Not buying Amazon

Did you see this?

http://markprobst.livejournal.com/15293.html

And I think the New York Times wrote about it, too. It seems like they took off a lot of books about sex from their ranking system, but the weird thing is most of them are either erotica or gay and lesbian books, but guess what, Playboy is still ranked. Even non-sexual books such as Ellen Degeneres biography are gone. If you search for homosexuality the books listed are now books like these:

  • A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality
  • Can Homosexuality Be Healed?
  • You Don't Have to Be Gay: Hope and Freedom for Males Struggling With Homosexuality or for Those Who Know of Someone Who Is
Amazon.com offered some explanation that it was a glitch in the system and they're getting fixed. But according to some people, this has been going on since February. So, no one caught this since February? Bullshit. System glitch my ass.

I am going to stop buying from Amazon.com. I am also going to write to Amazon.com and say I won't be buying from them unless they fix this and apologize. This is unacceptable. And I urge everyone to do the same thing in solidarity.

Thank goodness for Barnes & Noble.




ETA: Here's a list (incomplete) books affected:

http://community.livejournal.com/meta_writer/11992.html

Comments

Benjamin Solah said…
I'm not buying the glitch excuse either. Someone had to have flagged those GBLTI books with 'adult' with the homophobic idea that anything mentioning gay people has to do with sex. If you mention a hetro couple, people don't automatically assume sex.
Mark Pettus said…
Seems odd, doesn't it. Even now.
Ray said…
Great seeing you, Mark. How have you been?
Anonymous said…
Yeah, sounds like bull to me. Of course, telling them not to sell my book, if I ever get published, would be another matter altogether. I mean...maybe it is a glitch. I dunno. Hard to take food out of your own mouth to make a point and stand up for what's right. If amazon, B&N, and those guys didn't authors by the balls, it might be a different story.

Fred
Anonymous said…
Well, this is to Benjamin, the only thing that makes homosexuals what they are is their sexual habits. Yeah, you can say it is love but even then - don't homosexuals practice casual sex (even more so!) and get divorces like everyone else? It really is... Just sex, as they say.

Personally, I'm still going to buy from Amazon. I see why the LGBT is a bit miffed, but to be frank: Amazon is just too amazing for me to be put off completely by one issue.

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