(no subject)
All right, folks. So #amazonfail (link goes to Twitter feed for the hashtag, kinda like a stream-of-consciousness comm in 140 characters for those who aren't familiar). In superbrief, #amazonfail is basically an Amazon Strikethrough that exploded into Twitter earlier today. (I'm pathetically excited to say I've been part of it and following it intently.)
At any rate, #amazonfail is the newest, Twitterful Internet wank going down on the Interntoobz. In a nutshell, here is what we know: for the past few months, Amazon has be delisting/stripping certain titles of their sales ranks on their sites, which are what the site uses to have them show up in the searches, "Recommended for you...," similar titles, etc. The metadata for the Amazon searches, I believe. If an item/title doesn't have search ranks, it's essentially invisible--it's not listed, quite literally, and thus you just can't find it--not by typing its title, its topics, etc. Obviously, in terms of sales and publicity, this is a huge fucking deal--it'd be like if Google just decided to stop indexing certain pages.
Amazon, as of February (I believe), has started stripping ranks from a number of books--LGBTQ romances, feminist titles, books about sex for people with disabilities, children's books about tolerance (Go ahead, search for the book Heather has Two Mommies, you won't get anything unless you use quotes and then you get off editions since paperbacks, audio books, etc. aren't universally effected), manuals detailing suicide *alternatives* to teens, books about BDSM, books about lesbians and pregnancy, etc. A growing list is here--it's pretty appalling, and includes books like Heather has Two Mommies, which is about a little girl with two mothers, etc. These are not gritty, hardcore anal porn or anything. Literally, a book about preventing teen suicide was delisted--and that's far from obscene, folks.
Customer service reps have been saying (and I do know this firsthand, this is NOT HEARSAY) that the books which were delisted had been complained about. Whether that's PR or true or what, I'm not sure, but that's how it seems to be working. At any rate, if that is what happened, they need a seriously better review process before stripping ranks. This is apparently happening to "adult" books, which let me remind you, include books on suicide prevention for teens, pregnancy, children's books about tolerance, etc. Oh yeah, and "Blackzillian Booties", Playboy books of centerfolds, and things like the Anarchist's Cookbook aren't adult. Just FYI.
Odds are good that, if you're reading this from your friends' page, you're probably as pissed as I am about this. Amazon claims it's a glitch, and while I don't think (or don't like to think) that this is necessarily representative of some new Puritanical, anti-alternative lifestyle/sexuality agenda by Amazon, it's something, it's something that's not a glitch, and it's something fucking ugly. There are a few theories as to what happened, but really, no matter what you think--they fucked up, and they fucked up hard, and now Look What It Hath Wrought. Sorry, but glitches don't discriminate. If it's a result of their tagging system, then they had better fix that shit and fix it right because people are *pissed*--because if there's no review system or if someone can basically Amazon-hate-tag something out of existence, that's a little bit of a system flaw right there. (Also, there's no actual way to flag things. Ummmm. Hello, theory hole!)
Wanna get really, really pissed? Search Amazon.com for "homosexuality". No, really--go ahead, I'll wait. I'm not linking--go ahead, do it for yourself. As of 10 PM CST on Easter Sunday, the first hit for homosexuality on Amazon.com is A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality by Joseph Nicolosi and Linda Ames Nicolosi. Um, sorry, but FUCK NO. Not happening--no way, no how.
#amazonfail, friends. No matter what actually happened, there's going to be some serious repair needed--if it can be repaired.
At any rate, #amazonfail is the newest, Twitterful Internet wank going down on the Interntoobz. In a nutshell, here is what we know: for the past few months, Amazon has be delisting/stripping certain titles of their sales ranks on their sites, which are what the site uses to have them show up in the searches, "Recommended for you...," similar titles, etc. The metadata for the Amazon searches, I believe. If an item/title doesn't have search ranks, it's essentially invisible--it's not listed, quite literally, and thus you just can't find it--not by typing its title, its topics, etc. Obviously, in terms of sales and publicity, this is a huge fucking deal--it'd be like if Google just decided to stop indexing certain pages.
Amazon, as of February (I believe), has started stripping ranks from a number of books--LGBTQ romances, feminist titles, books about sex for people with disabilities, children's books about tolerance (Go ahead, search for the book Heather has Two Mommies, you won't get anything unless you use quotes and then you get off editions since paperbacks, audio books, etc. aren't universally effected), manuals detailing suicide *alternatives* to teens, books about BDSM, books about lesbians and pregnancy, etc. A growing list is here--it's pretty appalling, and includes books like Heather has Two Mommies, which is about a little girl with two mothers, etc. These are not gritty, hardcore anal porn or anything. Literally, a book about preventing teen suicide was delisted--and that's far from obscene, folks.
Customer service reps have been saying (and I do know this firsthand, this is NOT HEARSAY) that the books which were delisted had been complained about. Whether that's PR or true or what, I'm not sure, but that's how it seems to be working. At any rate, if that is what happened, they need a seriously better review process before stripping ranks. This is apparently happening to "adult" books, which let me remind you, include books on suicide prevention for teens, pregnancy, children's books about tolerance, etc. Oh yeah, and "Blackzillian Booties", Playboy books of centerfolds, and things like the Anarchist's Cookbook aren't adult. Just FYI.
Odds are good that, if you're reading this from your friends' page, you're probably as pissed as I am about this. Amazon claims it's a glitch, and while I don't think (or don't like to think) that this is necessarily representative of some new Puritanical, anti-alternative lifestyle/sexuality agenda by Amazon, it's something, it's something that's not a glitch, and it's something fucking ugly. There are a few theories as to what happened, but really, no matter what you think--they fucked up, and they fucked up hard, and now Look What It Hath Wrought. Sorry, but glitches don't discriminate. If it's a result of their tagging system, then they had better fix that shit and fix it right because people are *pissed*--because if there's no review system or if someone can basically Amazon-hate-tag something out of existence, that's a little bit of a system flaw right there. (Also, there's no actual way to flag things. Ummmm. Hello, theory hole!)
Wanna get really, really pissed? Search Amazon.com for "homosexuality". No, really--go ahead, I'll wait. I'm not linking--go ahead, do it for yourself. As of 10 PM CST on Easter Sunday, the first hit for homosexuality on Amazon.com is A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality by Joseph Nicolosi and Linda Ames Nicolosi. Um, sorry, but FUCK NO. Not happening--no way, no how.
#amazonfail, friends. No matter what actually happened, there's going to be some serious repair needed--if it can be repaired.