with someone at the top of the Goodreads chain. (And I'm not just talking about bully supporter, and Goodreads community manager, Patrick Brown.)

My advice to Indie authors and reviewers would be, if you are targeted by the Goodreads bullies, don't expect help from Goodreads. Today I am going to introduce you to two people that perhaps at first glance, you may think they will be able to help you if you are attacked, but in reality, are in cahoots with the Goodreads bullies.

Many times, when reading articles on STGRB where people are reporting their Goodreads accounts being deleted, and them receiving some kind of email response from a Goodreads employee, that response is coming from Kara Erickson or Emily Finley, two Goodreads employees. In some cases, their name appears on the "deletion" notices.

My point is this, do not be fooled into believing that these two women will be able to help. Or willing to help you, because they can't, and they won't.

So if you are a member of Goodreads, and you get attacked by the Goodreads bullies, or if you witness an attack and think you can get some kind of assistance from any of these two women, or Patrick Brown, know this - you won't. If anything, going to them may only worsen the situation. And / or get you banned from Goodreads.

The best course of action is to just block and ignore these bullies. Most of them don't have a lot of friends anyway because many of you have caught on to who these bullies are, and already are staying away from them. But for those who have yet to figure out who's who in Bully Nation, and you cross paths with these people (which is a nice way of saying, if you are targeted by them) then you might want to refrain from contacting any Goodreads employees. Especially, these two females.

You may also want to be careful about contacting any Goodreads librarians. A good majority of the bullies are Goodreads librarians so, be careful. If you are friends with any Goodreads librarians, and you get attacked or witness an attack, do not complain about it to them, but simply, ask questions like, "I saw such and such going on and wanted to know what you think I should do to help the victim and or prevent this kind of thing from happening again."

Just remember that many of these librarians are friends with other librarians too. Make sure you are confident that your friendship with a Goodreads librarian is stronger than their relationship with another Goodreads librarian. Other wise, you might find out the hard way that you got profiled as being an instigator and the next thing you know, your Goodreads account is deleted and you are banned.

I'm not saying you have to back down or roll over and run away from these vile individuals, but if you choose to stand your ground, do so as respectively as you can if you value your Goodreads account.

I hope this post has helped you in some way. I think the key to having the best experience possible on a website that is filled with such nasty people such as Goodreads or Amazon Forum Boards is to know who to avoid and to know your best course of action once they decide to target you or someone you know.

As for Kara and Emily, this next screenshot is a response they sent to author Eve Thomas telling her that she had been banned from Goodreads after the bullies attacked her on her GR blog and her books. (STGRB covered it) And when Eve tried to reach out to them and apologize, what did the bullies do? They contacted Eve's charity and tried to get her into trouble. This is how criminal these bullies get.

In this next screenshot, we see TinaNicole mentioning something interesting. Take a look. 

It certainly paints a picture that Angela Horn is in deep cahoots with Kara and Emily. Or at least they were until finally, Angela got the boot. Then again, Patrick Brown knew that this post was coming. He may have done this to try and discredit the notion that he and his staff don't support the bullies. However, there's still way too much evidence that suggests otherwise. The thing is though, Angela Horn didn't get the full boot, her sock account, "ETA:Soon", is still very much active. Nice try, Patrick, but you're not fooling me any. Thus, you're not fooling my readers either.

Eve tried to explain the situation to Kara and Emily but obviously, Kara and Emily (like Patrick Brown) are in cahoots with the bullies. Poor Eve didn't stand a chance.

You have been informed. What you do with this information is now up to you.


Update:

In a recent STGRB POST - it was reported that Goodreads is now in the process of deleting "author bashing" reviews. They show screenshots of Kara explaining their "new" rules or "policy". However, this is a false claim. (Not STGRB's fault) Because the truth is, Goodreads is only removing author bashing reviews / bookshelves, and member accounts of those people who show signs of supporting either myself or STGRB. Or from bullied authors who have yet to show their support for me and or STGRB. In other words, if you're an author and they (Goodreads staff) like you, you're safe. But if they don't like you, then they are not going to enforce their ToS. 

I got an email the other day from a girl who showed support for me and other authors by listing books in bookshelves of those authors who are a part of Goodreads Bully Nation with nothing more than "Will Not Read" titles. And she listed those authors who were bullied in positive shelves. This girl also informed me that she rarely commented on the site for fear of retribution. Meanwhile, none of this mattered. But because she showed support for me, her account got deleted recently once this new "policy" change was posted by Kara.

Another friend of mine flagged the reviews of my books that "talk about me and in return, her account got deleted.

Also, Mary Shelly made this comment in response to the Goodreads announcement on STGRB's post. Take a look.

And what did Patrick Brown, Kara and Emily do in response? Take a look for yourself.

That's right, they deleted Mary's account.

Nothing has changed. Goodreads continues to side with the bullies. Patrick Brown, Kara Erickson, and Emily Finley continue to target those whom they do not like. Or those the deem to be supporters of myself and STGRB. Anything they say to the contrary is a smoke-screen and utter bullshit. Which is why anyone who stands against the bullies must continue to hide anonymously for fear of retribution, not only from the bullies themselves, but from the bully staff on Goodreads. (Patrick Brown, Kara Erickson, and Emily Finley) 

I am sorry for you, Mary, in what Patrick Brown and his bully staff did to your account. And to the girl who emailed me her story. 

