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| Please don't feed the sock puppets - they multiply like gremlins |
This blog post has a deceptive title,
because there's really only one face of Andrew Domonkos:
But if you don't like that face, thats Okay,
Andrew has 153 faces on Goodreads!
11 pages of SOCK PUPPET WONDER!!
And how do I know?
Because, Andrew published his novel 3 days ago on Amazon:
He has ZERO reviews/ratings on Amazon,
but Andrew's 153 faces on Goodreads have been very busy:
161 ratings!! (153 of his own--the rest are from disgruntled Authors who have been attacked by Andrew)
And he has 153 votes on Listopia,
holding the #1 position on Best Vampire Books from "New" Authors!!
Andy is a very resourceful man with his 153 Goodreads profiles,
not only is he voting for his own book,
beating all the competition the American way,
he is also giving out shit-tons of 1 star ratings!!
But not for his own book, Oh no!
Those sock puppets are working overtime for Andrew!!
Poor Andrew denies having anything to do with his 153 faces.
But ooops!
He made his denial with two different sock puppet profiles named Domonkos and Andrew Domonkos!
Oh my!! But its an
easy mistake to make when you have 153 profiles to manage....
So come on down to Goodreads, join up, create a few dozen profiles,
and lets start rating some books!
Yeah, lets party like Andrew Domonkos, with overnight sock puppet success!!
**This blog post is satire for the purpose of drawing attention to the sock puppet and troll ratings attacks running unchecked on Goodreads.
My own novels are victims of Andrew Domonkos's sock puppet brigade.
I do not advocate creating more than one Goodreads profile, it is against their Terms of Service and unethical.
I do not advocate creating more than one Goodreads profile, it is against their Terms of Service and unethical.
DAMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!! You would think he could at least use some creative names . . . . WAMBO Clarus???? Farland McFarland???? Well, it sucks, but someone did the same thing to my novel, only on a site called "Library Thing" . . . they really trashed it, giving a HALF star, and there's no way they could have read it in the short time between when they 'received' it and rated it. Checked on some of their other ratings, and apparently they were going about trashing many other authors' work with nasty reviews. Too bad people can't just be upfront and honest, instead of playing high school games.
ReplyDeleteI had someone who had authored a book that was very similar to mine give me a scathing review on goodreads. And it hurt. It's difficult to know whether they wrote the review out of spite, or because that was how they truly felt about the book. I'm sorry to hear that your book got trashed--don't lose heart though, if they're trashing everyone's work, it says more about them as a reviewer than it does about you as a writer.
DeleteWambo Clarus. Farland McFarland. Those names made me laugh so hard.
DeleteI started a discussion that morning in the Librarian board, commented on his own account and he had maybe 8 reviews/ratings??? NOW he has... it is... GOBSMACKED and mind boggling... and WOW.. and ya he oops commented with his sockpuppet HAHAHA And I noticed it is still there. No one has addressed it on the librarian board. Has Chris heard anything back from his inquiry?
ReplyDeleteHe added a few new ones overnight, so the tally of sock puppet accounts is reaching into the 160's or more.
DeleteChris has complained. I have complained. Several authors who were attacked by his sock puppet Trolls have complained.
Goodreads doesn't seem to care.
So, if they don't care, and its unofficially 'ok' to behave this way, then why don't we all do it?
Lets all create a hundred emails and a hundred sock puppet profiles, and give ourselves a hundred pats on the back, and a few hundred votes in listopia, and we can have ratings wars to see who can create the most sock puppets and leave the most 1 star troll reviews on each others books!
Won't that be fun?
Sock puppet ratings wars. Who needs angry birds when you can play sock puppet ratings wars?
Ohhh... this crap is so weird and pathetic. Very very sad person this is. SAD.
ReplyDeleteWhat has me worried about all this is the merger with Amazon...and will they be any more capable - or concerned - with policing their own shelves?
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard about this fellow, but I believe I'll sashay on over there and have a look...
Thomas Rydder
http://thomasrydder.wordpress.com/
I see why this man is doing this but it is pretty sad, just to boost his book. Surely he needs to get a life? Boosting his own book with fake accounts is one thing, but attacking other authors is just not on. Goodreads should be taking action if it's been flagged up to them!
