seperis | amazon uses words it does not fully understand, like 'adult'

Hold on, keywording: Amazon Fail, Amazonfail, AmazonFail. Amazon Rank.

Okay, be frank with me. This was actually Fail Week and you all forgot to email? Because seriously, I was just talking myself down from Observe and Report that explores the beauty of vomit and date rape, and really. Really. Come on. This is a joke. In my imagination, anyway.

Really, Amazon? You want to go there?

I'm going to try to link in order, for those of you who didn't see it explode across your flist just as you were waking from your Easter nap and still blinking away ham-related lethargy.

Amazon Follies by

markprobst, who noticed the sales rankings on amazon disappearing from two gay romance novels.

I'm going to paraphrase: amazon, in a fit of some kind of virtual heterosexual panic, has delisted GLBT authors--specifically, stripping them of their sales rank on amazon and making (so far, only some of) them unsearchable from the main page of amazon.com due to adult content. The books are still there. But not as easy to find, and no longer considered a part of the rankings system that include such worthy pieces of great literature as Playboy: The Complete Centerfolds, which I understand is a valuable part of current literary thought and safe for ages zero through eighty, which is great, because I've been really wondering what to get my nephew for his first birthday.

A list of books that are being stripped of their sales rank is growing here. I sampled five of five from this list and they were not searchable from the main page*. This is a game we all can play! Go find your favorite GLBT novel and hit search.

[* Oddly, however, sometimes the kindle version would still show up from a front page search. I have no fucking clue what the hell is up with that.]

Denver Internet Examiner has an article on this as well.

And thank you Denver, also a layman explanation of sales rank for the n00b. While in theory I know what it is, I don't think I've ever checked it when I book buy. From Denver Internet Examiner:

Overall, the sales rank delisting may seem like a minor issue, but it can have a very serious impact for publishers and authors of lesser known works which depend on the sales ranking to get noticed and help spread the word. Amazon pulls unranked books from search results.

[By the way, if you are like me and have no idea where sales ranking is on the page, it shows up under Product Details, appearing right below Average Customer Review. And it's not just overall sales rank, but also broken into categories as well. Yes, I searched up a non-banned book to see what this looked like.]

Finally, Smart Bitches, Trashy Books has more this and the google bomb.

Corrections or additions welcomed fervently.

ETA: Okay, ffs, Virginia Henley's monstrosity The Dragon and the Jewel isn't considered adult? Are you fucking with me, amazon? A page to describe the sheathe he wears his mighty penis in and how he could split people apart with the width of it and it's not adult?

However, so far, Mercedes Lackey's Magic trilogy remains ranked and searchable.

ETA 2: Hi, consider this a running ETA of fail from the awesome people who are tracking this down.

Googlebomb

Amazon Rank via Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.

People

cleolinda: #amazonfail - great round-up and links

tehdely: On Amazon Failure, Meta-Trolls, and Bantown - gives a possible explanation for the Amazonfail book banning.

Places

CNet: Amazon criticized for de-ranking 'adult' books

DailyKos: Amazon's New Morality - For Your Protection

Dear Author: Amazon Censors Its Rankings Search Results to Protect Us Against GLBT Books with further explanations of what amazon is up to. (thanks to beanie_j for the link)

Feministe: Amazon Fail

Jezebel: Why Is Amazon Removing The Sales Rankings From Gay, Lesbian Books?

LA Blog: Amazon Deranks Gay Friendly Books and Twitterverse Notices (thanks to beanie_j for the link)

MetaFilter: AmazonFAIL

Net.Effect: #Amazonfail and the politics of anti-corporate cyberactivism

Publisher's Weekly: Publisher's Weekly on a "glitch". (thanks to amireal for the link) [via apetslife - this also has gone down. cleolinda has a screencap of PW's article here.]

Amazon Searches

kita0610 points to jonquil who has screencapped what now comes up when you search for homosexuality from a top level amazon search here in screencap. To expereince it live yourself, just click here.

azdaja_dafema has a screencap here for Amazon UK in relation to keyword: homosexuality in a top level search.

history_gurl has a screencap for Amazon Canada that does not fail! You may safely search for homosexuality and not want to spoon out your eyes.

