Internet slander, a cautionary tale--part 2

If you haven't read the previous post, scroll down to get the whole story.

Okay, so I visited the website of the Amazon reviewer I call Slanderer, the guy who more than disparaged my editing in his "review" on the Amazon.com page for my old novel, The Enemy. His website was about his self-published novel, included his bio, "reviews" of his novel, contact information, the usual stuff.

He published his novel through Booklocker.com, and has linked to a PDF of the first three chapters. I couldn't resist looking at them. More on that in a moment.

He cited reviews, and gave links to them. One review was purportedly on the Huffington Post blog. I went to the site and searched for Slanderer's name and for the title of his book. Nothing was there, even though he published his book in 2007. Google doesn't find it either.

I tried a link he'd posted for "Best Seller Reports." That generated a "server not found" error message. I Googled for it, but nothing came up. If I were the suspicious (or the slandering) type, I might think he made those reviews up.

I decided to email Slanderer to let him know that I knew that he and his friends had organized the onslaught of nasty reviews, and to mention that what he had done on my The Enemy page was slander, which is something that is against the law, and immoral even if it wasn't.

The editor in me couldn't resist including a few comments on his writing -- remember, he disparaged my editing. I pointed out a continuity gaffe and the existence of a number of punctuation errors. I didn't have any urge to give the kind of helpful critique I do here. Believe me, he could use it.

I was calm, rational and professional throughout my email, and used no inflammatory language…except, maybe, right at the last, when the word "puerile" appeared. I think that was a mistake.

Here's Slanderer's answer to my email:

"Blah blah blah. Write me when the testicles drop

"I think you're being a bit paranoid. It's not my fault that I and others find your reviews to be not only misleading but a tad convenient in that everyone refuses to state their name and give your books a perfect score. We have all read your material, given our opinions, and that is what Amazon is all about. If you can't stand criticism not only about your book but the convenient, if not odd, state of your reviews, then maybe you shouldn't be in the writing game. Grow some thick skin, mature, and back off. I don't need kiddies stuffing my e-mail with unnecessary spam."

Ironic note: all three of his pals who joined him in shafting me gave his novel perfect, 5-star ratings on Amazon.com. Convenient, perhaps?

Note that he made no reference to his slander in his email. I'm thinking that there's no comprehension on their part that what he and his friends colluded to do could damage my reputation and livelihood in number of serious ways. Anyone considering me for an edit can Google my name, and would have come upon those fraudulent, slanderous reviews. This could hurt my business and damage the sales of my future books.

Striking back

Oh, you can imagine the things I thought of to do. Report his name and the names of the others on FtQ to let the Internet litworld know. Go to his page on Amazon.com and post a rational, true critique of his writing -- it would be devastating.

But I've decided not to do those things, for several reasons. I didn't want to stoop (more like bellyflop) to his level -- I've evolved a little in the last few years. And it could make him a real enemy -- I could find myself plagued by him for years. It's clear that he is an angry man who loves to spew venom. No, I want no further contact with that man.

However, if he attacks again, I'll shout out his name and deeds to as much of the Internet as I can reach.

Another reason I'm not going to do anything has to do with a central theme in one of the novels he and his buddies slammed. In that story, citizens band together to try to create a better life in this world. Each member of "the Alliance" makes this promise:

I promise to help, the best I can.

It so happens that, when I wrote the novel and thought about the ideas in it, I made that promise, and ever since then I've tried my best to live by it (note: it's hardest to live up to when I argue with my wife, but I'm getting better at it).

To attack Slanderer wouldn't be helping him. If Nasty, the one who I believe started all this, had really thought about what the novel was saying and what that promise means, maybe he wouldn't have attacked me. But perhaps he's angry about something too. It's pretty clear that Slanderer, angry man that he is, would have nothing to do with a promise to help people whenever you can.

I believe that this Slanderer character is a danger to other writers as well. If you would like to learn who it is, email me and I will give you the link to his website.

Free novel

I'm serious about "the promise" and a wish for a way to create community of people who work to help each other (not unlike the FtQ "community"). Tell you what: I'm going to make up a PDF of the current iteration of that novel. It's now titled We the Enemy. If you would like to read it, email me and I'll send it as an attachment. All I ask in return is your feedback. The PDF should be ready in a week or two (A copyeditor friend is lending his fresh eyes and proofreading expertise).

Below are a couple of quotes from an honest review of the current version of We the Enemy. I work for a university, and I asked the book reviewer at the university newspaper to review it so I could get a feel for how the college audience might respond. I gave the reviewer no instructions or information, just the book. With the help of Kinko's, I made up a trade paperback version for her to read, and here's the summary paragraph from the review.

"Even though this book is a work of fiction, it is also safe to say it is a work of inspiration. Any good piece of writing should be able to persuade a reader to think about something in a different way, and We the Enemy does exactly that. While it may be unrealistic to wish for a perfect world, it is not unrealistic to wish for changes in our world. Rhamey's book encourages people to not only strive for change in the outside world, but to strive for change within themselves. This book is sure to leave the reader with a lot to think about, and a lot to hope for."

That's the novel that, in an early form, Nasty took such a dislike to.

Just so you won't think that the book is a self-serving, navel-gazing rumination, it explores ideas in thriller form. Here's the opening paragraph from that review:

"A book with twists and turns in its plot can do one of two things: end up being too confusing for comprehension, or end up being a really great book. After reading We the Enemy by Ray Rhamey, I came to the conclusion that, in this case, the twists and turns of the plot ended up producing a very exciting and intriguing book."

As I said, a free PDF is yours in return for the promise of feedback.

Google Alerts

I want to reinforce what a help signing up for Google Alerts was. Without it, I would never have noticed this abuse -- I simply don't go to the pages for those novels any more. You can create alerts for your name, a book title, just about anything you're interested in tracking.

And I want to mention again that the folks at Amazon.com are serious about keeping reviews clean, and can be very helpful. That email address is community-help@amazon.com. They require the ISBN for the book, the title of the book, the first sentence from the review in question, and the reason why you think it should be removed. I don't think it would do any good to just object to a negative review, nor would I ever do that. But if people flame you, I think that's reason to act.

It's a sad day when angry people single you out for attack. It's a troublesome day, too, because the Internet has such broad reach and longevity. It angers me still that these creeps will suffer no consequences for what they did, and that I'm powerless to retaliate in any meaningful way without opening myself up to further attacks. At least their poison has been removed.

Thank you!

To my friends out there, thank you for being the good, supportive people that you are. Your comments and good wishes have been a real comfort. You are the antidote to the evil dwarfs: Slanderer, Nasty, Nasty Buddy, and Nasty Buddy2.

Best,

Ray

ARCHIVES .

© 2007 Ray Rhamey

Comments

[Kathleen Bolton]

Well, Ray, you have the foreberance of a saint. I'm not sure I'd have been so nice to someone who isn't worth it. And how dumb do you have to be to link to reviews that don't exist?

I believe that karma's going to wallop Slanderer in unforeseen ways. The Internet is a big place, but the online community of writers is small. He'll learn that the hard way one day.

[Susie]

Thank you for posting the information about google alerts. I had no idea you could do that. ~Susie

[Therese Walsh]

I applaud you for not sinking to his level. It's not worth it. Again, so sorry to hear you had to deal with this at all. I wonder what motivated him to attack in the first place?

[Stan Johns]

Dear Ray,

Thank you for publishing these two pieces. Despite the small-minded and vitriolic nature of some of our fellow men, you have responded with dignity and fair-mindedness.

All the best with your work.

Stan.

[Nienke]

Politicians could learn from you! Thx for being the bigger man. That alone is inspiring.