15-06-03 Review Bombing

First written 06/03/15 in this Anne Rice (author) thread on Facebook about "review bombing" on Amazon reviews.

https://www.facebook.com/annericefanpage/posts/10153421093615452

This is not just happening in book reviews, it happens in all forms of media, including my sector, video games - where it is much, much, worse.

Some people are, by their very nature, broken. There is nothing that we can do about it.

The issue with "review bombing" (as it's called) is what happens when you put too much faith in the goodness of people. And it's a numbers game.

Given the tools with which they can bully, harass, hurt, anger, annoy, or attack another, people will usually do it. It's just bullying, evolved, and online.

The sites that do have online comments by the public, are either ill equipped to deal with the negativity, or they don't care enough to do anything about it.

And when they do end up doing something about it, those on the receiving end, cry foul, spew all manner of rubbish about their Free Speech (yeah, go figure) rights, and all that nonsense.

Then there's the loophole-ridden travesty that is CDA(230), but I don't even want to get started on that.

I think the solution is simple, disable public comments/reviews, and let those who want to vent, go do it in their own obscure, road-less-traveled echo chamber, where only they and their ilk, get to revel in their misery and life less ordinary.

The whole [me] "lashing" out at people thing, is overrated. It boils down to one simple principle that I tend to uphold: nobody gets to bully me. I don't care who - or what - you are, anon, or not. I have a perfectly functioning brain, and people simply don't scare me.

It really is that simple. If defending oneself is "lashing out", if suing (and prevailing) is "lashing out", then so be it.

The fact is that, if you can, nobody should give bullies any quarter. At all. We all grew up with these people, you've seen them in your classroom, playground, school yard, office break room, the bus, the train, crossing the street etc. They are everywhere.

It is always fun and games, until someone loses an eye. Nobody wants to say anything until you stand up, say enough, and in my case, go completely overboard, and torch everything to the ground. And when others do stand up, the first thing they do is point the finger, and cry foul, tell YOU how you should have handled it etc. Yeah. And if you're someone notable, well then, you've just created word fodder for critics and the media who thrive on that stuff. It's a never ending cycle.

Whoever said turn the other cheek, never got slapped hard enough. Because when you do, that's only when you get to realize that you simply cannot - cannot - let bullies get away with it.

This whole online discourse is not something that happened just because the govt. spiked people's drinking water, or slipped something in the vaccines. It's just that the Internet gave these people a pulpit, conduit, and forum to vent their ire. A bully will always find a way to vent, lash out, and hurt someone. They need no excuse, or prompting.

Back in the day, when we started out during the advent of the Internet, I was one of those warning (back on Usenet, CIS, BIX, CIX, AOL, Compuserve et al) that, if unchecked, it would have far reaching repercussions. But most didn't pay attention because there wasn't a mob pissing at their doorstep.

Then the Internet got bigger, Web 2.0 was a thing, bandwidth costs went in the crapper, every bully, and anti-social misfit with a passing knowledge of reading & comprehension, and disposable income, could get a computer, and get online.

And most of these anti-social misfits couldn't put together a single coherent statement if they were allowed to cheat at Scrabble. I could feed my dog a set of Scrabble tiles and get better communication on any given day.

I have always loved arguing with imbeciles on the Internet. It gives me the chance to boost my Scrabble proficiency.

It got progressively worse. At least back in the day, the realms of Usenet and other BBS forums were for the likes of us geeks, with our CGA and VGA monitors, 300 bps modems and a will to belong. So at the very least, we were dealing with our own kind. Which of course didn't make it any better, but I'd rather be arguing with someone who had something interesting to say, than not.

The cost of Free Speech, is the bane of any online discourse where people have no idea what it entails, or that it really isn't free, let alone without consequences.

And with anonymity, and other certain protections, bullies, and anti-social misfits alike, found a conduit for their antics, hate, and everything in between. So they prosper.

Then CDA(230) happened, absolved hosts of any responsibility for content on their systems, leaving them to self-moderate. Which is all well and good. But the fact is that, most don't.

Of course, for as long as online bullying has been an epidemic, the govt officials and courts. still don't have a good grip on it.

So guess what, when you can get to do anything you want online, with impunity, and knowing that the only way you're going to be held accountable is through a costly lawsuit, you can easily see why social media has become such a huge holding tank for anti-social discourse, which not only threatens lives, but also shapes the future of our children, and various mediums through which we interact with each other.

My connection to this whole thing has more to do with bullying, than it does with review bombing. As artists, we live with the reality that there are those who will love or abhor our works. It comes with the territory of being a creator. When I write the background stories and designs for my sci-fi games, worlds, and characters, I don't do it with the intentions of winning awards. If it makes sense to me, it's final. I rarely pay too much attention to what people think of my works, simply because, well, I don't need other people's validation. I know who I am, and what I do. And in the almost three decades of my doing this, amidst all manner of bullshit from "critics", what has kept me going is that I only care about those who share the vision I have for my works.

Not that it doesn't hurt when you read something scathing about your work, but that's more of an ego thing. If you're going to get all teary eyed and/or upset because some inconsequential person on the Internet said something bad about you or your work, you will be completely unable to focus, let alone be objective. And for some people, it can be very debilitating. Which is how suicides happen when people feel despair, and are unable to reconcile the feelings they get from the onslaught.

Sadly, the more things change, the more they stay the same. So much so that most bullies (in media, politics, govt etc) don't even hide anymore because apparently, in a "free" society, they're a protected species who can do what they want, when they want, until they can't.