The Hydra, as everyone knows who is either familiar with Greek mythology or with the reviews that have lately been posted on Goodreads for this particular book, is a monster that is virtually impossible to defeat, because for every one of its multiple heads that is being chopped off, it grows two others.

 

Until September 20, 2013, the only Hydra-esque phenomenon that the Goodreads community had to worry about on that website was the Sock Puppet Hydra.

 

(Image by Glendon Mellow a/k/a The Flying Trilobite, Creative Commons licensed CC BY 3.0)

 

Then, in the wake of the new reviewing policy as announced on Friday, September 20, 2013, the Hydra took to reviews.

 

After Goodreads had started deleting reviews (including many of those posted for this particular book) on the grounds that they were "off topic," also on a Friday afternoon (U.S. time) – which lately seems to be the moment to watch out for important new developments on that site – a mysterious new author named G.R. MacGoodreader created a book page on Goodreads for a book entitled "The Great Goodreads Censorship Debacle." By the next Monday, McGoodreader and his book were gone, or so it seemed. Head chopped off.

 

Well, as it turns out, Mr. McGoodreader is actually called G.R. Reader, and he, too, was merely a Hydra in disguise – a multi-headed creature just like the one from Greek mythology. He – or they – are back. And with a real book, too.

 

I'm told it makes for an interesting read.

Many of you may be familiar with the recent "Hydra Review" anti-censorship movement on goodreads, in which deleted reviews are reposted by other reviewers with the image of a hydra. Many of them are posted under Bernard Evslin's book, titled "The Hydra." While I support the aims of the Hydra posters, I couldn't help feeling a little sad for this book, with basically no reviews actually about it.

 

So, I decided to read it. After all, it's short and I like mythology.

 

I wasn't expecting too much. Look at that boring cover. "The Monsters of the Mythology Series" -- doesn't that sound like something educational? You know, those made-for-school publications that try to trick you into learning something by dressing it up with somewhat interesting stories?

Well, this is not that. Maybe Evslin pretended it was to get published, or maybe the concept/marketing person was an idiot. Amazon would never make a mistake like this, presenting a book as more boring and educational than it really is. They'd be all "ABDUCTION! RAPE! DANGER! INSTALOVE! HOT PEOPLE!"

The book's not really that, either, but that's closer than the educational-tome-for-young-mythology-enthusiasts model. This isn't as ridiculous as something like "The Goddess Test" where the Greek gods are modern teens with Christian values, but it's not Serious Correct Mythology, either. Needle-headed snow demons? Attack owls? Hercules fighting polar bears? Did the Greeks even KNOW about polar bears?!

THIS IS MANNY RAYNER'S REVIEW THAT HAS NOW BEEN DELETED FROM GOODREADS:

In the shower just now, I suddenly had a Eureka moment. The aspect of this current censorship war that's been upsetting us most is the feeling of powerlessless. Goodreads can arbitrarily change the rules, and they hardly even bother to respond when we complain. But we are not powerless. There are twenty million of us, and only a few dozen of them. We just need to get a little more organized, and we can easily resist.

So here's one concrete way to do it, based on the legend of Hercules. You will recall that Hercules had a difficult time against the Lernean Hydra; every time he cut off one of its heads, ten more grew back. We can do the same thing if we adopt the following plan:

1. Back up all your reviews, so that you have a copy of everything you have posted.

2. If you think that one of your reviews has been unreasonably deleted by Goodreads, repost it with an image of the Hydra at the top.

3. If you see someone else posting a Hydra review, make a copy of it and post it yourself.

We can improve this basic scheme with a little thought; for example, it would be better to have a place where we keep HTML marked-up source of reviews, so that they can immediately be reposted with the same formatting, and we need a plan for duplicating deleted shelves. But we can sort that out later. Without getting too bogged down in the details, I'm sure you see what will happen. The net result of Goodreads unreasonably deleting a review will be that it immediately comes back in many different places.

People who know their Greek mythology will be aware that Hercules did in fact defeat the Hydra, and Goodreads can use the same method if they dare; they can close down the account of anyone who participates in the scheme. That will work, but I am not sure that anything less drastic will be effective. I think Goodreads will be reluctant to escalate to this level. A large proportion of the most active reviewers are now part of the protest movement, and they would be losing much of the content that makes the site valuable. Even more to the point, the media have already started to get interested (maybe you saw the article in the Washington Post). They would love the story, and it would create a mountain of bad publicity for Goodreads and Amazon.

I'd say the odds are heavily in our favor. Why don't we try it? I promise now to respond to any Hydra calls.

The review below was deleted by Goodreads, along with two others. I received the following message:

Re: [#104307] Deleted Reviews
Goodreads
To Me
Oct 11 at 8:41 PM
Hello Manny,

Your reviews of the following books were recently flagged by Goodreads members as potentially off-topic:

That's Not What I Meant!
Civil Disobedience and Other Essays (Collected Essays)
The Hydra

As the reviews are not about the books in question, they have been removed from the site. You can find the text of the reviews attached for your personal records.

Please note that if you continue to post content like this, your account may come under review for removal.

