Amazon Culls "Offensive" Books From Search System 470
Miracle Jones writes "Amazon has instituted an overnight policy that removes books that may be deemed offensive from their search system, despite the sales rank of the book and also irrespective of any complaints. Bloggers such as Ed Champion are calling for a 'link and book boycott,' asking people to remove links to Amazon from their web pages and stop buying books from them until the policy is reversed. Will this be bad business for Amazon, or will their new policies keep them out of trouble as they continue to grow and replace bookstores?"
Already removed my links. (Score:4, Interesting)
This gives me yet another reason to steer people away from their programs.
Didn't block for me? (Score:4, Interesting)
I used a fresh browser session so I waasn't logged in and I searched for Brokeback Mountain and the Filly and found them both.
Did they change policy?
Consistency (Score:4, Interesting)
If some search results requires i.e. over certain age to see them, so be it, but not for every user.
Shades of Abunga? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Cry me a river (Score:2, Interesting)
PS
If Amazon suddenly started filtering all religiously themed books, would you guys still be so upset? Methinks not. It would be a lot of "F$#@ religion" and "idiots with invisible friends" talk supporting said change.
Personally, I think the best way is to have an opt in flag on your account. It is not visible to the public, but if you log in (which you have to do anyway to buy it...) then you can choose to include them or not. You get to have your dirty smut, and I dont have to see it flaunted in my face.
I think youtube has that in place, but i dont use youtube very often so im not sure.
Sales De-Lising Includes Political Books (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Cry me a river (Score:5, Interesting)
If they removed said books and refused to sell them then it would be worse.
And I would be as annoyed if any books were removed even religious ones but should a safe search include some of the more extreme religious books with more extreme views? It's a slippery slope.
Hmm, what's Offensive? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Powells.com (Score:3, Interesting)
And amazon has one big advantage over Powells. Those stores that Powells would likely be happy to see out of business, Amazon gives them a leg up by posting competitive prices when showing the results of a book. So, if a customer wants to buy from an independent, they can.
I am certainly ambivalent about what Amazon is doing, mostly because I have never bought anything based on the Amazon rank. I assume it is fixed, and this tends to prove it. I am not ambivalent about Powells, and see no reason to buy there, just because they are cool Portland book store. In most cases I can use Amazon used books to find a seller much more local, which means I don't have to excessively pollute the environment just so I can say I order from Portland, where the cool light skinned people live.
A long time ago, I used barnes and noble used book service, which was very good. They messed it up and I went to Amazon. Maybe it is time to go back. Or Alibris.
Re:Already removed my links. (Score:5, Interesting)
MOD PARENT UP, please!
I work every day with self-publishing authors, and Amazon's recent policies have completely blown away the concept that you could spend your money, get your books, sell your books, and make your millions. Now your MANUFACTURING PROCESS, not only your book itself, has to be approved by (and provided by) Amazon to be considered valid. Now you have to use Amazon's self-publishing arm (BookSurge) if you want your self-published book to be listed on Amazon. That's wrong on the surface, but when you dig deeper you find that they provide crappy product at prohibitive pricing, too.
Amazon can do what it wants, I suppose, but it's screwing a lot of earnest authors who are trying to make a name for themselves and haven't, for whatever reason, been able to sell their book to a royalty publisher. As I understand it, the "Chicken Soup For the Soul" series started as a self-published book -- say what you will about it, but it certainly spoke to a lot of people. That series would have never gotten off the ground under the current situation -- Amazon has taken control of the online bookselling world, and you are required to use their crappy services to produce your book if you want to sell it there. I'm sure this doesn't legally constitute a monopoly, but it's sure bad behavior given what Amazon used to say it was.
Personally, I think Amazon has lost sight of what it started out to be -- a community of book lovers. (I'm not just making this up -- I was at a Jeff Bezos keynote where he said this very thing.) Again, they can do what they please, but I was done spending money there when they began to discriminate against non-Amazon self-publishing authors.
Re:It's Amazon's business (Score:3, Interesting)
By not selling that you are hurting the authors, not Amazon.
I assure you, a significant number of affiliates who immediately remove their links to Amazon's catalog of merchandise will hurt them, especially in a down economy where people simply aren't spending anywhere near what they were two years ago. As for the authors, I sincerely doubt they're depending solely on Amazon to sell their books. As for your last point regarding promoting stuff Amazon refuses to sell, I've already registered a domain and intend to start development work on a site in the next couple of days. I'll gladly take the money they don't want.