Absolute Write
STRONGLY, NOT RECOMMENDED
We recently received this letter, which was sent to several writer advocate sites:
We recently received this letter, which was sent to several writer advocate sites:
I am a member of a small group for writers and we're quite concerned about the bad publicity building up around McAllister Stone at Absolute Write. It seems she is taking the money from her members for classes etc. and not paying the instructors. If the instructors protest, she retaliates by dropping them from the site. She is also using her members to increase her revenue from the many advertisements now displayed on the forum. And there is even a Donation button on the site, which is begging for funds.
Something isn't right here.
I hope you include the warnings from The Write Agenda and Writers Weekly on your site. I was quite amazed to see that AW still had an "excellent" rating at Preditors and Editors. This is not a pleasant forum, McAllister has an appalling attitude, and the software is glitchy. You have to actually use html code if you want spaces between paragraphs in a post. So the money McAllister is coining in is certainly not going to the upkeep of the site.
http://thewriteagenda.
http://forums.writersweekly.
I'd also like to add here that McAllister may be experiencing financial difficulties due to the lawsuit brought against her by a literary agent. This could be the reason she is not paying out the monies she owes to writing class instructors:
http://thewriteagenda.
This is McAllister's website registration information:
http://bgp.he.net/dns/
Some other points, which have been brought to my attention: The address which McAllister gave as her residence, in the lawsuit brought against her by Literary Agent, Barbara Bauer -- 8911 Vernon Rd., M-#165, Everett, WA 98205 -- is a storage unit at Frontier Village Mini Storage!
This is the lawsuit document:
https://www.eff.org/sites/default/files/filenode/wikimedia/BauerSecondAmendedComplaint.pdf
This is Frontier Mini Storage:
https://www.soundstoragemgmt.com/self-storage-lake-stevens-wa-119194
"Any false information on a court document is considered to be Perjury."
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_it_illegal_to_give_a_false_address_for_someone_on_a_court_document
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14 Reviews for Absolutewrite.com
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2/8/11
The site, as someone said, can help you find great people and I'm pretty sure it has over the years. But a site that's run like Absolutewrite cannot continue to get great people if they have terrible people who own the site as well as mod it.
For a site that's for writers, one would think they'd go out of their way to understand what people are saying before they say they are stupid on the forum. Mods should never attack people on the forums....NEVER. Any forum that allows that is a bully place. A place where mods can push around people and expect them to fear them. It is not ok to run a website like that. That breeds cliques and makes other posters feel like there's special treatment. Absolute Write is just like that. They allow bullies to mod. They also allow cliques to control who gets into trouble.
The site, as many have said around the internet, use to be really, really good. Now it's just $#@! because of the controlling attitude of those in charge. The idea (if I could rate them differently) would get a 3 because it is a great thing to do with start up writers, but it's not a great place for your attitude if you do more than look for critique partners. They won't let you think for yourself.
If you go to this website just look for a critique partner or help with your writing. Avoid giving your opinion. If you give it and the majority don't agree...not only will they get to insult you, you will be attacked by a mod and made out to be the bad guy.
For a site that's for writers, one would think they'd go out of their way to understand what people are saying before they say they are stupid on the forum. Mods should never attack people on the forums....NEVER. Any forum that allows that is a bully place. A place where mods can push around people and expect them to fear them. It is not ok to run a website like that. That breeds cliques and makes other posters feel like there's special treatment. Absolute Write is just like that. They allow bullies to mod. They also allow cliques to control who gets into trouble.
The site, as many have said around the internet, use to be really, really good. Now it's just $#@! because of the controlling attitude of those in charge. The idea (if I could rate them differently) would get a 3 because it is a great thing to do with start up writers, but it's not a great place for your attitude if you do more than look for critique partners. They won't let you think for yourself.
If you go to this website just look for a critique partner or help with your writing. Avoid giving your opinion. If you give it and the majority don't agree...not only will they get to insult you, you will be attacked by a mod and made out to be the bad guy.
Votes (7) • Comments (8) •
http://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/www.absolutewrite.comUPDATE:
The above link no longer works. Sitejabber has removed the Absolute Write thread. Fortunately, it was saved before that happened and can be viewed here:
Write Absolute Reviews
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Check out these sites for more reviews on AW:
http://www.revark.com/review/Absolute_Write/AW1676850339760
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/absolutewritecom-this-has-to-be-the-worst-writing-community-i039ve-ever-encountered-c607205.html
UPDATE:
This is another member's experience with Absolute Write, and the horribly abusive message she received from them stating she was banned:
"Anyway as I hit the save button on a post I had been working on I get a popup window that says:
'You have been banned for the following reason:The moderator used the full expletive that I self-censored here."
Just get the hell off my site. You're relentlessly snotty, rude, and you're a f***cking bald-faced liar. I'm done with you.
Date the ban will be lifted: Never'
http://write2publish.blogspot.com.au/2011/06/ive-been-banned.html
And a publisher was bullied and victimized by the Mac crowd:
"I'm sure regdog was well intentioned when he set up this thread and I really don't mind answering people's questions, but I feel as though it has turned into a thread bent on bashing my company rather than any real attempt at trying to learn more about it. I really don't believe that anything I say will be well received, so I'm leery about answering questions here.
I didn't come to this community to "advertise" my publishing company. I came here to connect with other writers. I only mentioned the company as a way of telling people where my focus is at the moment (aside from writing). Starting my own publishing company is something I've wanted to do for years, but I was afraid it was too big for me. It was a friend of mine, who works in the industry, who talked me into finally doing it. It's something I'm very excited about and something I'm proud of. It was a big step for me."
The Lion Song Publishing thread on AW
The Lion Song thread was removed from AW, and can now be found in the cache. We've noticed that anything unfavourable to AW has a way of disappearing. We've taken a screenshot, before it disappears for good. http://absolutewrite.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-268915.html
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Attractive looking forum, friendly and professional, with tons of valuable information for writers. It's only been around for about a year, but has already been voted the Best Writers Forum, in the Preditors and Editors Readers Poll.
http://critters.org/predpoll/final_tally_writerforum.ht
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