swiped from all around

[veronica_rich]

(But the wording, I'll lift verbatim from venusinchains, since she works in books and otherwise seems like a trustworthy soul *G* ... plus, I've seen this going around on other LJs, including author alex_beecroft who is definitely affected. Also, I do apologize to my J/E friends; I'm not picking on you with my avatar - this is just the best one I have that seems to fit this business "device"):

Apparently, Amazon has started removing "rankings" (and other tracking info that helps customers find what's popular on their site?) from books featuring Gay and Lesbian content.

Their reasons?

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.

Best regards,

Ashlyn D
Member Services
Amazon.com Advantage

And yet, a number of the books affected contain only GLBT material - not "adult" material.

Please follow the links and spread the word.


The original post:

http://markprobst.livejournal.com/15293.html

The growing list of targeted products:

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

ETA: I know not everybody is crazy about m/m or f/f fiction or nonfiction - this includes potentially my f-list and anyone else who might hop by, since this isn't a locked post. MY point is not so much to protect gay rights in this instance (though I do generally) as it is to denounce censorship. Adults should be allowed to read whatever they want to read (barring, IMO, underage visual porn that exploits underage subjects), and all book rankings/sales/availability should be treated equally for customers to decide.

Comments

[x-pixel-x.livejournal.com]

Dear Amazon,
Wishing a plague of angry emails, lost sales and cat macros on your house. EPIC FAIL.
no love,
me

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

What I don't get is why other retailers aren't doing this as well. Or why Amazon is. It's not that I support it - I'm just curious why it hasn't spread like most contagions ...

(If you want to avoid fail, BTW, don't read today's fandomsecrets. You'll just tear out what hair you have.)

[x-pixel-x.livejournal.com]

The whole thing is sort of odd and unbelievable, it's not an action that I'd expect from something as big as Amazon when it doesn't appear that any other retailer is doing it. I cannot fathom how this all came about.

(Gah, now I'm curious...but I'm working on dreamwidth stuff so I'm distracted enough I think to avoid it.)

[johnnypenn.livejournal.com]

Wow, your avi is the best thing for this post, lve.
Wow, that's not cool. They;re being totally racist agains homosexuals. Where the heck is the freedom in banning some books just becuase they have adult content, if that's so than they NEED to bann all adult material and not just the gay/lesbian stuff either.

[venusinchains.livejournal.com]

Earlier today was the first I'd heard of it (on a Torchwood message board off lj), but it was immediately obvious that they were engaging in a subversive form of censorship.

The "rankings" give sales information to anyone who cares to look, for starters, but it's also used to form "ranking lists" - basically the top 10, or top 100, in any given category. It looks like alex_beecroft was breaking into "visible on the list" territory when her "ranking" was yanked, effectively reducing her visibility to Amazon customers (lowering GLBT visibility AND alex_beecroft's possibility for sales).

I gather that having an "adult" tag (besides resulting in the loss of a ranking) restricts what searches will include the book in question. Once again, lowering GLBT visibility AND alex_beecroft's possibility for sales.

So, amazon is deliberately removing GLBT from people's consideration while leaving het material (often of a more genuinely "adult" nature) out to be seen. That's a subversive, but still blatant, form of censorship.

Though I've heard, through an lj Torchwood site, that they may already be trying to back away from this mess they've created. I'm off to add my email to the fray. >:-)

Keep those flames, petitions and cat macros coming!

[venusinchains.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the double post, but...

After signing the petition and sending off my email, I had to test something I saw mentioned by one of the petition's other signers. I put in "homosexuality" as a search at Amazon - aaaaaannd... about 90% of the books that came up on the first page were christian books on how to reverse (called "heal" in the jargon of these books - as being gay is obviously a sickness) or how to ignore (look past; pretend does not really exist and act as such) your own and others' homosexuality.

There was also a link to amazon's new 'chrisitan book store' on every books page.

Yes, I feel a bit ill now. Even if they clear this up, I don't think I'll be able to revisit Amazon as a customer ever again.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

It does seem overdone and ridiculous. Really, I'll be interested to know the precise reason/catalyst behind this action - and why only Amazon seems to be doing it.

[venusinchains.livejournal.com]

I've been doing a bit more reading and I almost hope that the Bantown theory won't pan out. (Most of the evidence for it is exclusively to do with lj, after all.)

I do believe that if Amazon has let the God Fearing Public make their decisions for them so blithely (or ignorantly, if the site is basically running itself this weekend) then they deserve the shit storm they've attracted. Of course, I thought it all started just today. The reliable sources have it starting on Friday - which could still put it within the Bantown realm - but some are saying it first began in February.

I think I'll wait till tomorrow to see how the dust settles. (Assuming it does settle tomorrow.) *is tired*

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'm still a bit confused with this thing because I put in "gay" as a search term and came up with this as my first search result: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51X2THQZGQL._SL160_AA115_.jpg

2. The Gay Man's Kama Sutra -complete with a "LOOK INSIDE!" feature.

Would these not be "adult" in pretty much every sense of the term?

[venusinchains.livejournal.com]

The censorship that's happening is not being applied evenly. And no explanation is being given for what's been excepted or why.

However, it IS starting to hit news sites around the web. You could probably google amazon!fail (or similar) and find gobs of info on it.