Absolute Write
Reviews and Complaints

I was a member of AW for about three months, where I exchanged some very useful novel writing information with about 80-100 other writers who were very helpful, interesting, knowledgeable and inspiring.

But then I expressed a few political opinions that were not in line with liberals and AW's predominantly far-left members: support for Donald Trump and a critical analysis of Islamic doctrine.

The entire AW community basically went hysterical and I was banned within the following hour. I simply couldn't believe how angry, ruthless and intolerant they are toward anything they disagree with politically.

I have never been treated like that by anyone in my entire life.

I have been a member of AW for eleven years, yet I have been unable to access my account for several months.
For reasons unknown to me, I am no longer a member of facebook so signing up via that network does not work.
I simply want to regain my status on AW and catch up with all the latest news.
Every avenue I have tried to do this has fallen on deaf ears.
Please help me to regain my account.

Details:
User Name: telford
Password: ncc1701
Email: [protected]@gmail.com

I was posting my query letter on Absolute Write, and although I wasn't being aggressive, I was defending my book to some who were nitpicking everything about it. Lisa, aka "AW Admin, " locked my post, saying that I "did not read the stickies." So, I sent her a message asking her why she did that and that I did read all the stickies.

She then pulled out extremely outrageous accusations, saying that I didn't write in standard English (English is the only language I know!), that I was being aggressive and not listening, that there are problems with my manuscript and saying stuff I did not do. When I replied saying I did not do those things and asked maybe if she had me confused with someone else, she then gave me a one month ban and said she would not discuss it further! I was shocked and in utter disbelief.

She said I could contact the owner in the meantime, but didn't give me her information. So, the only way I could do that was to make another account so I could send MacAllister a message. They then permanently banned me for "sock puppeting!" Which I was not doing at all, I was just trying to contact the owner!

I sent multiple messages, no response. Finally contacted the owner on Facebook, she said that my perma ban is to remain and that they will "hard pass" on me because of my "entitled and demanding behaviour" which I was not doing at all, and that I was "wasting their time". Then she blocked me from replying.

I have been attacked by them both, treated very unfairly as well. And after doing some research, apparently Lisa and MacAllister are known to be bullies and take any reason to boot someone off the site even if they make up something as "proof."

Horrible, nasty, unethical behaviour by both of them. They should be ashamed of themselves and need to be removed from the site themselves.

I spent a few years on AW prior to MacAllister Stone purchasing it. It was awesome. But Mac uses dictatorial methods and isn't above publicly insulting her members. It wasn't the same. Personal attacks became rampant. Moderation was reserved for exiling those of differing opinions.

I'd like to offer an alternative. www.tittlelit.com where writers can hone their skills through short story writing and critique. They strive to be the antithesis of AW.

I found Absolute Write to be quite a hostile environment where shaming and belittling trumps learning. I wonder how many young and talented writers have been turned from a potential career because AW administrators allowed them to be bullied instead of encouraging good advice. Novice writers should be molded, not put off. The only stupid question is the one you already know the answer to.

I'm walking away from AW forever after my most recent "encounter" with the AW Admin. I posted a paying job for writers, set my requirements, and gave as much detail and I could muster. My post was closed with only this to say:

"I certainly wouldn't submit to someone with this attitude, and really don't appreciate having AW's PMs used for submission.

The professional approach would have them PM if interested, and respond with an email address for actual submission.

Attachments to PM aren't going to go through; don't even try because it will just piss me off.

Also: someone who can write this:

"There is no judgements here and if these topics offend you, by all means withdraw from this project."

has absolutely no right to cast aspersions at non-native speakers—who often understand English grammar better than native speakers do, and likely wouldn't screw up a subject-verb agreement."

This response feels personally fueled with an obvious agenda. I will include my post so that anyone can see what was on the site, since I have a feeling I will be banned for filing a complaint:

"Hello freelancers writers,

I will briefly mention a few very important topics that will determine our working together.

1) Native English speakers are required. This is a language based project and I find it easier to not combat potential language barriers. No offense and thank you for your understanding.

2) If you submit to my project and have not read this job description I will not only ignore you, but will also file a formal complaint with the platform. Please do not waste our time with your spam.

3) This project will contain content not suitable for all persons. If you are easily offended please do not apply. It will be best for both of us.

4) When submitting to the project, please do so through direct message.

Now then, let's discuss Project Fallen Goddess and expectations. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus, sorry I'm sure you're sick of hearing about it too, I've decided to start a new project and help support writers who may be in need of work. It's not a winning lottery ticket, but it's something that can keep us both busy while the world works on a return to sanity.

