SFist: UPDATE: Amazon "Glitch" Causes Uproar Among the Gays

jehovah

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 07:19:57 -0800

...don't think the French are to blame...any nation that can screen 'kingdom of the senses' on prime time tv isn't about to censer anything!...doesn't take much to start a 'rage wave' does it?????!...

Joel

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:44:16 -0800

Actually, while I don't necessarily agree with spysea's tone, it's appearing more and more likely that the computers did do it.

thisis_

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:20:19 -0800

Ok, we'll shut up. We'll go back to our usual business. We'll get a life. There is no discrimination or cause for alarm, everyone is equal. Keep your eyes forward. The computers did it.

Joel

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:50:27 -0800

Yeah, I hear you. It always kind of surprises me (well, maybe "interests" is a better word) what will--and what doesn't--burn up the internet.

periqueblend

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:45:11 -0800

well I'm certainly not upset - either way it makes little to no difference to me personally - and I too will wait and see what the true(?) outcome is. If it turns out that the customer service response posted on the internet is less than whole story, great! if it is indicative of something else, fine. My walls will not tumble down.

Joel

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:34:35 -0800

Well, I mean, as it stands now, they were giving recommendations based on authors and keywords much less specific than "adult." Someone ordering, say, a Robert Schuller book was unlikely to be recommended Brokeback Mountain before. And given how relatively savvy Amazon has been in the past, something about this just doesn't add up. At any rate, I guess my main point was that it might pay to wait and see just what happened and why before working oneself into a frenzied maelstrom like the internet did this weekend.

periqueblend

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:29:17 -0800

I do think it was a policy decision. And why not? I think if they want to segregate lists, that's a fine decision, as long as it is not as narrowly tailored as this one seems to be. Therefore, I don't think they were being intentionally homophobic, per se, but I do think they were trying to keep certain titles from popping up on that list or whatever. Which is their right, and I no problem with that. I think it makes sense to have all kinds of lists. For easier searching.

spysea

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:28:03 -0800

Are you people stupid? , you actually think AMAZON did this on purpose? Get a life

Joel

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 11:51:20 -0800

Serious question: do you honestly believe that it was a policy decision by Amazon? Nothing about it makes sense.

periqueblend

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 11:47:57 -0800

Yeah sure that may be true, but only LGBT books were moved and not anti-books, or hetro books that were also 'adult'. This is a question of parsing, and the parsing appears (key word) to have been targeted at sub-demographic of books.

Joel

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 11:44:03 -0800

What kind of person bought books based on Amazon rank anyway? That won't change.

mattymatt

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 11:39:21 -0800

Yes indeed, I too was thinking "oh this is silly, Amazon the company would never do this on purpose." And I still believe that the company wasn't responsible, but it kind of looks like some rogue employee might've had a hand in it. The thing that changed my mind is how all of the "ex-gay" books suddenly up at the top of the rankings now.

periqueblend

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 11:38:26 -0800

Brock there is a bit more to it - that makes it seem intentional - if this is true: When pressed for a reason, Amazon.com’s customer service department told YA author Mark Probst: In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude “adult” material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature. Hence the attempt to googlebomb "amazon rank" to mean an arbitrary or capricious decision.

Joel

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:59:20 -0800

The question that I didn't hear in all this internet hysteria is "why"? Why would Amazon do this? What do they stand to gain in this day and age? I mean, I was in a rural Illinois Borders this year (don't ask) and even they had a GLBT section...right in the open and everything, gasp!!! Did Jeff Bezos suddenly turn Donald Wildmon? Possible, I suppose, but not entirely probable. Occam's Razor says it was indeed a glitch or perhaps some rogue human intervention but not a policy decision by Amazon. Who knows though--let's get our pitchforks and torches in the meantime!!!

StephanieInCA

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:45:08 -0800

Amazon's homophobia here is obvious and certainly shouldn't be dismissed, but I think this also raises some real concerns about the future of digital publishing and censorship: Making Books Disappear

aj

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:35:34 -0800

Twitter sure is great for spreading panic.

Joel

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:01:23 -0800

The internet sucks.

RinconHillSF

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 09:56:07 -0800

The "Christian Army" strikes? Guess I'll be avoiding Amazon.com for a little while until there's some clarity about what happened ... add them to my list that includes the state of Utah, Cinemark theatres (over at Westfield), and some other this and that which promoted Prop 8's passage last year.