What Do You Do To Rabid Puppies? (Answer Below.)
You may have heard about how the 2015 Hugo Awards nominations have been disrupted this year by two separate slates of nominees and their respective voting blocks.
There’s a lot of coverage on the matter, with some of the best from io9, the Daily Dot, and George R.R. Martin (yes, Game Of Thrones fans, these people compelled GRRM to take valuable time away from writing to respond to the situation. Add that to their list of offenses.) If you don’t want to click through on everything or read our previous post, here’s what you need to know for this column:
There was a slate released by the Sad Puppies on February 1 that included a varied list of authors, many of a conservative bent, including authors that have been previously nominated for Hugo and Campbell awards.
And then, one day later, there was a slate released by Theodore Beale that he called the Rabid Puppies slate, which heavily copied the Sad Puppies list and added many items that he published through his publishing house, Castalia House, which was founded just last year.
Theodore Beale is… an interesting fellow. He came to prominence writing for WorldNetDaily, a website partially funded by his father, a convicted tax evader. Theodore Beale, who often goes by the presumptuous pseudonym Vox Day, happens to believe that marital rape is impossible, that autism causes atheism, that vaccines cause autism, that Obama’s birth certificate is forged, that there is no global warming, that feminism is failure, and on and on and on.
He is the only person to be expelled from the Science Fiction Writers of America for using an official SFWA Twitter account to link to a blog post that called SFWA member and African-American author N. K. Jemisin “an educated, but ignorant half-savage.”
And he boosted his Rapid Puppies slate by reaching out to the #Gamergate community, a group of people (the word “class” seems inappropriate here) that he has long supported, and who clearly tipped the balance in many of the Hugo categories.
In short, we find Mr. Beale to be a racist, sexist, homophobic, inflammatory, self-aggrandizing troll who who has no compunctions about burning down an entire community to exact revenge and gain his own personal amusement. His choice of the name “Rabid Puppies” is spot on, along with his logo choice that blows up the Hugo Award.
But what to do about it? More to the point, since the Hugo Awards won’t be given out until WorldCon in August, what can we do about it right now?
Ironically, Beale has given us the answer himself.
Of the unique items on the Rabid Puppies slate, nine are works that Mr. Beale had a hand in, either as a writer, editor, or publisher through his house, Castalia House, or where he previously blogged at Black Gate. (Hat tip to Mike Glyer for compiling the list.) Replying to a commenter about the quality of his works, Beale said:
No problem. I can objectively prove their superiority. Average Amazon ratings out of 5.
4.64 Sad Puppy Best Novel recommendations
4.60 Rabid Puppy Best Novel recommendations
4.46 2015 Hugo shortlist 4.46
3.90 2010-2013 Hugo shortlistsIn short fiction, Amazon ratings and number of reviews
4.6 (63) One Bright Star to Guide Them (2015 finalist)
4.3 (121) Big Boys Don’t Cry (2015 finalist)
4.4 (48) Lady Astronaut of Mars (2014 winner)
4.3 (152) Equoid (2014 winner)The Sad Puppy nominees are objectively superior as rated by Amazon.
We’d like to thank Mr. Beale for reminding us that Hugo Award nominations aren’t the only things that can be gamed…
You can game Amazon ratings as well.
Here’s a list of all of Mr. Beale’s nominees, complete with handy links to Amazon. It might be a good idea to take a look at the reviews and see which ones are helpful. If you’ve read the works, you should add your own review.
NOMINEES APPEARING ONLY ON RABID PUPPIES 2015 SLATE ON AMAZON
BEST NOVELLA
- “The Plural of Helen of Troy” by John C. Wright, City Beyond Time, Castalia House
- “Pale Realms of Shade” by John C. Wright, The Book of Feasts & Seasons, Castalia House
BEST NOVELETTE
“Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus” by John C. Wright, The Book of Feasts & Seasons, Castalia HouseUPDATE 4/14: “Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus” by John C. Wright was previously published on a web site in 2013 prior to its inclusion in The Book of Feasts & Seasons in 2014, so it is not eligible for the 2015 Novelette Hugo and has been removed from the ballot.
BEST SHORT STORY
- “Turncoat” by Steve Rzasa, Riding the Red Horse, Castalia House
- “The Parliament of Beasts and Birds” by John C. Wright, The Book of Feasts & Seasons, Castalia House
BEST EDITOR (Short Form)
- Vox Day, Riding the Red Horse, Castalia House
BEST EDITOR (Long Form)
- Vox Day, Castalia House
THE JOHN W. CAMPBELL AWARD
- Rolf Nelson, The Stars Came Back, Castalia House
If you’d like to look at the reviews for the other nominees from Castalia House:
- “One Bright Star to Guide Them” by John C. Wright
- “Big Boys Don’t Cry” by Tom Kratman
- Transhuman and Subhuman: Essays on Science Fiction and Awful Truth, by John C. Wright
- “The Hot Equations: Thermodynamics and Military SF” by Ken Burnside, Riding the Red Horse, Castalia House
- Eric S. Raymond, “Sucker Punch”, Riding the Red Horse, Castalia House
Oh, and to answer the title question: what do you do to rabid puppies?
You put them down.
*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.
Sorry, no names, no vowels. You’re welcome to try again.
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.
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.
I have not called for any fake reviews.
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.
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Meanwhile, i just came across 2014 Hugo winner Kameron Hurley’s comments in The Atlantic.
“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.
I am not calling for posting false information. As far as “on your side”, though obviously I’m not speaking for him I suspect Mike would not be unhappy if, say, David Weber got a Hugo nomination.
I dunno – he’s got a big enough head already.
I’m sure Mom liked you better.
[Worf]We do not speak of this![/worf]
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.
He hasn’t asked people to post fake reviews. He asked that people post a review if they have read the story or book.
Really? That’s how you interpreted “you can game Amazon ratings as well.”
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.
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.
Exactly so.
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.
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. . . .
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.
Glenn, I thought you were better than that. Pointing out ratings and saying, and I quote:
If that’s not a dogwhistle, nothing is. Mind you, I’m not a Vox supporter. But playing dirty is playing dirty. . .
It could also be read that someone has already gamed Amazon ratings so that “Riding The Red Horse” ranks higher than, say, “Starship Troopers”.
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.
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.
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.
“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. . . .
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.
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.
Ha. Ha. Ha.
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.
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.
…other than all the glowing reviews posted by the same handful of “fans,” which couldn’t possible be fake?
Here’s an interesting article: Amazon Cracks Down on Bogus Reviews