I moderated comments for half of today to give me time to think on my options. Most comments on this blog are positive. Now, so far I've only had one anonymous commenter. This commenter in the past made it clear they didn't like a book. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I respect that. I deleted the comments in the past because they were pretty nasty.
Today I had 3 comments in my inbox (not to moderate, just a notification of what was going up on the blog). These 3 were from the same anonymous commenter, about the same book. This time, they suggested that the author in question should be killed.
To suggest killing an author just because of what they've written is, in my eyes, serious. The person first states how awful the book is (particularly because of the football team it does/doesn't talk about), then says the author should be killed, then in the 3rd message says they are sorry - not!
It is possible that I should have just ignored the comments. But I can't. The book blogging community is so friendly, even when reviewers aren't keen on a book they explore the parts that didn't work and why they didn't work. This isn't a child's playground (although most children would be far nicer than this commenter). This is cyberspace where people explore their views on books with others. There's the good, the bad, the ugly - and the unacceptable.
This anonymous commenter has gone too far. I'm going to email the publicist to alert them to what's going on (and show them the offending comments). I don't want to email the author because it isn't a pleasant subject to chat about. The book in question is this one.
I might understand if it was about a sensitive political/religious/ethnic/other issue. But football? Seriously, there is nothing controversial in this book (in my eyes). It's totally innocent.
I'd like to request that if you feel it is appropriate, please can you tweet this post or comment on it. I would like to make clear that such horrific messages have no place on blogs. I feel sorry that the commenter can't feel fit to express their views in a less violent fashion. The spelling of the comments was atrocious. I've rescued them from my email bin to keep them as evidence of what happened. In some ways I would have preferred links to adult content sites, since those I can understand and deal with. But this - this is a horrible thing to wake up to, and I really hope that people like this commenter take a step back from the keyboard when they have such feelings against a book. If you can't explore your negative views politely, then please don't shout them out to the world.
13 comments:
OMG saying that the author should be killed is way too unacceptable! I'm so sorry this has happened on your blog D:
Thanks Fi-chan. This wasn't what I wanted to wake up to at the weekend - or any day of the week.
That's terrible, and it has definitely crossed the line - no doubt. I think you're doing the right thing, and well done for speaking up about it.
Obviously something wrong with the metality of that commenter I think.
No need for it at all.
I am seriously, seriously horrified that anyone would ever say that. You should definitely contact the publisher! That's just terrible!
Don't take this too seriously. It's just a foamed who wants the oxygen of publicity. Just delete comments like that quickly and effectively. Emailing a publicist won't really help; the Internet is pretty free and liberal. All you can do us just make sure comments like these aren't welcome.
That is awful :( I have tweeted this post too. I have my comment moderation set to moderate any comments received more than 7 days after the post date.
I had a blog previous to this book blog for 7 years and found that the malicious comments always seemed to be on an old post and it took me ages to track it down to delete. This way I can find the comment quickly and delete it.
The good thing is though that this doesn't happen very often.
Thanks everyone. I can't say all that the publicist told me, but this book has been attacked elsewhere too. It's scary that mine isn't the only incident, but I'm glad I've spoken up.
Just so you know, there's a possibility the commenter is a troll: an attention-seeking loser who says horrible things just to get a rise out of people. If so, then blogging about his comment and emailing a publicist might be just giving him what he wants.
Next time a comment like that appears, I'd just delete it quietly without giving it any attention.
Thanks Anna. Unfortunately for me there is a reason behind the comments posted. I can't give out details of the matter, only that in this instance anonymous was probably not a troll.
At least I cant have any more anonymous posts!
I decided not to moderate older posts because whenever anyone comments on my blog, even in old posts, I instantly get an email alert. I doubt people will be silly enough to post unpleasant comments using their own profile name.
I haven't allowed anonymous commenters from day one on my blog. I think if you have an opinion you should be brave enough to own it. The commenter in question is perhaps a football fanatic. But goodness, there is never any need for threats or violence.
The person writing these comments sounds like a complete idiot & is obviously a little on the crazy side. I don't mind if people have negative opinions on a book I've enjoyed & will happily leave comments on my blog that disagree with my opinion - we all have a right to make up our own minds & the world would be a very boring place if we all liked the same things.
I have to say I would have deleted any comments like that if they'd appeared on my blog though. It's one thing to comment & say why you disagree with me but to say the author should be killed is something else altogther! I wouldn't want something like that to be on my blog so I think you've done the right thing by deleting them.
OMG how terrible!! :O That's really horrible. Why threaten to kill an author just because of a football team? It just doesn't make sense. I'm really sorry that this had to happen on your blog (which is fabulous BTW)
xx
Post a Comment