I just posted the following on james_nicoll's LJ in response to a couple of comments that it was likely a poorly-tested algorithm removing the books' sales rankings:
The weird thing is that the books Fag Hag and Closet Case have not had their sales ranks removed, and When You Were Me, What They Did To Princess Paragon and Kept Boy all have. All five are by the same author, Robert Rodi. At least three of them - both of the ones that still have their sales ranks and at least one that doesn't - are from the same publisher, Plume. (I'm too lazy to dig out my copy of Princess Paragon right now, and I don't own a copy of When You Were Me. Yet. ;) )
Queer Fear 2 seems to have had its rank removed (they don't seem to have the first book), whereas Queer Blood: The Secret AIDS Genocide Plot (I kid you not) still has a sales rank listed.
So if it is an algorithm, it's a very strange one.
If this were an algorithm gone wrong, someone in their PR department would have noticed by now, made some emergency calls to stop it from running, and put out a press release.
You're probably right - a company as large as Amazon would have someone on call 24/7. I've seen people making excuses for them, saying that it's Easter weekend, etc. When I was on call at CDS, holidays only meant that I got paid $50 per day for carrying the pager instead of $20. I still had to go to the office if it started beeping.
And as for the icon - thanks! It was made by brokenelevator, whom I believe is from the queerasfolkfans community. (I don't actually know the person, they just posted a bunch of icons. He/she - probably she, but I don't remember - made this one as well.)
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The weird thing is that the books Fag Hag and Closet Case have not had their sales ranks removed, and When You Were Me, What They Did To Princess Paragon and Kept Boy all have. All five are by the same author, Robert Rodi. At least three of them - both of the ones that still have their sales ranks and at least one that doesn't - are from the same publisher, Plume. (I'm too lazy to dig out my copy of Princess Paragon right now, and I don't own a copy of When You Were Me. Yet. ;) )
Queer Fear 2 seems to have had its rank removed (they don't seem to have the first book), whereas Queer Blood: The Secret AIDS Genocide Plot (I kid you not) still has a sales rank listed.
So if it is an algorithm, it's a very strange one.
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And as for the icon - thanks! It was made by brokenelevator, whom I believe is from the queerasfolkfans community. (I don't actually know the person, they just posted a bunch of icons. He/she - probably she, but I don't remember - made this one as well.)
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