So, my wife is an author and stays on top of what's going on in her genre on social media sites. Last week, there were two incidents that show just how inept, uneducated, and sad some our today's youth can be when putting themselves out there on social media sites.

#1

A fairly new (but very successful writer - she got a seven figure deal on her first book) accused Nora Roberts (you may have heard of her, she has been somewhat successful herself for the last 30 years) of plagiarizing the title of her book to financially benefit from her success. Nora wrote a blog about it here: Mob Rule by Social Media. This led to much trash and hate aimed at Nora Roberts via twitter. The girl missed several key things, 1) you cannot copy write a title, 2) Nora's book came out 9 months before this new author's book.

The big problem here is that if she had gone after a less established author she might have been able to end that person's career, all because she was too lazy to do a little googling, or maybe even just make a phone call to a fellow author or their agent voice a concern. Her first instinct was to try and convict her in the court of public opinion.

#2

In a spin off from number one, an author named Beverly Jenkins, was accused of hiding behind her white privilege when defending Nora Roberts (the woman that accused Nora is a young Nigerian American). The problem with that is that Beverly is most definitely not white. This actually led to a great thread on twitter filled with memes and people basically asking how someone can be that stupid. ( i don't know how to link to a specific twitter thread, but here is her page if you want to find it: Beverly Jenkins Twitter

This was Beverly's reply to the girl: "LOL Oh Jesus. Some little clueless child just accused me of hiding behind my WHITE privilege. LOL Talk about not knowing anything about publishing?! I asked her if her name is Jon Snow?!

Wow. Tomi Adummy really stepped in it. Her apology was not even an apology.

Good to know I don't need to read Children of Blood and Bone now.

I wasn't going to call her out because Nora didn't, but yeah she did step in it and I also won't be reading her books, even though I've heard that they are really good.

Her non-apology apology really shows a lack of any class whatsoever. Nora, on the other hand, is utterly professional. She invited my wife to do a book signing with her at her bookshop in Boonsboro, MD and was very nice and welcoming.

Ben Shapiro recently described Twitter as a crowd with no purpose. It's no surprise it's mostly a collection of millions of fights.

I posted along this vein a few months ago. Via Larry Corriea being uninvited to a con, getting John Ringo uninvited to a con over fake alegations. Calling Brad Torgerson a racist.

As an avid reader and friend of authors, that was interesting; thanks.

FWIW: copyright

What? I don't get it

If the question was addressed to me:

quote:

Originally posted by KDR:
you cannot copy write a title

Copyright is the correct word.

After Twitter banned Laura Loomer, then combat vet Jesse Kelly, I logged off and removed the app from phone and tablet. I'm going to give it a month. Then, assuming I haven't found a good reason to log back on, I'll whack my account and be done with Twitter.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
If the question was addressed to me:

quote:

Originally posted by KDR:
you cannot copy write a title

Copyright is the correct word.

I did mention that it's my wife who is a writer, not me, right? Haha. As an engineer, I get my numbers right, but peer review is a must to catch all the grammatical mistakes.

quote:

Originally posted by rusbro:
Ben Shapiro recently described Twitter as a crowd with no purpose. It's no surprise it's mostly a collection of millions of fights.

apt description,

I'm constantly berated by the youngsters I know as the old guy who doesn't have a Facebook or Twitter or Instagram account. I must say, I've yet to feel as though I'm missing something.

quote:

Originally posted by KDR:
I did mention that it's my wife who is a writer, not me, right? Haha.

Having reviewed countless written reports over the years, certain things catch my eye. Most of the time here I ignore them despite urges to the contrary, but as this was a thread about writing, I heeded the call to point it out.

I don’t know if social media is the problem here. I’m even thinking it helped squash the baseless accusations pretty quickly, didn’t it?

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
I don’t know if social media is the problem here. I’m even thinking it helped squash the baseless accusations pretty quickly, didn’t it?

I believe KDR's point in the OP was that had Roberts not had a fanbase jump to her defense it could have turned out differently.

I think it regularly happens on twitter that an accusation is made, the accused gets "dragged" by random strangers happy to join in the mob attack, and then if it comes out that the accusation was false or overblown, it really doesn't matter because the damage is done and people have moved on to the next person to be dragged, not caring about the person left in their wake with sometimes a destroyed reputation.

This is OBVIOUSLY a fake post...everybody KNOWS gun owners can't read!!!

Seriously, it's a bad thing, yet a good thing. I credit the rise of personal computing and the Internet for reviving the written word.

While I may privately snicker when I see bad spelling, I'm also grateful that we are still exchanging ideas.

These little tiffs are just white noise (forgive the pun).

Blame the people not the tool. Social media is simply a tool and just because a tool is used in a negative way we should not condemn it. I could make the obvious connection to something everyone on the forum loves here but I think it is obvious .

I am not defending the companies like Facebook or Twitter and how they use their platforms to press their leftist agenda but social media is not inherently evil.

quote:

Originally posted by rusbro:

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
I don’t know if social media is the problem here. I’m even thinking it helped squash the baseless accusations pretty quickly, didn’t it?

I believe KDR's point in the OP was that Roberts not had a fanbase jump to her defense it could have turned out differently.

I think it regularly happens on twitter that an accusation is made, the accused gets "dragged" by random strangers happy to join in the mob attack, and then if it comes out that the accusation was false or overblown, it really doesn't matter because the damage is done and people have moved on to the next person to be dragged, not caring about the person left in their wake with sometimes a destroyed reputation.

What he said. I guess it's more about how the platforms are used then the platforms themselves. My wife does OK as a writer, but shes no Nora Roberts, and and accusation like this would probably do some real damage that we would feel financially. When the dust settles, we'd likely be out money on possible missed sales and her reputation would be damaged since so many people see a headline or a tweet and that's all they'll remember. The accuser likely wouldn't suffer any consequences for the false allegations

Like most things there is a little column A, and a little column B involved.

Assholes and nasty people exist, as well as just dumbasses, social media gives them a platform, hopefully in cases where stupidity and pure mean people post there are people who can step in and right the wrong.

In a way it's better than having it reported in your local fish wrapper without being checked out only to have it retracted if at all on page 14 under the local department store ad.

IMO the biggest takeaway here is the court of public opinion, malleable and corruptible, but an absolute juggernaut once it gets rolling.