ButMadNNW
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AmazonFail
I thought I'd move this into its own thread rather than taking over another conversation. Over on the "Resurrection" thread, I posted the following:
quote:
ButMadNNW wrote:
Just poking my head in to say HI!!! to pwsull.  And to say that I find this discussion interesting in light of the #amazonfail ****storm today.
In brief, Amazon has been caught with their pants down after the Twitterverse got their claws into the fact that any book dealing with LGBT issues (or written by an LGBT author - Ellen Degeneres's and Stephen Fry's memoirs notable examples) has had its sales ranking removed. If you search for "homosexuality" in Amazon books right now, the top results are all about "curing" homosexuality.
Let me Google that for you if you want more info. 
Flare responded thusly:
quote:
friendlysolarflare wrote:
quote:
ButMadNNW wrote:
If you search for "homosexuality" in Amazon books right now, the top results are all about "curing" homosexuality.
 &  why Amazon? Why?
And then Iseult added:
quote:
Iseult1124 wrote:
quote:
friendlysolarflare wrote:
quote:
ButMadNNW wrote:
If you search for "homosexuality" in Amazon books right now, the top results are all about "curing" homosexuality.
& why Amazon? Why?
What Flare said!!!
The whole thing is just stupid!! I guess I need to find some other outlet for my online shopping - I do most of my shopping through Amazon, but right now I'm disinclined to shop there!
Amazon didn't win many fans with their initial "explanation" that the problem was due to a "glitch." In the interim, an idiot on LJ claimed to be responsible for a hack to the Amazon systems (I doubt it, and why would you invite punishment for something you didn't do?). Amazon is now saying it was "human error". This still seems too "convenient" an excuse to me. An excuse that still doesn't quite explain all of the books that were de-ranked or the ones that remained ranked.
I know several people have pulled their Wish Lists from Amazon and closed their accounts, and I understand how they feel. After all, I still feel like we haven't really been given a satisfactory explanation for why or how this happened. Or how Amazon is going to keep it from happening in the future.
For me, it's not much of a threat right now to say I'm not going to order anything from Amazon.  I can't order anything from anybody - no money. But what I am going to do is keep my account open at Amazon and keep an eye on things. If I can do some shopping, I'll likely take my custom elsewhere for a while. If they don't show signs of improving their story/security/whatever, I may part ways with them permanently.
As I've said a few places around the Interwebs, Amazon's job is to sell merchandise, not police our "morals." Rather than excluding all "adult" products from the search/ranking functions, why not refine the search feature so that you can say "I want to search for this word, but not see any results matching this category." Simple Boolean expression, if I recall my programming days properly: "If this but Not that...."
Anyway. If you find any noteworthy items that seem to show real progress on this issue, please post them here, and I'll do the same. 
Last edited by ButMadNNW, 4/13/2009, 8:24 pm
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4/13/2009, 8:10 pm
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Doctor Delia
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Re: AmazonFail
Amazon.com has been in business for how many years? And after all that time, NOW all of a sudden they want to put filters on their merchandise that will supposedly screen out "adult" themed stuff? Pul-eeeeze!
I can't tell you how many times, I've searched for stuff and got into what they are now calling the "adult" trade. Just put in women's boots (especially size 11 boots) and you end up with every kinky boot imaginable. Once I was searching for a book on the influence of north Africa on ancient Greek culture called "Black Athena." I think I got the motherload of erotica-noir. And so what?
And who's to decide what is "adult" anyway? Is literature considered "gay" and therefore "adult" if it deals with GLBT issues or if the author is simply gay? Would the literature of James Baldwin or the writings of Oscar Wilde or the notebooks of Leonardo daVinci end up in the "adult" ghetto?
And how about that purple Tele-Tubby? Everyone in the Republican Party knows he's gay!
Geez, sometimes I think this country is going backwards!
P.S. Looooove the new avatar, ButMad
Last edited by Doctor Delia, 4/14/2009, 4:37 am
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4/14/2009, 4:32 am
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ButMadNNW
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Re: AmazonFail
Sales rankings back, Amazon still not providing sufficient explanation (IMO).
Good "article" here. I agree - an apology would be nice. "We messed up, and we're sorry."
quote:
Doctor Delia wrote:
P.S. Looooove the new avatar, ButMad
 Thank ye. I paid a long overdue visit to the official movie site and found they had, among other things, a nifty avatar maker. This was the same day #AmazonFail broke, so I think I was feeling in the mood for a little Rorschach-style action.
Last edited by ButMadNNW, 4/14/2009, 10:55 am
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4/14/2009, 10:46 am
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friendlysolarflare
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Re: AmazonFail
quote:
Doctor Delia wrote:
And how about that purple Tele-Tubby? Everyone in the Republican Party knows he's gay!
quote:
ButMadNNW wrote:
Good "article" here. I agree - an apology would be nice. "We messed up, and we're sorry."
Very nice article, ButMad.
The story has reached the Danish media, they quote this article from the Guardian, containing a statement made by Patty Smith, director of corporate communications for Amazon: "This is an embarrassing and hamfisted cataloguing error for a company that prides itself on offering complete selection. [...]"
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4/14/2009, 1:57 pm
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ButMadNNW
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Re: AmazonFail
This article has punctuations errors and seems to be missing some illustrations(?), but is worth a read anyway. Mark Morford tweeted it with the comment, "Aww, crap. Maybe Amazon really was slightly nefarious re: its "glitch". Bigger ?: Can algorithms really be homophobic?"
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4/14/2009, 10:38 pm
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friendlysolarflare
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Re: AmazonFail
quote:
ButMadNNW wrote:
Can algorithms really be homophobic?"
I can see that on a T-shirt: "Homophobic algorithms? Amazon.com has it!"
Last edited by friendlysolarflare, 4/14/2009, 10:43 pm
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4/14/2009, 10:41 pm
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ButMadNNW
Chief Inspector
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Re: AmazonFail
quote:
friendlysolarflare wrote:
quote:
ButMadNNW wrote:
Can algorithms really be homophobic?"
I can see that on a T-shirt: "Homophobic algorithms? Amazon.com has it!"
(Shouldn't be funny, but it is.)
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4/14/2009, 10:54 pm
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