Time to join the Googlebombing!

[candyland]

I'm sure many of you have seen this on your f-lists already, but I'm tossing my $0.02 into the pot.

Amazon-dot-com has started stripping any books related at all to GLBT issues of their rankings, which makes the books difficult, if not impossible, to find on the site. A self-published author contacted Amazon to ask why his book no longer had a ranking, and received a response. Apparently, his book was removed because of "adult content."

Interestingly enough, a book that teaches men how to become players and score with numerous women is apparently not adult content. Nor is a book about Playboy centerfolds, which features six hundred pages of naked women. Oh, and if you would like to know how to start up a lucrative dog-fighting business, Amazon's got you covered as well.

And books that offer advice on preventing teen suicide are now gone (as some suicides result from gender/orientation confusion), while The Parents Guide to Preventing Homosexuality is now the top search for "homosexuality." It warms my tar-blacked little heart to see how many one-star ratings that book has, I must say.

Also very interesting is the fact that many of these so-called "adult" books might be difficult to find in print on the site, but they are readily available on the Kindle. Hmm. That's very odd.

The main compilation post can be found here at meta_writer. And Smart Bitches has started a GoogleBomb campaign. There is also a petition. And Dear Author has weighed in as well. There are many links to be had.

Whether or not you are in support of GLBT rights or lifestyle, I do encourage you to take a look and click around on those links. Censorship is wrong, no matter what--and yes, I know that this is not censorship in the truest sense, but I'm using it as a colloquial term here. Censorship is wrong.


ETA: Apparently Amazon is now claiming that a glitch caused the ratings to be stripped. I would then like to ask what "glitch" made that email that Mark R. Probst received appear. Please enlighten me.

Comments

[chassysaweirdo.livejournal.com]

What the hell?

Amazon.

AMAZON?

Of all websites to do some bullshit...


They ARE kidding, right...?

[candy--chan.livejournal.com]

I couldn't believe it when I read it, but I went and checked a few of the titles on the lists, and sure enough! I wonder how far they've backpedaled. Possibly through the wall and into the next county...