Regarding amazonfail

[wendyzski]

For a quick summary, read cleolinda's LJ. Between that entry and some of the links in the comments, you'll get a good idea of what is going on.

For real-time tracking, try http://amazonglitch.com/ but it's moving awfully fast.

Personally, I logged in to my account and sent a polite yet firm e-mail (while signed in) to customer service that:

1) I am outraged at the information that has recently come to light about their rankings and search criteria in regards to "adult" material and in particular in how these labels are applied to works with homosexual characters or content

2) I understand that they are a private company and that they can apply any filters to their content that they wish.

3) However, I will not be making purchases with them until I am assured that their content is free of anything resembling censorship.

No ranting, shouting, or i'll-never-speak-to-you-agains, just an "I've shopped with you before, and I'm upset at your policies/glitches/whatever and I'm not going to shop there again unless this changes".

Now we wait - I suspect there are some rather frantic meetings going on over there right now...

Comments

[wifeofset.livejournal.com]

You mean about the fact that it was a hoax?

Not all books with homosexual content were filtered. It appears it was someone who had the ability to code really well and got into their system, added the code sat back to giggle

[tully-argyle.livejournal.com]

I know that was one of the theories...where can you cite your proof? (no accusation, just curious for the info! -thanks!)

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

as far as I know, that is one of 4 competing theories at the moment, and it seems unlikely in view of:
1) the fact that this has been going on since February and
2) the facts that using the search term "homosexuality" as of yesterday afternoon pulled up almost entirely books with an anti-homosexual bias a

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

Well, being as this is explanation #4 that I've seen so far from them, I'll wait until more news is forthcoming.

That theory doesn't explain the e-mail that Craig Seymour has from February in regards to the situation, unless you think it was done back then. And even if it was, then the signed e-mail is a pretty weak initial response. Then the response to Mark Probst.

While it is a possible explanation I think it unlikely, and even if it turns out to be true I am disappointed by Amazon's initial response.

[eacole72.livejournal.com]

No ranting, shouting, or i'll-never-speak-to-you-agains, just an "I've shopped with you before, and I'm upset at your policies/glitches/whatever and I'm not going to shop there again unless this changes".

That's what they got from me, along with "Please provide a public explanation of what happened." It's called a Root Cause Analysis, and companies know they have to do them when they have major failures of process. I've personally been involved with three of them. They can be rough, but they make a difference.

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Screaming at the phone reps doesn't help anyone. But something is screwed up here and once you have your panicked meetings this morning I'd like to see your explanation of 1) what happened and 2) what you are planning to do about it.

Until then, I'm heading over to Barnes & Noble at lunch to pick up Jim Butcher's new book.

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

I have never used Amazon and don't plan to start.

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

I actually use them a lot but not usually for books. My family uses the wish list function pretty extensively. However, at lunch I walked over to Borders in the rain and bought Jim Butcher's latest (came out last week).

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I take the polite-but-firm road, too. Swearing is not a good opener for an argument. You save that for later.