Authors hit by bad reviews on Goodreads before review copies are even circulated

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Early / Bad-Faith Reviews Across Media

  • Commenters note this isn’t unique to books: movies, board games, and games on Steam get rated before release, often via brigading or marketing campaigns.
  • Both positive astroturfing and negative bombing are described, including attacks over themes, required apps, or moral/political objections rather than actual experience.
  • Early reviews can strongly shape perception; some see patterns where initial low ratings from “wrong audience” are later diluted as interested readers find the work.

What Goodreads Is (and Isn’t)

  • Several participants argue Goodreads now functions more as a social/microblogging platform or personal tracker than a “serious review site.”
  • Allowing ratings of unreleased books is seen as a conscious product decision that invites trolling and “shakedown” behavior.
  • Others point to network effects and Goodreads’ status as a de‑facto monopoly: quality can stagnate because everyone’s already there.
  • The closed API and lack of separation between professional and user reviews are additional pain points.

Amazon and Other Platforms

  • Some see Amazon book reviews (with “verified purchase”) as comparatively better and more policed than Goodreads, though still heavily gamed.
  • Others highlight pervasive scams: listing swaps, paid review services, “brushing” (shipping junk to random addresses to generate fake verified reviews), and disappearing negative reviews.
  • Parallel issues are cited on Trustpilot, Google Maps, and phone networks, all framed as symptoms of “engagement above all” and general enshittification.

Anonymity, Identity, and Moderation

  • One thread blames anonymity for bots, trolling, and abuse, arguing social media should require real identity or at least a trust hierarchy.
  • Counterpoints: people behave badly under real names too; anonymity also protects against reprisals; the key is competent, fair moderation and some barrier to re‑entry, not identity alone.

How People Cope / Alternatives

  • Many readers say they largely ignore aggregate scores and instead:
    • Rely on friends, awards, publishers, or professional critics.
    • Maintain personal review lists or use alternatives like LibraryThing/StoryGraph mainly as private trackers.
  • Some conclude semi‑anonymous rating averages have limited value and should be treated with skepticism rather than authority.