Taking a moment away from being sick...
Every now and then, something happens in the world to break through our collective or individual apathy and make us feel again. We need this, because all too often the days simply seem to merge into each other, and before we can even blink, an entire year has passed us by.
These last 2-3 hours, I've been following up on the recent activities of Amazon.com, who 'suddenly and mysteriously' de-ranked almost every single book with subjects among the following: GLBT (ANY content, including "Heather Has 2 Mommies"), feminist perspective, books for people with disabilities... I think there may be a category or two more that have slipped my mind, but that's the gist of it. The reason this is a concern is that de-ranking books makes them unsearchable from the main page of the site unless searched by specific title or author. As most people search new books by browing using subject keywords, this has a profound effect. Amazon.com had original written to complainants that this was part of some new policy on "adult" material, but have recently back backtracked to saying it's a "glitch".
Of course it is. It must be a glitch when "Heather Has 2 Mommies" is de-ranked, but the autobiography of porn star Ron Jeremy remains out and about.
But back to my original point - while doing this read-through, I've been getting shivers - a wonderful thing! - at the activism and passion shown at this subject. My favourite, though is this: Because of the de-ranking, the first book that shows up if you search for "homosexuality" is A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality - just go look at the "reviews" of the book to see the results of the Twitterstorm and Googlebombing.
This is why I love the internet. It really is a small world after all, and at times like this, it gives me hope for our collective future.
These last 2-3 hours, I've been following up on the recent activities of Amazon.com, who 'suddenly and mysteriously' de-ranked almost every single book with subjects among the following: GLBT (ANY content, including "Heather Has 2 Mommies"), feminist perspective, books for people with disabilities... I think there may be a category or two more that have slipped my mind, but that's the gist of it. The reason this is a concern is that de-ranking books makes them unsearchable from the main page of the site unless searched by specific title or author. As most people search new books by browing using subject keywords, this has a profound effect. Amazon.com had original written to complainants that this was part of some new policy on "adult" material, but have recently back backtracked to saying it's a "glitch".
Of course it is. It must be a glitch when "Heather Has 2 Mommies" is de-ranked, but the autobiography of porn star Ron Jeremy remains out and about.
But back to my original point - while doing this read-through, I've been getting shivers - a wonderful thing! - at the activism and passion shown at this subject. My favourite, though is this: Because of the de-ranking, the first book that shows up if you search for "homosexuality" is A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality - just go look at the "reviews" of the book to see the results of the Twitterstorm and Googlebombing.
This is why I love the internet. It really is a small world after all, and at times like this, it gives me hope for our collective future.