So in short, please do not believe Kara or any staff member on Goodreads when they make such announcements on the site that might indicate they are doing something about the bully problem within. The truth is, they are not going after the bullies, they are going after those who stand against the bullies on Goodreads. And why? Because it's simple, Patrick Brown and his bully staff do not see the real bullies as bullies, nor themselves, but rather, they see anyone who supports me and STGRB as the real bullies. So it would stand to reason that those would be the ones they would target.

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

Things We Learned Today:

* Just because they are Goodreads employees, doesn't mean they are "good" people

* Goodreads continues to support / protect the real bullies

* Patrick Brown, Kara Erickson, and Emily Finley (and the rest of the Goodreads staff) are bullies themselves.

* If The Goodreads staff don't like you, you're gone

Goodreads Pedo Alert: Karl Jones

It's a fine line between freedom of speech and libel. Take for instance - myself. There are a lot of Goodreads bullies who accused me of crimes I have never been convicted of. Crimes ranging from being a pedophile to rape. And just about everything in between. Freedom of speech is the right to express your opinion where as libel is accusing people of things that can't be proven or are just downright false. Now, have these bullies on Goodreads had evidence to support their claims, then we wouldn't be talking about freedom of speech or libel anymore, but rather, a simple fact. Which is where we begin with this post. I am not posting my opinion here, nor am I libeling, I'm just presenting the facts in regards to an author who resides on Goodreads. An author that just might scare the bejesus right out of you, and because of these facts, I ask the questions that need to be answered.

Remember back when I started The Looking Glass and I reported on the sexual role plays going on over at Goodreads? Remember how I showed adult men interacting with minors? Remember when I showed you a profile of a man in his 50's claiming that he keeps girls panties as trophies, right on his own profile? Remember how I feared that those sexual role plays could entice possible pedophiles? Well, meet Karl Jones, a Goodreads author.

And oh, by the way, a convicted pedophile in the UK.

You can read about it HERE

As you can see by the date listed, his legal troubles are very recent. he was found guilty of storing child pornography images on his computer. Kind of scary, isn't it? Well, there's more. I also took a peek at the groups he is a member of on Goodreads. Perhaps we can take a look at that. 

If you noticed, he has a couple of BDSM groups listed. One of them is "Erotic Enchantments". Interesting.  

Their group picture sure gets my juices flowing. Very sexy. 

Karl is also a member of a group called "Kindle Smut".

I see for this group that a very well known bully, Angela Horn, is a moderator of "Kindle Smut". Of course, Angela is hiding behind one of her famous sock puppets, "ETA:Soon". Very nice. 

Now, ever since my report on these sexual role plays that cater to both adults and minors, many of these groups went private. Some went completely stealth. Which means, we can no longer see if these groups continue to have adults and minors interacting in some sexually explicit manner. Stealth groups don't show up in any searches and can't be seen on people's group listing on their profile by non members. You would have to be a member to see their members list and to read the posts inside the group. But because we already know for a fact that Patrick Brown and the rest of the Goodreads staff doesn't do a good enough job policing this, how can we know for sure that online sexually explicit conversations are not taking place in these groups? And with that in mind, how do we know that Karl Jones, a convicted pedophile, isn't interacting with minors in these groups? What are these hidden and private groups hiding from the rest of the world? More importantly, is Karl Jones a member of one of these stealth role play groups that do not show up in any search? And if so, is he participating in sexual role plays with minors? Only a Goodreads staff member can answer that question. They are the only ones who can see what the rest of us can not see.

Getting scared now?

Further research into Karl Jones has revealed that his blog has been removed by Blogger.

But there's more. 

On November 6th, 2012, Karl Jones, a convicted pedophile, released a book titled, "Shattered". A story about two 14 year old girls being raped and murdered. The suspect in the book is an author. 

Now, if this was something that occurred with Karl years ago in his past, I might not have given too much concern over it. After all, people can change. But this conviction was recent. And he is listed on the sexual predator registry in the UK.

For anyone who thought that my fears of sexual predators using Goodreads as a playground to fulfill any of their sick and twisted fantasies, where minors are concerned, were fabricated, I guess now we have some kind of actual proof that registered sex offenders are on Goodreads and these sexually charged groups that have minors in them does indicate that, indeed, child predators do have access to them. And yes, Goodreads helps to facilitate by allowing these groups to exist on their website, allow minors to have access to them, allow adults to interact with them, and worse of all, they now allow these groups to be hidden from the public. Or maybe the worst part is, Goodreads does not monitor this like they should be. 

Perhaps now my warnings to parents in regards to the possibility of child sexual predators being on Goodreads will be taken a bit more seriously. I know this is only one man, and he is an author, but how many more are lurking about on Goodreads? How many of them are in hiding because they are not authors? 

Here's the thing, when you allow highly charged and sexually explicit role play groups to exist in the first place, like Goodreads did for so long, and seemingly continues to allow it, and within those RP groups, you have allowed adults and minors to coexist in them, and to interact sexually in those role plays with each other, then this is the kind of garbage you invite into your playground. 

I'll let you all contemplate this discovery. Meanwhile, I'll leave you with a comment that Karl Jones left back in April of this year, right about the time his legal troubles were in full swing. This is also the last known comment that he made on Goodreads.

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

Things We Learned Today:

* Karl Jones is an author

* Karl Jones is a convicted child sex predator

* Karl Jones is listed on the sexual predator data base in the UK

* Karl Jones is a member of BDSM groups and "Kindle Smut"

* Child sex predators are members of Goodreads

* Your child is at risk to sexual predators on Goodreads

* Carroll Bryant warned you back on February 1st, 2013