Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • NPR

    Goodreads has a 'review bombing' problem — and wants its users to help solve it

    Posting a torrent of fake negative book reviews — sometimes before a book is out or has even been written — is a known problem on the literary social media site.
    by Jim Zarroli Dec 17, 2023 2 minutes
    Amazon-owned Goodreads makes little effort to verify users, and critics say this enables a practice known as review-bombing, in which a book is flooded with negative reviews, often from fake accounts, in an effort to bring down a its rating, sometimes for reasons having nothing to do with the book's contents.

    Cait Corrain was about to achieve the dream of every aspiring writer by publishing her first novel. Instead, her career has imploded following a controversy involving Goodreads, the popular book-lovers' website.

    On Tuesday, Corrain's publisher, Del Rey Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, of Corrain's novel, a science fiction fantasy called , after she admitted writing fake Goodreads reviews lauding her own with her.

    You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

    More from NPR

    NPR4 min read
    What Are Sperm Whales Saying? Researchers Find A Complex 'Alphabet'
    Researchers say sperm whales have a complex communication system, an example of how new technology is opening up the mysterious world of animal language.
    NPR4 min read
    Columbia And Emory Universities Change Commencement Plans After Weeks Of Turmoil
    Columbia cancels its main ceremony, while Emory's events will now take place in the suburbs outside its Atlanta campus. The moves come after weeks of protests against the war in Gaza.
    NPR3 min read
    5 Workers Dead, Dozens Still Missing After A Building Collapsed In South Africa
    Rescue teams worked searching for dozens of construction workers buried under the rubble after a multi-story apartment complex that was being built collapsed in a coastal city in South Africa.

    Related