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Should we respond to negative reviews?




Recently I had a discussion in my social media about negative ratings. There was a situation in Goodreads, where I got two negative reviews on my two books. The point was in the way how the ratings were set up.

First rating for my book "Body in the waves" was placed under 5-star review from another reviewer. While the reviewer praising my book, the troll came under to say "This is really bad book." Second rating was described as " Poor author needs writing lessons."

Both reviews broke standards of reviewing, because there is no visible evidence that book was downloaded in Kindle unlimited or purchased. It was a clear troll act from a new page, without a profile photo and with a nickname.

I reported this to Goodreads and they responded me they are processing this. Meanwhile, I heard from other authors that Goodreads failed to do anything about trolling. 



In these terms, Goodreads should delete such profiles and forbid the access because of breaking rules. They act like an amateurish site. In this way, everyone has an acces. Anyone is allowed to rate books and abuse authors.

When I do my online shopping and buy clothes, I do reviews. My reviews are verified and adjusted to rules. Why should someone had an access to rate products if they are not purchasing it? Having in my mind that my total rating in Goodreads is 4.50 (included 416 ratings), the troll had a clear intention to ruin it. 

Amazon shows Goodreads ratings under the book links and it counts. Why to let some sick minded people to troll around?

The only area where trolling should be allowed are AI books. If someone writes with AI, trolling could be a good tool to sabotage this. 

While some authors said it would be better to ignore, or even to use as a marketing, I think Goodreads and Amazon should pay more attention to protect us. Rating and reviewing should not be allowed as a tool for a personal revenge. It happens that some authors are trolling your books from personal reasons. If you did not respond on their demands to buy or read their books, they will act like spoiled kids. So called book marketers can also do this when you block their mails for promotions. 

Social media became a battlefield where everyone wants their piece of cake. If we have rules for authors, there should be rules for readers, too.

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