UPDATE: Amazon is still claiming it was an "accident."
*From: *"Amazon.com Customer Service" cust.service03@amazon.comWe'd reported last night about the fact that Amazon had suddenly started removing "sales rankings" from gay-themed literature. When contacted, Amazon reportedly told one blogger that this was because the content in question was deemed "adult" in nature. That started a massive firestorm on Twitter, and in the gay blogosphere, leading Amazon today to say that the RankingGate was caused by a "glitch" in their system. Except that a hacker now claims they did it. Which is all well and good, except then why did Amazon say it was caused by a glitch, and why did Amazon reportedly write to one blogger and say the move was intentionally done because the gay literature in question was deemed "adult" in nature?
*Date: *April 13, 2009 4:46:09 PM PDT
*Subject: **Your Amazon.com Inquiry*
Hello,
Thank you for contacting Amazon.com.
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 - in fact, it impacted 57,310 books in a number of broad categories such as Health, Mind & Body, Reproductive & Sexual Medicine, and Erotica. This problem impacted books not just in the United States but globally. It affected not just sales rank but also had the effect of removing the books from Amazon's main product search.
Many books have now been fixed and we're in the process of fixing the remainder as quickly as possible, and we intend to implement new measures to make this kind of accident less likely to occur in the future.
Thanks for contacting us. We hope to see you again soon.
Sincerely,
Customer Service Department
Amazon.com
