Author Kathleen Hale didn’t like an online blogger’s 1-star review of her first novel on Goodreads, so she combed through her social media accounts, tracker her down and went to her house to confront her.
Yeah, you might want to file this one under: “Don’t do this, EVER.”
Hale details the whole sordid affair in an article published by The Guardian, where she attempts to rationalize her actions because the anonymous blogger, one “Blythe Harris,” ended up being “catfisher” named Judy.
“Over the course of an admittedly privileged life, I consider my visit to Judy’s as a sort of personal rock bottom,” Hale wrote. “In the weeks that followed, I felt certain the conclusion to the Blythe Harris mystery was simply ‘Kathleen Hale is crazy’ — and to be fair, that is one deduction.”
Curious about what Harris wrote that made the novelist so crazy? Here you go:
“F–k this,” Harris said in her review. “I think this book is awfully written and offensive; its execution in regards to all aspects is horrible and honestly, nonexistent. I can say with utmost certainty that this is one of the worst books I’ve read this year, maybe my life.”
Ouch, that’s pretty harsh. But was it bad enough to warrant Hale’s actions, which some might consider stalking?
Hale went on to describe the background check she ran on Blythe/Judy and the “cross-catfish” conversation she had with her online troll at her job. She even got in touch with Nev Schulman, the creator of “Catfish,” MTV’s hit reality series about people who create fake online profiles on social media.
“I’m tempted to tell you to call her back and tell her it’s you, and that you lied to her,” Schulman told Hale. “Because, look, I’m curious to know about this chick, too — these people are really interesting, and the lives they lead and the characters they create, it takes a lot of brain power.”
Hale did call the woman she suspected was posing as Blythe back, only to get yelled at and blocked on social media. On top of it all, Hale still isn’t certain that Blythe Harris is real or if Blythe was really Judy.
The moral of the story? Don’t unravel the online troll thread, it never leads to anything good.
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