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mac_stone
mac_stone
12 April 2009 @ 12:05 pm
#AmazonFAIL FAIL FAIL  
I'm still boggling. You can read about the fucked-uppedness that is Amazon.com unranking and disappearing GLBT romance and YA books, on [info]markprobst 's LJ, here, and ongoing links are being updated at the [info]meta_writer  community, here.
 
 
Mood: pissed
What I'm listening to:: Babylon5 marathon on iTunes
 
10 comments | Leave a comment
 
( 10 comments — Post a new comment )
bmlg: 3-day[info]bmlg on April 12th, 2009 07:52 pm (UTC)
Once I wrote to a friend "There is no bottom to the pit of stupidity, because whenever someone reaches it, he grabs a shovel and starts digging."
The speculation that they bought the filter from a third party and don't really know how it works seems plausible. Their search function has always sucked so badly that I always search through bookfinder.com first. So I don't count Amazon as the most tech-capable company around.
I'll complain on Tues. from my work email. Since I buy books as my actual job, it might give more weight.
C. S. Inman[info]csinman on April 12th, 2009 07:59 pm (UTC)
Hahaha!
"There is no bottom to the pit of stupidity, because whenever someone reaches it, he grabs a shovel and starts digging."

That's VERY clever. XD
bmlg[info]bmlg on April 12th, 2009 09:06 pm (UTC)
Re: Hahaha!
Thanks! I just wish it weren't so regularly shown to be true.
I'm going to buzz over the book forums on ABE (now owned by Amazon) and see if anyone has useful info.
C. S. Inman[info]csinman on April 12th, 2009 07:59 pm (UTC)
I wrote them an e-mail, but I'm annoyed because I know it will only go to customer service representatives getting paid $8/hr to eat doughnuts and babysit the public--not the people who will actually change anything. >:|
mac_stone[info]mac_stone on April 12th, 2009 09:22 pm (UTC)
Yeah. I emailed from my Amazon Associate "contact us" form. And if I cancel AW's Amazon Associate account over this, I'll do that from the same place...then put a big "Why We Don't Recommend Amazon.com" Button on the sidebar of the front page.
Christopher Kastensmidt[info]ckastens on April 12th, 2009 11:26 pm (UTC)
That is just so out of the blue! What a shame.
Christopher Kastensmidt[info]ckastens on April 13th, 2009 12:00 am (UTC)
This is just so damn ridiculous. It's the same problem over and over. You let a company grow too big and they think they own the world.
AIG gets too much financial power and a few jackasses manage to bankrupt the U.S. Amazon gets too much control over book distribution and they think they can impose their own ideology. There are dozens of other examples.
How many times is this going to repeat?
mac_stone[info]mac_stone on April 13th, 2009 12:07 am (UTC)
I understand the people saying "Calm down, everyone, it's probably an honest mistake" -- but I don't think for a moment that it's an honest mistake. I don't see how an algorithm designed to de-rank "adult content" leaves Playboy centerfold collections ranked and searchable, but de-ranks Heather Has Two Mommies. That's a wee bit beyond incompetent.

There's an interesting article here, as well: http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2009/04/12/amazon-rank/
Christopher Kastensmidt[info]ckastens on April 13th, 2009 12:12 am (UTC)
There is no way this is an honest mistake.
Chicken Fried Jo[info]chickenfried_jo on April 13th, 2009 05:59 am (UTC)
I just couldn't believe they would be that stupid. Seriously. But I guess they are.