Web Pages Critical of Absolute Write Suddenly Going Dark. Who is Behind it?

More on this to come. We just had to get a post up asap. We just learned from a concerned and former Absolute Write WC member that Absolute Write owners and supporters (most likely Melodi Sherman, Lisa Spangenberg, and Victoria Strauss) are actively applying pressure to websites that contain text critical of them, i.e., where posters freely expressed problems with the Water Cooler and it's owners and mods.

The site that has most recently died without a trace is the Dark Market's blog page. On it were quite a few honest reviews of Absolute Write that remarked on the cyberbullying and moderator hostility. In fact, the Dark Market blog was one of the first to comment on this. The first, as far as we can tell, was Sitejabber, and that site also suddenly died. However, we saved the cached file and included it here in our list of websites critical of Absolute Write.

We cannot prove at this time that Melodi or Victoria or whoever are pressuring websites to remove content, but it stands to reason and therefore is possible. If anyone has any more evidence of this one way or another, please contact us.

Meanwhile here is a flavour of the Dark Markets thread, saved for you courtesy screenshot:

And if you want to read more of the Dark Market's post, it can be found here.
And if you wish to read the now completely restored posts that made history on Sitejabber, here they are.

Is Victoria Strauss The Tariq Aziz of Absolute Write? Critic Bashing Allegations Debunked?

Type "absolute write complaints" in Google and see the article, "Haters Gonna Hate" by Victoria Strauss to get the other side of this ongoing debate regarding the validity and cyberbully nature of Absolute Write. The writers associated with this blog would like to thank Victoria Strauss for battling the troll so bravely and also for advertising our blog and the many other websites calling out the owners and mods at AW for their behavior.

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"So that's where the anger comes from."

- Victoria Strauss

And now that we're fighting back, we're all just tossed under a label (trolls/sock puppets) and all we say is condensed under a label (propaganda), both categories chosen and 

stamped legitimate by Victoria Strauss.

_____________

Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware has finally entered the Absolute Write debate, predictably on the side of Absolute Write, but to such an extreme and critic-bashing degree that it surprises all of us. In her article, which we shall discuss at length, she only goes so far as to admit the moderators at AW can sometimes be tough, but she steadfastly denies and omits any specific instances of abuse, bullying, or any other reprehensible behavior. Victoria Strauss has a great reputation online with many people, and we must frankly admit, she deserves it in many respects. She HAS done good, there is no question! So why, oh why, does she dig in, again and again, to demonstrate her huge blind spot when it comes to Absolute Write? Is she actually a business partner who gains from advertising revenue? Is it because she is friends with the owners and mods? Or is it because she has defended this website for so long, hell or high water, that there is no going back? Like a devoted follower of Bush or Obama, she is dug in too deep. She refuses at all costs to view anything negative or hostile with a realistic lens. And btw, haven't we seen this behavior repeatedly from AW mods and owners?

According to Victoria Straus, obvious bullying is revised to become nothing other than "tough moderating" necessary on such a large forum. She refuses to examine textbook instances of AW hostility and bullying--a good sampling of which are noted on this blog--but then again, as noted above, she has no choice but to avoid such specific examples. She must steer the debate to a higher plane where she alone holds sway. As such, she becomes a personality functioning in a role much like Tariq Aziz, the former deputy defender of Saddam Hussein. He had a way of avoiding or denying anything evil that Saddam ever did, and he was personable, as well as believable. Tariq struck out with fury against enemies critical of the regime. He called them names, dismissed them, said they had agendas. And now, Victoria Strauss, in similar fashion, has written an article doing the exact same thing. In a sense, she is functioning as Absolute Write's Tariq.

Of course, Absolute Write does not have people killed or tortured, so Victoria cannot possibly descend to the pit of historical infamy like Tariq. However, Absolute Write, as we've seen, does effectively smear the lives and livelihoods of innocent people, and we might add, with a relish that Tariq would have appreciated if he were an AW member.

She repeats the perennial Absolute Write dodges and defenses made popular by Lisa Spangenberg and Melodi Sherman (who are utterly guiltless in Victoria's world), namely: detractors and critics making observations or engaged in dialogue unfavorable to her Absolute Write associates are all, all sockpuppets and trolls (of course!); nearly all of the websites critical of AW are run by one person (If Victoria has the facts why doesn't she name this sneaky lying Darth Vader woman?) who also happens to run this blog you are reading, writes all of the posts, and makes ALL of the comments; the entire collection of commentary, observations, examples, and all else from AW critical websites are all simply a smear campaign (inferring no credibility to anything because it's all part of an agenda) and labeled by Victoria as propaganda.

Just propaganda, agenda, smear campaign. No credibility here. No real people's lives smeared by Absolute Write. No one bullied. No presses or writers unfairly mocked and accused. Not a single thing out of place. Nothing wrong. Just propaganda.

In this way, Victoria Strauss engages in world building favorable to Absolute Write. She creates her own reality with her friends and associates as guiltless, hard pressed heroes, and all detractors are evil trolls with a smear agenda of dispensing only propaganda. She defines the origin of these trolls quite clearly: 1) people who have been rightfully banned for being out of control; and 2) scammers exposed by AW, and 3) as Victoria says, "An especially volatile aspect of this forum is the often-harsh analysis of new small presses, especially those started up by amateurs with weird ideas about publishing."

In summary, Victoria states, "So that's where the anger comes from." 

So it is all resolved. Victoria has spoken! Already, anyone familiar with the excesses and high octane nastiness on AW will laugh at this. No anger from anyone but the bad guys, and oh yeah, those "amateurs with weird ideas about publishing." According to who exactly?  Where is a link to this allegation? You mean all us poor trolls who tried to start a legitimate press to publish books we really like but were lied about and mocked by AW mods and their usual sycophant parade of vapors, cats, fairies and whatnot who surrounded us and engaged in personal attacks and acts of blatant bullying? Yes, I guess you're talking about us, the collective us, the victims of your friends. Course, we all have it coming, don't we? And now that we're fighting back, we're all just tossed under a label (trolls/sockpuppets) and all we say is condensed under a label (propaganda), both categories chosen and stamped legitimate by Victoria Strauss.

And then she takes it one step further. She halts the defense and goes on the attack. So let's ask Victoria some logical and fair questions, beginning with verbatim quotes from her blog post:

1. "Right now, though, the most concentrated attack comes from a group of anti-AW blogs: Absolute Blight, Absolute Banning, Forums Review, and Write Absolute Reviews of Bully Boards (the "s" at the end of "Boards" is cosmetic; the only board discussed is AW). If they seem similar--not just in format, but in the circular way they all reference each other--that's no coincidence: there's substantial evidence that they've been set up by the same individual ..."

