The Hydra (Monsters of Mythology)

As a kid I really enjoyed these books. One could sort of consider this fanfiction of Greek mythology and... you know what? It's bloody good fanfiction. Most of the books in this series gave creative, unique twists to the featured monsters, with interesting side-stories which offered a fresh take on Greek mythology.

The trouble with this book is that it is out-of-date/limited in viewpoint.

It's all very well writing up the Greek legend of the Hydra - the guardian of the Golden Fleece that Jason and the Argonauts quested for - but is that the sole and whole story of the beast that grows two heads every time you cut one head off?

No! It is not! It has also become symbolic. A case in point is the use of the Hydra by protesters against censorship by the social networking site with a books theme, Goodreads. The irony of such a site censoring people is so powerful it's like acid splashed in your face - and I mean the corrosive kind, not the hallucinogenic kind, although the latter might explain this surreal turn of events.

Just to prove my point about this show more issue I quote in full with the author's (Manny Rayner) permision a review deleted from the Goodreads site:

"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."

It is plain as day from this that Evslin needs to introduce an updated 2nd Edition of his work that takes into account the modern symbolism of the Hydra.

Please feel free to use this review as part of your reviews. show less

Keep 'em coming, Gramazon behind the curtain.

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Hello Aubrey,

Your review of The Hydra was recently brought to our attention. Please note that any reviews you post must contain your own original content (see our review guidelines). Any reviews that are simply copy-pasted duplicates of other reviews will be removed. Given this, the review in question has been deleted. We have attached a copy of the review below for your personal records. Please refrain from posting content of this nature going forward.

Best regards,
The Goodreads Team

*****

The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.
- Wole Soyinka

Reposted with express permission from Manny Rayner.

In the shower just now, I suddenly had a Eureka moment. The aspect of this show more 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.

---

Aubrey Addendum

You could've had a shiny new Under the Volcano review, Gramazon. Instead, you get an ideological virus. Check yourself. show less