# Hey Amazon, I think your search engine may be off **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 31, 2008, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-amazon-i-think-your-search-engine-may-be-off/458341 "2008-07-31T12:17:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-amazon-i-think-your-search-engine-may-be-off/458341/1 "2008-07-31T12:17:46Z")
I know that this will sound crazy to you, [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com), but any search term I put to locate a book returns _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_ as the first hit. I’m left with two options and I’m sure it must be the first. I’m sure that _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_ is of high interest to someone searching for, say, Octavia Butler. You wouldn’t feel the need to taint the search results for your entire site for something you’re already plastering all over your site, right? I mean you’d have to be the most incompetent promoters in the history of publishing to do that. (I know this is mild but it’s late for me and I can’t get over how stupid it is to get reasonably angry. Would someone mind throwing out some cursing for me? I stink at doing that.) ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-amazon-i-think-your-search-engine-may-be-off/458341/2 "2008-07-31T12:31:02Z")
I just tried it - how much do you suppose J.K. Rowling knows about programming in C#? Could Beedle secretly be a .net developer? ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-amazon-i-think-your-search-engine-may-be-off/458341/3 "2008-07-31T12:47:53Z")
Wow, that’s creepy. I tried all sorts of terms to see if there was any way of shaking it off, but it just got creepier and creepier as time went on. (I also hope Mrs. Dvl doesn’t see the cached search terms and wonder what the hell I was looking for). For ultimate ironic creepieness, try searching “herpes and vomit.” Yes, BtB is the first result, but check out the second hit. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-amazon-i-think-your-search-engine-may-be-off/458341/4 "2008-07-31T12:56:10Z")
Well, you know. Struggling authors need all the help they can get. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-amazon-i-think-your-search-engine-may-be-off/458341/5 "2008-07-31T12:58:14Z")
Herpes and vomit got me Anne Coulter (which is better than Anne Coulter giving me Herpes) No Beedle though. Perhaps because I’m going to [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) from Canadia. ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-amazon-i-think-your-search-engine-may-be-off/458341/6 "2008-07-31T12:59:38Z")
I just tried it now and it’s giving me the expected results. Must have been fixed. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-amazon-i-think-your-search-engine-may-be-off/458341/7 "2008-07-31T13:01:29Z")
I wonder will JK Rowling sell any books not featuring Harry the Potter? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-amazon-i-think-your-search-engine-may-be-off/458341/8 "2008-07-31T13:17:21Z")
It looks like they narrowed it so the category must be books. I just searched for “worst book ever” and it was right at the top. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-amazon-i-think-your-search-engine-may-be-off/458341/9 "2008-07-31T19:58:08Z")
I did a quick search in “Books” and while “Trying to Keep My Name in the Limelight the Bard” was on the top of the page, it wasn’t in the results. I would think that viral advertising like that would turn more people off of the book than would interest in it. I know it does for me. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-amazon-i-think-your-search-engine-may-be-off/458341/10 "2008-07-31T20:43:53Z")
[QUOTE=Amp] I just tried it now and it’s giving me the expected results. Must have been fixed. [/QUOTE] It didn’t come up for me in the search results either. What did come up (above the search results and below the search field) is a Beedle/Bard banner, but it’s fairly small and unobtrusive (and thank God, not moving or beeping or any other things those horrible pop-ups sometimes do).