It was only a few years ago that we were fighting with filtering systems that were blocking all web sites that had the word “gay” in it. Why can’t we assume the most logical explanation before jumping to the conclusion that “they’re out to get us!!!”

I’d rather have you blast corporate america (for it’s brain dead use of simplistic technologies instead of human judgment and interaction) than to get all paranoid about them being anti gay. I don’t think it’s that they hate us as much as they don’t care about us unless it has to do with making money. Gee, how “corporate” of them.

http://regator.com/p/175638847/amazon_glitch_delists_gay-themed_books_interwebs_cry_foul/

I started the search because my email in-box contained an email from ADL Books, which was standing 100% squarely behind the rumors/accusations. Evidently they didn’t feel the necessity of checking their facts before advocating basically “hanging” Amazon for their “anti-gay” actions.

People. I know we are still being hounded and demonized by the religious and “moral” fanatics, but does that mean we should be so paranoid as to automatically condemn somebody based on rumors, and rumors which most people didn’t take the time to research as to validity and/or ignorant excuses by a company official?

Is this type of attitude not exactly what we accuse the bible-quoting bigots of? I would hope that we who see the injustice of leaps to irrational conclusions by homophobes would refrain from acting in the same manner.

There’s a saying not to contribute anything to conspiracy that can be explained by stupidity. I’m not sure why you’re claiming that this is so unlikely. IN this instance, suppose someone goes to classify some gay adult content as adult content, and accidently classifies all content in the “gay” category as adult content? One improper SQL database query could do it. During my time at the national headquarters of a major U.S. retail chain, I saw one error which resulted in 8% of all their small package deliveries having no vendor assigned in the database (meaning all reports on vendor were missing 8% of their shipments) and this went unnoticed for TWO YEARS. They also had a vendor relocate to Canada and not mention this, and continue to use the same freight carrier whom we did not have negotiated Canadian rates with. It took eight months for someone to notice this, and in the meantime the company had spend one million more dollars in freight cost than if the proper Canadian carrier was being used. So relax, guys. These things happen and Amazon has no history of anti-gay activity. How does not listing gay books’ sales ranks (but still selling gay lit) actually aid any homophobic cause? It doesn’t make sense, making a glitch the only sensible explanation.

I believe it was just a glitch. The easter bunny said so.

Thing is, I know there are a depressingly large amount of people who think of “gay” and “homosexual” and instantly think “who are they having sex with”? And with the pervasive dogma found here and there in social corners that insists it’s a chosen perverted lifestyle, it becomes easy to see how someone could have simply assumed it’s all porn. Someone with way too much power over the database and inadequate supervision, making a logic leap based on prejudice. If that’s the human error, then yeah, technically it’s a glitch. But considering the effect it had, “glitch” seems like a nervous euphemism for “they screwed up in a big way”.