Sincerely,
The Goodreads Team

Since several other people have already posted copies, it seems illogical for me not to repost. Maybe Goodreads will indeed retaliate by removing my account. If so, it's been nice knowing you all!
__________________________________

In the shower just now, I suddenly had a Eureka moment. The aspect of this current censorship war that's been upsetting us most is the feeling of powerlessless. Goodreads can arbitrarily change the rules, and they hardly even bother to respond when we complain. But we are not powerless. There are twenty million of us, and only a few dozen of them. We just need to get a little more organized, and we can easily resist.

So here's one concrete way to do it, based on the legend of Hercules. You will recall that Hercules had a difficult time against the Lernean Hydra; every time he cut off one of its heads, ten more grew back. We can do the same thing if we adopt the following plan:

1. Back up all your reviews, so that you have a copy of everything you have posted.

2. If you think that one of your reviews has been unreasonably deleted by Goodreads, repost it with an image of the Hydra at the top.

3. If you see someone else posting a Hydra review, make a copy of it and post it yourself.

We can improve this basic scheme with a little thought; for example, it would be better to have a place where we keep HTML marked-up source of reviews, so that they can immediately be reposted with the same formatting, and we need a plan for duplicating deleted shelves. But we can sort that out later. Without getting too bogged down in the details, I'm sure you see what will happen. The net result of Goodreads unreasonably deleting a review will be that it immediately comes back in many different places.

People who know their Greek mythology will be aware that Hercules did in fact defeat the Hydra, and Goodreads can use the same method if they dare; they can close down the account of anyone who participates in the scheme. That will work, but I am not sure that anything less drastic will be effective. I think Goodreads will be reluctant to escalate to this level. A large proportion of the most active reviewers are now part of the protest movement, and they would be losing much of the content that makes the site valuable. Even more to the point, the media have already started to get interested (maybe you saw the article in the Washington Post). They would love the story, and it would create a mountain of bad publicity for Goodreads and Amazon.

I'd say the odds are heavily in our favor. Why don't we try it? I promise now to respond to any Hydra calls.

Manny posted his Hydra rebellion concept - and I thought it was a great idea, so I re-posted it under the Hydra banner. Manny's original review was deleted and soon afterwards mine was too. Manny has now re-posted his own Hydra copy - and this is now my second copy of the review too.

How many Hydra reviews do you think we're now up to?

----------------------------------------


Manny Rayner wrote the original text portrayed below. It is reposted with his express permission, along with his report regarding the Goodreads deletions that he has experienced:

*****
The review below was deleted by Goodreads, along with two others. I received the following message:Re: [#104307] Deleted Reviews
Goodreads
To Me
Oct 11 at 8:41 PM
Hello Manny,

Your reviews of the following books were recently flagged by Goodreads members as potentially off-topic:

That's Not What I Meant!
Civil Disobedience and Other Essays (Collected Essays)
The Hydra

As the reviews are not about the books in question, they have been removed from the site. You can find the text of the reviews attached for your personal records.

Please note that if you continue to post content like this, your account may come under review for removal.

Sincerely,
The Goodreads TeamSince several other people have already posted copies, it seems illogical for me not to repost. Maybe Goodreads will indeed retaliate by removing my account. If so, it's been nice knowing you all!
__________________________________

In the shower just now, I suddenly had a Eureka moment. The aspect of this current censorship war that's been upsetting us most is the feeling of powerlessless. Goodreads can arbitrarily change the rules, and they hardly even bother to respond when we complain. But we are not powerless. There are twenty million of us, and only a few dozen of them. We just need to get a little more organized, and we can easily resist.

So here's one concrete way to do it, based on the legend of Hercules. You will recall that Hercules had a difficult time against the Lernean Hydra; every time he cut off one of its heads, ten more grew back. We can do the same thing if we adopt the following plan:

1. Back up all your reviews, so that you have a copy of everything you have posted.

2. If you think that one of your reviews has been unreasonably deleted by Goodreads, repost it with an image of the Hydra at the top.

3. If you see someone else posting a Hydra review, make a copy of it and post it yourself.

We can improve this basic scheme with a little thought; for example, it would be better to have a place where we keep HTML marked-up source of reviews, so that they can immediately be reposted with the same formatting, and we need a plan for duplicating deleted shelves. But we can sort that out later. Without getting too bogged down in the details, I'm sure you see what will happen. The net result of Goodreads unreasonably deleting a review will be that it immediately comes back in many different places.

People who know their Greek mythology will be aware that Hercules did in fact defeat the Hydra, and Goodreads can use the same method if they dare; they can close down the account of anyone who participates in the scheme. That will work, but I am not sure that anything less drastic will be effective. I think Goodreads will be reluctant to escalate to this level. A large proportion of the most active reviewers are now part of the protest movement, and they would be losing much of the content that makes the site valuable. Even more to the point, the media have already started to get interested (maybe you saw the article in the Washington Post). They would love the story, and it would create a mountain of bad publicity for Goodreads and Amazon.

I'd say the odds are heavily in our favor. Why don't we try it? I promise now to respond to any Hydra calls.