It seems the only person over Lauren Howard’s PMS is Lauren Howard. Too bad she’s so bored by all this that she won’t own up to the mess she has created.
GoodReads has a group, Mysteries & Crime Thrillers, it is a sizable group having 8,800 members yesterday. But today? Down to 4,000 and dwindling. Edit: It seems I mixed up the number of members with the other mystery group. So while I know of three people who were admitted then kicked out I am now not certain how many members have been blocked.
What happened you ask, well it seems the moderators of the group and a few of their friends have decided that if you don’t agree that Lauren Howard’s ‘reactions have been thoughtful, considered, and gentle, and her behaviour has been faultless” then they will at the least delete your opposing post and perhaps delete you from the group.
Indeed, one member is using the lists off that site to block people who will probably never even try to join, She admits that if she doesn’t approve of your shelves, your reviewing style, groups you belong to, or your language then she will block you.
Remember the description? “Win your next book! Mysteries, Cozies, Detective Fiction, Courtroom Drama, Romantic Suspense, Thrillers, Action Adventure. Pick the next book we read and win its cover price. Enter other challenges where we buy the next book you read if you win. Pick up free giveaways from the big publishers and top authors.
Literary news, Films, the Theatre, the Arts, Gossip, Free Fiction & Mystery Podcasts… Everything that entertains. We even have an Agony Aunt to support our members. Enjoy all things literary and never miss a thing again.
http://www.facebook.com/mysteriescrim…(less)
Did you see anything about worshipping at the feet of someone who has walked away from the mess she created? No? Neither did I.
Here’s the rules:
You have to love reading them.
Please put your thoughts down with reasonable grammar (not deliberate text speak) though the writing need not be perfect.
Use decent language; no swear words please. No sexually explicit posts please though adult books/romances can be discussed normally.
Personal attacks on posters will not be allowed. Be nice. :^)
Nasties’ posts will be deleted and the user removed by an automatic site cleaning program.
Still no mention of Lauren. So this is an arbitrary decision on the part of the mods. And this is wrong and this is bullying. A mod can have all the opinions he or she wants but when you impose them on an entire membership and you ignore the group rules to do so you are a bully, no, you are a dictator.
You are there to enforce the rules even on yourself, you are there to encourage growth and participation not stifle free speech and make your members too afraid to disagree, you serve your group, your group does not serve you.
If you want a group where everyone meets your personal criteria, then form one. You don’t take a group with a specific stated purpose and gut it for your personal pleasure. You want to block certain people from joining? Go ahead, if it’s your own private group that is fine but your group is public and you are undertaking a mass blocking of the public because you know that they will disagree with you. Let me assure you that none of us on that list wants to be in any group with the likes of you , we have standards, we prefer friends to servants.
It must be hell to be so scared of a different opinion that you will engage in actions that make most people back away from you in disgust.
If you shut up truth and bury it under the ground, it will but grow, and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it bursts through it will blow up everything in its way.-Emile Zola
It’s a beautiful quote, isn’t it? There you are burying the truth of Lauren’s actions for some reason I can’t begin to understand, better to face the truth than to try to hide it because it scares you or it doesn’t suit your goals. You are only delaying a possibly painful, maybe humiliating, and definitely messy situation in your probably not too distant future.