The most "concentrated attack" we have. Okay, Victoria, so present the "substantial evidence" then. Where is it? It's substantial. Are you holding back for the same reason police withhold information from the press? But why would you do that? The truth is, there is no substantial evidence.

2. "These anonymously- or sockpuppet-run blogs (check out the origin story at Write Absolute, which includes lots of fanciful detail but neglects to supply any verifiable specifics) ..."

It reminds you of the line from DOCTOR STRANGELOVE when the Soviet ambassador refused a cigar from the American general by saying, "I don't smoke cigars made by capitalist stooges." Whereupon the general replied, "Oh, only communist stooges, eh?"  Victoria has no problem with the horde of anonymous sniping avatars on Absolute Write, but then again, they are absolutely right. It's just us gals who are the trolls, so we must be sockpuppets. Or are we trolls? Or are we sock trolls? Or troll puppets? It's all so confusing! Why can't Vickie stick with just one label?

And we included "fanciful details" about the attack on our press by Hapisofi, but we did not provide a direct link for a very good reason, and everyone who knows the dirt factory at AW understands the reason.

3. "... and libellous unsourced allegations about AW members and defenders (again, I know some of the people involved). More unpleasant pastimes include attempting to doxx AW's owner, her parents, and AW admins, and to interfere with their livelihoods (Absolute Blight is the worst offender in this regard). 

Two words in a row misspelled, Vick. Where is your link to a single libelous allegation? Why not provide the reference? The mods and owners we expose are all public figures. And the "doxx" of AW's owner. Well, congrats to Absolute Wrong. And why shouldn't we pierce the carefully erected disguise of Melodi Sherman? We have the right, and we would argue, even the obligation given her years long trail of naked hostility towards posters on AW. As far as "her parents" thing, we have no idea what this is about, but why isn't there a link to this? You provide lots of links, but these several accusations have no substance. We wonder why?

And now AW admins. You are talking about Lisa Spangenberg specifically. Why don't you mention her name? Or for that matter, why do you refrain from mentioning the name of the owner, Melodi Sherman? And no one is trying to interfere with their livelihoods. They have to take responsibility for their actions. Everyone has a right to know where their horse business is located for purposes of potential legal action, which we assure you, WILL be forthcoming. They have no business license for their horse business, or for Absolute Write business in Washington state. In other words, they have no legitimacy. This is verifiable.

4.  "They're replete with sockpuppet comments (the blogs' owner likes to talk to herself) and larded with misinformation, including mistaken guesses about the identities of AW moderators."

Okay, fair enough Vick, so why didn't you provide a link to support these allegations? Which comments specifically are "sockpuppet comments" of the blog owner talking to herself? Point them out. We all want to know. And where is a link to the misinformation?  As for mistaken guesses, we know who Old Hack and Hapisofi are. There is no guessing.

Nice attempt to salvage their disguises. Sorry, it won't work.

5. " ... if AW were really the cesspit of evil that it's alleged to be by the anti-AW crowd, wouldn't members be fleeing in droves? Wouldn't they stop posting? Wouldn't AW be on its way to becoming moribund, like the unfortunate WritersNet?

 Perhaps members have fled in droves over the years. What is a drove anyway? But we have no way of verification. First of all, there is no proof of the membership claims of AW. At best, whatever their real number, they are based not on active members, but on anyone and everyone who allegedly remains on a mail list from the time of Jenna Glatzner. So in a country of over 300,000 est active writers, they have an active membership of a few thousand, at most? Maybe? We have no idea how many stop posting, leave, and are replaced by others. AW maintains the fiction that the community is constantly growing, but we believe that to be false. It's up to the individual to decide this issue. 

What keeps AW ruthlessly in the public eye is their act of creating conflict threads that rank high in Google, as well as their outreach marketing gimmicks and efforts, and efforts by members like Victoria Strauss who argue for their legitimacy.

Is Agent Janet Reid Censoring Speech To Protect Her Absolute Write Bully Friends?

Public Figure Janet Reid on Left at Writer Conference - Note Expressions of Disdain on Faces of Onlookers

To set some background here. Janet Reid, formerly Miss Snark, and now an agent with Fine Print Literary Agency representing crime fiction, has been a collaborator with Absolute Write for at least eight years. She has possessed at least two identities on the Water Cooler forums (one being a fat shark) and is friends with the bully cabal noted elsewhere on this blog, namely Old Hack, Hapisofi, the sock puppet Stone, and others. Janet Reid has also engaged in bully slug outs more than once, so she is extremely familiar with Absolute Write Water Cooler pathology. We've known about her but never mentioned because she is just one of dozens of life's axe grinders and embittered cowards who seek a sniper vantage point at Absolute Write. What better place to fester and target enemies and berate others for reasons of catharsis than an Internet forum wherein you can be anonymous and even protected by owners like Melodi and Lisa who are just as deliberately vicious as you are?

Janet Reid is also a phony in our opinion. While pretending to care about writers and project a snarky though overall beneficent image on her blog, she is known around the U.S. as being a terrible bully at writer events. Hard to believe? Not if you've seen her in action. One of her most infamous bully foundations was at the Backspace conference in New York. She mocked and belittled one writer after another, and for some reason, was invited back for more. She's actually been ejected from conferences for her nastiness, but the writers, especially the women, are terrified of her so they keep quiet. We've known about this also, heard the stories for years, but never had an opportunity to mention it in relevant context until now.

Janet Reid's Symbol - From Her Blog

We are grateful therefore to Ms. Lesley Cameron who made an effort to contact us by posting on our blog recently. According to Lesley, she made an attempt to include her viewpoint about Absolute Write bullies on Janet Reid's blog, responding to other posters engaged in a debate on the merits of belonging to bully boards for writers, but her post was censored by Reid. But before we examine that, let's look at a portion of the letter to Janet Reid written by a fan who cannot comprehend why Janet, seemingly a good person, advocates that writers fling themselves into the jaws of a bullying forum like Absolute Write:

I've been reading your blog for awhile now and have seen you speak highly of Absolute Write.com on multiple occasions. I admit, I am biased in the opposite direction. Every time I see you tell writers to check out their writing forums, a little part of me dies inside.

Why do you like Absolute Write so much?

Every time I have posted or read and replied to posts there, I have been bullied, belittled or ignored. I always leave their forums feeling like I need to crawl into a tight space and cry, or wanting to pick up my monitor and chuck it across the room. I don't want to sound haughty, but I'm almost positive I am not the only person who feels this way. With a simple Google search of "bullying on Absolute Write" a variety of results come up where people talk about their experiences.

