A Lesson on Digital Citizenship

    

     Sometimes it is hard to explain to students that what they do online can be damaging, disruptive and dangerous.  It is easy to fall into the trap of false security that the screen is your protection and the keyboard your weapon. Adults can fall into this trap as well.  It's easy to do on social media because most assume that no one can "see" the creator of content or an account.  That’s not the case as we will discover here.    A social media term caught my eye this week: review bomb.  It’s new one for me.  Before disclosing what this term means. Let's give a little background information.    About mid December there were  rumblings surrounding the  drama that was stirred up by writers who use the platform Goodreads.  If you don’t know what Goodreads is, check it out.  In a nutshell it is a platform which allows avid readers to share their reviews of books, good or bad, by a rating system.  It also allows for comments and discussions about any author’s work.  Back to the story,  in December a couple of writers from Del Rey Publishing were receiving review bombs from several account holders on Goodreads.  They were dreadful. What made these comments and reviews stand out is that the very same reviewers were leaving high praise for a book titled: “Crown of Starlight” by Cait Corrain    After a few denials from Ms. Corrain and digging into the digital “clues”, the truth was revealed.   Ms. Corrain issued an apology to all the writers she had hurt and subsequently lost her deal with Del Rey Books.  

Review bombing is essential an attempt to destroy the work of art  or product in hopes of injuring financial the creator or company of ah product.  Bombing refers to the act of several different reviews by different contributors/customers “bombing” the product in a continuous flow of negative reviews.  What Ms. Corrain was hoping to do was to create the accounts, with a help of a friend, and ghost bomb her peers’ works in order to promote her own book.  She blames the behavior on personal battles with depression, and substance abuse.  Giving credit where it is due, she accepted full responsibility for her actions and seemed sincere in her apology letter.  However, what is done can’t be undone.  

Back to the original intent of brining this story for discussion.  As a former Library Technology Teacher, I found this topic ripe with opportunities to teach what NOT to do on the internet.  Digital footprints are very real. Students are sure that what they do anonymously online will never be traced back to them.  That is until they are shown how IP addresses can lead the trail straight back the person behind the screen.  Even the most sophisticated Internet users who private IP addresses are still at risk to being “found” out. 

As a teacher/librarian, I’ve  cautioned my students at nausea  to think about consequences before they act.  Unfortunately, emotions tend to speed the review of consequents up a bit and therefore bad things tend to happen.   Ask any student if they thought about what might happen if they did “x” and they  will often explain that consequences “x” were not considered or dismissed as not important.  I’m sure Ms. Corrain would disagree.  Had she thought the consequences of review bombing her peers, she would have been  able to save her reputation and career.  As it is now, she may have to consider self-publishing if she wants to get her work out.  This of course is not a bad thing in itself.  There are many indie authors who have created great works but it is a little harder route to take since it is the author who will create, promote and print their product.  It can be quite daunting.  

The bigger lesson that we can teach students about the digital world is that kindness is a virus that is non lethal, welcomed and needed in today’s world.  So if you don’t have nothing good to say, don’t say anything at all.  Or if you want to be helpful to readers and writers alike, critique a work in away that helps instead of sabotages someone.  In other words, treat others the way you would want to be treated. 

That golden rule  is effective every time and everywhere it is tried. 

If you are interested, you can find me on Goodreads at lvnlibrarian.  Check out my bookshelf and please let me know if you use Goodreads.  I’m always looking for a good book suggestion. 

Sources 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/2023/12/12/author-cait-corrain-goodreads-review-bombing-controversy/