#discussionposts

I know this post is a bit late but I recently saw a Buzzfeed article about Kathleen Hale and “Am I Being Catfished”. This startled me. Personally, I have been blogging and working with authors for 4, almost 5 years. Sure I’ve gotten a few weird emails from authors, like authors that will resend their email every day until I answer.  Even with the strange things that I have encountered I NEVER thought that I would be an article about an author basically stalking a blogger. Now don’t confuse this with me taking the blogger’s side, because she was also in the wrong. Both of these people were completely wrong (in my opinion) with how they handled the situation.

First, Kathleen Hale really did stalk this person. She said she was being catfished but I really don’t think she understands what that term means. This is the definition from urban dictionary: “Being deceived over facebook as the deceiver professed their romantic feelings to his/her victim, but isn't who they say they are”.  Writing under a different name to keep your identity a secret is something many people do. It’s honestly something I thought about. How do you know my name is really Danielle? Unless you know me in ‘real life’ you can never be sure. (My name is really Danielle by the way. …. Or is it?). 

Hale tracked down this girl’s address and real name. Something that should not have been that easy to find. That was actually the part of the article that scared me the most. If I write a bad review of an author, is she going to show up at my door? It made me even think about getting a PO box. I probably would do that if I wasn’t in college and living in two different locations during the year. Sharing your opinion on online should not be a risky thing to do. No blogger (book or any other kind) should ever feel unsafe. The worst part? I don’t think Hale even understands that she was ever wrong to do what she did. Yes she says showing up at the bloggers door was a low point in her life, but she never apologizes. Then she continues to stalk the blogger, not learning from her mistakes.

Now the blogger. I understand that everyone should be able to share their opinion. How they feel about the book, is how they feel. You can’t change that. Yet, I feel that bloggers should not just bash a book in their review. Which is from my knowledge what this blogger did (I haven’t actually read that review, so I could be wrong). Writing a bad review of a book is a sensitive thing.  You should say why you don’t like it, and explain your reasoning. Using curse words and basically trashing a book that someone spent their time to write, at least to me, seems wrong. I also feel it’s wrong to tweet those bad reviews to the author. Reviews are for the public so they can decide what book to buy, not for the author.

This is just my opinion. I know other’s feel differently. Many have sided with the author, and many with the blogger. I don’t think anyone in this situation was right, and it honestly scared me. Kathleen Hale has said that she didn’t get the address from HarperCollins, but I would really like to know where it came from. As a blogger we should not feel in danger from writing a negative review. I just hope that both parties can see where they went wrong in this situation. 

links: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/oct/18/am-i-being-catfished-an-author-confronts-her-number-one-online-critic

1. Coffee

Maybe this is just for college life in general but reading in a coffee shop is something most English majors love to do. This then creates a love for coffee or tea.

2. Post-Its

Putting them in a book to remind you of a page, or maybe you use them to write your notes on instead of on the actually book. I would not survive the semester without them.

3. Bookshelves

It is essential for a dorm room to have bookshelves as an English major. If you don't the books will take over your room.