Delicious Tagging and Twitter

Mark it: Amazonfail tag on delicious. Learn it, love it, use it, make it a very high number. Any others to add here?

trobadora links the Twitter Stream with the best. Name. Ever.

Community Involvement

Unfunny Business reacts here.

SF Drama really reacts here.

Macros!

icanhazcheezburger: - Macro has been achieved. (thanks to azdaja_dafema for the link.)

News

Search of googlenews - let me just blink thoughtfully, including this from the AP here.

Page 1 of 2 << [1] [2] >>

You should see the textbook like titles that got hit. There's a politics and gender class (and probably something else) that got laid to waste in there.

http://community.livejournal.com/meta_writer/11992.html

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6651080.html

(no subject)

From:

seperis.livejournal.com - Date: 2009-04-13 01:27 am (UTC) - expand

(no subject)

From:

amireal.livejournal.com - Date: 2009-04-13 01:33 am (UTC) - expand

I've been following this for the last two hours (and posted rant on my lj) It's horrifying what you get when you search for "homosexuality". Heaven forbid anyone actually go there /looking/ for guidance.

I just ran that and closed it so fast I saw spots. What the fuck was that about?

(no subject)

From:

azdaja-dafema.livejournal.com - Date: 2009-04-13 01:38 am (UTC) - expand

I've read elsewhere that apparently the Kindle listings are handled separately and therefore are not affected by this purge.

Hmm. That's--werid, come to think of it.

...such worthy pieces of great literature as Playboy: The Complete Centerfolds, which I understand is a valuable part of current literary thought and safe for ages zero through eighty, which is great, because I've been really wondering what to get my nephew for his first birthday.

Something for him to treasure when he's older maybe... =P

DearAuthor (http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2009/04/12/amazon-censors-its-rankings-search-results-to-protect-us-against-glbt-books/#more-11455) (I got the link from

marthawells) has a piece up on this which makes it totally clear what Amazon's motivations are here. And more to the point, that it was a deliberate move...

And Reply #1 highlights teh LULZ.

Also, The LATimes Blog (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2009/04/amazon-deranks-gayfriendly-books-the-twitterverse-notices.html) has a good comparison piece.

edited at: Date: 2009-04-13 01:07 am (UTC)

Added links to both. Thank you! *hugs*

(no subject)

From:

anjak-j.livejournal.com - Date: 2009-04-13 01:50 am (UTC) - expand

I've been following this all day, and even check on the (mad, crazy, INSANELY FAST-MOVING) Twitter stream every now and then. Via Twitter I just came across this ...

Added the link and boggling. So. Much.

(no subject)

From:

trobadora - Date: 2009-04-13 01:36 am (UTC) - expand

Oh, and Ron Jeremy's autobiography hasn't been delisted but John Barrowman's has, even though Barrowman's has nothing to do with sex--he just happens to be a gay actor.

...you are kidding? I mean, I know you aren't, I have amazon open to try it, because the fail is just that endless. Thanks for the heads up!

(no subject)

From:

pacalissanctum.livejournal.com - Date: 2009-04-13 01:42 am (UTC) - expand

How do you like what comes up now when you search homosexuality on Amazon? Have you seen THAT shit??

jonquil has the screen cap.

I looked on AmazonUK and I was horrified.

(no subject)

From:

seperis.livejournal.com - Date: 2009-04-13 01:34 am (UTC) - expand

(no subject)

From:

azdaja-dafema.livejournal.com - Date: 2009-04-13 01:42 am (UTC) - expand

(no subject)

From:

seperis.livejournal.com - Date: 2009-04-13 01:56 am (UTC) - expand

To experience the true horror of this, search homosexuality on Amazon.com. And then start swearing.

Yes. And I keep going back to look again, hoping it's my imagination.

There's a good post up on The LA Times Blog (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2009/04/amazon-deranks-gayfriendly-books-the-twitterverse-notices.html) that is discussing this. Good links, good points, good all around info.

Excellllent.