ReplyDeleteWow, just wow. Maybe we should make a site called TrollReads.
ReplyDeleteThat's insane. But stooping to their level isn't going to fix or even help the problem it'll only make it worse x.x
ReplyDeleteIf it wasn't sinking to his level I'd suggest we all go over and give his book a One Star rating with a terrible review and see how he likes being turned on by possibly hundreds of fellow authors.
ReplyDeletewell if it is any comfort, Travis, you're going to get a great review from me for Bloodslave. I will promote the hell out of it, too.
ReplyDeleteAs for his book, someone should buy it and tear it to pieces. I suggest Matt K. from ASMSG. His reviews are hilarious and he lampoons the crap out of bad writing. Surely someone who has to resort to telling people not to look at the author behind the curtain is a sh!t writer.
Can you provide a list of the sock puppet accounts so we can vote the reviews down where it is obvious he's engaging in these tactics?
*Rubs his hands together* Did I hear news of a pending review? Yummy.
DeleteI will be sure to tweet it up from her to infinity (Still tweeting the one you did for Patricia Knight).
As far as this nasty business of Sock puppet madness: the only answer is to remove all those profiles, block his IP addresses, and remove the book ratings and votes on Listopia.
And until then, all the authors he tagged are experiencing rating drops on their novels as much as an entire STAR. It only takes a few 1 stars to maim a star average.
But, at least Andrew and his book are getting lots of attention. Perhaps the wrong kind?
That's crazy.
DeleteI vouch for a system where a review could only be given with informative messages on a template motivating the parts of a story, something like flow, character build, language, plot, etc and moderators paid to accept/reject a review. Then, a different system for 'feedback/opinion' when a reader could just give thumbs up from 1 to 5 to simply state appreciation. Those might be given without any written motivation.
Gah, can't believe this crap is happening again! If these sock puppet creators put HALF the time and effort into writing and promoting their own books rather than making a bunch of fake profiles and rating down everyone else's books, they might actually get somewhere the good old fashioned honest way!!
ReplyDeleteAnd this is exactly one of the reasons I do not like Goodreads and their voting system. I'm sorry to hear you got hit by this person, Travis, but will it help to give one star ratings to the sorry creatures who feel they can only become top of the heap by 'killing' others?
ReplyDeleteIsn't all this talk about him giving him more exposure even?
Trolls and their off-spring (sock-puppets) should be ignored and not fed, but that is my opinion.
I can certainly understand how you feel Lucy.
DeleteTo me, Goodreads is my home. I spend a lot of time there engaging with friends, readers, fans. Apart from this nasty business, Goodreads is a wonderful place to engage fans and readers.
I can also understand your position on 'retaliation'. Under normal circumstances, I would never get involved with someone who left a single bad rating. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, and my novels are quite violent and erotic, so its not for everyone. BUT, a man with 153 profiles, who uses them to attack all the novels on a certain list with a SERIES of 1 star ratings? That kind of man deserves no respect. And the very least I can do is leave a review informing the world of what kind of man he is. The very least.
Besides, my review is gone now, Goodreads removed it. But this blog is a record that will stick.
And Lucy, don't let a few bad apples turn your Goodreads experience rotten. It is a wonderful place, there's no other like it on the web.
:)
He hit me with 20 or so bogus ratings also, dropping my average by a whopping .3 so with your permission, Travis, I'd like to share this post on my blog.
ReplyDeleteShane, you have my permission to share it all up. Though the evidence is immortalized on my blog, it is mostly gone from Goodreads. They eradicated the profiles, ratings, and votes from Listopia.
DeleteHopefully those issues you experienced are already gone, or soon will be.
:)
Hats off to you, Travis - I'm sharing this!
ReplyDeleteFor future reference if you have a problem like this:
ReplyDeleteIf any of your readers have any concerns, please encourage them to bring it to our attention at support@goodreads.com and we’ll investigate and take the appropriate action
Would that mean he'd need 153 email addresses? I thought you needed an email address to sign up to Goodreads. WOW
ReplyDelete