(no subject)

As a person with a brain, the fact that Amazon.com is stripping sales rankings (and thus killing publicity) from gay and lesbian literature is offensive. As a writer, it is insulting. As a writer who is in the process of publishing a book about gay men, it's annoying on a business level.

http://community.livejournal.com/meta_writer/11369.html

Amazon sez:

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, if you have further questions, kindly write back to us.

Sales rankings on erotica have also been pulled. Apparently "adult" material doesn't include non-erotica romance and literature aimed at heterosexuals, however, as their rankings have not been stripped. Way to be, Amazon.

This hits every anger nerve I have, including the one where I AM NOT YOUR BABYSITTER and it is not my responsibility to protect YOUR CHILD or YOUR DELICATE SENSIBILITIES from the internet.

Apparently some books may not be showing up if you search for them in Amazon's search (I can't confirm this, as I managed to find The Filly just fine). There is a list of the books with their ranks pulled here. They include not just new literature but classics like The Rubyfruit Jungle.

I strongly suggest that if you read slash online, support equality in the arts, dislike censorship, or, you know, think gay people are people, you follow this link to Amazon's support page (you will need to log in):

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/contact-us/general-questions.html?ie=UTF8&type=email

and notify them that you will not be giving them your business, as they are engaging in discriminatory practices. There is an excellent letter here. This is the one I sent:

In consideration of the rights of the LGBT community, I will no longer be supporting your business. You have targeted gay and lesbian literature in stripping sales rankings from books you have deemed "adult". Since heterosexual literature of the same type has not had its sales rankings tampered with, you are engaging in discrimination.

If you do not understand why you are receiving this letter, please consult http://community.livejournal.com/meta_writer/11369.html. If you wish to retain my business, reverse this decision.

ETA: There is a petition here as well.

ETA II: Please feel free to reproduce this, link to it, or link to any of the URLs posted, on your own journal.

SON OF ETA II: Thanks ecaterin for this news: Smart Bitches, Trashy Books is running a Google Bomb. They say:

I’ve created a page with the definition for “amazon rank.” LINK TO http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/amazonrank with “Amazon Rank” as the anchor text. The link should look like this:

Amazon Rank

ETA III, THE EDITING: strange_selkie reminds us that Amazon's CTO has a twitter: @werner . I don't know what to do with that info because I don't tweet, but all you twitheads surely will :)

ETA IV, HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU: bare_bear informs me that The LA Times is bloggin' about it.

(no subject)

In less bile-inducing news:

NAWWWW PRESIDENTIAL PUPPY.

(no subject)

Watching my flist, some of the linkspages, and the twitter, it's -- strange, because on the one hand I think, holy crap, the internet is going to spank Amazon hard and not in the fun way. On the other hand, occasionally I am hyperaware that just because Fandom Knows About It doesn't mean Anyone Else Cares.

However in this case apparently Amazon phone reps are begging people to stop calling (uh, good luck with that -- my sympathies with the reps, but none for the company just now). They're calling it a "computer glitch" but that doesn't so much work when they responded to author complaints with a smug self-congratulatory form letter. Authors are finding out and flipping their shit, in the oddly civil and yet incredibly subversive way many writers do. Twitter is like a some kind of atom bomb. So I am pretty confident that if Amazon doesn't reverse their policy or fix their code or whatever is wrong with them, they'll be a ghost town a month from now and some new little adorable startup will be getting our moneys.

A press release wouldn't hurt either. Am I the only one who ever thinks of this stuff? Is there some kind of training PR people get in PR school that says "When you screw up and get caught, WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T TELL ANYONE YOU'RE FIXING THE PROBLEM. OH GOD DON'T COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR CLIENTS."

All that being the case, have some Easter-appropriate WH Auden. He was a big gay poet!

Friday's Child
In memory of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, d. April 9, 1945

He told us we were free to choose
But, children as we were, we thought---
"Paternal Love will only use
Force in the last resort

( On those too bumptious to repent... )

(no subject)

Twitter has grabbed hold of Amazon's fail and is shaking the shit out of it, so I'm okay not being the one to run the news-stand on this particular netfail. I doubt I'll be posting frequently about it in days to come, especially since I think Amazon is probably freaking the fuck out about it and trying to get their extremely lame ducks in a row. Mm, mixed metaphors. What I mean to say is I doubt it will be long before Amazon fixes the problem. Whether they fix it properly or pull a SixApart remains to be seen.

Anyway, one last link for the night -- the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has a blogpost about it. Also, I have some thoughts. This is all conjecture, but:

( Conjecture! )

So -- stupidity, ignorance, homophobia, bad programming, crossed wires...we don't know what happened at Amazon. I hope we find out, because I am a fan of transparent business practices, but I doubt we will (it'd make a great book if I was an investigative journalist). I think more important is what followed: a few people said "Huh?" and then a few more said "OH NOE YOU DIDNT" and then a whole lot more said "This is bullshit" and then Amazon got shot in the face. Metaphorically speaking. In the space of, oh...let's call it twenty-four hours? On a holiday weekend.

(This would make an even better book.)

ETA LATE BREAKING NEWS: http://tehdely.livejournal.com/88823.html is a believable and well-thought-out theory that could explain why only pro-sexuality and pro-homosexuality books were targeted. It is possible that some assholes chose this weekend as an ideal time to troll and get books reclassed as adult (full and much more coherent explanation at the post) which would them get them pulled. Because Jesus was totally about hating people who aren't like you. I mean that was like his gig, right?

Still doesn't let Amazon off the hook for delisting books some wingnut thinks are offensive, though.