Amazon weighs in.

[truepenny]

Amazon claims the de-ranking is a glitch, not policy.

I'm skeptical, but if this means they're going to undo their "glitch," then I'm all in favor.

ETA: This is a very interesting commentary.

I should add, I suppose, that while the de-ranking (and the basic principle of censorship behind it) infuriates me, it has not affected my opinion of Amazon. I didn't like them when I got up this morning, and I don't like them now.

Comments

[stillnotbored.livejournal.com]

The link doesn't work. :/

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

The Publishers Weekly server seems to be having a nervous breakdown.

[stillnotbored.livejournal.com]

Then I will try later. :)

[kitapsolucani.livejournal.com]

I think the server is being bombarded with hits.

You can keep trying or someone put the text here: http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2009/04/12/amazon-rank/#comment-197998

[stillnotbored.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[aedifica]

Thanks for that link. I sent an email to the address they list for Amazon.

[panjianlien.livejournal.com]

It's funny how, when you're getting dogpiled because of doing something your company openly acknowledged earlier, "policy" becomes "glitch."

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Isn't it, though?

[panjianlien.livejournal.com]

And, as M put it last night, "glitch" is IT-based-business-speak for "the dog ate my homework."

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

cleolinda also got a screencap (http://pics.livejournal.com/cleolinda/pic/0016ppsa) of the article.

The Google Bomb has apparently worked, also.

Call Me an Irritated Customer

[tomonwheels.livejournal.com]

I'm skeptical as well, but hopeful. As someone who has been a good customer of Amazon over the years, I am extremely disappointed in them. I have made my own post about this at my personal journal. (http://tomonwheels.livejournal.com/134687.html) Thank you for bringing this to my attention in the first place. Your LJ was the first place I read about it this morning.

[vee-ecks.livejournal.com]

I'm skeptical, but then, I admit freely, I don't trust Amazon

As somebody who's been doing that kind of work forever, I'm not. Amazon's ongoing efforts to bury "adult" work in an inconsistent manner aren't a glitch, but they certainly didn't mean to dump their entire GLBT library - or something like it - down that black hole. There's no reason to assume this kind of major policy change on Amazon's part - they're a pretty overtly gay-friendly company and always have been.

[etrix.livejournal.com]

Interesting commentary. I can definitely see the delisting as part of a campaign. As someone trained in public library service, I've heard/read about these kind of campaigns before.

Generally, the first question the responding librarian should ask is 'have you read the book?' Very often the answer is 'no', the complainant is just following a script provided by their pastor/church/moral leader. Witness the storm that resulted after Philip Pullman 'revealed' he was an athiest. A campaign was organized and it did result in the Golden Compass series being pulled from some school libraries. (No public library reported pulling it on the last Canadian Library Association survey I read but there were several challenges still ongoing.)

However, even if it was a campaign by homophobes, it still doesn't abrogate Amazon's responsibility to legitimately assess content complaints about the titles it offers before doing the electronic equivilant of 'removing from the shelves'. Why have an 'If you like this, you might like' display if the results aren't going to be honest? How does denying/hiding genres help their sales any?

Optional Adult Content filter, anyone? With an explanation of what it considers 'adult' so I know what they're basing the label on, of course. As someone else mentioned, if Google.search can do it (and veoh's video site) why can't Amazon?

For that reason alone, it's still worth spreading the word.

[yukis-kirausagi.livejournal.com]

The ETA article was very interesting to read. However, I do not exactly buy it when compared to the other evidence pointing Amazon as being dumb.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Oh, I think Amazon was monumentally stupid, no matter what else was going on.

[oceruleanskies.livejournal.com]

US:
www.barnesandnoble.com
http://us.penguingroup.com/

UK:
www.borders.com
http://bookshop.blackwell.co.uk/jsp/welcome.jsp

Sweden:
www.ueb.se

The Netherlands:
www.bol.com

Of course we don´t need Amazon

[(Anonymous)]

Don't need Amazon, no. But (until now) I've liked Amazon, and used Amazon very regularly, not least because they absorb the shipping costs, which other suppliers often don't. I'm surprised and very disappointed as well as angry about their behavior on this issue. If they return to a policy I feel is appropriate, I'd like to be able to resume being their customer. They've made finding good books (including the Doctrine of Labyrinths!) much easier for me. Sue Lambiris

[girlpunksamurai.livejournal.com]

A glitch

riiiggghhhtt...>.>