I received this in my webmaster email and thought it would be of some interest--Loretta A. Stradley (webmaster)

Stalking Gang Demonstrates How to Impersonate Third Parties to Create Hard-to-Remove Spurious Negative Reviews of Your Book Using Amazon.com "Real Name" Authentication Feature

A cyberstalking gang using an unmoderated Usenet news group as a base of operations (sci.psychology.psychotherapy) has abused Amazon.com's "Real Name Authentication" tool, impersonating third parties and illicitly procuring their credit card numbers to post spurious negative reviews of the books of their enemies.

I have documented three instances of this, which include my own work, the work of author Tim Brown, and the work of education writer Jerry Jesness. While Amazon.com eventually verified the mischief in the case of my book (i.e. the gang impersonated a supporter who also complained to Amazon.com), the other two instances were not as easy for Amazon.com to verify.

How it Works

It is unclear whether this gang illicitly obtained the credit card numbers or applied for credit cards using the names and addresses of those they impersonated. But given the critical mass of spurious negative review that appeared over a 2-day period for my book, I think all authors should be generally aware of the potential for this sort of abuse. I have compiled my evidence on a web page:

Fireflies in the Shadow of the Sun

Perfection, a Writers Dream
By Linda Dockery

Have you ever heard of a perfect writer? I haven't and what's more writing is a creative process that will never be completely perfected without keeping an open mind about the material a writer writes.

For instance, have you noticed that almost all writers carry with them a notepad just in case they stumble upon an idea or character to later be used for a story? And have you ever taken the time to see that a lot of writer spend countless hours working toward that perfect book? What makes the situation worse is they simply refuse to take credit for something, which really is better than what they perceive it to be.

Writing is one of the most efficient means of communication to come from the mind of mankind; and to believe, even for one-second, it's easy is foolish to say the least. What a writer needs to understand is that creativity, which is essential in good writing, can be lost when feelings of stress enter the picture. Stress can be caused when a person's own high expectations aren't met, or maybe when someone criticizes their work for whatever reason.

Writers aren't perfect. They make a lot of mistakes, but so do the so-called professionals who instruct others to write like they do.

Perfectionist as they may be, writers still need to remember that even if they never write a masterpiece, or they never become rich and famous with what they do write, as long as they are happy with their material, that's all that really matters. For there are no perfect writers in this world--there never has been and there never will be.

©August, 2004

Disclaimer:     The opinions stated here are not necessarily those of CIWA, but those of the author."

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