Now I'm sure there are gems of people out there in the Absolute Write community, but it seems like the majority like to tear new writers down in an attempt to make themselves feel better. This leaves me wondering why someone I respect (you) and go to for answers, and who seems to really care about writers trying to pursue their dreams, would advocate a place that has such strong ties to bullying behavior.

There is more, but what this perplexed Janet Reid fan doesn't know is that Janet herself is one of the bullies drifting through the forum kelp like a predator shark looking for victims. She has a dual personality, a Jekyll-Hyde thing going on. She is one persona on her blog, quite another persona on Absolute Write--like so many others!

And this brings us around to Ms. Lesley Cameron's first note to us once we contacted her:

Dear WAR Blog,

No doubt you've seen the Janet Reid blog thread on Absolute Write? Or have you? It begins with one person asking Reid why she cheers for Absolute Write all the time. Reid answers, pretending not to have any knowledge of the bullying there: "For starters, that's never been my experience at AW..." This statement made me angry. I knew she was blatantly lying. I noticed also that any and all posts critical of Absolute Write disappeared about half way down the thread to be replaced by glowing reports and insinuations that complainers are weak minded or just troublesome egos. Though some of these more positive posts seemed authentic, they hardly acknowledged the widespread and rampant trashing of writers, self-publishers, and small presses that goes on there all the time. It appeared to me as if Reid might be censoring critical posts while putting out a call to sock puppets and suck-ups from Absolute Write in an attempt to prop the thread in favor of that board. See what you think for yourselves. One of the posts, "Anonymous," was written by Reid herself. I made a post supporting the people talking honestly about the bullying and my post was deleted by Reid that day.

To summarize, my post pointed out that no other website in existence has fostered the growth of so many other websites critical of it. I included a link to your WAR blog in the post as a place that displays all of these websites that expose Absolute Write for what it really is. As I said, this post was quickly deleted by Reid. This is when I began to suspect that other critical posts were also being deleted. It seemed that Janet had decided that too many negative posts were not good for business, or her relationship with business associates on Absolute Write.

Next, I posted again, and this too was deleted, but this time I saved a copy. Here is my next post on the Janet Reid blog:  

For the record, I made a long post yesterday with a link to specific instances of bad advice on AW as well as instances of moderator and owner bullying of writers and press editors, and the post was deleted. I agree with people who say AW is huge and there are opportunities here and there, cultural niches, etc. but there is a load of nasty activity associated with a club of people who affiliate with the owner; and if you are looking for top level advice on any kind of writing, a group of amateurs and board owners who are not writers are the last people whose advice you want to take.

I know a blog that proves this, but posting any links as proof will get this post deleted ... and that's another thing. All this great advice writers posting here are receiving? Well where is it? Where are the links to the specific advice?

Everyone would like to see.

As Lesley tells us, the above post was also deleted by Janet Reid. Apparently, Janet was no longer tolerating honest criticism of Absolute Write, especially not from anyone who made accurate observations and asked tough questions. But the drama doesn't stop there. Lesley wrote Janet "Miss Snark" Reid herself the following letter and shared it with us:

Miss Snark,

You've been on the water cooler for many years and you hang out there with the worst bullies on the forums including the phony Macallister Stone who as everyone now knows isn't a writer at all, just a horse farm owner! For you to make a statement like "For starters, that's never been my experience at AW ...," immediately following a post by a victim of Absolute Write who was clearly bullied on their forum, is disingenuous in the extreme. In fact, it is a lie. It has been your experience, Janet, because you've been involved in the actual bullying. You've been witness to it many times. You can't lie to everyone and expect to get away with it 100%. I know better.

You censored my first post on your blog that was critical of Absolute Write. I pointed out that no other website online has so many forums, blogs, and other sites railing against it for nastiness and bullying, and I provided links to prove it. You prohibited that post. At a certain point in your thread, about half way down, you decided to only allow posts that were leaning towards positive. Who knows how many other posters with negative experiences have been censored also? You also censored my final post that asks your followers to provide a link proving their contention that Absolute Write is giving them great advice about writing.

By the way, Janet, I've been to the Backspace conference in New York and I've seen you in action. You take pleasure in humiliating people in public. I've never seen the like anywhere else. You are a bully online and offline. I was told by one of your deluded followers at Backspace that you were a good Catholic. That is just plain funny, and also somewhat predictable.

I'm going to relay your censorship to the websites that tell the truth about Absolute Write and your bully friends.

Best Wishes,

LC

To this date, Janet Reid has not responded to the above letter.

Thank you, Lesley! This touches on a lot of the points we've been making  here at WAR about the bullying and hypocrisy on the part of AW owners and moderators (not to mention quite a few members). When you look at Janet Reid's resume, it's hard to believe that a professional like her has a darker personality that dons a disguise and participates in the degrading others, but as we can see, Janet is transcendent. She also revels in the degrading of others in public. Perhaps, the more successful she becomes, the more entitled she becomes to rake writers over the coals?

And if you're out there, Janet, does your abominable attitude which displays itself when convenient have anything to do with the fact that you might just be a frustrated writer?

Our advice to you, is to get serious therapy. Learn to live with your limitations and stop taking out your inferiority complex on innocent people.

Abuse Contacts at Absolute Write's Hoster

Below is the hoster for Absolute Write. We are encouraging a write-in campaign on the part of everyone who believes they have been libeled, smeared, or unfairly humiliated by the owners of Absolute Write and their moderators, or members, including but not limited to James D. Macdonald (aka Congenial Sage or Uncle Jim), Debra Doyle (aka Old Hack), Teresa Nielsen Hayden (aka Hapisofi), Melodi Sherman (aka Macallister Stone), Lisa Spangenberg (aka Medievalist), and Stacia Kane.

If you or your press or organization have been the victims of these people or their associates on Absolute Write forums, please write the contact below and note your case succcinctly and why you believe Name.Com should take action to rectify the ongoing defamation and cyber-bullying on the part of identifiable iPredators extant on a forum board they host.

Please refer them to the google search phrase, "Absolute Write reviews" or "Absolute Write complaints" or both.

We need to work together, people.

Domain Name ABSOLUTEWRITE.COM
Registrar WHOIS Server whois.name.com
Registrar URL http://www.name.com
Registrar Name.com, Inc.
Registrar IANA ID 625
Registrar Abuse Contact Email abuse@name.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone +1.17202492374

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Old Hack Doyle's Cat Avatar

"Crazy Mean" 

Over 16,000 Posts

Trashy "sponsored articles" That Produce Income for Absolute Write. Keep the smears coming!

