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Okay, so the "should reviewers tag authors on bad reviews?" bonfire is dying down, but the embers are still smoldering. Specifically, people asking me why, if I'm not attacking reviewers, it's inappropriate for me or other authors to reply.
Most reviewers have fewer followers than a successful author will. I've received reviews from accounts with 5 followers. And that's totally awesome! Everyone gets to have an opinion, and "right to review" does not unlock at 1,000 follows.
But in social media land, where number of followers is basically "size of your potential hive of wasps," it creates a stark and undeniable power imbalance.
I currently have roughly 40,000 people following this account. Let's be generous and assume that half of them really exist, and aren't parody accounts, pet accounts, or well-disguised bots. That's 20,000.
Let's assume that 10,000 of those people are active on Twitter at any given time. That's 10,000 wasps I can potentially shake up and chuck at some poor reviewer's head.
("Wasps" is not an insult here. This is me. I am proud to be a wasp for several people I admire. But wasps can sting.)
Even if I'm kind in my reply, if I ask some reviewer "why are you trying to hurt me?" or tell them I'm sorry to have let them down, there's a non-zero chance that some percentage of those 10,000 wasps will decide to pile on.
Now authors have two choices. We can politely stand back and let the reviewer ecosystem flourish without us, or we can shut down important and honest discussion with the constant threat of HEY FUCKOS, I HAVE A BUNCH OF WASPS.
Negative reviews MATTER. They're IMPORTANT. Yes, even when they're negative reviews of my shit. And that means I don't want to throw wasps at reviewers for being honest, and so I don't want to be tempted to start shaking.
And this is why authors ask that we not be tagged in negative reviews. Because we genuinely can't, without potential social consequences, reply. (Some authors will always do it anyway. Some authors believe in weaponizing their wasps. I do not.)
