Today's fail prize goes to Amazon
(The Fail Prize bears a strong resemblance in appearance, texture, weight and odor to what comes out of my dog's hind end after a extra tasty meal of liver and mineral oil. And or what the cat throws up.)
Also, see that icon? That's because there's no way I'm using my 'Buy the Book' icon, that's for sure. Because all the money I would have spent on ( Read more... )
Also, see that icon? That's because there's no way I'm using my 'Buy the Book' icon, that's for sure. Because all the money I would have spent on ( Read more... )
Comments 31
OOOOOH, yes, that! That's what I should do with the money!
And man, we need to get people writing, I tell you. I can devour a novel a day if I set my mind to it. We need to get fanficcers crackin' I tell you.
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The argument these are 'adult' books.
When the hell did adult become synonymous with censored/should be censored/is dirty/bad/wrong/perverted/we don't your kind hanging around our young'uns?
I've been an adult legally since I was eighteen. I was proud and happy to become an adult. My parents, teachers, etc always encouraged me to behave in an adult manner. Adults vote, have jobs, kids, pay taxes, and serve their country. Adults read and watch adult entertainment and educational material. Adults decide what those things are. We don't need or want Big Amazon Brother to decide for us or our children. That's our responsibility. That's what being an adult means: being responsible for yourself and your actions.
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I just renewed my Amazon-linked Visa card. Looks like I'ma have to call those folks and explain why I'll be switching to that sweet deal UBOC's offering.
One of my high school friends kept trying to explain to me that people are no damn good. At this late date I'm starting to believe.
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You gotta wonder at the level of fail where Amazon, which is based on the internet, doesn't get that first, this will be noticed, and second, it will propagate across the social media like ebola through a sack of blood. Seriously, their customer base is readers and if there is one thing that makes readers crazy it's censorship. Way to alienate your entire customer base even if ninety percent of them have no sympathy with GLBT issues at all. Because we're bright enough to get that it's a censorship issue, not just a homophobia one (not that that isn't ugly and important enough).
So, they get a big steaming pile of fail prize.
And you know, I really loved that it seemed like they had anything I could hound dog out of a bibliography, one way or the other, before this.
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But the arbitrary/targeted nature of the rank disappearances reeked of prejudice.
I'm kind of holding on to the idea that, yes, someone at Amazon did this, but it was (I hope) an end-run. A small clique of people who thought they could implement this and no one would notice. Which would be stupid, but then I'm convinced prejudiced people, especially those who feel they must act on their prejudices, are stupid.
Apparently, it's been happening slowly, since February, and only reached the boil over point this weekend, though. So who the hell knows. Internet wise, Amazon has poo on it's face and it looks like whether it was a deliberate from the CEO down policy or not, its being recanted.
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It's such a moronic policy, though. The rankings and suggestions of other books you may like are a marketing tool, to get people to buy other books from them. They're shooting themselves in the foot.
Aside from the tiny fraction of people who might boycott them over this, deranking will cost them sales. So not only will it hurt specific authors and publishers, ultimately it will hurt Amazon. The more interlinked every title is, the more likely someone browsing like me will buy a book they never set out to.
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http://bryant.livejournal.com/672165.html
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Though, automated responses to complaints are a glitch (or a disaster) waiting to be abused. Everyone was up in arms with the 'flag this content' abuse link LJ instituted back during one of the Strikethrough brouhahas, remember?
For a while yesterday, about the time I posted, the Smart Bitches link was Google #1. It will fall fast as people stop propogating the meme today, though. It's not enough to Google it. The link has to be posted so that a Google search finds it more often than anything else. Some people seem to have missed that. :)
Imma gonna ignore it all today anyway. Makes for bad digestion and I'm running out of Tums.
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Did they stop selling the books, or just make the books harder to find?
It seems that the bigger you get and more successful you are, the more you find yourself vulnerable to outside pressure to conform to the conservative perspective of morality, because, right now, those with the money are very conservative.
That's my theory.
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Without a rank, the titles and authors don't show up on an Amazon search unless you input them specifically.
So if you don't know the book specifically and are just trying to find something new in, oh, say, gay erotica, none of the deranked books would show.
That will tend to cut down on people buying those books, sure enough.
The thing that flipped me out is that it was so targetted. In contrast a book of Playboy centerfolds wasn't deranked. Books on de-gayifying your kid weren't deranked ( ... )
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