amazonfail

I'm certain that nearly everyone who read this has heard of "amazonfail" by now. If not -- click here for Making Light's take on the issue.

I'd agree with PNH that it's likely that this is less an Evil Plot on amazon's part than a Big Institutional Screw-Up that will be rectified as the powers-that-be at amazon see the gleam of pitchfork tines in torchlight while the internet hordes clamber up their hill howling in outrage. But just to make certain: I'd suggest sending a message to amazon customer service complaining about this apparent anti-gay policy (I've done so, with the note that until I see a public apology and explanation and the books in question have their sales rankings restored, I will not be spending another penny on the site), and/or sign the on-line petition protesting this move on amazon's part. I've done both...

Oh, and until this is resolved, please DO NOT buy any of my books from amazon. Go to B&N's website or your local bookstore instead...

It'll be interesting to see how amazon explains this...

ETA: An LJ user claims he is responsible for all this by writing a script that gamed the system: http://community.livejournal.com/brutal_honesty/3168992.html

ETAA: A refutation of the above: http://bryant.livejournal.com/672165.html

ETAAA: A quote from the Wall Street Journal's site: "UPDATE: Neil Giuliano, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, says in a statement: “GLAAD has reached out to Amazon.com and they indicate this was an error, so we expect to start seeing evidence of its correction immediately, and any loss of visibility of gay-themed books as a result of this error will be made right by Amazon … When people learn about the lives of gay and transgender people and the common ground we share, the culture changes and advances. It is so important that stories about the lives of our community are available, and that companies like Amazon promote these titles in an equal fashion.”"

*****

A semi-interesting aside: I note that "fail" has now replaced "gate" as the word used (in combination with another) to indicate a public failure and scandal of monumental proportions... "Gate" had a long run since the original "Watergate" scandal broke, but it's over now...

Response from amazon...

Here's the response I received from my letter of outrage to amazon:

Hello,

Thank you for contacting Amazon.com.

This is an embarrassing and ham-fisted cataloging error for a company that prides itself on offering complete selection.

It has been misreported that the issue was limited to Gay & Lesbian themed titles - in fact, it impacted 57,310 books in a number of broad categories such as Health, Mind & Body, Reproductive & Sexual Medicine, and Erotica. This problem impacted books not just in the United States but globally. It affected not just sales rank but also had the effect of removing the books from Amazon's main product search.

Many books have now been fixed and we're in the process of fixing the remainder as quickly as possible, and we intend to implement new measures to make this kind of accident less likely to occur in the future.

Thanks for contacting us. We hope to see you again soon.


Sincerely,

Customer Service Department
Amazon.com

*******

I like "embarrassing and ham-fisted" -- that's an understatement if I ever heard one. But I'd still like to know how it happened, and how it that amazon's system could allow something like this to cascade.