@CarlaJDouglas
You’ve likely heard the rumblings through the late summer
and fall about bullies in the reviews at Goodreads. And you’ve probably learned
also that Goodreads has addressed this issue with new rules about review
content, what they’ll tolerate and what they’ll delete. You can read the September
20 announcement here.
If you need to catch up on the details, the issues are encapsulated
nicely in these two Ether posts by Porter Anderson: When Bad Things (Seem To) Happen on Good Sites
(what happened) and What Happens When Everybody’s
a Critic (how everyone responded). It’s a bit of a long story, and everyone
has an opinion about it.
The gist of it? Goodreads won’t tolerate bullying. This includes
attacks on both authors and other reviewers, and Goodreads will delete reviews
and comments that violate their guidelines. Indeed, the announcement really
just reiterates what most of us perceive as good behaviour online or offine. It
also reminds authors how they should handle bad reviews and/or harassment.
A few months ago I posted a comparison of Goodreads and
Amazon review guidelines. You can look at the comparison chart here. As far as I can tell (I didn't take a screen
shot of the Guidelines page in the summer), Goodreads hasn’t altered their
guidelines for reviewers. They’ve simply issued a reminder and outlined the
consequences for those who don’t comply. I’ve asked Goodreads if I’m right
about this – that the guidelines remain the same – and I’ll update that
information when they reply.
My point is that the guidelines have always been there, and
they are pretty clear about what’s okay to post and what’s not okay. Bullies
and trolls know that they’re being bullies and trolls.
But looking at the issue of guidelines and online behaviour
reveals another real problem on both Amazon and Goodreads: Yes, the guidelines
were clear to begin with, but they are buried deep inside both sites, and only
a series of searches will get you there.
To get to Amazon’s General Review Creation Guidelines page:
To reach Goodreads Review Guideines:
A Google search will also take you to these sites. But site
users shouldn’t have to dig around and go off-site to find what they’re looking
for. The Contact Us page on Goodreads was similarly difficult to locate. (Steve
Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think (3rd
ed. out later this year) is the go-to guide for web usability.)
Would posting review guidelines in a more visible location
on the site raise the standard of reviews and comments? Perhaps. More visible
guidelines would also communicate to readers, reviewers and authors that the
quality of commentary and behaviour matters.
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