Gay titles disappear from Amazon rankings
I have a feeling this was not a quiet holiday weekend for Amazon executives.
Author Mark Probst discovered that hundreds of gay and lesbian titles had been labeled "adult," and thus removed from sales rankings and certain search results and lists, resulting in an immediate angry mob.
Think of it as the ban heard 'round the world.
These titles include straight-up pornographic material, as well as Probst's own young adult title, Filly, Augusten Burrough's Running with Scissors and even biographies and memoirs of gay authors and celebrities. Here's an exhaustive list of the types of titles banned, compared to the titles that've retained their rankings.
But don't worry, you can still find yourself the most popular vibrator (this link is clearly NSFW). And Ron Jeremy's bio is ranked ninth in the pornography category.
So what does this mean for you?
Well, if you're looking for a copy of Brokeback Mountain, a general search will give you every imaginable copy of the DVD, as well as the movie Milk, before you finally see the short story, listed at No. 9.
If you're searching for Running With Scissors, you'll get David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty One Day and Naked, as well as every other Augusten Burroughs book, AND the movie based on the book before that title shows up at No. 12.
Of course, in all of the chaos, there is one possibility: That this is an elaborate hoax perpetrated on both Amazon and its customers.
Maybe it's my Kindle love that's blinding me, but I just can't imagine that Amazon would willingly alienate such a large clientele by purposely banning any book that mentions gay and lesbian issues. That's just not good for business.
So what do you think? Conspiracy, prank or glitch?
Comments
Thank you for covering this.
In terms of hypocrisy: Search amazon.com and amazon.co.uk for "bestiality". Enjoy the results.
Posted by: vashtan | April 13, 2009 9:44 AM
amazon better come up with a better reasoning than a 'glitch' because i'm taking my business elsewhere ... fess up to discrimination and then correct it asap ... guess there'll be no kindle in my horizon
Posted by: Raymund | April 13, 2009 1:43 PM
A glitch? Yeah, right. The "glitch" has been going on since February already. Glad you picked this up, too. This discrimination and censorship can't be condoned.
Posted by: Rikki | April 13, 2009 2:19 PM
I'll be honest - I'm still not fully sure what's going on here. I've tried to view the situation as it appears now, but I think there's something a bit weird here from all directions. If indeed Amazon as a whole is behind this, there's something troubling. And it's troubling as well if they are not the ones behind it and somehow it happened anyways...
Posted by: Biblibio | April 13, 2009 2:40 PM
I agree about the confusion, Biblibio -- it's unclear what, if any, motive there would be for it.
But the fact remains that whatever happened, it is a lot harder to find certain books on Amazon right now, and there's no explanation as to why. I would have at least expected some sort of statement on their site explaining that they're aware of the issue and working to fix it.
Posted by: Nancy | April 13, 2009 3:18 PM
I don't know if this is true, but I just read that a hacker caused the Amazon glitch:
http://i.gizmodo.com/5210424/hacker-claims-he-shoved-amazon-into-the-closet-using-inappropriate-flag-exploit
Posted by: Gail Farrelly | April 13, 2009 5:08 PM
There have also been anonymous Amazon reps saying that a French employee misinterpreted "adult" with "erotica" and "sexuality," and that caused it.
http://www.lilithsaintcrow.com/journal/2009/04/idosyncratic-code-amazonfail/
Neither of these explanations are completely satisfying, though...
Posted by: Nancy | April 13, 2009 5:12 PM
Blame it on "someone" in France - just great. And from what I've read, the hacker probably could not have managed this.
I think that Amazon foolishly thought they would try and sneak this past the buying public, in deference to more conservative pressures. They figured that if they got caught, they could blame it on a glitch and still tell their pro-censorship crowd that they tried.
I have taken down the posts I had on this, mainly because the story keeps changing every 10 minutes. I have also taken down my Amazon links, until I hear a better explanation than "this guy in France did it."
Posted by: Lisa | April 14, 2009 6:21 PM