'Tis the Summer of Butthurt

Just in time for the grand "Goodreads bullies" wank, Jaq D Hawkins has decided that her path to fame, fortune, and validation lies through revealing my real name:

I could stop it, but I’m not going to, simply because this stalker trying to convince people that I harass reviewers is clearly guilty of Libel as a result of doing so and the legal system is inadequate to control malicious acts of this nature. The question is, why do people go mental in this manner? There may be some merit in trying to boost her on-line visibility by tagging onto a known but not extremely famous author. The real big names have the cash to access the legal system and deal with such people, but I get as many Google hits as many of them.

She or one of her followers also posted a now-deleted fake Goodreads profile for me, complete with a little nugget of wish fulfillment. 'Cos that's how "known but not extremely famous" authors roll.

ETA: Back in June, Kat Kennedy posted the last Hawkins wank on Cuddlebuggery, in the Scandalous Scandals section that's drawn the "GR Bullies" site's ire. Some of her readers made their opinions known on Goodreads, marking Dance of the Goblins as do-not-read, will-never-read, or you-sir-are-an-asshat, and putting it on shelves like foot-in-mouth-disease, attacks-reviewers, and did-the-author-really-just-go-there. Hawkins accused me of being behind it--which got her nowhere--so a few days later, her longtime sockpuppet/meatpuppet Pam Mandeville posted a review of DotG with a link to Hawkins's site, and spammed negative reviews of DotG with the link and my real name. Because that's what vigilante justice looks like, yo. *awkward hand gestures*

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	spawn_of_kong 2012-07-19 01:15 am UTC (link)
	this stalker trying to convince people that I harass reviewers is clearly guilty of Libel as a result of doing so and the legal system is inadequate to control malicious acts of this nature. (Emphasis mine) The legal system's inadequate, huh? So what, you're going to go vigilante or something? Yeah, good luck with that. (Reply to this)(Thread)

issendai
2012-07-20 08:37 pm UTC (link)

...I, uh, I think that's her actual plan. Because when somebody tries to convince people that you're harassing them by posting your own words verbatim and in context, your best bet is to let the world know that you're NOT a vile harasser, you're merely a beleaguered author who's willing to spread other people's private information when it suits your purposes. Or something. Either way, she's doing an awesome job making me look unhinged.

...Or something.

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darksumomo
2012-07-19 02:46 am UTC (link)

the legal system is inadequate to control malicious acts of this nature.

Hahahahahaha. Bullshit. That's not why she's not suing.

The real big names have the cash to access the legal system and deal with such people

That's why. The legal system is perfectly adequate, but her bank account isn't.

I get as many Google hits as many of them.

Welcome to the 21st Century version of "I have supporters in email."

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	issendai 2012-07-20 08:38 pm UTC (link)
	Google has forgiven her? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	ghostmaster 2012-07-22 10:35 pm UTC (link)
	GIP (Reply to this)(Parent)

	rosehiptea 2012-07-19 03:48 am UTC (link)
	The question is, why do people go mental in this manner? So to this person, putting a book review on the internet = "going mental." No wonder they're having trouble figuring this out. (Reply to this)

kalika_maxwell
2012-07-19 04:50 am UTC (link)

I'm two months away from turning into some sort of Real Author. I wonder if, on publication day, I will suddenly lose all sanity and begin frothing at the mouth whenever I hear any sort of criticism. It sounds like that's exactly what's happening to authors lately!

Maybe I should get ready for the inevitable? I could practice screaming 'you're interrogating the text from the wrong perspective' at the computer screen. Maybe buy a nice straight jacket.

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	romana03 2012-07-19 05:13 am UTC (link)
	Definitely practice. By the time you're published you should have just the right amount of froth perfected, Vanessa (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	issendai 2012-07-19 05:51 pm UTC (link)
	And start building up your horde of minions now. (Or sockpuppets. Either way.) No frothy rant is complete without a Greek chorus in the background, chanting, "Mean meanie who's mean!" Congratulations on your incipient Real Authorhood and sanity loss! Are there any links about your book you could point us to, Vanessa? (Reply to this)(Parent)

	sarahfrost 2012-07-19 11:45 am UTC (link)
	I read the story excerpt of yours that Jaq D. Hawkins posted, Vanessa, and I really liked it! The line about the asexual chess piece wedding was funny and the personalities involved seemed charming even in the short bit. This wank is also joyous and interesting. (Reply to this)(Thread)

issendai
2012-07-19 12:32 pm UTC (link)

Thanks, Vanessa! I'm ridiculously fond of that bit too, in the way that only authors can fangirl their own characters. The rest of the (fragmentary) story is on the Throbbing Pagan Sex God comm, and there's more discussion on my LJ.

