#amazonfail
Originally posted at On The Nightstand.
Online bookseller Amazon.com is in deep doo-doo. You see, in a move tagged with #amazonfail on Twitter, the company has started deranking “adult” titles, which removes them from search queries.
Sounds okay, right? Wrong.
The problem lies in what they are classifying as “adult”: literature with GLBT content or leanings. Even books that don’t have any graphic content, such as non-fiction books, have been labled “adult” and thus deranked.
You can imagine my fury when I saw that Stephen Fry’s memoir and (the hardcover edition of) John Barrowman’s autobiography had both been deranked and removed from search engine result. The same goes for Heather Has Two Mommies, a children’s book. There is a list of affected books over on Meta_Writer.
So what can you do? Let Amazon know that they have done wrong, of course. Tweet about it using the #amazonfail tag. Blog about it. Sign the petition. Get the word out.
Other Links On #Amazonfail
- DearAuthor.com - Amazon Rank
- Jezebel.com - Why Is Amazon Removing The Sales Rankings From Gay and Lesbian Books?
- Mashable.com - Amazon Accused Of Removing Gay Books From Rankings
- BookSquare.com - Open Letter to Amazon Regarding Recent Policy Changes
- Petition - In Protest at Amazon’s New “Adult” Policy
- Smart Bitches, Trashy Books - New definition of Amazon Rank
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Originally published at Disdainful-Soul.net. You can comment here or there.