Catching title, isn't it? Just you wait until you read on, you will be surprised what takes place in the land of Indie publishing.Yesterday, following a recent post of mine, I had a bit of joke with a fellow blogger/author; I said I'm only waiting for one Indie author or blogger to openly diss me and he said he'd gladly help with the headline 'Bitch Editor Butchers Indies'. We had a good laugh.
Today, I was chatting away on my thread on the Amazon forum and suddenly, out of nowhere, got accused of having added inappropriate tags to a book. The accuser is an author I had a few run-ins with and after I told him I don't like his online persona, I had left in peace. Live and let live, you know? Although he agreed to the feelings being mutual, he turned up on my threads and either derailed them with a complete off-topic post or he just dumped his link in the middle of a conversation. I spoke about it here. As you can probably imagine, I was rather surprised to have such false accusations hurled at me, along with some other ramblings about a chapter I apparently sent to a friend and the response made me fall off my chair. I have no idea what this is about, but never mind. The important thing is that this author thinks I have nothing better to do than seeking out his book on the German website and add tags, or better ask a friend to do the dirty work for me. Why the heck would I do that? He seemed to have concluded it was me or a friend because I'm German and I commented on his link-dumping with: Bit random. By the way: if I really wanted to sabotage his book, I would have done so on the UK or US site, and I have plenty of friends all over the world, who could tag as if there's no tomorrow.
You see, I'm all for walking away from arguments and had he just called me a fucking bitch, I would have shrugged and moved on without any reaction, but this is defamation and a different matter. I've asked a person, who had some tagging issues in the past and she said you can hover over them to find out who added them. Well, I can't, but she looked and none of the tags said my name. Surely some will argue it was one of my friends, but believe me, they also have better things to do. I'm not in Kindergarten anymore. I'll tell you exactly what I think of you and then turn around an leave you alone. I might be loud and I rant a lot, but I don't stab anyone in the back, that's just not my style.
I've contacted Amazon.com, co.uk and de and asked for the tags to be removed and also told them about the accusations. It took bloody many hours off my day, for something I have no relation to whatsoever. If I do something wrong, I'll freely admit it and hang my head in shame; heck I even apologise if necessary, but I will not sit back and have someone throw dirt at my name.
I'm sorry that you ran into one of internet creeps. Don't let them ruin a minute of your day. Great blog.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the compliments :-)
DeleteIt was probably just a matter of time. Not saying he's a creep, that I wouldn't know since I only know the online persona, but jumping to conclusions and hurling them at me in an open forum is rather bold.
I thought I didn't read right.
Good for you for standing up to them Stella :) x
DeleteWell, I couldn't just let this one pass. I know there are plenty of Indies who probably hate me and I, too, had some tagging issues: my tags were copied and pasted to random books, mainly to those with poor rating. Did I go and blame anyone? No. I blogged about this curious problem, but I didn't blame anyone. That's the difference. I could have done so, since he's British, you see? And it was on the UK site.
DeleteI've abstained from Amazon's forums for years now Stella. Quite honestly, they are cesspits. I have found much more pleasant swamps to swim in that are not full of slime buckets full of their own sh*t.
ReplyDeleteDerek, there are some really nice people on Amazon, too. It was my own thread and it was a great exchange about the KPD select programme. My thread, you see? I don't get involved with arguments. As soon as a thread derails, I'll leave as there's a 99% possibility of trolls flying in. But that thread was super peaceful until this guy came along.
DeleteOkay, that's just plain creepy and weird. Sorry. Go read-I-mean-Watch my new blog and get immediately cheered up. xo
ReplyDeleteNot creepy, but wrong, Pamela. I'll take a look at your blog to see if it makes me giggle. ;-)
DeleteUgh. People can be so rude on the Internet, especially when they feel superior in some way. There is no cause for cursing and name calling. It's obnoxious and childish. So sorry you had to run into someone like that but I'm glad you reported him to Amazon. Take care!
ReplyDeleteYou see, if he had called me names, I would have just shrugged. Fine, he's making a tit of himself, you know, but accusing me of sabotage is another thing. Why would I do that? I had this done to my book, too. It made me laugh. Though someone went and posted them under a different book. http://wordsbystelladeleuze.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/ive-made-it-i-think.html
DeleteAnd I had some odd and rude tags under No Wings Attached. They disappeared after a while.
The Amazon tags are basically a good idea but they are far too easy to abuse. I fell foul of them myself. Someone added the tag 'spammer' to one of my books on the amazon.co.uk site. I was horrified because I hate spam and wouldn't dream of using it to promote a book. I try to avoid hijacking other people's posts with links to my books. I don't flood Twitter with endless book links. I've even blogged about why I hate spam. (I won't include a link because I know you don't like that).
ReplyDeleteI complained to Amazon and got an apparently standard letter saying they couldn't change tags unless they were clearly against their terms and conditions and guidelines. I replied pointing out how the tag was against their community guidelines in that it was libellous, defamatory, and I certainly found it objectionable. In reply I got another standard letter stating much the same as before and that 'We won't be able to provide further insight or assistance for your request.'
I seem to be accused but have no opportunity to challenge my unknown accuser.