Teresa Nielsen Hayden, aka Hapisofi, Shreds The New Guy

Case Study #1 Teresa Nielsen Hayden Baits A Naive Editor

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=159546&page=5

 

Teresa Nielsen-Hayden in Her Element

The new guy to the Absolute Write boards never saw it coming. And that's exactly how they like it at AW. An Australian editor joined AW and at first, began having friendly conversations with his fellow writers. Teresa Nielsen Hayden got wind of his editor status and the hackles went up. With Teresa, remember, it's all about ego. Anytime she encounters an editor or an agent on her turf, she sniffs her or him out, analyzing whether or not credentials and writing skills on the boards are up to her own standards (which is funny considering she is neither an editor or a fiction writer). Her words:

Me personally? I have decades of experience in newspapers, magazines, and reference and trade book publishing. That's as opposed to working for a toy distributor that took a fling at printing books. /Source

So, what does she do? Teresa Nielsen Hayden spends an inordinate amount of time (as if she's some kind of legitimate journalist) and "researches" the Australian  by doxing him. She cherry picks what she wants to find out about him online to build her thesis on why he should be be discredited in front of the whole world by one of her self-righteous diatribes. She didn't contact him by phone to get a fair and balanced interview, because a faux journalist is not interested in being fair and balanced.

Here's how this ongoing saga started with the Australian and Hapisofi (Teresa's psuedo):

Post #98

After doxing him, she defines for the AW community what her perceptions of his qualifications are: (her words in italics)

As for you? I went from notes like

* doesn't know a query letter from a cover letter
* hasn't seen much slush
* has a shaky notion of what book editors do, and a shakier notion of what agents do

to

* hasn't worked in the editorial department of a general-interest trade book publisher
* hasn't worked in sales and distribution
* has no in-depth acquisition experience in adult trade nonfiction
* in adult trade publishing, period
* hasn't done marketing or promotion for a mainstream publisher
* is emphatically not a professional proofreader or copy editor.

#105 post he replies:

HapiSofi said I had not worked at a trade publisher. She didn't ask me. She didn't read where I mentioned Pearson in the thread (although I admit it was small and in passing). She didn't try to verify anything at all. She blurted out that I hadn't worked for a trade publisher. She did this because she assumed. She assumed that every single person I've worked for is listed on my About page. She was wrong. And what is really frustrating is that no one bothers to point it out to her.

This Australian editor was gobsmacked that Teresa Nielsen Hayden and Melodi "Macillster Stone" Sherman would take a swing at him. What he didn't understand (as most newbies to AW do not) that this brand of trashing and insult is an established pattern of the AW mods.

A little back story: Many of the AW mods and cronies have acted as "publishing industry watchdogs" for years. During the old Jenna Glatzner days they worked together to expose agents and bigger publishers for defrauding hopeful authors. But over the years, their successes have turned to an ugly form of self-congratulatory, shoot-from-the-hip vigilantism. Their modus operandi is to assume most people they don't personally know who come to the AW boards and claim to be part of the publishing industry are frauds unless proven innocent....and this is where it gets interesting. Because when you are up against them, you cannot be proven innocent. And what's worse? Google ranks their rantings so high in search results that within days your friends, customers, business associates, and so forth, are reading pages of vehement and ill-informed attacks made by AW posters who behave as it they are authorities.

In the Australian's case, watching him publicly try to prove his legitimacy over and over is exactly the game they so love to play. Teresa Nielsen Hayden sets the stage by taking a swing. The unsuspecting newbie defends himself. The rest of AW mods lay in wait to peck, peck peck, trolling the newbie to continue to lay out more evidence. The AW suckups want to join the game. "Let me in coach, let me in." The real dogpile begin.

If you don't have the time it takes to wade through  hundreds of posts on this thread to see how this all turned out, we'll summarize it for you.

The Australian has his professional reputation trashed. The more he fights back, the more they pounce. Meanwhile, search engines aggregate everything and the Australian has learned a very important lesson.

Do not go onto the AW boards if you are expecting a civilized, fair and balanced community. And do engage when getting dogpiled online.

Teresa's response post #106

I think you need to read the Oxford Book of Literary Anecdotes. Seriously. It's all about what life is like in the vicinity of authors. If you want the short version of that description, it's only occasionally like spending a week getting roasted on AW, but it's a lot more like that than any kind of "normal life." It's a terrible thing to say, but we really are a representative sample.

In other words:

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

A little bullying builds character.

It's a terrible thing to say, but we really are a representative sample. 

Absolute Write Cheerleader Defends The Dirt Factory

"You can search thousands of threads, and it is really the best source for finding out the dirt on the agents/agencies that you’re thinking of querying. Writers can talk about their experiences, and the moderators of the site have lots of experience in the industry and really do their research."

The above is a June '14 blog snippet from one of the Absolute Write Water Cooler followers attempting to defend that board. It's done in subtle fashion. Nevertheless, the single statement above is like a sales pitch made by the owner Lisa Spangenberg--or let's just say, if Lisa had decided to write a boilerplate description of the AW Water Cooler, this would be part of it.

Two major false statements here, as anyone will see who really understands Absolute Write and its violent arena of competitive blathering: "best source for finding out the dirt" and "the moderators of the site have lots of experience in the industry and really do their research." When we read this, especially the last statement, we fell out of our chairs laughing. Even our interns were giddy. The only "moderator" with any "experience" at all is Teresa Nielsen-Hayden, known as Hapisofi, and she's a fraud of a former stafff editor pretending to be a current editor and an acquisition editor at that. Then a step down is Old Hack, a mediocre SF writer who pens bad to mediocre stories and self-publishes them with her husband, The Congenial Sage (both infamous bullies on Absolute Write Water Cooler).

The bigger point, however, is that this blog writer, obviously an amateur beginner writer, has been led to believe the marketing fiction (spun by Lisa Spangenberg and AW mods) that the Absolute Write Water Cooler is a place that will serve her/him well. Or is this all just a lie arranged to help AW defeat the rising tide of "hate sites" crawling up the Google search page like vengeful warriors climbing the wall of a burning castle? It's hard to tell. Suffice to say, the observation is false, absurdly and comically false.

Next, we have "the dirt" issue. Well, dear readers of W.A.R., as we all know, if the "dirt" doesn't exist, the moderators and sycophants of Absolute Write will make it. Matter of fact, the place is an ongoing dirt factory, and the owners are the corporate bosses of dirt production. We have examples of this synthetic dirt right here at W.A.R. It's everywhere. Not a day goes by that we don't have to cleanse ourselves.

