Tayari's Blog: #amazonfail **updated

Posted by TayariJones on April 12, 2009 08:15 PM
Filed under Current Events

I am buried under the drama that is my income tax situation. However, I want you all to know about the disgraceful new policy at Amazon. Apparently, they are taking books with "adult" content out of the ranking systems which makes such books harder to find. "Adult" titles are some romances and anything that is slightly gay. (Let alone titles that are truly gay.) Among the books given the boot are Bastard Out of Carolina and Giovanni's Room. Books allowed to stay include Playboy's Nudes.

I've got to get back to these receipts, but

  • Anika has the 411
  • Feministe is on the case, and
  • Jezebel is white on rice with a lengthy list of the stripped and un-stripped titles.

    **update. Amazon contacts the LA Times to say they can't really talk about it.

    **another update: Craig's Pop Life says Amazon stripped (ha ha, pun) his ranking way back in February.

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    There are 1 comments on "#amazonfail **updated". If you'd like to leave a comment, click here to jump down to the comments entry form.

    Comment #1, by Shortino [TypeKey Profile Page]

    Hi Tayari,

    I'm following the #amazonfail story with a lot of interest, and there's a theory on why this is happening that I think is really worth considering. A writer named Clay Shirky, who is probably one of the most knowledgeable people when it comes to the internet and the way groups are using it to accomplish their goals, linked to it via his Twitter account, and it basically says that Amazon is set up so that if enough people complain about titles, they (without any kind of approval, just through an "if/then" bit of coding) get stripped of their ranks and won't come up in searches. There are certain undesirable groups who have organized to target titles that these (fundamental, right-wing) groups find offensive, and they have succeeded in a major way in derailing Amazon. It happened to Livejournal a few years back as well.

    April 13, 2009 06:15 PM

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