They took out Michel Foucault - which is a textbook for me this semester. It also enrages me that The Parenting Guide for Preventing Homosexuality is now apparently at the top of the result page for searches using 'homosexuality'.

Twitter is going nuts with this (see #amazonfail).

Some people have suggested that the tagging system is at fault, and others suggest (can't find link atm) that people should hit amazon with 'gay porn' tags on everything so it crashes.

As for the Kindle thing, I think it's because Kindle books are under a different category.

I'm trying to find my zen. It left teh country in a fit of rage.

...God.

I wonder if the gay porn tag would work? Hmm.

SBTB and Publisher's Weekly have both gone down from traffic...Cleolinda has a screencap of the PW article where Amazon claims "glitch!" here (http://cleolinda.livejournal.com/763883.html?style=mine).

Homg, the internet killed Publisher's Weekly!

*falls over* God. Added, and thank you!

From the chatter over at Jezebel, www.powells.com has been following this via Twitter and are considering a sale on GLBT books to show support. I know where I'll be spending my money...

Ooh. I'll watch for that one!

Thanks for the great roundup of info. I've linked to this post because let's face it I'm too lazy to compile all the links myself. So thank you again.

I'm adding the good ones as quickly as I can!

And we have a macro (saw it linked on twitter)
http://mine.icanhascheezburger.com/view.aspx?ciid=3929431

Thanks for the great info. I couldn't believe it and then paniced and went to cancel my orders from amazon.ca. However, it appears the deranking dosn't seem to be happening at amazon.ca????

Sorry, I was wrong. Amazon.ca is affected...but haphazardly. sigh...

I took a quick screen cap of the Amazon Canada page.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v197/kradey/amazoncanadascreencap.jpg

Seems we commie/pinko/Canadian weirdos get to keep our GLBT book rankings. Go figure.

You can do a search by author, but not themes for some of them. My partner wrote and self-published a book for young adults/teens that includes GLBT themes as one character starts questioning his sexuality. We did a search by her name and got her book, but everything was gone theme-wise. GLBT was gone, as was young adult, action, adventure, etc.

After Ellen says they are in the process of fixing it. There's a chance they actually will because, really, do they want to take on Ellen?

Publisher's Weekly is back up. Glitch my ass.

Y'know, I'm getting some of the supposed blocked books in searches, and I also found my two favorite gay-themed books (one with relatively explicit sex scenes) still searchable and with sales rankings. Are they fixing this or is it just...spotty?

Y'know, I'm getting some of the supposed blocked books in searches,

Since the people who put the list up proved it to their satisfaction and I sampled and have similar results, I'm going to say this isn't a "supposedly" situation.

Are they fixing this or is it just...spotty?

According to Dear Author, the metadata entered about the book decides what it is categorized as, and some books and some versions of the same book do not have the same metadata.

(no subject)

From:

doublehelix20.livejournal.com - Date: 2009-04-13 02:10 pm (UTC) - expand

(no subject)

From:

seperis.livejournal.com - Date: 2009-04-13 02:15 pm (UTC) - expand

go on vacation, check in on LJ and find that Amazon has been taken over by total fuckwads.

How nice.

Because you know how much I like to be protected from being able to read whatever I want. The world is such a scary place, I need a big brother to set the moral tone and watch out for me.

Yup.

*headdesk*

Great summary and linklist. Hope you don't mind if I link here from my LJ; let me know right away if that's a problem for you, OK?

User

starry_diadem referenced to your post from Amazonfail (http://starry-diadem.livejournal.com/106131.html) saying: [...] and you tell me which, proportionally, is the greater, huh?). A bazillion of links, but 's round-up here (http://seperis.livejournal.com/725189.html?mode=reply) is pretty comprehensive.Yes, peeps. Censorship.Too protect the children, of course.You have the power to stick the finger up at ... [...]

Thanks for the round up, very useful.

If it's deliberate, why is amazon.co.uk not affected? What am I missing?

Just a lurker but thought you might like to know twitter's got another hashtag going called #glitchmyass on amazon claiming there was a glitch and that there's no new adult poilcy.
http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23glitchmyass

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