I am not a conspiracy theory buff, in general. However, the lack of clarity in Amazon's response is bad. At the very least Amazon deserves the negative #amazonfail attention for their terrible PR response. Where are their lead executives explaining what happened?  The confession press conference was s.o.p., because it works!  I am not sure all the facts are out yet.My programming background makes me wonder.  I just don't get the feeling that Amazon's explanation is complete.  What was the algorithm that caused the problem?  Will Amazon share on the words that snagged Heather Has Two Mommies but left a Parent's [...]

This message is more appropriate falling-on-sword in tone. Don't know who it's from, though. Should I? I haven't been online to see what I'm supposed to think. FWIT, here's the raw data (and please note the final tag line -- this is April 13th not 1st, right?): -----Original Message----- From: Amazon.com Customer Service [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 4:41 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Your Amazon.com Inquiry Hello,This is an embarrassing and ham-fisted cataloging error for a company that prides itself on offering complete selection.It has been misreported that the issue was limited to Gay & Lesbian themed titles - [...]

Social media discovered this weekend that Amazon.com has de-ranked ALL gay-positive books such as Giovanni's Room while allowing anti-gay books to retain their rankings.  Amazon's claim is that they are de-ranking all books with adult material, and their handling of gay-themed books is simply part of the automated process. However, Amazon's claim is thin given the list of gay books de-ranked and non-gay books left with ranks.  (More from original blogger Mark Probst.) Twitter was the big booster in raising awareness of this policy. (See current info on Twitter.) I've sent this open letter to Amazon (sent to [email protected], reportedly their executive customer [...]