Fallen Goddess is a series that will follow multiple characters that are not necessarily related to one another or even within the same universe. The general concept is rather simple: remarkably powerful female heroine faces her most desperate hour. As you may have guessed by the title, things will not go so well for her, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Many highly enjoyable genres are largely based on things not going well for the characters we follow, often resulting in them walking away banged up, if walking away at all. Horror for example seldom ends well. But, it obviously has a very large fan base having survived many years. This project will be no different despite its sexual nature.

The series will contain graphic sexual acts (non-consent), violence, foul language, and criminal activity. As the warning states above, it isn't for everyone and that's totally fine. There is no judgements here and if these topics offend you, by all means withdraw from this project. I will not be pulling any punches here, so it will be for the best.

A document is in development containing an outline for this project that will include descriptions for characters, locations, scenarios, and much more to draw from. Of course, new ideas are always welcomed, but those will be discussed before being implemented. It's my goal to keep this series going for quite some time. Bring your creativity.

I know I haven't touched every point of this project, and that is intentional. The document I will provide will be more forthcoming. Questions are not only welcomed, but encouraged!

If you're interested in this project please apply and be prepared with your portfolio. The writings I'm most interested in as proof of your competency will include: sex scenes, fight scenes, action scenes, and solid dialogue examples that showcase characters. Show, don't tell of course. Looking forward to meeting you.

A final word: experience does not make a writer, dedication and practice does. Likewise, having written many things does not make you a good writer. All are welcome to apply and will be considered based on skill and style.

Thank you,
JRG"

As you will see, I was trying to prevent someone who might be sensitive to the material from reading it. It's a hard business, not offending others. It's damn right impossible. I wrote the admin back, very civil, to which they never replied. Here is my response:

"Goodness. The reason for your apparent annoyance with me in our previous PMs is clear now. This is the first time I'm seeing your response and a bit shocked by it. I wasn't meaning offense in any way, and truthfully the post was a copy paste from my Guru ad. If you've ever tried to find a writer on there you might understand why I've included this as part of my request. The vast majority of submissions on Guru/Freelancer are in broken English from my experience. In hindsight, which is always 20/20 as they say, I might have thought better of it considering this site is 100% dedicated to writing in English from what I can tell. It was a poor choice not to revise before posting I admit without question. It would have been nice if I were able to reply, apologize, and revise my post rather than a total slam in the face with your words and shutdown. Kind of harsh and 100% based off assumption on your part.

Regarding the PMs, to be honest (again) I'm no expert in PM limitations here. I just thought it would be best to discuss through PM, rather than bloat the post. I'm looking to pay people for their work. That is about the only intent I can say that I have. The more I think about your aggressive reply, the more I wonder if your attitude is better than the alleged one I have. I've never been a mod on a forum, but imagine you probably deal with some frustrating stuff. I don't really know what to say beyond an apology if I've offended you and take your feedback constructively."

It's rather appalling that they are an "Amazon affiliate", proudly displaying that banner on their page. If I were Amazon I'd request that removed. I know people who work there, and they wouldn't want to be associated with people who behaved this way. It's not very "customer-centric".

I, too, was a long standing, active user of Absolute Write. And I can attest that the moderators on the site are indeed, bullies. It's actually the mods as well as a couple of old users who believe that the site exists for others to stroke their egos.

One thing that cannot be tolerated on Absolute Write is disagreeing with the moderators. You are forced to either not participate in discussions, or agree. If you disagree, you are banned.

The moderators also seem to be under the impression that they know absolutely everything about publishing. They are able to get away with this with people who know little or nothing about publishing, who they are constantly trying to "teach". But much of what the moderators say isn't very helpful, and they are allowed to get away with this becaue of the fact that dissent isn't tolerated on the site.

I wholeheartedly advise any serious writer to stay away from Absolute Write. The moderators will drive away anyone who does not agree 100% with them.

On Apr 21 2018 I made a post to this forum and immediately was attacked with a tirade of accusations plus the F word. Those reacting to my post didn't take time to ask for clarification but made (false) assumptions and lashed out based on those assumptions. I conclude Absolute Write is an uncivilized place to get ripped apart but not a place to find community.

This writer's messageboard is where seemingly anyone who expresses an opinion different than many of the moderators is a troll.

It's like the same as trump does with "fake news." if he doesn't like it, it's "fake news."

On absolute write, if someone doesn't like something you say, you're trolling.

It's quite remarkable. Some moderator old hack wasn't happy that I disagreed with her about a writing issue. Couldn't let it go, because god forbid someone other than her gets the last word (Which were extraordinarily polite) and then goads someone into being slightly less than polite... "banned for life." no recourse. No anything. So, i've let this go on long enough.

Different opinions does not a troll make. And when your moderators are nastier than the posters than the respect your writer thing is out the window pretty quick.

Anyway, i've retained a lawyer and will be filing a lawsuit shortly. Might do a class action if other people who have been wronged or defamed by their business practices want in. For now, i'm just doing it on my own. Sometimes you need to stand up to bullies. This is one of those times.

