Can you really not see why people think this is an issue?
And yet here you are, having nothing better to do than tell them you’re here listening. Asshole.
IMHO the problem here is not the de-ranking of LGBT books, the problem is the de-ranking per se. Why should Amazon determine what content is suitable for people to see? That’s not for Amazon to decide at all. ITA that it should be opt-in for people who want adult screening.
With the issue at hand from my experience with large companies I find it hard to ascribe nefarious intent. I think what probably happened was that somebody decided adult content had to be de-ranked (Think of the children!). Then somewhere lower on the food chain some schmuck thought “Hey, I think they call them gay books because of all the gay sex in them. I’ll have to work a lot less if I set the system to automatically de-rank them” Or maybe set the system so that books with complaints automatically were being de-ranked.
Which doesn’t make the whole thing OK nor will be less of a PR desaster for Amazon, especially with the “glitch” explanation having been issued.
I don’t know about matt_mcl, but I wasn’t really offended by anything until I read this post of yours. I don’t know if you’re straight or not, but either way, you were a jerk to say it. My sexuality is a part of my identity — not the biggest one, and certainly not the only one. In my mind, it has more to do with the person I love than the kind of sex we have. To be told, explicitly or implicitly, that any part of my identity is somehow inappropriate for public consumption or “adult” (implied: to be kept hidden from children), well — that’s offensive. To be told, explicitly or implicitly, that my identity should be hidden by default because it might bother someone, well — that’s offensive. There’s no “über” about the offense, but it’s more than recreational outrage, I assure you. It probably wouldn’t bother me if it were a one-off happening from a benign but clueless retailer, but it’s part of a larger pattern of discrimination that affects me directly. Not often, because of where I live and what I do, but often enough.
What should we do, instead? As matt_mcl said, even if Amazon is not the instigator, they aren’t exactly running for Gay-Friendly Retailer of the Year.
Is there a Maxim or a Law or anything that names this phenomenon yet?
Yes, because gay people were totally sitting around just waiting for Amazon.com to delist these books. And then they got excited and came in their pants a little when the Gay Signal came out that there was an Important Issue to protest about!
It’s Amazon’s website, they most certainly should determine what content they wish to display. All the websites I’ve worked on for major media retailers have some rules about which titles get displayed based on taxonomy or tags. It looks like someone got overeager about how they applied the rules but this is precisely in line with common practices.
But this isn’t about how Amazon uses taxonomy or tags; Amazon’s rankings affect how a book is displayed in search regardless of its relevance. By removing the rankings they’re making the books hard to find even if you know exactly what you want and search for it by author and title.
Update:Amazon responds
They’re still not saying anything about what caused it all…
I’d give 'em time to patch the security hole before telling the hackers what the vulnerability was, exactly.
Jeez, I miss out on all the fun just because I’m straight.
I wonder if we’ll ever get the whole story on this…what, exactly, were they trying to do? Was this really supposed to be some kind of policy, or was it just some guy in France aimlessly pounding on a keyboard?
… It sounds to me like little Bobby Tables went shopping.
That’s because you’re a stupid cunt.
As was the response.
Not that I disagree with the intent of your post, but having read Perdido Street Station, I can tell you that it is a bizarre read but not a particularly titillating one as far as sci-fi/fantasy goes (if “titillating” is what you mean by “squiggy”).
I think it’s sad that people as stupid as you are allowed to breed.
Seriously… you’re usually quite clever. Did somebody hijack your keyboard, or did you just decide to let your inner douchebag run things today?
That’s exactly what happened, as are most forms of outrage that originate from the blogosphere. It’s no different than stupid Christians and conservatives who are always looking for reasons to be offended (be it by things like “Happy Holidays” or by spurious claims that Obama is kowtowing to Muslim royalty.)
You must have him confused with a different poster.
I think it’s sad that you’re a raging asshole who has no sense of empathy.
I don’t suppose you have any evidence for any of that, and are just pulling your arguments out of your ass, as usual? Note: ‘everybody knows’ is not a cite.