"I'm just a patsy!"
-- The French Guy
Ok, so now we hear that a single programmer's slip of the finger caused the massive Amazon fiasco. I don't buy it. It's the Lone Gunman Theory of Amazonfail
I've been in information technology for my entire career, and if I gave an answer like that to some of my past bosses I would have been fired. What was wrong with the design of the system itself that permitted such an outcome? The underlying logic of the database design may turn out to be the real villain, laced with dark assumptions about the ontology of sex. I guess being gay just means being part of the larger Venn diagram of "adult things" which in turn falls within the larger circle of "upsetting things" which is further subsumed under "things that will frighten the horses."
I don't think the management at Amazon is evil. It was a "glitch" that they are rushing to "fix". Great. Get it running again, and then do the post mortem, as we generally do in information tech circles when something goes really wrong. But please, can we have some transparency during that next phase? Can Amazon help us to understand what checks and balances will be put in place at a system level to reduce the chance of a similar error in the future? We haven't had much transparency so far. But Amazon could still turn this lemon into lemonade if they will only get off the dime and do more proactive communication. For good comments on the PR problems check How to Weather a Twiiterstorm.
Why do I care about this? Two reasons. First, Growth House uses Amazon as its provider for online book sales. If something fishy is going on, I need to know about it. Second, one of the books that got de-ranked was The Mayor of Castro Street in which I my name is mentioned. You can find me in it by using the "Search inside this book" feature, one of the reasons why Amazon can be so useful when it wants to be. A little bit of my own past was being taken away, and I didn't like it. Harvey always knew the value of being loud and pushy now and then.
-- Les Morgan (14 April 2009)
Followup
I liked these blog items on Amazonfail that appeared after this post was written:
- Nathaniel Frank's What to Make of #Amazonfail (14 April 2009) mentions that it's still vague exactly how the tagging structures could have had such a disproportionate impact on LGBT content, suggesting internalization of stereotypes in the coding.
- Why Amazon’s Explanation Is None At All (14 April 2009)
- Mark Hannah (PBS Mediashift) on Fail: Not Using Social Media to React to #AmazonFail Meme (14 April 2009)
- Scott Esposito's Amazon Fail: The Aftermath (15 April 2009) gives details on how the systems actually work and raises concerns about Amazon's dominance of the online book market.
- Francine Saint Marie's Amazon’s "Glitch" Myth Debunked (16 April 2009)
- Amazonfail: How Metadata and Sex Broke the Amazon Book Search (20 April 2009)