Absolute Write openly encourages authors to break their Non Disclosure Agreement and to slander any company, even though both actions are illegal. I own a transmedia company. I had fired a worker who had signed a NDA, which includes a nonslander clause. The former employee then created a thread slandering our company and a former author helped her to create even more slander. Both women broke their NDA's. When I confronted the site, Absolute Write will not punish anyone who breaks law on their website. Absolute Write cannot be trusted and is nothing but a drama site.

I have to also agree, absolute write is a massive scam and I have even seen copyright laws broken. Do not post your work for critique there because some ideas that were not copyrighted were taken. Also it is bad advice as most members are untrained and not experts. They are just regular people giving advice on things they do nit know! It is a select group of like minded extremists and if you do not toe the line you are banished from the site. Strongly do not recommend

I joined this forum to gain writing information and gain a community. What I found was a vindictive writing community and a heavy handed admin who bans people at the drop of a hat for whatever reason she deems fit that day. I believe she has a permanent case of pms. Avoid this forum at all costs. The aw admin is actually the sock for stone maccalister, the first pm you get when you join the forum. This person has been sued numerous times and there are even entire blogs and websites devoted to the forum. She will steal your ideas and so will the other writers. Avoid at all costs.

I was lured in by their marketing people who are also members of the Absolute Write forums. One of them was Victoria Strauss who is a formerly published author, now a self-published author. At first, I received what I believed was fairly good advice from a couple of anonymous people in the short fiction forum, but in the novel forum I was uncertain of the quality of advice there. I'd been warned by other people about Absolute Write and I'd read the many critiques online. The novel writing advice turned out to be lousy. I copied five things people were saying there and was able to show all of them to be erroneous. There were no mods around or professionals hanging out to help, like Strauss has claimed. It was just a free for all.

I was banned today on this website, a site that's premise is a writing community to help writers. Their main rule is RYFW (respect your fellow writer), which the moderators fail to do almost consistently, including in many of their forum "stickies" (posts designed to give you info and "the rules!").

I should have heeded my instincts when I first went to participate, and kept running into snide, nasty remarks in amongst all kinds of rules. The site is far from conducive to learning how to write, as you soon find you must tiptoe around and make sure you grovel for the "mods", who all run the site with threats and intimidation. I'm not sure what their deal is, but they all have a serious case of self-appointed tin-plated godliness, full of themselves and delusions of grandeur.

All this came about because of my complaint that the members are being held hostage, without being warned when they register, that you CANNOT delete your account and dissociate yourself from THEM. That was my sin...but it is the TRUTH. It's the only website I've ever been to where I cannot free myself, my name, any info they have, from their clutches. Is that legal? I don't want my name there...and they did NOT warn me ahead of time. Though that probably wouldn't matter, they violate their own petty rules all the time.

RYFW? They don't respect anyone...except maybe those dumb enough to go there and perhaps divulge something that THEY can use? I'm very suspicious of their motivations and intentions. They certainly don't help their members with their moderators' stalking, threats and nasty attitudes and comments. I'm glad they banned me...but how do I get my info away from them? Account deleted?

I include this, taken right from the site, written by the owner...concepts totally violated all over the site.
*** "We've always, first and foremost, used "respect your fellow writer" as our guiding principle. It's a really good one, in general. I absolutely believe in it. And we're not going to be making a bunch of rules and regulations to quote, because that's a whole can of worms with its own set of special problems.
It's really not complicated. Seriously. It means don't act like a jerk. You don't name-call, or bait, or sneer, or taunt, or generally be unpleasant to the people around you; at least, not if you want to stay here very long.
You'll notice, please, I'm also not demanding that anyone agree with my worldview. You don't have to. And you can absolutely debate and discuss and tell me you think I'm wrong, and why you think so -- PMs are usually more appropriate for that, but if it's a discussion that you honestly believe would benefit the community, I'm willing to have that discussion on the boards in public, too.
I'm not inclined to try and prevent people from thinking and believing whatever they're inclined to think and believe -- whether they're fanatic adherents to the use of the serial comma, or won't use any capital letters or commas at all. It would be a fool's errand, for one thing, and this would be a rather stagnant and boring community, for another.
Since I'm one of those people who would be quietly going away, if I kept my mouth shut about the stuff that really bothers me, or seems exclusive rather than inclusive, I have a vested interest in not letting that happen, here. "

All of this isn't worth the screen it's printed on...good thoughts, violated at every turn. They need to send a copy of this to every moderator, EVERY DAY!

Stay away from them, their cliques, and their treatment of the "peons." If anyone reading this has any advice for how to get my account totally deleted, please advise.

