Amazon sales rankings.
Apr. 12th, 2009 05:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kiki_engApparently Amazon has decided to strip "adult" materials of their sales rank so as to prevent their appearance on best seller lists and in some searches.
An author noted that a number of books had lost their sales ranking and made as inquiry. He received the following response back:
"In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude "adult" material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature.
Hence, if you have further questions, kindly write back to us.
Best regards,
Ashlyn D
Member Services
Amazon.com Advantage"
Given Amazon's large volume of material I suspect that effectively censoring something out of searches would take some time to implement. It's a good thing, then, that they got to Heather Has Two Mommies before Playboy: The Complete Centrefolds, I mean, if I had to remove "adult" content for the "consideration of [their] entire customer base" I know I'd start with weeding out the children's books.
Yeah. The author who wrote to Amazon and drew attention to this - Mark R. Probst - noticed this when the sales ranking of two gay romances were pulled. Others shortly followed, including his own book.
There's a list being compiled of books with no sales ranking. Among these are Challenging Homophobia: Teaching About Sexual Diversity, Am I Blue? Coming Out From The Silence, the hardcover edition of Anything Goes (John Barrowman's autobiography), , Hello Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks and Other Outlaws The Ultimate Guide to Sex and Disability: For All of Us Who Live with Disabilities, Chronic Pain, and Illness.
There's a lack of consistancy in what has and doesn't have a sales rank right now. Some editions of a book being blocked, others not. There's a fair chunk erotica without rank. There's a kid's book on September 11th that has no rank and what looks like a coffee table book on it that does have a sales rank.
There's so much "what the fuck?" in this. There really is.
Smart Bitches, Trashy Books has a really quick overview and some satisfying sentences, including one about google bombing. (I can blows up the internetz nao? Oh, hellz, yes.) It works like this: if enough people link to a website using a specific phrase, typing that phrase into google brings up that website first.
Hence, Amazon Rank :
amazon rank
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): amazon ranked
1. To censor and exclude on the basis of adult content in literature (except for Playboy, Penthouse, dogfighting and graphic novels depicting incest orgies).
2. To make changes based on inconsistent applications of standards, logic and common sense.
Etymology: from 12 April 2009 removal of sales rank figures from books on Amazon.com containing sexual, erotic, romantic, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered or queer content, rendering them impossible to find through basic search functions at the top of Amazon.com's website. Titles stripped of their sales rankings include "Bastard Out of Carolina," "Lady Chatterly's Lover," prominent romance novels, GLBTQ fiction novels, YA books, and narratives about gay people.
Example of usage: "I tried to do a report on Lady Chatterly's Lover for English Lit, but my teacher amazon ranked me and I got an F on grounds that it was obscene."
Alternate usage: "My girlfriend wanted to preserve her virginity, and I was happy to respect that, then she amazon ranked and decided anal sex was okay."
I don't think I can properly articulate how disturbing I find the whole thing. If you don't support Amazon's move I encourage that you contact Amazon. (handy link for that.) There's also a petition here.
In conclusion: FAIL, Amazon has it.
~*~
The story has been picked up by The Los Angeles Times and a few other places. The coverage here is also nice.
ETA: Google bombing = successful
An author noted that a number of books had lost their sales ranking and made as inquiry. He received the following response back:
"In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude "adult" material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature.
Hence, if you have further questions, kindly write back to us.
Best regards,
Ashlyn D
Member Services
Amazon.com Advantage"
Given Amazon's large volume of material I suspect that effectively censoring something out of searches would take some time to implement. It's a good thing, then, that they got to Heather Has Two Mommies before Playboy: The Complete Centrefolds, I mean, if I had to remove "adult" content for the "consideration of [their] entire customer base" I know I'd start with weeding out the children's books.
Yeah. The author who wrote to Amazon and drew attention to this - Mark R. Probst - noticed this when the sales ranking of two gay romances were pulled. Others shortly followed, including his own book.
There's a list being compiled of books with no sales ranking. Among these are Challenging Homophobia: Teaching About Sexual Diversity, Am I Blue? Coming Out From The Silence, the hardcover edition of Anything Goes (John Barrowman's autobiography), , Hello Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks and Other Outlaws The Ultimate Guide to Sex and Disability: For All of Us Who Live with Disabilities, Chronic Pain, and Illness.
There's a lack of consistancy in what has and doesn't have a sales rank right now. Some editions of a book being blocked, others not. There's a fair chunk erotica without rank. There's a kid's book on September 11th that has no rank and what looks like a coffee table book on it that does have a sales rank.
There's so much "what the fuck?" in this. There really is.
Smart Bitches, Trashy Books has a really quick overview and some satisfying sentences, including one about google bombing. (I can blows up the internetz nao? Oh, hellz, yes.) It works like this: if enough people link to a website using a specific phrase, typing that phrase into google brings up that website first.
Hence, Amazon Rank :
amazon rank
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): amazon ranked
1. To censor and exclude on the basis of adult content in literature (except for Playboy, Penthouse, dogfighting and graphic novels depicting incest orgies).
2. To make changes based on inconsistent applications of standards, logic and common sense.
Etymology: from 12 April 2009 removal of sales rank figures from books on Amazon.com containing sexual, erotic, romantic, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered or queer content, rendering them impossible to find through basic search functions at the top of Amazon.com's website. Titles stripped of their sales rankings include "Bastard Out of Carolina," "Lady Chatterly's Lover," prominent romance novels, GLBTQ fiction novels, YA books, and narratives about gay people.
Example of usage: "I tried to do a report on Lady Chatterly's Lover for English Lit, but my teacher amazon ranked me and I got an F on grounds that it was obscene."
Alternate usage: "My girlfriend wanted to preserve her virginity, and I was happy to respect that, then she amazon ranked and decided anal sex was okay."
I don't think I can properly articulate how disturbing I find the whole thing. If you don't support Amazon's move I encourage that you contact Amazon. (handy link for that.) There's also a petition here.
In conclusion: FAIL, Amazon has it.
~*~
The story has been picked up by The Los Angeles Times and a few other places. The coverage here is also nice.
ETA: Google bombing = successful
