Goodreads authors protection from fake accounts > Likes and Comments

Dear Friends,

please reach out if any of you had to deal with similar situation?

I have received 5 abusive comments yesterday, in relation to my comment "ARC reviewers needed"; at the same time, 5 "one star" ratings (ratings, no reviews) were added to my book's reviews from the very same 5 fake accounts; this resulted in my average rating changing from 5 to 2.5

Its really upsetting and I have reported this to Goodreads help. Surely they cant allow fake accounts to do this to the authors?? If it was a genuine 1 star rating, I wouldn't have minded it at all- its part of the game.

Any advice will be much appreciated.

Dr Jasmine

I also find such fake accounts to be a problem. The best way to deal with them is to ignore their threats and flag them. What GR could do to help a lot with this problem would be to ban the use of private accounts, which are overwelmingly used by scammers and fraudsters. If you aren't willing to show who you are, then you shouldn't be allowed on GR.

Dear Michael,

Thank you so much for your support! this does make me feel a bit better. The thing is, it is impossible to flag " fake rating", only a " fake review".

I hope Goodreads will take notice and will keep us all safer, as you suggest.

Wishing you a lovely evening :o)

Jasmine

Michel wrote: "I also find such fake accounts to be a problem. The best way to deal with them is to ignore their threats and flag them. What GR could do to help a lot with this problem would be to ban the use of ..."

I totally agree with you Michel, it's very harmful to the recipient of an account that has been faked! GR needs to stay on top of things better. Well said!

I too had these problems. Go to these fake accounts and block, report them to Goodreads. Also ask them to take fake reviews off your book sites here and on Amazon send the exact fake account names to both places. They will help but need full information on these sites. Thanks.

Brenda wrote: "I too had these problems. Go to these fake accounts and block, report them to Goodreads. Also ask them to take fake reviews off your book sites here and on Amazon send the exact fake account names ..."

Thank you very much for your support, Brenda. Luckily, the problem had been solved now- I did contact GR help, and they dealt with this very efficiently- thank you, GR! :o)

I think that the morale of this whole story is for authors trying to promote their books on GR to avoid like the Plague members who have their accounts set to 'private'. Do you want to trust someone who refuses to show his/her identity while they are asking for a copy of your book?

Michel wrote: "I think that the morale of this whole story is for authors trying to promote their books on GR to avoid like the Plague members who have their accounts set to 'private'. Do you want to trust someon..."

Dear Michel- totally! I couldn't have said it better myself :o)

Jasmine

My book will become available 10.15. I'm preparing ad support now, and based on a lot of complaints posted elsewhere about fake, negative reviews here, as of this moment, I believe I'll pass on GR.

But I do appreciate the "...avoid like the Plague members who have their accounts set to 'private'..." advice. Very sad it's come to this.

No one is allowed to remove fake reviews or 1-star mis-ratings without any reviews, because they supposedly violate the so-called "freedom of speech." Read more about it here: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...