Help us, dear reader. Spread the truth about this dirt factory. We have an ethical obligation to warn fellow writers who might stumble in and soil themselves. Let all smeared presses, "hate sites," and humiliated writers unite. We have nothing to lose but our pain.

The "iPredator" Nature of Abusers on Absolute Write

iPredator definition as follows:

"A person, group, or nation who, directly or indirectly, engages in exploitation, victimization, coercion, stalking, theft, or disparagement of others using Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

iPredators are driven by deviant fantasies, desires for power and control, retribution, religious fanaticism, political reprisal, psychiatric illness, perceptual distortions, peer acceptance or personal and financial gain.

iPredators can be any age or gender and are not bound by economic status, race, religion, or national heritage.

Whether the offender is a cyberbully, cyberstalker, cyber harasser, cybercriminal, online sexual predator, cyber terrorist, and internet troll or engaged in cyber deception, they fall within the scope of iPredator.

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.

Absolute Write's "Hate Sites" Dodge

"A successful lawsuit will send a message to the world and to the perps at AW that their guerilla war against writers is over and that money gained in click-through advertising by purposely humiliating people and stirring interpersonal conflict with a team of seasoned cyberbullies isn't good for business after all."

We've all known someone who will never take responsibility for their actions no matter what they do or how often their error or inappropriate behavior is pointed out to them. With a few, the piling on of evidence simply makes them resist all the more strongly. And what choice do they have? An admission of one thing, or another, might result in the whole house of cards falling to the table.

Such is the environment at Absolute Write. Owners Melodi Sherman and Lisa Spangenberg will not admit that even the smallest error or overreaction has taken place. None of the untold hundreds of writers smeared and driven from AW have ever been anything but 110% guilty of their own demise. Not a single mod or admin is liable or at fault.

This may sound like an exaggeration, but it isn't. All one has to do is see it on their boards. As we talk about in our About WAR post, there are swarms of sycophants standing by to bolster and enable Melodi, Lisa, Teresa, Doyle, Uncle Jim and all the rest who are Star Chamber regulars.

As Melodi twitters while still maintaining her sock puppet guise as Macallister Stone, it's the "hate sites" causing trouble, lying, etc. The hate sites. Let's think about this. Can anyone find one other writer forum with an enormous halo of hate sites orbiting it like a pack of rabid predators? Just one? No. It doesn't exist.

Absolute Write is the only writer forum on the Internet to have stimulated such a violent and ongoing surge of indignation, bitterness, discontent, and yes, hatred. It might occur to someone over there to stop and take a look and perhaps take just a little bit of responsiblity for this bloating bubble of discontent. But no. No chance. Won't happen. Won't ever happen.

It's just the hate sites. Those guys. Bunch of losers, trolls, and all related to the Write Agenda. Melodi and Lisa have repeatedly donned sock puppet guises and infiltrated these forums to suggest to those present that only one source is responsible for the huge and growing burst of AW hate sites: The Write Agenda. Of course that isn't true. Maybe it's even beginning to sink into their heads that something bigger is swarming. Maybe they'll realize that a lot of pissed off and libeled people are gathering and determined to make a few of the Water Cooler members pay for their acts of unfair and vicious defamation, acts now are so numerous and outrageous that it's hard to believe.

Let's hope justice is done soon. A successful lawsuit will send a message to the world and to the perps of AW that their guerilla war against writers is over and that money gained in click-through advertising by purposely humiliating people and stirring interpersonal conflict with a team of seasoned cyberbullies isn't good for business after all.

In-Depth Reviews of Absolute Write Cyberbullying and Abuse, and Links to The Review Websites

Below are a select number of intelligent and insightful reviews by writers who have run afoul of the current Absolute Write regime, or who have observed the cyberbullying of others in their forums. Some wish to remain anonymous due to fear of their reputations and livelihoods being smeared in retaliation by Absolute Write moderators and their followers (or whatever you wish to term them).

We encourage everyone from attorneys to social psyche researchers to take time and read these reviews carefully.

-  All it takes is for one question to be asked, or one axe grinder to make an appearance, and the predators smell blood. A swarm of anonymous fairies and fops with ridiculous icons appear and begin fomenting themselves into leaps of logic, unfounded assumptions, and distortions of reality. 

-  The crazy power trip is ruining a magnificent concept and something that could be so good.

 ______________________________________________

It's pretty much just what you'd expect. A lot of bad-to-mediocre writers giving bad-to-mediocre advice to bad-to-mediocre wannabe writers. The site is huge and confusing to navigate, sub-divided too many times into categories that are again sub-divided. The mods are powertripping jerks, just as many of the other posters have said. I met a handful of nice people, but no reason to stick around. I never posted any work to be critiqued because honestly, so much of what was posted in the critique section was so bad and the advice that was given equally amateur... I just didn't feel like I'd gain anything from it that I didn't already know. And most of the advice from different critters was conflicting, anyway. 

- Rachel W. - The Missing Sitejabber Reviews


The main focus of Absolute Write is the "Water Cooler", a huge forum which addresses authorship of any kind. It has begun to suffer from a typical ailment that creeps in most long-standing Internet forums: the dreaded Clique Mentality. This occurs when a relatively small set of users contributes the vast majority of posts, combined with a set of unwritten rules--which are often rather unclear to anybody else than the clique itself. Hapless outsiders who violate these clique conventions will often find a mob of old-standing users pounce upon them like a group of ravenous wolves. I'm not joking--it's not a pretty sight when it happens. I have seen posters on Absolute Write being bullied merely for disagreeing with a clique member on a fairly minor matter. The mob will pull any trick to discredit an outsider: ridiculing, twisting words of out context, and fairly often rather nasty personal attacks. People with few to no publishing credentials will get told that heir opinions are unimportant and that their writing likely sucks. The irony is that most clique members are themselves writers of mediocre fare dwindling in the lower parts of the midlist, if that ...

- Anon : The Missing Alexa Reviews


As far as I'm concerned, if a site is run this way it has no value so I will ignore it and encourage everyone to ignore it. It is run by a bunch of lower mid-list (and that may be being generous) old biddies who have nothing better to do than to dictate their rules to others. Free speech does not exist on AbsoluteWrite and where free speech does not exist, I will not go. They talk a good game about "respect your fellow writer" but take umbrage at things in an oversensitive way and pull that respect from you without a second thought.

- Mark Breuer : No Irish, No DGs


If you're a member of Absolute Write, I guarantee you've seen the moderators sweep into a discussion where the topic is one of their pet peeves, use the unfortunate poster as a punching bag, invite long-time members to join them, and then lock the thread and sometimes boot the member. It's never a straightforward warning about the rules, or a request for clarification. The moderators are not there to facilitate discussion, they're there to drive the discussion. If it ventures out of the bounds they like, even if the discussion is polite, it gets locked if for no other reason than "attitude."

