I'm so mad I'm going to throw up.
EDIT: Some people on absolutewrite are saying they've read about a new mail from amazon saying, "oops! it was all a computer glitch! we'll fix it now." Which is a blatant lie since they started this at the beginning of the year according to some of the major news articles this whole debacle inspired (LA Times, After Elton, Publishers Weekly), and earlier sent e-mails saying the deletion WAS deliberate. But oh well, if we can't get them to admit it, at least we've proven what a petition that gains over 6000 signatures in a few hours and major public outrage can do. :) Here's hoping...
Amazon.com has a new sales policy. The policy in their words? Deleting adult materials from "certain" search engines. That is, if you search for adult materials from the front, you can't find it on the site, and it's no longer put in their rankings. You can only stumble across it by accident searching from book to book, or go to it deliberately by entering "adult" sections of the site. Some regular erotica texts are gone (like the classic "Lady Chatterley's Lover" and educational textbooks and studies). They are no longer findable by best seller rankings (or any rankings, unless you go right to the proper section) or some types of searches.
However, many are not. It's still entirely possible to find works by Playboy or sex toys by sales ranking and all searches. So what, in reality are they taking off their lists and making hard to find?
Gay and lesbian material! Including young adult novels without so much as a mention of sex in them, little kids books like Heather Has Two Mommies, and non-fiction.
It's all done very cleverly. You can find such books if you search directly, just can't really surf for it anymore. How innocent. The gay and lesbian books are still there, so what if they're being treated like a dirty secret?
FUCK YOU, Amazon. I've been a customer for years, but unless this is set right you're never getting another dollar from me.
Further reading:
www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=138191
http://markprobst.livejournal.com/15293.html
Also, it's being discussed on Twitter at #amazonfail
Spread the news around if you hate censorship and bigotry.
Amazon.com has a new sales policy. The policy in their words? Deleting adult materials from "certain" search engines. That is, if you search for adult materials from the front, you can't find it on the site, and it's no longer put in their rankings. You can only stumble across it by accident searching from book to book, or go to it deliberately by entering "adult" sections of the site. Some regular erotica texts are gone (like the classic "Lady Chatterley's Lover" and educational textbooks and studies). They are no longer findable by best seller rankings (or any rankings, unless you go right to the proper section) or some types of searches.
However, many are not. It's still entirely possible to find works by Playboy or sex toys by sales ranking and all searches. So what, in reality are they taking off their lists and making hard to find?
Gay and lesbian material! Including young adult novels without so much as a mention of sex in them, little kids books like Heather Has Two Mommies, and non-fiction.
It's all done very cleverly. You can find such books if you search directly, just can't really surf for it anymore. How innocent. The gay and lesbian books are still there, so what if they're being treated like a dirty secret?
FUCK YOU, Amazon. I've been a customer for years, but unless this is set right you're never getting another dollar from me.
Further reading:
www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=138191
http://markprobst.livejournal.com/15293.html
Also, it's being discussed on Twitter at #amazonfail
Spread the news around if you hate censorship and bigotry.