(For them as were wondering: No, dialogue doesn't have to start on its own line. Dialogue from a different speaker starts on its own line, except when one character makes a short interjection to another character's speech and you're being all Victorian about yourself.)

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	phosfate 2012-07-19 06:01 pm UTC (link)
	I'm ridiculously fond of that bit too, in the way that only authors can fangirl their own characters. This gives me glee, Vanessa. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	issendai 2012-07-20 08:41 pm UTC (link)
	grin Fangirling is one of the forces that powers the universe. Why not harness it FOR GREAT ~~JUSTICE~~ LITERATURE? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	issendai 2012-07-20 08:41 pm UTC (link)
	...Vanessa. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	kijikun 2012-07-19 08:59 pm UTC (link)
	Wait your real name isn't Vanessa? You've lied to us! XD (Reply to this)(Thread)

	issendai 2012-07-20 08:53 pm UTC (link)
	"Issendai" is Swedish for Vanessa. It's not my fault that you're all Anglocentric monolinguists. Vanessa. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	chienne 2012-07-19 09:25 pm UTC (link)
	She obviously graduated from the Wll Shtt*rly School of Author Conduct. The next step, obviously, is to blame this all on her diet. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	phosfate 2012-07-20 12:12 pm UTC (link)
	Wait, he what? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	issendai 2012-07-20 12:19 pm UTC (link)
	My words exactly. Who did what now? (Reply to this)(Parent)

	chienne 2012-07-24 01:38 pm UTC (link)
	Back in 2010, he blamed his behavior on his vegan diet. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	phosfate 2012-07-24 01:59 pm UTC (link)
	Kay. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	issendai 2012-07-24 03:08 pm UTC (link)
	I see him saying he was feeling depressed, and that might have been part of a B12 deficiency caused by a vegan diet--which, according to the Internet, isn't unreasonable. Is there anywhere he says he became a mighty mighty wanking machine because of his diet? (Reply to this)(Parent)

	life_on_mars 2012-07-20 04:13 pm UTC (link)
	Wait, she gave her own book five stars ... three separate times? Who is she trying to kid? (Reply to this)

white_serpent
2012-07-20 07:14 pm UTC (link)

So, Vanessa, let's tick this off. Author is displeased by bad review, so she:
*threatens you with a lawsuit (SLAPP)
*accuses you of being a stalker, obsessed, and using a bunch of sockpuppets to harass her (libel)
*has a friend track down your real identity, which she plans to use to "make sure you're forever linked with that stalking that she just knows you must be responsible for" (libel and harassment)
*uses that information to set up a fake profile for you and pretends to post as you (identity theft)

What a saint!

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	issendai 2012-07-20 08:46 pm UTC (link)
	You forgot: ??? Profit! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	eljuno 2012-07-20 08:02 pm UTC (link)
	You're still Vanessa, I see. WE ARE ALL VANESSA. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	issendai 2012-07-20 08:44 pm UTC (link)
	I AM THE ONE AND ONLY TRUE VANESSA. YOU ARE ALL MY PUPPETS. Dance, puppets, dance! One-star those reviews! "Like" my review! Higher! HIGHER! IF I DON'T HAVE MORE SUPPORTERS THAN FIFTY SHADES OF GRAY BY DINNERTIME, YOU'RE ALL EATING GRUEL. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	magnolia_mama 2012-08-08 02:46 am UTC (link)
	Thought you might appreciate a heads-up that @EvilWylie tweeted a link to your write-up of this tonight, so the hornets' nest might start buzzing again. (Reply to this)(Thread)

issendai
2012-08-08 02:11 pm UTC (link)

Bahaha oh dear. He has a lot of followers, too. This may get... differently interesting. Thanks for the heads up.

It's been kicked around Goodreads a fair bit. Jaq roamed all over the site for weeks, moaning about how she was being persecuted by an unnamed stalker, the stalker's sockpuppets, and the stalker's friends, a bunch of "little girls" who didn't realize they were actually increasing her sales. This went on until a day or two ago, when the "little girls" handed her her ass.

No idea what she's going to do next. She may have finally realized that her "flame me until the flamewar ends" tactic isn't working as planned, but that doesn't mean she's realized that shutting up and letting it blow over will, in fact, make it blow over. Someone else writing a snark review...? Ohhhhh boy.

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