It took me about five minutes to gather some examples. I went to a single topic and looked through the first few pages for locked threads. To be fair, two of the threads I saw were locked for legitimate (at least, what most forum admins would consider legitimate) reasons: resurrecting ancient threads. The rest were examples of moderators treating members like garbage.

- Absolute Wrong : Silencing the Lambs


So whatever the merits of the campaign against Absolute Write, or the motivations of those behind this campaign, I have to (reluctantly) say that those in charge of Absolute Write Water Cooler richly deserve it. In the short time that I had an identity on that board, I would cringe every time that I logged on, in anticipation of the latest gratuitous, public insult that the board moderators had lodged against me, along with the warning "don't you dare talk back, or it will turn out badly for you" (their exact words).

- B.Q. : Haters Gonna Hate (Victoria Strauss Troll Battle)


This morning, we found out through a few book club members that a forum known as the Absolute Write Cooler had identified us as a fake. Apparently, this is because we don't have an "existence that isn't associated with this book blog. No one reports going to lunch with her, she didn't show her pet at a local cat show, she hasn't participated in a Walk For Life, she isn't listed in a graduating class."

Correct me if I am wrong, but my book blog should be about books and what I want to include. If you do not see what you want to see, that doesn't make me fake.

Then came the next disturbing element of this unfolding drama. So we've been certified as fake. The forum moderator HapiSofi bashed the book club in more than one thread. She was applauded for her 'detective' work. Absolute joy, that people find so many useful ways to spend their time. But one thing, was missing. Where is HapiSofi's contact information? From as far back as 2012, three characters appear in every thread together. HapiSofi, James McDonald and AliceShortCake. Then there are names like Old Hack, VeinGlory and Torgo. Again, no contact information, no social media links for most of these profiles.

- Quality Reads UK


Ironically these “websites / authors” are doing what they claim others are doing, taking advantage of people who are looking in good faith for facts and information, truthful information about the publishing industry. Their responses are reduced to internet babble. A mix of half truths, alleged facts and very personal un-professional remarks and behavior. They tend to be abusive, Holier then thou, and totally off the mark. ALL they have to do is PROVE what they post. Just saying they have “hundreds” of complaint isn’t going to cut it. People are fed up with that attitude. Courts are leaning heavily toward companies and individuals who are entitled to face their accusers and their alleged facts.

One poster stated that they’re “reaping what they sow” how true. All of sudden people are asking them questions about who they really are, besides mutual friends.

So why don’t they just tell the truth?

- Publishing Facts


For a site that's for writers, one would think they'd go out of their way to understand what people are saying before they say they are stupid on the forum. Mods should never attack people on the forums....NEVER. Any forum that allows that is a bully place. A place where mods can push around people and expect them to fear them. It is not ok to run a website like that. That breeds cliques and makes other posters feel like there's special treatment. Absolute Write is just like that. They allow bullies to mod. They also allow cliques to control who gets into trouble.

- J.J. - The Missing Sitejabber Reviews


Absolute Write, for those who don’t know, is mostly a set of forums where writers, agents, publishers, and other sorts of folks in the writing industry chat. And of course, with the huge burst in self publishing, a bunch of posts about that started up. So they made a set of forums for self pub. I rolled across them a couple of months ago, and was pretty horrified by what I saw: a large number of folks claiming to be industry experts deliberately spreading misinformation about what self publishing was, how best to go about it, and whether one could actually do it successfully (outside a few “outliers”). So I stepped in and started pointing out the flaws in the logic.

- Kevin O. Mclaughlin

Beware. Absolute Write, in the hands of Lisa Spangenberg and her associates, is in effect a judge-jury-prosecutor platform, and one utilized on an almost daily basis to publicly humiliate, bash, defame and even scold people they have never met and do not know, as well as businesses they have never interacted with in any form whatsoever. All it takes is for one question to be asked, or one axe grinder to make an appearance, and the predators smell blood. A swarm of anonymous fairies and fops with ridiculous icons appear and begin fomenting themselves into leaps of logic, unfounded assumptions, and distortions of reality. All this would be amusing if it were not for the fact that their extensive dialogues and diatribes become public record and are ranked high in Google.

And will the average reader always understand what kind of sociopaths he or she is witnessing. Not necessarily. They appear to speak from authority quite often, give the appearance of sincerity, and there is a background history of real scams revealed by Absolute Write. Users there like Victoria Strauss, who give the appearance of legitimacy, will rush in to show support. But as we all know, the best way to maintain the momentum at Absolute Write is to mix a few grains of truth into one continuous and hydra-headed avalanche of lie. In reality, the core site is a lie on more than one level. The owner and her sock puppets and assorted gang not only shred people all day for amusement and publicity (as someone pointed out, the mediocre writers get publicity for their poorly written books each time they post) and monetary gain (huge revenue from advertisements), the site itself purports to offer good advice to writers when in fact it does no such thing. Advice is amateurish and quite often just plain wrong.

Regardless, the bullies at Absolute Write, herded there by Lisa Spangenberg (as we all now know) and goaded on by her at all times with great vigor, basically function as a Salem witch trial. Accusations are often baseless, but delivered and discussed with excessive zeal. Victims are displayed for purposes of torture, and anyone who disagrees is accused of being a witch also.

One has to ask: what gives such cowardly arm-chair nerds the right to act as prosecutors, judge and jury? Nothing gives them the right. These are a bunch of losers looking for payback. I've seen it before. I've fired abnormals like this at my job because they were caught retaliating against other workers using phony online identities.

I know the type, and I sincerely hope someone is able to bring legal action against Lisa Spangenberg and her hateful crew.

- PublisherW - The Missing Sitejabber Reviews

"ABSOLUTE power corrupts absolutely." is the phrase that really sums it up which is funny and ironic. The head admin Spangenberg that has the sock puppet Stone is on a huge power trip over having that big board that looks great, that people want to join, but it's so insidious because it looks harmless and super fun but any of the mods that are nuts like that OldHack and Spangenberg will just randomly attack people and people can't even defend themselves their either banned or have some humiliating subnic,

And I'm not talking about the small publishers and scam publishers that they bash, I'm talking about just writers trying to talk about any issue if a mod agrees with ANYTHING on ANY topic then they can insult, belittle and degrade that member to their hearts content and the member will be banned if they say one word in their defense or even if they say anything perceived as "snarky" back and they just play these nasty little mind games that they think are so clever, but anyone can see through them, it's just that people can't do anything much about them because it is a private business, but yes, the crazy power trip is ruining a magnificent concept and something that could be so good.

