Boycotting Amazon

I am so angry at Amazon.com right now that I can barely write about it. If you're not aware of the situation, here are a few links.

Amazon stripping sales ranking from gay & lesbian books

Amazon Follies

Amazon Censorship

Amazon.com de-gays search results, sales rankings

Open Letter to Amazon Regarding Recent Policy Changes

Amazonfail: A Call to Boycott Amazon

You will find a whole lot more if you search for #amazonfail on Twitter or Google. Googling Amazon rank brings up still more articles.

It's disgusting that gay-themed children's books, young adult novels, history books, and other books with little or no sexual content were labeled "adult," stripped of their rankings, and made invisible to searches, but a compilation of Playboy centerfolds and other straight books with explicit content were not likewise censored. A double standard has clearly been applied.

I am finding some gay and lesbian content when I'm searching now, but I have no evidence (and no confidence) that all of the de-ranked books have been restored. I think Amazon realized there was a massive backlash against them, and they are quietly restoring the rankings and hoping people will forget they were ever gone.

There is NOTHING about this on Amazon's site, neither on their homepage nor on on their blog. And all they've said to the media is that it was due to a "glitch." (Which is not at all what they told the first few concerned authors who discovered that their books had been de-listed.)

I have bought a lot of things from Amazon.com over the years, but unless they not only correct this situation but also issue a sincere apology instead of a lame "glitch" excuse, I will be taking my business elsewhere.

C'mon, Amazon. Own up to this mess. Fix it and tell the truth about what really happened.

UPDATE - 4-14-2009