>Many of the spoofed accounts use the identities of Tomlinson’s friends and peers in the author community, creating the illusion that people he knows are giving one-star reviews and saying bad things about him. Dozens of authors have been spoofed in this manner, including the entire board of directors of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.
>Not all of these fake reviews are one stars – some give five star or other highly rated ratings. The catch with these highly rated reviews is many of them are created to give the false appearance that they were written by Tomlinson to raise his own Goodreads ratings, spoofing his name and photo and sometimes even using his own copyrighted writings. These spoofed reviews often also show Tomlinson falsely saying things which would hurt his own reputation.
>Gareth L. Powell and Beth Cato were among the authors spoofed, with their photos and names used to create fake accounts to attack Tomlinson’s books.
I think calling these "trolls" doesn't go far enough. I am sure this crosses criminal lines, or at the very least probably several laws.
The victims should sue or the government should pursue actions that rise to this level. It's not just "trolling" to do this, in my opinion.