She really doesn't have to act so crazy and nasty to keep control of her board and it's really hypocritical to let certain mods spew misinformation and throw around insults like that Old Hack.

- Shay Richards : The Looking Glass of Caroll Bryant


Now, if there is any environment more toxic than GR, it’s the Absolute Write Water Cooler. It’s a snake pit. And not just any snake pit. We’re talking Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark kind of snake pit. Why is it so bad? Its not just because of its members. Its moderators play a big part in it, too. Keep reading and we’ll show you what we mean.

Now before we continue, we want to show you some Alexa reviews we found  here. All of the five star reviews are legacy reviews, because once upon a time, when AW was fresh and new, it was a good place to be, but slowly over time, it became corrupt.

- STGRB : The Banning of Robin Sullivan


Yikes. I never even ended up posting. I'm one to lurk before joining in, and after watching the mods tear apart people for NO reason, then egging on others to bash those people, then carrying on long after they chased the person from the site...yeah I think I will pass on joining in. I've never seen anything so vile. There is a definite "clique" there. The site is great for them, but it looks like it's near impossible to become part of their "in club". Whether I could get in with them or not, I don't think I'd want to because I won't stand behind such poor behavior. This has to be the worst writing community I've ever encountered.

- Anon - The Complaints Board


I’ve only been a member briefly, and found this blog by searching how to leave the AWWC. It’s horrible. I thought it was an open, honest forum to exchange ideas and learn. I found myself in the middle of backbiting, condescending, bitter people (including two Mods) who were not helpful at all and hide behind screen names.

How am I supposed to take career advice seriously from someone called SuperModerator, when I can’t tell if they’ve ever published anything? I asked a specific question, and when I questioned politely but firmly the uninformed and negative advice an anonymous writer gave, she harangued and condescended like a fishwife.

On another thread, she jumped into a productive discussion and tongue lashed not only me, but every contributor! Lord, it must’ve taken her half an hour just to quote every single one of us LOL It was a ludicrous critique: she said we “had to” provide evidence for everything we said. This, immediately after telling me one of her pets doesn’t have to provide any, and I am rude for asking. 

- Anon : The Cult - Absolute Write Water Cooler

Attention Law Enforcement, Attorneys or Private Investigators Pursuing Action Against Absolute Write Members

The owner of Absolute Write, Melodi Sherman, exposed her IP address above. Using some of the best Geolocators a few weeks ago, including Infosniper, we have cross referenced results and believe we have located her residential address in Everett, WA. We will not publish this information here, however, if you wish to know the address, and can prove your credentials, write us at marilynweiss402@yahoo.com with your request. It is our hope this will lead to effective civil action against select members of Absolute Write whose real identities are protected by the board owner and her live-in administrator, namely Melodi Sherman and Lisa Spangenberg.

Additionally, using Google Maps, we have identified several horse farm/boarding facilities, and narrowed down the correct location of their business on the northernmost part of Ebey Island. This is the location of Melodi Sherman's farrier business known as Snohomish Pastures. The first photo above is from their Tumblr account, and the second photo below this was taken from Google Maps. This unlicensed business is located on 63rd Avenue SE, Everett WA. We are not sure of the actual address, however, visual identification is confirmed. The property is entered via a locked metal gate and the road inside is bordered by small trees. See the top left of the bottom photo from Google.

Identification of this current business address will enable the delivery of subpoenas or whatever else is required. Again, this is an unlicensed business in the state of Washington.

Also, the old registered domain from Godaddy on 1825 Douglas Avenue is just around the corner from the above horse boarding facility. It is our belief that Melodi Sherman and Lisa Spangenberg are likely still inhabiting the residence on Douglas Avenue.

The area around the horse pasture and on Douglas Ave. is ramshackle and impoverished. It has a Grapes of Wrath appearance to it. A journey on Google Maps makes this known. So here are Lisa and Melodi living their lives in relative poverty and surrounded by animals, lots of junky cars in the yard and rusty trailers.

Should we feel sorry for them?

Just not possible given the many years of wrath and smear from their dirt factory.

About The W.A.R. Blog and Why We Do This

Like the mentally conflicted origins of superheroes in the comics, our origin also began as the result of a long and drawn out bloody trauma initiated by anonymous fantasy writers resident on the tacky forum board known as Absolute Write. It began one day quite suddenly. A friend's email alerted us. "Have you googled your name or your business lately?" We did so and there, fourth place in the search results, was a link to Absolute Write and a little comment below the link: "Bewares, Background Check, and Recommendations." My wife and I did a big HUH??? Bewares? Background check? Who was background checking us and what right or qualifications did they have? And how did this link jump so high on google? What bothered us from the start was that their wording presented us as something potentially ominous. After all, the word wasn't "review" it was "beware." Why did anyone have to "beware" of us?

We clicked on the link and there it was: nearly two pages of incredibly negative and misinformed snarky comments by at least seven different Absolute Write members, all of whom appeared as anonymous creatures, stones, cats, and whiffs of vapor, and all with signatures promoting their self-published or e-published fantasy books, the kind of books with the stock covers and predictable hack titles, and all of their venom fomented at the top of the first page by a ridiculous floating fairy thing that called itself "Hapisofi." Apparently this Hapisofi thing ruled the forum, for the other posting creatures were engaged in agreeing with everything she said and trying to outdo each other with acts of sycophancy.

The Hapisofi Thing

To our horror, the Hapisofi fairy leveled a diatribe at us and our business. She used every means at her disposal to make us look like fools and frauds. She commented in such a manner as to create a totally false picture of who we are and what we do. She seized on select bits of information, left others out, issued forth with three outright lies, insulted us personally in the nastiest way imaginable, and spun her own fantasy world wherein we were the villains and she was the hero. She crowed and lied while being cheered on by her Absolute Write elves and booger trolls. Other mods joined in after page two, including side commentary in the nature of "they deserve it" from Medievalist (Lisa Spangenberg) and someone named Macallister Stone (Melodi Sherman), and on from there.

My wife and I made the enormous mistake of believing we could straighten things out by going on the forum and telling the truth. When I say enormous mistake, I am not even close. The things and floating fairy Hapsofi surrounded me like a pack of starving dingos running down their dinner. No matter what facts we pointed out, or links or references, it was all shot down in the most arbitrary and hostile manner. The snarking stones and cats and vapors began competing with each other to deliver the most biting comments while the Hapisofi dodged in and out with cheers for the others. It was exactly like those highschool bully forums you read about all the time. Could these things actually be fully functioning adults? What was their problem? Why did they relish such an unfair scalding of people they had never met? Didn't even one of them stop to see and realize how unfair it all was?

