What Do You Do To Rabid Puppies? (Answer Below.)

Glenn Hauman

Glenn is VP of Production at ComicMix. He has written Star Trek and X-Men stories and worked for DC Comics, Simon & Schuster, Random House, arrogant/MGMS and Apple Comics. He's also what happens when a Young Turk of publishing gets old.

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35 Responses

  1. ___ says:

    *shakes head slowly* You guys really are a special brand of stupid, aren’t you? Do you enjoy poking bears with sticks as well? His audience dwarfs yours and he’s not above using the same tactics as you (as you so helpfully pointed out). So you go ahead and suggest an approach that can only possibly win if your audience is larger than his. What exactly do you hope to accomplish?

    BTW, talking about the hugo awards without actually talking about the hugo awards is dishonest. Why not use an honest title, like “Vox is a horrible person. Here’s how to beat him at him own game.” I only suggest that title because you’ve shown you don’t care about committing libel.

  2. Hampus Eckerman says:

    Vox Day is a horrible man with a set of values to the right of the talibans. Also, he rigged the voting system to enter other horrible persons into the Hugo contest.

    That does NOT mean that it is acceptable to fake reviews. We have had enough of that on amazon since before and it’s a tool directly borrowed from the gamergators. This post is just horrible. I really wish it would be taken down.

    • mike weber says:

      Yeah – agreed. At least one of my Amazon reviews was probably taken down (a third-party, non-Amazon source informed me) because the writer was gaming the system.

      I like to think i’m better (and more intelligent) than he is.

    • Glenn Hauman says:

      I have not called for any fake reviews.

  3. mike weber says:

    Messing with Amazon reviews – more than they’re already routinely messed with – is a Bad Idea. Escalation is sure to occur, given that these people(?) have already demonstrated that they have a tenuous grip on reality and sanity.

    =============

    Meanwhile, i just came across 2014 Hugo winner Kameron Hurley’s comments in The Atlantic.

    • Matthew says:

      “Escalation is sure to occur, given that these people(?) have already demonstrated that they have a tenuous grip on reality and sanity.”

      Well since the only people talking about posting false information is on your side & not on the side of the people who created the sad puppies list, yes I agree THEY do have a tenuous grip on reality and sanity.

  4. DeepThought says:

    I have reported you to Amazon and have asked for you to be banned for asking for users to post false reviews.

    Do you have no integrity or honor? No wonder so many of you are angry and despised by normal people.

    • Shane P. says:

      He hasn’t asked people to post fake reviews. He asked that people post a review if they have read the story or book.

      • Matthew says:

        Really? That’s how you interpreted “you can game Amazon ratings as well.”

        • mike weber says:

          Personally, i seldom post reviews of books i didn’t like (unless i really hated them, instead of merely disliking them).

          I could post honest reviews of books i didn’t like that i might otherwise not have done and pull the score down, since books by people like this tend to get five star reviews from people who wouldn’t know a truly good book if it bit them, but sure do know that they like the author’s politics.

  5. nitroglycol says:

    Not sure that this is a recommendation to game Amazon reviews; Hauman could simply be pointing out that the reviews VD cites aren’t necessarily trustworthy.

  6. Cat says:

    Good point. Thank you for mentioning it.

    I was going to read the Puppy stories anyway, but more honest reviews never hurt a good story.

  7. Keith Glass says:

    Glenn, I’m more than a little surprised to see this. Back when we were part of the team fighting the CDA (I met you in front of the Supreme Court, the day of the hearing), I was under the impression that we both felt that the correction for speech we may disagree with, is more speech, not shutting down the speech of others.

    So what changed, and when did lying (i.e. posting false reviews of a commercial product) become an acceptable tactic ? I thought that we were all better than that. . . .

    • Glenn Hauman says:

      Keith, I haven’t called for false reviews. Nor do I need to.

      It’s funny you mentioned the CDA– I commented to someone earlier today that it must irk Beale that when I fight the US government in court, I win.

      • Keith Glass says:

        Glenn, I thought you were better than that. Pointing out ratings and saying, and I quote:

        that Hugo Award nominations aren’t the only things that can be gamed…

        You can game Amazon ratings as well.

        If that’s not a dogwhistle, nothing is. Mind you, I’m not a Vox supporter. But playing dirty is playing dirty. . .

        • Glenn Hauman says:

          It could also be read that someone has already gamed Amazon ratings so that “Riding The Red Horse” ranks higher than, say, “Starship Troopers”.

  8. The Badger says:

    This saddens me somewhat.

    No. You don’t directly tell your readers to go to Amazon and vote them down. However, it is certainly implied. Yes it “could” be read that the Amazon rating system has already been gamed. But it strongly suggests that people go to Amazon and leave bad reviews.
    You may not have meant that when you wrote this piece, but that’s how it’s coming across. Your last line certainly indicates a negative action should be taken.

    You’re better than that.

    • Glenn Hauman says:

      But you have to put down rabid puppies; if they infect you, you get inflammation of the brain. The symptoms include anxiety, confusion, agitation, abnormal behavior, paranoia, terror, and hallucinations, progressing to delirium… and eventually death. And once you show symptoms, it’s too late– it’ll kill you and there’s no canine cure.

      Hey, I didn’t pick the name. That would be Mr. Beale. Surely he was aware of the connotations.

      • The Badger says:

        We are not talking about the name chosen by the slate. We are talking about you advocating the posting of fake reviews. Apparently you are not better than that. That is unfortunate.

  9. Keith Glass says:

    “You have to put down rabid puppies”.

    So, they’re Unpersons and can be dispatched for your convenience ?

    Perhaps they should be identified. Here’s an idea: have them sew a Yellow emblem onto their clothing. . . .

  10. Tintinaus says:

    I wonder if you can count the Sci-phi journal/Fancast as Vox Day sock-puppets. If he didn’t have a hand in their production he is certainly profiting from them. The only place you can get the journal apart from Amazon is Casalia House.

  11. VD says:

    Mr. Hauman, more fake reviews have been posted on the works you mentioned in the two days since your call for posting fake reviews than on all Catalia House books and books by the authors published with other publishers combined in the previous 14 months. There is a clear trail linking your malicious call for fake reviews and the appearance of those reviews, your disingenuous attempts to claim it was no such thing notwithstanding.

    If you send me an email admitting that you called for fake reviews to be posted, apologizing for doing so, and asking both Amazon and your readers to take down the fake reviews posted after your piece entitled What Do You Do To Rabid Puppies? (Answer Below.), I will post it at VP, and the matter will be considered closed as soon as the fake reviews come down.

    • mike weber says:

      Ha. Ha. Ha.

    • mike weber says:

      Just because a review of a bad book is a negative review, and it appears in response to a blatant perversion of the voting process in a respected fan award, does not mean it’s fake.

      Perhaps the works in question are just bad – and people who post honest reviews, instead of the author and publisher’s sock puppets (i suppose you could call them “friends”) posting fake five-star reviews just never wanted to soil their hands or keyboard by any association with such sludge just never posted before.

    • mike weber says:

      I find it rather risible that the man who organised the perversion of an award that people actually pay to vote for – and which has a genuine effect on SF/Fantasy sales – takes such a sanctimonious position in relation to an alleged response of the same sort.

    • Ed Handy says:

      …other than all the glowing reviews posted by the same handful of “fans,” which couldn’t possible be fake?

  12. mike weber says:

    Here’s an interesting article: Amazon Cracks Down on Bogus Reviews

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