Why Flee Absolute Write for Other Writer Forums? Is Criticism Possible Without Resorting to Bullying?

See Absolute Write above, doing that thing they do. Bewares! Background check! OMG! The jury is in and it's all history now, though one that repeats itself while reminding you of one of Saddam Hussein's old kangaroo courts. Presumption of guilt is the rule, a tone of snarky accusation is the norm, and the merciless prosecution won't rest until the accused press and anyone who dares defend it is hanging from a cyber meat hook.

Btw, we are going to compare writer forums in this post. One forum culture is filled with ugly and bad people, and the other is filled with good people. First, the ugly and bad.

Glancing above, it appears that the relentless Bath Party of Absolute Write has tracked down and cornered yet another doe in the headlights. This time we're looking at the trembling remains of Xchyler, now evolved to Hamilton Springs Press. Open the thread and see our favorites doing that classic Fox News tactic of shouting down and over the protestations of the victim in question, poor Mary Duke from Xchyler press. The Party does slam, make lies of omission, leap to hostile conclusions, parse and spit, insult the name of the press, and generally do everything possible to compete with each other in terms of spite and ill-humor. Four pages of it, and it gets worse as it continues. A full page at least is devoted to making fun of the name.

Now, no one is saying that a valid question or two, or point or two, isn't raised by AW, we're just saying that in all the furor and acid of their snark the value to the reader is lost and the grotesque theater created thereby serves only the AW Water Cooler owners and their cronies.

Because of a maybe-possibly unethical action (?--since AW reveals this "action" we do not know if said action is nonsense or valid) of one person at the press years before, the latest evolution of the press with new editors, website, etc., are not allowed by Absolute Write to ever escape contiuous persecution. Once X evolved to Hamilton Springs Press with new staff in an attempt to start over, Lisa Spangenberg and Melodi Sherman (aka Macallister Stone), the Absolute Write owner operators, simply appended HSP to the old X thread so that everyone would once again flock to that thread to watch Mary Duke endlessly thrashed and humiliated. She can never escape the beating. The press can never escape. And she makes the mistake of threatening legal action and this only makes it worse!

As each new person reads the thread, it is republished again and again, and Mary is beaten, again and again. The same old assumptions and logic leaps and half-truths and exaggerations step forth to force her into submission. She should never have made the mistake of trying to offer a simple explanation on that board or of assuming the hounds of Hussein would be reasonable. They're not. They are vicious. Hamilton Springs must pay the price every day of their existence. The post is at the top of Google, where it doesn't belong.

The worst thing for HSP struggling to get a new start is that they simply can't. Absolute Write won't allow it. The "sins" of the past, courtesy of the Dirty Bath Party, will never be forgotten. Lisa Spangenberg and Melodi Sherman of AW are not going to lose a revenue stream. HSP, once fused with X, will continue to bring potential members and advertising click-throughs. Why not grow and prosper at the expense of Hamilton and whoever else gets in their way? For those of you who love ruthless profit-seeking people, AW is your Eden.

Now let's look at a very different forum that also discussed the exact same press.

www.writingforums.org/threads/xchyler-publishing.128386/

This is the kind of discussion that belongs on forums. The discussion is polite and balanced. Though posters disagree a bit, all is well. We learn to approach HSP not with loathing or fear, but simply with caution and a willingness to explore.

Big difference in cultures here.  It's worthwhile to compare and contrast the versions.