We knew all was lost when a statement made by Macallister Stone, the owner of Absolute Write, bascially declared us guilty by virtue of our resistance. We were termed sockpuppets, and worse. We were then banned from the forum while Stone, Hapisofi, Medievalist, and others swung their big machetes for another page or two. The creatures surrounding them said, "Good job!" and "Thank you for warning us, Hapisofi!"

In the aftermath of that horror, we sought legal counsel. We were not in the States at that time, but managed to talk to a few attorneys via email. They agreed that these anonymous things had commited acts of per se defamation against our business, but first we had to find out who they were, and to do that we had to track down the real owners first. There was also an issue of our possible "public figure" status which allowed these Absolute Write people to practically get away with murder, as the saying goes.

As time went on, we did lots of research on these Absolute Write things, and discovered that we were not alone in our desperation. It seemed like hundreds of others were posting their terrible experiences with Macallister Stone and her cadre of attack dogs. One website refers to them as "the infernal snake pit of Absolute Write." We could not agree more.

We've also learned that the intent behind Absolute Write was a good one, but after Macallister Stone's government took over, the dark clouds moved in. She feeds a world of negativity and hostility that few people can imagine possible unless they've been through it like we have.

After bonding with a number of other anti-Absolute Write forces, we are working to create a joint task force of people who have one goal: to pull the fangs out of Absolute Write by any legal means necessary and to reveal the ongoing fraud they perpetrate by claiming to be a source of good information for writers. On the upper level for Melodi Sherman, the owner, it's about selling click-through banner and google advertisements, and in the forum trenches, it's about e-published writers trying to sell their books by getting visibility in conflict threads, or about amateur writers kissing up to the others in hopes of gain. In other words, there is no reason to be fair or good. If Absolute Write were run by good people, they would have contacted us and requested an online interview and discussion in their forum, allowed us to present our side and take questions while moderating in a way that respects everyone.

Join us. Help us. Enough is enough. We want justice for ourselves and everyone else. Even if you believe we're full of it, that's fine. Do the research, learn the truth. It's all out there.

Thank you.

The W.A.R. Blokes

Absolute Write Promo Vid Pulls Them In

Mac Attack Declares Squirming Grubs, Lunatic Con Artists, and Lying Little Cowards Not Fit to Lick Shoes!!!

The W.A.R. blog has been officially scarred and made an even more important part of the Absolute Write JEER (Justice, Exposure, and Efficient Resistance) movement. Let us have our fun. We have happily logged some real Mac attack stuff on our post regarding the Viable Paradise Writing Workshop run by Old Hack, Congenial Sage, and Hapisofi Teresa.  We couldn't be more pleased. Thank you, anonymous poster person, whoever you are. We prefer to believe you are Melodi Sherman or Lisa Spangenberg herself, and it's easy to believe since the venom and nature of the insults is remarkably similar to horrible things uttered by the duo on a frequent basis.

All those who critique or dislike Absolute Write cyberbullying are squirming grubs, lunatic con artists, or lying little cowards not fit to "lick their shoes." The shoes btw are those worn by Mac and Hapisofi Teresa, according to the poster who at first pretended to be an alum of the Viable Paradise workshop.

Thank you, anonymous poster person! Please return with more insults asap. We hear your hatred as applause.

As a matter of fact, it has given us just the amount of extra stimulation to inaugurate "Hunt for Mac Summer" in 2014, an extra push to identify the business or residential address of the people who own Absolute Write so that they or their members may be sued for defamation, or arrested for violating cyberbullying laws.

Mel Sherman Reveals her Sock Puppet ID Used on Absolute Write

Looks like Melodi Sherman, alias Macallister Stone and the real owner of Absolute Write, forgot about this public post on AboutMe.Com. Her business, Snohomish Pastures, is located on Ebey Island in WA, near Everett. Snohomish Pastures as a business is unlisted. As others have pointed out, no license, no taxes paid, and so forth. More found here on Forums Review. Please join us in locating the exact business address for purposes of serving subpoenas, and further legal action including potential prosecution of cyberbullies currently resident on Absolute Write forums.

Click on photo above for a larger image.

Adult Cyberbully Culture and Digital Narcissists Unleashed at Absolute Write

We find the adult cyberbully culture at Absolute Write to be a cross between Ann Coulter and National Enquirer. Coulter fits because she is a narcissistic and incredibly snide accuser who plays a game of creating her own reality to suit her needs; and National Enquirer works because it never stops attempting to degrade and humiliate people.

From a study on high school and college cyberbullying that applies perfectly to the juvenile and hostile culture nurtured by adult cyberbullies at Absolute Write: http://studentaffairs.arizona.edu/assessment/documents/CyberbullyChapterFinal.pdf

Cyberbullying: a broad range of behaviors or actions in which a person uses technology in a way that is perceived as aggressive or threatening to another person.

"The popularity of social networking sites ... has been blamed for fostering a culture of digital narcissism in young people (Keen, 2007). Suler (2004) described a phenomenon called the online disinhibition effect , which refers to greatly diminished internal censorship when communicating in cyberspace. He said, ‘‘People say and do things in cyberspace they wouldn’t ordinarily do in the face-to-face world. They loosen up, feel less restrained and express themselves more openly’’ (p. 321). This effect can be either benign (e.g., appropriate and meaningful self-disclosure) or toxic (e.g., destroying someone else’s reputation). The tendency to exhibit a more narcissistic, aggressive, and uncivil persona in the digital world is also described by Aboujaoude (2011), who proposed that a more dangerous e-personality exists parallel to our nondigital selves."

Does the above describe the cyberbully culture at Absolute Write led by Melodi "Macallister Stone" Sherman, Lisa "Medievalist" Spangenberg, and her cohorts such as Hack Doyle and Hapisofi Nielsen-Hayden, several of whom are exposed on this blog?  The answer is an enormous YES.

"Toxic" is the key word to describe the e-personalities of the AW bullies. "Entitled" is another.

"By hiding behind anonymity, the bully often feels safe from detection, and thus is more willing to make false or mean-spirited comments ... Cyberbullying, unlike face-to-face bullying, can happen any place and at any time, and has the capability of reaching an audience that can number in the millions."

And what type of personalities engage in such behavior? From a poll of study participants:

"They also expressed the view that in cyberspace, people who are less powerful in the real world can become the most powerful in the virtual world, providing an opportunity to exact retaliation and revenge that would elude them in the real world."

One has only to read our blog posts and put two and two together. It's all here.