I myself pop in from time to time on Absolute Write and although I have learned some useful information there that I might not have otherwise, there are things that absolutely irked me. For one, there are certain members who seem to be able to say whatsoever they choose and not catch any flak for it. But, if you are a newbie and put even one toe out of line or express an opinion on something, you are hit with a barrage of insults. Personal insults, I’m talking. I was subjected to that myself.

The owner of the site is a wannabe writer with no professional writing credits. She uses the site to make money off the google ads and to promote her ultra-leftist political viewpoint.

I have read all the other reviews. I just joined a month ago. Are all vbulletin forums so heavily moderated? I'm used to the media outlet forums. So maybe that's why I'm so shocked with all the moderation and control. The site seems very controlled. So many mods. Mods seem to jump in the moment anyone disagrees with any passion. Several times I've been confused as to what the problem was. Especially the PC&E forums. The Mods are throwing people off all the time. I see most of the negative reviews are from a while back. Where are people at now with this site? Am i just not used to the lay of the land for these type of vbulletin forums?

I was a member of AW for a while, and I find myself going back every few months to check up on some of the horrible discussions. The advice is juvenile and hardly critical or informed...incompetent in many ways. Creative writing is being taught on this site as though there were rules to writing fiction! Any opinion given as advice that challenges this status quo in any way is immediately dismissed, as though there were one way in which fiction must be undertaken, and one way only. I have also gotten into EXTREMELY passive aggressive debates with other users and mods on several occasions, and, although that is the lay of the land when it comes to internet forums, there tends to be causes to incite such exchanges. On AW, no such causes are needed. It is also important to note that the vast majority of advice being given is coming from fellow amateur/unpublished writers, many who are far too inexperienced in both life and actual writing to possibly have the perspective to form good critical advice, and many of whom clearly don't read books--how are they expected to write?!? I would put good money on 75% of the users not even knowing who Borges is, and these are people who are supposed to be giving legitimate advice? Their credibility isn't helped by the fact that several of the published authors on the site are self-published (not inherently bad), and most of the published works (both self and not) are horrible supernatural romance/horror romance/fantasy romance (notice a trend?), the kind with well built white vampire dudes on the cover. Again, nothing inherently bad about this fact, except that, to me, the trendy YA/teenage audience these cookie-cutter works cater to is further evidence that they actively perpetuate and defend a kind of status quo, in which anything that challenges the fiction they write is artsy/pointless/breaking nonexistent rules/evil.

Further proof that many of the users are incapable of reading critically, including mods: I tend to word my posts very carefully, using very specific vocabulary and always prefacing and qualifying what I am saying with caveats and so forth, so as to allow for the possibility of my opinion on said writing subject not meshing well with others, so anyone who puts a smallest amount of effort into reading it will be able to understand I am offering a single perspective on an otherwise all-encompassing issue. Yet I would get post after post, some from mods themselves, dismissing and attacking points I made, almost always ones I prefaced with something like "to NEEDLESSLY do this is bad", as if I did not go out of my way to state clearly that I did not mean what I said as an "absolute" truth. If the people meant to be giving advice cannot even read an internet post carefully enough to grasp what was actually said, I doubt their ability to truly help anyone. Thankfully, I can say in the few years I was with them back in the day, I gained a few pointers on how NOT to teach someone, and, now that I'm an English tutor at my college, I hope to do what AW can only dream of doing--actually helping someone improve their work with thoughtful criticism.

Yikes. I never even ended up posting. I'm one to lurk before joining in, and after watching the mods tear apart people for NO reason, then egging on others to bash those people, then carrying on long after they chased the person from the site...yeah I think I will pass on joining in. I've never seen anything so vile. There is a definite "clique" there. The site is great for them, but it looks like it's near impossible to become part of their "in club". Whether I could get in with them or not, I don't think I'd want to because I won't stand behind such poor behavior. This has to be the worst writing community I've ever encountered.

All writers should definitely stay away from this site. There are several moderators on this site who will start a fight with you and then kick you out for responding back. In addition, the advice that one receives on the forums is pedestrian and the kind of advice that any beginning writer would give...are you kidding me with this?

I'm not a huge fan of the forums--though the "ask an agent" site is pretty handy!--but I love that they have a forum you can use to find beta reading partners. I met some really wonderful beta readers there who I trade critique with. They are some of the sweetest people I've met in the writing industry. Honest, informative, helpful--but STILL nice... that's a hard combo to pull off. I recommended the site to a friend of mine, and he met a great critique partner there also, who I then met through him.

Site, however, is overrun with ugly behaviors from those in charge.

Otherwise stay clear of the forums. The moderators are on a power trip and to be honest I see nothing that would warrant any right to be. They delete threads and people every other second that don't agree with them while they bash writers and publishers and pretty much anyone they damn well please. The site is a great idea with some good people, but it's run by a bunch of [censored]es.