Keep calm, Bouchercon is about to start, so bring flowers for your hair, it is in San Francisco
I'm getting excited to meet fellow reviewers, editors and writers
Ali
Sent from my iPhone
On 12 Oct 2010, at 18:45, "patrick lee" <dermdocsx2@gmail.com> wrote:
> So someone writes with such vehemence on what is supposed to be a fun, informative list that it drives away yet another professional writer whose opinion and experience I think are vital and invaluable to this list? Didn't Jim Doherty leave at one time because of this? What does it take to have just respectful discourse such that people can feel safe to express their thoughts and opinions without worry of mocking and recrimination?
>
> Congratulations, I think this list has hit a new low.
>
> --- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "davezeltserman" <Dave.Zeltserman@...> wrote:
> >
> > Even though what I wrote was outrageously facetious, even though I even added that I was only kidding, even though it would require a rigid, completely inflexible mind to take what I wrote at all seriously I knew Kevin Burton Smith would. I almost wrote a post predicting it. So here is a small part of what Kevin wrote on his blog:
> >
> > "Alas, some authors, some after years of being published, still don't get it. I just read yet another ill-tempered rant (ironically, from a writer who generally gets positive reviews from some pretty impressive sources) who's been known to carry grudges for years, and is now publicly indulging in torture fantasies about what would happen if he ever gets his hands on anyone who ever writes a "bad review" of one of his books.
> >
> > Worse, this Paragon of Pettiness claims he represents the yearnings of authors everywhere."
> >
> > Either Kevin Burton Smith knew what I wrote was meant to be outrageous and not to be taken seriously and decided to use it anyways to make one of his obvious points, or the guy is so literally minded that he can't see the obvious. In either case it's a problem if we have to worry about having what we write here twisted out of context and broadcast elsewhere.
> >
> > Here's the reality about bad reviews--most authors (myself included) recognize legitimate criticism and are ultimately fine with it. Most authors also realize when the reviewer has an agenda, or is putting things at a personal level, and those are annoying. An example of this was Kevin's review of The Disassembled Man, which he made personal, including snide innuendos and attacks on the author, and those have no place anywhere. What's also become more frequent in this increasing online world is what a friend of mine refers to as hand grenade reviews, where on sites like Amazon someone posts a generic bad review with nothing to indicate they read the book, but clearly out to hurt the author--either out of jealously or a personal agenda, and those are also very annoying, but sadly the world we live in.
> >
> > I like to joke around, it's my nature, but as long as KBS has access to this forum and I have to worry about having him twisting anything else from me out of context so he can write one of his rants, I won't be in the future.
> >
> > --Dave
> >
>
>
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