#amazonfail

[nfotxn]

Thankfully non-bloggists are covering Amazon's problems creating more "family friendly" search results. The most useful article so far is from The Guardian.

So it seems what has happened is that tags make up a large part of search results. The fact that they're censoring search results at all sucks. And why Amazon hasn't chosen to allow uncensored search results with a login is also a tad confusing.

Let's put those things aside for a sec and get inside the head of a programmer. I think there's a benefit of the doubt that needs to be given here. So really if you just word associate tags like "gay" you probably think of "porn" or "ass rape" or perhaps "rights now" if you're the Daffyd type. Interestingly tags like "sex/sexuality" have lost their rank but "love/sex/marriage" have not. The slash tags are of course totally fucking stupid subject headings and meaningless because nobody searches for "love/sex/marriage".

Anyhow the results are inconsistent with all sorts of titles missing from searches not just erotica or GLBT titles or GLBT about celibacy or lesbian guides to bird watching or whatever. Proving that censorship is defective because books tend to contain multitudes of subjects. Which has always been the message of free speech advocates for ages.

The clear solution here is to represent your "gay writing" as more than just gay and writing. The other solution is to go to the library or local bookstore.

Comments

Hmm

[pxtl.livejournal.com]

Well, the argument I saw was that various "gay cure" fundamentalist materials weren't blacklisted, implying that this really was an anti-gay act. However, is till doubt that Amazon is directly responsible, more likely an adjustment in their user-based moderation process that let some asshole with a botnet do some damage, or they received an "adult content" black-list from a 3rd party that they didn't properly review before implementing.

I imagine backpedalling is imminent and they simply haven't had time to clean up the mess yet. Amazon isn't exactly a hard-right organization.

Re: Hmm

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

That's probably pretty true too. Amazon just wants to make money, we know this. There are all sorts of stupid explanations for this problem as really it's rather stupid. Not that the explanations are stupid, they're all rather intelligent, but the resulting censorship is inconsistent and stupid. For instance cpratt seems to think low-rent programmers are to blame. Which is pretty believable given that Amazon is home to their particular Mechanical Turk.

Anyhow it's a big PR mess and some gays are pulling the Daffyd routine. Including this one dude who totally does not understand why his memoirs of being a gay stripper in DC is considered adult content. You know 'cause his whoring memoirs and Gore Vidal? One in the same.

[sassy-fae.livejournal.com]

There's been a lot of problematic distinctions that seem to have been made in regards to what sort of books dealing with homosexuality have been (effectively) censored.

Quoting someone who's been having a look at Amazon:
"...books on preventing suicide in gay teens (Dead Boys Can't Dance: Sexual Orientation, Masculinity, and Suicide) were de-ranked, while "A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality" and "Does God Love Michael's Two Daddies?" sail through just fine."

[sassy-fae.livejournal.com]

Oops, was still typing when M. replied. Well, there's a quote for his first point :)

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

It's all algorithmic and inconsistent. I'm totally against censorship of any kind but what has happened here is that censorship is back-firing. I'm really of the mind at this point that related books got censored while other related did not. Thusly creating these censorship dichotomies that, just given the HUGE scale, cannot be consciously deliberated decisions. They just look really horrible. Henceforth this being a huge PR mess.

[sassy-fae.livejournal.com]

*nods* No matter how this ended up happening, it doesn't speak well for Amazon. Broadly speaking, there's several possible scenarios I can see:

a) they're actually being bigoted jerks
b) they have poor organization that could allow for this to happen in an automated system
c) they have vulnerabilities such that an outside organization can exploit them

and d) (sent to me by otheronetruegod:
A small group or individual managed out outstep their bounds and start implementing something without large consensus. I don't believe for a second that this was a corporate decision or a technical glitch, more like a chain-of-command glitch.

Any which way, it end up looking bad on Amazon, and I'm sure they'll be working hard to soothe public opinion (and maybe end up providing a superior service as a result.)

[slumberjack.livejournal.com]

they got hacked... note it happened on a holiday weekend. i doubt Amazon employees were busily removing gay books while everyone else was off eating chocolate bunnies. it was definitely outside exploitation of a system that probably wasn't extremely sound in the first place.

it's gonna really stink for business, though. i got dibs on CDs in their going-out-of-business sale!

[sassy-fae.livejournal.com]

The timing really is suspicious. The only thing that makes me question the hacking scenario are the people who say they've been complaining about this delisting since February. If that's the case, it's been a reeeally slow hack job, and would have been noticed before now.

[slumberjack.livejournal.com]

maybe the guilty party was playing around with the system to find the flaws? i don't understand the desire for hacking at all, especially at the expense of gay literature! but if it sheds light on how shaky all the user ranking/keywording systems actually are, it might be worthwhile.

i remember when people started flooding an Amazon listing for milk(!) with hilarious user reviews... but at least that was funny and not insulting/hurtful.

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

This: http://tehdely.livejournal.com/88823.html?

[slumberjack.livejournal.com]

yeah, i read that a bit earlier. sounds likely to me. Amazon needs to admit it asap though, but i guess if they said someone was able to manipulate the system every wanna-be hacker would start targeting the keywording/flagging system and make it even a huger mess.

(i LOLed at something i read where people were marking Ann Coulter books as "gay romance" to try to get them to disappear though.)

Waaaa!

[danlmarmot.livejournal.com]

It's likely just an unintended side-effect of something they were testing, or someone turned on the 'Kid Friendly' setting on system wide, or something.

Everyone should just stop the shouting to the cyberworld that "I'M NEVER GOING TO BUY ANYTHING FROM AMAZON AGAIN!!!!!!!! BECAUSE THEY HATE THE GAYS!". It's all just too hysterical and thin-skinned, and is just one step away from hyperventilated high school stories about being called FAG and SISSY.

When something undesireable happens, it doesn't mean that there's intention behind it. And I'm sorry for all those who feel some far-away retailer decided to crush their self-identities with some blunder.

[abearius.livejournal.com]

Library? What kind of quadrilateral structure are you, dude?